‘Survivor: Game Changers’ spotlight: Sandra Diaz-Twine and the quest to be Queen once more
Let’s start off today’s “Survivor: Game Changers” spotlight article by making one thing very clear: Sandra Diaz-Twine is the Queen of Survivor. In other words, she is the best player of all time.
Now … we get that this may sound counter-intuitive given that if you look at our winner rankings, she’s not that far up there on either season. The distinction is that we’re judging her strength and success in those games separately as opposed to her cumulative ability to get to the end and win. She’s done it twice — nobody else has. She knows how to play the game without making the game personal to anyone. She knows how to make moves when she needs to. She understands that “Survivor” is not about winning the most challenges and being the best strategist in the room. Everything Sandra does just works.
Can she do it a third time? It may be crazy, but there’s a chance — there’s unfortunately obviously more setbacks in her way than ever before, as well.
Past performance – Winner (“Survivor: Pearl Islands”), winner (“Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains”).
Historical perspective – SHE CAN GET LOUD TOO! One of the most-quotable contestants ever. Her fights with Jonny Fairplay were legendary, and the way she baited Russell at the end of “Heroes vs. Villains” was amazing. She won these two games without winning many individual immunities, and knowing when it was best to cut bait from people she liked and go with people she didn’t for the sake of her own game — remember, there was a point on “Heroes vs. Villains” when she wanted Russell gone after the merge. Yet, she was able to pivot from that when things fell through and jump over to the villains crew. She was so adaptable in the game, and somehow she could get away with the craziest things and not have them come back to bite her. (For example, telling Russell “I’m against you” to his face, and then later saying to him that she was fine finishing runner-up to him.)
Sandra would make a deal with a palm tree if it would get her further in the game.
Strengths – An incredible perspective on the game, and a detachment from the personal dynamics of it. She doesn’t make anyone feel stupid, or make them think that their friendship means more to her than her play. Her motto is “as long as it ain’t me” — way better than anything within Phillip’s BR Rules (with all respect to the Specialist). The funny thing is that through all of the “voting blocks” nonsense in “Second Chance,” Sandra really started these long before anyone. She may have had “allies,” but they weren’t ride-or-dies. They were always expendable, and she would shift anywhere she needed to. This is what a voting block inherently is.
Also, she’s sneaky! She can find idols, and she’s probably going to be able to find Tony hiding somewhere and call him out on it. (We have this dream of Tony and Sandra working together — she does say she wants to work with the alpha males! Just think of the hilarity to be found here.)
Weaknesses – You can argue that Sandra is easily susceptible to being voted out if she starts off the game on a tribe that loses challenge after challenge. Maybe she wouldn’t be the first person to go, but if it’s episode three, you’ve lost every immunity, and she’s the clear weak link, maybe she’d have a hard time sneaking her way out of that situation. The great thing is that challenge prowess doesn’t matter as much on returning player seasons, but it’s something that she has to be aware of while she’s out there.
Also, there’s the HUGE elephant in the room — or target in the room. It was one thing for Sandra to be on “Heroes vs. Villains” with other winners. It’s another thing to be on here as the only two-time winner and her running around calling herself the Queen. There are going to be SO many people itching to take her out just for the satisfaction of doing so.
Prediction – If this was an entire season built up solely of winners, we’d probably say flat-out that Sandra wins. She’s not great in challenges, but she’s not horrible enough to be targeted unless it’s a situation like we described above. She’s incredibly dangerous after the merge when the challenge threats turn on each other and she can hang under the radar.
As we said, the big issue here is that she’s won twice and there are SO many people gunning for her. It’s hard to map out the situation, unless she and Tony band together and manipulate the crap out of people (let us have this dream for a minute!), where she gets to wear the crown again. It’s nothing against her ability is a player — the closest comparison we can come up with is Richard Hatch during “All-Stars” were everyone was chomping at the bit to say that they voted him out.
How are you feeling about Sandra entering this season of “Survivor”? Share in the comments, and head over here to get some further news when it comes to the show, including further spotlights! (Photo: CBS.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7qoRzM8PxWo