We’ve reached the end of our 30 from 30 series, but as we approach the 31st season of Survivor, we each had thoughts on what a 31st moment could be. For a reminder of what made the list of thirty, click here.

#31 – Rob Cesternino Blindsides Alex Bell

Having already flipped on Deena just one vote earlier, Rob’s blindside of Alex (and later of Christy) showed that flip flopping can be a viable strategy to get to the end. Provided you’re able to win a final immunity challenge, of course. Though his lack of allegiance may have earned him the nickname of Slimy Rob by my mother (having been preceded by Boston Rob and Skater Robb), Cesternino’s ability to flip between alliances also granted him the title of “best player to never win.” At least for the next ten seasons. This moment’s most recent impact can be seen on San Juan Del Sur when Jon and Jaclyn flipped to vote Josh and then Jeremy in consecutive tribal councils. Deena and Alex were similar strategic threats in The Amazon. Although note to Alex: While giving two weeks notice is the right move at a job, maybe not so good of an idea in an alliance.

Emma: @purplerockemma

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#31 – Tom and Ian Play Purple Rock Chicken

The Purple Rock was created to eliminate ties. The random and capricious nature of elimination basically took ties out of the vocabulary of Survivor players for the five seasons that followed its deployment in Marquesas (whereas there had been three prior to it). No one would dare risk being eliminated due to random chance. No one, that is, until Tom and Ian realized at the final six that they would be the next targets of the other three members of their alliance once the annoyance of Caryn was dealt with. The decision then became avoid the risk now to be taken out next, or roll the dice and test the resolve of the other side (specifically Katie). Katie was not feeling similarly bold and fell in line, voting out Gregg. In doing so, Tom and Ian discovered that if you don’t fear the purple rock, you can assume its power. Subsequent alliances would later follow this template, realizing that you can break ties as long as your resolve to face the rock is greater than that of your opposition (see: Samoa and South Pacific).

Andy: @purplerockandy

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#31 – Stephenie and Bobby Jon Return to Play Newbies

Though the show first toyed with returning players in All-Stars, it didn’t dare mix them with new players until Guatemala in season 11. And so began the trend of newbies fawning over people they saw on their TV screens. Not only did this affect gameplay, as fans became somewhat star stricken (for a time), but it also worked as a repeated ratings stunt and the foundation for the Fans vs Favorites theme. Other than CBS’ love affair with Boston Rob, would there have been a Redemption Island without a Guatemala or Micronesia? And we would have missed out on moments like Erik giving up immunity or Cochran doing yoga with Coach?

Mark: @purplerockmark

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#31 – Plan Voodoo

The vote split is the most important and most frequently used strategy for dealing with the hidden immunity idol.  The first time we see a successful split vote was in Fiji.  However, the first time we saw someone talk about splitting the vote as a viable strategy to deal with an immunity was in Cook Islands when Cao Boi concocted Plan Voodoo.  According to Cao Boi, he had a dream where (and god I wish I had the imagination to make this up) people were being kidnapped from a village and he couldn’t defeat them (because they turned invisible, of course), and a shaman lady (who had credit card applications for some reason) told him he needed 3 and 3.  To Cao Boi this obviously meant if they put 3 votes on two people, it would flush the idol.  He told this dream to Yul Kwon (who did have the idol), who immediately thought the plan was so ingenious that he made sure Cao Boi was voted out that next tribal council (an underrated comedic moment is seeing Yul’s face morph from him humoring Cao Boi to him immediately realizing Cao Boi was trouble).  It’s unclear whether future Survivors decided to split votes because they were inspired by Plan Voodoo, but it is indisputably the first time the split vote strategy for dealing with idols was explained to the viewing audience.  For introducing the split vote strategy to Survivor, Plan Voodoo is one of the moments that changed the way the audience understands the strategy of Survivor and watch the show.

Matt: @purplerockmatt

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#31 – Jeff Probst Ends Dan Foley’s Edit-Blaming Pity Tour

Dan Foley made many mistakes on Survivor, but the mistake that future Survivors will remember happened outside the show. When Dan was doing his post-game press, he took every opportunity to give his side of the story. In his version, he was the hero and CBS had done him wrong by portraying him in a bad light. He had tried to sculpt his own narrative while on the show, and it’s likely that the production team realized exactly what he was doing. So when they broadcast the story they saw, rather than the story in Dan’s head, Dan reacted angrily and attacked the show. But since Jeff Probst and the staff read these post-game interviews, they decided to address them at the Worlds Apart reunion. The result was a cringefest evisceration of Dan that gave him no wiggle room to claim he’d been portrayed incorrectly, and the message was delivered to future players: You’ll take your edit and you’ll like it.

John: @purplerockpod

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What do you think? Do you have a 31st moment that you think should’ve made the list? Let us know in the comments below.