As a wise man once said, “I love it when a plan comes together”. On Survivor, the time for the best strategies to come together is at Tribal Council. Even better is when a strategy is hatched or played out at Tribal Council, which is what happened with these four finalists. After a first round of upsets, the second round went according to plan. Let’s see if that continues or if it’s time for a new strategy.

Voting criteria:

• You decide what makes a Tribal worthy of your vote. Was it your favourite? The best? Most memorable? Most dramatic? It’s up to you. We’ve organized them by theme, but you’re under no obligation to pick the most strategic tribal to represent the Strategic bracket.
• Tribal Council is defined as everything that happened in episode from when the tribe gets to Tribal Council through to the Final Words of the eliminated contestant. Things that didn’t make the air were out of bounds for consideration when putting the list together.
• For Final Tribal Councils, the reveal of the winner is out of bounds (except for the first Final Tribal). This takes place at a different time and place and is aired on a different episode.

Voting ends on Tuesday, March 29th.

1. Parvati’s Double Idol Play vs 4. Going to Rocks

 

1. Parvati’s Double Idol Play – Heroes vs. Villains, episode 10 “Going Down in Flames” vs 4. Going to Rocks – Blood vs. Water, episode 12 “Rustle Feathers”

 

Despite the fact that she had already won a season, it was this Tribal Council that made me a Parvati believer. She was willing to put herself at risk, giving up her massive advantage of two idols to win THIS tribal council, knowing it would set her up to win the whole damn thing. You know who else put themselves at risk give up the advantage of being in the majority to try and win a tribal council and thus the game? Ciera and Tyson in Blood vs Water (Hayden and Katie had nothing to lose, Gervase and Monica were immune). One of them drew the short straw; one won it all.

This is what we want from a strategic tribal. A superior player putting it on on the line to win Survivor. Few have ever done it better than those in these tribals.

Read more about Parvati’s moment in our 30 from 30 series.

2. The Three Amigos vs 3. Cagayan’s Chaotic Merge

 

2. The Three Amigos – Caramoan, episode 10 “Zipping Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” vs 8. Cagayan’s Chaotic Merge – Cagayan, episode 6 “Head of the Snake”

 

Two tribals, four idols played. None of them actually saved anyone. But man did they lead to an exciting show. It can be easy to discount The Three Amigos because they were at least 2/3rds douchebags (and my math might be generous). Or because it didn’t have a long-term effect on the season. Or because the internet has decided to hate Caramoan. But more importantly, it had a long-term effect on the show. I think this kicked off the live ball era of Tribal Council, where people were forced to scramble out in the open and change their minds in front of Jeff. Also, it rid us of Phillip. Don’t discount that.

Of course, one of the tribals that followed in its footsteps in the live ball era may have been even better. The entire shape of the second half of Cagayan was on the line in this one, with both sides thinking they’ve made the right call until Tony flips everything by pulling out an idol, forcing the other side to scurry around to “Plan B”. Then Tony asks for Jeff’s validation of his idol in order to stall to get a read of the room (and to showboat for the cameras), knows his gambit took the heat off of him, only to guess wrong. Then so does LJ. Which doesn’t matter, because Kass wanted to watch the world burn. And in doing so, she flipped the game to the side that helped ensure one of the best seasons in the history of the show.

I honestly don’t know which way I’ll vote. Kinda like a lot of the participants of these two tribal councils.

The Rest of the Bracket

Blindsides Bracket

Theatrics Bracket

Historic Bracket