Everyone wants to be the best.
But who do thereturning championsofSurvivor: Winners of Warreally consider to be the best ever?
There were only two stipulations: They could not say themselves.
Robert Voets/CBS
And they could not say their spouses.
(This last stipulation only applied to two of them.
Well let you figure out which two.)
Robert Voets/CBS
So who did the cast consider the best of the bunch entering the game?
For some players, the best ever is not even out there for season 40!
Read on and all will be revealed.
Robert Voets/CBS
ADAM KLEIN
Sandra Diaz-Twine.
I mean, she’s the queen, she’s done it twice.
I mean, she won against non-winners when she came back right after winning.
Robert Voets/CBS
So Sandra will always be the queen, but it might be time for a king.
I want a statue of myself.
Like if Rob gets a statue he played four times and won one of them.
Robert Voets/CBS
If I can go two for two, I think that’s statue-worthy.
Russell is known for playing the women.
He got played by her.
Robert Voets/CBS
So I think that’s pretty cool and something to be proud of.
BEN DRIEBERGEN
I’d have to go with Tony.
Just, how he got to the end.
Robert Voets/CBS
DANNI BOATWRIGHT
I’d have to say Sandra, I mean, she won twice.
How can you argue with that?
I would not put people in the category that did not win their first time.
Robert Voets/CBS
I think to be in that category you have to have won your first time.
Especially if you play against people who hadn’t played before and you win?
No, that’s just leading lambs to the slaughter.
Robert Voets/CBS
I remember people in my season were like, Oh, Stephenie!
Oh, Bobby Jon!
And I’m like, No, get rid of them!
Robert Voets/CBS
You saw how she played, she’s tough.
But they just all catered to her and she cake-walked right through them.
So I think to be the best you have to have won that first time.
Robert Voets/CBS
DENISE STAPLEY
I’d have to say Sandra.
Because she’s won twice.
And they let her.
Parvati Shallow on ‘Survivor: Winners at War’.Robert Voets/CBS
In my book, yeah, the queen is the best, and I want that crown.
But I think Parvati is the best winner ever.
She learned from her mistakes from the first time around, she won the second time around.
Robert Voets/CBS
She played a much better game than Sandra.
I think she’s a really well-rounded player.
Tony played like crazy, all over the place.
Sandra Diaz-Twine on ‘Survivor: Winners at War’.Robert Voets/CBS
It was at times horrible.
He has people that are trying to be like him, over and over again.
And Tony pulled it home, and it’s just impressive that he did it like that.
Robert Voets/CBS
That’s a tough way to win.
I mean, I think Sandra’s pretty kickass.
She’s got it all.
Robert Voets/CBS
She’s peaceful, she’s confident, she’s funny.
She somehow just makes it work.
MICHELE FITZGERALD
If we’re talking track record, it’s got to be Sandra.
Robert Voets/CBS
But if we’re talking really who played the most flawless game, I think it’s Kim Spradlin.
She barely missed a step.
I think it just goes to show how strong and capable she actually is.
Robert Voets/CBS
She’s definitely my best winner.
It doesn’t matter how she got there.
If you’ve got more rings, technically you’re the best, right?
Robert Voets/CBS
NICK WILSON
I think it’s Sandra.
She did it twice.
Hopefully somebody else will win twice and hopefully it’s me, but she did it twice before.
Robert Voets/CBS
Nobody even expected her to win twice, and she was in the final three.
Everybody’s like, “Well, Russell’s got it.
But if not, then it’s Parvati.”
She has shown that’s what the game is about.
At the end of the day, it’s about the jury.
It’s about being social.
It’s about being well liked.
PARVATI SHALLOW
I think I’m going to have to say Sarah, actually.
She’s the same person who I want voted out early.
She’s really good because she played in an arena of competitors that was really good.
She played inGame Changers, and the moves that she made, I was blown away.
I just think she’s really very good at this game.
ROB MARIANO
Parvati.
Because she understands all aspects of the game and her ego doesn’t get the best of her.
She’s smart, she’s strategic, and she’s social.
She can do what she needs to do to get her alliance further.
She’s not in her own head.
Man, I would’ve loved to see him out here.
I mean, I haven’t seen who the men are.
I did see the spoiler list, he wasn’t on it.
But Tom, by far.
He has all my respect.
SARAH LACINA
Richard Hatch.
He’s the original, he’s the O.G., he paved the way.
He’s not the only reason, but we wouldn’t be at season 40 without season 1.
There’s a lot of iconic moments from that season that people still talk about.
SOPHIE CLARKE
Cochran.
There’s definitely a little bit of hometown bias.
But I think Cochran played in a way that I really respect.
I’m more excited by players who don’t win out.
And I just thought it was such a clever way to win and it’s so remarkable.
You look at this sweater-vested redhead and you think, This guy could never winSurvivor.
And It proves that everybody has a way to winSurvivor, they just have to tap into it.
TONY VLACHOS
Richard Hatch, because that was a raw game.
There were no advantages, there were no idols.
That was just him with his mouth politicking and socializing that made him win that money.
As much as people didn’t like him, he won.
He just knew how to work it.
That, to me, hats off.
TYSON APOSTOL
Sandra.
And I pulled her aside, I said, “I love the lie.
Okay that’s so easy.
Boom, boom, boom.
Wendells been writing in his journal every day.
So do what you want with that information?
WENDELL HOLLAND
The bestSurvivorwinner ever is Jeremy Collins.
Man, there’s something about that guy.
I’ll make people happy, or whatever.
If we walk in there together, all eyes are on Jeremy.
There’s just something about him, and then he’s also a beast of a competitor.
Looking at him now, in pregame, that guy’s ready to go.
You could put him on a football field, he’s ready to kill somebody.
He’s jacked, and he’s such a good person.
So, to the game he played, he kept his heart in the right place.
He showed her mad love.
I modeled my game after his game.
So, what I would like to do, I’d like for him to sit on the jury.
I want Jeremy sitting on the jury.
So, if I can find a way for that to happen, that’s what I would do.
YUL KWON
BestSurvivorwinner ever?
Where it gets tough is you have people who have played multiple times before they perfected the game.
I would say if I had to pick, it’d probably be Kim Spradlin.
She’s a one-time winner, but she played every facet of the game superbly.
