titan24maniac, you've been put on notice. This is a petition to get a post-episode video chat after a future episode featuring many of your original Tengaged Maryland fans.
Cmack’s Survivor ran from August 2010 until June 2017. It featured hundreds of players over the course of 50 total seasons.
The following list will feature all 50 winners based on their individual game and where it ranks among the rest…
NOTE: This is it! The moment everyone has waited for. The reveal of my ranking for the Top 10 in the “Cmack’s Survivor Winners”. I just want to let everyone know in this set, that ranking within the Top 20 was a task, but ranking in the Top 10 was a freaking headache that I did not need. Some may question it, others may understand...for my own reasons alone, I present to you...the Top 10!
PART 5: 10-1
10: Chastain (Season 38: Tocantins), 7-0. It’s a feat that only one person in the 7-year history of any Cmack game can claim they own. Shadi is the first and only person to have won any game of mine with a unanimous Jury vote. But getting that result is one thing, the question is how did he do it? Was he sitting next to an easy opponent in the Final Tribal Council? Absolutely. But making a case for a unanimous win is something that nobody else in this series was able to do, so what was it? You could look at his alliance with Number1SurvivorFan, you could look at his ability to stay in control of the game by being a crucial vote for everyone as the game went on. His social game wasn’t elite by any means, but his dedication to the game despite being at a massive disadvantage with his time zone was ultimately one of the keys to his victory.
9: AndrewWeltner (Season 31: Cagayan), when the idea of Gen 3 came to my mind, I didn’t expect to start it off with a massive bang. It was one of my favorite seasons and one heck of a way to kickoff the journey to season 50 about 2 years later. This game was filled with some of the best players on this site, which is why Andrew winning is a big deal. He didn’t win the most challenges, didn’t have the most idols, he really didn’t have the best chance to win, even from my point of view. But at a specific time in the game, laying low managed to pay off as he was wasn’t looked at as a threat, despite holding some crucial power in the Final 4 and the Final 3. His boldest move was splitting up Jared and Julian at the Final 4 and managing to convince James to take him to the end, with all of his former alliance on the jury. It worked, and Andrew pulled off one of the biggest moves in the game, despite not casting a vote for it.
8: BBlover96 (Season 7: Redemption Island), was it really over the second the game started? Not by any means. But Jayson’s run in Redemption Island was coming off the heels of a game he probably should have won a season earlier, Samoa. He was really in control for the most part during this season, and he had a fun time doing it too. His victory was obvious when there were about 6 people remaining in the game, unless something crazy would have happened. As stated before, he’d probably tell you that he won this game the moment he stepped on the virtual island.
7: Lemjam6 (Season 37: Blood vs Water), I could probably have ranked him higher if none of the 6 remaining existed. Jake had a very good game when you look at it from a hosting perspective. He only had his name written down a few times, but the problem was that when someone voted for him and he knew, they were as good as gone, seeing as they were all voted out at the next tribal council they were eligible to go. His pairing with Mike is what is looked at as a major role in how he won. But Jake clearly played this game to win, and despite being up against a guy with the same amount of challenge wins and 0 votes against, Jake was able to have made it clear to the jury why he was indeed the best player that season.
6: Christian_ (Season 46: Fiji), you get to a point where a newbie cast can provide you with an amazing game, and it makes the winner of it seem that much better. Ranking Christian outside of the Top 5 is a travesty given how good of a game he really played in Fiji. Despite having 4 consecutive tribals where he voted in the minority, not only was he able to escape, he was able to work with magge555550101 and sneak into the Final Tribal Council with most of his early merge allies already on the Jury. It’s perhaps a pairing that won Christian the game and helped put him down as one of the greatest comeback stories during a single game.
5: Gaiaphagee (Season 17: South Pacific), so being a force during Caramoan was what led Chris to his 2nd win, but his 1st win is that much more special. Coming into this game, being billed as a “Second Chances” game, you could really feel the struggle within the entire season for Chris to make it to the end and win. Constantly switching from being in the majority to being in the minority, Chris scratched and clawed his way through just about anyone he had to in order to survive. The big moment of the season was at the Final 4 when Chris and Spinner554 finally met head to head in a tie breaker. Chris would prevail and go on to win the game.
4: AndThenThereWasOne (Season 32: Rio de Janeiro), there are some games you look at a player and think “wow, they’re good”....then you have another player and think “wow, they’re great”...Rhys is better than all of that. When he first applied, I was thrilled because I knew he was on a run of wins in group games. When he started to play, I figured out why he was a winner. We can talk about how good his social game was, but that wasn’t the point in this game. He made some big, bold moves...some with help, some on his own. Setting up Joe( jharrin7887) for elimination by handing over an idol to someone Rhys had voted for, only getting a single vote all season, that being at the 2nd tribal council, then his ability to win challenges when he absolutely needed to do so. His time zone was supposed to ruin him, but his timing is what ruined everyone else.
3: RShowFreak (Season 5: All-Stars), there was some dispute between which of Rshow’s wins I would rank higher, and much to his own surprise, it is this one. Coming into an All-Star game, everyone is out for blood. You have a cast of 18 ruthless players, including 4 former winners, numerous finalists, and pretty much the best of the best from the series. So, why does someone who was in the minority for the majority of the game end up ranking 3rd all time? Despite being outnumbered for practically the whole game, Rshow managed to pull off a massive comeback, given he had no idols, no power, and no immunity for the final votes of the game. He was able to find one crack in the majority alliance, and it ended up being the biggest crack you could find. When he was able to get the alliance of 4 to turn on one another when they were just a single vote away from being the Final 4, he was able to coast to the finals. This first win was a huge one, as RShowFreak would never again be looked at as a FTC goat, but rather as someone in the conversation to be THE G.O.A.T. (greatest of all time).
2: titan24maniac (Season 10: Good vs Evil), there has always been the debate ever since Austin won Good vs Evil, which I had at one point ranked as the best season I ever hosted until 20 seasons later when Winners vs Losers happened, whether or not I would classify him as the best winner of this series. If I am going solely upon number of wins, he stands alone. However, I look at the different aspects of his own gameplay as well as who he was playing with in order to rank his individual wins. His other wins were ranked 16 and 35 out of 50, so does that downplay his first win? Absolutely not. He came into Good vs Evil ready for a fight! He proved exactly why he not only was one of the best players, but one of the best winners. He came into a game still as somewhat of a newcomer to this series and he went toe to toe with the best this series had to offer...and he won. He was able to sit in the Finals along with 2 former winners, one being a 2-time winner ranked just behind him in this overall ranking...and he was able to convince the Jury to award him the win, and it would set off a run over the next 5 seasons where he would advance to 2 more FTCs and win them both, making him 3-0 in the Final Tribal Council. If you’re wondering, the next time Austin would be voted out under the titan24maniac account was almost 2 years after his victory in Good vs Evil.
1: Mearl (Season 25: Pearl Islands), the 2nd generation was a 10-season stretch...and not many people remember a lot about some parts of it, but there was one constant presence during those 10 seasons...it was Mearl. He had made his debut in Idol Island back in Gen 1 where he lost the FTC in 3rd place, but that defeat would be the fire he needed to continue to pursue the title of Sole Survivor in this series. He managed to come back and play in Nicaragua and Caramoan, only to get 3rd and then 2nd place...still not reaching the top of the mountain just yet. Then a game called “Cmack’s Survivor:Pearl Islands, All-Stars 2” came along...and that was exactly what Mearl needed. A battle with the best of the best from the previous 24 seasons. A cast that was comprised of 8 either future or former winners from this series. A lot of big names, and Mearl was for sure one of the most threatening as the game started...that didn’t stop him. While falling into a bind at the Final 7 in the game, Mearl was able to avoid being voted out and went on a 3-0 immunity run to end the season, and he was able to get to the finals with exactly who he needed to in order to win the game. This was a turning point for Mearl in this series, as he would return just 5 seasons later and win again, being just 1 of 5 players to win in back-to-back appearances, but being the only winner of have ever been voted out Day 1 and make it all the way back to become a winner.
Cmack’s Survivor ran from August 2010 until June 2017. It featured hundreds of players over the course of 50 total seasons.
The following list will feature all 50 winners based on their individual game and where it ranks among the rest…
NOTE: Before I get to the Top 20 rankings, I want to make clear how difficult it was to put a lot of these in an order. So many of these were really worthy of making it to the Top 10, but fell short as I just couldn’t place them higher than other wins in this series, as well as I had to actually sort through all of these just to rank them against each other. So out of that respect for the following 10, here are the winners that just missed out on making it to the Top 10 all-time.
PART 4: 20-11
20: DEADBEATJONAH14 (Season 13: Mystery Island), I remember this being one of my favorite seasons from the early days. I feel the only issue I would have to not ranking Jonah higher is that his win wasn’t as apparent as you’d expect for someone that played a very good game. He had a tough FTC and managed to get out of it with the win somehow.
19: Ethan000 (Season 48: Madagascar), there is some recency bias towards the last 5-6 seasons of this series I have noticed. The s45-50 run was probably the best 6 season run in this whole series, and Ethan fell right in the middle of it all. His massive strength in this game lied with his partner in crime during the season, bigben1996. Also, coupled with his good social game as well as winning 4 of the last 5 challenges in order to secure his spot in the finale, Ethan managed to win a game filled with a ton of split votes that could have tipped the balance of power in the game at any point during the post-merge tribals.
18: YoundandReckless (Season 45: Generations), you start to notice a bit of a trend with some of these top ranked seasons having top ranked winners. But why is the #4 season only have the #18 ranked winner? Erik came into the game not really as much of a threat as you could think. He had been a very early boot in a prior season and was brought back simply because I knew he was a good player, and with a great cast like this, he could potentially pull of an upset like no other. He kind of coasted for a bit, was able to hide behind players with bigger reputations in this series, and he struck when the time was right. He managed to get through one of the most unpredictable final 7s in the history of this series, and he got the win.
17: @jag0827/ Snails (Season 21: Nicaragua), for Alex, this season was one he really needed. He had been a 3-time finalist coming into this game and he so desperately wanted to win. He had almost been voted out in the middle of the pre-merge, but survived and never saw his name again until I was reading the votes at the end. He was part of a 6-person alliance that wouldn’t always be on the same page, but would somehow take out everyone else on their way to the Final 6. His win marked a nearly 20 season journey culminating in a 5-4 victory that was anything but guaranteed.
16: titan24maniac (Season 15: Past vs Present), looking at it from the perspective of a viewer, how can a 2-time winner go all the way and do it again for a 3rd time? I’d say given that this season was about ⅓ winners and the clear dominance by the more veteran players, it seemed like a cake walk to the end. Austin clearly didn’t do this alone, as his alliance controlled the game for practically the entire time, leading to one of the most intense Final Tribal Councils of all time. Good news for Austin is his 2 FTC partners were attacking each other while he went most of it unscathed.
15: Mearl (Season 30: Winners vs Losers), to be fair, he was voted out on Day 1. I would say this about Mearl’s win in Winners vs Losers. He was taken out Day 1 because of how massive of a threat he was in the game. Everyone knew coming in that he was a contender, and the quicker they took him out, the better. The problem is that Redemption Island played a huge role in his survival, as he would win every Duel en route to making a comeback at the merge. So, how did he manage to stay alive? When other big named winners were taken out, Mearl had one thing to say in confessional to me “they should have took me out when they had a chance, now they’re gonna pay for it”. He would of course go on his run to the end and managed to win once again.
14: Craeola (Season 47: Panama), this was definitely one of my favorite Final 2s i’ve had in this series. In terms of Panama as a season, it was really upper-tier but as this series had so many good ones, it ranked just outside of the Top 15. For Crae as a winner, like I said...everyone in here is worthy of the Top 10...but coming in at 14 isn’t a bad thing. He’s one of those few winners to actually be on the winning side of every single vote during a season(not sure exactly how many, but it’s less than 10). Then he won 3 challenges, including the last 2 which would place him in the finals. Luckily for him, a juror failed to vote and it came down to a tie breaker that resulted in him winning the game in as close of a margin as you can.
13: Survivor8 (Season 40: Malaysia), had you told me a few years ago i’d be including Mike in a “Winner Ranking”, I would have laughed at you...because I would have been shocked to see him play. When he first played in Blood vs Water, he and Lemjam6 were a force to be reckoned with as a pair. What is mind boggling is you fast forward a few months later, here they both are in a season again and somehow...they get to the FTC together again. Malaysia was the first game I recall votes changing literally minutes before the deadline, and so rapidly too. It happened a few times, but every time, Mike was able to avoid being the one to have his name come up. He only saw his name once after the merge, and he managed to win a few big challenges that got him to the end.
12: AndThenThereWasOne (Season 50: Battle of the Champions), it was indeed the story of a winner. As the final season began, there were a few names that I knew 100% were not going to win. Rhys was one of the top 3 on that list that I knew had zero shot of winning this season. He came into the game having the same issues his first go around, time zone being a major factor. That did not stop him from laying the groundwork for a social game. Despite him knowingly missing early challenges and not being able to strategize until about 12 hours post-challenge, he somehow managed to only see his name written down 1 time, and it was at the Final 5...in a game of 27 winners. The good news for Rhys is that being under the radar in a game filled with champions is perhaps the only way you can play and have a chance to win it all. While Rhys was playing the game alongside AndrewWeltner as a pair of swing votes, they managed to coast undetected and were able to power their way to the Finals, and it was indeed a photo finish for Rhys winning the game over Alex( Snails).
11: Gaiaphagee (Season 23: Caramoan), in 50 seasons, there has only been a single one where an entire tribe was wiped out before anyone on another tribe was eliminated. The 2nd Fans vs Favorites season was something special, as it featured some very good favorites and apparently some not so good fans. To put it in perspective, only 2 of the 10 fans would ever return and amount to anything in this series over the following 27 seasons. Back to the winner, Chris had perhaps lead the charge as one of the most hated yet beloved players in this series. You never knew what to expect from him, except maybe a reference to weed or marijuana. For Chris, despite him seeing his name written down countless times, his bond with Mearl proved to be one of the strongest in the history of this series, which was instrumental in both of them making it to the end of the season. Also, with a merge tribe named “Favorites”, how could it not be one of the more favorable wins of all time?
Cmack’s Survivor ran from August 2010 until June 2017. It featured hundreds of players over the course of 50 total seasons.
The following list will feature all 50 winners based on their individual game and where it ranks among the rest…
PART 3: 30-21
30: aiwfwyattroh (Season 28: Mexico), what is really interesting about this ranking is if I was ranking duos, your alliance with John( ALLIANCEGUY) was one of the most enjoyable pairings i’ve seen in all 50 seasons. I’d say the problem was that while you did win, you were never really a threat to anyone, and that is how you and John got to the end...plus, your odds increased greatly with the removal of Ami for being inactive at the finals.
29: mattkwon1 (Season 27: Egypt), one of my favorite multi-time finalists during Gen 2. Matt’s story arc is one that everyone could get behind, from finishing in 3rd place in 2 prior appearances and then finally getting to the end and winning in a 3rd FTC appearance. Also, one of the most likable winners.
28: Boots22 (Season 36: India), speaking of duos that rocked the game...everyone remembers the Sharcy alliance, right? Shoutout to TheEclipse who most people would say got robbed of at least a 2nd place finish, if not 1st. This was a really easy cast to manipulate, which made it easy for this pair to make it to the end.
27: hinata0014 (Season 6: Samoa), massive throwback to the infamous Final 4 tribal council in which jbmbb11 saved you and voted out BBlover96 (who would win the very next season). I’d say a lot of the reason you won the game was due to you being the last one standing from your original alliance and they were all on the jury waiting to vote for you.
26: jbmbb11 (Season 26: Caribbean), speaking of you...I remember how devastated you were when you realized you had a great chance to win in Samoa. Your countless failed attempts in the following few seasons resulted in you leaving the site only to return 20 seasons after your original #fail and you redeemed yourself by dominating the game.
25: bradyspaulding16/ CoachWade (Season 49: Last Chances), so you’d think with the way a 40 person game went and with how many massive tribal councils you had to survive without immunity, you’d be ranked higher. Here is the thing...despite walking into the FTC as a heavy favorite to win over the other finalists, it was somewhat of a disappointing FTC based on the players we had. That’s no knock to the Final 3 and what they did to get there, but based on the season...a lot of the move makers were voting for a winner at the finale.
24: DanieleD (Season 2: Heroes vs Villains), something about that first 5 winner stretch we had in this series that makes me think you’re one of the more iconic players in this whole series. I did this weird thing where I would have a “saboteur” in the game to coincide with the infamous BB12 season going on at the time. It was a very unique twist but had little to no effect on the game itself. Having said that, you still played a solid game and went on to become a finalist in a few later seasons.
23: RShowFreak (Season 8: Best vs Rest), much like another notable multi-time winner who had one of his wins ranked low, I had to do the same for you. Compared to your win in All-Stars, which is still to come...you got to play this game with a lot more knowledge of the other players and you were already walking in as someone that people still underestimated, despite being a 2-time finalist and a winner already. The cool thing for you is this game set the bar for people to fear you, and ever since...they have.
22: DrPepsi (Season 33: Philippines), I recall you claiming as soon as the game started that you were not going to lose this time. Did I believe you? Not really. I was expecting you to either go early pre-merge or for you to leave somewhere in the middle of the merge. Your “alliance” with Missy was one of my favorite ones to watch because you’d constantly be annoying each other on call while in the same room with one another. It was a fun pairing and an even more fun finale when somehow, you guys almost lost.
21: Missalice3 (Season 35: Morocco), Cam is going to hate me for putting you just ahead of him, but while you both played similar games both times...one thing is different about your win than his...you did it alone. You managed to survive being all on your own from early in the merge all the way to the end of the game when nobody thought you could win. You proved them all wrong.
Cmack’s Survivor ran from August 2010 until June 2017. It featured hundreds of players over the course of 50 total seasons.
The following list will feature all 50 winners based on their individual game and where it ranks among the rest…
PART 2: 40-31
40: futurewinner1 (Season 4: China), perhaps one of my favorite winners from the very early days in this series. Problem is he wasn’t as active as he could have been, but he was still looked at as a better option than the guy he sat next to.
39: Chantra1 (Season 29: Iceland), one of the more underrated winners in my opinion, that having to do with a season filled with a lot of big names and being deemed as a “last chance” style season before the end of Gen 2. Also, winning off a tie breaker was kind of a massive blow to this ranking.
38: Ronburt1 (Season 3: Fans vs Favorites), wait...someone beat RShow in a FTC in the early days? Yes, this was the guy that did it, and he did it as a fan! That’s all though, he didn’t do much else.
37: DEADBEATJONAH14 (Season 22: Gabon), entering the game as one of two returnees and somehow making it to the end with that other returnee proved to be a huge accomplishment...if only your castmates didn’t listen to their guts and vote you guys out.
36: GabCo (Season 11: Tengaged Rules), a season filled with some viewer interaction sounds like fun, but in reality, it only messed with the game as a whole. As someone who played a lot in the first 11 seasons, at least he finally won a season.
35: titan24maniac (Season 12: Jamaica), might be one of the more surprising spots in the bottom half. Pretty sure winning a season while banned from TG for more than ⅓ of the merge should be outlawed….yet somehow, you still got to the end and won.
34: GentlemanG (Season 24: Japan), a debut for one of my favorite players overall. He definitely came to play in Japan, and beat out “Jayshawna” by a single vote.
33: Piddu (Season 20: Mount Olympus), you’d think the winner of a 55 person game deserves to be a Top 10 finisher in this ranking, but Piddu’s gameplay in Mount Olympus was a bit UTR for a massive season like season 20. Clearly outshined by the other finalists in terms of flashy moves...but managed to sneak into the finale and pull off an upset.
32: TotsTrashy (Season 34: Cambodia), contrary to popular belief, this win, while paired with coming back from a massive merge deficit in numbers...was really the work of most of the others in the final 4 alliance. Plus, you sat next to probably one of the most hated players in 50 seasons.
31: alanb1 (Season 39: Africa), i’d say the lack of challenges won would cost you in this ranking seeing as you played a pretty solid game. You set yourself up nice in the FTC and managed to avoid sitting next to one of the largest threats in the season.
Cmack’s Survivor ran from August 2010 until June 2017. It featured hundreds of players over the course of 50 total seasons.
Along the way, 50 times, a player was crowned Sole Survivor. Here are some stats for you to sink your teeth into:
-1 player has won 3 times ( titan24maniac)
-7 players have won 2 times ( RShowFreak, GabCo, DEADBEATJONAH14, Gaiaphagee, Mearl, alanb1, and AndThenThereWasOne)
-33 players have won 1 time (way too many to tag here, they know who they are)
-Out of 50 FTCs, only 1 has ended in a unanimous vote for a winner ( Chastain)
-14 FTCs have featured one or more players that would lose and eventually win a future season.
-11 FTCs have been comprised of 2 or 3 previous or future winners of a season of Cmack’s Survivor.
-26 Survivors have been decided with all of the Jury votes being read, meaning it came down to “one vote left…”
-The largest cast featured 55 players
-The smallest cast featured 16 players (happened 15 times)
The following list will feature all 50 winners based on their individual game and where it ranks among the rest…
PART 1: 50-41
50: Brandt69 (Season 44: Congo), took me some time to figure out who among the bottom 3 was actually the worst winner. I’d say you just got the short end of the stick since your season was also one of the worst 3 overall.
49: CaptainTangerine (Season 16: Vengeance Island), not much of a memorable season or winner for that matter.
48: sarge455 (Season 18: Brazil), really not one of the most memorable seasons, despite it being one of the few “crossover” series done at that point. Gaia and Bingo still hold the best crossover game I can remember.
47: EmoPinata (Season 9: Cook Islands). I feel like i’ve crapped on CI way too much over the years, and that was just the lack of an active cast besides a handful of you. Still, you almost lost to a guy that never showed up to anything.
46: teamjacz (Season 41: Palau), this one might get me some hate, but it is likely because I feel that the far superior player in the game lost, convincingly in a 6-1 vote at the end. Still had a good season.
45: alanb1 (Season 42: Bolivia), first off...I didn’t even know you were going to play until about 2 hours before the season started. Was kinda hoping they’d vote you out early so I could crown a new winner...didn’t work.
44: jamessmith5 (Season 43: Indonesia), some would say you shouldn’t even be on this list due to the * next to your win. Within the context of the game, you did indeed lose...but as we all know, when the rules are as broken as they were, I had to crown a legit winner, and they voted for you instead.
43: ZeroToHero (Season 19: Idol Island), I know Austin(titan) is going to hate my guts for this ranking, but it is because of the unfair advantage you had by creating a completely new account and going off of that with your prior relationships. You didn’t cheat, but you sure as hell fooled everyone plus myself.
42: GabCo (Season 14: Guatemala), again, you were cast simply as a former winner because i’d assume nobody would let you get farther in the game. You did manage to win, but in a season filled with a lot of people that were blinded by playing with returning players.
41: @totallymicheal (Season 1: Battle of the Ages), the original champion. While I have the greatest thanks to you for starting a series that would last for what seemed like an eternity, your win was very close and you played a game hosted by a white level that had no idea what he was doing.
Cmack’s Survivor ran from August 2010 until June 2017. It featured hundreds of players over the course of 50 total seasons.
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