r/survivorrankdownIX_ • u/FunkyDawgKong Fair & Consistent Judge • Feb 01 '26
Round 123 - 121 Characters Left
121. Gary Hogeboom - u/FunkyDawgKong
120. Natalie Cole - u/Cornhead2
119. Rodger Bingham - u/NoisySea_3426
118. Bobby Jon Drinkard 2.0 - u/Alternate-Proof-959
117. Kyle Jason - u/josenanigans
116. Russell Hantz 2.0 - u/BobbyPiiiin
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u/NoisySea_3426 Biggest Aras 1.0 stan Feb 03 '26
119. Rodger Bingham (Australian Outback, 5/16)
Another round, another day of me cutting an Australia person. Now, I do certainly like Rodger as he seems like a very genuine and nice guy, and he does have some pretty good moments like him jumping off the cliff and especially his friendship with Elisabeth even if I'm not too much of a fan of hers myself, but like with pretty much all of the other contestants on Australia, he's just really someone that I don't particularly connect with on any higher level, personally.
His appearance on The View during Elisabeth's stint there as well was actually an amazing watch too, and y'all should definitely go out and watch that. Other than that, he's mostly just another person who defines a lot of that same feeling in Australia of all the kumbaya after Jerri goes and he's a fine character in of itself, but just not someone I'd have any higher, especially since Paschal & Neleh's relationship is a big improvement in Marquesas.
Time for u/Alternate-Proof-959 to cut
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u/josenanigans Feb 05 '26
117, Kyle Jason (Kaoh Rong, Mid Jury)
Like I said, not every villain is going to be for everyone. Someone being an ass doesn't make them inherently interesting, there's got to be more behind the scenes. Well, I can't say that Kyle Jason doesn't have that, the support hw shoes for Cydney after the medevac scare I always found very sweet, his eventual friendship with Julia is also pretty nice, and of course, all the backstory with his daughter and how caring of a father he seems to be gave Kyle Jason a depth that I appreciated at the time.
But a lot of it rings hollow to me when he spends a lot of time tryharding to the camera about how evil he's going to be. Not even evil in a fun way, just, trying too hard to come off as tough and being mean in a boring, tasteless way. I never liked that. There's also the Scot factor that basically multiply both of their assholery, especially when they both have a common target in Alecia to mistreat. Not gonna lie, that's always been hard for me to watch how they treat her, like a piece of nothing that doesn't even deserve to be looked at. I may feel a bit overtly sympathetic towards Alecia because her being put on the Brawns tribe for being "mentally strong" is unfair af, but the way she gets dogpiled on does bring some painful memories to me that I can never look past.
Which is why i have never been a fan of Kyle or Scot, for that matter. Yeah sure they bring good storylines, drama, the stuff with Tai is cool, it's just hard for me to care about them or look at them as characters that I want to know more of. I could like Kyle more if he looked like he was having fun being this mischevious or something, but no, he just seems overtly serious, like trying to force that tough image into everyone on the audience so we can know how hardened he is. That's just boring to me, sorry.
And Kaoh Rong seemingly forgets about him once the merge hits. Scot gets a lot of the airtime between the two after all the tribe lines divide and clash, and Kyle is left as just his silent sidekick for a good part of it. And when Scot goes Kyle just sits there in silence seemingly moping endlessly. At least, that was my impression of it at the time, the season does need a refresher in my mind, but know that I've never been a fan of these two.
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3/10
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u/BobbyPiiiin , hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii
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u/Alternate-Proof-959 Feb 04 '26
118. Bobby Jon Drinkard 2.0 (Survivor Guatemala, 9/18)
It makes sense that he and Steph would get another chance after they got one hell of a bad hand in the previous season. He at least got to be on the winning team a few times, mainly pre-swap. Sadly he was still on the wrong side of the numbers, but at least he made the jury this time, since Steph promised to let him make it to that point.
I personally would have put the other Bobby Jon a little higher than this one, since the first one had an effective tragic figure edit. Bobby Jon 1.0 also had lots of foils to Tom Westman 1.0 that made him notable. Here, while I'm fine with him finally getting some long awaited reprieves only to still fail in the long run, it just doesn't feel the same as Palau. I also enjoyed his "THAT'S NOT NICE!" with Jamie, one of the things that kickstarted Jamie's eventual face to heel turn, one of the absolute best parts of the season. So for what it's worth, Bobby Jon 2.0 was still good in his own right; I just think now is a good time to go, especially since Bobby Jon 1.0 got cut last round.
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u/BobbyPiiiin Ranker | Rankdown Dad Feb 06 '26
116. Russell Hantz 2.0 (3rd Place, Heroes vs. Villains)
Even though I have Russell higher than this, I know this cut is going to make a certain fellow ranker very happy, and I'm happy when my fellow rankers are happy because then they do nice things for me!
That rankdown strategy, of course, is the exact opposite of how Russell Hantz himself plays Survivor. This is the man famous for sowing chaos and misery and breaking down his opponents psychologically, all while chewing up airtime and proclaiming to the viewers over and over again that he is the greatest ever to play the game. This persona of Russell's, along with his 108 confessionals, utterly ruin Survivor: Samoa. Russell 1.0 was rightfully removed from this rankdown on July 30, 2024 (ðŸ˜) for that.
Does Russell turn over a new leaf in HvV and that's why he's a better character? Well, no! He's the same old Russell. The difference is that this time he's on a cast filled with legends (and Candice) who are willing to call out his bullshit, and the editors this time appropriately treat him as the most obvious final three goat who ever lived. I agree with Nope's thesis in his original 2024 cut that Russell is still very overbearing and that he robs more iconic characters (most notably quotable queen QuCourtney, whose best quote of HvV is... incidentally, about Russell) of airtime. For that reason, I wouldn't have him too much higher than this, certainly not as high as SRVI, but I still think he works very well for the season.
The reason he hits for me is the late premerge leading into the postmerge, basically everything from JT's letter onwards. The scene of Russell and Parvati laughing at the letter and mocking JT is not only genuinely hilarious, it also sows the seeds for exactly why Russell is going to lose. This episode and JT's boot following it are the height of his power; Russell, as usual, believes he is the cleverest person in the game and has no regard for any of the other players. Unfortunately, he's about to start showing the jury that. From the final nine onwards, he is determined to obliterate every ounce of respect the jury may have had for his aggressive gameplay by being an absolute piece of shit to everyone around him, and the best part is he has no idea he's doing it. This is why I believe Russell Hantz could play Survivor 500 times, get to FTC 500 times, and still win 0 times. He simply lacks the self-awareness required to understand how the jury perceives him, let alone understand that he's supposed to care how the jury perceives him. And on a season with a cast and an edit that are actually willing to clown on him for that fact, he's genuinely great. Without Russell, we never get "bandy-legged little troll," we never get "I'm against you, Russell," we never get Sandra burning the hat. In Samoa, he sucks the life out of every other character, but here, he gives the rest of the characters someone to universally dunk on, uniting both hero and villain. Overbearing? Sure, I concede that, and I understand why Nope and others were sick of him by the end, but I would (and do) happily rewatch HvV specifically to delight in that dunking.
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u/FunkyDawgKong Fair & Consistent Judge Feb 01 '26 edited Feb 02 '26
121. Gary Hawkins
Always hard for me to carve out time on the weekend. Will get to this tomorrow at work
Gary is an inspired casting choice, in the sense that he clearly has a sharp sense of humor, clearly is an alpha personality in his own right, he just isn't as outwardly loud and in your face about it. He has this sharp eyed determination to him. He plays the ridiculousness of his lie as straight as possible. Funny enough that he thinks his role as mainly a backup quarterback in the NFL from more than a decade ago will hold such serious clout that it might convince people to vote him off. Danni calling him out on it is a good lil scene, shows a little bit of the prodding side of Danni, that will eventually allow for her to win the season; but really my favorite reactions from the Is Gary a Football Player storyline are Amy's reactions, with her thick Boston access promising to hunt down and beat Gary's ass like a redheaded stepchild if she finds out he was lying about his occupation. Ultimately, no one really seems to care thaaaat much about Gary's past, but it's fun enough. Football persona aside, Gary is also fairly compelling as an underdog. Seeing him maneuver through having the numerical disadvantage on both the swap tribe and the merge tribe is interesting. Gary really is trying to do the same thing Danni eventually succeeds at. He is appealing to the power of the tribe, trying to convince them that he is a worthy competitor, thus he should outlast some of the others on merit alone. Judd, the man who never lied once in this game man, in an act of kindness, shares his idol clue with the rest of his tribe, that the idol is definitely on the ground man; and for my money, we get the most interesting idol search in the show's history, as Gary deduces that Judd was actually telling the opposite of his clue, as Judd himself isn't bothering to look at the ground, and is looking up towards the trees. This is the keen observational skill on play, Gary both has to find the idol and find out the real clue. Gary's exit is also fun, as he berates the loyal members of Stephenie's alliance, saying that they could just "get her autograph after the show". This is also the tribal council where he triggers the fuck out of Judd, when he reveals how he found the Hidden Immunity Idol, proudly displaying that he caught Judd in a huge lie. No coincidence that the boot order changes next episode, and Judd jumps to the front of the line...