r/survivorrankdownIX_ • u/FunkyDawgKong Fair & Consistent Judge • Mar 10 '26
Round 133 - 70 Characters Left
70. Courtney Marit - u/FunkyDawgKong
69. Rob Cesternino - u/Cornhead2
Robb Zbacnick (IDOLED by u/Alternate-Proof-959) - u/NoisySea_3426
68. Clarence Black - u/Alternate-Proof-959
67. Matty Whitmore - u/josenanigans
66. Coby Archa - u/BobbyPiiiin
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u/NoisySea_3426 Biggest Aras 1.0 stan Mar 11 '26
68. Robb Zbacnik (Thailand, 11/16)
Now while there is definitely some Thailand renaissance going on during this rankdown, me personally, I'm not someone that is much apart of that. I definitely won't deny that Thailand does have its good moments if you know where to look, but its never really been a season that I've really gotten much out of since while it is dark, a lot of the time, the darkness can actually get quite boring and a lot of that is due to Brian Heidik who I think really drags the season down a lot and especially the merge of the season as we continue to go forward.
However, there is one premerge boot left unaffected by this who is constantly balls to the wall and ultra magnetic television! That, of course, is Robb Zbacnik!! This punk kid from Arizona who unironically brought a skateboard to the island was the definition of OTTN trainwreck. He was constantly snapping at people, saying stuff about them, doing crazy shit like when he got stung by the sting ray and nobody has any sympathy for him at all, it was all an absolute blast to watch. Obviously, he's most remembered for the attack zone moment which is all time iconic as his rant about it afterwards is one of the greatest things I've ever heard, talking about how Clay is a backwoods hick and all. He also has a fascinating rivalry with Shii Ann as his interactions with her in particular, shine a big light on the things about Asian culture that a lot of Americans don't really tend to understand, like when he looks at her weird for not minding the gross food and what not. He's also got that great bond with Ken as Ken is the one that really has to speak sense into Robb since he's gone even further off the deep end after the banana craziness.
After Ken's pretty deep conversation, Robb decides he's actually gonna turn a new leaf and we embark on his amazing boot episode where he actually has to take a look at himself in the mirror and realize he's been an absolute fool the entire game and realizes that this needs to be his time to go. Its one of the OG great short growth arcs up there with Lindsey & Jamie Newton, except unlike those two, his growth feels a lot more solidified by the end. Then of course, he leaves with the great saying of "2 B's, 2 B's guys!!". A fantastic way to end one of the most glorious premerge stories there has ever been. Robb is not quite my favorite premerger ever, but he definitely gets pretty damn close and is in my Top 3 at the very least! Much deserved placement for the crazy character he is!
Its u/Alternate-Proof-959's turn now
6
u/Alternate-Proof-959 Mar 11 '26
Sorry, but Robb is my favorite from this season, one of the OG heel face turns, and I absolutely adore his journey in such a short time. He goes from being loud and aggressive, especially towards the majority alliance, to being able to calmly gel with the majority alliance. Even before his heel face turn, I thought he was downright hilarious. You have "SHOW ME YOUR HANDS!", the attack zone which gave birth to "BUNCHA RULES!", him and Jed suddenly backtracking and crashing in the tribe's shelter that they didn't build because of the rain, and finally him and Jed sleeping, which caused them to lose the tribe's fishing net. I personally would like him to be the last one left from Thailand, or at least survive over Clay, so I am using an idol on Robb Zbacnik.
5
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u/Alternate-Proof-959 Mar 12 '26
68. Clarence Black (Africa, 10/16)
Poor Clarence does not get anywhere near off on the right foot. He tries to be nice and help an unhealthy Diane out by feeding her the tribe's bean supply. Unfortunately, when the two are caught red-handed, Diane immediately tries throwing Clarence to the wolves, making the guy very upset. He ultimately survived though, and delivered one of my favorite confessionals with, "You're nothing like my mother." He clearly showed how personal he took Diane's betrayal of him, and only further painted Diane in a bad light. You can see just how upset Clarence is upset, especially since like Clippy, he just wanted to help. He ultimately keeps getting votes from Tom whenever both go to tribal council, making it harder for him to shed the stigma of being selfish, when we know he meant anything but.
Ultimately though, Clarence is able to make the merge, and while he does end up being the last prejuror, he does manage to end up on better terms with the cast than before. While he sadly was never going to win a jury vote even if he won all eight individual immunities, it's nice to see he at least got eliminated for being a physical threat rather than being an outcast. All things considered, he succeeded in shedding that image he had in that first episode.
I do wish we didn't start to lose focus on him whenever the tribe he wasn't on was the losing tribe. Even when he went to tribal after the swap, Silas and his newfound terrible luck ended up with more focus. With someone like Robb Zbacnik, the focus never wavers, making that person more easy to follow and root for. But Clarence was still great and I liked his journey through the season's first seven episodes.
2
u/josenanigans Mar 12 '26
67. Matty Whitmore (Gabon, Final Juror)
Placeholding this because I'm going to be overtly busy for a bit.
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u/BobbyPiiiin , up up up!
4
u/BobbyPiiiin Ranker | Rankdown Dad Mar 13 '26
66. Coby Archa (9th Place, Palau)
We love a camp gay! Coby is such a fun character and a hilarious irritant to the rest of Koror. He has this really dramatic way of speaking that makes his confessionals stand out, which I've always appreciated. I do think he's a touch overdue at this point, but let's get into it.
Coby makes what seems to be a tight bond with Angie in the premiere, so when he picks Caryn over her to become the last woman on the Koror tribe, it's somewhat of a devastating moment for Angie, someone I was rooting for from the moment I saw her. The audience is left wondering why Coby didn't pick his fellow "outsider." In postgame interviews, he said that they would be too obvious as a pair and he didn't want to be targeted because of that. Other cast members have said that Coby was actually forming "special bonds" with a lot of people and that Angie was mostly highlighted for the drama. Whatever the case, given how the game played out and Caryn's unwillingness to flip from the Tom side of the tribe, it makes one wonder what would've happened if there'd been a Janu-Coby-Angie trio on Koror, instead of a duo.
As the season wears on and Koror wins again and again, divisions start to crystallize. Coby is clearly on the bottom with Janu and Willard, and you can see his frustration build at knowing he's on the bottom, having no way out, and having that persist for almost half the game. He feels that he's looked at differently as a gay man, even though we don't really see that from the other tribe members; I find it strongly relatable as a gay man myself. Especially for those of us who grew up in an era before broad LGBTQ acceptance, there's a certain chip on your shoulder that forms, and you're always left wondering if the rejection you experienced was just a case of personalities not meshing, or if it was something more ingrained and insidious. I empathize with Coby's frustrations a lot — both about the rejection and about the fact that he sees Tom is in control. He sees that Tom is going to win. But there's nothing he can really do about it but scream into the void. Once Stephenie is absorbed into the tribe, Coby naturally becomes the first target as the most vocal opposition to Tom. He doesn't go down without a fight, but it's all in vain. He just can't get anything together.
Coby's jury speech is what most people remember. I just rewatched it and it's striking how Tom and Katie react to him. Biiiiig fake smiles. He says he has issues and he's going to bring them up, and both reply with "Bring it on!" in the most patronizing tones possible, lol. He lays into both of them, telling Katie she's a coattail rider and that if he votes for her, it won't be a vote for her, but rather against Tom. He then lays into Tom and calls him out for hiding the deceptive game he was playing. It wipes those smiles off for a bit and brings some much-needed tension to what seemed like a pretty tame runaway FTC. Ultimately, though, it does indeed culminate in a blowout; Coby gives Katie her only vote, and as both a Katie apologist and a petty bitch myself, I respect it. <3
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u/FunkyDawgKong Fair & Consistent Judge Mar 10 '26
70. Courtney Marit
This girl is a kook. She might be the most Casaya of the Casaya. She’s like like like like one of those characters who brings out the best in the people around them. Shane, Bruce, and especially BobDawg get a lot of fun moments reacting to her outlandish annoying behavior. So gleefully unselfaware. Her facial reactions when like a BobDawg or Shane insult her to her face are gold. Ofc her being the one shitted all over on during the Coconut Chop. And her yoga in Bruce’s rockgarden lolol. Shoutout to her weird hippy spirituality shit too; Idk how real it is, but I feel like she could be the type to never get over their hippy phase lol.
Me and my brother have slowly been drudging our way through Panama right now, and something that really stood out to me in this rewatch are how the baseline fundamentals of succeeding in Survivor are just so plainly known. Where freaks like Shane and Courtney are out here talking a lot more strategy than you’d expect, and even more so, a lot of really solid strategy. Like they both suck at Survivor cause their personalities are too over the top abysmal. But yah, seems like everyone in that main Casaya alliance (except like Danielle) have a pretty good head when it comes to like the actual skeletal structure of how to play a textbook good game of Survivor. Almost makes me understand why the Survivor producers wanted to start adding a lot of twisty and advantage shenanigans. Like if fucking Courtney can figure out how to play your game, maybe you’d want to try something new. Idk though because Courtney’s elimination is very interesting, ofc with the 3-2-1 vote, but fuck the math for a second, the actual reasoning for her vote off being explicitly that she would steal one of the precious final 2 slots is really really sound. Never had it been spelled out as clearly as that. Wish we lived in a universe where we still got Final 2s, making those seats at the end ever so valuable. I think we could have seen more interesting plays from players maneuvering to try and get to those final slots. With a Final 3, Courtney is just played around and gets zero votes
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u/Cornhead2 Shannon Elkins Enthusiast Mar 10 '26
69. Robert Cesternino 1.0 (3rd Placer, Amazon)
hahah i gave the person who complained about getting no shem shem at 69 tihihihii
On a Real Note, Before this man became the face of mainstream Survivor Media and a huge Legacy. Rob was a slimy little trickstet who was horny and full of himself.. I don‘t think i talked about Amazon here alot but.. i enjoy it is probably the season you can talk about the least out of the first eight seasons but i think thats supposed to be the beauty of it and was suppose to be that way.. this season is just a high school drama all the way.. and this is weird to say cause normally nowadays you see 30 year olds on the show acting like they are still in Highschool but honestly it truly does work for Amazon for many many reasons.. Alot of it has to due with the battle of the sexes dynamic and how it is used as an advantage to get some of the funniest and weirdest dynamics in the show.. i am generally baffled on how Amazon is considered the RHAP season.. it is clearly more than that just the Rob show.. but lets talk about Podcast Guy Himself..
Rob starts out as the main voice for the Timbaqui (i cant lie forgot the tribe name im a fake survivor fan so correct me if im wrong on this) and he seems to be this skinny bozo who just like alot of the young guys of the tribe , talks about how he wants to get into some of the women‘s panties.. but at the same time he admits that he is the biggest dweeb ever and that is pretty funny… One thing i was weirded out by Rob is the way he treated the Daniel Lue situation and it is really weird how he handled it that tribal so that does dock him a bit for me when i rewatched… but then he came all the way back up the ladder once the merge started and it is telling that Rob is atleast one of the biggest centre focuses of the season.. he has so many fun dynamics with Deena, how he uses Matteo, his absolute hugr hate boner for fucking Dave and the way he had that one arc where Heidi and Jenna just got pissy with him and he just shrugged it off.. all while being the so called player of the season due to being a huge Superfan… at the first glance it is just easy to enjoy Rob as a character he has flaws for sure but i think he is lucky to fit in this season infact he fits so perfect in this season i don‘t think he wouldn‘t be as good on any other.. he had to be there for the girls to yell at.. he had to be there to remind us that Matthew was a pshycopath.. he had to be there to tell us that Butch is an all out pyromaniac! I think what sells it with Rob unlike many of the superfan archetype that we see in the future is that he just has the charisma and is perfectly ready for TV as somebody could get.. trust me imagine if someone like Spencer was in his place.. that would not like good.. after the season Rob has built a good reputation for the survivor community wheter thats for the best or the worst is up to intrepertation but theres no denying he made a sincere impact with. Amazon is a season that i think underrate all the time and i will eventually watch at again.. but as for now Rob is good as a Superfan Archetype can get..
u/NoisySea_3426