Throughout the history of Survivor, many fans of Jeff Probst’s beloved reality show have developed strong opinions about the show. Aside from new fans who are figuring out which seasons to watch first, most viewers have opinions about the best players, the greatest seasons, and the winners they respect. In fact, it seems like some fans like to debate every aspect of the show aside from facts like some players have refused to return and who was medically evacuated first.

One Survivor player that many of the show’s fans have the same opinion about is Angelina Keeley. After she created several memorable moments during her first season, Angelina has developed an infamous reputation among many fans. Despite that reputation, Angelina’s Survivor 50: In the Hands of the Fans tribemates need to take her very seriously because she is more of a threat than many fans realize.

Why Some Survivor Fans May Not Take Angelina Keeley Seriously

When people think about the best Survivor players ever, it is names like Sandra Diaz-Twine, “Boston” Rob Mariano, Tony Vlachos, and Parvati Shallow who come to mind. However, there is another group of Survivor players who’ve gone down in the show’s history, the people who are remembered for their unique personalities.

When Survivor fans think of people like Abi-Maria Gomes, Phillip Sheppard, Benjamin “Coach” Wade, and Debbie Wanner, they don’t envision their strategic moves. Instead, all of those players are unforgettable for Survivor fans because of their over-the-top personalities.

Just like all those people who have very different personalities from other players and each other, Angelina Keeley holds a unique place in Survivor history. Remembered for a series of incredible moments, Angelina’s antics have made some Survivor fans not take her seriously.

In terms of Angelina’s legacy, there is one moment that most defines how Survivor fans perceive her even years after it first aired.

As a result of entering the game without a jacket, Angelina was very cold at night. That led to Angelina trying to get Natalie Cole’s jacket after her tribemate was voted out. To do that, Angelina tried to convince Natalie she was on her side and refused to vote against her. However, Angelina wasn’t on her side and even was excited that Natalie was going to be voted out beacuse she wanted the jacket.

After Natalie was voted out, Angelina stood and asked the question she is best remembered for. “Natalie, can I have your jacket?” Unfortunately for Angelina, Natalie saw through her manipulation and completely ignored the request. That left Angelina standing and memorably looking foolish as Natalie walked away.

Another one of the defining moments of Angelina’s legacy centered around her attempt to get rice for her tribe.

Before a challenge began, Angelina spoke up to tell Jeff Probst that her tribe was nearly out of rice. Angelina then tried to lowball as she spoke quickly about what the tribe was willing to offer Jeff in return for more rice. While Angelina tried hard when she first spoke up, her offer was instantly rejected by Jeff as some of her tribemates shook their head at her efforts.

The footage of Angelina looking hopeful just before Jeff openly mocked her offer also has become a big part of her legacy.

Another one of the moments that Angelina is remembered for came near the end of Survivor: David vs. Goliath. After getting to enjoy a meal and wine during a reward, Angelina found out that there was an advantage up for grabs that she would need a ladder to get.

That led to a clearly inebriated Angelina climbing that ladder as Mike White laughed at her antics. It was another example of the silly-looking Angelina moments that came to define how she was perceived by Survivor fans.

Between those three moments and others, Angelina built a reputation among many Survivor fans.

While it is wonderful that memories of Angelina bring smiles to the faces of many Survivor fans, it is a mistake to not take her seriously as a player and person.

Why Angelina Keeley’s Survivor 50: In The Hands Of The Fans Should Take Her Very Seriously As A Threat

On top of how entertaining Angelina Keeley clearly was when she first played Survivor, she also showed how intelligent she was. In fact, even one of Angelina’s most infamous moments should be noted as a reason why the cast of Survivor 50: In the Hands of the Fans should fear her.

In December 2018, Reality Blurred published an article about Angelina’s memorable rice negotiation. That article included several of Angelina’s posts on X, the website then known as Twitter. In her posts, Angelina laid out her sound thinking about how she conducted the rice negotiation and how successful it actually was. For example, Angelina explained why she made a weak opening offer.

“My starting offer was low, bc everything I offered upfront had little to no value to us: fishing gear (we caught 0 🐠 despite trying), the majority of the cooking supplies except a small & a large pan (everything else we didn’t use), the chairs (broken), sitting hammock (luxury)”

Angelina explained in another post why she acknowledged that her first offer was weak when Jeff rejected it. “The reason I acknowledged that it was a low starting offer after @JeffProbst said it was: because Jeff is a very smart guy and I wasn’t going to insult his intelligence by not acknowledging this to be true. I also didn’t want him to walk away from the negotiation.”

Angelina followed that up by detailing what the tribe decided they were willing to give up, at most, for the rice. ‘Our negotiation ceiling (which was discussed and agreed to by the entire tribe): my starting offer + 2 tarps + all of our blankets and pillows + the main hammock + our raft + 3 individuals sit out of immunity.” For those that don’t know, the negotiation ended with Angelina’s tribe getting rice in return for her sitting out of one challenge. The last post of Angelina’s that Reality Blurred included in the article explained why she felt she ultimately made a great deal for her tribe to get rice. “The accepted offer: one individual immunity foregone (me), and we got to keep everything else. All our blankets, tarps, cooking supplies, fishing gear, etc. That’s a steal in my book. @JeffProbst has made people pay FAR more in the past. #Survivor“

Another part of Angelina’s Survivor: David vs. Goliath experience also points to why she should be taken seriously. When the season aired, Angelina was criticized for tricking her tribemate Alison with a fake idol because people felt she unnecessarily embarrassed her. While talking to Entertainment Weekly in December 2018, Angelina explained she created the fake idol for strategic reasons, like having a big move to point to. However, Angelina also admitted that she created the fake idol in part to get revenge on her tribemate Alison.

“The emotional part was Alison had been coming at me incessantly from the beginning of the merge, and she threw the first four or five punches with different comments and things that she would do to try to undermine my game. And I really did have chances to take her out and I didn’t. And regardless of that, she just never wanted to repair the relationship. And so, basically to me, it’s like, yeah, there was a little bit of vengeance in it. And you do get emotional. You tell yourself you’re not going to. You tell yourself you’re gonna have control and separate it. But, at the end of the day, I felt like she threw the first four punches, and I threw the last.”

Knowing that Angelina is a player with a history of getting revenge in the game is reason enough for her to be taken very seriously.

Another reason to take Angelina seriously is because she understands Survivor better than most players. After all, a May 2020 purplerockpodcast.com article credits Angelina for being influential because she was the first player to bring up a topic on the show. During her first season, Angelina started the discussion on the show about men finding a lot more idols and advantages than women.

The fact that Angelina understood the importance of that topic and was willing to broach that kind of matter are other reasons why Angelina deserves respect.