Since Survivor premiered in the year 2000, hundreds of people have played on Jeff Probst’s beloved reality show. Even new fans who are figuring out which seasons to watch first should already know that some of those players have influenced the show in a big way. After all, there is no denying that most players want to play like the show’s best players in hopes that they will become one of the greatest winners during one of the most popular seasons.

After becoming one of Survivor’s most popular players, Tony Vlachos has had so much influence that fans care what he thinks about “Boston” Rob Mariano. Sadly, it is the fact that viewers care when Tony does things like call Parvati Shallow out that allowed him to break Survivor with his influence.

How Tony Vlachos Broke Survivor

Widely regarded as the King of Survivor, Tony Vlachos is one of only two people who’ve won the show twice. As a result, there is absolutely no denying that Tony deserves a lot of respect for what he accomplished during his Survivor tenure.

As a fan of Survivor who has seen every season of the show, Tony also happens to be my all-time favorite player. Despite that, I have to admit that Tony’s influence on Survivor broke the reality show in two specific ways.

The reason why Tony was able to break Survivor has to do with an advantage that was in the game when he won his first season.

During Survivor: Cagayan, Tony won the season after finding a very special immunity idol. The so-called superidol that Tony found allowed him to use it after the votes were read. That meant that as long as Tony had the idol, and it remained active, it was impossible for him to be voted out.

That supreme level of safety allowed Tony to take risks, which made Survivor: Cagayan extremely entertaining. While that was wonderful during Survivor: Cagayan, it seems very clear that Tony’s antics were a bad thing for the seasons that followed. The success of Tony’s antics are what broke Survivor in two ways, because many people took the wrong lessons.

The first way that Tony broke Survivor is because of one group of people who appeared to learn the wrong lesson from his Survivor: Cagayan’s success, the show’s production team.

For many years, Survivor was a much more simple game than the version of it that exists now. However, after immunity idols were introduced, twists and advantages have become rampant on the show. Any Survivor fan who feels there are too many twists should look to Tony’s Survivor: Cagayan success as the origin of that problem.

To be clear, Survivor had introduced several unpopular twists before Survivor: Cagayan. However, bad twists that broke the mechanics of the game would face a backlash from the viewers and they would soon disappear.

When Yul Kwon found an idol that had the same powers as the one that Tony had, many fans hated it. As a result, it took a long time for a twist that was so overpowering to be introduced to Survivor again. However, Survivor fans loved Tony so much that there were very few complaints about his overpowered idol.

In theory, the fact that fans didn’t complain about Tony’s superidol could be unrelated to what happened next. However, it would be a huge coincidence if that was the case, because it was after Survivor: Cagayan that an abundance of overpowered twists became a problem.

By April 2018, Survivor was adding so many twists that viewers were expressing their frustrations. The discontent was so obvious that Jeff Probst spoke to Decider at that time, defending the twists by saying that each was introduced with a specific idea in mind. “As you said each one of them, I knew exactly why it was in the show right now. There was a reason for it.” In the years since then, more and more twists have been introduced, with far too many breaking the game. That very likely is because Tony’s first win convinced the team behind the show that overpowered twists are entertaining.

The second group of people that Tony’s Survivor: Cagayan win negatively affected were many of the players that came after him.

The reason why Tony influencing so many other Survivor players is a problem is that they sought to recreate his chaotic style.

After Tony won Survivor: Cagayan, there was a belief that winning the show was all about big moves. It was understandable that many players felt that way after seeing Tony doing things like hiding and spying to listen to his tribemates.

However, there was something that people who took that lesson didn’t seem to notice. When they were obsessing over building their Survivor resumes, those players ignored that Tony was uniquely charismatic and he seemed to have an endless work ethic. As a result of his leadership qualities and because he was always thinking, he could influence people to accept his over-the-top Survivor gameplay.

Unfortunately, so many players wanting to recreate Tony’s magic broke Survivor in another way. As a result of Tony’s influence on the seasons that followed, fans have had to watch players flail as they try to create their own big moves. That isn’t what Survivor fans want from the beloved reality show.

The Lessons That Tony Vlachos Taught That Were Perfect But Ignored

After Tony Vlachos won Survivor: Cagayan, he returned for Survivor: Game Changers and flopped after trying to play in the same chaotic way. Throughout Survivor history, even some of the best players have failed to mix things up. For example, “Boston” Rob Mariano tries to take control of every reality show he appears on and he attempts to destroy anyone he believes has turned against him. However, when Tony returned for Survivor: Winners at War, he set the example that other players really should learn from.

During Survivor: Winners at War, Tony completely changed how he played. After previously being larger than life, Tony adapted and made himself a background player.

Tony was so convincing that even his tribemates, who were widely respected former winners, overlooked him. Then, when the time was right, Tony turned his leadership skills back on, took control of the season and was named the Sole Survivor a second time.

Instead of Tony’s Survivor: Cagayan win influencing future players, it is his Survivor: Winners at War success that should define his legacy. After all, Tony becoming so adaptable is the most impressive thing he did on Survivor.

Most importantly for fans, if Survivor players sought to be like Tony during Survivor: Winners at War, that would make the competition fierce and extremely entertaining.

Survivor

Release Date

May 31, 2000

Network

CBS

Showrunner

Jeff Probst

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