LogFAQs > #876804887

15. Tony Vlachos (Survivor: Cagayan)

Honestly, Tony should PROBABLY be down in the “beat the only endgame combination he could” category. BUT by sheer virtue of the season having an unexpected final 2, I have to admit he would’ve beaten Kass OR Woo, and more than likely makes the final two in any scenario. So I moved him up to a higher tier accordingly. I won’t overrate him or anything; he’s still closer to the bottom of this tier than anything else…but I’ll give him some well-deserved props for managing to accomplish the feats that he did.

Tony was definitely in a leadership position throughout Cagayan, despite being a bit paranoid and crazy at times. I think we can all agree that without Trish, he’s nowhere near as successful because she was his social game, and she managed to smooth over a lot of the damage he did throughout the post-merge. Still, I think Tony made some very good moves, flipped when he needed to, and got out the exact players he needed at the exact times he needed. A mistimed immunity win could’ve fucked him over, sure, but he still did a damn good job most of the time.

Getting rid of Morgan endeared him to the minority while it also kept a trio of threats in the game that needed to be focused upon before the target would shift to himself. Booting LJ prevented another alpha male from swooping in and taking control, and booting Jefra eliminated a perceived goat. While these two decisions pissed off his allies, Tony created a situation where they had no other options than to stick with him while he trimmed out the biggest threats to his own dominance. And he even allowed Trish to go when needed, getting rid of the person who could claim a lot of credit for his success.

Again, I mentioned that Tony could only win a final three against Kass/Woo, which is the set-up he tried for. That hurts him in my eyes because it exposes the flaws of his ultra-strategic game and comparatively weak social game. Still, he played a solid enough game to get Woo to pull a Colby and take him to the end over a slam dunk victory in Kass, so I give him credit (also, it’s decisions like these that emphasize why the fuck we need final twos over stupid fucking final threes.) It balances out a little bit in that regard. Also, I dislike the Tyler Perry idol in general. I think it created too much comfort by removing the very paranoia surrounding playing an idol in the first place.

So yeah, Tony’s a fun player to watch and he made good moves, but I think he was fortunate things shook out the way they did. If there’d been a final three in Cagayan and anyone outside of the Kass/Woo/Tony trio made the endgame, I think he loses and people call him just another Russell. I don’t think he’s anywhere near that bad, but he would be viewed far less favorably than he is now.
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