The Perfect Game is a rare feat in Survivor gameplay. It is achieved when a Sole Survivor receives no elimination votes, and then receives a unanimous jury vote at Final Tribal Council in a single season.
Because of the ambiguous definition of "no elimination votes" in seasons in which Hidden Immunity Idols are in play, some definitions of the term do not consider elimination votes voided by an idol as votes received by the player. Some other definitions also include the Fan Favorite Award for seasons in which it was awarded, but neither are a commonly accepted part of the achievement.
Outside of the United States, certain seasons would have a final challenge instead of a jury vote that someone with no votes cast against them would need to win in order to achieve a Perfect Game. Additionally, certain seasons would have a jury vote in order to determine who would advance to the last stage of the game. In these cases, someone with no votes cast against them would need to receive a unanimous positive vote from the jury or avoid receiving any negative votes from the jury in order to achieve a Perfect Game, depending on the procedure.
History[]
Since the series began, only two Sole Survivors have been credited with this achievement.
- In Survivor: Tocantins, J.T. Thomas played a perfect game. He received no votes against him at Tribal Council and received all 7 jury votes at the Final Tribal Council to beat out Stephen Fishbach. He also won the Fan Favorite Award, as voted by the viewers.
- John Cochran replicated the feat in Survivor: Caramoan, where he received 8 votes from the jury at the Final Tribal Council against opponents Dawn Meehan and Sherri Biethman, while not having any votes cast against him throughout the season. Unlike J.T., Cochran did not win the Fan Favorite Award, which eventually went to Malcolm Freberg.
One other Sole Survivor is also sometimes credited as playing a perfect game, but does not fit this wiki's definition of the term.
- In Survivor: Cambodia, Jeremy Collins won in a 10-0-0 over Spencer Bledsoe and Tasha Fox vote without receiving any counted votes throughout the season, as he received three votes on Day 36 that were voided by a Hidden Immunity Idol.
List of Sole Survivors by Closeness to Perfect Game[]
Per this wiki's definition of "votes received", votes voided by Hidden Immunity Idols and votes received at revotes are listed in the column but footnoted.
Trivia[]
- Four castaways have fallen one vote short of a perfect game, either by receiving one vote at Tribal Council or by receiving all but one vote from the jury:
- Sandra Diaz-Twine lost Tijuana Bradley's jury vote in Pearl Islands.
- Tom Westman lost Coby Archa's jury vote in Palau.
- Earl Cole received one elimination vote from Rita Verreos in Fiji.
- Mike Gabler lost James Jones's jury vote in Survivor 43.
- During the Fiji Reunion Show, host Jeff Probst said that Earl is the first Sole Survivor to play a perfect game. However, Probst had forgotten about Rita's vote against him.
- Ben Driebergen in Heroes vs. Healers vs. Hustlers played the most "imperfect" game of any Sole Survivor, receiving 14 votes against him: 11 votes throughout the game (9 of which were voided by two Hidden Immunity Idols), and 3 votes lost at the Final Tribal Council.
- Natalie White in Samoa played the most "imperfect" game of any female Sole Survivor, receiving 10 votes against her: 8 votes throughout the game, and 2 votes lost at the Final Tribal Council.
- Three Sole Survivors have received all of the jury votes at the Final Tribal Council of their season, but received at least one vote against them at a prior Tribal Council.
- Earl Cole received 1 vote against him during Fiji.
- Jeremy Collins received 3 votes against him during Cambodia, although all of these votes were voided by the use of a Hidden Immunity Idol.
- Adam Klein received 6 votes against him during Millennials vs. Gen X.
- Nine Sole Survivors have reached the Final Tribal Council without receiving any votes against them, but lost at least one jury vote.
- Lost 1 Jury Vote: Sandra Diaz-Twine (Pearl Islands, won 6-1), Tom Westman (Palau, won 6-1), Mike Gabler (Survivor 43, won 7-1-0)
- Lost 2 Jury Votes: Ethan Zohn (Africa, won 5-2)
- Lost 3 Jury Votes: Tina Wesson (The Australian Outback, won 4-3), Brian Heidik (Thailand, won 4-3), Natalie Anderson (San Juan del Sur, won 5-2-1), Nick Wilson (David vs. Goliath, won 7-3-0)
- Lost 4 Jury Votes: Tony Vlachos (Winners at War, won 12-4-0)
- Nine castaways have reached the Final Tribal Council without receiving any votes against them, but failed to win the title of Sole Survivor.
- Lost 4 Jury Votes: Kelly Wiglesworth (Borneo, lost 4-3)
- Lost 5 Jury Votes: Courtney Yates (China, lost 4-2-1), Austin Li Coon (Survivor 45, lost 5-3-0)
- Lost 6 Jury Votes: Amanda Kimmel (China, lost 4-2-1), Coach Wade (South Pacific, lost 6-3-0)
- Lost 7 Jury Votes: Sugar Kiper (Gabon, lost 4-3-0), Michael Skupin (Philippines, lost 6-1-1), Lisa Whelchel (Philippines, lost 6-1-1)
- Lost 9 Jury Votes: Gavin Whitson (Edge of Extinction, lost 9-4-0)
- The first Perfect Game in the Survivor franchise was achieved by Elaine de Melo in No Limite 1.
- Perfect Games were also achieved by Jonny Gibb of Survivor: Panama (UK), Michael Björklund of Robinson 2020, Nataša Kondić of Survivor Hrvatska & Srbija 2023, and Olivia Lindegren of Robinson 2024.
- Chris Daugherty holds the distinction of being the Sole Survivor that had the possibility of a perfect game diminished earliest in the game, receiving 3 votes on Day 3.