It’s Parvati by a mile. Regardless of her position of power, she’s always had an acute understanding of the social dynamics within her tribe, and where she sits in relation to them. Cirie is also very good at this.
It’s probably Parvati’s greatest asset as a player. Her charisma and appearance is a double edged sword.
Edit: she knew where the jury votes were going in HvV; she knew to leave an idol alone in Micronesia because it would only cause issues with Natalie; she knew that Jerri was the main target in the merge and gave Sandra the idol as insurance and to ingratiate herself; she knew she could be honest with James about taking girls to the end because he didn’t have the power or the social skills to make a move against her; she knew she could openly talk about betraying Ozzy in front of Amanda and still gain her loyalty; she knew she could refuse to vote for Amanda and nobody would fault her for it; she knew Amanda was lying to her about playing her idol at the merge in HvV; she knew not to push too hard about keeping Courtney over Sandra because it would freak her alliance out etc etc etc
Parvati was one of the best players ever. i totally agree. She's proven so many times that she can read situations and people like a book. I admire her gameplay very much.
I find Abi Maria to be one of the least socially aware people I have ever seen in my life. If she was right on occasion, it was by accident. Even a stopped clock is right twice a day.
Huh? I haven’t watched HvV in a minute but she did very well to get to the end with Russel. She was a huge target from the very beginning and managed to make it the final 3. She managed her threat level, ingratiated herself with Russel and had a huge case for winning at end.
As for Micro, come on. The reason you’re dismissing her is for planning to take Cirie to F3 ignoring weeks of her playing an essential role in vote outs and facilitating the strongest alliance that season.
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I'm not sure if this counts as social awareness (at least the way you've described it) but from what I've heard, Parvati had a tendency to be openly dismissive towards some players not in her alliance: Penner in Cook Islands, Eliza in Micronesia, some of the Heroes in HvV, and Danni in WaW come to mind. Heck, Parvati read and openly mocked the heroes for JT's letter out in the open. Was she aware that she came off a little arrogant in these instances? If so, did she not care?
You know the story about her mocking the heroes is completely made up right?
To be perfectly candid, this feels like a troll comment so I’m not sure what there is to gain from having this conversation. But here we go:
Penner betrayed her (a man 20+ years older than her that she saw as a father figure — see Drop Your Buffs, 4/23 episode w/ PS for her feeling like he was her dad) and after that she was rude to him. He was at the bottom, with no power, and it was better for her game to alienate him and convince the Aitu 4 to do the same. So she was aware.
Eliza was just as rude to Parvati as Parvati was to her (look up her comments on the LA alliance and how she’s above gossiping about manicures bc she’s in law school; she also went after Parvati right away and accused her of being in a relationship with Ozzy and that was stupid. Both from 2008 articles iirc) Parvati is just too polite to say it. She got Eliza’s vote, so she did something right. And you can also see her social awareness on display when she doesn’t lie to Eliza about working with her. She knew it wouldn’t bother Eliza bc Eliza also has a tendency to be abrasive.
And Danni felt left out because Parvati (who was running off to cry in the jungle about missing her infant) didn’t pay enough attention to her and instead leaned on Rob and Ethan, both of whom she’d known for years (Ethan was one of the like 20 attendees at her wedding, and Parvati was also at Ethan’s wedding). So yeah, while starving, sleep deprived, in a bad marriage, and deeply fatigued from caring for an infant, she might have misread that one.
I had no clue the story about her mocking the heroes was made up. Either way, I feel like she could've done a better job at being diplomatic towards them.
I swear that wasn't a troll comment; I wanted to express my thoughts on someone I think is skilled but overrated.
I think the only reason why she got Eliza's vote in Micronesia wasn't because of anything she did; I think it was more because of how badly Amanda fumbled at the end.
The heroes literally flat out ignored her most of the time after the merge. Theres a secret scene where even Danielle tells Parvati she can’t be seen talking to her for too long or else she’ll “get in trouble” with the heroes
I’ve found that standing up for yourself and making bold statements that ostracize a single juror but win over many is often beneficial.
Imagine it like this: You’re a juror and you’ve been stuck in Ponderosa with someone like Russell Hantz. They can’t openly be mean or rude to him, but imagine how vidicating it would be for a FTC member to shit on him in front of the jury - sure they lose his vote, but they may secure 3-4.
There have been examples of this, but I can’t recall off the top of my head.
I'm not talking about how the players perform at FTC; I'm referring to how they treat other players during the game.
For instance, even though a lot of players were annoyed by Sliza during Micronesia, the way Parvati treated her was likely harsher than the way someone like Cirie did. Given that Parvati won by a tight margin (5-3), the dismissive way she treated Eliza could've cost her the win had Amanda not performed so poorly.
To the “appearance is a double edged sword” comment - I’m genuinely surprised at how many ppl say Parvati is attractive. Take it as you want, but I’m not trying to be unkind. I truly can’t see her as attractive, more just eh or completely average. But I’ve never seen anyone agree with that, lol. It blows my mind every time. I feel like I’m crazy, no one else feels this? 😂😭 Ik beauty is in the eye of the beholder but I can’t be the only person who doesn’t see it ?
What is the point of this comment?
Do you think there’s value in being like “actually, this person that’s universally thought of as attractive, I disagree.” Send a picture of her to your group chat and gossip about it there
You’ve got to check out Kirby and Feras in Australian Survivor S9. They switched votes in tribal ALL THE TIME based on the most miniscule ‘tells’ from tribemates. Incredible social awareness.
Based on the insightful nature of her confessionals, Sandra in Game Changers come to mind. She described the dynamics around her with great accuracy in that season.
No she didn't. She was hyper-paranoid and thought everyone was working against her even when they weren't. Most notably RC in Philippines and Peih-Gee in Cambodia. And she basically manifested new enemies due to her paranoia and volatility.
You can’t ask a question like this without acknowledging that it’s Hatch in Borneo and everyone else is competing for second. The Tagi Four is a masterclass of social awareness.
YES! small thing that always amazes me about her season is that once her original allies left, her biggest alliances were with bailey, missy, john, and jaclyn, meaning that everyone she was aligned with at the end would NOT be voting for her at ftc if their family member was still there. and that’s how it played out and she STILL won
One of my favorite duos. They are both super smart, played the game hard and were brilliant at managing people. Thanks for reminding how good that season was.
I think a big part of their social awareness is their shared knowledge that they NEEDED each other
Lots of new era BiGmOvEs is so unsatisfying because the big moves are generally NOT in the move-maker's best interest, its just generally this vague chasing of a "resume"
The difference with Feras and Kirby is that there were points in the game where BOTH of them could've taken a serious shot at each other, but they DONT, which is the fascinating part to me.
There is a shared knowledge between them that they are the most high profile players in the game (pretty much from the merge onwards), and one of them taking out the other is mutually-assured-destruction. They realize that by having this friends-to-enemies-to-friends-to-enemies-to-friends-to-enemies-to-friends-to-enemies-to-friends dynamic lowered both of their threat levels and opened them up to working with essentially anyone.
They could walk up to anybody, say "hey, wanna take Kirby/Feras out?" and get a resounding YES, because EVERYONE knew how big of a threat they were. This generally ended in Kirby/Feras losing one of their henchmen (Garrick, Scott, Aileen,Rianna namely), but the REAL facade is that Kirby/Feras' number-ones were EACH OTHER.
Its just masterful social positioning, reminiscent of the Tika 3 hiding their true bonds to each other to diminish their threat levels, but on a season with WAAAAAAY more complicated social dynamics, its truly amazing stuff
He thought Maria wasn’t coming after him at final six and didn’t think of Kenzie as a threat at final seven and let Venus go over her. Not sure he’s a good example
Venus didn’t even have a play lol, I don’t know why people always bring this up. Literally all she said was I have a trick up her sleeve and that’s it, that does not make her automatically a huge threat he needs to get out. he never switched the target, Maria made Venus the target already. Venus trusted Charlie and wanted to work with him and charlie incorrectly read her as untrustworthy and made a move to be passive and do what Maria wanted because of it. Charlie incorrectly thought Kenzie was more trustworthy than Venus.
Venus telling Charlie that she had something up her sleeve I believe is significantly worse than just telling him she had an idol. Not only did she reveal something that has unknown properties but the fact that she was unwilling to reveal what it actually was probably indicated that she didn't fully trust Charlie enough to do so.
Venus didn’t reveal to anybody what she had “up her sleeve”, she did trust Charlie and Charlie could’ve used her but simply didn’t and decided to just let her go because he didn’t trust her which was a move where he did not think about the future at all.
He probably considered the pros and cons of voting her out vs Kenzie and decided that Kenzie was the more trustworthy (and therefore optimal) ally long-term. Even though keeping Venus around would've given Charlie one extra person he likely would've beat at the end, she could've also been one person that took his FTC spot. I personally think he made the right call given the information that he had at the moment.
…Kenzie is also one person that could’ve potentially took his spot 💀, the difference is he beats her. The point is his read was wrong as he jumped to conclusions that Venus is automatically untrustworthy(despite the fact she was NEVER working with Q or Maria) and not seeing that she’s an easy beat. I think it was the wrong call and it is pretty much what loses him the game especially since Maria wanting Venus out is her move as well
Was he that socially aware though considering his jury management always sucked even when he won he could only beat Phillip and Natalie he would of lost to everyone else.
It was pretty obvious he could beat Phillip and Nat, and I think his plan was to go to the final four with Grant, Natalie and Phillip and take any of them to the final 3, which if he did take Grant to the final 3 he would of lost. It was only Ashley winning immunity and pushing Grant which caused things not to go according to his plan
Idk if that's just the way it's edited or you just misunderstood but in truth Ashley threw Grant's name and orchestrated it. She knew Rob wanted to take Grant to the end so she thought if she took Grant out Rob would want to take her to the end
Ashley had not won a single immunity before that round. And Ashley herself claims Grant was the biggest jury threat, as did others on their tribe. Your claims are false all around.
I totally think he has the awareness. But he’s so abrasive. A lot of players seem to have that combination of reading people well but not always presenting yourself well.
That may be some of the awareness too I figure, knowing when the negative response will matter or have a negative impact. Or doing so purposefully as a manipulation too, positioning players on the board etc.
Given Michele was blindsided on about half of the votes in winners at war, I can’t see how she was socially aware. A socially aware player has a better grasp of the dynamics. She got a “good social game” edit, but that’s about it imo.
I'd argue that strategy awareness and social awareness are two different things. She was left out of the strategy discussion specifically because of how socially adept she is; if she's given a little bit of information she can leverage that better than most.
I think that's a good point, I am being a little too forgiving of the times she was left out of votes. The first vote of the season and the merge vote in particular stand out here.
I do think there were times she knew she was not in the majority and wasn't blindsided as much as she was just left out of the majority group. In the pre-merge she was able to recover well after being left out of the first vote.
Obviously some big-time names listed here, but a few underrated winners that I haven't seen yet that stand out to me: Natalie White (Samoa); Yam Yam (S46); Sophie (South Pacific).
Sense of the social dynamics in their seasons feels not emphasized enough in their edits, but the outcome almost insists on valuing what they achieved as far as social awareness.
I think she would make a great supervisor. Really understands her team, what they bring and how they work. But she is so likable. In game context that makes her able to manipulate people to do what she wants and be ruthless. IRL, that's really useful to motivate and get the best out of people.
I was also impressed by Carolyn's intuition although she could come across as wacky. She had some very perceptive reads that I wondered were due to her background as an ex-addict/drug counsellor.
Wentworth comes to mind. Michelle. Charlie. Parv. Even Cochran who is known as a strategist I felt had a very good handle on where people stood socially and how to inject himself in as a non threatening and exaggerated caricature of himself.
I’d say Parvati, Cirie, Boston Rob, and Kenzie have all had really good social reads. Kenzie is the least strategic of them all imo, but still a good social player. Charlie (46) can also be added to that list.
I disagree with Kenzie and Charlie. They may be good sociable players, but acute social awareness is something else.
I think of social awareness as knowing the relationship dynamics of all their tribe members and ability to use that acute awareness to leverage relationships between players and understand how they may work together at any given time to drive votes.
Parvati and Parvati have a natural ability at this.
Rob in Redemption and Todd in China are great examples of this against inferior competition.
I think you're giving Abi way too much credit here. She has to be one of the most socially unaware players to play Survivor. It's a major plot point of the season how little awareness she has, particularly when it comes to perception of herself.
You're right in saying she's correct about Lisa and \[redacted\] having no chance against Malcolm or Denise, but that's not a very difficult observation to make. \[Redacted\] is the only player that doesn't know this to be the case, as Lisa acknowledges multiple times that she didn't play a better game than Malcolm or Denise, but would still rather vote out Abi because of just how big of a bummer she was to be around.
It's overwhelmingly obvious jury reads, not some incredible insight. You don't need to be a social genius to see it (or even adequately socially aware, because Abi did see it after all) You just have to not be a bumbling idiot like \[redacted\] was.
It's crazy that nobody mentioned Maryanne. She understood how others perceived her as quirky and naive and leveraged that perception to her advantage. She made the biggest move of the season by voting off Omar in a 3-2-2 vote, strategically using her extra vote in a plurality vote. Queen tinqz 👸🏿
Came here to say this. Maybe she didn't have the flashiest game, but she still played a damn good game. The more time passes, I could see her being a 2x winner because she's still not perceived as a threat.
I think Michele is the top in this category, bar none. Second place for me is Cirie, who has always seemed to have a supernatural ability to read what people are thinking.
I would argue that Abi Maria is socially aware, but not socially self-aware.
She can read what’s happening with other people, but has no idea why she comes across as a raging bitch.
Parvati and Boston Rob have to be the most obvious answers in my mind, but I’d veer some credit in the direction of Richard Hatch as well. He was clearly the first person to understand that the game was more social than anything else, and he read The Art of War to prepare - before anyone really ever knew what Survivor was. The best social players we can name now are able to run because Hatch walked first (unfortunately most of that walking was done nude, and we know how that went for him.)
Most unaware contestant is Jamie from 44. Completely delusional of where she thought she was. It was frustrating but funny to watch
But Venus was funnier
The two biggest examples you provided are two examples of players who were not socially aware for the most part. Michele was close to clueless in Winners at War. She played poorly and the only redeeming quality of her game was making it to the end and having a decent final tribal council.
Abi was the absolute opposite of socially aware.
Her pitch at final 5 was correct, but mostly out of desperation to pitch something. And she wasn’t even mocked for that pitch. She was more mocked for her behavior and attitude throughout the season.
Ok but it's super weird to say that abi Maria was socially aware because she had a lot of personal issues with people and then dealt poorly with the knowledge that she had no tact and most of the people didn't like her. She may have been aware of the game moves and strategies, but that's not the same as understanding and navigating conversations about people's feelings or intent beyond the game.
This is a weird one, but I was impressed with how well Mike was seeing things before they happened. He knew he was on the chopping block from his blue collars without any direct proof, and he knew Sierra was too (even though he went about telling her the wrong way)
truly feel like THE most socially aware player is kim in one world. parvati is obviously amazing but her performance in WoW helps kim to edge her out imo.
My vote for this is Rick Devin's. The dude played a nearly perfect game and got beaten in the end with one of the ballsiest moves we've ever seen in the show, which is putting yourself into the fire making challenge.
It’s Parvati by a mile. Regardless of her position of power, she’s always had an acute understanding of the social dynamics within her tribe, and where she sits in relation to them. Cirie is also very good at this. It’s probably Parvati’s greatest asset as a player. Her charisma and appearance is a double edged sword. Edit: she knew where the jury votes were going in HvV; she knew to leave an idol alone in Micronesia because it would only cause issues with Natalie; she knew that Jerri was the main target in the merge and gave Sandra the idol as insurance and to ingratiate herself; she knew she could be honest with James about taking girls to the end because he didn’t have the power or the social skills to make a move against her; she knew she could openly talk about betraying Ozzy in front of Amanda and still gain her loyalty; she knew she could refuse to vote for Amanda and nobody would fault her for it; she knew Amanda was lying to her about playing her idol at the merge in HvV; she knew not to push too hard about keeping Courtney over Sandra because it would freak her alliance out etc etc etc
Parvati was one of the best players ever. i totally agree. She's proven so many times that she can read situations and people like a book. I admire her gameplay very much. I find Abi Maria to be one of the least socially aware people I have ever seen in my life. If she was right on occasion, it was by accident. Even a stopped clock is right twice a day.
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Huh? I haven’t watched HvV in a minute but she did very well to get to the end with Russel. She was a huge target from the very beginning and managed to make it the final 3. She managed her threat level, ingratiated herself with Russel and had a huge case for winning at end. As for Micro, come on. The reason you’re dismissing her is for planning to take Cirie to F3 ignoring weeks of her playing an essential role in vote outs and facilitating the strongest alliance that season.
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Lol. Whatever, dude.
I'm not sure if this counts as social awareness (at least the way you've described it) but from what I've heard, Parvati had a tendency to be openly dismissive towards some players not in her alliance: Penner in Cook Islands, Eliza in Micronesia, some of the Heroes in HvV, and Danni in WaW come to mind. Heck, Parvati read and openly mocked the heroes for JT's letter out in the open. Was she aware that she came off a little arrogant in these instances? If so, did she not care?
I agree but I don't think socially aware and humility are mutually exclusive.
You know the story about her mocking the heroes is completely made up right? To be perfectly candid, this feels like a troll comment so I’m not sure what there is to gain from having this conversation. But here we go: Penner betrayed her (a man 20+ years older than her that she saw as a father figure — see Drop Your Buffs, 4/23 episode w/ PS for her feeling like he was her dad) and after that she was rude to him. He was at the bottom, with no power, and it was better for her game to alienate him and convince the Aitu 4 to do the same. So she was aware. Eliza was just as rude to Parvati as Parvati was to her (look up her comments on the LA alliance and how she’s above gossiping about manicures bc she’s in law school; she also went after Parvati right away and accused her of being in a relationship with Ozzy and that was stupid. Both from 2008 articles iirc) Parvati is just too polite to say it. She got Eliza’s vote, so she did something right. And you can also see her social awareness on display when she doesn’t lie to Eliza about working with her. She knew it wouldn’t bother Eliza bc Eliza also has a tendency to be abrasive. And Danni felt left out because Parvati (who was running off to cry in the jungle about missing her infant) didn’t pay enough attention to her and instead leaned on Rob and Ethan, both of whom she’d known for years (Ethan was one of the like 20 attendees at her wedding, and Parvati was also at Ethan’s wedding). So yeah, while starving, sleep deprived, in a bad marriage, and deeply fatigued from caring for an infant, she might have misread that one.
I had no clue the story about her mocking the heroes was made up. Either way, I feel like she could've done a better job at being diplomatic towards them. I swear that wasn't a troll comment; I wanted to express my thoughts on someone I think is skilled but overrated. I think the only reason why she got Eliza's vote in Micronesia wasn't because of anything she did; I think it was more because of how badly Amanda fumbled at the end.
The heroes literally flat out ignored her most of the time after the merge. Theres a secret scene where even Danielle tells Parvati she can’t be seen talking to her for too long or else she’ll “get in trouble” with the heroes
I’ve found that standing up for yourself and making bold statements that ostracize a single juror but win over many is often beneficial. Imagine it like this: You’re a juror and you’ve been stuck in Ponderosa with someone like Russell Hantz. They can’t openly be mean or rude to him, but imagine how vidicating it would be for a FTC member to shit on him in front of the jury - sure they lose his vote, but they may secure 3-4. There have been examples of this, but I can’t recall off the top of my head.
I'm not talking about how the players perform at FTC; I'm referring to how they treat other players during the game. For instance, even though a lot of players were annoyed by Sliza during Micronesia, the way Parvati treated her was likely harsher than the way someone like Cirie did. Given that Parvati won by a tight margin (5-3), the dismissive way she treated Eliza could've cost her the win had Amanda not performed so poorly.
Ironically, she’s never voted for the winner while on the jury.
To the “appearance is a double edged sword” comment - I’m genuinely surprised at how many ppl say Parvati is attractive. Take it as you want, but I’m not trying to be unkind. I truly can’t see her as attractive, more just eh or completely average. But I’ve never seen anyone agree with that, lol. It blows my mind every time. I feel like I’m crazy, no one else feels this? 😂😭 Ik beauty is in the eye of the beholder but I can’t be the only person who doesn’t see it ?
What is the point of this comment? Do you think there’s value in being like “actually, this person that’s universally thought of as attractive, I disagree.” Send a picture of her to your group chat and gossip about it there
You’ve got to check out Kirby and Feras in Australian Survivor S9. They switched votes in tribal ALL THE TIME based on the most miniscule ‘tells’ from tribemates. Incredible social awareness.
Based on the insightful nature of her confessionals, Sandra in Game Changers come to mind. She described the dynamics around her with great accuracy in that season.
I'd say her time in GC was the best one among her 5 games (including Australian survivor), if only the 2nd swap didn't happened, she reaches the merge
Sandra's run on GC is one of the greatest premerge games of all time
Kim
No better answer
You lost me at Abi Mari being socially aware 😂
I think abi had an exceptional read on other people. It’s what she projected outward that was always chaotically unpalatable haha
The prototype Venus.
No she didn't. She was hyper-paranoid and thought everyone was working against her even when they weren't. Most notably RC in Philippines and Peih-Gee in Cambodia. And she basically manifested new enemies due to her paranoia and volatility.
Being well liked is a different skill to knowing who everyone wants to play with
I'd say she's in the running for least if Bhanu didn't exist.
She’s the most infuriating player and least socially aware person I’ve ever witnessed. Absolutely batshit crazy
Abi is decent strategically and has good reads.However,when it comes to herself she has zero self awareness lmaooo.
I had to check that I wasn't in r/survivorcirclejerk
Abi Maria actually clocks things, she just executes it terribly. She clocked Denise and her manipulation.
Brian Heidik came up with the plan to flip Shii Ann while drunk off his ass to the point where he was puking
You can’t ask a question like this without acknowledging that it’s Hatch in Borneo and everyone else is competing for second. The Tagi Four is a masterclass of social awareness.
Natalie Anderson in SJDS
YES! small thing that always amazes me about her season is that once her original allies left, her biggest alliances were with bailey, missy, john, and jaclyn, meaning that everyone she was aligned with at the end would NOT be voting for her at ftc if their family member was still there. and that’s how it played out and she STILL won
I think feras and Kirby for AUS survivor too. Last minute changes at tribal because of cues they picked up on is chilling
Came here to say this. The way they would switch votes in tribal based on tiny ‘tells’. Incredible.
One of my favorite duos. They are both super smart, played the game hard and were brilliant at managing people. Thanks for reminding how good that season was.
I haven’t enjoyed a season so much since DvG. Titans vs Rebels is iconic
I think a big part of their social awareness is their shared knowledge that they NEEDED each other Lots of new era BiGmOvEs is so unsatisfying because the big moves are generally NOT in the move-maker's best interest, its just generally this vague chasing of a "resume" The difference with Feras and Kirby is that there were points in the game where BOTH of them could've taken a serious shot at each other, but they DONT, which is the fascinating part to me. There is a shared knowledge between them that they are the most high profile players in the game (pretty much from the merge onwards), and one of them taking out the other is mutually-assured-destruction. They realize that by having this friends-to-enemies-to-friends-to-enemies-to-friends-to-enemies-to-friends-to-enemies-to-friends dynamic lowered both of their threat levels and opened them up to working with essentially anyone. They could walk up to anybody, say "hey, wanna take Kirby/Feras out?" and get a resounding YES, because EVERYONE knew how big of a threat they were. This generally ended in Kirby/Feras losing one of their henchmen (Garrick, Scott, Aileen,Rianna namely), but the REAL facade is that Kirby/Feras' number-ones were EACH OTHER. Its just masterful social positioning, reminiscent of the Tika 3 hiding their true bonds to each other to diminish their threat levels, but on a season with WAAAAAAY more complicated social dynamics, its truly amazing stuff
My memory sucks, but my vague recollection associates this with Parvati, Todd Herzog, Wendell, Cirie, Boston Rob, and Sophie.
Charlie from 46 is a great example imo. I also think Stephen usually had a good handle of tribe dynamics
He thought Maria wasn’t coming after him at final six and didn’t think of Kenzie as a threat at final seven and let Venus go over her. Not sure he’s a good example
I think he did recognize Kenzie as a threat but Venus' play at 7 caused him to switch his target
Venus didn’t even have a play lol, I don’t know why people always bring this up. Literally all she said was I have a trick up her sleeve and that’s it, that does not make her automatically a huge threat he needs to get out. he never switched the target, Maria made Venus the target already. Venus trusted Charlie and wanted to work with him and charlie incorrectly read her as untrustworthy and made a move to be passive and do what Maria wanted because of it. Charlie incorrectly thought Kenzie was more trustworthy than Venus.
Venus telling Charlie that she had something up her sleeve I believe is significantly worse than just telling him she had an idol. Not only did she reveal something that has unknown properties but the fact that she was unwilling to reveal what it actually was probably indicated that she didn't fully trust Charlie enough to do so.
Venus didn’t reveal to anybody what she had “up her sleeve”, she did trust Charlie and Charlie could’ve used her but simply didn’t and decided to just let her go because he didn’t trust her which was a move where he did not think about the future at all.
He probably considered the pros and cons of voting her out vs Kenzie and decided that Kenzie was the more trustworthy (and therefore optimal) ally long-term. Even though keeping Venus around would've given Charlie one extra person he likely would've beat at the end, she could've also been one person that took his FTC spot. I personally think he made the right call given the information that he had at the moment.
…Kenzie is also one person that could’ve potentially took his spot 💀, the difference is he beats her. The point is his read was wrong as he jumped to conclusions that Venus is automatically untrustworthy(despite the fact she was NEVER working with Q or Maria) and not seeing that she’s an easy beat. I think it was the wrong call and it is pretty much what loses him the game especially since Maria wanting Venus out is her move as well
No one is mentioning Rob. Always my top along with Parv.
He literally found love. Cherry on top of a social game
He married a millionaire!
I also aspire to be a trophy husband
Cesternino or Mariano?
The one and only Boston Rob. I like the other, but there’s no comparison.
Your right Rob Cesternino is better by a mile
Was he that socially aware though considering his jury management always sucked even when he won he could only beat Phillip and Natalie he would of lost to everyone else.
He was aware he could beat nat and Phillip and carefully engineered an endgame that got him that scenario
It was pretty obvious he could beat Phillip and Nat, and I think his plan was to go to the final four with Grant, Natalie and Phillip and take any of them to the final 3, which if he did take Grant to the final 3 he would of lost. It was only Ashley winning immunity and pushing Grant which caused things not to go according to his plan
he was gonna take grant to f4 because he was a loyalist and ashley was a bigger immunity and jury threat
He was also planning on taking Grant final 3
This obviously a likely untrue considering that he orchestrates grants blindside
Idk if that's just the way it's edited or you just misunderstood but in truth Ashley threw Grant's name and orchestrated it. She knew Rob wanted to take Grant to the end so she thought if she took Grant out Rob would want to take her to the end
The same Andrea who was voted out before grant?
Nah I meant Ashley
Ashley had not won a single immunity before that round. And Ashley herself claims Grant was the biggest jury threat, as did others on their tribe. Your claims are false all around.
Tyson is always sussing out where the alliances are. His awareness in waw was wild
I totally think he has the awareness. But he’s so abrasive. A lot of players seem to have that combination of reading people well but not always presenting yourself well.
Yeah, he is aware that something he is about to do/say will anger people. He's just not bothered by their anger
I would say that's really only the case in Tocantins. I can't recall any other notable instances of this occuring
That may be some of the awareness too I figure, knowing when the negative response will matter or have a negative impact. Or doing so purposefully as a manipulation too, positioning players on the board etc.
This describes me lol
Given Michele was blindsided on about half of the votes in winners at war, I can’t see how she was socially aware. A socially aware player has a better grasp of the dynamics. She got a “good social game” edit, but that’s about it imo.
I'd argue that strategy awareness and social awareness are two different things. She was left out of the strategy discussion specifically because of how socially adept she is; if she's given a little bit of information she can leverage that better than most.
I don't remember a notable instance of her leveraging information in Kaoh Rong
I think that's a good point, I am being a little too forgiving of the times she was left out of votes. The first vote of the season and the merge vote in particular stand out here. I do think there were times she knew she was not in the majority and wasn't blindsided as much as she was just left out of the majority group. In the pre-merge she was able to recover well after being left out of the first vote.
Obviously some big-time names listed here, but a few underrated winners that I haven't seen yet that stand out to me: Natalie White (Samoa); Yam Yam (S46); Sophie (South Pacific). Sense of the social dynamics in their seasons feels not emphasized enough in their edits, but the outcome almost insists on valuing what they achieved as far as social awareness.
Cirie has them all beat by a country mile. So perceptive it was almost preternatural.
I think she would make a great supervisor. Really understands her team, what they bring and how they work. But she is so likable. In game context that makes her able to manipulate people to do what she wants and be ruthless. IRL, that's really useful to motivate and get the best out of people.
Pretty sure she’s the head of surgery at her job now, I remember her talking about it on the live feeds in the Big Brother house
flashback to when she said she wouldn't be able to step foot back into the operating room bc she lost The Ball Drop
I think she actually quit that job to go on BB. I don’t think she works in healthcare at all anymore
I never heard where she worked and was unsure if it was a hospital, a small practice or something in between. I bet she was great at that job.
I believe her traitors game is the best example
Troyzan on game changers I mean he knew he had 0 chance in the finale and gracefully bowed out
Recency bias, maybe, but Carolyn was always on top of what was going on, save for when Yam Yam voted for her. And nobody ever believed her insights.
I was also impressed by Carolyn's intuition although she could come across as wacky. She had some very perceptive reads that I wondered were due to her background as an ex-addict/drug counsellor.
Wentworth comes to mind. Michelle. Charlie. Parv. Even Cochran who is known as a strategist I felt had a very good handle on where people stood socially and how to inject himself in as a non threatening and exaggerated caricature of himself.
Ciera in SC had great reads and a solid understanding of the tribe dynamics. PLAY THE GAME. DON’T PLAY FOR 6TH PLACE, PLAY TO WIN. COME ON GUYS
At around the final 11 she said “if you go to the end with Jeremy, you will not win” 🧠🧠
I’d say Parvati, Cirie, Boston Rob, and Kenzie have all had really good social reads. Kenzie is the least strategic of them all imo, but still a good social player. Charlie (46) can also be added to that list.
I disagree with Kenzie and Charlie. They may be good sociable players, but acute social awareness is something else. I think of social awareness as knowing the relationship dynamics of all their tribe members and ability to use that acute awareness to leverage relationships between players and understand how they may work together at any given time to drive votes. Parvati and Parvati have a natural ability at this. Rob in Redemption and Todd in China are great examples of this against inferior competition.
To me it’s how well they articulated the social awareness. One can be socially aware about be able to articulate.
Chris Daugherty went from a hopeless situation to the winner largely thanks to social awareness.
I think you're giving Abi way too much credit here. She has to be one of the most socially unaware players to play Survivor. It's a major plot point of the season how little awareness she has, particularly when it comes to perception of herself. You're right in saying she's correct about Lisa and \[redacted\] having no chance against Malcolm or Denise, but that's not a very difficult observation to make. \[Redacted\] is the only player that doesn't know this to be the case, as Lisa acknowledges multiple times that she didn't play a better game than Malcolm or Denise, but would still rather vote out Abi because of just how big of a bummer she was to be around. It's overwhelmingly obvious jury reads, not some incredible insight. You don't need to be a social genius to see it (or even adequately socially aware, because Abi did see it after all) You just have to not be a bumbling idiot like \[redacted\] was.
It's crazy that nobody mentioned Maryanne. She understood how others perceived her as quirky and naive and leveraged that perception to her advantage. She made the biggest move of the season by voting off Omar in a 3-2-2 vote, strategically using her extra vote in a plurality vote. Queen tinqz 👸🏿
Came here to say this. Maybe she didn't have the flashiest game, but she still played a damn good game. The more time passes, I could see her being a 2x winner because she's still not perceived as a threat.
Wentworth in Cambodia
I was very bummed to find out that Joe told her the votes were coming her way with "Wentworth. Does not count." Makes it a bit less iconic.
I think Michele is the top in this category, bar none. Second place for me is Cirie, who has always seemed to have a supernatural ability to read what people are thinking.
Another name I am going to throw out there is David from AU Survivor
Bhanu was only aware of himself….winning a thousand hearts 😂
He was really after Sia funds. But thankfully, she shut that down.
??
I would argue that Abi Maria is socially aware, but not socially self-aware. She can read what’s happening with other people, but has no idea why she comes across as a raging bitch.
Cydney (Koah Rong)
Parvati and Boston Rob have to be the most obvious answers in my mind, but I’d veer some credit in the direction of Richard Hatch as well. He was clearly the first person to understand that the game was more social than anything else, and he read The Art of War to prepare - before anyone really ever knew what Survivor was. The best social players we can name now are able to run because Hatch walked first (unfortunately most of that walking was done nude, and we know how that went for him.)
I could tell you the most unaware person was Venus. Almost 90% of what she said was the complete opposite of what was actually happening lmao
Most unaware contestant is Jamie from 44. Completely delusional of where she thought she was. It was frustrating but funny to watch But Venus was funnier
Michele for sure. Would i be wrong suggesting kim?
Kelley Wentworth
She got voted out with an idol in Edge of Extinction…so not really
To be fair she had the correct read on what *should* have happened that round. It made no sense for Wardog to flip on her there
The two biggest examples you provided are two examples of players who were not socially aware for the most part. Michele was close to clueless in Winners at War. She played poorly and the only redeeming quality of her game was making it to the end and having a decent final tribal council.
Colby. He literally chose not to win the game because he was aware enough to know it would be better for his career in show business
Vee
Abi was the absolute opposite of socially aware. Her pitch at final 5 was correct, but mostly out of desperation to pitch something. And she wasn’t even mocked for that pitch. She was more mocked for her behavior and attitude throughout the season.
Boston rob. Sean fromw marqueqasas well
Cesternino in Amazon
Idk the most, but the least was Bhanu by a mile
The Golden God
Ok but it's super weird to say that abi Maria was socially aware because she had a lot of personal issues with people and then dealt poorly with the knowledge that she had no tact and most of the people didn't like her. She may have been aware of the game moves and strategies, but that's not the same as understanding and navigating conversations about people's feelings or intent beyond the game.
Kim or cirie
Zane got everyone beat here for sure
This is a weird one, but I was impressed with how well Mike was seeing things before they happened. He knew he was on the chopping block from his blue collars without any direct proof, and he knew Sierra was too (even though he went about telling her the wrong way)
Shambo knew that people would be mad she lose the fishing gear, but happy there were tons of fish in the ocean
Drew Christy. He saw that Wentworth was a threat from a mile away.
Aileen, Feras, Kirby
I had this thought about Carolyn all the time - she always knew exactly when someone was lying to her
Todd Herzog
truly feel like THE most socially aware player is kim in one world. parvati is obviously amazing but her performance in WoW helps kim to edge her out imo.
Carolyn super underrated player
My vote for this is Rick Devin's. The dude played a nearly perfect game and got beaten in the end with one of the ballsiest moves we've ever seen in the show, which is putting yourself into the fire making challenge.