Tony Vlachos

Anthony "Tony" Vlachos is the Sole Survivor of.

Tony played the game with ferocity, constructing "spy shacks," being willing to double-cross his own allies, swearing on his relatives either alive or dead, and finding several Hidden Immunity Idols, including the one with "special powers." In this capacity, he was able to flip on his majority alliance and blindside several allies and enemies. His overactive play won him the title of Sole Survivor.

Profile
Name (Age): Tony Vlachos (39)

Tribe Designation: Aparri

Current Residence: Jersey City, N.J.

Occupation: Police Officer

Personal Claim to Fame: Becoming a Jersey City police officer.

Inspiration in Life: My father for being the dad that he was. He was a great role model and I hope that I can be the same for my children.

Hobbies: Jet skiing, playing pool and surfing the web.

Pet Peeves: Thugs who wear skinny jeans. Also, people who see me speaking on the phone, but yet they feel the need to start a conversation with me. Like it’s that urgent for them to know "how's it going" while I'm speaking on the phone. SO RUDE!!!

3 Words to Describe You: Versatile, clever and competitive.

'''If You Could Have 3 Things on The Island What Would They Be and Why? '''Cigarettes, coffee and liquor. I don’t smoke or drink coffee or liquor, but I would love to bring those items with me just so that I can barter with my tribemates! You know at some point in the game they would even give up immunity just to have a little taste of these items.

SURVIVOR Contestant You Are Most Like: Russell Hantz, because I can be just as devious. Boston Rob, because I can be just as slick.

Reason for Being on SURVIVOR: My main reason: The MILLION DOLLARS of course. There's no way I would be going out there for half that prize! Secondly, I’m a huge fan of the show and I would love to give the fans a great season to be remembered.

Why You Think You’ll “Survive” SURVIVOR: Adapt and overcome! That’s the kind of training I have as a cop and that’s exactly what I’m going to do on that island! Adapt and I will overcome!

Why You Think You Will Be the Sole SURVIVOR: I have been a street cop for 12 years. My experiences as a cop give me a huge advantage going into this game. Being outside my element is my forte. That's what I do for a living. What’s going to be normal for me will be very stressful for the average castaway.

'''Do You Consider Yourself a Brain, a Beauty or a Brawn? '''Sounds like a trick question. We'll let’s see. I'm a beautiful person that has a sharp brain and strong muscles. Based on appearance, I would consider myself "Brawn." For the purposes of Survivor though, I would consider myself "Brains." Maybe I wasn't the smartest in school, but I was always the sharpest!!!

'''Who Do You Think Has the Best Chance in the Game of Survivor: Brains, Beauty or Brawn? '''Survivor is definitely a game of all-around strategy. Brawn and beauty can fight over silver, but Brains would surely bring home the gold!

Survivor: Cagayan
Tony was placed on Aparri, the Brawn tribe of Cagayan. While in the woods, fellow police officer Sarah Lacina looked him in the eyes and asked if he was a cop, though he lied and said no. She told him she could tell because she too was a cop. Soon after, he admitted to her that he was a cop and they bonded and formed an alliance called "Cops-R-Us." Tony spent the first few days building a "spy shack," finding a Hidden Immunity Idol, and forming alliances with both Sarah and Trish Hegarty. He also harbored some resentment towards Cliff Robinson for his popularity within the tribe. Tony lied to Sarah, saying that Cliff and Lindsey Ogle were gunning for her. Sarah then convinced Trish and Woo Hwang to come into their alliance and throw the next Immunity Challenge to vote Cliff out, followed by Lindsey. Cliff, however, single-handedly saved himself by winning the challenge for Aparri. Due to their challenge prowess, Aparri never attended Tribal Council.

On Day 12, a Tribe Switch occurred, sending all of Aparri's members, with the exception of Sarah, to the new Solana tribe, along with original members Jefra Bland and LJ McKanas. After Solana lost the next Immunity Challenge, the former Brawn members were set to vote LJ out, though Trish, who had bonded with LJ, attempted to get Tony to vote Cliff out instead. At Tribal Council, Tony and Trish joined LJ and Jefra in blindsiding Cliff. Upon returning to camp, Trish and Lindsey got into a heated argument, resulting in Lindsey quitting the game.

After winning the next Reward Challenge, Solana won the right to raid Aparri's camp. The tribe sent Tony and Woo to conduct the raid, with the two also receiving a clue for a Hidden Immunity Idol at the Solana camp. Tony, however, thought of using this clue in order to target Aparri's strongest member, Jeremiah Wood. He claimed in front of the other tribe to have been instructed to give a clue to a Hidden Immunity Idol to a member of Aparri and gave it to Jeremiah. The plan, though, did not work because Jeremiah immediately recognized that it was the same clue the original Solana tribe had received prior to the Tribe Switch.

Tony made it to the Merge and became part of the merged tribe, Solarrion. Being down in numbers, the new Solana Alliance needed Sarah's vote, but Sarah overheard her former allies (along with Jefra and LJ) yell "Top 5!" at the previous challenge, which made her feel excluded. Tony tried to pull Sarah back into their alliance, seemingly to no avail, as Sarah was committed to staying with the opposing Aparri Alliance. Trish saw an opportunity to swing Kass McQuillen, who was bickering with Sarah, by offering to vote Sarah out should Kass join them. At Tribal Council, Tony and LJ made a grand stand by playing their Hidden Immunity Idols for each other, though this was all for naught as the Aparri Alliance had actually targeted Jefra. Kass, however, decided to flip and Sarah became the first member of the Jury.

Though now in a position of power, Tony found himself to be increasingly paranoid after the Aparri Alliance voted for him at the following Tribal Council. Tony decided to target LJ, framing him by claiming that LJ wanted to vote Woo out. The team of Tony, Jeremiah, and Spencer Bledsoe won the next Reward Challenge, and Tony used this opportunity to try to use their alliance's votes. At the next Tribal Council, Tony and Woo joined the Aparri Alliance in blindsiding LJ.

The following day, Jefra began to feel insecure about Tony's deception towards everybody and confronted Trish to try to gun for him. Trish and Kass, however, were able to assuage Jefra's fears and pull her back into their alliance. Trish also had Tony reassure Jefra himself, which he did by swearing on his family members. It was also at this time that Tony's paranoia led to him finding a Hidden Immunity Idol with "special powers." At the Survivor Auction, Tony held out on buying any food, anticipating that there would be an advantage offered and feared that either Spencer or Tasha Fox would get it. When an advantage was indeed offered, both Tony and Spencer bid the maximum amount of $500 for a chance to draw rocks to win the advantage. Tony won the advantage, which turned out to be a clue to another Hidden Immunity Idol, which he also found. At the same time, Tony began to fear the possibility of a women's alliance forming between the remaining women, who had outnumbered the remaining men in the game. Tony and Woo again struck a deal with Tasha and Spencer, and they blindsided Jefra at the next Tribal Council.

The next morning, Kass, fed up with Tony's double-dealing, got into an argument with Tony, in which Tony revealed that he had the Hidden Immunity Idol with "special powers." This lead to Kass, Tasha, Spencer, and Woo plotting to flush Tony's Hidden Immunity Idol, though Kass later changed her mind, instead wanting to face Tony at the Final Tribal Council. At Tribal Council, she and Woo rejoined Tony and Trish and sent Tasha to the Jury.

Woo then revealed to Tony the next day that he and Kass had conspired against him the previous night. Tony confronted Kass about this, but later claimed to forgive her, stating that he planned on going to the end with her and Trish. Unsatisfied, Kass revealed this to Woo, which made Woo question his own loyalty to Tony. After Tony won the next Reward Challenge and picked Trish to share his reward with, Kass, Spencer, and Woo plotted to split the pair up. At Tribal Council, Tony revealed that he actually had two Hidden Immunity Idols in his possession. He played the regular one for himself and proceeded to join the rest of the tribe in blindsiding Trish.

Although the Hidden Immunity Idol with "special powers" expired at the Final Five, Tony bluffed by claiming that it could be used until the Final Four. The remaining castaways were then surprised by a visit from their loved ones. Although Tony was glad that his friend, Arnold, visited him, he was upset that his wife, Marissa, could not come as she was taking care of their baby girl. After Kass won the next Immunity Challenge, Spencer came up to Tony and told him that he believed that there would be a Final Two. Spencer claimed that if either Kass or Woo won, they would take each other to the end. If Tony voted Woo out and Spencer won, he would take Tony. Unconvinced by Spencer's argument, Tony joined Kass and Woo in voting him out at Tribal Council.

Upon returning to camp, Kass and Woo agreed that voting Tony out was both in their best interests and agreed to take each other to the end. At the Final Immunity Challenge, Woo narrowly beat Kass by half a second to win immunity. Back at camp, both Tony and Kass pleaded with Woo, with Tony appealing to Woo's sense of honor, pointing out that the Jury would see him as being disloyal if he voted Tony out. At Tribal Council, Woo shocked everyone by voting Kass out, making her the ninth and final member of the Jury.

At the Final Tribal Council, the jury scolded Tony and he kept being cut up. He was confronted by Sarah for swearing on his badge and by Jeremiah for swearing on his family. He was also confronted by LJ and Jefra for his blindsiding both of them. He was then lambasted by a furious Trish for swearing on his late father's grave, then proceeding to blindside her. In spite of this, Morgan McLeod and Spencer both lauded Tony for his control of the game. In the end, Tony received eight Jury votes to Woo's one (from Tasha), earning him the title of Sole Survivor of.

Post-Survivor

 * On February 5, 2014, Tony saved a 69-year old man who had a massive heart attack on his lawn in nine inches of snow.
 * Tony's wife, Marissa, was absent during the Cagayan live reunion because she was in the last trimester of her second pregancy.
 * Their son, Constantine Anthony, was born on June 9, 2014.
 * After his win, Aaron W. Fraser, a New Jersey congressional candidate, tried to get Tony fired from his job for his actions on Survivor.

Trivia

 * Tony is the only castaway in to vote with the majority at every Tribal Council he attended. He is the first castaway to do so (excluding evacuees/quitters) since Coach Wade in, and is the first Sole Survivor to do so since Natalie White in.
 * Tony gave the most episode titles in Cagayan, with a total number of six episode titles.
 * Tony is one of seven Sole Survivors who won the game without winning Individual Immunity, following Tina Wesson, Sandra Diaz-Twine, Yul Kwon, Earl Cole, Todd Herzog, and Natalie White.
 * Tony attended his first tribal council the latest among other Sole Survivors, he attended his first tribal council at day 14.
 * Each time Tony received votes, Spencer Bledsoe was one of them, includes Spencer's jury vote for Tony to win.
 * Tony lost 21 lbs (9.5 kg) during Cagayan.
 * After Tony came back to the United States, he found that he contracted a parasite in Cagayan. He was bed-ridden for three months and lost an additional 20 lbs, for a total of 40 lbs lost after filming Survivor.
 * Tony is of Greek descent.