John Fincher

John Fincher is a contestant from Survivor: Samoa.

John is best known for flipping on his alliance at the final ten out of fear of being eliminated by a rock-draw tiebreaker. He made a deal with notorious villain Russell Hantz, but was ultimately betrayed by him and was blindsided at the next Tribal Council.

Profile[]

Retrieved from CBS.com

John Fincher (25)
Hometown: Los Angeles, Calif.
Occupation: Rocket Scientist

John Fincher claims "winning" is his favorite hobby, and because of that he should have no problem playing the game of Survivor. Being a rocket scientist probably will not hurt his chances either. This charmingly cocky genius believes he possesses the analytical skills necessary to take him far in the game while helping him create a mastermind strategy. In addition to brains, he is a former semi-pro soccer player, who is also going to pose a physical threat in the game.

Fincher says that he is at his best during high pressure situations and times of complete chaos. He finds idiots or "unskilled" people amusing, and has no problem telling them to their face. John has traveled extensively in South America, Europe, South Africa, and Canada, and he plans to use his experience of dealing with people from diverse backgrounds to his best advantage.

John is no stranger to creating conflict and thinks it could work to his advantage in the game. Although, John also believes his good looks and charm will help even out his aggressive personality, especially with the ladies. He also will not apologize living a privileged life and claims that he will party his way around the world with his winnings.

John resides in Santa Monica, Calif. His birth date is August 16.^[1]

Survivor[]

John began the season upon being chosen by Russell Swan of the Galu tribe as a "Brazilian-looking guy" to be their swimmer in the opening Reward Challenge. John began the long swim solidly. However, fatigue took it's toll heavily on him towards the end, and his opponent Jaison Robinson stole a strong lead by the end of it. He finished the swim exhausted and well behind Jaison. Fellow tribe member Dave Ball even stated, "he shanked that swim so bad I was ready to vote him off on the spot!" The opposing tribe, Foa Foa, went on to win the opening Reward Challenge. But all recognition of him being a poor challenge performer was gone when he mastered the Immunity Challenge with a clever tactic in which he used himself as somewhat of a ramp to support his tribemates in climbing up the near-vertical wall. Galu resulted in winning the Immunity Challenge, and it sent the Foa Foa tribe to Tribal Council. While Galu dominated in challenges, for the most part, John found himself in a good position in the tribe as the men and Shambo Waters grew close and also wary of tight duo Monica Padilla and Laura Morett.

After the merge, Galu began to crumble, despite them outnumbering Foa Foa. Fincher was pressured to flip to Foa Foa's alliance; if he didn't, a tiebreaker vote would be enforced, and all the contestants except those immune and those with tied votes would be forced to draw rocks. Additionally, John was frustrated by Galu's poor decision making which played a role in the eliminations of Erik Cardona and Kelly Sharbaugh. In the re-vote upon the tie, John switched his vote to Laura, and it resulted in her being voted out and sent to the jury. In the following Tribal Council, Fincher was betrayed by Russell Hantz and with his Galu tribe mates mad at him for voting out Laura, he was sent home in a 7-1-1 vote.

Despite being betrayed by him, John gave his jury vote to Russell, as he believed Hantz played the best game, as opposed to Mick and Natalie. This helped Russell earn 2nd place over Mick, but the other loyal Galus and Jaison joined in awarding Natalie the title of Sole Survivor.

Episode	Tribe Affiliation	Challenge	Challenge Type	Sit-Out?	Result
1	Galu	Chief's Choice	Reward	No	Lost
1		Yank Your Hank	Immunity	No	Won
2		Schmergen Brawl	Reward/Immunity	No	Won
3		Sea Crates	Reward/Immunity	No	Won
4		Bocce In A Box	Reward	Yes	Won
4		Well Stacked	Immunity	No	Lost
5		Samoa Smoothies	Reward	Yes	Won
5		Sack Attack	Immunity	No	Won
6		Roll With It	Reward	No	N/A¹
7		Brain Food	Reward	No	Won
7		Canoe Dueling	Immunity	Yes	Won
Tribes Merged, Day 19
8	Aiga	Nut Cracker	Immunity		Won
9		Coconut Code	Reward		Won
9		Square Peg, Round Hole	Immunity		Lost
10		Get Hooked	Reward		Lost
10		Spear Me The Details	Immunity		Lost
12		Survivor Auction
12		Drop A Log	Immunity		Lost
Voted Out, Day 30
Notes: ^1 Russell S. collapsed at the challenge, causing the challenge to be stopped with no winner.

Episode	John's Votes	Voted Against John
1	Galu Tribe Immune
2	Galu Tribe Immune
3	Galu Tribe Immune
4	Yasmin	-
5	Galu Tribe Immune
6	No Vote
7	Galu Tribe Immune
8	Erik	Individual Immunity
9	~~Russell H.~~¹	-
10	Natalie; Laura²	-
12	Mick	Brett, Dave, Jaison, Mick, Monica, Natalie, Russell H.
Voted Out, Day 30
Voted for Sole Survivor	Russell H.

^1 In "Tastes Like Chicken", Russell H. used a Hidden Immunity Idol, negating John's vote against him.
^2 In "The Day of Reckoning", the vote ended with a 5-5 tie between Laura and Natalie, forcing a revote. John changed his vote to Laura on the revote.

Post-Survivor[]

On January 9, 2010, John attended Survivor's 10-year anniversary party.
In July 15, 2018, John married Survivor: Micronesia winner Parvati Shallow.^[2] They have one daughter, Ama. John and 10-month old Ama appeared as Parvati's loved ones on Winners at War. In 2021, Parvati filed for divorce, citing irreconcilable differences.^[3] As revealed by Parvati in the second season of The Traitors (in which she was a contestant in), the divorce was finalized by 2023.
- During the divorce proceedings, Parvati stated that John was undergoing treatment for cancer.^[4]