Sandra Diaz-Twine/Game Changers

Sandra Diaz-Twine is a contestant from Survivor: Game Changers.

Having won the game two times, Sandra's undefeated record caused her to begin Game Changers with a huge target on her back. Despite this, she embraced her threat status as the "Queen of Survivor", and her charisma allowed her to emerge victorious from a power struggle on the original Mana tribe against another high-profile threat in previous winner Tony Vlachos. After a tribe switch that sent her to the Nuku tribe, she remained in power and successfully took out previous winner J.T. Thomas. However, a second tribe switch cost Sandra control of the game, as she and her ally Jeff Varner found themselves in the minority, and she was voted out—for the first time in her career—by the Tavua Alliance.

Profile[]

Age: 41
Hometown: Fayetteville, NC
Previously played on:
Season 7: Pearl Islands, Winner
Season 20: Heroes vs. Villains, Winner
How have you changed since the last time you played? I've gotten older and fatter.
What skills do you bring to Survivor that will make you a useful member of the group and what skills have you been learning since you last played? My ability to get to the end no matter what the situation and being straightforward. I won't apologize for anything I do.
What are you most proud of from the last time? Winning again.
What, if anything, do you most regret? No regrets, period!
How will you play differently this time? I have no choice but to be a more aggressive-sneaky-mean-lying-and-cheating Sandra.^[1]

Survivor[]

Sandra entered Survivor: Game Changers as one of three former winners, but had an especially big target on her back being the first two-time winner. She was initially placed on the Mana tribe. After Mana lost the first Immunity Challenge on Day 3, the tribe made an easy vote and decided to unanimously vote Ciera Eastin out for playing too hard too early. The next day, Sandra made an alliance with fellow former winner Tony Vlachos on the basis that they were both major threats, with the duo planning to link up with J.T. Thomas, the third winner in the season, should they ever meet on the same tribe. Sandra and Tony pulled in Aubry Bracco, Caleb Reynolds, and Malcolm Freberg, and thus the alliance of five controlled the nine-person Mana tribe. However, on Night 5, Tony caught Sandra talking with Troyzan Robertson in the middle of the night. Even though Sandra had not reneged on the alliance, Tony misinterpreted the conversation and confronted her. This resulted in Sandra and Tony turning against each other — Tony for seeing Sandra as too major a threat, and Sandra for not wanting to be controlled by another person. Mana narrowly lost their second challenge on Day 6. Sandra gathered her troops; she spoke to those who were on the outs of the alliance of big threats, namely Troyzan, Hali Ford, Jeff Varner, and Michaela Bradshaw, wanting them to vote with her to take out Tony. At Tribal Council, Sandra voted against Aubry in the event that Tony played a Hidden Immunity Idol while the rest of the tribe voted in her favor and sent Tony packing.

Day 7 brought a Tribe Switch, with Sandra being sent to the Nuku tribe with her former Mana tribemates Aubry, Jeff, Malcolm, and Michaela, leaving J.T., the sole original Nuku, on the outs. Nuku won the third Immunity Challenge, and later the first Reward Challenge. During this time, J.T. plotted with Malcolm to take Sandra out of the competition behind her back. At the Immunity Challenge on Day 11, host Jeff Probst revealed that only one tribe would win immunity and that the two tribes who lost the challenge would be sent to a Joint Tribal Council, where they would collectively vote one person out. Nuku had an early lead but the tribe would narrowly lose the challenge to the Tavua tribe, sending to Tribal Council with Mana. That afternoon, J.T. continued plotting against Sandra, mainly with his new ally Malcolm. However, the rest of the tribe planned to vote together. They planned to vote against Mana's Sierra Dawn Thomas for being their strongest female competitor. At a chaotic Tribal Council, J.T. revealed to his original Nuku tribemates on Mana that Sierra was Nuku's target, and hoped to get the Mana tribe to blindside Sandra. In the end, Nuku continued with their original plan, piling their votes onto Sierra. Unfortunately, Tai Trang played his idol on Sierra, negating the six votes cast against her. Malcolm was taken out, much to the chagrin of the Nuku tribe.

Malcolm's untimely blindside infuriated Sandra, who, after the Tribal Council, confronted J.T. Sandra planned to get J.T. out for his "dirty deed" should Nuku lose the next Immunity Challenge. After Nuku won the challenge, Sandra played on the brewing feud between J.T. and Michaela, escalating the tension by consuming the tribe's sugar and putting the blame on Michaela. Nuku went on to lose the Immunity Challenge, with Sandra seizing the opportunity to exact revenge on J.T. At Tribal Council, J.T. and Michaela's feud reached a fever pitch. Sandra took advantage of this to secure Michaela's vote. She pulled the wool over Aubry and J.T., and with Jeff's vote, J.T. was sent home with an idol in his pocket.

A second Tribe Switch occurred on Day 14, placing Sandra on the third revision of the Nuku tribe. She was relegated to the bottom with Jeff, as the original Nuku members who were sent to Tavua in the first switch held the majority. The Tavua Alliance planned to get Sandra out for being a two-time winner. Sandra's fate was sealed when Nuku lost the next Immunity Challenge. However, she saw through the majority's lie that she was safe over Tai and tried to gather votes against him by telling Andrea Boehlke, Ozzy Lusth, and Sarah Lacina that she would vote with them come the merge. At Tribal Council, Tai whispered to Sandra, telling her to vote against Ozzy. Sandra made a last-ditch attempt to gather votes against Ozzy or against Tai for his perceived duplicity, but this was all for naught. Sandra was voted out in a 5-2 vote. However, she received a positive ovation from her tribemates when leaving and also emerged as the highest-placing former winner in the season.

Episode	Tribe Affiliation	Challenge	Challenge Type	Sit-Out?	Result
1	Mana	The Marooning	Reward	No	Lost
		Blue Lagoon Bustle	Reward/Immunity	No	Lost
		Serpent Turf	Reward/Immunity	No	Lost
Switched Tribes, Day 7
2	Nuku	Austin's Elemental Obstacle Course	Reward/Immunity	No	1st
3		Ram-Ball On	Reward	Yes	1st
3		Ow-Pairs	Immunity	Yes	Lost
4		Unchained Medley	Reward	No	2nd
4		Box Car Blues	Immunity	No	Lost
5		Cargo Salvage	Immunity	No	Lost
Voted Out, Day 16