Sandra Diaz-Twine is the Sole Survivor of Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains.
Sandra returned for her second outing in Heroes vs. Villains as a member of the Villains tribe, where her alliance was overthrown early on by the opposing alliance. However, like in Pearl Islands, Sandra proceeded to demonstrate her adaptability in the face of long odds and was able to manipulate and deceive the new majority alliance into blindsiding Coach Wade in order to save her closest ally, Courtney Yates. Although Sandra made it to the merge despite Courtney's eventual elimination, she was rebuffed in her efforts to work in concert with the Heroes Alliance. After finding a Hidden Immunity Idol and being discounted as a threat, Sandra again advanced to the end. Through her previous social relationships, heroic behavior, and the Heroes' overall disdain for fellow finalists Parvati Shallow and Russell Hantz, Sandra won the title of Sole Survivor in a 6-3-0 vote and became the series' first two-time winner.
Profile[]
Tribe: Villains
Hometown: Stamford, Conn.
Current Residence: Fayetteville, N.C.
Personal Claim To Fame: "Graduating from community college where I received an Associate's Degree in Business Administration."
Inspiration in Life: "My mother."
Previous Finishes: Pearl Islands: Winner
Favorite Past Moment: "When I dumped the fish after Rupert got voted out."
Previous Survivor She Respects Most: "I have no comment."
Previous Survivor She Respects Least: Jonny Fairplay (Pearl Islands, Micronesia)
Why Did She Come Back? : "Hands down, the money!"[1]
Survivor[]
Sandra started the game openly announcing she did not deserve to be assigned to the Villains tribe. Regardless, she became a member of the majority alliance with Coach Wade, Courtney Yates, Jerri Manthey, Rob Mariano, and Tyson Apostol, with Courtney and Rob being her biggest allies. The Villains enjoyed early success in challenges, only losing to the rival Heroes tribe once, with Randy Bailey being voted out at their first Tribal Council on Day 8. The following day, a clue to the Hidden Immunity Idol came with the Villains' reward. However, the clue fell out and was revealed in front of the whole tribe. With Sandra threatening that whoever looked for the idol would be marked and voted out at the next Tribal Council, the tribe agreed to punish anyone who did. However, after Rob suspected that Russell Hantz went looking for the idol, Sandra went to spy on him at her alliance's behest. After Sandra spotted Russell looking for the idol, the alliance agreed to vote him out next.
When host Jeff Probst revealed on Day 15 that both tribes would vote someone out in a Double Tribal Council that night, the majority alliance planned to get split their votes 3-3, between Russell and his ally Parvati Shallow to flush out the idol. However, Tyson foolishly cast a fourth vote for Parvati, leading to his own elimination when Russell unexpectedly played the idol for Parvati rather than on himself; Tyson was eliminated by a 3-2-0 vote against Russell.
After this, the majority alliance crumbled. Coach and Jerri both defected to Russell's alliance, and Rob was voted out at the next Tribal Council. When the Villains again lost immunity on Day 21, Sandra lied to Russell, telling him that Coach was gunning for him; Russell bought the lie and Coach was voted out 4-3. Despite the Villains winning the next Reward Challenge, the tribe again lost at the subsequent Immunity Challenge and Courtney was voted out unanimously, with Sandra voting against her ally to protect herself, leaving Sandra at the bottom of the Villains' alliance at the merge.
The Heroes and Villains merged with five members each on the Yin Yang tribe. Eager to defect, Sandra tried to warn her friend and former Pearl Islands ally Rupert Boneham and the other Heroes about Russell lying about the existence of an all-female alliance, to not trust him, and that she was willing to flip and help the Heroes Alliance. She warned that the Villains had every intention of sticking together, and Russell had no plans to help them. Though Rupert wondered if what Sandra said was true, the other Heroes refused to believe this after J.T. Thomas had already given Russell his Hidden Immunity Idol, which Russell would then pass on to Parvati. At the merged tribe's first Tribal Council, Parvati played two idols for Sandra and Jerri, negating all five of the Heroes' votes against Jerri and leaving J.T. to be voted out with all five of the Villains' votes.
At the final nine, Sandra would again attempt to switch to the Heroes' side, but she would be thwarted by Candice Woodcock flipping to the Villains, sending Amanda Kimmel to the jury. After the Immunity Challenge the following day, Jeff Probst read a clue to the Hidden Immunity Idol aloud to the entire tribe. In the ensuing scramble, Sandra was the one to find the idol, choosing to keep it to herself. At Tribal Council that night, Candice was voted out after Rupert and Colby Donaldson piled their votes on her to save themselves when the Villains split their votes. The Tribal Council began to expose fractures within the Villains alliance, with Russell now wanting to target his own allies Danielle DiLorenzo and Parvati. At the next Tribal Council on Day 33, Sandra stuck with Danielle and Parvati in voting against Rupert. However, Jerri and Russell voted with the Heroes to send Danielle home in a 4-3 vote.
Sandra made one last attempt to help the Heroes, but Rupert would instead try to work with Russell, and told of Sandra's plan to Russell, leaving Sandra no choice but to vote him out. Sandra, sensing danger, played her Hidden Immunity Idol for safety, negating two votes against her, but Rupert would have been voted out 4-2 regardless. The next day, Colby was voted out for being the last Hero standing; the Villains, seemingly unaware of the large jury threat Sandra posed, did not target her. Russell wanted Jerri to be voted out, while Jerri targeted Parvati. Parvati wanted Sandra voted out, believing that she was the biggest jury threat, but after Russell won the Final Immunity Challenge, Parvati was forced to go along with the others in voting Jerri out.
At the Final Tribal Council, Sandra played up that she had wanted Russell out since Day 1, that she had interacted well with both sides and many times tried to help the Heroes, and emphasized her ability to get to the end despite losing her core allies early and being at the bottom of the Villains alliance. Parvati attempted to point out Sandra's poor performance in challenges and lack of any big strategic moves. However, all five of the Heroes jury members, along with close friend Courtney, awarded Sandra their votes, giving Sandra her historic second Sole Survivor title, with 6 votes to 3 for Parvati and 0 for Russell.
| Episode | Tribe Affiliation |
Challenge | Challenge Type | Sit-Out? | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Villains | Battle Dig | Reward | No | Lost |
| Lock, Load and Light | Immunity | No | Won | ||
| 2 | A Crate Idea | Reward/Immunity | No | Won | |
| 3 | Sumo in Mud | Reward/Immunity | Yes | Lost | |
| 4 | Slip, Slide & Score | Reward | No | Won | |
| Roll With It | Immunity | Yes | Won | ||
| 5 | Schmergen Brawl | Reward | Yes | Won | |
| Blind Cube Crisis | Immunity | No | Won | ||
| 6 | Rope-a-Dope1 | Immunity | No | Lost | |
| Reward | Yes | Won | |||
| 7 | Basket Brawl | Reward | Yes | Lost | |
| Caught in the Web | Immunity | No | Lost | ||
| 8 | Fauxconut Bowling | Reward | Yes | Lost | |
| Mud Slide | Immunity | No | Lost | ||
| 9 | Chimney Sweep | Reward | No | Won | |
| Strung Out | Immunity | Yes | Lost | ||
| Tribes Merged, Day 25 | |||||
| 10 | Yin Yang | Get a Grip | Immunity | Lost | |
| 11 | Pacific Shuffle | Reward | Lost | ||
| House of Cards | Immunity | Lost | |||
| 12 | When It Rains, It Pours | Immunity | Lost | ||
| Pegatory Knockout | Immunity | Lost | |||
| 13 | Pass the Bucket | Reward | Invited | ||
| Keep It Up | Immunity | Lost | |||
| 14 | Offer It Up | Immunity | Lost | ||
| Blind Maze | Immunity | Lost | |||
| Sole Survivor, Day 39 | |||||
| Notes: ^1 The tribes competed in separate individual Immunity Challenges where the winners from both tribes competed against each other for tribal reward.
| |||||
| Episode | Sandra's Votes |
Voted Against Sandra |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Villains Tribe Immune | |
| 2 | Villains Tribe Immune | |
| 3 | Randy | - |
| 4 | Villains Tribe Immune | |
| 5 | Villains Tribe Immune | |
| 6 | Russell | - |
| 7 | Russell | - |
| 8 | Coach | - |
| 9 | Courtney | - |
| 10 | J.T. | -1 |
| 11 | Amanda | - |
| 12 | Candice | - |
| Rupert | - | |
| 13 | Rupert | |
| 14 | Colby | Colby |
| Jerri | - | |
| Jury Votes for Sandra |
Amanda, Candice, Colby, Courtney, J.T., Rupert | |
| Sole Survivor, Day 39 | ||
^1 In "Going Down in Flames", Sandra used a Hidden Immunity Idol, but did not negate any votes against her.
^2 In "Loose Lips Sink Ships", Sandra used a Hidden Immunity Idol, negating 2 votes against her.
References[]
| Preceded by Samoa  Natalie White |
Sole Survivor Titleholder Heroes vs. Villains  Sandra Diaz-Twine |
Succeeded by Nicaragua  Fabio Birza |
| Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains Castaways | |||||||||||||||||||
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