Survivor (TV series)/Heartwarming

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


  • Russell Swan protesting being evacuated from Samoa despite that even Jeff was fearing for Russell's life. (His heart rate dropped to 42 beats per minute... within a few minutes.)
  • Michael Skupin's evacuation in Australia. It is one of the few episodes of Survivor that actually makes you feel that the show is really dangerous and not for novices.
    • Also from Australia, the instant messaging scene where as Rodger points out all the men that are left are far more emotionally affected than than the women. Especially Colby completely collapsing into tears by his mother simply writing "Hi baby."
    • The sweet, platonical friendship between Rodger and Elisabeth reached its crescendo when he gave her a heart-shaped rock to give to her boyfriend back home. Notable for being one of the only heart-wrenching moments that wasn't needlessly overdramatised (not to say they're any less heartwrenching than the rest of the examples).
  • Dan's son in Nicaragua, repeatedly kissing his father's head and acting completely confused at Jeff's surprise at it. "He's my dad!"
  • Also from Nicaragua, Holly stepping out of a reward challenge (The only one she won so far!) so that the rest of the camp could have enough rice to last for the end of the game.
  • Pretty much every instance of castaways reuniting with loved ones after four weeks of being cut off from civilization. Particularly heartwrenching is Sandra explaining why her uncle is visiting in Heroes vs Villains.
    • From the same season, the ultimate conclusion to the Jerri/Colby rivalry - when he's voted out, Jerri hugs him and cries. Supposedly, there may have been a story in that season about Jerri and Colby reconciling after all this time, but since it didn't fit into the whole "Russell needs to be taken down" theme of the season, we'll never know...
    • Shane reuniting with his son Boston during the Panama season has the unique distinction of being genuinely heartwarming and sweet(Shane obviously loves his son very much) and laugh out loud funny(due to Shane's over the top bawling at just seeing him and the fact that, due to Shane being an Adult Child, Boston coming off as more mature than his dad).
    • Sean reuniting with his dad aboard the cruise ship in Borneo, which came as a complete and pleasant surprise to Sean since it was the first season and the "Loved One's Visit" hadn't been set in stone as a tradition yet. Also, when Sean's dad came back to camp the next day, he was carrying care packages from everyone's families with him.
  • The end of the auction in Tocantins definitely counts. Jeff introduces the last item available to bid on; the chance for one person to watch a video message from their loved ones. Being incredibly homesick, especially for the newborn baby she left at home, Taj starts to tear up. Jeff opens the bidding, and everyone hands their money to Taj so that she can see her family. Even Jeff comments on the tribe's generosity, especially in such a cutthroat game.
  • Thailand of all seasons has a lot of them.
    • On the day Helen missed her twentieth wedding anniversary so she could compete on the show, her tribe secretly made her a tiara and threw a party for her to make up for it. Helen had thought the entire time that the run around she got all day meant her tribe was intending to vote her off.
    • In Episode 6, after a quarrel over a misunderstanding, Ken takes Robb under his wing and becomes a sort of Big Brother Mentor to him, teaching how to better relate to his tribe. This calmed down the normally very unpredictable Robb into having an epiphany about himself and suddenly becoming much nicer to his tribe mates.
    • Later on in the season, Helen's husband was the lucky person who got to hang out with the tribe for twenty-four hours. He immediately sees Brian as the guy who is really running things, and tries to convince Helen to vote him out. She doesn't listen to him, but at least he tried.
  • One World had quite a few towards the end:
    • Christina wanting to make her father proud because he only had a few years left to live, and making it all the way to the final 4.
    • Alicia and Colton apologizing for their behaviour on the show at the reunion.
    • Kat's jury speech, all about how short life was and seizing the day.
    • Tarzan and his wife, Terri's relationship - he was so desperate to see her that he ended up making deals that only brought him to the loved ones visit, just so he could see her.