'I Had No Chance of Winning': How Tony Vlachos Turned Jungle Chaos Into Two Legendary 'Survivor' Wins (Exclusive)

As part of Parade‘s cover story for Survivor 50, we’ve spoken with each of the show’s “Mount Rushmore” players about their multi-season journey on the show, behind-the-scenes stories on iconic moments, and thoughts on their legacy across 26 years of the hit CBS reality series.

Tony Vlachos is beaming a mile wide as he watches himself. The 52-year-old is viewing clips of himself over a decade ago as he treats the jungles of Survivor: Cagayan like his personal playground, playing spy and going on treasure hunts. The first thing he says after the video ends is only appropriate for a guy known for finding his fair share of trinkets (and making suggestive noises while doing so).

“That guy is my idol.”

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At that time, Tony was a police officer, working the beat in New Jersey. He was a big Survivor fan, though he admits he didn’t dissect the show’s complex gameplay, taking it as simple entertainment. But one day, he realized how uniquely qualified he would be to play, considering his day-to-day is about observing and catching people who are incentivized to lie.

“I was like, ‘Oh, you know what? That’s that seems easy, because I do that every day for a living.’ I’m a police officer, so I’m always dealing with people that are lying to me. I’m always dealing with people who are trying to out-strategize me and outwit me out there in the streets. So I’m like, ‘This is the same thing.’”

Perhaps a more important skill than catching deceivers, however, is learning how to be one yourself. 

“And being that I work with bad guys and criminals who are always trying to lie to me, I know how to do the same thing. I know how to lie to people. I know how to persuade them.”

Tony uses a quote from cast member Woo Hwang during our conversation: “If you put something in the bowl, you become the bowl.” And so, despite saying he still hates the jungle to this day, he hit the ground literally running, grabbing as much flora around him as possible to create a secret lair where he could eavesdrop and hide in plain sight. A short time later, the “Spy Shack” was born, kicking off an espionage franchise that would continue across nearly all of his seasons.

“The Spy Shack was something spontaneous, and it was because of necessity,” Tony reveals. “I wanted to know what these people were saying behind my back. So when I’m walking away, and they’re all chatting, I’m like, ‘What are they saying? What are they talking about?’ So that’s when I said, ‘I’ve got to figure out a way to listen to what they’re saying.’”

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The “Spy Shack” is an apt microcosm for the wild assortment of ideas contained in Tony’s “bag of tricks” on Cagayan. True to the former bodybuilder’s brawn, every time he swung, he swung hard. Whether it was playing an idol on another person, lying about another idol’s lifespan to maintain safety, or plotting blindside after blindside, one has to wonder whether every brazen tactic he took was premeditated.

“Everything I was doing was off the cuff,” he admits. “And that’s why I would get myself in trouble all the time. And then I would have to go back later and think about what I just did and try to get myself out of that hole I just dug myself into.”

To say Tony was like a tiger in Cagayan would be an understatement. He approached every vote with the ferocity of a big cat, ready to get his claws into anyone, friend or foe, he felt was jeopardizing his game. In a postmerge divided into two major alliances, Tony and Woo were hopping the fence back and forth, arbiters of every juror’s fate. As the season’s finale bore down, there was a common consensus among Survivor fans. “Tony’s an incredible character. But there’s no way this man could win the game.”

And, for what it’s worth, at the beginning of his run, he was in agreement.

“The reason I played the way I played was because I thought I had no chance of winning,” he revealed. “I did not think I was winning that game, so that’s why I was swinging for the fences. I thought I was gonna get voted out. So I was like, ‘You know what? I’m gonna go big.’

“And later on, towards the middle of the game, that’s when I started having a little army behind me. I knew once I created my little army, there was no way that they can leave me. If they got rid of me, then they wouldn’t have the numbers, and the other opposing alliance would just get rid of them one by one. So that’s why I could flip-flop, because once I made myself a number where they needed in order to have a majority, I could do whatever I wanted. Because if they got rid of me, then they’re done. They’re next.”

And, as Tony continued his astounding postmerge ping-ponging, an initially impossible idea began to gain legitimacy in his head.

“I was like, ‘Whoa, I might have a chance here.’ And that’s when I started trying to slow it down a little bit. I don’t know if I did slow it down, but I was trying to slow it down. That’s when I realized that I had a shot at winning the game. But in the beginning, I didn’t care. I was like, ‘I’ll do whatever it takes, because I’m not going to win anyway.’”

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And Tony was one questionable decision away from that coming to fruition. On the penultimate day of Cagayan, he was, on paper, powerless. Woo had won the Final Immunity Challenge, and Kass McQuillen-Grace was seen as the much easier person to beat in the end. Given the seemingly impossible task of convincing someone not make a choice that nearly guaranteed a million dollars, Tony once again got to work doing what he does best: Talking.

“Woo’s biggest thing was integrity,” he recalls. “His biggest thing was honor, and he kept true to that. So in the end, I say, ‘Hold on. This whole game, all you told me was you want to play with honor, you want to play with integrity. So if you vote me out now, that honor stuff, that integrity stuff that you’ve been pitching to everybody all game goes out the window, and you have nothing to give the jurors. What are you going to tell them? Because according to them, you weren’t really playing the game, because you were this honest guy playing an honorable and integrity game. So if you get rid of me now, you have no game. You’re gonna lose to Kass.’” 

After working with him so closely nearly the entire game, Tony knew just what to say. Woo took him to the Final Two, still seen as one of the worst moves in the show’s history. Predictably, despite some harsh feelings towards him, Tony’s impressive stratagems reigned supreme, as he was crowned Sole Survivor near-unanimously. To this day, he’s known as one of Survivor’s biggest “unicorns,” as his bold and brash tactics made for an incredibly unlikely winning story.

And much like a mythical creature, Tony didn’t think he’d be seen again, surprisingly admitting he didn’t feel his game at the time was all-star worthy. So when he got the call to play on Game Changers, it was an immediate yes. But then a sinking truth hit him, one that’s become part and parcel with returning player seasons.

“Most of these returning players, they know each other outside the game,” Tony says. “They go to these events, they go to these functions, they talk with one another. I don’t do none of that. So, going into the game, I knew I was going to have people who form pre-game alliances and talk to each other. So I was saying to myself, ‘You know what? I’m just going to go there, and I’m just going to just overcompensate and just let them think that I’m just a clown.’ That’s why I started running around the jungle like a nut job, so they could be like, ‘Just leave Tony alone. He doesn’t know what’s going on.’”

Unfortunately, that assessment would be quite true. Tony dug a hole for himself — literally in the case of the “Spy Bunker” — becoming an immediate target for his aggressive gameplay. And so he was voted out for the first time, sent packing after only six days. Fortunately, Tony would get the call to come back yet again three years later, joining the cast of Winners at War. And he had learned an important lesson from his previous flameout.

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“I can’t think that I’m going in there with this big target on my back when you have 19 other winners,” he recalls. “So I was like, ‘You know what? I’m gonna go there. I’m gonna be quiet. I don’t need to hit the ground running. Let me just see what’s going on. Let me put myself in house arrest, watch everybody look for idols. Let everybody do whatever they want. I’m gonna stay low. And then when it’s time to attack, I’m gonna attack.’”

While Tony had no pre-emptive strategy in his first winning season, his premeditated plan for Season 40 played out to perfection. He spent the premerge turning idol hands into idle hands, occupying his time building camp morale. But as he was building ladders, his status in the game was starting to climb. And, as the postmerge hit, Tony surprisingly felt a sense of deja vu.

“Once again, I thought I had zero chance of winning,” he says. “Seriously, I don’t go into these games thinking I’m gonna win. I just don’t. So I go in there thinking I don’t have a shot, but I’m gonna try my best. I’m gonna do whatever it takes. I’m gonna stay low and then try and see where it goes. 

“So again, towards the middle of the game, I started getting some traction. I was like, ‘Wow. Okay, now I see I have a possibility of winning this game again. I never do things to build a resume. I never say, ‘Oh, I got to make this big move to build a resume.’ I just played the best game that I can play. And at the end, I’m hoping my game could speak for itself.”

Suffice it to say, it did. As the game turned individual, yet again, Tony’s idle hand took on an iron grip. He mounted a few massive power shifts, yet again dictating who would go home nearly every round. He found and played idols, and he even had a few Immunity Challenge wins to his name. By the time Day 39 came around, it was clear. The man who purposely made himself look smaller than his competition ended up walking tall. The game that somehow shouldn’t have worked, did. Twice.

Tony’s massive success has trickled down to a number of Survivor players who have hit the beach in the past decade. In talking with the castaways of the show’s “new era,” quite a few cite the offbeat officer, encouraged to take advantage of every opportunity (and every advantage). And his legacy extends beyond the many who try to follow in his rapid footsteps, as Tony says Cagayan gave Survivor a shot in the arm it desperately needed at that time.

“As a fan, I was watching Survivor dwindle down, as far as I’m concerned,” he says. “And when I played Season 28, it got another jump start. From that point on, it was like, ‘Whoa! You could actually backstab your alliance, jump back and forth.’ I haven’t seen that in many seasons that I watched prior to that. Now that’s all I see! I went in there, and I gave it a second life.”

And Tony is simultaneously flattered and proud to have made such a wave in this massive ocean of Survivor history.

“I love that. Don’t be scared! Don’t go hide like I did in Season 40 for the first 14 days. This is your first time playing. Nobody knows you. Go out there and make a splash!”