Real Survivor: The Fox, the Bear, the Goat and the Bunny

Survivor fans such as myself are mostly familiar with certain terminology. For example, to be purpled is to be placed in the complete background of a particular editing, to the extent where you are utilized like the shelter or water well, firmly in the background of a lot of scenes without being in the forefront barring something bad happening to you, like the shelter being blown over or the well being contaminated. Perhaps the first bit of terminology that has a unique meaning is to be a goat, or someone who is used like an extra vote by another player or group of players. However, where the name "Goat" actually came from is something many fans, even hardcore ones, do not know the answer to. They would point to where someone like Ethan Zohn said it in early seasons and credit it to them.

The person who actually coined this term is SurvivorSucks user sunsawed, whose article can be found here. Basically, he stated that most Survivor final fours consist of four different players: the Fox, the Bear, the Goat and the Bunny. Out of these, only goat really stuck, but I will explain each archetype followed by examples of each. When explaining I will use the example of Survivor: The Australian Outback's final four, as used by sunsawed.

The Fox down under was Colby Donaldson. The Fox is the person to beat, the one everyone thinks will (and should) win. They were generally the strongest player on the season, and have been in control of most of the votes unless they did not particularly care about the outcome or made a strategic decision not to attempt this at certain points. This phenomenon also occurs pre-merge or swap, where Jerri and Michael were the foxes of their respective tribes.

The Bear wins if the Fox doesn't. They have been a solid and loyal alliance member for the Fox up to this point and have also played a really good game. Something I would add is that they are usually significantly worse than the Fox in one area, much like Tina in Australia. She was physically weak compared to Colby. However, they can often lay claim to being better in another area in a final tribal against the Fox. Tina won after convincing the jury that she played better socially and strategically.

The Goat is guaranteed second or third, with Australia's example being Keith. They are the least likely to win out of the remaining players and if the bunny were to be taken out fourth-last in a season containing a final two, the Fox and Bear would generally compete to take them to the end or get taken to the end by them, therefore almost guaranteeing a win. This term is used with regularity nowadays, but was (and probably should still) be reserved only for a maximum of one or two players a season.

And finally, the Bunny is the nice member of an opposing or semi-opposing group, who is taken to be eliminated before final tribal. The Fox and Bear often elect them because they are not very good in challenges and therefore do not need to be taken out super early. Sunsawed used the example of Elizabeth. In the modern game these players can also be there due to brilliant challenge and/or advantage-playing ability, playing from the bottom. 

There are many, many exceptions to this rule, but it is by far the most commonly seen formula. For example, in Redemption Island the final four consisted of Boston Rob and three goats, although Phillip's goat status is debatable. Ben from HHH is a prime example of the Bunnies who fought for their place, but alongside him in the final four there were no goats. Ryan, Chrissy and Devon were all somewhere between a Fox and a Bear. The frontrunner and controller between them was never clear. But without further ado, I will show the corresponding examples in three popular seasons: the Amazon, Tocantins and Winners at War.

Survivor: The Amazon

Fox: Rob Cesternino 

Bear: Jenna Morasca 

Goat: Matthew von Ertfelda 

Bunny: Butch Lockley 

The fox was clearly Rob Cesternino. He had controlled the entire season as well as being one of the most hilarious players ever. The Bear, Jenna, had previously been aligned with him, and was the only one of the other three who realized that Rob was running away with it. Matthew was a psycho, but had been subdued and controlled by Rob, although he was also fairly loyal to Jenna. Butch was also bonkers and was there because no-one liked him enough to vote for him and his challenge prowess was pretty much non-existent. These four fit the formula pretty perfectly, and the bear eventually reigns supreme.

Survivor: Tocantins 

Fox: J.T.

Bear: Stephen 

Goat: Taj

Bunny: Erinn

Quite likely the best ever example of this formula, you have the semi-aligned person who you'll vote out - Erinn - the goat - Taj - the frontrunner - JT - and the competition - Stephen. Erinn is the last surviving member of Timbira, and while not well-liked by the jury was still originally on their tribe and a bit of an underdog, so she had to go. Taj was good socially and a fair strategist in the early game, but kind of just fell back and let JT and Stephen take control. JT was very clearly stronger than Stephen in one area - socially. While Stephen could have argued that he was better strategically, he had a bad final tribal performance and ended up coming second.

Survivor: Winners at War 

Fox: Sarah Lacina

Bear: Tony Vlachos

Goat: Natalie Anderson

Bunny: Michelle Fitzgerald

What? How is Tony not the Fox? Relax, I'll explain. Sarah had a compelling storyline. She had a much better social game and I would argue she was the only reason Tony didn't explode, overplay, and burn out shortly after the merge, one of the reasons I think she was also better strategically. And she was definitely no slouch in challenges. Tony was her mostly-loyal ally who was also a threat. I would make a case for Michelle having played just as well as Tony too, but I digress. She was certainly a good player and was the opposing player who slipped through the cracks with good play and wasn't considered a challenge threat. 

This would have been better if Ben was still in at this point, as he would have filled the goat role perfectly, but unusual twists do often change the outcome. Natalie should not have been there. However, I wanted to give you the most recent example so I had to go with her as the goat. She definitely shouldn't have beaten Sarah and didn't beat Tony, so she was never going to win in a final 3. She shouldn't have beaten Michelle either. I mean, she did nail the... not-being-good-in-that-particular-season part of being a goat, so there's that.

So there we have it, guys and girls! Please comment your opinions on this theory down below and follow me here and on social media if you learned something new. I am really trying to get "relevant" online and every new viewer counts, so please share my blog with your friends and family to assist me. I hope you enjoyed and I will see you guys later. Noah O-:<