Rob's Best Voting Confessional On Survivor: Winners At War

The only thing better than seeing a "Survivor" contestant win a season is watching them come back for another shot at victory. This idea is the premise that "Survivor: Winners at War" is founded on, as the landmark 40th season of the reality TV competition series sees its cast of competitors entirely made up of former winners. One notable member of the cast for this season is "Boston" Rob Mariano, a contestant with a legendary history on "Survivor," notably being the first series star to appear across six whole seasons (five times as a contestant and once as a consultant).

Though Rob bites the dust relatively early on in "Survivor: Winners at War," being the sixth overall contestant voted out of the competition, it isn't the last time fans get to see him during the season. In fact, one of the contestant's biggest standout moments from across all of his appearances in "Survivor" comes a decent ways after his loss, during a standout voting confessional at the end of the season.

The battle for the winner of "Survivor: Winners at War" only gets more intense as the season goes on. When the competition reaches its final stages, the three final contestants Natalie Anderson, Tony Vlachos, and Michele Fitzgerald clash against one another for the number one spot. However, amid all the drama that brings the season to a close, the "Survivor" star who gets the coolest moment of all is none other than Rob Mariano.

Returning to cast his vote for the season's winner during the final tribal council, Rob gives his jury confessional. He addresses Natalie, who he had allied with for a good portion of the early season, with a dramatic one-liner: "I said if you got back, you had to play perfect." Revealing his vote to be for Tony, he continues: "You almost did. You should've taken this guy out."

Rob's delivery of his verdict proved popular with a lot of viewers. "Can we take a second to appreciate how badass [Rob's] jury confessional was," u/Kylehelp123 wrote in a post on the r/survivor subreddit. "If this really is Rob's last time out, such a great way to go."

In many ways, the moment perfectly encapsulates Rob's trademark approach to "Survivor" as a cold, calculating player who has routinely voiced disinterest in forging personal bonds with his fellow contestants. "I never subscribed to any of that," Rob said in an interview with The Ringer. "I never saw it as anything other than a business trip."