Richie Gureski

Fans vs. Favorites: Revenge of the Fallen

Legends

### Tribe(s)

Potawatomi Tribe, Ho-Chunk Tribe, Merge Tribe (Twist Manor)Targaryen Tribe (Winter War)

Tribe Cochran, Tribe Vlachos, Merge Tribe (Fans vs. Favorites: Revenge of the Fallen)

Tribe Devontre, Tribe Garcia, Merged Tribe (Legends)

### Finish

9/13 (Twist Manor)14/15 (Winter War)

1st Runner-Up (Fans vs. Favorites: Revenge of the Fallen)

12/19 (Legends)

### Alliances

Breanne Nevers (Twist Manor)Alex Steib (Winter War)

Corey Davis, Maggie McNulty, Kenzie Haas (Fans vs. Favorites: Revenge of the Fallen)

Christian Davis, Kyle Scheel, Cody Conroy, Kathy Moritz, Hunter Heschke (Legends)

### Votes Against

9 (Twist Manor)3 (Winter War)

3 (Fans vs. Favorites: Revenge of the Fallen)

9 (Legends)

**Richie "Rich Dog" Gureski** was the Fan-Favorite and a contestant on Survivor: Twist Manor, a contestant on Survivor: Winter War, the Runner-Up and the Player of the Season on Survivor: Fans vs. Favorites, and was a contestant on Survivor: Legends.

Outspoken and enthusiastic, Richie was the first Survivor Whitewater contestant to have Autism. His enthusiastic and snarky underdog status in *Survivor: Twist Manor* helped him win the *Survivor Whitewater Fan Favorite Award*. Richie returned for redemption in *Survivor: Winter War*, but a few bad decisions on the Targaryen Tribe saw him out of the game early. On his third attempt in *Survivor: Fans vs. Favorites: Revenge of the Fallen*, Richie would fight tooth and nail during the entirety of the game before ultimately becoming the first Runner-Up of the season. However, his unpredictability would follow a much more emotional Richie in *Survivor: Legends*, and many of his anxious and humorous tendencies would paint a target on his back early on, leading to his eventual downfall at the beginning of the merge. Richie is admired by many for his enthusiasm and the dedication he holds for the game.

## Survivor: Twist Manor

Richie was the first contestant to be sent to the Solo Room after not being picked by Darius or Hailey to be on either of the two tribes at the start of the game. However, he would get individual immunity from the first tribal council of the season and would get an opportunity to gain an advantage in the game via. the Solo Room. In the Solo Room, Richie would unfortunately pick the wrong hat and not get an advantage. He would use the remaining time he had in the Solo Room to plot his way into his new tribe.

After the first tribal council, Richie was placed on the Potawatomi Tribe, where he pleaded with the others to keep him safe and promised his loyalty and his game. Richie's misread nonverbals from interactions on his tribe led him to believe that Jack was targeting him, but his anxieties from this and other things were temporarily assuaged when he aligned with Breanne, and she promised him his safety in the game. Despite Richie's best efforts as a caller in the second immunity challenge, the Potawatomi Tribe lost their second challenge in a row. Back at camp, Breanne approached Richie about a plan to vote out Tom, as she saw him as a threat down the line. Despite his original objections, mainly due to a desire to get Jack out due to a lack of trust, his desire to be in the tribe's good graces would win out, and he would help to vote Tom out in a unanimous vote, with Richie being the only other person to receive a vote.

Richie found himself at the bottom of the tribe once again when he and Breanne were swapped onto the new Ho-Chunk Tribe. As he did on the Potawatomi Tribe, Richie pleaded for his safety in the game and promised his loyalty to Hunter, Darius, and Rob. Although the Ho-Chunk Tribe lost the next immunity challenge, Richie's connections with Darius and Hunter, alongside Breanne's bigger threat-status for her winning game in *Survivor: Battle for Cambridge*, helped to ease Rob's weariness of Richie, and he was saved yet again. Jack returned from the Solo Room and came to the new Ho-Chunk Tribe, where Richie was immediately suspicious of him. Richie's efforts at the next immunity challenge helped the Ho-Chunk tribe win immunity and helped keep him safe from being blindsided. Back at camp, Richie talked to the others to start a potential alliance at the merge, and brought up the idea of taking out Nathan, as he saw him as someone who would steamroll through them in the game.

Richie started out the merge in style by winning the first individual immunity challenge of the season, much to the dismay of a few who had planned to vote him out. Richie talked to Kyle S., Michael, and Hailey about splitting the votes to blindside Nathan and Jack. However, Richie was persuaded to go with Michael's plan to bring in Nathan and Jack to blindside Hunter, seeing him as the bigger threat. Richie and Hailey were then blindsided when Michael was voted out of the game. After tribal council, Richie argued with and lied to Hunter about his vote to try to keep himself safe, but Hunter saw right through it. After losing the next individual immunity challenge, Richie went on a failed hidden immunity idol hunt and started interrupting conversations in an attempt to get his name off of everyone's minds for the vote. Richie talked to Darius and continued to lie saying that he did not vote for Hunter as he pleaded for his safety in the game. In turn, Darius told him to vote Rob. Unbeknownst to Richie, Darius had already previously talked to Rob and told him that Richie was trying to take him out. Right before tribal council, Hailey lied to Richie and said she was voting Hunter, and Richie told her to vote Rob per Darius' word. Richie then became the second member of the jury, placing 9th out of 13th after being voted out in a unanimous 8-1 vote. As he was taking his torch to be snuffed, Richie called out Darius and Hailey for throwing Hunter's and Rob's names for the vote in an attempt to persuade the others to make a move against them.

At the Final Tribal Council, Richie gave one of the most memorable jury speeches of the season to Hunter and Hailey, arguing with both finalists and heavily criticizing and berating them for appearing to have very lackluster games in comparison to those who were taken out before them. However, even after everyone had asked their questions and said their dues, Richie was still unsure of who to give his vote to, as, at the time, he did not see either of them as deserving enough to win. After taking much time to think it over, Richie voted for Hailey to win, as he valued her game just a little bit more for her having to play off of the bottom for most of the game. However, as he did this, Richie would inadvertently aide in what would become a 4-4 tied vote at the Final Tribal Council.

At the *Survivor: Twist Manor Reunion Episode*, Richie was asked about his Final Tribal Council speech, and he explained that he gave his speech based off of the knowledge that he was aware of, mainly that he saw Hunter follow Darius around and Hailey lounge around and how his bitterness was due to how they both seemingly looked like they mooched off of others while the ones who wanted to play very badly were taken out early on. Richie went to mention that "perception is key" in reference to the differences of awareness that people playing the game and people watching the game have. Richie did give Hunter and Hailey credit for their games being more than what was previously perceived to be and then congratulated them. In regards to the conversation between Hunter and Michael, Richie said that the leader does not always do everything, and he gave credit to Hunter for proving that by making people on the chopping block feel secure as Darius seemed to be the leader to many. Richie asked Hailey and Michael about why he was not picked to be on the Potawatomi Tribe and revealed why Darius chose the people for the Ho-Chunk Tribe. Richie started the conversation about Tom's vote-off, and asked about the lack of damage control from the other players. Richie was asked by Breanne about her voteoff, to which he said he only voted her out in hopes that it would have helped the others to trust him more, and also said that he regretted voting Breanne out as he had wanted to work with her in the game. Richie and Jack exchanged information on how they knew certain people were connected to other people in the season. Towards the end, Richie called out people anonymously for unnecessary personal comments made against him during and outside of the game and said that he would still love to have the opportunity to get to know and become better friends with everyone. Richie then became the first contestant to win the *Survivor Whitewater Fan Favorite Award*, due to his gameplay and confessionals being dubbed as "entertaining and chaotic", winning against Michael Garcia and Kyle Scheel. Finally, Richie immediately said that, if asked, he would come back for another season in a heartbeat to play again.

**Richie's Voting History**
 **3** | Breanne
 **Voted**
**To Win**

## Survivor: Winter War

Richie returned to the game looking for redemption alongside fellow *Survivor: Twist Manor* players Tom and Jack, and *Survivor: Battle for Cambridge* player Jadon. Richie was placed on the Targaryen Tribe, and at their camp, he attempted to stop the tribe from searching for the hidden immunity idol right away and would get the tribe to talk to each other. When everyone was looking for the hidden immunity idol, Alex approached Richie to align with him, but both were unaware that the others also aligned and Richie was their main target. Richie attempted to bond with his tribe and said that he wanted to help them in the game in hopes that he would not be targeted. At the first immunity challenge, Richie stepped up to be the leader of his tribe and was told to pick two people to compete. Thinking the challenge to be mental **and** physical, he chose Alex and Ness, this causing Richie to have to go to the first tribal council of the season. Back at camp, Collin was annoyed they lost, claiming that Richie did not listen when they said their strengths. Richie accepted this and promised to listen better in the future if they kept him around. When each person left for their private confessional, Richie would immediately start talks about whoever was gone. When asked about Alex, he turned his back on him and said that he would vote Alex if the others would. At tribal council, Richie campaigned for his safety and said that he would be a follower if it kept him around longer to make him seem less of a threat. Richie would be safe, as the others saw Richie as beneficial due to his communication skills. Unfortunately, this would come at a cost, as Alex would be the first person voted out.

At camp, Richie attempted to rally the tribe to lift their spirits and he was named the leader by Collin as he saw Richie as the most outspoken member of their tribe. Richie accepted this, attempting to ensure that he knew that they wanted this. At the immunity challenge, Richie was told to select someone to compete, and after a tribe discussion, Richie chose Collin to compete and gave him advice for it. However, his advice was not enough, and the Targaryen Tribe would return to tribal council. Back at camp, Richie openly asked his tribe if he was the target, of which no one would answer him, despite telling them he would prefer the truth. Richie campaigned for his safety in the game, saying that he was still there to help them, and brought up how he tried to help Collin in the last challenge. After Ness left to do her private confessional, Richie campaigned on Ness being Darius' girlfriend, attempting to convince the men into thinking that Darius gave her advice to run the game and take them out, and mentioned her lack of effort in challenges. Richie continued campaigning on his loyalty and desire to help them, offered himself up as a shield for them to use in the future, and warned Collin and Ness of Casey's connections to the other tribes. At tribal council, Richie campaigned for his strengths and claimed to be okay with being a follower, hoping that those lies would work again. Unfortunately, it did not work, and he would be the second person voted out of the game, placing 14th out of 15th.

With Alex, Casey, Jadon, and Arthur, Richie was given one last hope in the game at the Comeback Challenge. Richie fought hard during this time, throwing the other's cups out of their places and closing the doors in his opponents' faces in hopes that it would give him any advantage. Unfortunately, Richie would lose very narrowly to Jadon, and Richie's time in the game would be finished.

**Richie's Voting History**
 **2** | Ness

## Survivor: Fans vs. Favorites: Revenge of the Fallen

Although Richie would begin the game feeling anxious at the reveal of the *First Impressions Vote*, but this time he would not let his fears stop him in the game as he attempted to get in on many conversations to ensure that his name was not the one being spread around. Once he found saw a majority voting against Ness, he cast his vote against her as well, seeing his vote as meaningless if four of the seven Favorites already voted against her. Richie would attempt to do immediate damage control as she was leaving to get her opportunity at an advantage by saying to her that he did not want to vote her out. Later on, Richie would find out that the group of Favorites were not his official tribe, and Tribe Cochran would be his new group for the start of the game. This would be beneficial for him, as it would help guarantee him safety when his tribe would win the first immunity challenge. At camp, Richie would immediately make a plan with everyone to get rid of Darius due to his knowledge from *Survivor: Twist Manor* of how much damage Darius could deal in the game. He would also take the time to bond with others in his tribe, such as Corey, to ensure that he would be seen as a positive figure within his tribe. Richie would once again be safe, as Tribe Cochran won the next immunity challenge. At camp, Richie would continue to bond with his tribemates, including Thomas and Kenzie, and would initiate a public pocket search in an attempt to out the person who had the hidden immunity idol. Although he would be unsuccessful at finding out who had it, he did feel his tribe was more trustworthy.

His intuition with trust would continue to be tested as Richie would be swapped over to the newly expanded Tribe Vlachos alongside Corey, Kenzie, and Maggie, and he would get more time to bond and plot as his new tribe won the next immunity challenge thanks to his and Corey's efforts. At camp, Richie would curiously look around for the hidden immunity idol, of which Maggie would unintentionally help him find. While showing great excitement, Richie was fully aware that this now set a huge target on his back within his small tribe. He attempted to combat this new target on him by telling his tribe that he would use it at the first tribal council he went to, regardless of whether or not he was the target. However, Richie knew they would still try to pull something in order to either get him out of the game or to get him to waste his hidden immunity idol. When they first arrived at the next immunity challenge, Richie would tell Michael and Ness that he was in trouble for his possession of the hidden immunity idol in an attempt to gain allies on the other side. However, this would only make him more of a threat in Maggie's eyes, who was trying to help throw the challenge with Corey and Kenzie in order to get him eliminated from the game. Ironically, Tribe Vlachos would win the next immunity challenge after Tribe Parvati would perform poorly. Back at camp, Richie would attempt to regain trust with his tribemates by suggesting that they used the hidden immunity idol on one of the four of them at the start of the merge to get rid of a huge threat in the game, and he campaigned for them to target Michael, Darius, and Adam at the merge for their threat statuses in the game. Richie would then suggest that they stick together in the game if they were able to in hopes that forming this alliance of sorts would benefit him later down the line.

Richie would get another surprise in the game as instead of a merge, they had another tribe swap to endure, this one sending him back to Tribe Cochran alongside Maggie, Michael, Ness, and Vin. Despite his best efforts, along with him being a huge reason for them staying involved as long as they did, Tribe Cochran would lose the next immunity challenge, and Richie would have to go to his first tribal council within the season. Immediately, the other four hatched a plan to get rid of him by telling him that it was either Michael or Vin going home and then have one of those two vote the other that was not told to him, only for the other three to vote for Richie. However, Richie was very well aware of their deceptive tactics as he knew he was being lied to by Maggie and Ness when they told him two different names within a very short span of time. Before tribal council, Richie would attempt to campaign on the behalf of Vin, seeing Michael as the bigger threat of the two and wanting to ensure Vin's safety in the game. When he was asked by some of his tribemates about using his hidden immunity idol, Richie decided to frequently change his answers, which kept Michael and Vin on edge all the way to tribal council, where they would ditch their plan and would vote against each other to guarantee themselves safety incase Richie did use his hidden immunity idol. Richie would use his hidden immunity idol, and he would get a surprise when he was told to help break the tie between Michael and Vin at tribal council, of which Richie would once again vote the former. However, this would not help him, as Maggie and Ness would target Vin and would eliminate him, leaving Richie in the hotseat once again.

Richie would once again make the merge, and just like the last time he made the merge, he won the first individual immunity challenge of the season after a tiebreaker against Michael. Immediately after the challenge, Richie would approach Adam, Maggie, Michael, Sam, and Ness about a plan to vote Darius off, and he would attempt to do damage control with Michael by claiming to him that his votes against him at the last tribal council were solely due to the information he had received from Maggie, Ness, and Vin. However, Richie would change his tune once he realized that Cole, Corey, and Kenzie were not going to vote with him, and he recognized that Adam and Sam were starting to change their minds about the vote as well. Knowing this, he went to talk to Michael and told him that he was not in trouble, but he did attempt to hint at him that he really was by telling him to use a hidden immunity idol if he had one. At tribal council, Richie would witness Michael's second 7-3 elimination within his three attempts in the game, but this time, Richie would not be in the minority vote of the group. After Adam won the next individual immunity challenge, Richie and Corey would both agree that it was finally time to get Darius out of the game, and the duo would not have any troubles convincing everyone else, including Darius' girlfriend, Ness, to eliminate him. At tribal council, Richie would get a front row seat as he would see Darius get voted out of the game in a 7-2 vote, effectively getting vengeance for some of the events leading to his first voteoff in *Survivor: Twist Manor*.

As a *Survivor* superfan, Richie would be elated to see that the *Survivor Whitewater Auction* was now in the game, and he would be very wise with his money, holding it until he made a purchase at the very end, where he would buy an advantage in the next individual immunity challenge. In a private confessional though, Richie would be told that this was actually a challenge advantage ***and*** a clue to an Idol Nullifier hidden within the setup of the next individual immunity challenge. Although Richie would play it off as just a challenge advantage, he would be very excited later on as he obtained the idol nullifier and saw Corey win his first individual immunity challenge in the game, having enough trust with Corey to believe that he would not target him. After the challenge, Richie would pull everyone except for Maggie and Ness aside to tell them that he now had the *Idol Nullifier* and that he was going to use it on their target at the next tribal council in an attempt to gain trust with people. While Adam would immediately inform Maggie and Ness of these news, Adam would start to see Richie as a valuable asset in the game and was beginning to trust him more. Meanwhile, Richie would obtain information crucial to the next vote coming down to Adam and Ness. At tribal council, Richie would vote against Adam and would use his *Idol Nullifier* against him as well, effectively securing the end of Adam's second chance in the game. Richie would then attempt to lower his threat status after doing this by claiming to have randomly played it after Corey called him out on making the biggest move of the game in an attempt to get people to target him. After losing the next individual immunity challenge to Maggie, Richie would argue with Corey about using Kenzie as a scapegoat, but as unable to stop him as he had already gone out and done it. He would then start to see the threat status rising in Corey, and knew he would win if they did not try to take him out soon, and he would immediately tell this to Cole, who would agree with him that Corey was a threat, and the two of them would plan to take him out at the Final 5. At tribal council, Richie would help to eliminate Ness in a 5-2 vote, sending her out of the game and helping him stay a little bit longer than what the others would have liked him to be.

Unknowingly set up as the next target to be eliminated, Richie would go into the next individual immunity challenge with a desire to win. At the challenge, Corey's attempts to root for Sam would be called out on by Richie, who recognized that he was the next target now due to this, and he would go on to win individual immunity once again. At camp, Corey attempted to do damage control, but Richie was not falling for his lies. He would approach Kenzie and Cole with a plan to take him out, of which the both of them would not want to move forward with. Mere minutes later, he would approach Maggie and Sam, both of whom were interested in what Richie had to say and agreed to take Corey out of the game with him at this next tribal council. Once Corey caught wind from Kenzie that he was in trouble, Richie would lie to him saying that he was overthinking the game by stating that, by his words, Richie was the bigger target due to his big moves throughout the game and that Corey had nothing to worry about. Right before tribal council, Sam would approach Richie to tell him that the vote had swapped over to Cole. Angered at their unwillingness to make a move and wanting to take some of the heat off of him for this vote, Richie would vote for Cole, while also calling out Sam in writing on the vote. Cole would be eliminated for the second time, Sam would be a target, and Richie knew he was in a better position than before.

Richie would run into trouble once again when Corey won the next individual immunity challenge. Knowing how he wanted to target Sam, Richie would pander to Corey about Sam being a threat in the Final Tribal Council in an attempt to convince them to not vote for him. Richie would then campaign to Corey, Kenzie, and Maggie about keeping him around due to their pact from their time on Tribe Vlachos and mentioned how their whole tribe could be in the Final 4 together. At tribal council, Richie's campaigns would work, and he would be saved over Sam in a 3-2 vote. Richie's luck would continue as he would win the Final Individual Immunity Challenge of the season, guaranteeing himself a spot in the Final Tribal Council. However, he was faced with another task, that task being to think of someone to take with him to the Final Tribal Council, with the other two fighting against each other in the *Final 4 Passage Challenge*. Richie would approach the other three and would ask for them to campaign their case to him while making them think that they were just going to be voting someone out in a normal fashion. Maggie campaigned to him about taking Kenzie out and sparing Corey, Kenzie campaigned to him that Corey should not be trusted and that he was using her as a scapegoat while also admitting that she cast the second vote against him from the last tribal council, and Corey campaigned on winning the game in an honest way and an easy way. Although he almost took Kenzie or Maggie with him, he realized that Corey would win and be able to use this to his advantage in the Final Tribal Council, regardless of which of the two he would face. At tribal council, Richie would give context into his decision before ultimately shocking everyone by picking Corey to go with him to the Final Tribal Council, with the *Final 4 Passage Challenge* ultimately sealing Kenzie's fate.

At the Final Tribal Council, Richie would campaign on him not being a follower as a response to Corey's earlier statement in his opening speech where he claimed Richie as a follower of his. He would also campaign for his big moves and the records he had set throughout the season, such as being the first contestant with a disability to make it to the Final Tribal Council. However, some members of the jury, such as Adam, would not like his answers to the jury, and he would stumble a little bit with the answers to another few questions from the jury. Furthermore, Michael would be upset at him and Corey for lying to him, and Kenzie would simply pass over him when it was her time to speak. However, Richie would still gain much respect for his game, getting praised by almost everyone for his strengths in challenges and his underdog status of the season. This helped him to get two jury votes from Darius and Ness, helping him to get 2nd out of 14th and to become the first Runner-Up of the season.

## Survivor: Legends

***MORE COMING SOON...***

**Richie's Voting History**
 **3** | Kathy
 **Voted**
**To Win**

## Trivia

* Richie is the first contestant to win the *Survivor Whitewater Fan Favorite Award*.

* Richie is the first contestant of Survivor Whitewater to have a disability, that being Autism.
	+ Richie is also the first returning player to have a disability.
* Richie is the first contestant to visit the Solo Room, doing so in *Survivor: Twist Manor*.
* Richie is the first contestant to win the first individual immunity challenge of the season twice, doing so in *Survivor: Twist Manor* and *Survivor: Fans vs. Favorites: Revenge of the Fallen*.
* Richie is the first contestant to use a purchased advantage from the *Survivor Whitewater Auction*, doing so in *Survivor: Fans vs. Favorites: Revenge of the Fallen*.
* Richie is the first contestant to successfully use the *Idol Nullifier*, doing so in *Survivor: Fans vs. Favorites: Revenge of the Fallen*.
* Richie is the first contestant with a disability to make the Final Tribal Council, doing so in *Survivor: Fans vs. Favorites: Revenge of the Fallen*.
* Richie is the first, and currently only, contestant to win both the *Fan Favorite Award* and the *Player of the Season Award*.
* In every tribal council Richie went to before the merge in *Survivor: Twist Manor*, Richie always voted with the majority. After the merge, including the Final Tribal Council, Richie never voted with the majority.

* Richie had the most votes cast against him in *Survivor: Twist Manor*, garnering 9 votes across the season.
* In *Survivor: Twist Manor*, Richie received votes only at the first and last tribal councils he attended during the season.
* The first two times Richie played, he went to the second tribal council of the season and would get a vote from someone who would be voted out at the tribal council before the swap, that being Tom Andersen in *Survivor: Twist Manor*, and Casey MacPhetridge in *Survivor: Winter War*.
* Both times Richie played with Jack Demet, he would place lower than Jack.
* Both times Richie made the merge, he won the first individual immunity challenge of the season.
	+ Coincidentally, Michael Garcia would also be voted out in a 7-3 vote both times Richie won individual immunity at the beginning of the merge.
* Richie is currently one of only three contestants to be on both sides of the comeback challenge, being an observer in *Survivor: Twist Manor* and *Survivor: Fans vs. Favorites: Revenge of the Fallen*, and a competitor in *Survivor: Winter War*. The other people to have done this are Tom Andersen and Steph Krug
* Richie is the only three-time player in *Survivor: Fans vs. Favorites: Revenge of the Fallen* to have not previously played in *Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains*.
* Richie is the only three-time player in *Survivor: Fans vs. Favorites: Revenge of the Fallen* to have previously played in *Survivor: Winter War*.
* Richie currently holds the record for the most challenges won by a contestant within a single season, winning 7 challenges overall throughout his run in *Survivor: Fans vs. Favorites: Revenge of the Fallen*.
* After *Survivor: Last Chance*, Richie produced and hosted another Survivor themed competition show, being *Survivor: SNC*. Unfortunately, due to issues that occurred after his last season of hosting involving the continuation of the series, *Survivor: SNC* abruptly ended and is no longer available to watch anywhere.
	+ Richie is the first contestant from the *Survivor Whitewater* franchise to branch out and create a new *Survivor* themed series. He would be followed by Christian Davis and Devin Ulrich, both of whom would create *Survivor: Wisconsin*, the follow-up to the *Survivor Whitewater* series.