I pretty much agree with the OP. In my opinion, Brian Heidik was the best Survivor player ever. The best indication of his brilliant playing style was his ability to form one-on-one alliances with his teammates rather than a group alliance. Clay, Helen, and Ted were all allied with Brian but not with each other. This left Brian in complete control of who got voted out.
The one mistake Brian made was dismissing the future jury members from his planning. Brian knew they were going to be voted off and were no threat to him, so he essentially ignored them. But he should have realized he would need their support at the final vote and worked more on winning them to his side.
I also agree with with the OP that the Kucha tribe was probably the strongest tribe overall. In all the debate about Colby and Tina’s strategies, it’s forgotten that they only reached the final two by an outrageous fluke. If Michael Skupin hadn’t been injured, the Kuchas would almost certainly have gone into the merger with a 6-4 advantage and voted off all four Barramundis.
The most pathethic tribe overall was Africa’s Samburus. They spent so much energy fighting among themselves they had none left to compete in the real challenges. The least deserving winner was Jenna Morasca. From what I could see, that series’ jury members had already decided who they were going to vote for and ignored the actual game.
As for you Elisabeth fans, she has an upcoming series on the Style cable network; The Look for Less. Having married, she’s no longer Elisabeth Filarski; her name’s now Elisabeth Hasselback.