I have no favorite apostate, only some, who were a great help for me.
When I started to research about JW on the Internet I stumbled over Alan Feuerbachers articles about the flood. That was really an eyeopener for me, because when this story isn't true, all the other stuff can't be true either, because Jesus as much as other bible writers refer to the flood as fact.
Later I found jwfacts and I read the whole site without a pause. After that, there were no doubts left.
CoC came later, was a good read, but not to confirm my new found understanding that I was raised in a cult lived in a cult for almost 40 years.
Looking at this timeline of my awakening I owe Alan Feubacher and Paul Grundy the most.