The Survivor Thread

[Azazel]

Finished up with Panama, kind bummed Aras won because he was kind of a jackass.  Terry busted his ass and deserved it more, but obviously that is why Danielle didn't pick him.  Danielle still gets high on my favorites list because she was one of the more attractive people on the show.   Panama was a weird season in that nobody was particularly hateable (except maybe Aras) but at the same time the cast was more just really weird and dysfunctional, but the game lacked twists.  Started Cook Island just a bit, and that second tribal council was something to behold.  The Billy finding love thing was ridiculous but Probst reaction was the best thing.  I also love Cao Boi and hate Ozzy already.

Favorite Season:
1. Outback (Season 2)
2. Pearl Islands (Season 7)
3. Palau (Season 10)
4. All Stars (Season 8)
5. Guatemala (Season 11)
6. Panama (Season 12)
7. Borneo (Season 1)
8, Amazon (Season 6)
9. Africa (Season 3)
10. Marqueses (Season 4)
11. Vanuatu (Season 9)
12. Thailand (Season 5)

Favorite Castaways (reset after Allstars)
1. Tom (Palau)
2. Gary (Guatemala)
3. Danielle (Panama)
4. Dani (Guatemala)
5. Ami (Vanuatu)
6. Terry (Panama)
7. Julie (Vanuatu)
8. Sarge (Vanuatu)
9. Steph (Palau)
10. Bruce (Panama)

Least Favorite Castaways (reset after Allstarts)
1. Twila (Vanuatu)
2. Jamie (Guatemala)
3. Aras (Panama)
4. Scout (Vanuatu)
5. Judd (Guatemala)
6. Rory (Vanuatu)
7. Caryn (Palau)

 

[Alex.]

So I started watching Survivor Philippines for the first time:

 

Spoiler

I thought Jeff Kent would be an early boot but him making it to the merge was surprising. Also this was hands down Penner's best outing in Survivor. He was very enjoyable and likeable this season. I just don't understand why Jeff seems to have some sort of dislike towards him? Maybe its just Jeff busting Penner's balls, but he likes to take digs at Penner. 

Jeff does annoy me a lot sometimes.

 

[Azazel]

Finished up Cook Island and it became my favorite season so far for a lot of reason.  The beginning twist of dividing people by ethnicity I didn't like but that only lasted two episodes and didn't factor into the rest of the game (which was cool to see).  The twist at the end was okay, but I think for the first time ever if left two extremely deserving people in the finals which I liked.  I kind of feel bad for Jonathon because I'm sure he got a bad rep for how he was on the island but he really misunderstood what the hell happened to him.  He acted like he got betrayed when he turned on everyone himself, so of course they didn't trust him.  The main draw for me was the fact that after the mutiny it left a tribe of 4 against 8 and the tribe of 4 took out every single person without wavering at all, mostly because Ozzy was a fucking badass.  I actually hated Ozzy at first for purposely losing a challenge to out Billy, then being upset when he was in the minority like an episode later, but he turned it around big time.

Favorite Season:
1. Cook Island (Season 13)
1. Outback (Season 2)
2. Pearl Islands (Season 7)
3. Palau (Season 10)
4. All Stars (Season 8)
5. Guatemala (Season 11)
6. Panama (Season 12)
7. Borneo (Season 1)
8, Amazon (Season 6)
9. Africa (Season 3)
10. Marqueses (Season 4) 11. Vanuatu (Season 9) 12. Thailand (Season 5)

Favorite Castaways (reset after Allstars)
1. Tom (Palau)
2, Ozzy (Cook Island)
3. Yul (Cook Island)
4. Gary (Guatemala)
5. Danielle (Panama)
6. Dani (Guatemala)
7. Pavarti (Cook Island)
8. Ami (Vanuatu)
9. Terry (Panama)
10. Julie (Vanuatu) 11. Sarge (Vanuatu) 12. Steph (Palau)

Least Favorite Castaways (reset after Allstarts)
1. Twila (Vanuatu)
2. Jamie (Guatemala)
3. Aras (Panama)
4. Scout (Vanuatu)
5. Judd (Guatemala)
6. Rory (Vanuatu)
7. Caryn (Palau)
8. Candice (Cook Island)

[Alex.]

cant forget the legends billy garcia and cao boi.

cao boi is actually essential to the history of survivor tbh.

Edited February 27, 2017 by Alex.

[Azazel]

Cao Boi was ridiculous and I wish he lasted a lot longer.  Billy was.... well it was the most shocked I've ever see Jeff at Tribal Council.  That tie breaker though with Jeff just giving up and giving the girls matches and they STILL couldn't light a god damn fire....

[Azazel]

If Yao Min doesn't win Fiji I'll be very unhappy.

[RPS]

18 minutes ago, Azazel said:

If Yao Min doesn't win Fiji I'll be very unhappy.

Oh. Just you wait... 

[Azazel]

Is Fiji considered to be a good season?  The concept of one tribe starts with a full shelter with everything and the other gets nothing is pretty terrible.

[RPS]

It is generally considered one of the worst seasons to watch on a first watch (it gets really nasty), but it is great a second time around once you know the terribleness that happens.

That said - Cook Islands is loathed by many, so who knows you may enjoy the hot car wreck that is to come. The God Tier seasons are generally considered Borneo, Pearl Islands, China (15), Fans vs. Favorites (16), Heroes vs. Villain (20), Cagayan (28) and (depending on how time treats it) Kaoh Rong (32). Everything else has it's share of detractors and supporters. And Borneo is only really in God Tier because it's so radically different than every season that follows. 

 

[Azazel]

People don't like Cook Islands?  I thought it was fantastic.  Candice and Jonathon left their tribe to make a 4 v 8 situation and the 4 took out the entire other tribe without ever once falling apart.  Outside the tie breaker thing it was a pretty great season with two deserving finalist.  The only other real downside was the Final Tribal Council wasn't that great because nobody really had anything bad to say, except Jonathon who was completely wrong about everything anyways.

[RPS]

Typically what the community generally likes about Survivor is a) unpredictability, b) a great cast and c) fair twists. Cook Islands was predictable once the Aitu 4 has the upper hand, so people did not like the second half of the season. The cast was good, but there was a number of duds who did not get a lot of air time or explanation. And a lot of people detest Cook Islands because of the bottle twist where the Raro had to vote off two people. The producers of the show were not happy with how the season was shaping out, as it looked as though the white alliance + Nate were going to basically take the racial minorities out one-by-one. So the bottle twist was a way to ensure that Aitu 4, with an immunity idol in hand, could enter the merge with a fighting chance. The racial twist was also a big part of why people hated it because it almost killed the show. It got such bad publicity. Fiji was also not well-received as it was considered a pretty nasty season. 

In Survivor history, China is so well received not only because it was a fantastic season, but it actually saved the show. It improved on ratings from the previous seasons and really changed up the format of how the format of the show is going forward. Survivor was struggling after Palau and the season between Palau and China are generally considered "good, but not great". 

[Azazel]

You're like my Survivor Historian.  I'm just watching these seasons in a bottle with no knowledge about what was going on at the time.  I haven't had a real problem with Fiji yet except for what seems like a very unfair twist.  Of course the team that won the first challenge would dominate, it's not even a contest at this point.  Maybe it is just how I view the show, like in Fiji I actively hate a lot of people (Rocky, Dreamz, Lisi, Mookey and Stacey).  So my enjoyment comes purely from hoping to see the people I like beat them.  In this case it's Yao Man, Edguardo and Earl.

[RPS]

There is actually a Survivor podcast called Survivor Historians that goes through each season and tells behind the scenes stories and breaks down each episode. I would not advise listening to the podcasts until you are finished as they tend to spoil later seasons (aka, if someone returns they talk about when they return, etc). I'm significantly less interested in the newer seasons, but I've been watching since day 1 and always loved the history of the show. 

[Azazel]

I've actively tried to avoid all spoilers.  I accidentally found out who won Africa before I started which did take away a lot of the enjoyment since I knew what was going to happen.  Since then I've been completely spoiler free (I did know the result of All-Stars already).  I know a lot of the people that do come back, but that doesn't bother me.

I should rephrase that.   I don't mind knowing who comes back AFTER I've seen their original season.

Edited February 28, 2017 by Azazel

[Alex.]

Survivor Fiji is pretty weak but i rewatched it more recently and enjoyed it a lot more. I thought Rocky was so bad that he was hilarious. And features one of my favorite tribal councils:

Spoiler

Where Alex plays the idol on himself or mookie i forget, and dreamz switches on them to vote with earl cassandra and yau man and they vote out edgardo..one of my favorite tribal councils

Oh and fuck Lisi. 

[Mx. Canadian Destroyer]

39 minutes ago, Alex. said:

Survivor Fiji is pretty weak but i rewatched it more recently and enjoyed it a lot more. I thought Rocky was so bad that he was hilarious. And features one of my favorite tribal councils:

  Hide contents

Where Alex plays the idol on himself or mookie i forget, and dreamz switches on them to vote with earl cassandra and yau man and they vote out edgardo..one of my favorite tribal councils

6

Oh and fuck Lisi. 

7

 

 

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[Alex.]

Yeah that is still amazing to this day.

 

[Azazel]

Should I be spoilering too?  Or is it for me?

I just finished that episode,Alex going from smug to crushed is probably my favorite moment yet. He had such an ingenious plan and it failed as worse as it possibly could because they lost the immunity idol for nothing. Yao-Man is just the best part of this season.

[RPS]

Yau Man has his flaws.

[Azazel]

That whole idol shuffle episode was probably one of my favorites of the entire series, just because Mookie, Edguardo and Alex (I think that's his name) were so god damn smug about their ingenious plan that failed in the most hilarious way possible.  Then they proved to be more of scum bags by going through Yao-Man's bag and threatening him and getting absolutely nothing out of it.  They went from thinking they had everything in control to being so pathetic so quickly, it's great to see.  I'm actually really enjoying Fiji right now.