The Survivor Thread

[Alex.]

I spoilered that moment cause I figured you had not gotten to it yet.

Alex looks like Mark Sanchez lmao.

[Azazel]

So, fuck Dreamz.  He easily became the shittiest and most scumbag person on the show (sorry Lill).  Like not only was what he did to Yao-Man completely shitty, it was the dumbest thing anyone could possibly do.  He didn't just screw over the most likable person on the show, he did it by taking something from him.  His reasoning in is he wanted a shot at a million dollars, but that move made it a guarantee that not a single person would vote for him.  Of course Earl gets every single vote, Dreamz deserved a punch in the face and Cassandra didn't deserve to be there at all.  Fiji was actually one of my favorite seasons because I was so heavily invested in Yao-Man.

[RPS]

To be fair, Yau Man's rougher edges were left off the show. For example, everyone had already agreed before the car challenge to give it to Dreamz - none of them needed a car and they all knew that Dreamz was in a rough situation in his life being homeless. Yau Man, however, was the only one who thought "well, I can leverage this to win the game!"  Yau Man was definitely shady and I think he admitted after the show that it was a mistake to put Dreamz in such a tough situation. Yau Man's deal meant that Dreamz was going to give up immunity and get voted out. Yau Man's deal was not as selfless or fair as the show had made it out to be - everyone was going to give Dreamz the car no strings attached anyway, Yau Man just tethered the car to a deal that basically meant Dreamz would never make it to the finals. 

Another factor that you need to consider is that where you place in the game means that you receive a different payout from the show. For example, there is probably a $40,000 difference between 4th and 2-3rd. If Dreamz lives up to the deal, he loses 40K and does not get to plead his case to the jury. If Dreamz breaks the deal, he gets a car, 40K and a chance to at least tell a jury why he should win. 

 

[Azazel]

That kind of makes me like Yao-Man even more, he did something nice and strategic at the same time.  He even said himself, he wasn't mad at Dreamz for the entire thing.  However, I still think Dreamz was a scumbag for it.  Sure, Yao-Man basically put him in a no win situation, but that is kind of the idea of the game.  He chose the greedier option and made himself look like a shitty person.

[RPS]

I mean, I think Yau Man is the bigger scumbag in the scenario and I personally never thought Dreamz was a shitty person. I actually 100% understand why Dreamz did it - when he made the deal, he was just thinking about getting a car and how that would change his life. He was not thinking the deal through. When he thought the deal through, he realized Yau Man purposefully set the deal up so that it would kill any chance Dreamz had of making it further. On the flip side, Yau Man knows when he makes the deal that it is a terrible deal for Dreamz. When he realizes Yau Man took advantage of him, Dreamz realizes he stands to lose so much more from the deal so he breaks it. 

I like Yau Man, but the deal was a shitty thing to do and (I think) he has since said he regretted it and should have just given Dreamz the car instead. That story could have been tweaked a whole lot differently to show Yau Man in a less flattering light. 

[Azazel]

But isn't the point to outwit people?  Yau-Man did that pretty well and Dreamz bought into it and forced himself into a shitty situation.

[RPS]

I think the point of the game is to outwit, but I think Yau crossed a boundary in terms of using someone's real life shitty situation to try and leverage into success for their game. There have been other moments where people have probably crossed the line as well - for example, it was never shown in Thailand, but allegedly Brian tried to sour Ken (the NYC cop) but saying some racist things about Ted thinking that Ken would have negative attitudes about black people. Or in a future season, there is allegations that one player tried to bribe another player. There is the game (voting players out of Survivor) and there is taking real life hardships and issues and leveraging those in the game. I think it's pretty terrible to use someone's real life hardship to further yourself in the game.  

[Azazel]

But he didn't use his real life hardship, he offered him a truck for immunity.  Dreamz took the truck and didn't pay his part.  He could have said no but he WANTED it.  By taking it he screwed himself no matter how it turned out, that was his choice.  Yao-Man didn't take advantage of anything, if Dreamz said no he would have been in the final 3 without all the jury hate and his hardships would have done him a lot of good.  He basically bought a $900,000 truck because he didn't think.

[Alex.]

I imagine Earl must've been so happy when Dreamz decided to keep immunity as Yau-Man was his biggest obstacle to the million bucks.  Was content with Earl winning he was likeable.

Edited March 2, 2017 by Alex.

[Azazel]

Ashley Massaro?!?!?  Well that gives me one degree of separation from a castaway! I only got to watch the first 3 episodes though, so hopefully this season is as good as I'm told.  I don't really like the seasons where they get abandoned with just the clothes on their back, just because everyone is in their underwear and its not really flattering and leads to a lot of things getting blurred out.

Questions!  If someone can give me simple non-spoiler answers I would appreciate it a whole lot!  Starting from China until present day, do any of the following happen again?

Castaways that were voted out being brought back in the same game (like Pearl Islands)
Castaways doing back to back non-Allstar seasons (Steph/Bobby Jon)
Returning Castaways playing against new castaways (I know where is one with family members or something)

[Mx. Canadian Destroyer]

3 hours ago, Azazel said:

Castaways that were voted out being brought back in the same game (like Pearl Islands)
Castaways doing back to back non-Allstar seasons (Steph/Bobby Jon)
Returning Castaways playing against new castaways (I know where is one with family members or something)

 

Yes, but in sort of a different way. There is an element in a future season called Redemption Island. Once players are voted out, they go to Redemption Island and compete against others who have been voted out. 

Can't recall anybody doing back-to-back seasons similar to Steph/Bobby Jon. Anybody else is participating in somewhat of an All-Stars season.

This happens a bunch of times. Season 16 is Fans vs. Favourites (half returning players), Season 22, 23 & 25 have a similar set up to the Steph/Bobby Jon thing, but's each tribe is "captained" by a returning player and Season 26 is Fans vs. Favourites II. 

[Azazel]

Okay, I do recall hearing the term "Redemption Island" but as long as its not just "surprise, Lillian is back!" I'll hopefully be okay with it.  So I guess next season is fans vs favorites!

[RPS]

There are several players who play back-to-back in half all star seasons or full All Star seasons. In some cases, the other players have not even seen any of the players game at all. 

[Alex.]

I recall 2 people doing back to back seasons.

[RPS]

Well, 4 if you count the upcoming season. 

[Mx. Canadian Destroyer]

Back-to-back seasons:

 

James and Amanda do it from China to Micronesia.

Russell does it from Samoa to Heroes vs. Villains.

Malcolm does it from Philippines to Caramoan.

Zeke and Michaela are doing it from Millenials vs. Gen X to Game Changers.

 

I sort of misinterpreted the question to think he was asking about players who would return in a similar fashion to Steph & Bobby Jon, where they are the only returning players.

1

[Alex.]

24 minutes ago, RPS said:

Well, 4 if you count the upcoming season. 

Yeah true, forgot about them. Then again lot of this upcoming cast ive forgotten. But that is for the other thread.

[Azazel]

I was really hoping Yao-Man's fake hidden immunity idol would come into play in Fiji, I guess I just had to wait another season.

[RPS]

14 hours ago, Azazel said:

I was really hoping Yao-Man's fake hidden immunity idol would come into play in Fiji, I guess I just had to wait another season.

It gets even better in another season. 

[Azazel]

China done, I thought it was an okay season with some nice little twists.  I kind of feel bad for James, but at the same time he dug his own grave (get it!?!?).  He should have played the idol because he had 2 with only 3 immunity challenges to go, meaning he only had to win 1 of them to get to the final 4.  At the same time it was kind of karmic since Todd gave him one and he never once considered giving it back.

Got started on Fans vs Favorites just because I wanted to see who was on it and some of the choices really caught me off guard (Eliza, Amanada and Jonathon were favorites?)