The Survivor Thread

[GoGo Yubari]

I have now finished episode eight of Vanuatu and am starting to grow really weary of this season. Rory was the closest thing to a standout character this season's produced at this point and he doesn't even make jury.

[bill_da_bill]

Yeah I'm getting the same way with Thailand, I am now down to the final 5. I really dislike Clay. like really, really dislike him. He's just an annoying guy and he thinks he is far better of a player than he is.

I'm not sure if I dislike the season as much as others, but while its had its moments, overall its just weak.

[GoGo Yubari]

Oh god, Clay is awful. I remember when I was pissed off at Robb for throttling him early in the season and the further and further it progressed the more I longed for him to come back from elimination and do it again.

[RPS]

Clay is the personification of a goat.

[GoGo Yubari]

I thought it was hilarious when he still came within like one vote of beating Brian, though, because Brian sucked that much at Final Jury. Like, ultimately neither could have taken anyone else all the way even if they wanted to; Jan, Ted, or Helen would have beaten them by virtue of not being either insanely annoying or incredibly sleazy.

[GoGo Yubari]

Okay, Vanuatu just got interesting with the end result of episode 11. Bill, how far did you get in it?

EDIT: Vanuatu COMPLETE. Second-worst season I've seen yet, but the right player won in spades.

I think my order of seasons I've seen in full in terms of how much I liked them is something like Borneo, Pearl Islands, Amazon, Africa, All-Stars, Marquesas, Redemption Island, Outback, Vanuatu, Thailand. There's a big, big gap between Outback and the last two. Up next... Palau. Oh boy. That's another one everyone hates, isn't it?

[bill_da_bill]

I only watched the first like 2 episodes before I decided I'd rather go back to season 4 and pick up the seasons in order (not counting the first 3 which I had seen).

I just finished season 5, thank god. The end of the season kind of just dragged on, and it could've been good with the right people, but the personalities were just dry. I don't blame the people, I blame survivor for casting them. Brian was a worthy winner though and he played the game extremely well. He convinced everyone that he was with them to the final 2, and was so convincing in it that none of them even thought about questioning it or comparing notes with each other. I might've cried if Clay won. Of the people on the people on the show the ones I think could've been more entertaining with other players were Brian and Penny. I would've liked to see Penny again in another setting like all-stars cause I think she had the skills and was at least not horrible to watch.

First episode of Amazon in the books, really looking forward to this one based on the stuff I have heard. I know who wins, so don't worry about spoilers in that case. I watched a good chunk of the season, just not every episode and I don't think I ever saw the finale, just heard who won.

[GoGo Yubari]

Just got to the first twist of Palau. Really, really stupid. If I were the two people who basically got to be in the game for, what, a couple hours I'd be furious.

[GoGo Yubari]

Oh Jesus, Palau. It's not even that this is a season with bad characters or anything because there's a really strong cast here that's being completely undermined both by how one-sided the results are and how awful the twists are. "Your tribe gets to eat stew and watch the other tribe at Tribal Council and then vote on giving one of them Immunity" is just disgustingly overkill.

Also, Probst is such a dick this season.

EDIT: It's amazing how useless James is at everything. Like, he keeps stepping up with "oh, yeah, I've got experience doing that" and he never, ever wins.

[The Quasi Juice]

Okay, Vanuatu just got interesting with the end result of episode 11. Bill, how far did you get in it?

EDIT: Vanuatu COMPLETE. Second-worst season I've seen yet, but the right player won in spades.

I think my order of seasons I've seen in full in terms of how much I liked them is something like Borneo, Pearl Islands, Amazon, Africa, All-Stars, Marquesas, Redemption Island, Outback, Vanuatu, Thailand. There's a big, big gap between Outback and the last two. Up next... Palau. Oh boy. That's another one everyone hates, isn't it?

Wow you prefer All Stars over Redemption Island? All Stars was so tame and bitter. Hatch was awesome but got kicked out (which was pretty stupid) and the Robfather was cool, that's it. I also find Africa incredibly boring.

[GoGo Yubari]

All-Stars and Redemption Island are basically the exact same narrative with a different ending. The latter ends much stronger thanks to Ashley almost playing the spoiler, but the former has a much better cast to play with and I find it interesting getting a glimpse both into the culture/social workings of people who've already played the game and know each other and seeing how they tried to adapt (like Hatch, of course, and also Lex's abysmal attempt at playing more cutthroat).

Africa I'm probably rating too high. The first three have novelty value for me because they're the first three, and Africa has a very strong cast as it runs deep (well, a very strong cast and also Kim Johnson).

EDIT: Oh man, Palau. One of the worst Final Jury performances I've ever seen.

[GoGo Yubari]

Okay, where can I find the full first episode of Guatemala? I can't seem to find it on YouTube.

EDIT: Nevermind, there we go.

EDIT II: Also, final thoughts on Palau are I think I liked it. I also think I probably got it confused with Fiji as far as the non-Thailand Survivor that everyone hates goes. Fairly solid cast and the decimation of Ulong was at least interesting from a perspective of seeing what it would be like to actually finally see that happen. The way the final six played out wasn't too predictable even though I already knew who won, and the endurance challenge was both epic and hilariously weird in how it ended. And Bobby Jon and Stephenie were strong characters, too, so I'm pretty cool with them immediately coming back for Guatemala.

[Horus]

Its a shame that the worst thing to happen to Hatch in the last ten years or so seems to be winning the original Survivor, because personally I'd have loved for him to come back in Heroes Vs Villains, mind you he probably wouldn't make it too far into the game, but for pure entertainment value it'd be worth it to see him back.

Mind you, thats the 12 year old Survivor fanboy talking. The game has changed way to much since his time on the island, due to his the foundation he himself layed down for other players to follow

[bill_da_bill]

Just finished episode 11 of Amazon. This might be my favorite season, at least tied with Pearl Islands and Borneo. Every person that made the merge was a very interesting character, that doesn't happen often.

I do loathe Heidi and Jenna though. I really, really do. The whole moral high horse thing they get on after Rob votes Alex off is absurd. Heidi is more obnoxious I think, but this quote drives me nuts...

"You don't care about personal relationships, you only care about yourself." - Jenna

This is SURVIVOR! This is not The Real World or some show about making relationships, why the hell are you mad that Rob was not ok with finishing 4th place in a game where only the top two players win money?! I'm very annoyed that I know Jenna is going to win this season, very annoyed. This is my rant. It's a good season though if it leads to a rant.

Rob and Matthew are two of my favorite characters of the first 7 seasons I think. But man do I wish they would've just voted Jenna off instead of Christy.

[GoGo Yubari]

Yeah, out of the eleven seasons I've watched in full I'd put Jenna on the bottom tier of Survivor winners (amusingly enough, I'd probably put Ethan there too).

Also I'm pretty sure everyone wins money for being on Survivor, just not as big a sum. I remember reading ages ago that the payoff for making the Final Four was pretty solid.

[The Quasi Juice]

Making the last 3 guarantees you like 50.000 to 100.000 dollars or something I think, which is why Philip's strategy in Red. Island was pretty smart and even got him to second place.

[GoGo Yubari]

Yeah, I want to say I read it used to be $25K for fourth place? But that's with no facts backing me up.

Also I am seven episodes into Guatemala and thusfar it's been interesting. The cast is solid enough and the editing is well-distributed enough to keep this from being The Stephenie and Bobby Jon Show and it's interesting thusfar how the tribal switch has played out.

[bill_da_bill]

I don't think my dislike of Heidi is quite on the level of my dislike for Clay or Lillian. But its up there. I haven't seen the all-star seasons but what I've heard is Matthew isn't on anymore seasons. If that's true its a shame.

[GoGo Yubari]

Yeah, Matthew hasn't played since, which is a pity because he's a great character. Honestly, there are a lot of people I really want to see play Survivor for a second time, even in the small assortment of seasons I've seen, who haven't had that chance and probably won't get it at this point.

[bill_da_bill]

Heidi just proclaimed herself the mastermind of every plan that has gone down in the game...

WHAAAAATTTT?!?!?!?!

She of course follows that up by claiming she must be good at this because there are 3 guys who are scared to death of getting beat by her in the game. This woman is out of her mind. Though she did claim earlier in the season she brought athletic ability and intelligence to the tribe, sooooo, yeah.