The Survivor Thread

[GoGo Yubari]

Oh man, wait until you get to her Final Jury question. You'll love it.

EDIT: Best part is their cut to the Jury when she starts spouting that crap, and Dave actually facepalming. Christy's smile and "oh well" shrug after she's voted out is great too.

[bill_da_bill]

Amazon Done.

Yeah, Heidi is in a class with Clay and Lillian. Everytime she talked it was so ridiculous it was funny, or it made me mad.

How in the hell did Jenna get 6 of 7 votes? How? I mean she wasn't awful, but she was ready to quit, she didn't really do anything of use strategy wise or tribe wise. I just can't believe all of them voted for her. I think in the first 7 seasons that's the only time I have thought the wrong person in the final 2 won the game.

Awesome season though, really awesome season.

EDIT: Watching reunion show, how bitter is Alex. I mean for the way he played the game and talked about how it was a game and what happened would just be the game, he was some kind of bitter.

Edited June 5, 2011 by bill_da_bill

[GoGo Yubari]

How in the hell did Jenna get 6 of 7 votes?

Her mom had cancer, and Matt seemed socially awkward so that was probably a factor. I think she handled Final Jury pretty well, too.

And yeah, I don't get what the deal with Alex is. Especially considering that he was so mad at Jenna and Matthew being the final two when the former never betrayed him and the latter wasn't part of his alliance.

[The Quasi Juice]

Had there had been a final 3 back then I wonder how Rob C would have done. He was behind a lot of the votes but he clearly played the best game and he was likable. Jenna didn't really do much, infact she was close to quitting.

[Blehschmidt]

I know in the first season the Final 4 pay outs went:

1st: 1 Million

2nd: 100,000

3rd: 50,000

4th: 25,000

I will stay out of the Jenna Morasca conversation, because I actually like her. I just wish you guys would hurry up and get to Parvati seasons so I could start talking about her!!

[GoGo Yubari]

I think Jenna would have beaten Rob C too unless he really managed to control that Final Jury process in a way Matthew couldn't, and I have this nagging feeling Rob couldn't have. Especially if Matthew is also there and it's a final three, because then Rob loses what would be a guaranteed vote for him. Heidi and Alex are voting for Jenna no matter what, and I think if Matthew were in the jury he and Butch would vote for Rob (but if it's final three and Matthew's there, Butch is voting for Matthew). That leaves Christy, Dave, and Deena, two of whom Rob blindsided and one of whom would probably vote for Jenna anyway. Jenna had Cute Girl with Tragic Backstory privileges and that's kind of hard to overcome.

[GoGo Yubari]

Just hit the final five of Guatemala and this is actually a really strong season. Not good enough to reach the heights of the holy trinity of Survivor seasons that I've seen thusfar (Borneo, Amazon, Pearl Islands), I think because there are a couple of characters who don't really offer much, but off the top of my head Rafe, Judd, Gary, Jamie, Brian, Amy and Brandon are good first-timers. And I love the edit of Stephenie this time, sort of deconstructing the saintly image of her in Palau while keeping her compelling in her own right (Bobby Jon, meanwhile, is pretty much just the same guy he was last time, which makes sense).

EDIT: One of the dumbest votes in a final four I've seen in Survivor, though.

EDIT II: And I'm done.

Honestly, Danni rates down there with Jenna as the least deserving Survivor winner I've seen yet. Maybe lower. She won because Stephanie sucked in the final two, Rafe was too nice to actually win Survivor, and because she never had to be in the position to actually backstab anyone.

Ultimately, I think Guatemala starts pretty solidly, gets great in the middle, and then unfortunately has a very lackluster ending that keeps it from the top tier of seasons. Up next, Panama. Again. Seriously, this is like the third time they've went there in five seasons, isn't it?

EDIT III: Oooooh, this is the Exile Island one! I've been wondering about this.

[RPS]

Rafe actually did have a strategy in taking Danni over Lydia or Cindy. I read an interivew he did a long time back where he said he was taking Danni because the way the endurance challenges were usually structured were usually challenges that older women did well at. Rafe, knowing his only real sure-fire victory was against Stephanie, decided to take Lydia and Cindy out before Danni thinking they could beat her in the final endurance.

And EI is my favorite season. Prepare for the insanity that is Shane.

Edited June 7, 2011 by RockPaperScissors

[GoGo Yubari]

And then, ironically, they end up in an endurance challenge were Lydia's lack of height would have completely doomed her. Ouch. That's too bad for Rafe because I really liked him, but at least he didn't pull an Ian or anything.

Yeah, I'm four episodes into EI and holy shit, Shane. What a glorious nutcase. The cast on first glance doesn't seem as strong as Palau or Guatemala, but the storyline thusfar of Shane's alliance being the most trainwrecky dysfunctional alliance in Survivor up to that point (even worse than the Samburu Mallrat alliance of Africa) with Cirie egging them on on the sidelines is amazing.

EDIT: Also I read a couple of the Funny 115 blog posts (Greg Buis Experience, Bye Bye Denver Diva, Crazy Matt, and Alphabet Strategy) and holy shit, I can't wait to get fully caught up on Survivor so I can read all of them. Incredibly funny, especially the Borneo ones.

[RPS]

Oh, the Casaya alliance is probably the best alliance to ever exist in Survivor, with Shane being the shining star.

Edited June 8, 2011 by RockPaperScissors

[The Quasi Juice]

It's a crime Shane never got another shot, 'cause he was clearly the star of that season. His alliance was hilarious. He strangely showed he knew the game pretty well though, despite being batshit crazy. That's also Terry's season right?

[Pizza]

I'm following along, just finished All-Stars, I skipped Thailand. Quick question before I keep going, does anyone return from Vanuatu in later seasons, or is it skippable?

[RPS]

Two do return in FvF, yes. I like Vanuatu: pre-merge sucks, but post-merge is interesting.

Bear in mind though, the cast is not that likeable. Even the most likeable person near the end still comes across like a douche bag.

Edited June 9, 2011 by RockPaperScissors

[GoGo Yubari]

Yeah, Vanuatu is one of Survivor's Shades of Gray seasons where the person the edit chooses as the hero isn't particularly heroic and the person the edit chooses as the primary villain of the season only has one or two moments of actual villainy. I'd also say Marquesas is one and if you're not into the "omg Rob and Amber <3 <3 <3 they're so cuuuuuuute together" crap All-Stars is in the same boat.

It mostly has a lame pre-merge but the second episode of Vanuatu is seriously one of my favorite episodes of Survivor up to the point I've watched. The way it all plays out is hilarious. Rory also has some fun stuff pre-merge.

[Pizza]

I actually liked Marquesas even though I really disliked 6 of the final 9, so an unlikeable cast isn't a dealbreaker. I'll check it out since that seems to be the knock against it.

[RPS]

I think the post-merge shenanigans and backstabbing for Vanuatu make it a must see. Can't knock it for being predictable, that's for sure.

[GoGo Yubari]

Yeah. And the more I think about it, the more Vanuatu really does strike me as the successor of Marquesas as far as different types of seasons go.

Particularly in the winners; Vecepia and Chris really had the same mentality to playing the game. Slide in under the radar, betray anyone they needed to betray (though Vee always stayed loyal to Sean), and correctly whittle it down to someone even more unpopular than they were. I can respect that kind of play, even if it's not the most exciting (though with Chris it was because he was outnumbered like 6 to 1).

Also, I just got to the top of episode six in EI where the Casaya alliance is imploding (as they do every other episode) and Cirie is just sitting around laughing her head in confessional off at it. This is like the fifth time that's happened and it's yet to get old.

EDIT: Ahahaha, holy shit, episode six of EI!

Casaya votes out their physically strongest member (which was damned if they did, damned if they don't since Bobby was going to switch sides), spends much of the episode completely fucking imploding in grand fashion, has to do a Reward/Immunity challenge that heavily involves physical strength and untying knots which it's already been established they're weaker at than La Mina... and they still win. They are so Bad News Bears, holy shit.

[RPS]

That episode is classic Shane. Who asks people to let them QUIT an alliance? When there are six people left in the tribe, heading into the merge? What the fuck? Lunacy!

[GoGo Yubari]

I read from secondhand YouTube comment sources that supposedly Shane was going to be in HvV, and then Russell Hantz happened. That's such a pity because that dude needs to play a second time. I have no clue where he places in this season yet (it's always fun when I come across a season where I don't recognize a single name in the opening credits) but that dude needs to play a second time.

[RPS]

I don't know if you saw Gabon, but him and Randy are very similar, so all hope is not lost for raving lunatics who seem ready to murder members of their tribe (oh, just wait for that episode ...)