The Survivor Thread

[Azazel]

This whole season has been weird tribal councils with Shannon, NaOnka, Marty shitting on Jane.... this season is just really odd.

Brenda is my biggest question mark this season.  From "I'm running this show" and not being remotely concerned that people were targeting her and doing nothing about it to just quietly getting voted off.  I don't know if she was just insanely confident and stupid or what the hell was going on there.

Edited March 21, 2017 by Azazel

[RPS]

I would say the season feels odd because, in my opinion, the game play of many people is not that strong. LIke I don't even know who I would classify as the strongest player. The whole field is pretty weak. 

[Mx. Canadian Destroyer]

I really liked Marty. I wish he had've returned at some point. And I just liked Fabio, but mostly because he's dumb and cute.

I watched this season week to week and I'm not sure I've rewatched it. What is this thing you are hinting at RPS? Spoiler it for Azazel, but I can't recall what this moment is. 

[GoGo Yubari]

It's definitely kind of a bummer that a good excuse to bring Marty back never seemed to materialize. They could have thrown him into the Second Chance voting but he wouldn't have made it in.

[RPS]

9 hours ago, Ms. Canadian Destroyer said:

I really liked Marty. I wish he had've returned at some point. And I just liked Fabio, but mostly because he's dumb and cute.

I watched this season week to week and I'm not sure I've rewatched it. What is this thing you are hinting at RPS? Spoiler it for Azazel, but I can't recall what this moment is. 

 

I cannot recall if there is any hint of it on the finished show, but in the final 6 when Jane is booted, she alleges that Sash told her that if she went to the jury and helped him win by securing jury votes, he would pay the mortgage of her house off. They stopped rolling the cameras, because what Jane is alleging is that Sash violated the rules of the game in conspiring to share the money between them. Apparently the executives for the show dealt with the situation for 30 minutes, show went back on and Jane was booted. Conspiracy theorists have thought that either a) the jurors were told not to vote for Sash and Sash was not kicked out of the game or b) this allegation torched any chance Sash had of winning. 

I could see why it was in the show's best interest to not air it.

[Azazel]

Ya, nothing like that aired at all.  Jane just shit all over them and got voted off.

[RPS]

Yeah, I couldn't remember if something actually did happen on the show or it was just known to be true after the fact. Anyway, that is why things were so heated at that tribal council. In addition to Jane being mad about going home, she alleged that Sash tried to pay off her mortgage and production literally had to stop filming to talk to their legal department. The other conspiracy theory about the season regarding the incident is that they promised Jane she'd look like the hero of the season to keep her quiet. 

[Azazel]

Well that would explain why Jeff basically ignored Sash at the reunion.  I like how Jeff gave Shannon a chance to redeem himself, then told him to shut up when he didn't.  The season started pretty weak but by the end I got to cheering for Dan and Fabio so I'm happy with how it turned out, and seeing Sash go down in flames was quite wonderful.  I guess I shouldn't ever expect him back.  I am also glad that they decided that they can kick quitters off the jury, it would have sucked to see Fabio lose because Kelly and NaOnka voted for Chase when they don't really deserve to be part of that anymore.

[Azazel]

Decided to check out the 1st episode of Redemption Island, dude Roadwarrior Hawk's someone else's confessional and walks into shot and quickly runs off.

[Azazel]

Well that first episode Tribal Council was something else.  This Phillip dude is odd, completely outing Francesca (and the inability to say her name) and that other girl was pretty hilarious, especially Rob's reaction to it all.  I understand why he did it, it was a terrible move to try and get Rob out (though it never was going to work) and would have been a terrible use of the Idol.  Get rid of the strongest player and still be in a minority.

[RPS]

10 hours ago, Azazel said:

Well that would explain why Jeff basically ignored Sash at the reunion.  I like how Jeff gave Shannon a chance to redeem himself, then told him to shut up when he didn't.  The season started pretty weak but by the end I got to cheering for Dan and Fabio so I'm happy with how it turned out, and seeing Sash go down in flames was quite wonderful.  I guess I shouldn't ever expect him back.  I am also glad that they decided that they can kick quitters off the jury, it would have sucked to see Fabio lose because Kelly and NaOnka voted for Chase when they don't really deserve to be part of that anymore.

Fabio is one of my favorite winners because it's an example that any strategy or approach to the game could win.

[Azazel]

Poor Russell, but I'm not sure what he expected to be honest.

Ralph right now is getting my MVP award for finding an idol by accident, Road Warrior Hawking someone elses confessional and his inability to spell names correct.  "Ressell" "Krasta" and "Stiphinie".

I also love how Phillip's occupation is listed as "Former Federal Agent?".

I'm not sure how I feel about Redemption Island, especially if there are no reward challenges because of it.  I'm fine if its a one off thing, but is this going to be a permanent fixture like Exile Island was for a few seasons?

[RPS]

It makes an appearance in three seasons, with the third season being the best use of it. But the third season is more successful because of the other twist that makes use of the Redemption Island feature. 

I feel as though you may love Phillip now, but the hate is soon to come. 

[Azazel]

Oh, I never said I loved him, I said I loved how production put a ? on his occupation.

[RPS]

3 hours ago, Azazel said:

Poor Russell, but I'm not sure what he expected to be honest.

I think he honestly expected to win. 

Contrast Rob and Russell in HvV. When Rob was booted, he saw his cards were up. He could survive another tribal council or two if he was lucky but his cards were up. He saw the writing on the wall, tried his best to stay, but he knew there was nothing he could do. 

Contrast that with Russell. Russell literally does not care how he stays another day - he will play idols, he will sabotage his tribe mates, he will literally throw his allies under the bus if he thinks they stand in his way of getting to the finals. 

Sometimes you reach a point in the game and it is out of your control and you just cannot win. Sometimes it is luck, sometimes it is your personality, sometimes it is just making one or two wrong decisions in the game. Boston Rob's response is to say "well, I played a good game, but it is over". Russell's response is "give me the knife or let me find an idol, I will stab whomever I need to in the back, I need to survive this vote no matter what, who cares about tomorrow". 

[Azazel]

Which is why Russell couldn't win a game, nobody wants to vote for him at the end.

I'm seriously hoping come the final tribal council of Redemption Island we find out that Phillip isn't a complete lunatic or something, because I have no idea how someone was able to out-Coach Coach.  One thing I'm not really enjoying about this season is the old... Purple Tribe (I forget the names) basically being like "well we lost, so we are going to eat all the food and just generally be dicks about it."  They lost the number war, which sucks for them, but they are being petty about the whole thing.

[RPS]

58 minutes ago, Azazel said:

Which is why Russell couldn't win a game, nobody wants to vote for him at the end.

I'm seriously hoping come the final tribal council of Redemption Island we find out that Phillip isn't a complete lunatic or something, because I have no idea how someone was able to out-Coach Coach.  One thing I'm not really enjoying about this season is the old... Purple Tribe (I forget the names) basically being like "well we lost, so we are going to eat all the food and just generally be dicks about it."  They lost the number war, which sucks for them, but they are being petty about the whole thing.

It was rumoured throughout the season that Phillip was actually going to admit the entire season was a ruse and that he was faking the persona the whole time. I won't spoil how it all shakes down but it was thought that it was an all act to outwit everyone. 

[Azazel]

I think my official thought on Redemption Island (the gimmick not the season) is that I don't like it.  I don't mind it being used sparingly but I'm glad to know its not a permanent fixture for the next 12 seasons.

[RPS]

5 minutes ago, Azazel said:

I think my official thought on Redemption Island (the gimmick not the season) is that I don't like it.  I don't mind it being used sparingly but I'm glad to know its not a permanent fixture for the next 12 seasons.

I think what ultimately bugs me is that it changes how you exit the game. In Survivor, challenges are important to winning, but at the end of the day it's the social bonds and relationships. In RI, you are eliminated or return to the game based on challenges. I think if RI had no challenges and at the merge someone was voted back in (like the Outcast twist) I would be fine with it. I think making it challenge focused makes it less Survivor.

[Azazel]

I agree, I mostly dislike how it replaced reward challenges.  I understand using it for this season because they want to make sure Rob and Russell are on at least a few episodes.

I'm not huge on mechanics that allow people back in the game, because I think it should be once you are voted out the game is done.  I hate the Pearl Island twist because it came out of nowhere and screwed over a lot of people and ended up with someone who should have been a minor character in the finals.  Redemption Island is less bad just because its not a twist and all the players knew about it before hand.  I do like that the guy who got to come back in at the merge immediately got voted back out though.