RPS

For shits and giggles, decided to rank the winners. I'll put them in quotes, in case anyone doesn't want any of the seasons spoiled. I considered if people played before, but didn't consider their past performances.

At this point, I can't see anyone else winning besides Rob or one of the RI people. Maybe Natalie after last night's sort of weird editing of her as this innocent, young girl. But Grant, Ashley or Phillip? Nope.

The edit was shit. Let's be honest here: people will only really have the chance to show their game play once. All Star seasons aren't "true seasons" of Survivor. Survivor is X amount of strangers on an island who have to systematically vote each other out for a million dollars. All Star seasons are unfair because not only do you personally know some of the people who you've played with, but you've watched a great deal of the people playing. Rob C, Tina, Richard Hatch, Ethan were all sitting ducks in All Stars. They played to hard and to smart the time before to not be voted out by their peers. That's probably also why the final 3 weren't really All Stars and no one would have predicted they make it that far and why the first few votes saw the biggest characters and winners go. EDIT: But than Richard Hatch wouldn't have been as amazing as he was in All Stars. His "I don't care, go fuck yourself" attitude was one of the best characters to emerge in Survivor.

Couldn't stand John. He's in that category of players who think they can be mastermind strategic players but can't pull it off (see: Brandon and Silas from Africa, though thankfully John isn't that stupid). Yeah, John the Nurse was fucking annoying, but to be fair, he had the perfect game plan in front of him. Up until that season, it had been "go into the merge with the numbers" and you are set. He just got fucked because it was the first season where someone on the bottom of the alliance said "Oh God! If I stick with this, I'm not going to even come close to winning" and flipped. I think that probably had a lot to do with how unbearable John became. For watching the season first time around: I hated Rafe at first, but man after the merge, he dominated and I begun to love the guy. For rewatching a season: I didn't like Eliza the first time I watched Vanuatu. But the last time I watched it, I thought she was hands down one of the few reasons the season was interesting, both strategically and character-wise.

You are gonna get burned for that statement...

Muse - Origin of Symmetry Limp Bizkit - none. Metallica - Black Album Nine Inch Nails - Downward Spiral The Strokes: Is This It? Radiohead: In Rainbows Pearl Jam - Ten The New Pornographers: Twin Cinema Placebo - Without You I'm Nothing Feeder - none The Clash - London Calling Red Hot Chilli Peppers - Blood Sugar Sex Magik Jay-Z...

Yeah. Bringing people back who had been voted out without telling the audience or the players up until that point seemed like a "jumping the shark" moment. It didn't kill them, but it seemed really unfair and against the very idea of what Survivor was. But you are right, it did give Jon the lifeline, let him stay in and as a result, the infamous lie occurred, so we got that.

Whaaaaat? I think you are the only person who I have ever met who liked this twist. I can see why. I recognize where it takes the "spirit of survivor" and and gives it the middle finger. But the dynamic that it created strategy wise and with alliances an everything else going into the merge was fantastic watching. So I can see where it'd rub people the wrong way, but it upped my watching enjoyment and has made the post-merge a clusterfuck that's been a ton of fun to watch go down. I'm at the final six right now. If my memory serves me right I think I might know who won just from hearing about it, but I'm not 100% on it so it's been a really fun watch. Not sure why I stopped watching after season 3 and just started back up now. I thought the twist itself was entertaining in that it injected chaos into the game, but I think it was a low in terms of Survivor game play. I have no problem with the Redemption Island twist, because the players know someone is coming back and it's altering how the game is played. Outcasts didn't have the same feel because it just felt like they didn't deserve to reenter the game and tarnished the reputation. Ditto for the "Rich vs. Poor" twist in Fiji.

Whaaaaat? I think you are the only person who I have ever met who liked this twist.

Muse - Origin of Symmetry Limp Bizkit - none. Metallica - Black Album Nine Inch Nails - Downward Spiral The Strokes: Is This It? As if that's a real question. The Strokes have been an abomination ever since. Let's stick with the rock theme: Radiohead...

Oh I agree, which makes LIGHTS a poor rip off an already bad group.

Pretty bubblegum if you ask me... Fixing to Thrill was their new album, a lot more new-wavey, but their first album was bubble gum and new wave heavenly mix.

It's like a poor Dragonette rip-off.

If I was a Zap, after Matt was voted out, I'd suck at challenges, act like I had no desire to make any strategic moves. With 5 Zaps, no one on Ome is comfortable enough to make a big move. When there are 1 or 2 of them left around, that's probably when a person like Andrea or Phillip or Grant is going to flip. Sure winning Immunity buys you another week, but look at Steve: sucking at challenges and acting like you have no desire to stick around bought him another week.

LIGHTS are atrocious. Even for pop music. Apparently all you have to do is dress like your an American Apparel model, look cute and make cheap sounding pop music and people will love you... oh and the girl is vapid and arrogant.

The first season is fun to watch because it's funny how all Seasons after in some way or another mirror the first season. I mean, how many seasons has an old woman been booted in the first episode? At least seven seasons have featured the token older woman getting the boot. EDIT: And also, BB as the bitchy and bossy old man. They've gotta have one of those every season who gets booted early.

The ill-fated Outcast Tribe. One of the most depised twists in Survivor history. Without spoiling much: it didn't turn out very well.

I love Phillip... he's like a crazier version of Coach. But he seems far more self aware of the character he is portraying and aware of what's going on in the game. EDIT: And hands down, Rob is getting the best edit I think I've ever seen in 22 years of Survivor. Seriously. He's portrayed as a cerebral mastermind.

For those who have watched previous seasons: http://www.funny115.com/ There is Seasons 1-11 and 12-20 respectively. Great site.

Favorites: Richard Hatch (Borneo & All Stars), Rob C (Amazon), Sandra (Pearl Islands), Ami (Vanuatu), Shane (Exile Island), Todd (China), Courtney (China), Cirie (Micronesia), Tyson (Toncantins). Least favorites: Russell (Samoa and HvV), Denise (China), the whole cast of Thailand & Fiji, John (Marquesas), Tom (Palau)

I'm not a huge fan of Africa, but it's got some characters. Lex was great the first time around, Ethan was a more than likable and competent winner, Tom was great for comedic value, and it was a unique locale that will be hard to recreate (though they tried and failed in Gabon). I agree with Australia. Too me, it just seemed like an epic fail compared to Borneo. It was never going to be as good, but I'd like it more if Jerri didn't get voted out, boring characters like Amber/Elizabeth/Rodger didn't make it so far and if Colby didn't make such a huge, glaring mistake. For those wondering about the must-see Seasons, in my opinion: China (15) Exile Island (12) Amazon (6) Pearl Island (7) Borneo (1) All-Stars (8), Fans vs. Favorites (16) and Heroes vs. Villians (20) (they are always great, because you get to see returning super stars) The one's I avoid, because to my mind they aren't very good. Australia (2) Thailand (4) Cook Island (13) Fiji (14)

Yeah. There is a definite split between survivor before Marquesas and survivor after. The five outsiders banding together to vote off the majority alliance changed the entire way the game was played and made it much more of a focus of strategy rather than survival. Before, there was a focus on strategy, but because no one flipped after merge, it was more about personalities and survival rather than strategy. After Marquesas when the majority was toppled by the outsiders, it became a whole different ball game.

Yeah, Thailand is pretty meh. I'd probably say that and Australia are two of my least favorite seasons. Though, it's good for you as you hit an amazing run of seasons - 6 and 7 are fantastic, 8 is hit or miss depending on the person (I personally love it), 9 is great if only for the post-merge shenanigans. I'd say that was probably the best run of seasons, probably only close to it is China-Micro-Gabon-Tocans.

My thoughts on the remaining contestants, minus Rob who I already praised. Ralph: not a fan, could care less. Julie: the only mildly interesting contribution she could have made to the game was to keep Russel gone, and now seems like she'll just be an obvious boot. Steve: given his NFL history I'm surprised there not playing it up more, but he just seems to be like an uninteresting character. Mike: not a flashy player, but I think given another situation he would have fared pretty well. David: up until last night, I thought he had the best chance out of the Zaps, but what an idiot for lashing out at tribal. Just put a target on your back why don't you... Andrea: I really enjoy her and she is showing signs of great strategy. Her decision to kick Matt out of the game will probably put her pretty close to the finals and maybe the win. Grant: edit hasn't been that great. Does well in challenges, but not noteworthy elsewise. Ashley: comes across in a negative way, self-entitled way. Doesn't bode well for her winning the game. Phillip: I actually really enjoy Phillip. Sure, he is a poor man's Coach, but he makes things interesting. While I see him as a goat, I think he might actually be a huge liability to bring to the end considering he isn't part of any core group, really. Natalie: you know, I would have said poor edit, but two things stuck out to me this week. First, she won the Immunity, which was all kinds of impressive. Secondly, the second Matt blabbed to Rob, the first person we were seen that Rob told was Natalie. I thought it was VERY interesting and perhaps telling of the pecking order (interestingly enough, Andrea I believe was told edited to be told last.) I think I made comments early in the thread about why bring back Rob, but honestly, I take it back. The man is delivering this season. EDIT: And sayhder, on Colby... sure, that's the way he played the game and I respect his consistency and ability to stay true to his value. It's still an dumb strategic move and cost him the win. But as you said, it was what he wanted to do, so more power to him.

I didn't feel bad for Matt. I laughed out loud for a good 10 minutes after the show was over. I think Matt's showing last night is up there with some of the worst plays in Survivor (Tyson voting himself out, Erik giving away the Immunity Idol, Ian losing immunity and asking Tom to vote him out, Brandon voting for Kelly, Colby taking Tina to the finals). Matt just isn't made for the game: play with your brain, not your religion. Likewise, Rob's move last night was both entertaining television and one of the greatest moves I've seen in a long time. Rob managed to: a) snake out the Idol, b) vote out a player who clearly was a huge liability, and c) managed to still maintain the numbers advantage. And he STILL has the immunity idol and no one knows. Utter brilliance.