Survivor: Redemption Island

[GoGo Yubari]

That's why I said outside chance for him. Probst tweeted that he wanted to see him back, and I think he's low-profile enough that he could make waves playing a strategic game a second time around.

[Blehschmidt]

I could see Mike the Marine getting a second chance as well.

[GoGo Yubari]

So Redemption Island is coming back next season for some stupid reason, apparently, and two more old players who have never won a game are coming with it. Sigh. The latter isn't so bad though I'd prefer it if the returning players competed against each other more. Redemption Island coming back is stupid. I guess they want to see what happens if it's done in a game where a player as great as Rob isn't controlling every last thing.

EDIT: One of them is apparently Erik from Micronesia, or so someone has speculated from a shot of the game. I don't know who that is because I'm a long way away from that season yet, and the only post-All Stars players I've seen play is Russell this season, and then I've heard indirectly about, uh... Amanda Kimmel, Coach, and Parvati, I think.

[sahyder1]

So Redemption Island is coming back next season for some stupid reason, apparently, and two more old players who have never won a game are coming with it. Sigh. The latter isn't so bad though I'd prefer it if the returning players competed against each other more. Redemption Island coming back is stupid. I guess they want to see what happens if it's done in a game where a player as great as Rob isn't controlling every last thing.

EDIT: One of them is apparently Erik from Micronesia, or so someone has speculated from a shot of the game. I don't know who that is because I'm a long way away from that season yet, and the only post-All Stars players I've seen play is Russell this season, and then I've heard indirectly about, uh... Amanda Kimmel, Coach, and Parvati, I think.

I think you will like Parvati's play.

I like that Redemption Island is back. I am pretty sure it will be a permanent fixture from now on. The only change I would make though is to keep it at 1vs1 duels as much as possible.

Solid season. Well deserved win for Boston Rob. Absolutely the greatest to ever play the game and yes, I include Hatch and Parvati in there. While Hatch was solid he did have the element of surprise going for him. The way Boston Rob has progressed every time in this game is remarkable. People whine about Rob having received four chances to play the game but in my opinion that makes the case for Rob even more since he should have been the first person voted out. He has no reason to ever come back and play but in all honesty I would love for him to be back for some all-star season in the future.

Agree with David's point that one guy came in talking as though he was the greatest ever.....the other one proved it.

Phillip getting a vote in the final tribal council is an absolute joke. Natalie had more of a case for getting a vote having won an immunity challenge. Her social game wasn't bad either. Phillip is nuts. I really have no interest in seeing him play again because he's the new Russell, he has no shot at winning the game and his antics with the jury proves that he doesn't get the game either.

I would love to see David and Mike get another chance somewhere down the line.

Can I just make a request on behalf of a bunch of us who are going back and watching all the previous seasons? It is only natural that we'll be speculating about who the two returning players in spoiler tags?

Some thing like this maybe....

Player X

The reason why they should return

I'll speculate on possibly returning players tomorrow but for now I'm off to bed.

Edited May 16, 2011 by sahyder1

[GoGo Yubari]

I seriously can't stand RI. I guess it's maybe worth bringing it back one time to see if it was just Rob who broke it this time and if it can actually fuck with the dynamics of the tribe post-merge (I liked the Outcast Tribe for that reason though I totally get why people would hate it and say it's not what Survivor's about) but it's just such a gigantic drain on the airtime and it cuts out so much of the stuff that I think of as being integral to Survivor. I like the social game, I like the strategy, I like the dynamic of reward challenges and how it affects the players, and so much of that stuff got tossed away for Redemption Island. It was a complete and total bust this season aside from allowing one great episode in the one where Matt came back, but it's not like that had any long-term effects whatsoever.

Oh, also; Matt will be back. The fact that he almost beat Boston Rob in a popularity contest means that at some point he's going to get another shot. Whatever, maybe he'll learn and up his game a little.

[RPS]

My guess is two people who made mistakes during this season, have bad blood and could redeem themselves - Natalie/Andrea and Sarita/David fit in well.

Or a rivalry from a past season - Brenda/Marty, Marty/Jane, Shambo/Laura, Tyson/Sierra, Sugar/Randy, Erik R/Natalie...

Or runner-ups from past seasons who may have gotten the short end of the stick - Natalie, Chase, Mick, Stephen...

My hope? Two past Winners who haven't gotten the call back ever who had great strategies the first time around: Todd vs. Aras.

Honestly, could be a lot of people. Could be two random people put together from different seasons... Phillip/Coach, please God no.

Edited May 16, 2011 by RockPaperScissors

[The Quasi Juice]

Wow, Rob won, best play ever (Y) Fuck the spoilers, I so hoped they would be wrong and they were. One of the greatest seasons of all time. The players were so well developed towards the end it was amazing. As expected Philip played the villain on purpose, which can be classified as ground breaking. Sure, other players have played the "I'm annoying, take me to the end" card before, but usually towards the end. Philip started this strategy after only 2 or 3 votes into the game. He saw Rob's dominance and knew Rob would be smart enough to take him to the end. He'll be back for sure, although it'll be difficult to copy it considering he revealed his secret.

I was hoping for Fans vs. Favorites. A RI copy is a bit lame and I have a feeling the returning castaways will be dissapointing. I can't believe Matt got close to winning fan fav, I guess America really is god crazy. I would classify as the most annoying person this season. It should have been Philip vs. Rob in terms of entertainment. I suspect it'll be Matt vs. Andrea (which would suck ass), or Erik vs. Natalie (which would be kind of underwhelming considering they both didn't have an impact on the game until the end), Parvati vs. Amanda (I like Parvati as a player, Amanda sucks) or lastly Coach vs. Philip (which would be hilarious). Newbies would be stupid to vote off either Coach or Philip early.

[GoGo Yubari]

Awesome, awesome interview with Phillip on Rob C.'s podcast. He explains the dead great-grandfather thing, he goes further into his game strategy and articulates it a billion times better than at the Final Jury, and goes further in detail about the Three Degrees and their individual nicknames.

Natalie is also there but she sort of just awkwardly giggles her way through it because it's hard to get a word in edgewise with Phil there.

[Blehschmidt]

As much as I would love to see it, since she is my favorite player of all time, I don't see Parvati coming back to play again.

[Noah]

Rob won?

Bugger.

[The Quasi Juice]

As much as I would love to see it, since she is my favorite player of all time, I don't see Parvati coming back to play again.

She said during a podcast with Rob C she would never play again, she already didn't want to do HvV but then someone convinced her because HvV was so special, the 20th season and all. It would be a real shame anyway, she played great twice.

@GoGo, good shout, I'll listen to it later, should be good. I doubt Rob C will play next season for the simple fact he has his own podcast so it would be obvious he's taping if the podcast suddenly stops for a few months.

[GoGo Yubari]

I would love Rob C to get another shot but yeah, that's one where they'd just have to say he's in outright because it would be so obvious.

[Horus]

I have to say starting this season off, in my mind Boston Rob was just a tad bit over-rated and to be honest I was pulling for Lawyer Dave to go deep in the game once Russ was thrown out of his tribe and then the game, but as the season went on I found myself warming up to Rob, which was shocking and when he one that final immunity challenge I couldn't help but let a smile out as the man sealed his fate in the final four, and his confess interview that played during/afterwards when he admited at first he only cared about winning the game at first but then in a twist of irony he was content taking second or third place was good enough for him because he proved that he could make it til the end, if given a chance, was touching.

If Philip ever comes back, hes already said that he has a plan B stragey to actually win Survivor in his next outing, but its going to be extremely hard for him to shake that "you're (not the n-word) crazy" stigma that will be attached to him, and I don't think he can shake it, if Coach couldn't shake it, but big ups to Agent Philip for making the best of a bad situation and taking a runner up prize instead. I'd love to see a Russ/Philip season, those interactions would be... interesting to say the least.

Matt, and Mike for that matter, never come back. You're both two of the most useless players to ever play the game, and you're both lucky you had RI to carry you as far as you got.

Am I wrong in thinking that Andrea makes getting not once, but twice adorable, I think both times she was blind sided she left with a smile on her face, totally getting that its a game... Which brings me to Grant, dude like what the hell? You're seriously going to hold a grudge against Rob for having no other choice but to get rid of what was his biggest threat to beat him? Or is he just that embarrased that the idol was under his nose the entire time and not once did he think that maybe, just maybe, Rob was letting him find those clues well, because, the idol was already gone? Seriously, its just a game, whats done is done, get over yourself man.

Russell shaking Robs hand at the reunion was totally left field, but I total class act, coming from such a villian, ditto for Philip and Steve.

Does anyone remember Jonathan Penner from Cook Islands? The dude who was inadvertently responsible from making sure that the Aitu four solidified there domaince (imo) during the latter part of that season? Then had to be removed from Fans Vs Favorites? I'd totally love for him to make a come back, I always thought it was a shame he had a to leave FvF, if he came back, I think he would do very well for himself, same with Marty from last season.

Overall, not the best of seasons, it started off strong, kinda got stuck in a rut with the final solution type game play used on the Zaps post-merge, but picked up with again when it came down to the final six. Lastly congratulations Boston Rob Mariano, your ten year journey has come full circle and even if you hadn't won, you've found redemption in one viewers eyes. May you spend your days with that sly grin on your face, you earned this victory and you're finally at the top of that survivor mountain !

[bill_da_bill]

This was the best single game I have ever seen played. Everyone knew Rob and his game and he still played it and played it to a tee while fixing the few flaws he did have.

David's tribal speech was so epic.

I actually liked Mike and would like to see him back as well as David. The last person thought he was useless but I disagree. He was a huge threat in immunity challenges. coming close in the ones he didn't win and really dominating the RI challenges until the inevitable balance contests which are always slighted towards females. And he was the only one in Zapatera who really tried to make a move to swing the numbers on his side.

Mike, David and Andrea are the ones from this season I wouldn't mind seeing back. I think Andrea learned something this season and she could be a very dangerous player next time around.

[sahyder1]

Yeah, I don't understand the Mike hate from that guy. I'm fairly certain that we will see Mike, David and Andrea back at some point. Probst has been speaking highly of them. Rob has given a couple of interviews on the Grant thing. He said Grant stopped talking to him once the episode where he swapped the clues aired. I think during the same interview he said he was going to take David out to a steak dinner for that speech. He mentions that he told Amber that he got voted final four. If he actually did do that I think it is pretty cool.

A&E actually gave Russell his own show. Boston Rob started filming a new show today as well. It is called "Around the world in 80 ways".

[Horus]

It isn't hatred at Mike moreso then it is at Matt. I'm more frustrated at Mike, I'll dare say even let because during the start of the merge he showed that along with Dave and to a lesser extent in his own way Ralph he was the only that showed in ability to actually play the game with his accepts at flipping Matt... if he would have approched it in a more organic way I'm sure it would have payed off but I can understand the urgency he was as well, and then when that didn't work out, his at attempts at finding the idol were a good last ditch effort. If he would have played with that mind set the entire game, I would have more respect for then everyone out of the remaining Zaps and Matt not named before. Before RI and hundreds of immunity challenges of proved, anyone can go on a winning streak, it doesn't mean your really playing the game and in my mind, in the case of RI, a second rate chump either way.

In other words, I prefer players that are actually well rounded and defined, not ones that play up just the physical aspect like both Mike and Matt did on RI. To me, that isn't very impressive at all.

[GoGo Yubari]

Eh. They couldn't help that Matt is naive as fuck. I mean, it's three first-timers trying to coerce an incredibly naive guy who appeared to some degree to be blinded by ill-advised hero worship, while on the other side is a four-time player whose bread and butter is manipulating people into thinking they can trust him.

[The Quasi Juice]

What if Zapatera didn't throw a challenge to get rid of Russell? I wonder. Let's say Zapatera would have won that challenge if they tried, it might have given them the edge going into the merge OR just even. Why would you not want to go with Russell 'till the end anyway?

[GoGo Yubari]

I think really if Zapatera hadn't thrown the challenge they still would have ended up voting Russell out within the next couple of episodes. A couple of those challenges really, really, completely played to the strengths of Rob and Grant. But hypothetically if Zapatera won that challenge and the subsequent challenge like they did without Russell, I think the only major difference in tribe makeup would be Sarita probably would have made the merge, and... I want to say Phillip or Andrea wouldn't. Probably Andrea. I couldn't see Phillip beating Matt in anything but Andrea might, and if she did then Ometepe would have to pull a desperation move with Rob's Idol to get rid of someone (likely Andrea again, with Zapatera again mistakenly thinking Mike would be the target). If Ometepe could guess voting for Grant correctly, then that'd bring it down to even numbers once again and then who knows.

[Horus]

I personally look at it like why wouldn't you want to keep Russell, he was probably there best bet going into the merge because really, as pointed earlier on it was a bunch of newbies facing someone who has spent the better of ten years chasing this team, thats were his experience in Survivor would have payed off. People often look back at Russell and think of him as this generations "big bad", but if he had gone into this game and showed the same kind of loyality Foa Foa but getting atleast three of the four original alliance members he had to the final four, if he came into this game with that kind of mindset and managed to get just one other person (David? if kinda saw the light of what throwing the challenge did, but that was after the fact) I think his other alliance members, Krista and Stephanie would have kept him around until they atleast get rid of Boston Rob, then cut him loose and it would have been fair game at that point. Its hard to tell though, with that game that Rob brought to the table, even with experiance, I think it would have been hard to with stand an onslaught like that. Even if that plan didn't work out, you've always got a heat magnet for the Ometepe six to set there sights on and it possibly save you another day in the game, probably.

In reality that game play is horrible and would never work, but its easier being a couch player then an actual player.

Edited May 19, 2011 by WeAreOne