The Survivor Thread

[RPS]

Okay, so, for South Pacific and the two players coming back for it.

Why is Coach returning again? It'll be amusing and all, and he did up his challenge game in HvV, but for a season under the Guatemala/RI model you really should be bringing back players who could conceivably win. The only appeal for Coach in an Redemption Island season is that, well, once he gets voted out and is in RI he'll probably be pretty hilarious for however long it is that he lasts. But seriously, now.

Ozzy, meanwhile, is interesting because hypothetically there are few players this season is designed so perfectly for. Probably even moreso than Rob. Like, his biggest strength might be diminished a bit by less water challenges, but he's at bare minimum pretty solid at everything with some other categories he's great at (balance and agility, to name two). I guess it'll be a question of whether he's still got it or not.

If Coach is stuck on a tribe like Rob was on RI, he is done in the water. He's got to have an older tribe where he can get along with the older members who want to hear his stories. If Ozzy gets stuck on a tribe like Rob's in RI, he is going to go far. I mean, Ozzy and Rob are both Survivor celebrities who are youngish outgoing and people can relate to. Coach, not so much.

[GoGo Yubari]

Heroes vs. Villains, episode nine.

Oh my god. J.T., you moron. I knew it involved him passing a note to the other tribe but just. What. Wow.

EDIT: I think the worst part of Heroes vs. Villains is the players pretending like anyone knew how Russell played before the game started. It's so cringe-inducing.

[RPS]

Heroes vs. Villains, episode nine.

Oh my god. J.T., you moron. I knew it involved him passing a note to the other tribe but just. What. Wow.

EDIT: I think the worst part of Heroes vs. Villains is the players pretending like anyone knew how Russell played before the game started. It's so cringe-inducing.

Well one player did know how Russell played (apparently).

[The Quasi Juice]

Heroes vs. Villains, episode nine.

Oh my god. J.T., you moron. I knew it involved him passing a note to the other tribe but just. What. Wow.

EDIT: I think the worst part of Heroes vs. Villains is the players pretending like anyone knew how Russell played before the game started. It's so cringe-inducing.

Well one player did know how Russell played (apparently).

You're talking about Parvati right? Apparently producers told her about Russell and that it would be good to align with him.

[RPS]

Yeah, apparently she is quite close with the woman behind casting and had taken a vacation prior to Heroes vs Villains while Samoa was being filmed.

[The Quasi Juice]

Luckily Parvati is incredibly cute, so I didn't mind looking at her for a third time, plus she played a great game.

[GoGo Yubari]

Up to episode 10 of Heroes vs. Villains.

I want to smack J.T. upside the head. The longer this season goes on the more I wonder how much of the Tocantins strategy was done by Stephen and Taj and not him because everything in the wake of the Cirie blindside (his only good move) has been jaw-droppingly awful on his part.

On the plus side, though, this season has really solidified what a good player Parvati is in my mind. I gave a lot of the credit for Micronesia to Cirie, but this time around it's much different.

Also, Candice selling out her entire tribe in a Wait Shit Isn't That What She's Remembered For In the First Place shocker!

EDIT: Episode twelve. Wow. I almost want to say Russell is more overrated than Amanda. Had people actually seen Samoa before the game started he wouldn't have made it to the merge.

[Blehschmidt]

Good, your finally to the season where Parvati made herself my favorite Survivor of all time!

[GoGo Yubari]

HvV complete. I actually enjoyed it as a whole if just because I knew to view the Russell shenanigans as the wacky adventures of a guy who has absolutely no clue how to win Survivor. Absolute favorite moments in the finale were;

Sandra throwing Russell's hat in the fire, which is made funnier by the fact that she probably didn't know that Russell pulled the exact same shit on Jaison in Samoa, and Jerri's question to Russell, Russell lying, and Parvati and Sandra calling him on his shit simultaneously and costing Russell the vote he thought he had for sure in the jury. And, of course, the fact that it doesn't even matter if he'd subbed out either Parvati or Sandra for Jerri because he still would have zero chance of winning the million.

Starting on episode two of Nicaragua now. Last Survivor series in my epic full-on rewatch, I can't believe I'll have watched all of Survivor in less than half a year.

EDIT: Episode two's Tribal Council. What the fuck.

[RPS]

My favorite tribal council of all time. What a fucking shit show.

EDIT: To add, Nic is fun because when you divide people by age, you take out a natural way people would form alliances and relationships and force people to make alliances and partners in the game above and beyond "you are young, so am I, let's vote out the old people." I think the second tribal council in Nic really emphasizes that. If the people who voted out Shannon were on a tribe with him divided not by age, they'd probably be in an alliance together.

Edited July 31, 2011 by RockPaperScissors

[GoGo Yubari]

My favorite part of that Tribal Council is Fabio and his "holy shit what the fuck is this, why am I on the asshole tribe" reactions.

Well, also.

NaOnka: "I don't like him."

Jeff: "Fabio, she don't like you."

[RPS]

Nic is a really great season. I enjoy it a lot. So many great characters. Na'Onka, Fabio, Marty, both Jimmys, Jane, Holly, Sash, Brenda. Really is a top notch cast.

[GoGo Yubari]

Up to episode four now, and Marty is tremendous. He's basically employing a much more manipulative version of Randy's "let's sit back and watch everyone else fail" game, and it rules.

[bill_da_bill]

I'm up through episode 8 of Palau.

Wow, just wow. I feel like this season has a pretty strong cast, and there were actually more interesting characters on the Ulong side, but obviously they were competition challenged. I'm worried about a post-merge letdown because it was the Ulong tribe that had so many good characters. But at this point something has to give on the other side of things so that could at least prove to deliver some excitement.

James was a fantastic character by the way, I enjoyed watching him, Angie too, who got got Shii-Ann kinda shafted by that twist. Lame in my opinion cause she didn't deserve what she got.

And I am completely and totally smitten by Stephanie , haha.

[RPS]

Hey, GoGo, now that you've gone through all the seasons... I'm going to write a Survivor fan fiction this summer for shits and giggles as I've got the month of August off before I toil my life 12 hours a day for the rest of my life. Who would you include from past seasons that weren't included? I'm thinking of going with a Winners/Runners Up versus Fan Favorites/Early boots type theme.

[GoGo Yubari]

How many players is it going to have?

[RPS]

Somewhere between 16-20. I think I might do an Exile Island start with four tribes and merge them shortly after. I liked that dynamic.

[Pizza]

I'm up through episode 8 of Palau.

Wow, just wow. I feel like this season has a pretty strong cast, and there were actually more interesting characters on the Ulong side, but obviously they were competition challenged. I'm worried about a post-merge letdown because it was the Ulong tribe that had so many good characters. But at this point something has to give on the other side of things so that could at least prove to deliver some excitement.

James was a fantastic character by the way, I enjoyed watching him, Angie too, who got got Shii-Ann kinda shafted by that twist. Lame in my opinion cause she didn't deserve what she got.

And I am completely and totally smitten by Stephanie , haha.

I hated the Ibrehim immunity twist, that was bullshit, Angie deserved better. They kind of tried the same thing in Vanuatu when guy I don't remember ended up just giving it to Amy, but at least the tribe knew that would happen beforehand.

I was worried about the post-merge letdown as well, but it's been very solid. I'm at the finale now, and the way Koror broke down was pretty fun to watch. The tribal council just before the finale in particular was one of the better ones I've seen so far, and I'm expecting good things from the finale. Solid season, better than Vanuatu or Marquesas for sure. Still pissed off at Probst for episode 10, but it all worked out.

[GoGo Yubari]

I hated the Ibrehim immunity twist, that was bullshit, Angie deserved better. They kind of tried the same thing in Vanuatu when guy I don't remember ended up just giving it to Amy, but at least the tribe knew that would happen beforehand.

The Palau version happened again in Guatemala and ended up screwing over one of my favorites there too. RPS, working on a proper long list for you and it'll be in a separate post.

[GoGo Yubari]

Okay, I'll do a few lists of everyone I think has some degree of merit and then pick my favorites out of those. These'll be fairly exhaustive because why not. Only one Nicaragua inclusion right now because I don't know how the season fully pans out yet aside from the winner, who places fourth, and at least one person on the jury. Where I'm at, though, Marty, Brenda, and Jimmy T. are all great possible inclusions.

Winners/runners-up who've never played a second time and might be worth a second showing:

1. Chris Daughtery (Vanuatu)

2. Earl Cole (Fiji)

3. Matthew von Ertfelda (Amazon)

4. Natalie White (Samoa)

5. Kelly Wiglesworth (Borneo)

6. Fabio Birza (Nicaragua) (probably? I haven't seen all of his season yet.)

7. Vecepia Towery (Marquesas)

8. Brian Heidik (Thailand) (I would include Clay too but he's probably too old to be useful at this point)

9. Danni Boatwright (Guatemala) (only because she and Kelly are about as good as you're going to get in terms of female challenge players in this category)

10. Yul Kwon (Cook Islands)

11. Dreamz Herd (Fiji) (but only if you want insane comic relief)

12. Todd Herzog (China)

13. Stephen Fischbach (Tocantins)

14. Bob Crowley (Gabon)

15. Aras Baskuskaus (Panama) Or however you spell his last name.

Top three guys for me on that list are Todd, Chris, and Aras. Top three women are Kelly, Natalie, and Vee.

Players who were voted out pre-jury:

1. Hunter Ellis (Marquesas)

2. Mike Skupin (Australia)

3. Clarence Black (Africa)

4. Silas Gaither (Africa)

5. Robb Zbacnik (Thailand)

6. Trish Dunn (Pearl Islands)

7. Andrew Savage (Pearl Islands)

8. Rory Freeman (Vanuatu)

9. Angie Jakusz (Palau)

10. James Miller (Palau)

11. Jolanda Jones (Palau)

12. Brian Corridan (Guatemala)

13. Brandon Bellinger (Guatemala)

14. Amy O'Hara (Guatemala)

15. Bobby Mason (Panama)

16. Misty Giles (Panama)

17. Cao Boi Bui (Cook Islands)

18. Ashley Massaro (China)

19. Aaron Reigsburger (China)

20. Joel Anderson (Micronesia)

21. Ace Gordon (Gabon)

22. Candace Smith (Tocantins)

23. Marissa Calihan (Samoa)

24. Stephanie Valencia (Redemption Island)

Top six guys on that list are probably Hunter, Brian, Ace, Cao Boi, Savage and Bobby. Top six women are Stephanie, Angie, Marissa, Misty, Amy, and Trish.

Made the jury but not the final, never played again:

1. Gervase Peterson (Borneo)

2. Teresa Cooper (Africa)

3. Kelly Goldsmith (Africa)

4. Tammy Leitner (Marquesas)

5. Sean Rector (Marquesas)

6. Helen Glover (Thailand)

7. Ken Stafford (Thailand)

8. Burton Roberts (Pearl Islands)

9. Lea "Sarge" Masters (Vanuatu)

10. Ian Rosenberger (Palau)

11. Coby Archa (Palau)

12. Jamie Newton (Guatemala)

13. Rafe Judkins (Guatemala)

14. Courtney Marit (Panama)

15. Terry Deitz (Panama)

16. Shane Powers (Panama)

17. Nate Gonzales (Cook Islands)

18. Michelle Yi (Fiji)

19. Alex Angarita (Fiji)

20. Jean-Robert Bellande (China)

21. Erik Reichenbach (Micronesia)

22. Natalie Bolton (Micronesia)

23. Ken Hoang (Gabon)

24. Corinne Kaplan (Gabon)

25. Crystal Cox (Gabon)

26. Taj Johnson (Tocantins)

27. Erik Cardona (Samoa)

28. Laura Morett (Samoa)

29. David Murphy (Redemption Island)

30. Andrea Boehike (Redemption Island)

Top six guys from that one are Sean, Shane, Kenny, Terry, and both Eriks. Top six women are T-Bird, Corinne, Michelle, Taj, Tammy, and Natalie.

EDIT: Episode six of Nicaragua, wow. Brenda vs. Marty is pretty great.