The Survivor Thread

[Azazel]

I'm so glad Nat won, I probably would have had to take a break if Jaclyn won, because she sucks.  I'm not fully sure why I have seething hate for John and Jaclyn but I just found them to be a shitty couple of Survivor players who felt entitled and like they were sure they were going to win despite not really doing a single thing to deserve it.  Reed maybe gets best FTC speech ever though just because it was hilarious and mean without being bitching and whining.  I'm also pretty sure Alec was completely spaced out that entire time.

I did enjoy Blood vs Water but I would be happy to never see the gimmick return, or at least wait a few years.

After many many seasons I think my pool of irrational hatred now belongs to: Lillian, Jon/Jaclyn, Kass, Colton, Alicia, Abi-Marie, Coach, Shannon, NaOnka and Brandon Hantz.  I will say the only person in that group that gets a slight pass is Coach because his shittyness can be entertaining at times.  The rest don't have any redeeming qualities.

[Azazel]

What the hell is this? The thing on the right, not the thing that looks like a Raticate.

Edited April 13, 2017 by Azazel

[Azazel]

I ended up really enjoying World's Apart.  I didn't really like anybody in the final 9 but seeing Mike take on an alliance of 6 by himself and win was a pretty awesome story because he had to win 5 out of 6 immunity challenges to do it.  Despite some early game errors getting him outside the alliance he ended up playing extremely smart to get to the end and to show that trying to get by just by being in an alliance is worthless.  Showed his idol to create issues with the alliance, then actually used it to take out his biggest challenge threat (Tyler).  Used Carolyn's idol to take out Dan.  Sided with Rod/Will to get rid of the next biggest challenge threat (Sierra) and left himself with three useless people in Rodney, Will and Carolyn, and added insult to injury by forcing Rodney and Carolyn into a fire making challenge that went nearly as badly as the one on Fiji.

Not as great of a comeback as Chris from Vanuatu but pretty damn entertaining to say the least.

I also really liked Jenn's final tribal speech, calling the jury a bunch of bitter assholes because Mike beat them at literally everything.  Also, Probst for calling out Rodney for being an entitled asshole because he thought people should have been giving him rewards because it was his birthday.

Edited April 17, 2017 by Azazel

[Alex.]

The mailman from that season is on my list of survivors I actually hate.

[Azazel]

Dan was a jackass, and kind of an idiot.  I think his main problem was that he was a lot dumber than he thought he was so he didn't realize what he was saying was wrong.  The whore and sexist comments were bad, but saying domestic abuse and being adopted are practically the same thing was just.... ya.

I have a lot of respect for Shirin as well for the Will thing.  I like how she didn't accept his shitty apology at the reunion because he genuinely thought it was okay to talk to another human being that way.  Will's wife saying he has never treated anyone like that was the real cherry on top because it was aired on national TV.

[Alex.]

Will sucks as a person. Idk that season I gave up half way cause I didn't like anyone on that cast at all. 

[Azazel]

Either did I, so I just sat back and enjoyed Mike's journey and everyone else acting like assholes about it.

[RPS]

Shirin refusing to give Will the letter from home after the fight was so amazing. 

[Azazel]

I think one of my favorite things about the later seasons is Jeff Probst becoming both a jackass and comically self aware.

[Blehschmidt]

I really want Jenn from that season to play again.

[Azazel]

Spencer sucks so much.  He pulled a Russell, doing something to get you to the finals with 0 chance of winning.

[RPS]

6 hours ago, Azazel said:

Spencer sucks so much.  He pulled a Russell, doing something to get you to the finals with 0 chance of winning.

Second Chance is so weird. The editing is so terrible in the second half because the game was so complex. Like they barely explain why Tasha and Spencer lose. 

[Alex.]

Didnt some shady shit go down at Ponderosa that season? Like Kass and Fishbach I read were campaigning against Spencer saying hes actually well off financially or something?

[Azazel]

They didn't really explain why Tasha and Spencer lost, but there was no doubt in my mind that Jeremy was going to win and probably get every vote.  Spencer tanked himself int he penultimate tribal and Tasha was just sort of along for the ride the entire game, only Keith had a real shot of beating Jeremy.

The main problem I had with Second Chances was I already didn't like Tasha, Spencer and Abi and I got way too much of them.  It also made me really dislike Fishbach.  I wish we got more Deitz, Varner and Savage.

[Azazel]

Koah Rong or whatever it was called was alright, I have no idea who should have won but I don't think it was anybody in the final 5.  I liked Tai but I knew he wasn't going to win at all and I was kind of pulling for Mark the Chicken to get some votes for the million.  I guess I'm almost all caught up after a 3 month binge watch.

[RPS]

I love Tai because he's one of those people who they show actually grappling with the moral issues of the show. It's reached a point where so many people are just there to win and Tai wants to win, but he also wants to be a good person. 

[Azazel]

On 2011-07-30 at 22:18, GoGo Yubari said:

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.

Reading the thread from the start and I got to this.  I did 10 more seasons in half the time.

[Azazel]

Millennials vs Gen X have given us David.  A guy so bad at challenges his tribemates cannot tell if he is intentionally throwing it... and still isn't the worst on his tribe.

A 10 second clip may have catapulted Zeke up my favorite list.  Thanking Chris and David for saving him and having it immediately cut to a confessional calling them idiots because he knows saving him was a dumb ass move.

Edited April 25, 2017 by Azazel

[Azazel]

Michaela's boot was one of the most ridiculous things I've seen so far.  The over the top body language and "did you do that?"  "....yes".

I think my favorite thing to see in post elimination interviews are people who say eliminating them was a dumb move because they were gonna win if they weren't eliminated.  Which, is probably why you were eliminated...

[Azazel]

I decided to go back and rewatch Borneo, and probably a lot of other seasons as well, just to see the stark difference between the early seasons and the newer seasons.  I think I understand where the old school vs new school mentality in the fan base comes from.  I think rewatchability is the main factor, Borneo is more about the characters, where something like Game Changers is about alliances/voting.  On a first watch the new seasons are more dynamic to watch, but when you know what is going to happen the old seasons have a lot more things to enjoy.

Random Notes (Pre Merge):
- Average Age of the season: 35.69 years old.  This is the 5th oldest average age, with Nicaragua being 1st and allstar seasons being 2-4.
- Average Age for Tagi: 39.25 years old.  This is the 9th oldest starting tribe ever
- Average Age for Pagong: 32.13 years old.  This is the 49th oldest tribe ever or 29th youngest.
- Sonja is ties for the oldest 1st boot (with Jim from Guatemala)
- Rudy is the oldest castaway to every play at age 72, beating himself in Allstars.  Joe from Koah Rang was the same age
- Kelly Wiglesworth is the youngest castaway this season at age 22.  Joel Klug is the youngest guy at age 23
 

Personal Favorite Story lines:
- Dr. Sean the buffoon.  From wanting to just sit around the campfire and sing songs, not understanding how gay people work, building a bowling alley, and just generally not wanting to play Survivor.  I think I understand how the Alphabet Strategy could have potentially been a good idea, but only if it was in a vacuum where nobody else had any sort of a strategy.  The guy comes off as really dumb and its super entertaining the 2nd time around.
- Gervase falls into the Dr. Sean pile, both were trying to be well liked so if they made it to the finals they would probably be well liked.  Obviously this was before alliances became the main thing, so neither had a bad strategy, they just both got trumped.
- Early Installment Weirdness of things that would never return.  The Gong, the Conch, the "you won immunity now go to that island to get it".
- Pagong being the tribe that wants to have fun, votes out the guy trying to lead them (BB) and then doing the same to Joel.  They basically set themselves up to lose to any sort of an alliance.