The Survivor Thread

[GoGo Yubari]

I'm five seasons away from Gabon, I believe. Everything between Panama and Redemption Island I haven't seen yet.

[RPS]

Enjoy 12 while it lasts... 13 and 14 are pretty miserable and probably came close to killing the series. Thank god for seasons 15 and 16.

[Blehschmidt]

I didn't think 13 was that bad, but I have previously stated that Parvati is my favorite player of all time. I will agree that 14 is pretty bad though.

[GoGo Yubari]

Yeah, I've generally heard that Fiji is bad.

Nine episodes into Panama now and god, Courtney is an idiot. Like, Shane's a maniac but Courtney is just dumb. (Terry might be the dumbest, though. Good god.)

[RPS]

I didn't think 13 was that bad, but I have previously stated that Parvati is my favorite player of all time. I will agree that 14 is pretty bad though.

The racial twist was pretty gimmicky and a lot of tom foolery happens mid season to keep certain story lines progressing and certain people in the game. When you reach the ill-fated bottle twist, GoGo, you'll know what I mean. Hands down, the most bullshit twist in Survivor.

[GoGo Yubari]

Episode 12 of Exile Island;

Holy shit, Cirie's double blindside. Legit one of the most awesome strategic moves I've seen in Survivor since Fairplay's run in Pearl Islands.

[bill_da_bill]

Three episodes into All-Stars (the first one). My thoughts on Jenna being undeserving of a win were confirmed. I don't have a problem with her leaving the show under those circumstances, it is what it is. But she struggled with this the first damn time, why the hell would she agree to come back that soon and play again under those circumstances? There were so many good characters from the first 7 seasons that could have had that spot and done something with it.

[GoGo Yubari]

To be fair, it seems like things were much, much worse this time, and her mother actually did die very soon after she returned from the game. I'm not sure how long in advance the players agreed to do the season by but it could explain a lot.

Also the other problem with saying "there are much better players who could have been there than Jenna" is that actually for the quota Jenna M. was a part of ("cute girl Survivor alumni") the pickings were incredibly slim. I mean, fuck, they let Amber Brkich in because they couldn't get Colleen, Elisabeth, or even allegedly Heidi according to Jenna herself. I've always wondered why Kelly Wiglesworth wasn't invited back, though, especially when Jenna Lewis was; did they just not want to bring back the entire Tagi alliance or did she not want to play a second time?

It was actually sort of interesting taking a look at the Wikpedia page for All-Stars and seeing who had been quoted as having denied to come back or been unable to. Vecepia couldn't play again because she was pregnant, Brian supposedly wanted a large sum no matter where he placed (which I'm pretty sure was code for "I don't want my reputation as a player ruined by the fact that there's zero chance any tribe would keep me around at all"), Sandra had some sort of parasitic infection from Pearl Islands or somesuch, and so on.

[The Quasi Juice]

I actually started following the show during Survivor Fiji, so I don't hate it as much as others. At least it gave us Yau-Man

[Blehschmidt]

I swear I remember reading somewhere around the time that All Stars debuted that Kelly Wigglesworth turned them down, because of everything with Susan and being labeled a Rat, and she just had no interest in doing any of it again.

[GoGo Yubari]

If so, that pretty much sums up the problem with All-Stars and the quotas they needed to fill. They should have just gone "oh fuck it, nevermind" and brought back T-Bird or Deena.

[Horus]

Wasn't sure where to post this, but since it concerns to past Survivor players and this is a pretty active thread, might as well do it up here.

Reality TV Center is reporting that the returning players for next season are Coach and Ozzy, which is a let down since neither one of these two players have ever had interaction with each other, which was the bait for redemption island until it became the Boston Rob and company show. I wonder maybe if this time instead of just being drafted to tribes, the show will start off with these two on Red. Island and earning there way back into the game? It'd make a lot more sense.

Sorry if this is the wrong thread to post this is.

Again sorry, yes they are spoilers for the upcoming season of Survivor, so you've been warned. I should have put that out there at first

Edited June 12, 2011 by WeAreOne

[Blehschmidt]

WeAreOne's spoiler concern's the upcoming season of Survivor (23). So those of you catching up probably don't want to read it.

[GoGo Yubari]

Is it just who the returning players are or does it go into order of elimination?

[Blehschmidt]

Just a rumor of who the returning players are. No boot order or anything like that.

[Horus]

Yeah, if it was a boot order or anything like that I would have made that beyond clear as to not spoil the up coming season, like mentioned its just a rumor I happened to stumble upon, figured I should put those in spoiler tags anyways though .

[RPS]

Ugh. Not a good choice at all.

They are sticking in the same region, so no water challenges. Ozzy was only really amazing in the water challenges.

Coach, while entertaining, doesn't really seem to have a chance at winning Survivor. If he wins, someone can quote me on this and mock me.

Edited June 13, 2011 by RockPaperScissors

[The Quasi Juice]

I like Ozzy returning, I don't like Coach returning who's a poor, less intelligent version of Philip. Hell, Ozzy vs. Erik would have made more sense. At least they have some sort of connection, this doesn't make sense. They could have also done 2 returning players on every team; for example Philip & Coach, Erik & Ozzy. This somewhat ensures at least one returning player makes the merge, you'd think.

[GoGo Yubari]

Exile Island finished. I'm not sure what it is, but something's keeping me from putting it in the top tier in spite of the fact that it has some great storylines.

Part of it might be that the Casaya Four trainwreck sort of loses steam post-merge, as they're all initially unified in their frustration at Terry winning everything, and Shane very nearly becomes downright sane after a certain point. There's a ton going for it; you have great comedy thanks to Shane, a good running rivalry in Terry vs. Aras, and some very clever strategic moves on the part of Cirie, who is probably the most awesomely unlikely strategic mastermind I've seen on Survivor thusfar.

It also might just be that Danielle making final two was such a letdown. Very much shades of Kim Johnson in Africa where you have three great characters in the Final Four and one really boring one, and the boring one screws everything up. Aras was a worthy winner (if just for "Somebody call the Waaaambulance, Terry's crying on the course!"), but probably ultimately a middle-to-lower end of the pack one once I watch all the seasons and rank the winners. He's not Jenna or Danni, but he's probably somewhere on par with Ethan.

Four episodes into Cook Islands. The racial twist wasn't great but I do have to admit that it's nice to have a Survivor that isn't dominated by white people. I really want to see more Survivors where the racial breakdown is something closer to this so they can't resort to "here's the black man, and he's lazy!" like they often do. Also Cao Boi is great, and the contrast between him and the four Asian-American members of his tribe was the closest Survivor's ever come to making something resembling an interesting conversation on race. Parvati hasn't done anything amazing yet, but she's already giving me huge Stephanie Valencia vibes (I know Russell compared Steph to Parvati in an interview after Redemption Island) so I like her already.

[RPS]

On EI: strategy wise, not the best season. But entertainment wise? I'd say it's up there. I think it could have been MUCH better if there was no Hidden Immunity Idol with super human powers.

On Cook: Parvati is alright in Cook, but she really shines in Fans vs. Favorites. I do agree that the racial twist, if anything, gave us a diverse cast which is always a welcomed change.

Edited June 15, 2011 by RockPaperScissors