SURVIVOR

#51

in the process of marquesas and i am starting to like it a lot better

the premiere was just sort of weak

in this rewatch, i realized that i really like vecepia?? i know shes pretty UTR for a winner but she's actually pretty present so far? and she's pretty funny.

also people say marquesas rob is best rob which is probs true, but i still hate him.

"sarah has a nice body. ... she paid a lot for it"
vecepia, after it looks like she got screwed by a swap: god is still good regardless!

also this season is full of random side-eye. i love how gina HATES sarah.

#52

update: this is one of my favorite confessional poses of all time.

#53

I'll say this much:

without Vecepia, there would be no Sandra

#54

liking this season a lot now!! i actually liked rob in his boot episode for once lol and now i hate paschal because he's racist and weird. rodger and elisabeth >>>>>>>>>>>>>> (x infinity) neleh and paschal

also, can someone please explain to me why zoe voted for john? she is so odd lmao

#55

zoe "work hard, play hard" zanidakis is a goddamn survivor legend

here's her amazing website:

http://www.allzoe.com/index.html

#56

i mean, just look at this stuff!

Professions & Occupations:
Commercial Fisherman and Charter boat Captain
Hotel Owner & Restaurateur
Business Entrepreneur
Television/Radio Personality
Entertainer
Motivational Speaker
Seafood Connoisseur

Education & Certifications :
High Seas of the North Atlantic
USCG, Captain 100 GT
Certified Open Water Scuba Diver
Maine Central Institute
Life's Lessons while growing up on Monhegan Island; a small, remote island 12 miles off the coast of Maine.

Experience
15 years commercial lobster fisherman, 13 of which skippered my own lobsterboat.

Proprietor of Monhegan House, a hotel and restaurant on Monhegan Island owned and operated for several generations by my family. Sold in 2000 to focus more on other pursuits.

Co-produced, co-designed and marketed my 2003 “A Year in The Life of Zoe” calendar, designed to be functional and picturesque as well as informative, inspirational and entertaining.

Contestant on popular national and international reality television series, Survivor. I appeared in every episode of the fourth installment, Survivor: Marquesas, which aired on CBS from Feb. 28 to May 19, 2002.

Guest on numerous national and international television and radio talk shows, including CBS Early Show, David Letterman and Rosie O'Donnell show as well as local and regional television news broadcasts, mid-April through August, 2002.

Acting classes under the direction of Drew Grindstaff of Four Winds Pictures, Inc

I needed to have a "Year in The Life of Zoe" calendar yesterday.

#57

I will never need another website.

#58

update: finished marquesas

i was really liking it by the end - after the last 2 seasons with an amazing pre-merge and a so-so/bad post-merge this season had the opposite, and after rob was voted off i really was digging it.

so... here is my ranking!
SEASON 4: MARQUESAS

ok this is the official unspoiled edgic but it still has so many problems. like how is vecepia UTR overall? i am in love with zoe's edgic though

cast ranking: (with SOME gifs because half the ones i had didn't work)
i struggled so long to decide between my top 2 but after thinking about it for a bit i am at peace with it.

sean - my first male #1! i loved sean! he was such an interesting and funny presence, and he's more difficult to write about because he doesnt have any specific ~moments~ but just as a person he was super compelling, and it was awesome for a show like survivor in 2002 to talk about racial issues!

kathy - omg having her this high makes me even sadder because then i remember all stars kathy

kathy is super fascinating to watch in this season, and she was the reason that i found rob tolerable for one episode (their dinner lol). her conversation with zoe and rob where she freaks out and she's like "they're all lying to me!" was iconic.

vecepia - i was not expecting to appreciate her as much because i didn't have the fondest memories of her and most people label her as a boring winner, but i thought she was super fun to watch! she's not the most visible person, but that's fine! I loved how she would stir up drama and then say how she didn't want to be involved in the drama.

john - watching his rise and fall was super amazing to watch, and clearly one of the most iconic moments in survivor history

neleh - oh my heck!! i loved her constant MORP2/MORP3 morph into her OTTN5 breakout episode lmao. she's been campaigning so much to be on again with john and they both seriously deserve it! SEASON 34 CAST SPOILERS

Spoiler: show

also, why did people say she rode coattails? maybe pre-merge but to be fair she went to 2 pre-merge tribal councils and both votes were unanimous. it felt to me that she had to almost PRY paschal to stop being dumb and flip, and yet people will say she rode his coattails

sarah - i've already posted some about her but i loved how she seemed so unaware of like everyone else hating her. saying good luck to gina even though gina clearly could not stand her and trashed her at every opportunity.

zoe - "WELL, I HAVE A WORK HARD PLAY HARD ATTITUDE, AND I FEEL LIKE I SHOULD BE SITTING THERE UP IN THAT SEAT. I FEEL I WORKED REALLY HARD OUT THERE AND I PLAYED HARD WITH THE PEOPLE WHO WANTED TO PLAY. BUT IM NOT GOING TO TALK ABOUT LIES.... AND... AND DECEPTION... BECAUSE I WAS THERE TOO. WE *ALL* WERE THERE. BASICALLY, I BELIEVE BOTH OF YOU HAVE GOOD HEARTS... AND YOU MADE IT. TO THIS SPOT, THAT ALL OF US WANTED TO BE AT. SO CONGRAGULATIONS THERE AND... THATS ALL I HAVE TO SAY."

gina - lol she was edited so positively but actually seemed so stank and grouchy the whole time? that circled back into me thinking it was funny so it goes here

robert - robert was really not visible, probably the least of all the people post-merge? but he still managed to be relatively funny

tammy - these two gifs sum her up so perfectly. providing more side-eye than gina even. i can totally see how zoe didn't like her eyes/presentation

peter - a fairly ok first boot. don't care about him

hunter - also didn't really care about him lol but i liked him more than boston rob but i liked the people boston rob was aligned with more i guess?

patricia - although i typically like most old lady pre-merge boots (minus DIANE) like sonja, mad dog, she wasn't as fun and just sort of stank the whole time. lol no wonder i didn't like pre-merge marquesas with patricia gina and tammy being so grouchy lol

gabriel - his whole thing about building the society and not wanting to play is so obnoxious. not here for it!

rob - people say boston rob's best season is marquesas, which is true.... however he is still almost last. he's just suuuuuch a douche and i literally only liked him in his last ep, but that was more because of kathy and zoe. i hated his whole gay stuff with john also, like he wasn't rudy who was 72 and stuff he was just being a douche. like that one scene where rob was like "hey are you gay? just checking" to john was just not funny at all. how did someone so UTRfun like amber end up with such an annoying person

ugh i hate boston rob good thing he's VERY present in THREE OTHER SEASONS god

paschal - RACIST!!! RODGER BINGHAM HE IS NOT!!
"I will not! align myself with people like Sean and Vee."
"It's so important to me to make sure someone like Sean doesn't make it to the finals"
"Both Vecepia and Sean...they've both just basically been skating the entire time, duping people "
"Kathy's...she's you know, from Vermont. I'm from Georgia. And Sean's...well, he's from Harlem. This thing runs deeper than a game."
like jeeeeeeeez
edit: http://www.ajc.com/news/news/local/da-d ... sex/nQgm3/ ewwww wtf he's like 70

#59

and...
seasons ranking!

1. BORNEO. still iconic and the only season thus far that doesn't have a boring part (AO/Africa postmerge Marquesas pre-swap)
2. MARQUESAS
3. THE AUSTRALIAN OUTBACK
4. AFRICA

however, i will note that i think that AO/Africa will end up being higher than most people's overall because i really did like them, i just liked the other two more lol
i'd say that there is a gap between Borneo and the others, and a gap between africa and the others, with AO/marq being pretty close and i feel like if i ended up watching some episode of AO (with jerri in) i might even switch it back so these 2 will probably even end up fairly close once i get to 32

i REALLY thought i was actually going to put marquesas last before the swap, and then was fairly sure i was going to put it 3rd until around the john boot, but seriously at the merge it just takes off and doesn't really stop.

also, winners ranking (in terms of PREFERENCE, not strategy)
1. RICHARD
2. VECEPIA
3. TINA
4. ETHAN

now on to... thailand but after is amazon/PI so just have to get through this 1

#60

Everything from the John boot to I think maybe the episode before the finale is just gold.

John is a great example of a Survivor villain who seems like an awesome guy in real life, and his last episode is the first time a majority alliance got broken up.

This season as a whole represents a lot of crucial steps forward in terms of strategy, and I've heard it be called the most IMPORTANT season of Survivor. I still think that's the first, but, you know.

Sean is maybe my top dream returnee? The fact that he hasn't come back even though he's reportedly up for it is a shame.

I have a bit more of a spot in my heart for Gabriel, mainly because he represents Mark Brunette's original idea of the show, everyone working together and creating a new society, being snuffed out in the most pathetic way possible. Plus the dude himself has been through a lot of shit, and the fact that he made it through that and managed to be on Survivor, and has gone on to be maybe one of the nicest ex-Survivors in real life, makes me really respect him.

I agree 100% with your season ranking, but I'd have Vecepia at the bottom of the winners ranking. Yes, I feel like she's underrated and a lot more entertaining than people expect, but Tina and Ethan are both people I see as Survivor icons and symbols.

#61

My mum just told me that Richard Hatch is in the most recent season of The Biggest Loser

#62

You clearly hang out at RHAP on occasion like I do.

#63

insertnamehere wrote: Sean is maybe my top dream returnee? The fact that he hasn't come back even though he's reportedly up for it is a shame.

I have a bit more of a spot in my heart for Gabriel, mainly because he represents Mark Brunette's original idea of the show, everyone working together and creating a new society, being snuffed out in the most pathetic way possible. Plus the dude himself has been through a lot of shit, and the fact that he made it through that and managed to be on Survivor, and has gone on to be maybe one of the nicest ex-Survivors in real life, makes me really respect him.

I agree 100% with your season ranking, but I'd have Vecepia at the bottom of the winners ranking. Yes, I feel like she's underrated and a lot more entertaining than people expect, but Tina and Ethan are both people I see as Survivor icons and symbols.

seriously sean would have been a perfect choice for all-stars! i have no idea why they didn't bring him back, especially because they chose boston rob over him..like come on :/

idk i really didn't care for ethan that much and tina was just ok for me...my favorite tina is b vs w tina i think. and vecepia had great taste in allies...whereas ethan was...really close to big tom and lex so yikes haha

#64

Big Tom and Lex were great choices in allies. Both of them were all about loyalty, and they each would have stabbed the other before stabbing Ethan.

#65

Golden wrote:Big Tom and Lex were great choices in allies. Both of them were all about loyalty, and they each would have stabbed the other before stabbing Ethan.

yes but their personalities were so awful

and that's what i care about more lol

i think i will start thailand tonight. i want to skip it but i want to be able to say i watched them all in a row so i must push on! i'll do it for shii ann.

#66

update: changed my sig to one of the best moments in survivor history

#67

Golden wrote:Big Tom and Lex were great choices in allies. Both of them were all about loyalty, and they each would have stabbed the other before stabbing Ethan.

All-Stars puts a biiiiiig asterisk next to this and many other things.

#68

tin man wrote:update: changed my sig to one of the best moments in survivor history

That's pretty good, but I would've gone with Changa:

#69

insertnamehere wrote:
tin man wrote:update: changed my sig to one of the best moments in survivor history
That's pretty good, but I would've gone with Changa:

haha i actually did have a sandra gif as my sig for 2 seconds but it didn't work

(it was the "i can get loud too what the fuck" moment) and i decided i wanted something that was very horizontal and then i found this image and went with that

#70

insertnamehere wrote:
Golden wrote:Big Tom and Lex were great choices in allies. Both of them were all about loyalty, and they each would have stabbed the other before stabbing Ethan.
All-Stars puts a biiiiiig asterisk next to this and many other things.

A player on one season is not the same as the player on their next season. They have the complexities that come with being friends with people in real life and having had the opportunity to reflect on your first effort. You can't tell me that wasn't a decent read from Ethan. I mean, I understand what tinny is saying, but I rank Ethan higher because I think it was his ability to choose his allies well that won him the game.

Can't believe T-Bird still hasn't come back, though.

#71

Golden wrote:Can't believe T-Bird still hasn't come back, though.

just think that she had an opportunity to come back, but instead we voted for monica and kelley instead. MESSED up

also just think about how much better cambodia would have been if they voted out spencer instead of shirin in ep2

or even spencer out instead of woo after the second swap
i love woo <3

#72

im glad shirin and not spencer went. I actually enjoyed the fact that spencer basically had to play from the bottom the whole game for a second time. Besides, shirin was kind of cocky the second time around and spencer, oddly enough, wasn't so much.

Tbird instead of Monica for sure. Kelley was great, though. I'd sooner have lost abi.

Overall, though, Cambodia is one of my favourites so I'll take it how it was.

#73

Golden wrote:im glad shirin and not spencer went. I actually enjoyed the fact that spencer basically had to play from the bottom the whole game for a second time. Besides, shirin was kind of cocky the second time around and spencer, oddly enough, wasn't so much.

Tbird instead of Monica for sure. Kelley was great, though. I'd sooner have lost abi.

Overall, though, Cambodia is one of my favourites so I'll take it how it was.

i definitely thought spencer was cocky the second time though? mainly in the finale i guess but it was still there. also he took up SO MUCH SCREENTIME that should have gone to other people - that was my main issue with cambodia in general.

abi was like my favorite of cambodia haha

#74

i've been trying to watch a season a week but i was really busy this week and now i'm only on episode 3. hopefully i will be done soon lol.
thailand pre-merge isn't that bad actually, the attack zone was amazing

just got to grindgate and it's just very uncomfortable though

#75

tin man wrote:i've been trying to watch a season a week but i was really busy this week and now i'm only on episode 3. hopefully i will be done soon lol.
thailand pre-merge isn't that bad actually, the attack zone was amazing

just got to grindgate and it's just very uncomfortable though

ATTACK ZONE!

Say what you will about the rest of the season, but I'll always defend Robb Zebacnik.

#76

insertnamehere wrote:
tin man wrote:i've been trying to watch a season a week but i was really busy this week and now i'm only on episode 3. hopefully i will be done soon lol.
thailand pre-merge isn't that bad actually, the attack zone was amazing

just got to grindgate and it's just very uncomfortable though
ATTACK ZONE!

Say what you will about the rest of the season, but I'll always defend Robb Zebacnik.

attack zone was funny lmfao but i actually liked stephanie's role in it more than robb's. she literally pulled ted off the zone when she was already in the water lol

#77

ok ever since the fake-merge happened in thailand it became SO BORING!!!! it's such a drain. it's crazy how overall out of all of the cast, i probably don't care about at least half of them.

hopefully i will finish it tonight and put my ranking up, but while you guys wait with bated breath, here is the best moment of the entire season:

#78

ok! after MARATHONING this season this weekend i actually somehow managed to finish
SURVIVOR: THAILAND!
as most people would agree, this season was...not good lol, but here is my ranking!

SEASON 5: THAILAND

again, unspoiled edgic must still be working out their kinks. i mean UTRP3? that isn't a thing anymore lol.

cast ranking:
note: i actually wavered for so long on my top 2. i feel like they actually could easily switch. however i picked the one i guess i related to the most. also note: this person is not anywhere near the levels of my top of the other seasons lol. i honestly won't have as much to say on this as marquesas because i don't care as much :/

shii ann - mess with the shii devil get the horns!! i hated how the rest of sook jai was so mean to her

looking at YOU, erin

clay - the original goat? except he actually was only 1 vote away because brian was horrendous at FTC. basically, clay brought some laughs in a show that desperately needed it, and that was enough to bring him to #2 for thailand.

jan - also provided laughs and was just a positive presence, also needed since the rest of the cast was so fucking boring/dire lol.

robb - his 5 episode redemption arc <3 such a weirdo but actually a nice person

ghandia - it's actually kind of amazing how she totally fucked up that first challenge and didn't get voted off! the whole grindgate incident was handled so poorly, and i definitely believe ghandia. the whole situation was just gross ugh.

penny - lol at her being INVISIBLE in the early pre-merge only for it to turn out that half of her tribe fucking hated her even though it seemed like all she did was just...be pleasant and sociable? lol.

helen - helen seemed nice, but ugh her whole being one of brian's mindless minions really turned me off of her by the end :/

tanya - sad she got sick :/

jake - i don't really care about this person, but he was really nice to shii ann.

stephanie - i don't really care about this person, but she brought 1/2 funny moments.

jed - i don't really care about this person

ken - i don't really care about this person

erin - i don't really care about this person, but she was MEAN to shii ann :/

john - thank god he was voted off first lol. apparently he's super homophobic as well according to some facebook posts so let's be glad he was gone soon because he was super annoying in his 1 episode.

ted - one of brian's annoying pals and also his antics in grindgate were seriously disgusting.

brian - one of my least favorite winners of all time. he was 1) offensively boring 2) sexist 3) a sociopath. watching him interact with other people was so odd because it never felt natural to me. it always seemed so forced and it was just weird. and then of course he had to have MULTIPLE confessionals on "isn't it nice how the men chill while the women cook and clean? like the good old days" or whatever. and then he FLOPPED hardcore on jury questions because he obviously didn't care about anyone but yet still won :/

and,
SEASONS RANKING!

1. BORNEO
2. MARQUESAS
3. THE AUSTRALIAN OUTBACK
4. AFRICA
5. THAILAND
no surprise here. there's a large gap between 4 and 5 as well. it's well known that this is considered the first actually bad season of survivor, and the people are right! the pre-merge had some moments but i would say that the post-merge episodes is one of the most boring strings of episodes in the history of all of survivor. in one episode, the subplot is literally about ted taking a boat ride. i don't really think i have any desire to rewatch any of this season again - the shii ann/clay/jan/ghandia/robb moments aren't worth it. the end game also soured me on many characters (namely, helen and jan) who were completely duped and discarded by brian after 38+ days with absolutely no warning, and yet still went on to vote for him. also, after some ~research~ into ted's question, apparently helen spread a rumor that clay was racist, that was also apparently not true??? and now she regrets voting for brian. fuck that!

winner rating (based on preference)
1. RICHARD
2. VECEPIA
3. TINA
4. ETHAN
5. BRIAN
also no surprise. brian was extremely boring, with flashes of ickiness. if you want to see what it's like watching a legit sociopath play survivor, this is the season for you i guess.

#79

Hey, I'll start playing along with this.

Season ranking

1 - Australia
2 - Marquesas
3 - Africa
4 - Borneo
5 - Thailand

Again, those top 4 might all end up in my top half by the end because I love them all, so it's hard to rank them, and Thailand is probably going to be dead last even at the end. It really is that bad. I like Helen, and the pre-merge was tolerable. That is it.

Why is Borneo so low? Just because I think it is good mostly because it is first. It's so ham and cheese now. But it had a lot of great characters to hold it up. Africa had a lot of great characters but also the switch was amazing for me at the time, and the first few episodes after the merge were great as I was rooting for T-Bird and I was really hoping she'd find a way to win. Marquesas might feel 'high', but I loved the way we had a dominant tribe for the first time that then fell to pieces, I loved the way they did the tribe swap (still wish they'd do it like that again) and I loved the way the Rotu four were taken down. And I loved the colour scheme. There was little not to like about Marquesas for me. At the time I didn't like the winner, but now I've even reformed on that. And Australia, well I kind of fell in love with Elisabeth and Survivor with that season, and so it has a special place in my heart. Still has so many of my all time favourite Survivor characters.

Winner rankings:

1 - Richard
2 - Tina
3 - Ethan
4 - Vecepia
5 - Brian

Again, a massive gap between four and five. Brian won't be bottom for long, though.... and Rich will only be top for a moment longer than that. (spoiler alert for my winner rankings lol!)

#80

i agree with your ranking a lot golden!! honestly the first four seasons are all very close to me in quality, and i feel like once i'm done with this thing they'll all be around the 9-15 range or so. i wavered back and forth on my australia/marquesas ranking, and i feel like whichever one places higher could change again just with one rewatch

EDIT: ugh i'm at work (but not actually working) and really considering switching the two. i'm thinking about the scene where rodger tells tina/colby to vote him out instead of elisabeth and <3 they are so cute!!

#81

currently in the first few episodes of survivor amazon and it is amazing how much better the female cast is to the men's.

heidi, deena, christy are all people who i would LOVE to be invited back, and even the less relevant girls are bringing it.

#82

another AMAZON update:

they need to bring joint confessionals back!!!
imagine, like, an abi and woo joint confessional or something lol

edit: shoot this screencap doesn't seem to work but it's a picture of jenna and heidi talking about how roger sucks <3

editx2: http://imgur.com/3wtGiqG here is the imgur link

i love the glee in heidi's face

#83

just finished amazon!!!! and wow!!
here are my thoughts -

SEASON 6: THE AMAZON

I just still cannot believe that is how they edited their winner!!! An OTTN in the penultimate episode! lmao. I wasnt a fan at the time this was airing (considering i was like 6 years old lmao) - was there a lot of backlash to this?

cast ranking:
deena - AMAZING. normally i would find her string of CPs to be exhausting but i was HERE for her total pro-woman stance. her performance in the roger boot episode was amazing. side note: roger's boot episode may be one of the funniest and best episodes of all time. she NEEDS to return!

heidi - she also NEEDS to return! i actually read that her actions at FTC were to try to make jenna say deena as well, but still lol. also how random is it that she's a gym teacher?

christy - <3 ALSO! needs to return. i feel like part of the reason jenna was edited negatively was because she and christy obviously didn't get along, and there was no way the editors weren't going to edit christy positively, even though she was clearly annoying lol

rob - he was kinda annoying at the beginning with some of the stuff he said, and i actually prefer him for his gameplay instead of his character (which is odd because i never say that). seriously changed the game!

jenna - most negative winner ever? lol. honestly did production not think she won? or what? but even after she wanted to quit she somehow immunity beasted and won in the biggest landslide in survivor history!! (at this point).

joanna - actual crazy person lol. when she yelled at christy "getting in her face" when i think christy was just trying to see her face, because, you know, she needs to read lips to understand what people are saying? her keeping everyone awake by shouting hymns <3

matt - "he's... cweepy" - christy

shawna - literally dying in one episode to miraculously being revived due to men <3 so thirsty.

jeanne - idk i always thought she was randomly funny with all the side eye she was giving

butch - burning down the camp due to being crazy about firewood <3. however, he was a roger ally so ew!

daniel - don't have any strong thoughts on this person, but he seemed nice

and i loved how he was so pissed about getting voted out before ROGER

janet - was granola gate ever solved? someone please let me know lol. i liked how she was all "vote me out i don't care but NOT because of the granola bar!" glad she went first from jaburu tho because i cared about her the least

alex - he lasted for a long time but i don't have any strong thoughts on this person

ryan - no real opinion. memory of him kinda fuzzy, but he wanted to boot roger <3

dave - kinda annoying + roger ally

roger - last by default for being a homophobic sexist bigot, even though his boot was hilarious. it feels like the cheap way out putting him last but he sucks tho

and,
SEASONS RANKING!

1. THE AMAZON
2. BORNEO
3. THE AUSTRALIAN OUTBACK. notice: i swapped this and marquesas after struggling w/ it for the past couple rounds. ultimately, i would want to rewatch this one more once the dust has settled from both seasons
4. MARQUESAS
5. AFRICA
6. THAILAND

i'm not sure if this opinion is unpopular, although it seemed like this one generated the most criticism when i listed my top 5 earlier. however, i feel like eventually this won't be top 5, but likely 6-10. i tend to prefer character-driven seasons over strategy-heavy seasons (i don't even think cambodia will be top half), and this season was full of people that kept me entertained (deena, heidi, etc) and was actually genuinely FUNNY and made me laugh. it seemed a lot different to other seasons of survivor actually? it took itself less seriously i think, and i feel like some people may not be a fan of that but i loved it. although i would fix the editing a bit (a bit less rob maybe? more jenna/butch or something, very minor) i think it was overall very good, except i still dont know why they edited jenna like that lol. maybe she was just like that and the producers were mad they voted for her over matt.

and,
winner ranking!

1. RICHARD
2. VECEPIA
3. JENNA
4. TINA
5. ETHAN
6. BRIAN

however, something tells me this ranking will all get shifted downward very soon

what are your thoughts?? would love to discuss a bit about amazon

#84

I really find the Amazon very overrated. The only characters I liked were Deena, Christy and Rob (and my like for Rob was mostly because he was the only good winning candidate towards the end, and then has come more through his work as a Podcaster). For me, when it aired, I put it on par with Thailand and although I now think a little bit differently, I don't think a lot differently. Thailand is truly terrible, but for me Amazon doesn't have an awful lot more to redeem it - Deena and Rob, basically.

I felt Jenna and Heidi were easily the most unlikable people to ever exert any control in the game, and yes that includes Brian H. I never want to see either return again, they were complete zeroes for me. Jenna deserved her negative edit. She wasn't there to play the game and won by default. She probably led directly to the producers first discussions of a final three.

I also find the men vs women twist has been a failure every time its been attempted, but this time it seems particularly rife with sexist tropes.

Then look at Edgic. 6 overall negative edits, 3 positive edits two of which were on very average players, and almost everyone else was middle of the road, Deena was really the only complex player without a negative edit. I feel like the editors felt like the atmosphere out there was really very negative and chose to portray that accurately, but I don't enjoy a season with so much of the bashing other people. The way people talked about Matt and Christy really got on my nerves.

I guess what I'm saying is, that this might be the first one where we don't see eye to eye, tin man! But you are definitely in the popular majority.

I do, however, really want to get Deena back very badly. She has been overlooked for way too long, unless she just doesn't want to go back.

Season ranking

1 - Australia
2 - Marquesas
3 - Africa
4 - Borneo
5 - Amazon
6 - Thailand

Winner rankings:

1 - Richard
2 - Tina
3 - Ethan
4 - Vecepia
5 - Brian
6 - Jenna

Pretty certain Jenna will be on the bottom for good, at least as far as season 32.

Bring on Pearl Islands! This is the first season that I'd probably consider one of the truly great seasons of Survivor!

#85

Yes Pearl Islands- now that's a season I can get behind! Looking forward to hearing your thoughts.

@Tin man, I like your perspective of the seasons in sharing that you prefer character-driven seasons over strategy seasons. I've never really put into words why I like specific seasons over other ones, and I think that about sums it up. I think I'm your polar opposite in that sense

. I crave strategy talks and big moves, where nice characters without strategy make me roll my eyes. When we get an honorable, loyal winner that is an overall good person, that is a nice, cathartic feeling for the audience.

You mentioned earlier RE: preferring Shireen over Spencer. What in your opinion are Shireen's admirable qualities? I guess this question goes to @Golden too. I think I'm looking at her the wrong way, and I think you could help enlighten me.

And I agree that Thailand sucks. No differences there lol.

#86

so excited for pearl islands!

@ golden, it's funny you bring up the edgic thing, because honestly, i feel like Matt deserves to be more M than P, and that Joanna deserved an N, which just makes it more negative lol.
also, i feel like there are people lots more unlikable than heidi/jenna who exerted control - colton/boston rob come to mind but that could just be me haha

@ scotty, shirin was a lovable and relatable underdog who definitely deserved a second chance due to her circumstances in WA, and then kinda sucked in cambodia but she was gone so fast it didn't really change my overall opinion of her - just one of the many people who were subjected to abi's reign of terror lol. spencer was an underdog, but i didn't find him lovable at all. he was such a dull, unfunny person, and it was odd that a "superfan" seemed so completely miserable out there, even from day 1. his edit was unbearably big, especially in cambodia, where he had this HUGE "redemption arc" about building relationships only to be completely destroyed 10-0-0, and the whole thing just seemed so dumb to me because there was no point giving him that edit if he didn't even win

#87

Sorry, I mean up to this point. Colton is far worse. Jenna and Heidi were the worst I'd seen at that point. Amazon nearly made me quit Survivor.

#88

Scotty wrote:You mentioned earlier RE: preferring Shireen over Spencer. What in your opinion are Shireen's admirable qualities? I guess this question goes to @Golden too. I think I'm looking at her the wrong way, and I think you could help enlighten me.

I thought her admirable qualities in Worlds Apart were that she was just herself and felt free to be herself, and she stood up to those who wanted her to conform and who would bully her. I do think there is something admirable in not being willing to let people be callous and horrible to you, and to be willing to call it out for what it is. To me, Will Dan and Rodney are amongst the more despicable lot to play the game and Shirin stood up to them, I guess. Then in Cambodia I felt like she turned into the intolerant person when she had a majority around her, so it was much harder to like her there. In the first case, I didn't feel like she wanted to enforce her views on people, just to have people be tolerant. When she ended up on a tribe with several women of colour and several older white men she decided to go to the extreme end of feminism and see a lot of things as being sexist and racist that weren't, and I don't really like that quality in people.

Spencer on the other hand, I find immensely likable. I don't actually find him to be very arrogant, I don't think he is very good at persuading people though and when he tries I think that comes across to some people as arrogant. I don't think Spencer or Tasha played bad in Cambodia, except for the fact they took Jeremy to the end who was always hands down the best player there.

#89

I have a mix of the two types of season that I like. For instance, I just listened to the Evolution of Strategy for 28/29 and I found 28 (strategy-heavy) a drag to get through and realised I'm not a great fan of Cagayan, but 29 was a breeze and I really love San Juan Del Sur, so in that case its character over strategy... but on the other hand, both seasons had both. I think having some great characters (who are overall likable) is important to my enjoyment of a season, but so is having some good strategy.

#90

Golden wrote:I have a mix of the two types of season that I like. For instance, I just listened to the Evolution of Strategy for 28/29 and I found 28 (strategy-heavy) a drag to get through and realised I'm not a great fan of Cagayan, but 29 was a breeze and I really love San Juan Del Sur, so in that case its character over strategy... but on the other hand, both seasons had both. I think having some great characters (who are overall likable) is important to my enjoyment of a season, but so is having some good strategy.

i totally agree with this golden!! actually, i watched those seasons before i really started looking at sucks/rhap any sort of stuff, and i was actually shocked to see that people rated cagayan as a top 5 season, and people trashed SJDS! cagayan started off so strong but then seriously turned boring i thought after the sarah episode, whereas SJDS had a boring pre-merge (minus the drew christy ep), but an AMAZING post-merge.

also, i try not to judge seasons based on who wins/makes it to the end, but it doesn't hurt that natalie/jaclyn are the best final 2 we've had since HvV i think.

#91

I used to be OBSESSED with this show. I wish I still watched. :/

#92

Dom wrote:I used to be OBSESSED with this show. I wish I still watched. :/

omg you can!! you can start re-watching on the same schedule as me or something lol! besides one period it really hasn't declined in quality all that much

#93

Dom wrote:I used to be OBSESSED with this show. I wish I still watched. :/

When did you stop watching? it had a lean patch there for a while (15-24 was a patch where the bad seasons outnumbered the good), but since season 25 I feel like the show has been on a tear, not every season has been truly great but none of them have been terrible, so I guess that's the last four years.

#94

Golden wrote: When did you stop watching? it had a lean patch there for a while (15-24 was a patch where the bad seasons outnumbered the good), but since season 25 I feel like the show has been on a tear, not every season has been truly great but none of them have been terrible, so I guess that's the last four years.

:o i'm shocked you included 15-17 in this "rough patch"! i think that china-micronesia-gabon was the strongest 3-season arc in the history of the series tbh

#95

For me the strongest three season run might be 12-13-14, or it might be some of the more recent ones. 25-29 I find pretty strong generally and I could agree with a stretch in there. Some people might say the lean patch is only 21-24, for me I prefer 18 and 20 to anything from 15-17, but 17 in particular a lot of people think is the worst season ever. I personally don't agree, but neither is it anywhere close to my favourite. None of 15 through 17 are ones I have felt in a rush to watch a second time, although I have season 16 sitting there ready to go now, it's the strongest of the three for sure. Eliza and her stick, the fall of Eric etc, but the black widow brigade I didn't find so interesting. It would have been top tier for me if it wasn't for so many of the fans being so useless, I prefer Caramoan of the Fans vs Favourites seasons because I feel like it had more things to compensate for how terrible the fans were (ironically, I feel both are good seasons despite the fans).

15-17 would probably hold up well on a rewatch. 18 is great when you know Coach is being set up for a fall. I would just say that other than Heroes vs Villains very few if any of the seasons from 15-24 are likely to find their way in to the top half of my rankings. 16, 18 and 23 are probably the only ones that have any chance at all.

#96

ok everyone!!!! i just finished pearl islands! and to no surprise - i totally loved it! it's honestly everything anyone could want in a survivor season - amazing characters, good strategy, an exciting post merge and pre merge, and although i don't think that the outcast twist should ever be used again, it totally worked out perfectly in this season!! AND!! DRAKE is a top 5 all time tribe.

here are my overall thoughts!
SEASON 7: PEARL ISLANDS

cast ranking:
note: i would say even 13th, 14th place on this ranking could be top half in another season's ranking. there were seriously only two people i had mostly negative feelings on, and everyone else delivered. i even have positive feelings to some of the more UTR cast members (michelle, darrah) because they allowed STARS to have more air time

ok here is the ranking:

sandra - GOD i love her <3 i feel like it's almost so obvious that sandra is amazing that i don't have lots to add?? she's a lippy mom who's terrible at challenges and isn't afraid to get loud, but ALSO happens to be the only 2 time winner and was only 1 vote away from a totally perfect game in this season (damn it tijuana!!) i also feel like sandra (even though i think she's the best and she's won twice) is still kind of underrated?? i feel like her "as long as it ain't me" strategy deserves even more praise - it takes a lot to seriously just be like "yeah whoever i'll vote them off even if they're my friend."

lillian - omg i want her to return <3 even though i doubt she will considering she was a total trainwreck by the time it went to the final 5

burton - i want him to return too!!! he really did a great job of being like the villain douche archetype i guess (along with shawn) and it doesn't hurt that he's like a top 10 hottest survivor male ever!

christa - i want her to return too !!! <3 omg i love her voice and the fact that she was given a positive edit even though it seemed like everyone besides rupert/sandra could NOT stand her. also after reading about the cast apparently she was found on craigslist looking for a "meth bong" (whatever that is?) so lol

jon - obviously ICONIC! although the grandmother lie seems oddly not that bad now lol but obviously it was back in the day. however, he got kind of tedious in the last 2 episodes (minus the amazing FIC with lill)

rupert - i actually liked rupert a lot more in this season than i anticipated, because i honestly didn't care for him much in his later seasons, although he's obviously one of the top 5? most recognizable survivors of all time. however, like jon, he would have been a lot higher, but i started to tire of him in his last couple episodes and i think it was good that he got voted off when he did.

ryan o. - one of the least present people post merge but i always really liked his relatively little screentime - i thought his thing with the pelican was cute <3 i'm not sure why he's this high just a fun UTR presence !

shawn - such a douche <3 i honestly love the "survivor douche guy that no one likes/takes seriously" archetype (see also: drew christy)

darrah - honestly although darrah was EXTREMELY utr (probably because she was... really hard to understand lol) i still feel like she had some good moments ("jon lies but... he tells the truth too"; the fact that she/her boyfriend didn't seem to know each other at all). also lol at the blatant rigging in the f4 immunity challenge because you know they didn't want this boring person to win in a cast full of stars lol

tijuana - after an AMAZING premiere episode, she faded into the background to be a savage sidekick (ugh) and then ruined sandra's perfect game, and in other seasons she could still make top half, but this is pearl islands and honestly i still really like her!

osten - what a trainwreck <3 however he annoyed me in the first couple episodes but i liked how much he pissed off probst lol

trish - her random CPN boot episode and the lesbian shopkeeper enamored with her in the first episode <3

michelle - she was randomly pretty good in the outcast episode, but other than that she left no real impression on me

nicole - honestly i didn't have the strongest feelings towards her either!

ryan s. - kinda pathetic honestly, and for some reason during the outcast episode/fallen comrades they always showed this gross clip of him with a lot of snot and it was gross!

andrew - probably really only the castaway that i have strong negative feelings on. so smug/entitled and just someone i just know i would NEVER get along with in real life. however probs to him to getting totally owned in epic ways in 2 seasons <3

and,
SEASONS RANKING!

(this will be no surprise)
1. PEARL ISLANDS

2. THE AMAZON
3. BORNEO
4. THE AUSTRALIAN OUTBACK
5. MARQUESAS
6. AFRICA
7. THAILAND

this season is unlikely to leave the top spot minus 2/3 seasons that i want to leave a surprise so i won't say which ones those are!! like i said above, it has everything anyone can want from a survivor season. i was never bored, i love the cast, great winner, great final 2, etc, etc. it's honestly a perfect survivor season and i don't think it could be replicated if you did it a thousand times over. i can realistically see everyone from ryan o. and up being in my top 100, which is saying a LOT.

here is a winner ranking, which also isn't a surprise and won't have the #1 slot moved down unless idk there's another amazing cast member who wins later on but honestly i feel like that won't happen.

1. SANDRA
2. RICHARD
3. VECEPIA
4. JENNA
5. TINA
6. ETHAN
7. BRIAN

what are your guys' thoughts on PI?? any ranking or anything you disagree with?? again, i'd LOVE to talk about pearl islands because it was so amazing <3

also, i may take a little break now. i've been consistently doing a season a week but i think i need a break because also after this i feel like all stars shifts survivor into like a second generation? it's the end of 16 person casts, a lot more twists, etc, and also i HATED all stars so i want to reflect on pearl islands for a bit before i watch 18 castaways partially ruin their legacy (damn it, kathy!)

edit: here are some sandra gifs to add some flair to this post! we love you sandra!!

#97

How on earth is the Trish boot episode giving Sandra an MOR3 on Edgic? She completely engineered that boot and didn't even get a complex player for it? For me she would be CPP for her role in that episode, easily. Edgic!

I agree with you that this is one of the most complete casts the show has ever hard. It is well underrepresented in terms of returnees, there are some people in here who really should return (Burton, in particular). At least bringing Savage back in 31 helped a bit.

The thing about Sandra is that her 'as long as it's not me' strategy (when simplified down to that) sounds a little less impressive than what she really manages to do, which is often 'as long as it's not me OR my allies'. In fact, she says to people's face 'anyone as long as it's not me', and at the end of the day she will execute on that, but most of the time she still manages to influence the boot to be the person she wants gone as well. Sandra might be underrated by some in the fan base, but I doubt she'd be underrated by the other players when she plays again.

Regarding Fairplay - I thought the grandma lie was iconic and audacious but... I think as far as game moves go it's pretty useless. It seems like more of a way to worry people about you getting sympathy votes and want you gone? Maybe it's a sign of the times, but I think if the grandmother lie was invented for the first time in season 33, it would be a terrible move that might get the liar voted out, even if the lie wasn't uncovered.

I'm an unapologetic Rupert lover - I've really enjoyed him on all his seasons. I think he is one of the few people who is really bad at the game but still manages to have some really inspired moments (like the fake idol in HvV). The extent to which he is a mixed bag is actually intriguing. He's the kind of person I will never mind being cast because he will always bring a complex dynamic for other players to have to work around, and make for interesting confessionals. No doubt, Pearl Island is where he shines best though. He is in his element with the pirate theme and the way he connected to Fairplay and was betrayed by him makes for one of the most compelling storylines of the season.

Osten and the disdain of the first quit is an epic moment.

And I actually really liked the Outcasts twist. Way better than Redemption Island, because that sucked screen time with the challenges and eliminations that needed to occur in every episode, and because it was limited to before the merge. I'd consider it a prototype for a much more successful approach to redemption island. It might have been better if we were taken on the journey the whole time, while the contestants weren't in the know. I wouldn't mind this twist returning at all.

PS - I love Savage. I don't want him to win, but I think he adds a heap to the season. He is the kind of person I like to root against much more than someone like a Jon or a Russell (who just annoys me, really).

The other thing about Pearl Islands is that it is the first time where I feel as though the boot list makes literally no sense if you were to read it when the merge hits. You would just ask yourself how the season could possibly go down the way that one did and with the boots in that order, and I think it was a preview of what a three tribe season can do (Burton and Lil representing the third tribe here) because it seems to create an instability after the merge that doesn't exist even in seasons with a swap. At least in Amazon shake ups represent the end of power players, it still seems relatively logical and didn't really feel surprising to me other than the Deena boot (which was probably the most surprised I'd been by Survivor until that point). In Pearl Islands it felt, basically from Burton's boot on, like anyone could go at any time.

Season ranking

1 - Pearl Islands
2 - Australia
3 - Marquesas
4 - Africa
5 - Borneo
6 - Amazon
7 - Thailand

Winner rankings:

1 - Sandra 1.0
2 - Richard
3 - Tina
4 - Ethan
5 - Vecepia
6 - Brian
6 - Jenna

#98

@Golden - honestly i feel like unspoiled edgic has so many flaws. i've been using this person's charts to follow along (http://survivorsucks.yuku.com/topic/118 ... 5PmwZOAOkp) that seem to make more sense (for example, they gave sandra that CPP that she deserved), but the first time i tried to paste one in it didn't work

i think part of the reason pearl islands underrepresented is maybe the fact that all-stars came immediately after? and by the time they got more returning players (micro, HvV), they tended to look for those post-all stars so i think they got shafted. burton, lillian, christa, shawn, and jon (for a real second season even though probst hates him) would all be amazing returnee candidates imo.

#99

#100

post millenials vs. gen x bump