S40: Denise Stapley

[Whimsy]

Winner of Survivor: Philippines

[RescueMom]

I am so excited to see Denise back - she is my favorite winner!! I have a few players I'm rooting for but she is at the top of the list. 

[peachmangosteen]

I held the uo of not being a Denise fan throughout Phillipines but her FTC performance is probably my fave in US Survivor. I'm interested to see how she does this season. I think she could be a contender.

[ByaNose]

ew.com has new cast photos. I don't understand Denise's hair.at.all. I thought maybe it was a windy day but now I'm not so sure. I still hope she does well.

https://ew.com/tv/survivor-winners-at-war-cast-photo-gallery/

 

Edited January 15, 2020 by ByaNose

[LanceM]

here is her cast bio

 

https://www.cbs.com/shows/survivor/cast/216304/

[RescueMom]

You know how sometimes you are watching the show, and you suddenly realize you rooting for someone you didn't even realize you were rooting for? That happened to me yesterday while reading all of the season 40 coverage. So while I still love Denise and would be thrilled with a Denise win, she's actually #2 on my list for who I hope wins this season. Color me surprised!

[peachmangosteen]

21 hours ago, ByaNose said:

I don't understand Denise's hair.at.all.

Oh, I love her hair!

By seeing her new photos my main takeway is that she looks much older than 48. Like damn! Does she smoke or has she spent her entire life outside in the sun or something lol?

[LadyChatts]

On 1/16/2020 at 10:40 AM, peachmangosteen said:

Oh, I love her hair!

By seeing her new photos my main takeway is that she looks much older than 48. Like damn! Does she smoke or has she spent her entire life outside in the sun or something lol?

You aren't kidding.  Hopefully this is just a really bad photo. 

[ByaNose]

On 1/16/2020 at 10:40 AM, peachmangosteen said:

Oh, I love her hair!

By seeing her new photos my main takeway is that she looks much older than 48. Like damn! Does she smoke or has she spent her entire life outside in the sun or something lol?

Oh, whatever do you mean? Yikes! I have always liked Denise but I’m 6 years older and I don’t look that rough. LOL!!!

[RescueMom]

I love the character the lines give her face - I think the photo is striking, and she looks strong and beautiful. 

She also looks like she is in *amazing* shape in the videos I have seen. She was so physically strong in the Philippines, and it looks like she has only gotten stronger. I lift weights and do CrossFit and would kill to be in the shape she is in. 

[peachmangosteen]

7 hours ago, RescueMom said:

I love the character the lines give her face - I think the photo is striking, and she looks strong and beautiful. 

I actually love that photo too (and all the extreme close-up, black and white photos they did for everyone) but fucking hell I would have never guessed she was only 48. She looks older than my mom that's 62 and has smoked for like 50 years lol.

[BK1978]

On 1/16/2020 at 10:40 AM, peachmangosteen said:

Oh, I love her hair!

By seeing her new photos my main takeway is that she looks much older than 48. Like damn! Does she smoke or has she spent her entire life outside in the sun or something lol?

I said that during her first season.  She was only in her early 40's at the time and I had her pegged at being in her mid-50's.  Now yes I am terrible at trying to figure out people's ages but still.

Oh and just a side not, I am a Denise fan.  She is one of my favorites on this cast (I would say possibly my third favorite behind Yul and Kim).

Edited January 19, 2020 by BK1978

[LanceM]

Interview with Denise.

https://my.xfinity.com/ed/tv/2020/01/21/survivor-champion-denise-stapley-im-not-here-for-a-fijian-vacation/

She wants to align with Parvati, Sandra, Natalie, and Sarah.

(they have been separted by gender, so she wan't asked about the men)

[peachmangosteen]

11 hours ago, LanceM said:

(they have been separted by gender, so she wan't asked about the men)

How odd.

[ProfCrash]

11 hours ago, LanceM said:

Interview with Denise.

https://my.xfinity.com/ed/tv/2020/01/21/survivor-champion-denise-stapley-im-not-here-for-a-fijian-vacation/

She wants to align with Parvati, Sandra, Natalie, and Sarah.

(they have been separted by gender, so she wan't asked about the men)

The tribes are divided by gender initially? Unless they have some type of gender balanced Immunity Challenges planned that is kind of weird.

[LanceM]

I believe it is only for the pre-game. In the promos that I have seen the tribes are divided equally by gender when they are on the beach.

[LadyChatts]

I wonder if they did that on purpose to throw everyone off.  Also, I think it would have been kind of cool to do the gender divide, as another throwback to previous seasons.

[simplyme]

This amused me:

 

[ByaNose]

8 hours ago, simplyme said:

This amused me:

 

Gosh! I miss Malcom. I know Denise said she spoke to Malcom before heading which I’ve always liked about them. Friends to the end. I still have gotten over his Black Wedding Blindside Vote Out. I was soooo shocked by it. Good job try the editors on that one. Anyway, I’m not sure Denise will win again but I do hope she makes the merge. 

[JudyObscure]

On 1/18/2020 at 9:51 AM, ByaNose said:

Oh, whatever do you mean? Yikes! I have always liked Denise but I’m 6 years older and I don’t look that rough. LOL!!!

I like Denise but, at first, I thought the picture was of David Bowie.

Edited February 6, 2020 by JudyObscure
ETA I don't think that's a bad thing because they're both good looking in a nice way.

[Lady Calypso]

And Denise join the few players this season to take a step back from Twitter. She isn't deleting her account but is frustrated with the comments about her behaviour at Tribal Council with Jeremy:

I didn't realize that people are calling her racist for snapping at Jeremy.

[Jextella]

Good for Denise.  Survivor Twitter comments are so awful it makes me a bit scared for the future of the human race.  

[ByaNose]

I like Denise & Jeremy. I will say that was an interesting & unusual interaction between the two of them at Tribal Council. Unfortunately, Tribal Council is hours long and so chopped in the edits that we have no idea what caused her to snap at him. Whatever it was she was ready to vote and didn't want to continue talking to him or anyone else.

[fishcakes]

Why is she bringing Covid-19 into this?

[Nashville]

8 hours ago, fishcakes said:

Why is she bringing Covid-19 into this?

Heightened stress, like Denise said; folks are so wound up tension-wise that their reactions are out of proportion.

[fishcakes]

2 hours ago, Nashville said:

Heightened stress, like Denise said; folks are so wound up tension-wise that their reactions are out of proportion.

I get that’s what she’s saying, but it’s absurd. Being on a game show is not the same as trying to survive a global pandemic. No one is dying on Survivor. It’s a repulsive analogy.

[Scatterbrained]

My take on her snapping at Jeremy is that was HER way of building a "resume" for the jury; to not be running around and having conversations at the last minute.  

[Jextella]

I think she would have snapped at anyone at that point.  She seems "over" the minute-by-minute nature of the game which is further exacerbating while occurring during tribal.

[LadyChatts]

11 hours ago, Jextella said:

I think she would have snapped at anyone at that point.  She seems "over" the minute-by-minute nature of the game which is further exacerbating while occurring during tribal.

Yeah, this is what I don't understand.  I don't consider her actions rude or disrespectful, or even singling Jeremy out.  I hate the whole get up out of your seat and whisper, but this past week was the worst it's ever been.  

That said, I don't think COVID-19 is causing trolls to go after her or any other of the Survivor players this season.  It's happened in the past, it will happen in the future.  Nick and Wendell had a lot of  hate thrown at them after voting Parvati off, and Wendell continued to get it even until he was voted off.  I've seen comments from other Survivors making similar comments about respecting the players and remembering they are real people, so I'm sure if they aren't getting hate themselves, they are seeing it aimed at the others.  Throw in a season like this where you've got die hard favorites and it just amplifies it.   

[Nashville]

1 hour ago, LadyChatts said:

Yeah, this is what I don't understand.  I don't consider her actions rude or disrespectful, or even singling Jeremy out.  I hate the whole get up out of your seat and whisper, but this past week was the worst it's ever been.  

That said, I don't think COVID-19 is causing trolls to go after her or any other of the Survivor players this season.  It's happened in the past, it will happen in the future. 

Actually, I thought that was rather gracious of Denise - ascribing the Twittershit to the stress of the pandemic, rather than the simple inherent nastiness of people. 😉 

[fishcakes]

9 hours ago, LadyChatts said:

That said, I don't think COVID-19 is causing trolls to go after her or any other of the Survivor players this season. 

I don't read her as saying that. She says that social isolation is like Survivor (it's not), and that the stress of that is what caused her to be less than her best self (it didn't), and that we should understand that since we're now all going through what she went through (see, but no: she was playing a game). Maybe she's also trying to give twitter trolls the benefit of the doubt as well, but it doesn't read that way to me. And FWIW, I haven't seen anyone trolling her. I saw some mild criticism (and zero accusations of racism) and then a taking-my-ball-and-going-home overreaction from her. I think it's fine and often for the best that players stay off social media if it's hurtful to them, but the You Are Mean And I Am Leaving announcements are ridiculous especially since they usually come back pretty quickly. If they want to go, they should just go and not make a production of it.

Honestly, I thought her thing with Jeremy was a little rude but not unforgivable, and that the main problem with it was that it was a dumb game move. But her attempted justification of it is gross.

Edited May 3, 2020 by fishcakes