S30: Sierra Dawn Thomas

[ProfCrash]

I wouldn't say that Sierra has played well but she has done the best that she can in a crappy position.

 

Blue Collar Tribe:

 

Sierra is stuck with Dan, Rodney, and Mike. Rodney makes a whole series of flat out misogynistic comments. Dan pisses off all the women with his shelter building BS and the comments that he makes. His social game is pure crap. Mike pisses off Lindsey and Sierra with his comments about no one but him working, backtracking and saying that the women do a lot, then saying he wants thanks for all of his work without ever saying thanks you for the work the women are doing. Sierra is close with Lindsey and misses that Kelly aligned with Mike. Actually, I think most of us Kelly aligning with Mike because I don't remember seeing it. Sierra is blindsided when Lindsey goes home after the first sexist rants by one of the men on this season by Rodney.

 

Swap Tribe:

 

Sierra is on a tribe with Mike, Dan, and Rodney, her worst night mare. She also has Joe, Tyler, and Joaquin. Sierra tells the three non-Blue Collars that she is willing to walk away from Blue Collar and that she wants to work with them. Instead of taking that opportunity, Joaquin and Tyler end up aligning with Rodney. Now Sierra has to choose between Dan/Mike/Joe and Rodney/Joaquin/Tyler. Sierra could do nothing to stop the Rodney/Joaquin bromance. She had no chance. Dan and Rodney were pretty clearly not going to work with a woman. Shirin's interview has some comments that need to be corroborated but if Dan really was calling Sierra a "good dog" and a "Beaten housewife" then we have an even better idea of how hard it would be for Sierra to work with the men she ended up on her tribe. Joaquin called Sierra a sexy piece of ass in his interview with Rob C on Rob has a podcast. We can say all we want that a good player finds away to turn those votes but three of the men on her swap tribe showed enough of an attitude of derision towards women that it is hard to see how she could work with them. Mike is tight with Dan but seemed to be decent enough to Sierra and is the one who told Rodney and Dan to stop the post-Lindsey vote out beat down of Sierra.

 

Rodney seemed ok with working with Carolyn because she is like a Mom to him and Kelly who was not someone that I think Rodney saw as dating material so he could work with her.

 

So the only people she had to work with are Joe and Mike and that is where she went.

 

Merge:

 

Carolyn had flipped because she disliked Shirin and Max. Tyler was aligned with Carolyn and went with Carolyn's new alliance. Will flips in a heart beat from the No Collars because he wanted to play with adults. So with the other minority alliances wanting to work with Blue Collar, why where does Sierra get the numbers to make the swap to the minority alliance? Toss in the Joe fear and the anti-Shirin movement and you have a difficult season for Sierra to make work.

 

Sierra had no chance this season because so many of the players were sexist and were making decisions based on their personal dislike of Shirin. I think she could win in the end if she has Dan/Will/Rodney next to her because I can see the Joe/Hali/Jenn/Shirin/Mike voting for Sierra because the others were just so awful on the island. I think she has a shot against Carolyn because Carolyn has not been the nicest in her interaction with Shirin and we just have not seen her do much. I think Sierra loses to Mike and Tyler.

 

So I don't think she played a great game. I don't think Sierra has played a good game. I think she has done the best she could with what she was handed. I think she would have done better on a different tribe where she would not have been written off by 2/3 of the men because she had a vagina. But she was handed a different situation. I don't want to see Sierra win but I would prefer her to Will/Dan/Carolyn/Rodney who I have found to be unpleasant. I am indifferent between her and Tyler.

[LadyChatts]

This outpouring of sympathy for Sierra as a good player confuses me.  I haven't seen her make one move of importance -- or even try to make one.  She isn't good at challenges either.  She's still in the game for one reason: her dominant tribe/alliance has carried her the entire time. 

 

If anyone can explain her untapped potential, I'm eager to listen. 

 

That's exactly how I feel, and maybe it is just the circumstances of a crappy season she was dealt.  However, I don't know if she would have done any better in a season with strategic gamers.  I half wondered if she just talked a big game to people to keep the target off her.  She talked about turning on her blue boys, but Kelly said they had never lost Sierra.  She talked about a girls alliance, and while she didn't have the numbers to pull it off, Hali I believe said Sierra was never serious about it.  Now, she may be realizing that she's screwed.  Sierra is just uninteresting and not someone I would really care to see back.  I don't really expect her to get an invite to return, unless a bunch of first choices for an AS season decline.  It seemed as though her strategy was to drag the BC to the end and be the most likable of an unlikable 3.  Sadly for her, she's at the bottom of the alliance, Mike may go on an immunity run, and Rodney's been making side deals.  If she makes it to the final 3, she'll be very lucky.  She may squeeze into the final 5, but I have a feeling she's going very soon.

 

I would find her win disappointing.  Better than Dan, Will, and Carolyn, but I would rather see Mike or even Rodney get the win.  

Edited May 1, 2015 by LadyChatts

[kikaha]

Prof C, I think Sierra had more options than you indicate: with the NC4, with the women's alliance, against Dan & Mike after the shuffle (she got along great with Joaquin, felt humiliated by Dan & Mike, yet still voted with them), last episode when Shirin got the boot.  In one of those, she would have made the difference in numbers.  In the others, she would have made the numbers real close, and just a little recruiting could have flipped the game on its head. 

 

She never did any of that, though. 

 

The one time I recall her making a stand was at the BCs only tribal.  Her problem was that even though she had nearly two weeks to prepare for that day, she did not line up enough allies.  In particular Kelly.  So Lindsay got the boot. 

 

Every other instance, she talked like she might do something.  But when push came to shove, she completely backed down.  She stuck with the status quo.  It seems to me she is only willing to make moves if she has total safety.  

 

She's shown repeatedly she does not understand some of the basic realities of the season.  One example is her totally misguided belief that Shirin was a goat who would get no votes if she made it to FTC.  WTF???  If Shirin had made it to the end, she would have won almost for sure.  Another example is even worse: Sierra is blind to the fact that she is at the bottom of the Strong (soon to be Broken) Six. 

 

Dan shares several of these same delusions: about Shirin, and his position in the alliance.  No great surprise Dan and Sierra have a mini-alliance.  Even though according to Shirin, Dan at times treats her like a pet dog. 

 

Sierra has operated from a position of strength most of the game.  By that I mean that her tribe and alliance have almost never faced elimination.  She could have spent that time forging new relationships.  But she didn't. 

 

Players like Tyler and Carolyn are light years ahead of her IMO.  I would like to see both those two again.  Sierra?  Zero interest on my part. 

[LanceM]

I find it interesting that the one person on the alliance of 6 shown to be willing to make a big move (like vote out Tyler) is nevertheless labeled as someone who is afraid to make any moves when the reason for that is that nobody in her alliance is willing to flip with her. Yet, someone like Tyler who is pretty much done jack shit since the swap is somehow labeled as a good player because he is sitting back and waiting for the right time I guess to do something. It is very strange.

[kikaha]

Lance, I think Sierra was willing to do lots of things.  But I also think she did almost nothing to turn them into reality.  To borrow your expression, she hasn't done jack shit about them.  In the meantime, believing Shirin is a helpless goat who would get shut out at FTC shows how out to lunch she is about the game's real dynamics. 

 

I disagree thoroughly with you about Tyler.  One indication of how well he plays was the last tribal.  He gave great answers to everything Shirin and Mike threw at him.  All season long, he's ferreted out key info, used it to move himself forward while harming threats not allied with him.  He's made no real enemies, performed quite well in challenges, has a quiet but effective social game. 

[Zuleikha]

She talked about turning on her blue boys, but Kelly said they had never lost Sierra.  She talked about a girls alliance, and while she didn't have the numbers to pull it off, Hali I believe said Sierra was never serious about it.

 

Kelly wouldn't necessarily know how serious Sierra was or wasn't about flipping on blue. It was in Sierra's best interest to keep her options with blue open, so she would have been actively working to keep Kelly thinking Sierra was loyal. 

 

The quote I read about the woman's alliance was that Sierra told either Jenn or Hali (I thought it was Jenn) that the woman's alliance wasn't going to work. That doesn't mean she wasn't serious about it but that Sierra recognized correctly that she didn't have the numbers to pull it off. 

 

Sierra built bridges to potential new allies, so she was working her relationships. But IMHO, there also really was never an opportunity for her to capitalize on it. I don't feel like we know if she's a good or bad player because of how this season played out. 

 

All season long, he's ferreted out key info, used it to move himself forward while harming threats not allied with him.

How has Tyler actively moved himself forward? As far as we know, he was simply the beneficiary of Carolyn's friendship with Kelly and then Kelly getting voted out by Jenn's idol. I don't think Tyler's done anything different from Sierra.

[peachmangosteen]

Sierra built bridges to potential new allies, so she was working her relationships.

She seems to have done quite a bit of work forging relationships with the people she ended up voting out and little work at all on the people who she is trying to get to the end with. I think she probably did that because her strategy seems to be to get to the end with people the jury hates and win by being likable, a valid strategy IMO, but the problem is you gotta get to the F3 to win and it seems unlikely she can get there with the group she chose. And that's partly IMO because she didn't do much to solidify herself in that group. Of course, the editing is really bad this season, so maybe Sierra worked on Carolyn/Tyler/Will and/or believes Rodney wants her in the F3 with him/Dan.

 

How has Tyler actively moved himself forward? As far as we know, he was simply the beneficiary of Carolyn's friendship with Kelly and then Kelly getting voted out by Jenn's idol. I don't think Tyler's done anything different from Sierra.

 

I agree with you on this. Tyler hasn't played any better of a game than Sierra IMO. But really I think Mike/Sierra/Carolyn/Tyler and possibly even Will are basically on a level playing field game wise, with Rodney playing better than all of them and Dan playing much worse.

Edited May 2, 2015 by peachmangosteen

[Lingo]

The narrative I'm getting from the show is that Rodney has Sierra and Dan completely snowed.  Both Mike and Rodney have accused each other of betraying the Blue Collar alliance and claimed to be true to Blue themselves.  We know Rodney is lying, but all Sierra and Dan have seen is Mike stabbing Dan in the back at the auction and then making "wild" accusations at Rodney immediately afterwards.  I think they have no idea how strong Rod's alliance with Will and Carolyn is (he probably only allowed Tyler into the group out of necessity).  I think Sierra and Dan think Rodney plans to go to the end with them, and since Sierra thinks Rodney is an asshole she probably thinks she has a good chance to win in that scenario.

[GaT]

I posted in an episode thread that I thought the Sierra had the worst tattooed eyebrows I had ever seen. This woman makes me a liar 

http://gist.ng/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/eye.jpg

[LadyChatts]

I think I'm most interested in reading Sierra's interviews, because I really want to know what her deal was out there.  There really isn't much edit to go on with her, other than hearing her talking about flipping but not following through.  So did she have any strategy, or was she taking her chances with the crew she was with because she knew they'd be easier to beat.  I don't know if it's a good or a bad thing that some people are considered bigger threats than her that her name never comes up.

Edited May 14, 2015 by LadyChatts

[NutMeg]

So far, I'd say she's a terrible player if she expects to win, but a good player if she wants to improve her potential placement.

 

Meaning: she's very nice, and I'm happy (and relieved) that she was one of those who went to the orphanage, but she's too timid to follow through on aggressive gameplay to improve her overall position and is just content to stake along - which is not good for winning: now that she lost Dan, she's probably hoping on a Rodney/Will/Sierra F3, but Rodney was much more active stategy-wise than she ever was. So I'm inclined to say Dan's eviction lost her the game if she makes if to FTC. The weirdest thing with her, though, is that we never knew where she was, stategy-wise.

[kikaha]

I think I'm most interested in reading Sierra's interviews, because I really want to know what her deal was out there.  There really isn't much edit to go on with her, other than hearing her talking about flipping but not following through.  So did she have any strategy, or was she taking her chances with the crew she was with because she knew they'd be easier to beat. 

 

With the BC crowd Sierra had the numbers, and also a better chance to beat them at the end.  Seems like good strategy to me.  Especially for someone the entire jury likes.  Why rock the boat when you have a fairly clear path to the end, plus a decent chance once you get there? 

 

Sierra badly misread things, though, when she said she wanted to take Shirin to the end, because "who would vote for Shirin?"  The NC3 for starters, and maybe a few others, depending on who she sits next to. 

[ProfCrash]

I think Sierra, Tyler, Will, and Carolyn played pretty similar games. Get into the majority alliance and sit back and let the big personalities pick each other off. Tyler seemed to be more active in the background and Carolyn had the idol. Sierra showed that she was open to moving if she had the numbers. I think that Sierra would have flipped and voted with the No Collars if Tyler had moved but Tyler didn't move so Sierra stayed with the larger alliance. I can't fault her for that. Why flip if you are going to end up in a worse position?

 

Toss in that she was playing with people like Dan and Rodney who saw the very thought of not buying a letter from home as a massive betrayal and used that as an excuse to ostracize a former tribe mate and alliance mate. If Sierra had flipped and did not have the numbers, she would have been in a far worse position because she would have been outside the alliance and had to deal with Rodney and Dan blustering and yelling about flippers and backstabbers and liars.

 

Again, why do that when there is no benefit in the game?

 

So who should Sierra have tried to flip with her? Carolyn would not work with Shirin. Carolyn flipped on Shirin and Max when they had numbers and made enough comments about Shirin that Sierra knew Carolyn wouldn't flip. If Carolyn doesn't flip, would Tyler flip? No. Dan and Rodney were not flipping. Will had already flipped on the White Collars so he would not flip back.

 

I think that Sierra can win if she is in the finals with Rodney and Will. Sierra at least entertained flipping, Shirin and others mentioned that, which would win her points with the No Collars. She probably has Dan and Mike's vote because she is Blue Collar and both Mike and Dan have said that they do not want Rodney to win. Mike actually reminded Dan that Dan had once said that they could not let Rodney get to the finals because he was so awful So I see six votes for Sierra if Rodney and Will are sitting next to her.

[peachmangosteen]

I think Sierra, Tyler, Will, and Carolyn played pretty similar games.

 

I agree completely. I don't really understand why Tyler gets so much more credit than Sierra does.

Edited May 18, 2015 by peachmangosteen

[ProfCrash]

We saw Tyler talking to Tyler, Joe, Mike, and Shirin. Tyler seemed to be the contact person that people were trying to work with. We saw Sierra talk with Hali, Jenn, and Shirin once but outside of that, we didn't see much of Sierra.

 

I think Tyler was in a better place to make moves because of his tight alliance with Carolyn but that Sierra was really a solo player. She didn't have a partner in any way and was more marginalized because of that.

[ByaNose]

If Sierra is winning she better get a load of airtime on Wednesday. Even, Natalie who came from behind had more airtime leading into the finale. It's got to be either Mike, Carolyn or Rodney just due to the airtime and confessionals given. I also will be interested to read her exit interviews. She didn't neccesarly get the invisible edit but more of a non edit as in boring. She talked a lot about flipping but never really had the chance or numbers to do so. I think she realized her best get to get to the end was to hang with the stupid boys. It could get her to the Final 3 though. Not horrible and she did a lot better than So and Max. Right there she's ahead of the game. LOL!!!

[ProfCrash]

I don't think she is winning, I don't think that she will make the finals.

 

I think Mike or Carolyn wins the next two immunity challenges. So the Mike/Carolyn loser is voted out first. Sierra goes out in fourth because Mike/Carolyn knows that she has people who like her on the jury and Rodney and Will have people who really don't like them.

[ByaNose]

ProfCrash, that's a well thought out theory. I could totally see it going that way. I still think she could squeeze in to the final but we'll have see. She probably does have the least to worry about jury wise concerning her character. She didn't have any problems with anyone but I can't recall if she really bonded with Hali, Jenn or Sherin. I know they tried to get the all girl alliance but other than that I didn't see them interact much. Sierra hung with the guys the. It's even though she didn't really like them.

I'm curious to see how glammed up she at the reunion. Usually, the woman look better on the island because all the girls go over the top with the hair & makeup. Less is more. LOL!!!!

[LadyChatts]

The only other time I remember someone making the finale and not being talked to was Caramoan.  Did Jeff talk to Sierra at all?  

 

Listening to Sierra's speech at the final 5 for why she needed to be kept, plus her Ponderosa video, confirms my belief that she had absolutely zero game in her.  Super nice, but such a coattail rider.  All I remember about her Ponderosa vid is her painting her nails.  That's the most exciting thing to come out of that for me.  Why she was considered more of a threat than Carolyn I don't know, but maybe they all thought 'nice' might win.  If they did opening jury speeches (I'm assuming they did and they were edited out) I feel like Sierra's might have been a train wreck.  I don't know if her not voting for Dan at the last tribal when she told Mike she would turned him against her or not.  She was just too nice for this game, and it's probably why she barely got any screen time.  Especially in this season.

Edited May 21, 2015 by LadyChatts

[ratgirlagogo]

Those thick black Romulan tattooed eyebrows are just the pink limit - the WORST.  Even a worse tattoo than Mike's back tattoo, and I HATE Mike's back tattoo.

[How Bout That]

Well, the good thing about the eyebrows is that they draw attention away from that huge cyst on her neck.

[BigRedCheese]

I don't know, she cleans up pretty nice to me.

[fishcakes]

I didn't notice a cyst on her neck, but considering that they can't get very clean out there, I'm surprised that after a couple of weeks they're not all covered with festering boils.

[loki567]

 

Listening to Sierra's speech at the final 5 for why she needed to be kept, plus her Ponderosa video, confirms my belief that she had absolutely zero game in her.  Super nice, but such a coattail rider.

 

I think she's the most frustrating type of game player, the person who doesn't make the necessary move because she's afraid how she'll look and wants to avoid conflict. And reading between the lines about her jury vote, she didn't vote for Mike because he wasn't "nice" about how he went about trying to flip the game. She's a maddening type of a player. 

[ProfCrash]

Her exit interview at Parade was an ok read. The People magazine interview is slightly more interesting. All the others I saw were joint interviews, which I hate. The final five should get individual interviews like everyone else but we always get stuck with joint interviews. This meant that Will never got the grilling he deserved and the others had half the time to talk.

 

http://parade.com/399396/joshwigler/sierra-dawn-thomas-speaks-out-on-her-insanely-quiet-survivor-edit/

 

http://www.people.com/article/survivor-worlds-apart-runner-up-interviews

 

Both she and Dan are trying to take credit for the Joaquin vote

[marys1000]

She says Dan and Will and Shirin and Rodney are really nice people, that everyone was.  Since she was there I feel like I have to believe her.

[LadyChatts]

What intrigues me about Sierra is the fact she thought Mike had zero social game and thought he couldn't win just by immunity wins alone.  Sierra on the other hand thought her social game was excellent because she forged relationships with everyone out there.  What she apparently missed is that Mike forged relationships with the first four people on the jury.  Why Tyler and Dan voted for Mike, I don't know.  If it wasn't bitterness because Carolyn got rid of Tyler, or trying to save face, or maybe thinking he actually did play the better game.  Unless Sierra was sitting with Dan and Will, I don't think she had any chance of winning.  I don't think it was so much that she was too kind that she got a quiet edit, in that she didn't do anything.  She may have been the crucial swing vote in the Joaquin vote, but for someone reason, I feel like she's giving herself more credit.  I mean, I believe she had every intention of voting him off and that it wasn't some back and forth with herself.  And I have no idea why she thinks she was so crucial in the Tyler vote.  The last 6 remaining, minus Mike, seem to be the ones having the bigger issue with the editing and drama that went on out there than those that went before them.  Sierra said in every interview that Mike was basically a paranoid loon trying to cause trouble.  I just don't think those 6 realized how this game worked.

[SomeTameGazelle]

What intrigues me about Sierra is the fact she thought Mike had zero social game and thought he couldn't win just by immunity wins alone. Sierra on the other hand thought her social game was excellent because she forged relationships with everyone out there. What she apparently missed is that Mike forged relationships with the first four people on the jury. Why Tyler and Dan voted for Mike, I don't know. If it wasn't bitterness because Carolyn got rid of Tyler, or trying to save face, or maybe thinking he actually did play the better game. Unless Sierra was sitting with Dan and Will, I don't think she had any chance of winning. I don't think it was so much that she was too kind that she got a quiet edit, in that she didn't do anything. She may have been the crucial swing vote in the Joaquin vote, but for someone reason, I feel like she's giving herself more credit. I mean, I believe she had every intention of voting him off and that it wasn't some back and forth with herself. And I have no idea why she thinks she was so crucial in the Tyler vote. The last 6 remaining, minus Mike, seem to be the ones having the bigger issue with the editing and drama that went on out there than those that went before them. Sierra said in every interview that Mike was basically a paranoid loon trying to cause trouble. I just don't think those 6 realized how this game worked.

If Mike was such an outcast, why did Sierra spend so much time draped over him before she was voted off? It appeared very affectionate.

[wonald]

 

 

Both she and Dan are trying to take credit for the Joaquin vote

 

Mike said in his RHAP retrospective that Dan came up with the idea first.

[LadyChatts]

Mike said in his RHAP retrospective that Dan came up with the idea first.

 

I can't remember since I haven't watched that episode in awhile, but didn't they frame it like it was Mike's idea?  In Sierra's case, I'm thinking she assumes by voting for Joaquin meaning she was responsible for him being voted off.  Sierra's strategy is exactly what I thought, in that she thought she could ride to the end with a bunch of goats and cash in.  She just didn't think about what it would take to get there.

 

If Mike was such an outcast, why did Sierra spend so much time draped over him before she was voted off? It appeared very affectionate.

 

 

This is something that's kind of puzzled me with the exit interviews and the editing over the course of the season, that Mike was an unlikable crazed foe that no one out there liked or wanted anything to do with.  Yet, he was also considered the biggest threat to win the game.  Sierra and Carolyn thought they might have had Tyler, the NC, and Shirin's votes split between them, so if they thought everyone viewed Mike as they did, and thought his social game was poor, why were they so focused on getting him out?  Because he wasn't part of the 6?  That group of 6 is the very definition of spin.  If you read their interviews, it's almost like they are just copying from each other.

Edited May 30, 2015 by LadyChatts

[scowl]

I didn't notice a cyst on her neck, but considering that they can't get very clean out there, I'm surprised that after a couple of weeks they're not all covered with festering boils.

Remember Colleen's legs on the first season? She calmly said "This'll take years to heal."

 

I think they get bug spray now.

[loki567]

I can't remember since I haven't watched that episode in awhile, but didn't they frame it like it was Mike's idea?  In Sierra's case, I'm thinking she assumes by voting for Joaquin meaning she was responsible for him being voted off.  Sierra's strategy is exactly what I thought, in that she thought she could ride to the end with a bunch of goats and cash in.  She just didn't think about what it would take to get there.

 

 

This is something that's kind of puzzled me with the exit interviews and the editing over the course of the season, that Mike was an unlikable crazed foe that no one out there liked or wanted anything to do with.  Yet, he was also considered the biggest threat to win the game.  Sierra and Carolyn thought they might have had Tyler, the NC, and Shirin's votes split between them, so if they thought everyone viewed Mike as they did, and thought his social game was poor, why were they so focused on getting him out?  Because he wasn't part of the 6?  That group of 6 is the very definition of spin.  If you read their interviews, it's almost like they are just copying from each other.

 

I think that group of six did a very good job of uniting themselves by making Mike the outcast. And it seems to me, that story told themselves about "crazy Mike," stuck even into their exit interviews. Despite everything we've seen from the show about the Rodney/Will/Carolyn alliance, despite the fact that Sierra got voted out by that alliance, they're still stuck on the idea that Mike did something wrong by trying to make the move first. Even Tyler, who had been apart of several conversations about taking Mike out before Jenn and Shirin, still framed his jury question as Mike being paranoid. 

 

I wonder why Jeff was so high on this group strategically, I think he even said they collectively had the best group of players in the history of the show. I actually think they were a weaker, old school group gamewise, in the sense a lot of their strategies seemed to have been find an alliance and stick with it as long as possible. I wish we had more interesting players than Dan or Sierra, people who were willing to flip, we would have had a much more interesting post-merge. 

[fishcakes]

Remember Colleen's legs on the first season? She calmly said "This'll take years to heal."

 

Oy, yes. Every time I think, "I could play this game," I remember the fleas living in the open cuts on her legs and know that I could never play this game.

[Jextella]

I wonder why Jeff was so high on this group strategically, I think he even said they collectively had the best group of players in the history of the show. I actually think they were a weaker, old school group gamewise, in the sense a lot of their strategies seemed to have been find an alliance and stick with it as long as possible. I wish we had more interesting players than Dan or Sierra, people who were willing to flip, we would have had a much more interesting post-merge.

I can sort of see it. Everyone hit the beach with their game face on. Other seasons have been similar but perhaps not with as much immediacy or zeal from each and every player.

Thinking of the past...

I recently rewatched the Cook Island season (with Yul, Ozzie, and Parvati). That was a very entertaining cast and season but the show was far different back then. Or maybe it was just that season, but ....

Near as I could tell, there wasn't much in the way of strategy. It seemed to be a game based primarily on challenges and popularity much of the time - not all, but a lot.

Even Yul who has been hailed as one of the best players ever seemed to have an easy go of it. He had a strong alliance that wasn't budging and he was aligned with Ozzie who was a challenge beast. He did make the moves to take them to the end (but was able to do so given Ozzie kept winning challenges), but he seemed to be the only one.

Now that I think about it, Mike embodied both Yul and Ozzie combined and his opponents played the game about as well as Yul's and Ozzie's opponents.

The cast on Yul's season was pretty much young and good looking and to a degree, I think they came off as stronger than they really were. The cast on Mike's season was more of a mixed bag but I don't think they were any weaker than those on Yul's season.

Anyhoo....long winded way of saying that more and more contestants seem to be playing the game - as a game. And, that makes it more interesting and more of a challenge to win.

After rewatching Cook Island, I better appreciate Mike's win.

 

She says Dan and Will and Shirin and Rodney are really nice people, that everyone was. Since she was there I feel like I have to believe her.

I saw Hali and Shirin on an interview and they said the entire cast is very close - production even told them they thought it was one of the closest in the shows history.

I adore that.

Edited May 31, 2015 by Jextella

[Zuleikha]

I wish we had more interesting players than Dan or Sierra, people who were willing to flip, we would have had a much more interesting post-merge.

I think Sierra was plenty willing to flip; there was just never a point in time where it made sense for her to flip. Neither NC or Mike were ever able to have numbers where Sierra flipping would have made a difference, and she would have been an idiot to flip from a majority to a minority where her vote wouldn't have changed things and she would have been up against more likable competition at final tribal.

 

What we lacked this season were people like Cirie or Parvati who could persuade people to vote against their own interest. I will always maintain that no one played strategically poorly except, ironically, Mike. And Mike's immunity dominance meant it didn't matter; he didn't need to play well strategically because there was literally never a Tribal Council where he was up for elimination. Unfortunately, without a Cirie or Parvati type, it was a boring season because no one had cause to flip and everyone except Mike was playing for second place.

 

I also blame the editing for not showing us more of Will, Carolyn, and Sierra's decision making because at least we would have understood how the demise of NC was a result of them getting strategically and socially outplayed rather than just bad luck of numbers. I also think the editing made alliances look clearer than they were; people were so confident that we knew Rodney's real alliance was the Axis of Evil one but then it turned out that he voted for Tyler and Carolyn before Dan and Sierra. Maybe if were as uncertain as we really should have been, we would have been more drawn in. It reminds me of Fabio's season where it was actually this crazy, unpredictable season with a lot of power shifts, betrayals, and bizarre events, but it was edited so it felt predictable.