On an Island of One: Unpopular Opinions of Survivor

[Zuleikha]

Yeah, I dislike Spencer, and I thought that was the unpopular opinion.

[NutMeg]

Yeah, I dislike Spencer, and I thought that was the unpopular opinion.

Not with me, and I'm on record about it.

[Oholibamah]

Spencer is the kind of player that I should hate in theory (arrogant, bratty, Mitt Romney) but I've always liked in practice. He was my favorite in Cagayan after Tasha.

[NutMeg]

Spencer is the kind of player that I should hate in theory (arrogant, bratty, Mitt Romney) but I've always liked in practice. He was my favorite in Cagayan after Tasha.

Yours is not an unpopular opinion but mine is :-) : I've found him extremely pompous, humourless and acting like he's way better/clever than anyone else and in both his seasons. He had to tone it down recently because he's clearly deep in the monoriry but the entitlement, I'm almost certain it is still there.

[peachmangosteen]

Spencer is the kind of player that I should hate in theory (arrogant, bratty, Mitt Romney) but I've always liked in practice. He was my favorite in Cagayan after Tasha.

 

This. I fully expected to hate Spencer because he is basically everything I hate all rolled into one but somehow I really like him. It's mystifying tbh.

Edited November 16, 2015 by peachmangosteen

[ProfCrash]

He doesn't bother me.  I think early in Cagayan he made some fairly misogynist remark but like Mike puking up the scorpion, I got over it.  

 

He was the youngest in his season and in this one.  It's funny he doesn't get the 'brat' type names Ciera attracts.  

Mike was not on Cagayan, he was on last season. I think Dan made some comments about Mike and the scorpion but I don't remember them being sexist. If they were, I missed it. Or I am misreading the quote and you are not mixing seasons.

 

Spencer isn't a brat. He is Pinocchio, the wooden boy trying to learn about feelings and relating with humans. I don't have a problem with Spencer but I don't think he is a good player. He finds himself on the bottom of his tribe regularly and has been lucky that other people made themselves targets (J'Tia and Shirin) and through tribe swaps (he was the next to go in both of his seasons but there were swaps that helped put him in a better position). Honestly, he has benefited from other peoples poor play, Andrew calling out Ciera instead of Woo as the dummy vote, more then doing much to actually save himself. 

 

He is doing a fine job of working with the majority now but all that really means is that he is not with Abi, Ciera, and Kelley who are bigger targets because of their lack of connection with the larger group. He is not Joe, who Stephen is fixated on.

 

But the reality is Spencer is a vote who will be voted out once he shows himself to be any type of a threat (trying to orchestrate a move or winning immunity). If he makes it to the final he will not have a chance to win because his longevity is based on his surviving because of others actions and not anything he did other then hide after he screwed up his first alliance back on day 3.

Edited November 16, 2015 by ProfCrash

[wonald]

Spencer does seem pompous, humorless, and overly serious on the show. However, he doesnt seem entitled to me. I really started liking him after Cagayan with his over-generous praise of Tony and his contriteness over his words to Woo. IRL, he seems like a really good kid who was raised right. Kudos to his parents.

[Zuleikha]

I didn't see Cagayan, so I have only this season and Twitter to go on. I was predisposed to like Spencer because I like Shirin, but I also expected Spencer to be a good player. All he appears to be doing is latching onto Jeremy. Maybe he'll do something significant in the future, but right now he's a freaking floater.

 

I also don't respect the way he doesn't seem to respect Ciera or Wentworth, and I didn't like the snarky tweet he made after Kass was eliminated. He and Kass seem to have built a good relationship, so I don't know that it was mean spirited. But it seemed classless to me given that Kass/Ciera had saved his ass, and he sounds like he was such an a-hole about Kass's not-even-really-a-flip in Cagayan. Flip and join the Brolliance if that's what's best for your game, fine. But at least show respect and gratitude to the people who saved you. Heck, even Abi wasn't willing to vote out Savage right away.

[wonald]

Spencer made a lot of complimentary tweets about what a badass Wentworth is so he respects her just fine to me. I also dont see what is the big deal when he throws back Kass's snark back at her. They have a looooooong history together and it just may be the way they like to ineteract with each other. 

[kikaha]

 I didn't like the snarky tweet he made after Kass was eliminated.

 

How about Kass flipping the bird on her entrance to tribal last week? 

 

Or her mouthing to Savage, "No fucking votes for you,'” taking her index finger and running it across her throat in the classic a muerte signal? 

[Zuleikha]

What snarky thing did he tweet?

He retweeted a picture Kass had taken in the pregame part of Cambodia that included her holding a sign with an anti-Spencer message (something like "Thanks for voting me back in to thwart the games of your favorites. Spencer is going to love Ponderosa. #chaosincambodia") If Kass had gotten voted out while trying to take out Spencer, I would have thought it was hilarious for him to retweet that. But, as I said above, it came across as rude to me given the actual context, which was Kass having NOT voted for Spencer to save him and Spencer bailing on her at the next Tribal Council. 

[violet and green]

I think Ciera is whiny.

[phlebas]

I've been rewatching One World and BvW 1.  I just felt like watching Colton get mocked.

 

I don't know how unpopular this is, but I think I would go crazy being around Monica Culpepper. She doesn't talk like regular people and her expressions don't map to her apparent emotions. 

[jsm1125]

I've been rewatching One World and BvW 1.  I just felt like watching Colton get mocked.

 

I don't know how unpopular this is, but I think I would go crazy being around Monica Culpepper. She doesn't talk like regular people and her expressions don't map to her apparent emotions. 

I think this became quite the popular opinion by the middle of Blood vs. Water.

 

My (possibly unpopular) opinion is that Vytas played a great pre-swap game in that season, but a non-existent post-swap (pre-merge) game. His pre-game alliance with Katie and Tina saved him.

[phlebas]

I think this became quite the popular opinion by the middle of Blood vs. Water.

 

I swear, there's a point right after the merge where you can hear her targeting lasers whirring into focus. 

 

My (possibly unpopular) opinion is that Vytas played a great pre-swap game in that season, but a non-existent post-swap (pre-merge) game. His pre-game alliance with Katie and Tina saved him.

 

 

After the swap when Vytas ended up on the tribe with all the women, I thought he was a master at how he manipulated them. Got Mrs Rupert to fall on her own sword, although she did it with vintage Boneham-style cluelessness.

 

I haven't reached the point where he and Aras get voted out, and I don't remember how that went down, but so far it looks like neither brother is prepared to withstand the howling wind of Hurricane Tyson.

 

Also, Laura Morette can put a sock in that "that's my baby, my heart, my soul, we have a spiritual bond that transcends time, space, and dimension" stuff. No wonder Ciera is such an expert eye-roller.

 

I almost forgot about Tina pimping out Katie. What the hell is wrong with the older women on this season?

[ljenkins782]

After the swap when Vytas ended up on the tribe with all the women, I thought he was a master at how he manipulated them. Got Mrs Rupert to fall on her own sword, although she did it with vintage Boneham-style cluelessness.

 

I haven't reached the point where he and Aras get voted out, and I don't remember how that went down, but so far it looks like neither brother is prepared to withstand the howling wind of Hurricane Tyson.

I also thought he played a great social game in the days just after the swap, it was only after the merge and Aras' departure that I thought he started playing poorly. 

I don't know how unpopular this is, but I think I would go crazy being around Monica Culpepper. She doesn't talk like regular people and her expressions don't map to her apparent emotions.

 

Lol, I just watched an extended scene of the tribal where they picked rocks and you are correct about her face not matching her words. 

 

She seems like a nice enough lady, but there is something about her that would drive me nuts too. It seems like the people who played with her felt similarly, she was never the most popular of people out there. 

[Brenogan]

I loved Brian Heidik. 

 

Not him personally, obviously he is detestable, but I loved watching him play.  In fact I think it was Brian that made me a Survivor fan.  I'd watched sporadically before that and didn't really get all that involved.  But I found his cold-blooded, Machiavellian playing to be so fascinating that after that I was hooked.

I'll go one step further to say that Brian was absolutely my favorite winner on Survivor.

[truelovekiss]

Spencer is the kind of player that I should hate in theory (arrogant, bratty, Mitt Romney) but I've always liked in practice. He was my favorite in Cagayan after Tasha.

Haha oh my God, Spencer is young Mitt Romney.

[Brenogan]

I cannot stand Kim Spradlin from One World and think she is terribly overrated and just got lucky that there was a disease by the name of Colton playing that season.

[truelovekiss]

Also, Laura Morette can put a sock in that "that's my baby, my heart, my soul, we have a spiritual bond that transcends time, space, and dimension" stuff. No wonder Ciera is such an expert eye-roller.

I almost forgot about Tina pimping out Katie. What the hell is wrong with the older women on this season?

As someone close in age to Katie and Ciera, (with a mom closeish in age to Tina and Laura) we really thought we would enjoy watching those mother-daughter dynamics play out in the game, where the mothers and daughters had to work and compete as equals. While those duos were infinitely better than Missy and Baylor, the amount of super special mom bond talk got old fast. And if I learned anything from Tina trying to set her daughter up on the island, it's that your mother can and will embarass you at any time, so just be ready.

I've been rewatching One World and BvW 1. I just felt like watching Colton get mocked.

I don't know how unpopular this is, but I think I would go crazy being around Monica Culpepper. She doesn't talk like regular people and her expressions don't map to her apparent emotions.

I totally agree with that. She had a constant need for validation and reassurance that transcended the game. She would be the person asking you 24/7 on the island if her hair looked okay, if anyone was talking about how she overcooked the rice behind her back, if someone was mad at her for taking their sleeping spot, etc.

[Bryce Lynch]

Spencer does seem pompous, humorless, and overly serious on the show. However, he doesnt seem entitled to me. I really started liking him after Cagayan with his over-generous praise of Tony and his contriteness over his words to Woo. IRL, he seems like a really good kid who was raised right. Kudos to his parents.

I think Spencer seeming "humorless" is really him having a very dry, deadpan, ironic sense of humor.

For example I thought all his talk about deciding to learn how to feel and using it on Jeremy was very funny. He is sort of an intentional caricature of himself in the confessionals, IMO.

[peachmangosteen]

I think Spencer seeming "humorless" is really him having a very dry, deadpan, ironic sense of humor.

For example I thought all his talk about deciding to learn how to feel and using it on Jeremy was very funny. He is sort of an intentional caricature of himself in the confessionals, IMO.

 

This is how I view Spencer as well. I'm not sure it's really his intent, but I enjoy him anyway because that's how I view him.

[phlebas]

As someone close in age to Katie and Ciera, (with a mom closeish in age to Tina and Laura) we really thought we would enjoy watching those mother-daughter dynamics play out in the game, where the mothers and daughters had to work and compete as equals. While those duos were infinitely better than Missy and Baylor, the amount of super special mom bond talk got old fast. 

 

Laura M seemed to really turn it up to 11 whenever Ciera schooled her in what was going on. NO HONEY YOU ARE MY HEART HAHAHAHA I AM SO PROUD YOU VOTED ME OFF

 

And if I learned anything from Tina trying to set her daughter up on the island, it's that your mother can and will embarass you at any time, so just be ready.

 

I wonder if Tina watched Vytas' performance in Second Chances (or the rest of BvW for that matter) and went "Oh thank god I don't have little Vytas babies".  I don't know that Tina needs to be giving any relationship advice anyhow.

She seems like a nice enough lady, but there is something about her that would drive me nuts too. It seems like the people who played with her felt similarly, she was never the most popular of people out there. 

 

If that third-person crap was all the time on the island, I can understand why. Or maybe that she had two seasons to practice human emotions and never figured them out.

[Vicky8675309]

I'm re-watching older seasons of Survivor and I like Brandon going off on Phillip in the Caramoan season. I agreed with what he said but not with his actions of pouring out the rice and beans (but it was entertaining). I don't think he is "crazy" and I think he just hasn't learned to properly control/express his emotions.

I like Monica Culpepper and was disappointed when she was voted off One World which had some of the nastiest Survivors (but I like Kim).

I can't stand Boston Rob and do not want to re-watch the season where they manipulate the edit so that one almost roots for him…I think Redemption Island. I got a kick out of watching his fake fainting on, I think it was, HvV. He was such a malingering cry baby.

Russell H is a villain I love to "hate" where as Colton is a villain I "hate". However, I am ashamed to say that I found both to be entertaining.

I don't think Malcolm and Joe are drop dead gorgeous. They are attractive.

Edited December 6, 2015 by Vicky8675309

[Sugar]

On 2015-11-19 at 3:58 AM, Brenogan said:

I'll go one step further to say that Brian was absolutely my favorite winner on Survivor.

I also love Heidik as a player, and I love the contrast of his cold, ruthless detachment and expert manipulation versus the "let's talk about our feelings and love everyone" vibe of every other season.

I too am a Spencer fan, and it's because I dig his dry, self-deprecating humor and woodenness. I don't think he's pompous at all, I think he's just a big dork, and like Adam this season, sometimes it's so earnest that it comes off as smug.

I recently re-watched Panama, and Shane is now one of my all-time favorite cast members, joining the ranks of Judd (Guatemala), Penner, Shi Ann, Yau-Man, Special Agent Philip and I can't believe I'm going to say this - Coach (redeemed himself in HvV). I love watching good game-play and love good strategy, but ultimately my favorites are the ones who are either hilarious (whether intentionally or not), or dumb as a box of rocks - pretty sure that's an unpopular opinion on a board where everyone wants to talk strategy, psychology, and numbers.

I also like Probst, and find his dad humor kind of endearing. He's not perfect, but I enjoy what he brings to the game, especially during TC's.

[jsm1125]

I think that Michaela and Figgy are a lot more alike than either of them care to admit.

I actually like Jay but don't get his physical appeal at all.

[waving feather]

15 minutes ago, jsm1125 said:

I think that Michaela and Figgy are a lot more alike than either of them care to admit.

I actually like Jay but don't get his physical appeal at all.

Michaela and Figgy are both attention seeking and they can't stand that about each other. 

Lol, I was just about to post here that I think Jay is really good looking. It may be an unpopular opinion here because I've seen many posts that say he's ugly but the Survivor editors sure think he is eye candy as well because there are so many shots of him coming out of the water, staring out at the sunset etc. I appreciate that a lot. ;-)

Edited November 19, 2016 by waving feather

[Lamb18]

What I like about Probst is after 30+ seasons he is still enthusiastic and in love with his show. He could easily be cynical and tired of it by now.

[Jobiska]

I kind of like Will's voice.  That's an unpopular opinion if I've ever seen one!  

[peachmangosteen]

I like it, too. I think it's the surprise factor that really gets me still.

[simplyme]

Well, that's at least four of us that like/love Will's voice. I'm a sucker for certain deep voices. I blame my dad's musical tastes.

[KimberStormer]

This season has made it sort of click for me that I just don't like Survivor Nerds.  Since I'm pretty undeniably a Survivor Nerd myself, perhaps I was in denial of this fact.  It started to dawn on me in the first episode, when Mari was organizing against the so-called "popular kids", and I thought "ugh not this shit again."  Now that it's apparently ZEKE VS DAVID FOR NERD SUPREMACY, I feel like I probably made the right choice to turn off the season following the 1-2-3 punch of Figgy, Michaela, and Michelle going, and it's made me realize that, yeah, Survivor Nerds are not for me.  I mean of course I love nerding out about the show with y'all here; but I mean I don't like the Survivor Nerd as a player.  Spencer, Fishbach, Kenny, Aubry, David, Zeke, going all the way back to Yul; I just never like that kind of player.

It's not like I hate them.  They're all basically nice people, often with a lot of charm.  They play, in general, the way I like to see: proactive and long-sighted, making moves to get themselves to the end and the win.  But I can never love them the way a lot of other people seem to.  I feel like they see the other players in the game as pieces, not people, they think abstractly, symbolically, x's and o's, there's something subtly wrong about it to me, that creeps me out.  I can't think of any way to put it that doesn't sound more negative than I mean it -- I think all the people I listed are good people that I would enjoy having a conversation with -- but places an unbridgeable distance between us.

Contrast them with the sort of player I do love: the social gamer.  People whose game, while it may include plenty of SURVIVOR MOVES and aggressive play and "rational" decision-making, is fundamentally based on human connections with people in the game.  People like Kim or JT; even people like Parvati, whose connections may not have been "real" in the sense of lasting outside the game, and could perhaps be considered more heartless than the people who are more obvious about not actually caring about you in the game.  Those people, who are often "cool kid" types, outgoing and attractive and athletic and "popular", are very different from me, but I like them so much better.  And I would say, in some ways, at least online (and especially in more masculine, intensely nerdy Survivor spaces than this forum), they are consistently underrated in my opinion, which I find frustrating to no end.  The outcry about Michele VS Aubry last season, of course, brought this dichotomy to the fore; I would have voted for Aubry myself, but the fact that it was such a scandal is an example of what I mean.  Why did it get people so mad that the social game won over the strategic?  Why is Kim consistently thought of as having had no challenges, playing on easy mode, as though getting an entire season's worth of people to love her unconditionally while she rules them with an iron fist not difficult and challenging?  Why do people (well, they did until Cambodia, anyway) say that JT needed Stephen instead of the other way around?

I don't even mean to say these are wrong, just that I don't share those opinions.  I don't think that liking social players is super controversial or unpopular, but I do think disliking Survivor Nerds, in general, kind of is.  There's always kind of a prejudice in favor of the Misfit Toys Alliance, which sort of irrationally influences me to root for the Popular People Alliance (though I much prefer a Strange Bedfellows Alliance, your Casaya tribe type of thing, with no easily identifiable common thread between alliance members.)  Anyway, this season brought it out to me.  And funnily enough, it also has Hannah, who is a total nerd, but doesn't seem like a Survivor Nerd to me, and perhaps that's why I like her.

[truthaboutluv]

Quote

Why did it get people so mad that the social game won over the strategic?  

I can only speak for myself but the reason I hated Michelle's winning is because I felt like she never did anything in the game. It had nothing to do with nerd v. cool or whatever. It was simply that I thought she was a non entity who won because she got to the end with two people who were largely responsible for putting most of the people on the jury. Like whether or not some thought Kim was boring or she had no challenges, I will vehemently argue that I saw her game and it was a masterful one. We saw Kim strategize, we saw her control votes. So I for one never had any issues with her win and saw it coming by mid-season.

Frankly, my unpopular opinion is that I don't apply that much psychology onto Survivor. There are people I've liked, others I haven't - simple as that. It's why I don't care when people quit, I don't care about food rewards, etc. If I can actually see someone playing well, that's all I care about. Like this season, I don't dislike Jay. I just hated when he seemed so snooty and entitled when he was suddenly not on top but I've been impressed with how he's still around, with an idol. Yes some of that is the larger alliance starting to eat their own but I do think the relationship he fostered with Bret and Sunday when they were in the other tribe, has helped him.

Similarly, nice guy though he may be, I have been fine with the possibility of Adam being booted because he's been so spectacularly sloppy in his game play. Same reason I was fine with Hannah going last week because she put herself in that position with her moronic response to Zeke that tipped him off that she was flipping. Basically, I just want to see people playing a good game, that's all. Like I liked Spencer in both of his seasons but I was fine with Tony and Jeremy winning and felt both were deserved.

[loki567]

On Aubrey vs Michelle, I can't ever believe the Michelle's superior social game argument. I say that because the editors did everything in their power to give Michelle the best edit they could and it still wasn't enough. If there had been some bonding scene between Michelle, Scot, or douchebag no. 2, the editors would have thrown it in the season. But there was no scene because it didn't exist. Looking at the jury votes video or the exit interviews after, reading between the lines, those two guys were raging sexists who were pissed at Aubrey and Cydney for beating them and they were going to do anything they could to see them lose. That along with Joe getting medievaced at F5 and the knock a jury member off twist, I'm sorry, I always have a sour taste in my mouth about that season. 

I do get the point about Survivor nerds though. And I generally use to love them but the more you watch reality television, the more you realize they continually hit all the same notes again and again. It's especially bad in Survivor where the edit always go the "journey," route with the nerds as we watch, "a man become a boy in the course of 30 days," blah, blah, blah. That's a big reason I can't behind Dave this season. His storyline feels very false to me, 40-year-old writer who's been in the entertainment industry is now going to suddenly find himself on Survivor? Yeah, right. More likely he knows what will get him camera time and crafted a narrative that the editors could use.

I get the point about social players and think they have to be more freedom to be who they are instead of trying to live up to some Survivor nerd archetype.  

[peachmangosteen]

I've liked Survivor Nerds and I've detested them. Same for Survivor Populars. I don't have a preference one way or the other.

56 minutes ago, loki567 said:

I say that because the editors did everything in their power to give Michelle the best edit they could and it still wasn't enough.

That's not a fact though. There were actually several people here who predicted Michelle would win early on and who felt they were shown enough to justify her winning. 

Everything is just about personal preferences really and it's really all completely subjective. Even the edit, people see it differently depending on their personal feelings.

[waving feather]

@KimberStormer

@KimberStormer

What I hated about this season of "Misfit toys" or the "Nerd Alliance" is that they came right out of the gate labelling themselves as such and labelling the other 4 as the "Cool kids", when I was never shown Figgy, Taylor, Jay or Michelle ever referring to themselves as the Cool kids or labelling the other group. So I was glad Mari was taken out and currently Zeke's gang of "Misfit toys" are turning on each other. I hate labels in general and even worse when they give it to themselves.

[truthaboutluv]

I may be wrong, but I do think Figgy referred to herself, Taylor, Jay and Michelle as the cool kids which, considering this is a person who gave herself and Taylor a mashed name, coming from her, that wouldn't be a surprise. 

[waving feather]

Just now, truthaboutluv said:

I may be wrong, but I do think Figgy referred to herself, Taylor, Jay and Michelle as the cool kids which, considering this is a person who gave herself and Taylor a mashed name, coming from her, that wouldn't be a surprise. 

Really? I only remembered them giving themselves some stupid nickname like the Tri-force. I don't think she ever referred to herself as one of the cool kids. At this day and age I roll my eyes whenever someone refer to themselves as Cool or Misfit. 

[loki567]

30 minutes ago, peachmangosteen said:

That's not a fact though. There were actually several people here who predicted Michelle would win early on and who felt they were shown enough to justify her winning. 

Everything is just about personal preferences really and it's really all completely subjective. Even the edit, people see it differently depending on their personal feelings.

To clarify, when I say not enough I mean not enough to make her win satisfying to the majority of the audience. It wasn't really a surprise that Michelle won. I think most of the hardcore fandom knows what a winners' edit looks like. There have been plenty of Michelle-like, middle of the road players who are almost totally ignored by the edit if they didn't win. Michelle was given a lot of camera time from early on and among the edgic threads, she was immediately one of the biggest contenders. But I do think it's a fact that among the online Survivor fandom, the reaction was a majority of disappointment at the ending of the season. I mean Scot got the "deciding juror," moment and his speech was basically a lecture about how Aubrey played scared because she didn't play with him. 

[KimberStormer]

3 hours ago, truthaboutluv said:

I may be wrong, but I do think Figgy referred to herself, Taylor, Jay and Michelle as the cool kids which, considering this is a person who gave herself and Taylor a mashed name, coming from her, that wouldn't be a surprise. 

I'm pretty sure neither of these things are true.  I don't remember anyone but Taylor using "Figtails" and it seems like a very Taylor thing to come up with.  Similarly, I remember Jay talking about his Triforce-and-Namaste alliance, saying those are the people he trusts most, but I don't remember Figgy talking about anything except how dreamy Taylor's eyes are, etc.  Taylor also may have talked about how hot she is and that's why he wants to align with her, or something. 

I also may be wrong!

[simplyme]

4 hours ago, loki567 said:

But I do think it's a fact that among the online Survivor fandom, the reaction was a majority of disappointment at the ending of the season. I mean Scot got the "deciding juror," moment and his speech was basically a lecture about how Aubrey played scared because she didn't play with him. 

To me, that season should be an example of how two people can both play good games in Survivor but the situations in the game (casting, tribe wins determining which tribes go to TC and who ends up in more conflict situations) have something to do with determining the winner. I don't think the word "deserve" should necessarily be used for winners because it is never an even playing field, and that's actually something that makes it interesting. Seeing who survives in spite (or because) of the situations that arise.

Michelle played an excellent game and won. She made the right choices to do so. Aubry played a good game and lost. Every game is different. If they played again with one or two things different, who knows what would happen?

I certainly consider them both great competitors. Kudos to both for doing what they did.

[MissEwa]

My unpopular opinions would be that I loved Kim and I thought her win was masterful from the beginning. I remember thinking about 2/3 of the way through that if she didn't win I'd be devastated and it would be so unfair. One World had some totally awful players but overall I liked it much more than I think most people did. 

On the other hand, I hated Tony. I hated Spencer too. And Tasha. And Woo. And Kass had her moments but ultimately I hated her too. In fact, I hated Cagayan as a whole and everyone raved about it and I just couldn't get any enjoyment from it. It could have been that it came after FvF2 and BvW both of which had their moments but ultimately felt like slow, inevitable marches towards their inveitable, annoying winners (never was a Cochran or Tyson fan) and Cagayan felt much the same. 

[simplyme]

1 minute ago, MissEwa said:

My unpopular opinions would be that I loved Kim and I thought her win was masterful from the beginning. 

I think there are several of us here at Ptv that will agree with you. We may be outnumbered in the world at large, but we have our own enclave of Kim fans. Maybe we can come up with a secret handshake or something. :)

[RedheadZombie]

22 minutes ago, MissEwa said:

My unpopular opinions would be that I loved Kim and I thought her win was masterful from the beginning. I remember thinking about 2/3 of the way through that if she didn't win I'd be devastated and it would be so unfair. One World had some totally awful players but overall I liked it much more than I think most people did. 

On the other hand, I hated Tony. I hated Spencer too. And Tasha. And Woo. And Kass had her moments but ultimately I hated her too. In fact, I hated Cagayan as a whole and everyone raved about it and I just couldn't get any enjoyment from it. It could have been that it came after FvF2 and BvW both of which had their moments but ultimately felt like slow, inevitable marches towards their inveitable, annoying winners (never was a Cochran or Tyson fan) and Cagayan felt much the same. 

I love Kim, and I'm surprised there are viewers who didn't see her brilliance. 

Loved Tony, mostly liked Spencer season one, but over him by season two.  I never could stand Tasha, and I think she was instrumental in Kass's flip.  Couldn't stand Woo.  Couldn't see his supposed pretty past the surfer act and talking like he was high 24/7.  My dislike was sealed when he stole Spencer's clue and ran to hide behind the big guys.  Sneaky and cowardly.   I kind of get Kass, pretty much always liked her, but often cringed at her actions.  Loved Cochran, but hated Tyson.

Probably most unpopular opinion - I still like Rupert.

And with very few exceptions, I always hate the "cool kids".  And no, I'm not an ugly, fat, pathetic loser.  Which seems to be the go to excuse for why people don't like the "cool kids".  I actually think the cool kids hate the nerds more than the reverse.  And often it's because the cool kids peak in high school, and often live the rest of their lives talking about their high school years.  Whereas the nerds frequently go to excellent universities, and have lucrative careers.  It shakes the power balance for those who never mature past high school.  JMO. 

[peachmangosteen]

2 hours ago, simplyme said:

To me, that season should be an example of how two people can both play good games in Survivor but the situations in the game (casting, tribe wins determining which tribes go to TC and who ends up in more conflict situations) have something to do with determining the winner. I don't think the word "deserve" should necessarily be used for winners because it is never an even playing field, and that's actually something that makes it interesting. Seeing who survives in spite (or because) of the situations that arise.

Michelle played an excellent game and won. She made the right choices to do so. Aubry played a good game and lost. Every game is different. If they played again with one or two things different, who knows what would happen?

I certainly consider them both great competitors. Kudos to both for doing what they did.

Great post.

1 hour ago, MissEwa said:

My unpopular opinions would be that I loved Kim and I thought her win was masterful from the beginning. I remember thinking about 2/3 of the way through that if she didn't win I'd be devastated and it would be so unfair. One World had some totally awful players but overall I liked it much more than I think most people did. 

+1

Edited November 30, 2016 by peachmangosteen

[pamplemousse]

1 hour ago, RedheadZombie said:

And with very few exceptions, I always hate the "cool kids".  And no, I'm not an ugly, fat, pathetic loser.  Which seems to be the go to excuse for why people don't like the "cool kids".  I actually think the cool kids hate the nerds more than the reverse.  And often it's because the cool kids peak in high school, and often live the rest of their lives talking about their high school years.  Whereas the nerds frequently go to excellent universities, and have lucrative careers.  It shakes the power balance for those who never mature past high school.  JMO. 

Ah, yes, along with that brilliant argument of not understanding how hard life can be for beautiful people. I'm sure it's just hell on earth.

[KimberStormer]

7 hours ago, MissEwa said:

 In fact, I hated Cagayan as a whole and everyone raved about it and I just couldn't get any enjoyment from it.

I'm with you!  I didn't hate it but I sure didn't love it.  I'm also forever confused by the idea of Tony as a great player.  If ever someone fell ass-backwards into their win, it was Tony.  He and LJ both burning their idols in ludicrous theatrical fashion for absolutely no reason (even if they had needed to use them, they were thrown away on the wrong targets -- obviously wrong targets) while Trish quietly got the actual job done flipping Kass (and never got, probably never will get, the credit she deserves for it amongst the larger Survivor world) should really put paid to any notion that Tony is any good.  We don't even need to mention that he coasted on the godforsaken Tyler Perry idol and another idol which he got by pure chance in the second-worst Survivor Auction ever.  But no it's always TONY THE MANIC MASTERMIND, ALWAYS TEN STEPS AHEAD!  I like Tony as a human being, I do not like him as a player or a winner or a TV show character.

[Trick Question]

On 2016-11-30 at 1:13 AM, KimberStormer said:

Contrast them with the sort of player I do love: the social gamer.  People whose game, while it may include plenty of SURVIVOR MOVES and aggressive play and "rational" decision-making, is fundamentally based on human connections with people in the game.  People like Kim or JT; even people like Parvati, whose connections may not have been "real" in the sense of lasting outside the game, and could perhaps be considered more heartless than the people who are more obvious about not actually caring about you in the game.  Those people, who are often "cool kid" types, outgoing and attractive and athletic and "popular", are very different from me, but I like them so much better.  And I would say, in some ways, at least online (and especially in more masculine, intensely nerdy Survivor spaces than this forum), they are consistently underrated in my opinion, which I find frustrating to no end.  The outcry about Michele VS Aubry last season, of course, brought this dichotomy to the fore; I would have voted for Aubry myself, but the fact that it was such a scandal is an example of what I mean.  Why did it get people so mad that the social game won over the strategic?  Why is Kim consistently thought of as having had no challenges, playing on easy mode, as though getting an entire season's worth of people to love her unconditionally while she rules them with an iron fist not difficult and challenging?  Why do people (well, they did until Cambodia, anyway) say that JT needed Stephen instead of the other way around?

Survivor is literally nothing but a popularity contest, which the producers have tried to obscure for 33 seasons by trying to make it all about persevering over the elements, personal discovery, making "big moves," etc.  It's far easier to promote a show based around big blindsides and vote flips than it is to promote a show based around treating other people decently for 38 days.  The only way to win Survivor is to get to the end next to a person less liked or respected by the jurors than you...note that this doesn't even mean you have to be liked or respected yourself (i.e. Brian Heidik), as long as you're next to a less-appealing option to the majority of the jury.

For the majority of viewers, the "here's what I would do if I were on Survivor" fantasy consists of pulling blindsides and swinging big vote after big vote.  It doesn't involve something as simple as getting along with everyone for five weeks.

[violet and green]

I'm really sad Zeke's gone. Really, really, really sad.

[peachmangosteen]

11 hours ago, KimberStormer said:

I'm with you!  I didn't hate it but I sure didn't love it.  I'm also forever confused by the idea of Tony as a great player.  If ever someone fell ass-backwards into their win, it was Tony.  He and LJ both burning their idols in ludicrous theatrical fashion for absolutely no reason (even if they had needed to use them, they were thrown away on the wrong targets -- obviously wrong targets) while Trish quietly got the actual job done flipping Kass (and never got, probably never will get, the credit she deserves for it amongst the larger Survivor world) should really put paid to any notion that Tony is any good.  We don't even need to mention that he coasted on the godforsaken Tyler Perry idol and another idol which he got by pure chance in the second-worst Survivor Auction ever.  But no it's always TONY THE MANIC MASTERMIND, ALWAYS TEN STEPS AHEAD!  I like Tony as a human being, I do not like him as a player or a winner or a TV show character.

This is my favorite post!

7 hours ago, Trick Question said:

Survivor is literally nothing but a popularity contest ... The only way to win Survivor is to get to the end next to a person less liked or respected by the jurors than you...note that this doesn't even mean you have to be liked or respected yourself (i.e. Brian Heidik), as long as you're next to a less-appealing option to the majority of the jury.

This! I've been saying this for years.