S31: Shirin Oskooi

[Whimsy]

Meet Shirin Oskooi from Survivor: Worlds Apart (Season 30), who returns to play on Survivor Cambodia: Second Chance.

 

On Survivor: Worlds Apart , Shirin was the unrestricted, often naked, sometimes offensive castaway, who made an impactful Final Tribal speech to the jury.

 

While her fellow tribe members were often irked by her bluntness, there's no doubt this superfan's zeal, energy, and enthusiasm was obvious to everyone throughout the entire game.

 

 

Here is your Shirin Oskool topic.

[LadyChatts]

Not sure what I think of Shirin.  Last season, I went from not liking her, to being a fan (I think having Max around didn't help), to feeling sorry for her, to being over her.  I know it isn't her fault that the drama from last season hijacked the rest of the season and became the main talking point for everyone.  I still think there was more to it than what we saw.  I don't think Shirin is perfect, and I can buy into her milking the attacks on her.  I question if it wasn't for that if she would have made it back.  She did have the recency going for her, and I can see how some people might have enjoyed her enthusiasm at playing the game.  I hope she does get to play her own game this time, dials it back about 1,000 notches, and maybe actually can show that she can play this game.  I can't say I'll be sorry if she's an early boot.  Depending on how she comes across this season, not sure how well I'd want her to do.  I wonder if she'll get a more reserved edit on purpose, just because of the drama last season.

[Lantern7]

I'm pulling for her, even if the editing makes it look like she's nowhere near the grand prize. She got saddled with real pieces of work like Dan and Will, and I hope her second tour of duty is a lot more pleasant.

[Sweets McGee]

I'm pulling for her, even if the editing makes it look like she's nowhere near the grand prize. She got saddled with real pieces of work like Dan and Will, and I hope her second tour of duty is a lot more pleasant.

This is where I'm at as well. I felt so bad for her last season. I spent most of the first episode just hoping she wasn't the first boot.

[Shelby]

Shirin would have been a largely forgotten, if annoying, write-off last season if someone hadn't yelled at her.

Here's to a swift and uneventful exit for her this season.

[ProfCrash]

Shirin would have been remembered as a hyper super fan who annyoed folks if Will had not yelled at her. We would have remembered her because of the hyper super fan part but she would not have been as much a part of the conversation if Will had not been a total asshole.

[CletusMusashi]

Will schmill. She had me at monkey sex. As for this season, I think she and Jeff are going to be hilarious together.

[Hera]

I think she's probably much more in her element this season than she was last season. She's with other people who have obsessed over the game, over their competition, and who likely understand that alliances are about furthering yourself in the game and not about who you like and have the most in common with on a personal level.

[rose711]

I think she's probably much more in her element this season than she was last season. She's with other people who have obsessed over the game, over their competition, and who likely understand that alliances are about furthering yourself in the game and not about who you like and have the most in common with on a personal level.

She was playing way too hard and talking way too fast. I don't have a good feeling about her chances. If she gets blamed for voting out Vytas and the tribe loses the next challenge, she will be in trouble. I think she is definitely the weaker woman out there as far as challenges go.

I just didn't get the feeling she would be around very long.

[wonald]

Still talking about monkeys.

Still talking.

Still annoying.

[LadyChatts]

It's hard to say what will happen if her tribe loses the next challenge.  Shirin's big soundbite this episode was talking about how connected Vytas was and that's why he was a threat.  Foreshadowing that maybe those very allegations will come back and bite her?  Varner is supposedly tight with Terry's group and Kelley Wentworth.  So maybe he will be able to persuade Kelley to vote with them and get Shirin out, or just flip back to Terry/Woo/Kelly along with PG and take out Shirin or Spencer.  If they lose another challenge, I don't think they would want to vote out one of the guys.  I do think one of the women will go.  I wouldn't mind losing Shirin.

[NutMeg]

I've seen it mentionned that Shirin talks too fast (episode thread?) and yes, she does. I find it interesting because I've just read a report of a study that observes people who are "social butterflies" and the one thing they all have in common is that they adapt their speech speed to that of the person they are talking with. It's done completely unconsciously, but the people who do that seem to do extremely well perceived socially. I'm now making a mental post to go back someday to Parvati's seasons and to pay special attention to her speech pattern and to whether it changes depending on who she's talking with. (talking with as opposed to talking to could also be a factor, I think)

[Lantern7]

So much for the redemption angle. I would've bailed out on the drama between Peih-Gee and Abi-Maria. Then again, I wouldn't have been in an alliance with Abi-Maria in the first place. That one is a bigger headache to deal with than Shirin ever will be.

[ByaNose]

For some reason, I knew Shirin was going voted out in the first 10 minutes. When I saw that Terry sat with Abi for 2 hours and befriended her I thought of the (non) Twitter feud that Shrrin & Terry were having about tree mail. Maybe, Shirrin was taking a preemptive and bitter shot at Terry because she knew her boot episode was coming up. Of course, this might be a conspiracy theory on my part. LOL!!!!

Edited October 1, 2015 by ByaNose

[LadyChatts]

I have to catch up on tonight's episode, but so happy Shirin got the boot.  Can't wait to watch it!

[BigRedCheese]

She seems to be good friends with Varner though. I hope that doesn't mean he gets voted out soon and they bonded in loser lodge.

[LadyChatts]

She seems to be good friends with Varner though. I hope that doesn't mean he gets voted out soon and they bonded in loser lodge.

 

I'm hoping it's because she knows Varner proves to be the very Survivor player she thinks she is, but wouldn't be even in her dreams.

 

Somewhere Dan and Will are probably laughing at her early demise.  She's really not good at this game.  I hope this is the last we ever see of her.

[Lantern7]

Anything that makes Dan or Will happy is never a good thing. Same goes for Rodney. At least Shirin got a second chance, albeit a brief one. I can't see any of those dunces coming back, especially Dan.

[BigRedCheese]

 

Somewhere Dan and Will are probably laughing at her early demise.

 

Yeah, probably, that seems like just the type of people they would be. But they shouldn't laugh too hard, because, you know,  they're still Dan and Will.

[pennben]

This was and will be a good lesson on bullying.  Being bullied is hard and it is hurtful.  But that doesn't mean someone who was bullied is immune from being so happy to be in the in crowd that they are allowed to laugh at others and forget to hold a hand down to one who is not with them. 

 

The lesson of being bullied is to be brave, as Mike showed us last season. 

[rozen]

Shirin is annoying, and yes she was bullied, but I don't think she had any more responsibility than any other tribe member to go soothe Abi's hurt fee fees. Abi is the definition of the mean girl bully who ruins your life, she just happened to tick off one too many people in quick succession. If you do nothing, Abi comes for you, if you try to vent somewhere private, Abi comes for you, if you apologize Abi still comes for you.

 

Even then, if she had stayed focused on making Peih-Gee's life miserable, no one would have done shit to step in and redirect it until they were desperate for PG's vote. Saying her and Shirin's situations are anything close to the same just because Abi is good at flouncing off and pouting is ridiculous. 

Edited October 1, 2015 by rozen

[LadyChatts]

https://youtu.be/TojRtE4YFpI

 

Shirin's day after video is up. 

Edited October 1, 2015 by LadyChatts

[rose711]

I see Shirin s mistake as playing to hard and creating an immediate division.

I was shocked when Woo said that she hadn't even bothered to speak to him in 6 days there.

And then she tried to threaten him into joining them.

She had a second chance and she blew it from the moment she hit the beach.

I don't think we will be seeing her again.

I'm disappointed because I wanted her to do well.

[LadyChatts]

I didn't have high hopes for Shirin this go round.  I figured she would be an early boot, until I heard she was aligned with Spencer.  I thought that was the only thing that would get her through, if those two and their alliance could stay strong.  I think she gives herself way more credit as a Survivor player than she deserves.  I do agree with her on one thing-she wasn't emotionally healed from her original season.  I believe this was a case of coming back way too soon.  I do like how she blames herself for her downfall.  Had she not pushed so hard to get Vytas out, who knows what might have happened.  They may have won this challenge, or even if they had lost, she and Spencer may not have even been on anyone's radar.  I do wonder what someone else, like Carolyn, could have done in her spot. 

[ByaNose]

She may be a student of the game but she's horrible at playing the game of Survivor. She also must have missed how bad the alliance of RC & Abi was and how it ended. She should have voted out Abi last week and they might have won Immunity.

Edited October 1, 2015 by ByaNose

[LanceM]

Much like last time she only had one real alliance partner (Spencer) though Kelley appeared to be with her as well. And also like last time she spent too much time strategizing with her one main alliance member and not enough time actually talking with anyone else.

[kikaha]

Shirin wanted to run the show this season.  She even talked about Boston Rob in one of her pre-game interviews.  If you're going to run the tribe, you need to spend time with everyone.  You have to manage every personality in your alliance.  That's one of the real lessons from Rob.  Shirin ignored that, got complacent, and got booted.  ByaNose points out some of the ironies of all this. 

 

I fully agree with those of you who hope she never plays again. 

 

Anything that makes Dan or Will happy is never a good thing. Same goes for Rodney. At least Shirin got a second chance, albeit a brief one. I can't see any of those dunces coming back, especially Dan.

 

You don't think Rodney will come back?  I think Survivor will bring him back in a heartbeat, if that is what he wants.  Considering the pounding his body took, I wonder if he will subject himself to that again though? 

[KimberStormer]

Yep, when Woo can with complete accuracy point out what you've done wrong in the game, and really sort of hand your ass to you, you know you're not good at Survivor.  I don't dislike Shirin.  I'm so very glad that I didn't see her getting the Will treatment last season (because I bailed early).  But not talking to people until you are desperate is terrible, terrible Survivor.  From my miserable experience playing online Diplomacy, I know how difficult it is to talk to people you're not aligned with, so I am sympathetic, but you need to do better than that (and certainly better than me) if you're going to do well at this game.

[NutMeg]

Had she not pushed so hard to get Vytas out, who knows what might have happened.

Along this line, when Shirin was eliminated, I couldn't help but notice that she was going to loser lounge to meet the one she had been pushing to eliminate and... I wouldn't mind if that trends continued. Imagine if the next person out was the instigator of the vote-Shirin-out vote? I would love it. They would be FORCED to all get along at Loser Lounge because hey, you all got what you were doing to another :-)

[phlebas]

I was speculating on here somewhere that maybe Shirin's story on S30 would make people reluctant to vote her off early.  Seems silly now.  Turns out her story from World's Apart blew up in her face, bit her on the ass, and made her look like a hypocrite.

 

Oh well. Bye, Shirin.

[ProfCrash]

Shirin played the exact same game she did last season this season. She needed more time off so she could watch the first half of the season and see what she did wrong. The attention on the bullshit in the second half of the season made it far to difficult for her to realize that she lost her season in the first three days on the beach.

 

In Worlds Apart she talked strategy and geeked out with Max. She did hang out with Taylor and Caroline but spent most of her time with Max. This season, she stratigizes and hangs out with Spenser. She spent time with PG and Kelly but none with Woo. I am assuming she spent none with Kelly and Terry based on Woo's comments. All she had to do was look at Mike's game and realize part of the reason why Mike won is that he got along with people from all of the tribes. He forged relationships with White Collar and No Collar and was in a good place with Blue Collar. Yes, Blue Collar was over the paranoia but it really wasn't paranoia because Mike knew they were coming for him, he heard them. He still had a good personal relationship with a number of them and got their votes.

 

In Worlds Apart Shirin was hard core playing on day one. Same here. Everyone commented on it. It put a huge target on ehr back.

 

In Worlds Apart, Shirin was a pain in the ass to Joaquin. She goaded him, and picked at him. While I didn't see that this season, she failed to make any type of connection with people outside her alliance and mis-read Abi in a massive way. Her social game wasn't good enough to cause BW Kelly and PG to want to work to try and save her. She unintentionally allienated Abi. She had no relationship with Woo, Terry or Borneo Kelly. She effectivly, isolated herself.

 

I don't see the similarities in the Abi blow up to the Will blow up. Will got personal, told Shirin she had no soul and that no one loved her. PG, not Shirin, told Abi that she was annoying, talked behind PG's back, and that she was hard to work with. Shirin didn't stop PG, probably because it would have been hard to say that PG was wrong since, well, PG was right. Shirin should have comforted Abi afterward because that was the human thing to do. Shirin didn't but I fail to see how that is in any way shape or form a repeat of last season.

[Jersey Guy 87]

Shirin is annoying, and yes she was bullied, but I don't think she had any more responsibility than any other tribe member to go soothe Abi's hurt fee fees. Abi is the definition of the mean girl bully who ruins your life, she just happened to tick off one too many people in quick succession. If you do nothing, Abi comes for you, if you try to vent somewhere private, Abi comes for you, if you apologize Abi still comes for you.

 

I disagree - Shirin considered herself one of the leaders of her alliance, as such she should have made sure an emotionally unstable alliance mate (Abi) was okay.  Abi's situation may have been unpleasant, but if you're leading the alliance you try to get Abi to walk away from Peih-Gee and talk to her and try to calm her down.  Shirin blew that completely.  She seems to understand strategy but she's not at all good at the social game.

 

I think Shirin would have been better off not doing a second season right after her first one, especially considering how emotionally draining her first season was.  She had no time to reflect on her game and how to get better.

[kikaha]

 

I don't see the similarities in the Abi blow up to the Will blow up. Will got personal, told Shirin she had no soul and that no one loved her. PG, not Shirin, told Abi that she was annoying, talked behind PG's back, and that she was hard to work with. Shirin didn't stop PG, probably because it would have been hard to say that PG was wrong since, well, PG was right. Shirin should have comforted Abi afterward because that was the human thing to do. Shirin didn't but I fail to see how that is in any way shape or form a repeat of last season.

 

The similarities materialized later, that night, when PG was entertaining much of the tribe with stories mocking Abi.  Everyone there, including Shirin, seemed to have a grand old time, loudly yucking it up at Abi's expense.  Abi was sitting not far away, hearing it all, on the beach, in tears. 

 

Instead of standing up for Abi, or at least talking to her, Shirin joined the crowd, the mob, in making fun of her.  It took another person altogether -- Terry -- to come to Abi's side, talk to her, listen to her, reassure her. 

 

So last season Shirin got insulted by another person.  This season Shirin was part of a group of people insulting another person.  I thought the parallels were so close it was eerie.  I also thought this showed Shirin's little Twitter expose of Terry as more Shirin hypocrisy. 

 

btw, Worlds Apart filmed from August 4, 2014 to September 11, 2014.  Shirin had going on a year to decompress and digest the events from it. 

[ProfCrash]

kikaha: I agree that it was wrong but I see it closer to Mike chastising Dan and Kelly for attacking Sierra after the vote then the aftermath of the Will fight.

 

Shirin was laughing and doing something she should not have done. She should have stopped it. I am not excusing her inaction. But the power of the moment is totally different then the Will fight. The Will fight was 100% personal, vicisous and had nothing to do with game play. PG was mocking Abi for her game play and how she was acting on the beach. It was wrong for it to continue and for the others to be encouranging it but no one was calling Abi soulless, unloved or useless.

 

The difference is n the intention. Will wnated to hurt Shirin at the core of her person, PG was blowing off steam and the others were doing the same. Dan and Kelly should not have piled on Sierra after her alliance mate was booted from the show. Shirin, PG, Spenser and Kelly should not have been mocking Abi. They were in the wrong. The level of wrong is different and I think it is important to acknowledge that.

 

I also think it is important to note that Shirin said she was wrong to Abi before she even knew she was a target. Shirin talked with Abi, understood why Abi was upset with her, apologized and then found out she was a target. Shirin owned up that it was her mistake and her bad behavior at the tribal council. Will, to this day, does not understand what he did wrong and still has not apologized for his over the top vile comments.

 

So yeah, there is a huge difference.

[wonald]

Shirin is 100% responsible for her own fate. From the tone she set with spearheading the Vytas boot that she was so proud of to her delusion that she could carry Abi on her back for 39 days to the finals.

 

While what Shirin endured was a lot worse than what Abi was enduring last nite, what was ironic was how Shirin went into this season saying among other things that she was going to have "zero tolerance" and was gonna stand up to "nastiness" like that but as usual, it was all talk. See 3: 10 of this unbearable interview. The beginning is also hilarious when she talks about how OTHERS lacks self-awareness.

 

http://www.etcanada.com/video/survivor+cambodia++second+chance+shirin+oskooi/video.html?v=512860227832#survivor

Edited October 1, 2015 by wonald

[seacliffsal]

Thanks for the interview link. I'm amazed that Shirin stated that she probably knew the other survivors better than they know themselves. Well, we now know how that worked out.

[Bryce Lynch]

So happy to see the Soulless One get booted early. She was one of the most obnoxious and irritating survivors in the show's history.

All the "bullying" talk makes me roll my eyes. First, this is not middle school. It is a highly competitive and often cutthroat contest for a million dollars, played by grown men and women. If people saying mean things is going to cause you to break down you are on the wrong show.

Secondly, Shirin started the whole spat with Will by falsely accusing him of hoarding food, when he was on fact sharing HIS personal and food purchase with the tribe, despite the fact that nobody else knew he had it.

Will overreacted and said some mean things, but Shirin started the dispute and was way out of line.

Then in her monumental pettiness, she went against the entire tribe to deny Will his letter from home.

She had also seemed to go out of her way to annoy the entire tribe from the start.

[SlackerInc]

Shirin was my favorite player of all time, very unfairly maligned, and now she's gone already.  :( Not sure if I'll finish this season, even though I've never bailed on a season before since the show began.

[ProfCrash]

Shirin was my favorite player of all time, very unfairly maligned, and now she's gone already.  :( Not sure if I'll finish this season, even though I've never bailed on a season before since the show began.

There are a lot of people who are going to make for great TV so I would keep on watching.

 

I think that Shirin and Spencer are the type of people who are too invested in the game to play the game. They are the book worms who assume that studying and knowing everything about the game will equate with playing a great game. In reality, they get in their own way because they are too geeked up and can not chill out enough to play the game as it comes to them.

 

Shirin has not played well in either of her seasons. She geeked out way too much in her first season, she had some serious lapses in her own social game play (see Joaquin for an exmaple), and she was not able to connect with a good number of folks. Something about how she approaches people turns some folks off. I see her as some one you either love or hate and very little inbetween. And I think it is because she invests far too much of herself in whatever she is doing which can be exhausting.

 

I don't think she is as crazy and irrational as an Abi and I don't think she was intentionally stirring shit like Kass was in her first season but Shirin is perfectly comfortable throwing shade and stirring shit. The tweet about Terry's statement regarding Abi's English is a perfect example. There was no reason to do that. It wasn't shown, Abi is fine with Terry, and I don't think anyone thought that Terry was anything other then tacky when he said it. But Shirin was hurt about being voted out and decided to stir up some crap on twitter. It strikes me as vindictive and the action of someone who can easily hold a grudge.

 

Not surprising but I can hope for better.

 

Shirin needs some time away from the game to process what she saw and what she can learn from it. I wouldn't mind seeing her back in 2-3 years to see if she can learn form this and grow as a person.

 

And I love the ignore feature. First time using it.

[NutMeg]

Ignore feature? Please tell...

[ProfCrash]

Copy the name of the person you want to ignore ProfCrash ;)

Go to the top of the screenand click on the head and shoulders icon

Choose manage ignore preferences

Paste in the persons name

[SlackerInc]

Does that mean you are ignoring me? (I guess I will find out one way or another soon, as you will not see this if you are...)

[Shelby]

Good riddance. Never liked her, won't miss her. This season will be much more enjoyable to watch with her gone. May she never darken another season of Survivor again.

[NutMeg]

Copy the name of the person you want to ignore ProfCrash ;)

Go to the top of the screenand click on the head and shoulders icon

Choose manage ignore preferences

Paste in the persons name

Ooooh!! Thanks :) going to apply this!! though maybe not in the Survivor forum, want to know all opinions :-)

 

thank you so much for his tip!! 

[Jersey Guy 87]

Secondly, Shirin started the whole spat with Will by falsely accusing him of hoarding food, when he was on fact sharing HIS personal and food purchase with the tribe, despite the fact that nobody else knew he had it.

Will overreacted and said some mean things, but Shirin started the dispute and was way out of line.

Then in her monumental pettiness, she went against the entire tribe to deny Will his letter from home.

 

 

That's not an accurate recollection of events from the Shirin's first season.  Several people speculated that Will might not be sharing all the food he offered, she wasn't the instigator of that discussion nor the main one accusing him.  And speculating about people's actions in Survivor doesn't fit any definition of over the line that I know.  Will, on the other hand, totally overreacted and went way over the line, making personal attacks that had nothing to do with game play against Shirin.  Shirin was completely right to deny Will the letter from home - he screwed up at the auction, won the booby prize by jumping on it early and Probst should have laughed in his face when he asked if he could sit out the challenge (that he had zero chances of winning) in exchange for getting his letter.  Several other contestants said they gave Shirin the opportunity to deny Will the letter because of the way he attacked her earlier.

 

I'm not a big fan of Shirin, I don't think she should have gone right back out and played Survivor again, and she played poorly this season.  But that depiction of events is not even close to describing what went on in her first season.

[Zuleikha]

But Shirin was hurt about being voted out and decided to stir up some crap on twitter. It strikes me as vindictive and the action of someone who can easily hold a grudge.

I am too old for Twitter, so I personally couldn't follow the chain, but others said Shirin had been asked about the picture. It's not vindictive to answer a question honestly. Even if she did post unprompted by anything other than image, IMHO, it's not stirring up crap to talk about something that happened any more than it's stirring up crap for people to talk about PG's smuggling contraband into the game.

 

And there is nothing to indicate it was anything other than responsive to either being asked or seeing the image. It wasn't even in the episode where she was voted out, and she's been perfectly nice about Abi-Maria on Twitter (regardless of whether or not Shirin's following her). 

[Special K]

Shirin's problem (and Spencer's) was that she didn't realize others would know to play Abi like a fiddle.  The editors even ran Spencer's and Varner's THs about Abi practically back to back:

 

Spencer:  Abi is a burden and a liability that could be dangerous to me.

Varner:  Abi is an opportunity! I love it!

[wonald]

I am too old for Twitter, so I personally couldn't follow the chain, but others said Shirin had been asked about the picture. It's not vindictive to answer a question honestly. Even if she did post unprompted by anything other than image, IMHO, it's not stirring up crap to talk about something that happened any more than it's stirring up crap for people to talk about PG's smuggling contraband into the game.

 

And there is nothing to indicate it was anything other than responsive to either being asked or seeing the image. It wasn't even in the episode where she was voted out, and she's been perfectly nice about Abi-Maria on Twitter (regardless of whether or not Shirin's following her). 

 

 

1. she does not have to answer every question. from her exit interviews, she obviously does not like terry so it aint innocent.

 

2. If Shitrin saying that Abi has chlamydia is her way of being "perfectly nice on Twitter", then I'll take nasty anyday.

[LadyChatts]

Shirin lost me pre-season when she was giving shout outs to other Survivors who didn't make it on, and saying that this was for them.  I can see why she and Max aligned last season, and also why she and Spencer aligned.  I agree that to her, it is all about strategy.  She may be book smart in a sense to play this game, but is not people smart.  Similar to last season with how she and Max dropped the ball after the So vote and completely alienated Carolyn and Joaquin, yet didn't even know it.  Shirin annoyed a lot of people last season.  Even the people who liked and stood up for her said she was way worse than what they showed.  I think she was a star struck school girl being on Survivor, but she had the mentality that no one was playing her way (basically letting her coast through the game and make all the decisions, while sacrificing their own chances for the prize).  Shirin really sucks at this game, and I don't think any amount of being away or healing is going to help.  She is just not good at this.  She's great at being a fan, but lousy as a player.

Edited October 1, 2015 by LadyChatts

[kikaha]

I am too old for Twitter, so I personally couldn't follow the chain, but others said Shirin had been asked about the picture. It's not vindictive to answer a question honestly. Even if she did post unprompted by anything other than image, IMHO, it's not stirring up crap to talk about something that happened any more than it's stirring up crap for people to talk about PG's smuggling contraband into the game.

 

And there is nothing to indicate it was anything other than responsive to either being asked or seeing the image. It wasn't even in the episode where she was voted out, and she's been perfectly nice about Abi-Maria on Twitter (regardless of whether or not Shirin's following her). 

 

 

Shirin's Twitter created a blatantly false image of the relationships out there.  Shirin made it sound like Terry was ganging up on Abi... and Shirin came to her defense.  As we saw in the episode, the opposite was true.  Terry was Abi's white knight (sounds like she still feels that way towards him)... while Shirin not only did NOT stand up for Abi, she mocked her and laughed at her.

 

On top of which, Shirin sent out her tweet at a time when the life of Terry's son is in the balance.  

 

A vindictive, insensitive piece of work is Shirin -- the polar opposite of how she tried to portray herself in the wake of Worlds Apart.