S10: Palau

[Whimsy]

Here is your Survivor S10 topic.

[LadyChatts]

I re-watched this season not long after Jenn Lyon passed away, and that was rough to get through.

 

I always thought this season had potential, but I could never get into it.  I loved the location, the opening intro (how I miss those) ranks as one of my favorites, and even though we got a new term to go along with Pagonging (in this case, Ulonging), the dominant Koror tribe put a damper on the first half of the season.  I equally hated how they did the school yard pick, with two castaways not even being allowed to play the game and being sent home.  I'm glad that's a twist that had never returned.  Some people give up quite a bit to come out here, and for nothing?  To not even get to be on a tribe or officially be voted out?  Wanda was annoying with her singing, and I remember Jonathan put himself on the outs (Angie especially seemed to have an issue with him) but I think those two probably would have been quick to get booted, anyway.

 

On paper, the Koror tribe looked inferior to the beefcake and athletic tribe of Ulong-Stephenie, Jolanda, Bobby Jon, Jeff, Ibreham.  Even Angie proved how strong she was in challenges.  In contrast, Koror's strength looked to be Tom and Ian.  This was the season where a fire tie breaker decided who got voted off because there was no one else left in the tribe besides Bobby Jon and Stephenie, where Tom got falling down drunk at the merge feast (how I miss that), and the super long endurance challenge that was the downfall of any future super long endurance challenge (your a wuss, Probst).  Despite Katie being given a ton of grief for riding coattails, I do like how Jeff said at the reunion that was her strategy all along and she openly said it; at least she didn't try to hide that.  I actually liked Katie, probably one of the few coattail riders I did enjoy.  It was nice, during the school yard pick, to see Willard get picked, as it looked obvious he and Wanda would be the last ones left.  Also, since I liked Angie, I always wonder what her legacy would have been had Coby picked her for the Koror tribe, since they seemed to bond that first day on the beach before they were divided up.  Oh, and I loved how Stephenie and Jonathan took off swimming from the boat to make it to the beach first, and greatly underestimated that the boat was going to beat them to the beach.  I liked Stephenie during this season, and felt sorry for her, but she really turned me off during Guatemala and I was done with her at HvsV.  I also didn't care much for Tom during HvsV, either, despite really liking him this season.  I would love to see Bobby Jon get a third chance (I heard he was considered for BvsW?), and I would also like to see Katie and Ian return.  It would probably never happen, but I'd give Jolanda and Angie another chance, too.  Angie still remains one of my faves, and I liked Jolanda in the short time she was there.  That would have been a pre-jury Ponderosa I would have liked to have seen.  All but Willard, Wanda, and Jonathan were Ulong members.

[cherrypj]

And I'll never forget that the immunity idol looked like Willard!

[KimberStormer]

Angie is one of the people I would vote for in a heartbeat to do a Second Chance II.  One of my favorite pre-merge boots for sure.

[omophagia]

I still rate this as a top-tier season overall, though I do think all of the criticisms of it-- cutting Wanda and Jonathan straightaway, the mis-matched tribes, Tom's gross turn at the final IC-- are entirely valid. But there was so much about the season I enjoyed-- literally everything James said, Stephenie's underdog story that she then squandered by being an entitled nightmare on two subsequent outings, Ian being generally awesome-- that it remains one that I will go to bat for.

I would love to see Jonathan (and, God help me, even Wanda) considered for another Second Chances season just on principle, and I would also vote for Angie ("We are not going back to Immunity!" is the kind of thing I know I would end up saying if I were ever on the show) without hesitation. I'd also love to see Ian and Gregg and maybe Jolanda play again from this cast. I don't see Katie doing much differently were she to get another shot, but I share her sarcastic sense of humor and enjoyed her.

[Lantern7]

I dug this season. Maybe it's because I'm secretly into curbstomps. And I still regard Tom as one of the best players in the game. Guy won all but two individual immunity challenges, and his name wasn't even brought up the times he was vulnerable. Sure, it sucks that -- IIRC -- he and Ian had an agreement that the winner of the final immunity challenge would take Katie to Day 39, but Tom was a dominant force. And I don't think Probst would acknowledge him because he was over 40.

 

I keep forgetting about Jenn, even though she made it to Day 37. We called her "Anonymous Jenn" for a reason.

[LadyChatts]

So I've seen comments about Tom being disliked for being a bully to Ian during the FIC (among other things).  I loved Tom during this season, and I don't really remember that moment, so I figured I'd go back and see what everyone was talking about.  Still not sure if I'll agree, but my opinions often change on re-watches, so we'll see.  First episode in, and I can't even remember why I liked Stephenie in the first place.  Nothing about her seemed to have change in her subsequent two appearances, where I grew to actively dislike her.  During the first IC, Ulong was a mess, but it was such a comedic mess.  I've already realized I don't dislike the Koror tribe as much as I remembered.  It was kind of even with having people I liked on both sides.  

Gregg (I forgot there was even a Gregg this season) summed up this season in the first episode when he said their older leaning tribe needed to weaken the younger, more physical Ulong tribe.  Sure didn't take much!

[SVNBob]

1 hour ago, LadyChatts said:

Gregg (I forgot there was even a Gregg this season) summed up this season in the first episode when he said their older leaning tribe needed to weaken the younger, more physical Ulong tribe.

Huh.  In that statement, replace Koror with Tom and Ulong with Ian, and you have the FIC itself.  And the results end up being the same too...

So much of this season summed up in one statement, and the whole season feels rather fractal when you think of it that way.

[KimberStormer]

Ian was younger, but not more physical than Tom, I would say.

To me the Ian thing has always been Katie's doing.  Ian was just a kid with a crush (for some reason).  She was mad at him for some dumb reason.  Heartbroken boys do stupid things to try to get their girlfriends back, even if they were never their girlfriends in the first place.  Maybe especially then.  Tom was just there.

[peachmangosteen]

I always hated Tom, but I'm with @KimberStormer on that being more of Katie's doing. 

But I have the, I'm sure, super UO of rooting for neither Tom nor Ian. I wanted Katie to win lol.

[Guest]

It's been forever since I watched it but it felt to me like Tom was more taking advantage of Ian seeing Tom as a bit of a father figure than seeing Katie as a love interest.  Which is a fair tactic but I liked Ian better than Tom and hated to see him be manipulated on that basis.  I would've respected Tom's win more if he'd won without that manipulation.  

It felt like the opposite of the Adam/Jay stuff to me.  Those two were serious rivals but put that aside for interpersonal respect at times in the game.  Tom used Ian's personal feelings to knock him out.  It'd be like if Jay took Adam's dying mother reveal and used it to put a target on his back that got Adam voted out.  Fair, but kind of sleazy.  

[fishcakes]

I think it was both Katie and Tom who broke Ian down but for different reasons. Katie seemed like she just got off on making Ian feel guilty and cry, but Tom did it as a game tactic, although I don't know if he envisioned Ian dropping out the way he did. I do kind of wonder if Ian would have been as susceptible to Tom's guilt trip had Katie not already worked him over.

[ljenkins782]

3 hours ago, fishcakes said:

I think it was both Katie and Tom who broke Ian down but for different reasons. Katie seemed like she just got off on making Ian feel guilty and cry, but Tom did it as a game tactic, although I don't know if he envisioned Ian dropping out the way he did. I do kind of wonder if Ian would have been as susceptible to Tom's guilt trip had Katie not already worked him over.

I thought Katie was just working him over as part of her strategy to get to the end. She recognized that he had that susceptibility and used it to her advantage. Not the nicest thing to do, but a viable strategy for someone who really had no cards to play. She wasn't athletic, seemed to have some personality clashes with several people (though got along well enough with the people who ended up in control of the game), and wasn't a big contributor around camp. 

I have to somewhat admire her for managing to get all the way to the end after literally sleeping through the last immunity challenge, lol. She was playing for 2nd place money at best and she got it. 

I don't think ANYONE could have ever envisioned Ian stepping down in the manner he did, it's hands down the strangest choice anyone has ever made on this show. A guaranteed $100,000 at worst, a 50/50-ish shot at a million bucks and he turns both down flat AFTER 12 hours standing on a pole in the ocean (from which they both still have nerve damage in their feet, IIRC). I've heard his explanations for it, but I still don't understand it at all.

Good for him for never seeming bitter about it at all. 

Quote

During the first IC, Ulong was a mess, but it was such a comedic mess.  I've already realized I don't dislike the Koror tribe as much as I remembered.  It was kind of even with having people I liked on both sides.

Ulong was just so full of generic people, I preferred Koror the whole way. 

[Guest]

4 hours ago, ljenkins782 said:

it's hands down the strangest choice anyone has ever made on this show.

I haven't watched it since it aired in 2001 or so but Colby taking Tina to the end in Australia and not the awful Keith was a head scratcher for me.  Though I think Colby may have been thinking he could use the public respect of doing "the right thing" more than he could a million.   And that may've been better, I don't know.  I think I lost respect for him and the show when he did that, though.  I didn't watch it again until Gabon 7 years later.  

[Lantern7]

I never thought of Tom as a bully. Tom Buchanan, sure, but not Tom Westman. It does hurt Tom's case that Ian's mind broke into itty-bitty pieces, and he might be the most adorkable contestant in the show's history. In Tom's defense, I heard that he and Ian had a plan before the finale transpired: winner of the Day 38 challenge would take Katie to the final day in order to get the easy win. Tom vs. Ian would've been even more awesome than Ozzy vs. Yul (and Cassandra, technically), since Ian was cute and Tom ran the game like a boss. They were the only contestants to win individual immunity challenges.

[ljenkins782]

3 hours ago, Winston9-DT3 said:

I haven't watched it since it aired in 2001 or so but Colby taking Tina to the end in Australia and not the awful Keith was a head scratcher for me.  Though I think Colby may have been thinking he could use the public respect of doing "the right thing" more than he could a million.   And that may've been better, I don't know.  I think I lost respect for him and the show when he did that, though.  I didn't watch it again until Gabon 7 years later.  

That wasn't too much of a head-scratcher for me because I think Colby assumed he had the win either way and by taking his ally and friend Tina, he had the loyalty rep and public goodwill as well. He wasn't wrong to think he had a great shot and no matter what he's always said in interviews, I never believed he didn't regret underestimating Tina's shot at winning. 

Ian, OTOH, while I will never truly understand his choice, I can actually believe he isnt bitter or regretful. Everything he's done since then seems to be in the non-profit vein and he doesn't appear to be a money-driven person. Colby attempted a modeling/acting career post Survivor and played 2 more times, so I'll always side-eye his claims that he was fine with losing Australia.

[ljenkins782]

1 hour ago, Lantern7 said:

I never thought of Tom as a bully. Tom Buchanan, sure, but not Tom Westman. It does hurt Tom's case that Ian's mind broke into itty-bitty pieces, and he might be the most adorkable contestant in the show's history. In Tom's defense, I heard that he and Ian had a plan before the finale transpired: winner of the Day 38 challenge would take Katie to the final day in order to get the easy win. Tom vs. Ian would've been even more awesome than Ozzy vs. Yul (and Cassandra, technically), since Ian was cute and Tom ran the game like a boss. They were the only contestants to win individual immunity challenges.

It was Becky who sat in the vote-free F3 seat next to Yul and Ozzy, but the general point stands that a Tom/Ian finale would have been one of the most evenly matched final twos in the show's history. If I'd been watching the show in real time, I would have been so bummed to miss out on that showdown and get the Tom/Katie blowout instead.

[LadyChatts]

Just re-watched the 2nd ep.  I loved how perceived weakling Angie dominated the RC.  I wish she could have ended up on Koror.  She would have made the merge, jury, and hopefully been a contender to return at some point.  I guess I forgot Ulong won that RC-I thought they lost every challenge.  Bobby Jon is all sorts of adorable when he gets mad.  I appreciated how he admitted he was wrong about Angie, after she kicked ass in that RC.  And I really love the challenges in the older seasons.  Could be that they were just newer, not as so many repeats, and that they seemed more creative if it came to puzzles/endurance/obstacle courses.  My other favorite moment was during the IC, where the seemingly more physical Ulong struggled with a physically demanding task-and Koror seemed to breeze right through it.  They really didn't not work well as a team.  Perhaps keeping Jolanda around to boss them around might have been a good idea.

On the subject of Ulong, I forgot who half of the people were on that tribe.  Jeff (who I feel could be some relative of Cook Islands Adam), Ashlee (who?), Kim (who?), Ibreham (who?)  Kim and Ashlee made me wonder if they auditioned for Big Brother, yet wound up on the wrong plane and were put on Survivor.

Edited January 8, 2017 by LadyChatts

[Lantern7]

And don't forget Redneck James, who would've been at least a secondary villain in most other seasons. Also, I remember Ulong winning a few rewards. It was the Immunity Challenges that were problematic.

[LadyChatts]

On 1/8/2017 at 1:29 AM, Lantern7 said:

And don't forget Redneck James, who would've been at least a secondary villain in most other seasons. Also, I remember Ulong winning a few rewards. It was the Immunity Challenges that were problematic.

After watching a few episodes, James seems smarter than I remember him being.  I agree that he definitely would have been that villain (or incompetent redneck getting blindsided left and right, but probably the villain).  I did forget Ulong won rewards, and it makes me wonder why they could pull it together for the reward comps, but completely fall apart during the IC.  Some of those immunity losses weren't even lose.  Koror could have taken a nap and still won.

Kim is probably one of the most worthless contestants ever cast.  And I still believe that, despite the fact that 12 years and 24 seasons have gone by.  And yet she couldn't figure out why her tribe wanted her gone so bad, and that she deserved to stay?  Also, when Jeff hurt his ankle on the coconut (something I forgot about, and for some reason found more funny than it was), I half thought he was faking it.  Until I saw how swollen his ankle was, but he seemed kind of happy to be going.  I liked that some of the tribe wasn't going to cave to his demand to vote him off for the good of the tribe.  Kim was more useless with 2 good ankles.

Katie was a bit snarkier than I remember.  I've enjoyed her TH, and I really wish we had seen much more of her in the early part of the season.  I doubt she'd ever be in consideration to come back and play again, or if she'd want to (I remember hearing she got very sick from an infection when she came home), but I'd love to see her and Angie get another go from this season.

[LadyChatts]

I got to the point where I had to just FF through the RC/IC unless I knew Ulong was winning, because it got so painful to watch (which meant I FF through the majority of two tribe IC).  Ulong got some decent leads in the IC, but lost because of one (or more) person's stupidity.  The TC where James was blindsided (back in the day before Probst called every boot a blindside), our fearless host went to town kind of ripping James and Ibreham apart for their poor challenge performance that day.  I thought TPTB would throw poor Ulong a bone somewhere, or at least give them a win in a challenge like the distress signal or building the bathroom RC.  Those at least you can justify giving to one tribe or the other without making it look like you're cheating.  

I'm not a Stephenie fan by any stretch, but her and Bobby Jon were the only thing keeping that tribe afloat.  Without them I cringe to think how much more Ulong would have self destructed.  Over at Koror, it's interesting that a challenge was never thrown, or that Stephenie wasn't utilized at the merge more since she was the last of her original tribe.  I don't know if throwing a challenge was ever discussed, and they just didn't show it.  The first part of the season wasn't as dull as I remember, probably because I knew Ulong was going to be on a losing streak.  I barely remember Gregg aside from his showmance with Jenn, but was surprised at the amount of airtime he got.  I didn't like Ian before, and I don't really care for him on re-watch, either.  Katie was kind of more annoying post-merge, but I'd love to see her and Ian in a Tom-less season.  The ability to feel invincible because you've got King Tom leading you likely attributed to that bit of arrogance.  I thought there was kind of a mean kid mentality when it came to Coby and Janu against Tom's gang.  In the challenge when Janu got sent to exile island, I was glad Jeff called them out for laughing about her predicament.  I doubt that day will ever come, but it'd be interesting if either of them would have different strategy or not.  Tom was annoying with his self appointed leadership role that no one would challenge him on, but he deserved to win.  No one bothered to break up him and Ian when they had the chance.  

I've said before that I miss the days when the castaways got liquored up and falling down drunk.  Alcohol sure seemed plentiful this season.

Edited January 29, 2017 by LadyChatts

[enlightenedbum]

The Janu challenge was edited in obviously misleading ways.  Watch the water level, it's ridiculous.

[LadyChatts]

On 1/29/2017 at 4:07 AM, enlightenedbum said:

The Janu challenge was edited in obviously misleading ways.  Watch the water level, it's ridiculous.

I did, and you are right.  Actually, on second re-watch, that episode was just weird.  Also, it shows how long its been since I've watched Palau, because for some reason, I thought Janu tearfully bowed out for the sake of Stephenie.  Which she did quit, but was more matter of fact and not sugary sweet about it.  In fact, Steph wanted her to re-phrase her reasons for quitting so it didn't sound like she was leaving solely to let her stay in the game.  And when Janu got banished to exile island, I don't remember it going well for her.  Maybe I got her mixed up with some of the others who were sent to exile island in their respective seasons that lost it.  Anyway, Janu was just another casting waste this season.  

I forgot to add, but why did Caryn have to go and squeal to Tom about the women's plan to get rid of the men?  Why can't women work together better on this show?  It's why I say Tom deserved to win, if for any other reason that those idiots didn't bother to get rid of him when they had the chance.  If he competed in a current season like he did in Palau, he'd probably be long gone before the merge.

[KimberStormer]

Not a big Katie fan, but "We can't get a girls alliance going because Caryn sucks" is one of the all-time great confessionals.

[Lantern7]

Like I said in Past Seasons, I felt that Janu didn't have the body for the game in the long run. In a non-lopsided season, she would've been gone before the merge. I also feel Probst nudged her off the ledge so Stephenie would stay in the game. I wonder if she's close with Coby.

ETA: Apologies for forgetting about Becky in my last post here.

[enlightenedbum]

Quote

I forgot to add, but why did Caryn have to go and squeal to Tom about the women's plan to get rid of the men?

Because that was their deal.  Caryn was basically self-aware enough to know she was a sour grump who had no chance with either alliance, so made a side deal with Tom to try to get in with Tom and Ian.  She knew Katie was planning on backstabbery and figured a shot with the two of them to F3 was better than being unceremoniously booted at 4 or 5 in the default options.  Of course, Tom and Ian pulled back Katie to make sure there were no rocks and then dumped her at 5 for being a sour grump anyway, but the thought was decent!

[KimberStormer]

I don't know, I gotta think Caryn had a better chance against Katie and the Queen of Guatemala than against freaking Tom Westman.  It would be hard to construct a less beatable opponent than Tom in a laboratory.  And it's not like he was dragging a bunch of goats so you could take your chance on final immunity -- Ian would destroy anyone else on that island, too.  Take Katie, take Stephenie, egg them on to act like themselves and antagonize the jury, I think Caryn has a 50/50 shot there. 

Even Tom thought it made no sense for Caryn to snitch to him, and found it hard to believe her for that reason, as I recall.

[LadyChatts]

Caryn could have surprised everyone.  I mean, Ulong was on a losing streak, and while Stephenie was probably their most capable member (next to Bobby Jon), I'm convinced after 3 appearances the girl is cursed when it comes to winning challenges.  So it would have left opponents Katie and Jenn to go after.  Of course, with Tom gone, they did have to factor in Gregg and Ian going on winning streaks.  But again, weirder things have happened on this show.  She really torpedoed her own game when she couldn't keep her mouth shut.  Especially in her boot episode and called everyone out for making deals with each other-her excuse being the jury needed to hear what was really going on.  Although she was leaving and had to know it, so I can see her wanting to go out in a blaze of glory.

So can someone explain the Janu thing, because as I mentioned, that episode played out differently than I remembered.  Did she not want to outright quit because she thought she wouldn't be on the jury otherwise?  I thought that's what I remembered, but I also thought it was mentioned in the episode itself, and it wasn't (unless it was cut out).  Editing is weird this season.  The Gregg boot, which I realized was an episode I missed on re-watch, the reactions when Jeff held his name up the second time.  Clearly he had to know something was up since Caryn's name had come up twice, and now his name was up twice.  But the reactions of the jury, Gregg, and Jenn, made it seem like those expressions were out of sequence.  Nothing new, but Survivor seems to have come a long way in terms of less choppy edits (sometimes).  Also, I kind of liked Gregg after thinking about.  Palau actually had a somewhat decent cast, and others besides Steph, Bobby Jon, and Tom that I would have liked to seen back.  I know they've been after Ian to return, but I doubt that'll ever happen since he continually turns them down.  But it's why I often find players returning for the 3rd+ time annoying, because why not give other former castaways a chance to come back?  Yes, I realize it's about bringing in people fans (or who TPTB pretends the fans) want to see, the characters, heroes, villains, story makers, etc.  But it would have been nice to see some others return from this season.

Edited February 1, 2017 by LadyChatts

[enlightenedbum]

But Caryn is booted at four and it's Jenn, Steph, and Katie as F3 if she goes with the women's alliance.  My basic philosophy of Survivor (especially when the final challenge was pure endurance/willpower, before Probst got tired of multi hour marathons) is this: you play to make the final immunity challenge, and then it's all on you.  The only conceivable way Caryn gets there is if she tells Tom and Ian that Katie was stabbing them in the back and then they don't take Katie back.  Considering the whole Katie/Ian crossed wires into each other thing, that was never going to happen, but still.

[KimberStormer]

I guess I don't really recall the Koror dynamics well enough to make this call.  I can see what you're saying, @enlightenedbum.  I do think it's not worth the effort to get to FTC if you can't win it.  You might as well enjoy your peanut butter and cookies at Ponderosa if you're not playing to win.  And taking Tom or Ian to the finals is not playing to win IMO.

[LadyChatts]

Would Jenn and Katie really wanted Stephenie in the final 2, though?  Tom at least told Katie if she betrayed him she wouldn't get his vote in the end, and he seemed to really want to make it work with Stephenie when she first came over to Koror.  Katie and Jenn would have betrayed Gregg (who probably still would have given Jenn his vote), Ian and Tom.  Coby and Janu weren't particularly crazy about Katie, and Jenn was part of that 5 person Koror alliance.  Granted, Caryn wasn't exactly popular, but she might have been able to beat Katie and Jenn.  Her odds would have been better than going up against Tom and Ian.  Going back to Caryn's boot episode, she got the scoop from Katie and Jenn, then ran back to Tom and Ian when they got back from the reward (which makes me wonder what happened to the deal that if Ian or Tom won reward they weren't going to take the other so the women couldn't be left alone).  Then she lays it all out at TC, but what did she think would happen-they'd all come clean, admit she was right, and not turn on her?  I don't know, that was an interesting part of the season there.  This season was actually more interesting and entertaining than I remembered.  Koror had some interesting dynamics going on.  

[enlightenedbum]

Gregg's boot episode is one of the best in the show's history.  Smart planning by all involved (except maybe Katie who jumped a boot early), people deciding to take a major risk, my favorite (Ian) winning out in the end.  Good times.  Maybe the best pre-idol episode, actually.

[LadyChatts]

I've been watching Palau and Borneo.  Palau's been like watching a whole new seaso,n because I apparently cared so little about it the first time, I forgot a bunch of stuff that happened.  Borneo's really been a fun re-watch, since I haven't watched it in awhile.  Going back to where it all started, and seeing how far the show has come, makes me a tad sentimental for the old days (okay, more than a tad).  Also nice to see a season where being named Kelly wasn't another term for 'castaway we are going to ignore all season.'  I just got through one of my favorite episodes, Rudy in the IC where he kept saying "I don't know,", "I don't know."  

Next up I'm doing HvsV.  As far as S34 goes, I'm more anxious to see Jeff's cast assessment than I am anything about the actual cast.  I have a feeling it'll be his best spin yet.

Edited February 2, 2017 by LadyChatts

[Daisy]

From what I remember. They weren't going to vote Janu off, they were going to do something and utalise her vote. And janu was like screw this i'm going to screw your plans but she wanted to make sure that she'd still be on the jury. They stopped rolling, got the verdict, they decided Janu would still be a juror and the rest is history. 

I should ask Coby about that. he's really great about answering Palau-ian questions. maybe there's more. 

[Lamb18]

I'm watching this season right now. They just merged. I really like Stephenie and am glad she came back to later seasons. Bobby Jon looks familiar, what other season did he play?

[Lantern7]

He popped up in the following season, which took place in Guatemala.

[Emilio Jr]

I'm maybe on the minority but was rooting for Ulong since day 1. Korors were unlikeable in my opinion. I wish Ashlee's alliance (Jeff, Kim, James, Angie, Steph) had made the merge.

[AncientNewbie]

Redneck James is one of my favorites. More competent than he seemed with a completely unreliable read on the game, but at least he was trying and funny about it. I wish he'd been back, but no one from this era is probably willing to go through the prep to get fit and ready, much less play again. (Well, Stephenie, because she can afford the time/energy to get competitive again, I guess, but I don't know that Survivor wants her back.)

This is just one of those seasons where casting didn't work out. A lot of interesting people that got eaten by a terrible tribe and dominant duo that went largely untouched throughout the whole game.

Ah, but Stephenie trying to out swim that boat in ep1...quality. (Compare to the start of Cambodia, where 30something Wigglesworth outdistances a raft almost an entire course. Different types of boats, but a really unfortunate comparison for Our Hero Steph.)

[kathyk2]

I never understood why they didn't switch up the up the tribes. Did they really want Tom to win that much? Stephenie didn't stand a chance with her tribe members eliminated.

[SVNBob]

5 minutes ago, kathyk2 said:

I never understood why they didn't switch up the up the tribes.

It was a new experiment.  Most previous pre-merges had close to, if not entirely, equal numbers of challenge losses by both tribes.  No tribe had yet been on that bad a losing streak, until Ulong.  So they decided to let the tribe stand to see if they could put out of the nose dive, or if they'd eventually get down to just the one person.

It also kind of fits the theme of the season: war.  Through that lens, Koror was a victorious nation, dominating most of the war (Ulong won a battle or two (RCs only) here or there) and destroying the opposing army.  And in the end, the last survivor of the Ulong nation surrendered and became a citizen of the conquering nation.  It's almost like the Roman Empire when you look at it like that.

I seriously doubt they'd have made Stephenie or Bobby Jon compete as a tribe of 1 (though I'm pretty sure Bobby Jon would have tried if they'd have let him.), so the absorbing-merge was always going to happen once Ulong became a one-person tribe.

[ratherbereading]

For those wishing an Angie return, she passed away earlier this year after a 3 year battle with cancer. This makes me sad because I loved her and would have loved to see her back.

Fuvk cancer

 

https://www.goldderby.com/feature/angie-jakusz-survivor-palau-dead-1203983218/

[fishcakes]

I liked her a lot too. They did the schoolyard pick for teams that season and she almost got eliminated before the season even began and then she turned out to be a real asset to the tribe. She was well-liked and good in the physical challenges. It was Ulong, which got demolished, so she never had a chance, but I would have liked to see her return again.

[Nashville]

On 9/22/2021 at 11:36 PM, ratherbereading said:

For those wishing an Angie return, she passed away earlier this year after a 3 year battle with cancer. This makes me sad because I loved her and would have loved to see her back.

Fuvk cancer

 

https://www.goldderby.com/feature/angie-jakusz-survivor-palau-dead-1203983218/

https://www.fuckcancer.org - this organization usually has a significant presence at some of the festivals I attend.

Edited September 28, 2021 by Nashville
Expansion

[ljenkins782]

On 2/1/2017 at 12:20 AM, KimberStormer said:

I don't know, I gotta think Caryn had a better chance against Katie and the Queen of Guatemala than against freaking Tom Westman.  It would be hard to construct a less beatable opponent than Tom in a laboratory.  And it's not like he was dragging a bunch of goats so you could take your chance on final immunity -- Ian would destroy anyone else on that island, too.  Take Katie, take Stephenie, egg them on to act like themselves and antagonize the jury, I think Caryn has a 50/50 shot there. 

Even Tom thought it made no sense for Caryn to snitch to him, and found it hard to believe her for that reason, as I recall.

Apologies for quoting such an old post, but I'm rewatching this season now and my opinion on Caryn's stupid move remains that she A. didn't like Katie B. had a little crush-like feeling toward Tom and wanted those little moments of attention that she got from him when she was playing the snitch role. 

It was pretty funny how incredulous Tom was about the story just because it was such a dumb thing for her to do and he couldn't find a reason that it benefited her.

I have this season on DVD and this is one of the few I'd keep even though the show is streaming in so many places because the commentaries for this season are some of the best ever.