Survivor In The Media

[TVFan1]

I always hated the fire making challenge. It was said that if a strong player loses the final 4 immunity challenge that the other 3 players simply vote them out. That's the point. The other 3 players know that they won't win if they let them through. If the "strong player" had a better social game and convinced everyone to keep them or actually won the final 4 immunity challenge, then they would deserve to make it to the final 3. 

 

[tv echo]

Midseason Ratings Report Card: CBS’ Most- and Least-Watched Shows
By Matt Webb Mitovich   December 27, 2024 
https://tvline.com/ratings/best-worst-cbs-tv-shows-viewers-2024-2025-1235392982/ 

Quote

15    Survivor    5.95 million    0.91        Broadcast’s #1-rated non-sports program; TV’s second-most watched, #1-rated reality show

[tv echo]

Putnam Valley’s Sue Smey — ‘Survivor’s’ Bronze winner
Mid-Hudson News Staff   December 30, 2024
https://midhudsonnews.com/2024/12/30/putnam-valleys-sue-smey-survivors-bronze-winner/ 

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PUTNAM VALLEY – Sue Smey has returned to Putnam Valley with a bronze medal, $85,000 in prize money and weighing less than 100 pounds following an experience of a lifetime.

[tv echo]

Survivor: All 47 Seasons Ranked From Worst to Best — Which Top Your List?
By Nick Caruso   December 29, 2024
https://tvline.com/lists/survivor-seasons-ranked-best-worst-photos/ 

Survivor’s Best and Worst Winners, Ranked
By Nick Caruso   January 1, 2025 
https://tvline.com/lists/survivor-winners-ranked-best-worst-photos/ 

[seacliffsal]

After reading both of those articles, I am really reminded how much I forget about the seasons and the winners (let alone the other contestants) even though I've seen every episode.  I do remember a few, but basically forget all about the seasons as soon as they end.  

[Nashville]

17 minutes ago, seacliffsal said:

After reading both of those articles, I am really reminded how much I forget about the seasons and the winners (let alone the other contestants) even though I've seen every episode.  I do remember a few, but basically forget all about the seasons as soon as they end.  

You and 99.5% of the rest of the population - including me.  😉

[LadyChatts]

I think it’s impossible to really rank all the seasons because so many blur together.  I could probably do top 10, but most of mine would be older seasons because they are largely what I remember.  I’m not even sure if I could do a bottom 10 anymore.  And this new era of Survivor is particularly bad for me.  I totally forgot 41 and 43 even happened (though 43 I think is partly wanting to forget).  I feel like I’ll remember 47 fondly, but I thought the same thing about 44 and 45 when they ended and yet they are a very distant memory that they might as well have happened 20 years ago.

I did get a kick out of the author ranking Thailand as dead last.  Even after all these years and so many doozies, Thailand still can’t get out of its slump as being considered one of the worst seasons to ever grace our TVs.  

[KeithJ]

On 1/2/2025 at 10:22 AM, seacliffsal said:

After reading both of those articles, I am really reminded how much I forget about the seasons and the winners (let alone the other contestants) even though I've seen every episode.  I do remember a few, but basically forget all about the seasons as soon as they end.  

Same here.  I'd like to know though how these "superfans" on the show can remember pretty much every single thing and player names that have been on during past seasons.  Do they just have great memories?  Do they watch previous seasons non-stop and study them?  I have seen every episode of Survivor and can maybe name 5-10 winners off the top of my head.

[ljenkins782]

15 hours ago, LadyChatts said:

I think it’s impossible to really rank all the seasons because so many blur together.  I could probably do top 10, but most of mine would be older seasons because they are largely what I remember.  I’m not even sure if I could do a bottom 10 anymore.  And this new era of Survivor is particularly bad for me.  I totally forgot 41 and 43 even happened (though 43 I think is partly wanting to forget).  I feel like I’ll remember 47 fondly, but I thought the same thing about 44 and 45 when they ended and yet they are a very distant memory that they might as well have happened 20 years ago.

I did get a kick out of the author ranking Thailand as dead last.  Even after all these years and so many doozies, Thailand still can’t get out of its slump as being considered one of the worst seasons to ever grace our TVs.  

Yeah, I've enjoyed some of the recent seasons as they happened, but they exit my brain immediately thereafter, whereas those earlier seasons are taking up perhaps too much space.

For me, I think I can pinpoint the Philippines season as the last of the really memorable seasons for me (although there were some duds for me before that). For the following seasons, there are moments here and there that stand out, but in terms of a whole season narrative, I think Philippines is the last one. 

[Nashville]

9 hours ago, KeithJ said:

Same here.  I'd like to know though how these "superfans" on the show can remember pretty much every single thing and player names that have been on during past seasons.  Do they just have great memories?  

Don’t know about anybody else, but I’m pretty certain my available resources of functional brain matter are significantly reduced from days past - and when it comes to stuff I consider it important to retain in memory, old Survivor season cast rosters are right down there along with the precinct return numbers from the 1996 county dog catcher election.

[tv echo]

‘Survivor 47’ Proves It’s Time To Bring Back the Fan Favorite Award
By Madalyn Carter   Jan 5, 2025
https://collider.com/survivor-fan-favorite-award/ 

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Survivor 47 was a season full of determined, inspiring, and likable castaways. Castaways like Sam Phalen – a scrappy player working from the bottom for nearly the entire season who narrowly managed to snag a spot at Final Tribal Council following an intense fire-making showdown – or Solomon “Sol” Yi – who, as the second member of the jury, didn’t quite get the chance to show off his strategic prowess, but was lauded across social media anyway for his calm demeanor in tense situations and even his sense of style as he sported iconic outfits from the jury bench at tribal council – are well-deserved of the Fan Favorite title. And that’s just to name a few.

Edited January 6 by tv echo

[tv echo]

Boston Rob Admits He Didn't See Survivor: All-Stars 'Through the Jury's Eyes': 'I Killed Friendships' (Exclusive)
By Dana Rose Falcone   January 7, 2025
https://people.com/boston-rob-admits-he-didnt-see-survivor-all-stars-through-the-jurys-eyes-exclusive-8770724 

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Boston Rob Mariano knows he can be a cutthroat gamer.

“There's something for playing hard,” the Survivor alum, 49, tells PEOPLE. “Like, in Survivor: All-Stars back in 2003 in Panama, I legitimately did everything that I needed to do to get to the end. I cut throats, I killed friendships and I expected them to give it to me at the end.”

Instead, the jury gave the win to Amber Brkich, who Mariano proposed to in the All-Stars live reunion show and married in April 2005.

Today, “I stand by my gameplay,” Mariano says. “But I didn't take into account that I was going to have to be accountable at the end of it, meaning I didn't see it through the jury's eyes.”
*  *  *
Mariano says his takeaways from his aggressive All-Stars season helped him come back and win Redemption Island in 2011. “I had to learn you can't just treat all these other people just like game pieces,” he explains. “You have to understand they're people, they have feelings, and act accordingly.”

The father of four calls it “a balancing act” to figure out how to navigate preserving relationships with his castmates while also keeping his eyes on the prize. “And I think finding that balance really is the key to doing well in these reality competition games,” Mariano says.
*  *  *
Mariano ultimately feels proud of his run on Survivor, which began with Marquesas in 2004.

“I thought I did good my first time out in Marquesas,” he says. “I didn't ultimately win, but I understood the strategy better than the people did at the time. I feel like I understood the theory of it beyond what was even considered what should be done. Even taking Hunter [Ellis] out in the very first loss on Marquesas, people were like, ‘What are they doing? We shouldn't get rid of Captain America.’ In the back of my mind, I'm thinking, ‘While this guy's here, how am I supposed to win?’”

Edited January 12 by tv echo