Past Seasons Talk: The Tribe Has Spoken

[BK1978]

I still stick by my opinion that Cirie was robbed in Micronesia.  That should have been a final three and I honestly do think that Cirie would have won.  This is not because I cannot stand Parvati and Cirie is one of my favorites, I just think Cirie played a master game that season.  That was the first time she got screwed royally by production.

[Lantern7]

Funny115: The suck that was Dan Foley. Mario throws in a great Day 39 moment that made Dan look like an even bigger asshole.

[meatball77]

Just started Samoa so I get the terribleness that is Russel.  There was also some pretty obvious racism in one of the early episodes.  One of the survivors told another that she was Ghetto Trash. .  . .

[Lantern7]

This is a poster I made on Television Without Pity, back when Samoa was airing. The text is based off an episode recap from Miss Alli.

Edited January 9, 2020 by Lantern7

[Lantern7]

Funny115: Mario has fun with the editors making fun of OtherRussell.

[tvgoddess]

On 12/31/2019 at 1:32 AM, SVNBob said:

On 12/30/2019 at 8:54 PM, cleo said:

I don't know what Amber did to be an 'All Star'.

She said "yes" when they called and asked her to play again, unlike some other people they'd called first.  Worked out pretty well for her too, I'd say.

It kind of worked out well for Rob too, considering they got married and now have four daughters. I'm glad she was on that season if only for the adorable little Mariano tribe.

[Lantern7]

Funny115: Fabios’s introduction to the audience.

[Ms Blue Jay]

On 1/8/2020 at 9:07 PM, meatball77 said:

Just started Samoa so I get the terribleness that is Russel.  There was also some pretty obvious racism in one of the early episodes.  One of the survivors told another that she was Ghetto Trash. .  . .

Yeah there was a really racist guy on that season.  Forget his name, don't even care to remember it either.

[meatball77]

Started Season 21, Nicaragua.  

Great casting so far.  Crazy Naonka.  Shannon at the tribal--Let me ask you now are you gay?  There are so many gay people in New York.  I'm very entertained.

[fishcakes]

5 hours ago, Ms Blue Jay said:

Yeah there was a really racist guy on that season.  Forget his name, don't even care to remember it either.

Ugh. I remember it: Ben. I also remember how Jaison tried to educate him about how words have history and context and that was about as successful as it always is when anyone tries to educate a racist. Ben was also a sadist who apparently tortured little animals out there. One of these days, there will be a tiny blurb about how he's gone to prison, and I won't even be surprised.

[Ms Blue Jay]

4 hours ago, meatball77 said:

Started Season 21, Nicaragua.  

Great casting so far.  Crazy Naonka.  Shannon at the tribal--Let me ask you now are you gay?  There are so many gay people in New York.  I'm very entertained.

I was so in love with Brenda.  

[Lantern7]

Funny115: Jenn roasts everyone on her way out.

I still maintain that Nicaragua sucked a copious amount of ass, and the cast was mediocre on purpose in order to make the Rob vs. Russell showdown season look better by comparison. And that season wound up sucking just as hard. 🙄

[LadyChatts]

22 hours ago, meatball77 said:

Started Season 21, Nicaragua.  

Great casting so far.  Crazy Naonka.  Shannon at the tribal--Let me ask you now are you gay?  There are so many gay people in New York.  I'm very entertained.

Oh god, I forgot about Shannon.  This season for me is summed up by Naonka and Jud.  

[meatball77]

Naonka is a gem.  Hysterical.

[LadyChatts]

I was just watching the Seahawks/Packers game on FOX, and saw that Jimmy Johnson was going to be inducted into the Hall of Fame-which again made me think back to Nicaragua, and the other Jimmy that was on there.  I think he wanted to be the only one named Jimmy on the season and wanted Jimmy Johnson gone because he was threatened by him? 

Anyway, what I most remember about not-Jimmy Johnson was he came on thinking he was going to run things and said something about people would need to take notes because he was going to change how Survivor was played, or something to that effect.  And then he no one let him be the leader, and he fizzled out fast. 

Maybe I need to go back and watch Nicaragua next, because I'm remembering it more fondly than I probably should.

[meatball77]

Nicaragua was not exciting once goddess Naonka was voted off.  She was comedy gold.

Just started Redemption Island.  Phillip is already making me laugh because he is a Special Agent.

[meatball77]

How did the windmill of death challenge ever get approved.  That's horrible.  Although I thought the same thing about the how long can you remain underwater challenge.

[treeofdreams]

13 hours ago, meatball77 said:

Just started Redemption Island.  Phillip is already making me laugh because he is a Special Agent.

Actually, Phillip is a Special Agent?  I love how they put a question mark after that.

I am in the process of watching Redemption Island.  It will be interesting to see if Phillip continues to make you laugh, or starts irritating the bejeebers out of you like he does to everyone else.

 

Edited January 13, 2020 by treeofdreams

[Matteo]

12 hours ago, meatball77 said:

How did the windmill of death challenge ever get approved.  That's horrible.  Although I thought the same thing about the how long can you remain underwater challenge.

Windmill of Death, haha!  Yeah, that is one challenge that would really get to me, being practically drowned upside down with no control (I know they have safety teams and medics and whatnot, but still!).  At least with the "how long can you stay underwater" challenge, the contestants can decide when they've had enough and want to give up (unless they are so committed that they go to the point of blacking out?).

[meatball77]

It just seemed so horrible.  Just being dunked would be bad enough but they had to also fill their mouths with water.

[meatball77]

Made it past the merge and I'm still entertained by Phillip.  I think he's more entertaining on rewatch.

He's had two freakouts on rice.

[Lady Calypso]

So, I fell super behind on Millennials vs Gen X (I got super sick for the last week and a bit) but I finally got around to episode 2. I have a better feeling about a lot of the players. But...I don't know, I'm not fully invested yet. Maybe it's because I took a week and a half break in between episodes, but I'm still pushing through. 

It seems like I may not get to some seasons before February like I've wanted to, but I'm trying to push through to finish this season, watch David vs Goliath, and then watch Philippines and hopefully Danni's season. 

[meatball77]

I got three episodes into South Pacific and decided I couldn't handle Coach and Brandon and Ozzy (god Ozzy loves himself).

So, I just started Oneworld.  The first challenge with the jump of doom was a bad idea.  If Jeff has to shout out safety instructions it's a bad idea.

[Lantern7]

Funny115: The editors wreck Philip. And count me in as being REALLY annoyed by him.

Wasn't "The Challenge From Hell" the one in S16 where Penner had to leave the game, and Joel almost killed Chad by dragging him everywhere?

[meatball77]

Who would thought a simple maze would have caused a player to leave the game and one of the funniest and horrible moments of bad teamwork ever.  Then Joel left before Chet.  lol

I'd much rather do that challenge than the windmill of death.  The first challenge in One World with that giant drop that caused a broken arm.  That was just a bad design.

My favorite challenges are ones that involve spinning around or walking around blindfolded and running into things.

[Nashville]

1 hour ago, Lantern7 said:

Funny115: The editors wreck Philip. And count me in as being REALLY annoyed by him.

I’m not crying, YOU’RE crying.  🤣🤣🤣

[Lantern7]

Funny115: Mario keeps the entries comin’, this time with Kat at the food auction.

[meatball77]

Well, I skipped the second half of One World.  So many unlikable people.

So, onto Philippines.  More returning men.  Three returning player seasons in a row and they just brought back men.  No women they could have found at all?  (now the injured player season was going to be men, there weren't many women who have been medically evacuated). 

[RescueMom]

Doing my first re-watch of San Juan del Sur, and here are a few random thoughts:

- I really like Natalie, even more than I remember liking her the first time I watched

- Amazing wildlife shots in this season, makes me really miss the changing locations 

- I want Keith Nale to play every season

[Lady Calypso]

2 minutes ago, RescueMom said:

- I want Keith Nale to play every season

Maybe it's because I'm a very new Survivor fan and binge watched a whole bunch of seasons in a month, but I honestly don't think Keith is all that. Seeing as I just watched SJDS, but I thought that he acted like a jerk at times. He's definitely not even close to the worst player that I've seen, but he had some moments where he was an ass to some of the women. Jaclyn, in particular, is the one that stands out. 

But that could also be because I was a fan of Jaclyn and Jon that I just happened to notice his behaviour more. Out of all the older male players that I've seen, Keith isn't one that I would necessarily want to see back.

But I also haven't seen Cambodia yet.

[RescueMom]

14 minutes ago, Lady Calypso said:

But I also haven't seen Cambodia yet.

He hasn't been a jerk yet, but I do know that I really liked him in Cambodia, so I must not be remembering stuff from the first time I watched SJDS that is yet to come in my re-watch. I guess I should say "I want Keith Nale from Cambodia to play every season." 

[Lady Calypso]

20 minutes ago, RescueMom said:

He hasn't been a jerk yet, but I do know that I really liked him in Cambodia, so I must not be remembering stuff from the first time I watched SJDS that is yet to come in my re-watch. I guess I should say "I want Keith Nale from Cambodia to play every season." 

Heh.

Again, to be fair, Keith isn't downright horrible, per say. I just didn't really find him interesting, coupled with the episode where Jon is sent to Exile and Jaclyn is alone with the other men in her alliance (I believe it was Wes, Keith, and...Alec? Where they ignored her because Jon wasn't around). I don't think he was a blatant jerk compared to other players, such as basically the entire cast of One World. His behaviour is subtle, and maybe it didn't bother others, but I guess I just noticed it due to my own biases with my favourite players of the season. I just found Keith...average when I watched. Nothing special enough to make me want to see him elsewhere. 

I do see other people agreeing with you about Keith being decently popular character. After all, how else would he have gotten onto Cambodia (I guess besides his ability in challenges)? Then again, I hear Kelley got onto Cambodia and she's a player from SJDS who is pretty forgettable to me. 

[meatball77]

37 minutes ago, Lady Calypso said:

I don't think he was a blatant jerk compared to other players, such as basically the entire cast of One World.

One world was so disappointing.  It had so much promise with the two tribes one beach twist but the players were all so horrible.

[meatball77]

Wow, Otherrussell is a terrible person.  He blew up everytime his tribe lost.  Berated his tribemates.  The way he acted in the first challenge I can't believe his tribe didn't vote him off right then for being so bossy.

[Lamb18]

I started a rewatch of Africa, season 3. They are in East Kenya. In a post in the Improve the Show thread I said when they used to change locations,  the setting became like another character. It certain like that in the Africa season. The opening was just beautiful. I feel like the setting overtakes the show.

[RescueMom]

11 minutes ago, Lamb18 said:

I started a rewatch of Africa, season 3. They are in East Kenya. In a post in the Improve the Show thread I said when they used to change locations,  the setting became like another character. It certain like that in the Africa season. The opening was just beautiful. I feel like the setting overtakes the show.

Africa is one of my favorite locations. There are a couple of night scenes where they are listening to lions literally across the bramble from them - that had to be terrifying!  I miss the different locations so badly.

[SVNBob]

49 minutes ago, RescueMom said:

I miss the different locations so badly.

I watched the finale of Guatemala last night, and I agree.

I saw a suggestion on Reddit that I like, but I'm sure they'd never take.  Every couple of years (4 seasons), leave Fiji for a year and record a couple seasons in a different location.  Then go back to Fiji for a couple more years.

They'd still have their base in Fiji, with all the benefits attached.  But they'd also get the occasional new vista.  And there'd also be time for the Fiji locations to somewhat recover and all the nasty stuff like bacteria and parasites to die.

[fishcakes]

Have there been bacterial infections on Fiji? I know that was common in Cambodia, but I thought part of the reason for staying in Fiji was because the beaches were cleaner.

[Lantern7]

Final115: Ozzy’s final confessional In South Pacific. I think Mario made up that last bit, but it’s too close to happening given Probst & Burnett.

[Eolivet]

On 1/14/2020 at 1:50 PM, ByaNose said:

 I didn't have a problem with Michelle although I was totally shocked that she won. It didn't even occur to me that she could win with the Aubry edit.

Bringing this over from Michele's thread, as it had little to do with her:

I remember this was after the very obvious Jeremy winner's edit in Second Chances, when the editors said they were going to try to be "less obvious" about who won. In the next three seasons, I thought the winners (Michele, Adam and Sarah) were underedited compared to ... well, someone who didn't win (Aubry, David Wright and Brad Culpepper), which was annoying.

I don't want to be fooled, just show me who won and why. If they dominated the season, show me that. This "pull the wool over your eyes" editing was stupid and I'm glad they got away from it when they could (even if it was with freaking Ben).

On 1/15/2020 at 3:06 AM, LadyChatts said:

In all honesty, I'll always believe that Adam's win during MvsGX had at least something to do with them changing the jury format. 

My feeling was it was not only Adam, but Jeremy: two out of three seasons with unanimous winners who ostensibly won unanimously because they dropped a personal bombshell at final tribal council, shocking everyone.

Jeremy revealing his wife was pregnant seemed to have a similar impact on the jury (and a similar result) as Adam crying over his mom.

(I do believe the one swipe the show took at Adam was in David vs Goliath, when Nick revealed his mom had died and was emotional about it on the first night, and one of the Davids was like, "Dude, you should've saved that for the end.")

[Nashville]

3 hours ago, fishcakes said:

Have there been bacterial infections on Fiji? I know that was common in Cambodia, but I thought part of the reason for staying in Fiji was because the beaches were cleaner.

Maybe the Fiji beaches were cleaner back around S33 (in 2016) when TPTB made the decision to permanently park the series there, true - but now we’re talking 7 seasons later.  Humans have been living, eating, pissing and shitting on the same beach camp areas for 3-1/2 years.  With virtually no hygiene, no sanitation facilities, and precious little protection from the environment...?  From an epidemiological standpoint, it’d be frikkin stupid NOT to expect the environment to respond/react in some way to take advantage of the circumstances.  I wouldn’t walk barefoot on that beach now if... well, if you paid me a million dollars.  😄

[meatball77]

I read an article recently where they claimed that they were going to stay in Fiji because the political situation around the world was too difficult and that it's now really comfortable for them in Fiji for multiple reasons.  Another article said that a lot of the challenges they used to do (and variety in challenges) are limited by the terrain.

[LadyChatts]

7 hours ago, RescueMom said:

Africa is one of my favorite locations. There are a couple of night scenes where they are listening to lions literally across the bramble from them - that had to be terrifying!  I miss the different locations so badly.

This is what I loved about Gabon.  Terrible season over all, but the location and shots of wild life made up for it. 

Quote

Have there been bacterial infections on Fiji? I know that was common in Cambodia, but I thought part of the reason for staying in Fiji was because the beaches were cleaner.

I've heard of some contestants coming home sick and having a long recovery (Sierra Dawn Thomas being one of them), but whether it was bacterial or not I don't know.  It might depend what time of year they film, as some get more rain than others.  

Quote

 

My feeling was it was not only Adam, but Jeremy: two out of three seasons with unanimous winners who ostensibly won unanimously because they dropped a personal bombshell at final tribal council, shocking everyone.

Jeremy revealing his wife was pregnant seemed to have a similar impact on the jury (and a similar result) as Adam crying over his mom.

(I do believe the one swipe the show took at Adam was in David vs Goliath, when Nick revealed his mom had died and was emotional about it on the first night, and one of the Davids was like, "Dude, you should've saved that for the end.")

 

I forgot about Jeremy, but your right.  He purposely said he was saving it until the end, partly so he wouldn't be targeted, but also to have some big emotional moment at TC.  Whose going to vote against the guy who just revealed his wife's having a baby, and revealed the gender to him during the family visit-much less vote against the guy who cried about his mother dying and that this was her dream for him to play Survivor?  In Adam's case, I don't want to sound insensitive, but he just turned the waterworks on a little too conveniently for me.

 

Edited January 16, 2020 by LadyChatts

[treeofdreams]

I just finished watching Redemption Island.  Had to laugh when at FTC Rob said he never ever would do Survivor again.

[Lady Calypso]

So, I'm very happy to be back on track with my Survivor Binge Watch. I just got to the merge episode for Millennials vs Gen X. I am enjoying this season a lot now that I've watched a bunch of episodes in a row. A lot of these players are very compelling. Even if I'm not rooting for them, even the ones I hate are interesting and not frustrating to watch.

I can't say for sure who exactly are my favourites. I do like a whole bunch of them. But really, even Jay is someone who I don't actively hate. It's nice; I can see why people enjoy this season. It's pretty good so far.

[RescueMom]

2 hours ago, Lady Calypso said:

So, I'm very happy to be back on track with my Survivor Binge Watch. I just got to the merge episode for Millennials vs Gen X. I am enjoying this season a lot now that I've watched a bunch of episodes in a row. A lot of these players are very compelling. Even if I'm not rooting for them, even the ones I hate are interesting and not frustrating to watch.

I can't say for sure who exactly are my favourites. I do like a whole bunch of them. But really, even Jay is someone who I don't actively hate. It's nice; I can see why people enjoy this season. It's pretty good so far.

One of my favorite players that season was someone I didn't care for much at the start. I won't say who for now so I don't spoil anything for you. This is one of my favorite seasons and I love so many of the players! Glad it turned around for you! 

[Guest]

Millennials vs. Gen X is one of my very favorite seasons, in part because it was pretty good-natured (at least relatively speaking). There was some friction early on (Michaela vs. Figgy, for example) but over all it was fairly pleasant. At least in my memory. 

Plus it had Michelle Schubert, who I found absolutely fascinating (and beautiful, I admit) and who was sadly under-presented. She had a slam-dunk awesome moment in episode two, then pretty much disappeared until she was gone. Had to rely on the bonus videos to really follow her game 😞 

Edited January 19, 2020 by tracyscott76

[Lady Calypso]

6 minutes ago, tracyscott76 said:

Millennials vs. Gen X is one of my very favorite seasons, in part because it was pretty good-natured (at least relatively speaking). There was some friction early on (Michaela vs. Figgy, for example) but over all it was fairly pleasant. At least in my memory. 

I can confirm that, for the most part, it is good natured. Michaela vs Figgy and then a small moment of Bret taunting David's anxiety is, so far, the only moments that haven't made the players look good. Oh, and I guess technically the Michaela blindside, where Jay was smirking at her as her votes were read. 

I'm very nearly done now. I just finished the Loved Ones episode, and I am really enjoying a lot of the players. I don't think I hate a single player. And I say this as someone who was annoyed with Jay pre-merge. He really DID get better post-merge. I remember reading some comments online about people's opinions on Jay and I didn't think it was possible for him to get better...but he genuinely did. I'd like to think that Taylor being voted out contributed to it (I didn't like Taylor, tbh). 

As for players, I've really enjoyed Hannah, I've really enjoyed Adam (even putting aside his sad story about his mom, he seems like a really great guy; if I knew him in real life, he seems like the type I'd be friends with). I've grown to like David (not my favourite but better than he was in episode 1). I've grown to actually like Jay, and I like Bret and Zeke. Ken's alright, but they definitely dropped the ball on his edit. Same with Sunday, who gets screentime sometimes and then I forget that she's there other times. 

As for other players, I did enjoy Jessica and Michaela a lot. And yes, I wish we had more Michelle because she really started off strong and then either she stopped making any moves or the show stopped editing her in. It's a shame. 

I should be able to finally finish Millennials vs Gen X today and then start on David vs Goliath. 

[Guest]

8 minutes ago, Lady Calypso said:

I can confirm that, for the most part, it is good natured. Michaela vs Figgy and then a small moment of Bret taunting David's anxiety is, so far, the only moments that haven't made the players look good. Oh, and I guess technically the Michaela blindside, where Jay was smirking at her as her votes were read. 

[...]

As for players, I've really enjoyed Hannah, I've really enjoyed Adam (even putting aside his sad story about his mom, he seems like a really great guy; if I knew him in real life, he seems like the type I'd be friends with). I've grown to like David (not my favourite but better than he was in episode 1). I've grown to actually like Jay, and I like Bret and Zeke. Ken's alright, but they definitely dropped the ball on his edit. Same with Sunday, who gets screentime sometimes and then I forget that she's there other times. 

As for other players, I did enjoy Jessica and Michaela a lot. And yes, I wish we had more Michelle because she really started off strong and then either she stopped making any moves or the show stopped editing her in. It's a shame. 

Yeah, I remembered the Bret/David moment - mostly because it stood out so much. But I just see that as a temporary aberration brought on by stress; Bret was pretty chill overall. I didn't remember Jay smirking exactly, but I did appreciate his stone cold "yeah" when Michaela asked if he turned on her. And Michaela did her share of smirking and tea-sipping and hair-flipping, so she could stand to take a little smirking sent her way (full disclosure: I am not really a Michaela fan lol)

I'm not a huge fan of Adam, but I do kind of hope he does well in the upcoming Winners season so he can show that he can play without "using" personal tragedy. Not that I want him to win, just do well lol. And I grew to like David as well. He was the only returnee from the recent Edge of Extinction fiasco who didn't annoy me.

As for Michelle, she said in an interview that her allies Jay and Taylor told her to lay low at the merge to avoid being a target, so she took her foot off the gas, strategy-wise, and it came back to bite her. She admitted her mistake...in listening to them lol.

[RescueMom]

13 minutes ago, Lady Calypso said:

I can confirm that, for the most part, it is good natured. Michaela vs Figgy and then a small moment of Bret taunting David's anxiety is, so far, the only moments that haven't made the players look good. Oh, and I guess technically the Michaela blindside, where Jay was smirking at her as her votes were read. 

I'm very nearly done now. I just finished the Loved Ones episode, and I am really enjoying a lot of the players. I don't think I hate a single player. And I say this as someone who was annoyed with Jay pre-merge. He really DID get better post-merge. I remember reading some comments online about people's opinions on Jay and I didn't think it was possible for him to get better...but he genuinely did. I'd like to think that Taylor being voted out contributed to it (I didn't like Taylor, tbh). 

As for players, I've really enjoyed Hannah, I've really enjoyed Adam (even putting aside his sad story about his mom, he seems like a really great guy; if I knew him in real life, he seems like the type I'd be friends with). I've grown to like David (not my favourite but better than he was in episode 1). I've grown to actually like Jay, and I like Bret and Zeke. Ken's alright, but they definitely dropped the ball on his edit. Same with Sunday, who gets screentime sometimes and then I forget that she's there other times. 

As for other players, I did enjoy Jessica and Michaela a lot. And yes, I wish we had more Michelle because she really started off strong and then either she stopped making any moves or the show stopped editing her in. It's a shame. 

I should be able to finally finish Millennials vs Gen X today and then start on David vs Goliath. 

OK, now I can say it, Jay is the one I really didn't care for in the beginning but by the end I wanted to adopt him. 

There are so many players I really loved that season. I would love to see Michelle get a second chance for sure. Michaela is one of my all-time favorites.

And then you get David vs Goliath!! Another amazing season!! Can't wait to read your takes on it!