Past Seasons Talk: The Tribe Has Spoken

[Lady Calypso]

1 minute ago, tracyscott76 said:

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 agree. I mentioned it, but I don't hold it against Bret because we saw so many other instances where he WAS there for people like Hannah and David. It's a moment still worth mentioning because it WAS uncool to say. Otherwise, Bret was great. I wouldn't hate to see Bret return. 

Also, because I first saw Bret on The Amazing Race last year with Chris and I can confirm that I liked Bret more than Chris. 

Similarly to Eliza/Corrine. I haven't seen any of Corrine's seasons, but now that I've seen Eliza, I can say that I didn't hate Eliza on TAR. 

3 minutes ago, tracyscott76 said:

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)

That's fair. I grew to like Michaela...once her whole obsession with Figgy was toned down, of course. I thought she had a lot of potential as a player. I know she does return for Game Changers so I'm excited to see her there.

4 minutes ago, tracyscott76 said:

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.

I know that David's on EoE, so whenever I get around to that season (won't be for a while), I wonder how I'll like him there. 

I agree about Adam. I think that it's a shame that this season has relied so heavily on his sob story. He really is a likeable guy to me and I think, although not a perfect player, he had a lot of game in him. Plus, I like that Adam hasn't resorted to using his story as a way to stay in the game. Now, I know he uses his story in FTC, but I don't know how much that would factor into his win. Either way, he's one of the ones I'm most excited to see play in season 40. Him, Michele, and Yul are the three, so far, who I want to see the most because it'll be their second seasons playing, and I do genuinely want to see if they are as good of players as I hope they are. 

[Guest]

45 minutes ago, Lady Calypso said:

I know that David's on EoE, so whenever I get around to that season (won't be for a while), I wonder how I'll like him there.

No rush lol.

[fishcakes]

1 hour ago, RescueMom said:

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.

Same. I thought he was going to be a bag of douche, but then we saw his friendship with Adam (especially that moment when Adam told him about his mom and Jay tried to hide his own tears) and then his reaction on getting voted out. Such a good guy. I would love to see him return.

1 hour ago, Lady Calypso said:

Also, because I first saw Bret on The Amazing Race last year with Chris and I can confirm that I liked Bret more than Chris.

I was indifferent to Bret in the beginning, then I grew to dislike him, probably because I thought he was unnecessarily harsh to Hannah who was my girl that season. I loved him on TAR though. He and Chris were pretty unremarkable on Survivor, but they were good racers and edited to show tons more personality on TAR.

[Lady Calypso]

2 hours ago, fishcakes said:

Same. I thought he was going to be a bag of douche, but then we saw his friendship with Adam (especially that moment when Adam told him about his mom and Jay tried to hide his own tears) and then his reaction on getting voted out. Such a good guy. I would love to see him return.

I think what also helped Jay is not being around Taylor. When Jay was with Taylor, I think his douchemeter went WAY up. Taylor was a super sore loser, which is why I could never like Taylor. Plus, Taylor wasn't very smart. Figgy wasn't smart at all, which is why they kind of were a match for the game, but Taylor was somewhat on another level. 

And, yeah, Jay/Adam's friendship was really cool to watch. Like Jay said in one confessional, they had a love/hate relationship but it felt genuine. 

I didn't think even at the beginning of yesterday that I'd want to see Jay again. Now, I wouldn't be opposed to his return. There's quite a few players I'd like to see again from this season. Bret, Hannah, Michelle, and maybe even someone who got booted early, like Mari. I also wouldn't argue against Will coming back. He was so young when he played this season. Now that he's older (I think he's 22 or something by now?), he might be a better player. He still got really far here, so that's already impressive. And Will didn't even seem to have the greatest allies or game in this season. He got lucky with being able to be invisible through most of his game. 

And I don't really like Will that much. He's alright, but nothing special. 

[Lady Calypso]

So, I guess a bit of an update on my rankings for the seasons I've watched so far, which HAVE changed, somewhat:

1. Micronesia
2. Heroes vs Villains
3. Millennials vs Gen X
4. Cagayan
5. Pearl Islands
6. San Juan del Sur
7. Kaoh Rong
8. Cook Islands
9. Australian Outback
10. Amazon
11. Island of the Idols
12. One World

As you can see, I shuffled quite a few placements. I did end up dropping Cook Islands after some thought (I realize that I may like some of the players but can't remember the other players at all), and I ended up shuffling Pearl Islands up a few places. Kaoh Rong was almost switched with Pearl Islands but then I realized that Jason/Scot pissed me off so much in Kaoh Rong, and I didn't like the editing for Kaoh Rong at all. I liked quite a few of the players, but the poor edit with too much focus on only a select number of players (and not even a good edit with the actual WINNER of the season) along with Jason/Scot lowered it for me. I almost placed it under Cook Islands, and that's still a possibility for me. 

And Pearl Islands really WAS solid. It's still below some seasons because of some players (Lil...) but PI really is a great season. 

San Juan is still fairly high up because of the memorable players, especially from Natalie. Her gameplay post-merge is impressive to me. I loved her style of play because it was so cut-throat and ruthless. And I still have Jon and Jaclyn as two of my favourite players that I've seen from the 12 seasons that I've watched. 

As for Millennials vs Gen X, I do have it as number 3, above Cagayan, just because I really enjoyed the gameplay from this season better. I liked a lot more players from MvGX than Cagayan. Also, the blindsides were just a bit better for me. And I think I like Adam as a winner a bit more than Tony. I think, for me, Tony was helped a lot by Trish. Tony was very erratic in his gameplay, and I think he was also helped by a whole bunch of idols (and using the threat of having idols to scare the players enough to not target him). Adam had a bit more of a difficult journey, starting on the outside and finding his way in, even as he betrayed basically all of his allies at some point. 

That's not to say Adam played the best game either. He made quite a few mistakes of his own. He even owned all of those mistakes, both in his confessionals and to the people he pissed off along the way. I didn't like him running to Taylor to confess his secrets. He should have pushed harder for David to go instead of Sunday. He's middle tier in terms of winners, from all the seasons I've seen. But...he's not the worst winner. He's played a solid game; I'm still debating whether he played a better game than Tony. I might actually need to...rewatch Cagayan, surprisingly. 

However, I'm flexible to move Cagayan above MvGX upon some more reflection. It could definitely be recency bias, as I just finished the season.

[Eolivet]

I think mvgx is one of the best cast seasons of the 30s. Eight of them have been on TV again (four on Survivor). And after the nastiness of the preceding season (and the hideous characters on Worlds Apart), it was kind of refreshing to me to have the biggest villain be ... the guy who stole food and bragged about it.

I also love it for completely breaking out of the "Naviti Strong" mold (i.e., staying with one's original tribe). Tons of tribal and alliance-shifting, and the alliance that made it to F4 was 2 millennials, 2 Gen Xers.

I loved the editing that season. That reward steal arc was brilliant -- with the foreshadowing and carrying through multiple episodes, and it gave an actual point to the family visit as part of an existing plot arc.

And I do love Jay, who I think had the type of character arc you see more on a scripted drama than Survivor: chill surfer dude to low-key villain to a well-rounded, humanized character. That he kept Adam's secret about his mom and was loyal to Adam until the end, even though Adam kept lying to him and blindsiding him, was great TV, to me.

That hammock scene was one of the most raw, emotional scenes I've ever seen on Survivor, and I cry real tears that Jay will likely never be on this show again because of the shows he's chosen to appear on since. He and Adam were roommates in LA, which validated their improbable closeness from the show, and that was a trip while it lasted.

Anyway, I have a lot of feelings about mvgx, so I'll stop now.

Edited January 20, 2020 by Eolivet

[LadyChatts]

I'm in the minority, but I didn't care for MvsGX that bad.  A big part of it is Adam's win took it way down for me.  I will say, after seeing Brett and Chris on The Amazing Race, I wish we had seen that side of them on Survivor.  I don't think it was for lack of trying on their part, just lack of editing.    

[SVNBob]

11 hours ago, Lady Calypso said:

Taylor was a super sore loser, which is why I could never like Taylor. Plus, Taylor wasn't very smart. Figgy wasn't smart at all, which is why they kind of were a match for the game, but Taylor was somewhat on another level. 

Yeah, about that...

IIRC, Taylor broke up with his girlfriend shortly before going on Survivor, mainly so he could possibly hook up with someone without a guilty conscience.  Enter the -mance with Figgy.  Which was apparently more than just for show on both their parts.  They had plans to continue the relationship post-Survivor.  And did so for a little while after they got back.

Until Taylor learned that the girl he broke up with was pregnant, and he was the father.  He did do the adult thing and take responsibility for his child, but that also meant the end of the relationship with Figgy.

(Now, based on the filming dates and the approximate date of the child's birth, I do believe that Taylor was totally unaware of the pregnancy before he left for the game.  The fact that he apparently stepped up immediately upon finding out lends credence to that.)

[fishcakes]

That whole thing with his ex-girlfriend and Figgy gave me a lot more respect for Taylor, first because he decided to try to make it work with the ex- once he found out about the baby and also because he never once said a bad thing about Figgy. Figgy, as I recall, went on a social media tear about how Taylor was trash and promised to disembowel him at the reunion. Hilariously, she tried to launch into her prepared speech and Jeff shut her down with, essentially, "eh, no one made you have a showmance."

[Lady Calypso]

So, I'm on episode two of David vs Goliath. So far, not too bad. At the moment, I still like Millennials vs Gen X a bit better, but I know this season is extremely highly regarded as a fantastic season so I'm looking forward to hopefully feeling the same way. I'm really loving the David tribe. I'm not too sure about the Goliath tribe yet.

 I am trying really, really hard to not look up ANYTHING about the season, but it's hard when I want to know some facts or try to place a face to the name. Besides knowing that Nick wins this season, and knowing some of the players who get decently far (not their placements, of course), I have pretty much zero knowledge of how things go.

But...I'm a naturally curious person so I feel like I need to ask you guys about some very vague spoilers to look forward to this season. I'm hoping that, if I get some fun tidbits to tie me over while I watch (for example, "there's some big move made at final 9 that'll knock your socks off"....or "Lyrsa gets screwed over by Gabby, but I won't tell you when that happens" or "Mike gets screwed over by a twist" or something, without giving me the actual details), it will refrain me from looking up actual spoilers and accidentally stumbling across placements, for example. Unfortunately, for all the other seasons I've watched, I ended up knowing half of the placements so I'm trying to be really good here. 

[RescueMom]

20 minutes ago, Lady Calypso said:

So, I'm on episode two of David vs Goliath. So far, not too bad. At the moment, I still like Millennials vs Gen X a bit better, but I know this season is extremely highly regarded as a fantastic season so I'm looking forward to hopefully feeling the same way. I'm really loving the David tribe. I'm not too sure about the Goliath tribe yet.

 I am trying really, really hard to not look up ANYTHING about the season, but it's hard when I want to know some facts or try to place a face to the name. Besides knowing that Nick wins this season, and knowing some of the players who get decently far (not their placements, of course), I have pretty much zero knowledge of how things go.

But...I'm a naturally curious person so I feel like I need to ask you guys about some very vague spoilers to look forward to this season. I'm hoping that, if I get some fun tidbits to tie me over while I watch (for example, "there's some big move made at final 9 that'll knock your socks off"....or "Lyrsa gets screwed over by Gabby, but I won't tell you when that happens" or "Mike gets screwed over by a twist" or something, without giving me the actual details), it will refrain me from looking up actual spoilers and accidentally stumbling across placements, for example. Unfortunately, for all the other seasons I've watched, I ended up knowing half of the placements so I'm trying to be really good here. 

There is an great episode where several people in trouble pool their advantages and play them *perfectly* in an amazing blindside! Is that the kind of thing you are looking for? I hope?

[Lady Calypso]

11 minutes ago, RescueMom said:

There is an great episode where several people in trouble pool their advantages and play them *perfectly* in an amazing blindside! Is that the kind of thing you are looking for? I hope?

Yes, exactly this! I just need something to prevent me from going to search David vs Goliath and stumble upon any sort of real spoilers. 

[RescueMom]

6 minutes ago, Lady Calypso said:

Yes, exactly this! I just need something to prevent me from going to search David vs Goliath and stumble upon any sort of real spoilers. 

OK, here are a couple more, keeping the deliberately really vague. We find out that of the contestants really, really likes beer. Makes for some fun times. Also, there is a super entertaining endurance challenge where we find out that Christian can talk for a really long time...

[SVNBob]

Another tidbit:

A humorous memetic moment happens in episode 5.  It's another case of you'll know it when you see it.

[RescueMom]

4 hours ago, SVNBob said:

Another tidbit:

A humorous memetic moment happens in episode 5.  It's another case of you'll know it when you see it.

OMG how could I have forgotten to mention that!?!?!? I need to rewatch this season stat!!

[Lady Calypso]

I just got to the end of the fourth episode of DvG, the episode with the tribe swap....and I got a grin on my face over who just got voted out. I don't know if I've been this giddy about someone getting voted out since...I don't know, Scot from Kaoh Rong? And then before that, Colton's evacuation from One World?

Ok, you got me, DvG. I can see why you are so well respected in the Survivor community. 

Going spoiler-free has been the best decision I've made. 

[RescueMom]

16 minutes ago, Lady Calypso said:

I just got to the end of the fourth episode of DvG, the episode with the tribe swap....and I got a grin on my face over who just got voted out. I don't know if I've been this giddy about someone getting voted out since...I don't know, Scot from Kaoh Rong? And then before that, Colton's evacuation from One World?

Ok, you got me, DvG. I can see why you are so well respected in the Survivor community. 

Going spoiler-free has been the best decision I've made. 

"You really trust these girls?" "No."

[Lady Calypso]

3 minutes ago, RescueMom said:

"You really trust these girls?" "No."

Alec cracked me up and solidified him as a solid player for me. Maybe that'll change down the line, but he became my temporary favourite, at least for episode 4.

Buh-bye Natalia! 

[RescueMom]

Fun fact about DvG - Davie was a last-minute addition to the cast when another contestant couldn't play for some reason. They basically called him and said "uh, can you get on a plane right now?" IIRC, it was maybe 40 hours before filming started. 

[Lady Calypso]

4 minutes ago, RescueMom said:

Fun fact about DvG - Davie was a last-minute addition to the cast when another contestant couldn't play for some reason. They basically called him and said "uh, can you get on a plane right now?" IIRC, it was maybe 40 hours before filming started. 

Wow, that's crazy, and a fabulous decision. I actually really like Davie. I'm so glad they got him. 

[Lady Calypso]

18 hours ago, SVNBob said:

Another tidbit:

A humorous memetic moment happens in episode 5.  It's another case of you'll know it when you see it.

And...I got to episode 5....and I got to the moment. 

[Lantern7]

1 hour ago, RescueMom said:

Fun fact about DvG - Davie was a last-minute addition to the cast when another contestant couldn't play for some reason. They basically called him and said "uh, can you get on a plane right now?" IIRC, it was maybe 40 hours before filming started. 

Wasn’t that Earl’s deal? He was called in last minute AND he had never watched the show.

ETA: I meant that was Earl’s deal as well.

Edited January 22, 2020 by Lantern7

[RescueMom]

5 minutes ago, Lantern7 said:

Wasn’t that Earl’s deal? He was called in last minute AND he had never watched the show.

I don't know. The only two seasons I still haven't seen are Fiji and China. Amazing that he won if he had never watched the show and had very little warning!!

9 minutes ago, Lady Calypso said:

And...I got to episode 5....and I got to the moment. 

Natalie? Natalie? Natalie? 

[Lady Calypso]

I can't be too mad at Natalie getting voted out. I was just watching her through my laptop screen and I was getting irritated by her. And what's worse is that she couldn't see WHY people were annoyed with her. 

But that Jacket situation was just hilarious. I loved the whole "Worth a million dollars?" "Guess not" moment at the end. 

[LadyChatts]

1 hour ago, RescueMom said:

Fun fact about DvG - Davie was a last-minute addition to the cast when another contestant couldn't play for some reason. They basically called him and said "uh, can you get on a plane right now?" IIRC, it was maybe 40 hours before filming started. 

I heard rumors it was actually Cirie's son, but I don't know if that was ever verified.  Supposedly, whoever Davie replaced was going to be on the Goliath tribe, and Alec was going to be on the Davids tribe.  However, when Davie was cast, they switched them around.  That led some people to think that's why Alec was quick to turn on the Goliath's.  Not sure if any of that is true, however!

Quote

Also, there is a super entertaining endurance challenge where we find out that Christian can talk for a really long time...

Unfortunately, we didn't even get to see the best part of that.

Quote

That whole thing with his ex-girlfriend and Figgy gave me a lot more respect for Taylor, first because he decided to try to make it work with the ex- once he found out about the baby and also because he never once said a bad thing about Figgy. Figgy, as I recall, went on a social media tear about how Taylor was trash and promised to disembowel him at the reunion. Hilariously, she tried to launch into her prepared speech and Jeff shut her down with, essentially, "eh, no one made you have a showmance."

IIRC, Taylor was pretty mum on SM while Figgy went on her warpath, and people ended up respecting him a lot more when they found out the real reason why he broke it off with her.  I know there was obvious speculation that Taylor had his pregnant girlfriend back home, and how dare he screw Figgy's game over (despite both of them consenting to a show mance), and Figgy tried to make the situation into something it wasn't, but in the end, she did come out looking like some scorned lover.  I think it might have been when people found out that they were together for a little bit back home that the tide turned on her? 

Edited January 22, 2020 by LadyChatts

[meatball77]

Watching BvW2.  I skipped the second half of Brains Vs Beauty Vs Brawn and BvW1.  I tend to get bored after the merge and skip to the next season.

[simplyme]

5 hours ago, Lantern7 said:

Wasn’t that Earl’s deal? He was called in last minute AND he had never watched the show.

ETA: I meant that was Earl’s deal as well.

This has happened quite a bit. Well, not the not watching the show bit. But at least three winners have been replacements and some more players who made the jury. 

Off the top of my head, along with Earl and Davie:

Tina Wesson (S2, Australia) was a last minute replacement.

Bob Crowley (S17, Gabon) was originally an alternate who made the cast when Jimmy Johnson failed his medical exam. (Jimmy finally appeared on Nicaraugua, S21.)

For S34 Game Changers, Sierra Dawn Thomas (previously seen on S39, Worlds Apart) was a last-minute replacement for Natalie Anderson (S29, San Juan del Sur) after Anderson sustained a concussion and had to pull out.

[RescueMom]

2 hours ago, simplyme said:

This has happened quite a bit. Well, not the not watching the show bit. But at least three winners have been replacements and some more players who made the jury. 

Off the top of my head, along with Earl and Davie:

Tina Wesson (S2, Australia) was a last minute replacement.

Bob Crowley (S17, Gabon) was originally an alternate who made the cast when Jimmy Johnson failed his medical exam. (Jimmy finally appeared on Nicaraugua, S21.)

For S34 Game Changers, Sierra Dawn Thomas (previously seen on S39, Worlds Apart) was a last-minute replacement for Natalie Anderson (S29, San Juan del Sur) after Anderson sustained a concussion and had to pull out.

I believe Candace and John were a replacement couple on the first BvW season too - I am pretty sure I read it was supposed to be RC and her dad, but her dad had medical problems right before taping started.

I had not heard about Natalie being asked to Game Changers and it makes me happy that she was. I am excited to see her play again this upcoming season!

[OutOfTheQuestion]

On 1/16/2020 at 1:11 PM, Eolivet said:

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.

It's another example of Survivor trying to dumb down every winner's story to an easy summary.  "Adam won to honor his dying mother" and "Jeremy is trying to win for his unborn child" sounds better than "Adam and Jeremy were up against four terrible finalists who the jury hated, and had the game clinched."

[Eolivet]

3 hours ago, OutOfTheQuestion said:

It's another example of Survivor trying to dumb down every winner's story to an easy summary.  "Adam won to honor his dying mother" and "Jeremy is trying to win for his unborn child" sounds better than "Adam and Jeremy were up against four terrible finalists who the jury hated, and had the game clinched."

I've been trying to come up with the right analogy for this and I think the closest I can get is that personal stories at final tribal council are Survivor steroids. Performance-enhancers. Do they change outcomes? No, but they pad stats, and boost numbers.

To keep with the admittedly flawed analogy, they could turn no-hitters (what I consider a decisive win, with 1-2 votes against you) into perfect games (a unanimous winner).

If you pitch a no-hitter, the opponent is trash against you. Maybe there will be a walk, a passed ball, something that allows a runner to reach base, but the pitcher still owns that no-hitter.

But a perfect game is otherworldly. You're on another plane of existence. You take talented professional hitters and make them look foolish. You're so dominant that you don't allow for a single mistake.

The two other unanimous winners who played a perfect game did it through pure game play, and force of personality and sheer likability and charisma.

Jeremy may have done enough to merit a perfect game through game play alone, but he still "juiced" his win with his personal story at the end. So it's likely he still would be a unanimous winner, but he did use a performance-enhancing story.

Adam, on the other hand, likely went into final tribal council with a no-hitter, but I think you could make a pretty strong argument that his personal story was a "performance-enhancer" that juiced his no-hitter, and changed it into a perfect game. Especially since we saw that otherwise, his game had several errors throughout the season.

So, to me, changing the jury format was Survivor simply tightening up their steroid policy, in the hope of avoiding any more asterisks in the eyes of some fans down the road.

Edited January 22, 2020 by Eolivet

[meatball77]

BvW2 is cracking me up because they are totally annoying Jeff with the reward challenges.  They're basically splitting them.  Oh, she hasn't had a reward in a while, lets just give it to her.  The players giving up rewards.  It's obviously annoying Jeff.

I like BvW, it really changes the strategy.  I'm sure it's hard to cast and there were two WTF quits but I'd love to see it again.

[sara416]

Super shallow moment here, but I am watching Pearl Islands for the first time. I don't know how I missed this season before, but it is really good. As for the shallow part...Andrew Savage is ridiculously good looking. I would take him over Ozzy any day of the week. Please don't tell me he becomes problematic! I hardly remember him from his time playing the game the second time either. 

Edit: Looking at dates I figured out that I never watched this season because I got married right in the middle of it and was working two jobs at the time. I had to give up a lot of my TV watching in those days. 

Edited January 22, 2020 by sara416
I had more thoughts

[tvgoddess]

On 1/16/2020 at 8:36 AM, 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.

I'm rewatching Africa right now as well. (Watching/rewatching the seasons in order. I can't do it out of order, my OCD won't allow that.) The scenery with the animals is just stunning. Really love it.

What I do not love, or even like, was Lex. I remember not having much of a problem the first time around, but I haven't watched this season since it aired. What a psychotic freak. He really got Kelly (who I liked) kicked out because of one measly vote against him for which she wasn't even responsible? I'm going to cut their throats out? GTFO. And he's an idiot, because he had three days to figure it out and couldn't. Everyone absolutely rails against Rob for what he did to Lex on All Stars, but this makes me just cheer and laugh at what an asshole Lex is.

Hated Lindsey the first time around, still hate her. I probably somewhat sided with the younger folks alliance because that was more my age at the time, but now since I'm the age of the older ones, I wanted them to come out on top for Samburu.

[Lady Calypso]

I just finished episode 8 of DvG, where an epic blindside happened. Since I like both Christian and Angelina, I was super happy to see the outcome. 

Next episode...will be tomorrow night, and I'll be finished the season probably by mid-Saturday, in which I work my way either to Africa or Philippines! 

[TVFan1]

6 hours ago, tvgoddess said:

I'm rewatching Africa right now as well. (Watching/rewatching the seasons in order. I can't do it out of order, my OCD won't allow that.) The scenery with the animals is just stunning. Really love it.

What I do not love, or even like, was Lex. I remember not having much of a problem the first time around, but I haven't watched this season since it aired. What a psychotic freak. He really got Kelly (who I liked) kicked out because of one measly vote against him for which she wasn't even responsible? I'm going to cut their throats out? GTFO. And he's an idiot, because he had three days to figure it out and couldn't. Everyone absolutely rails against Rob for what he did to Lex on All Stars, but this makes me just cheer and laugh at what an asshole Lex is.

Hated Lindsey the first time around, still hate her. I probably somewhat sided with the younger folks alliance because that was more my age at the time, but now since I'm the age of the older ones, I wanted them to come out on top for Samburu.

Lex was insufferable in Africa. I never liked him. I never saw All Stars, but I plan on watching it probably sometime after seeing Season 40. I heard that Lex has a meltdown or something after Rob votes him out or something. I can't wait to see that episode.

[SVNBob]

On 1/22/2020 at 4:55 PM, meatball77 said:

BvW2 is cracking me up because they are totally annoying Jeff with the reward challenges.  They're basically splitting them.  Oh, she hasn't had a reward in a while, lets just give it to her.  The players giving up rewards.  It's obviously annoying Jeff.

Wait until the culmination of this happens.

[LadyChatts]

7 hours ago, tvgoddess said:

I'm rewatching Africa right now as well. (Watching/rewatching the seasons in order. I can't do it out of order, my OCD won't allow that.) The scenery with the animals is just stunning. Really love it.

What I do not love, or even like, was Lex. I remember not having much of a problem the first time around, but I haven't watched this season since it aired. What a psychotic freak. He really got Kelly (who I liked) kicked out because of one measly vote against him for which she wasn't even responsible? I'm going to cut their throats out? GTFO. And he's an idiot, because he had three days to figure it out and couldn't. Everyone absolutely rails against Rob for what he did to Lex on All Stars, but this makes me just cheer and laugh at what an asshole Lex is.

I loved this season, even though it ranks pretty low on the totem pole for most people.  The location was beautiful, and I loved how different it was from the Gabon season.  They really struggled.  I'll never forget them going to try to find water and there was elephant dung in there.  Silas, who, up until his recent run in with the law, was my first ever Survivor crush, and the first person to get royally screwed by a tribe swap.  I didn't care for the Samburu elders at all, so seeing the youngin's briefly get the upper hand was wonderful.  

Completely agree about Lex, and IIRC, he never really apologized for being so wrong and screwing Kelly over.  I thought it was a wonderful dish of karma when Rob betrayed him during AS.

[fishcakes]

11 hours ago, TVFan1 said:

Lex was insufferable in Africa. I never liked him. I never saw All Stars, but I plan on watching it probably sometime after seeing Season 40. I heard that Lex has a meltdown or something after Rob votes him out or something. I can't wait to see that episode.

The sad thing was that in the first part of All Stars, Lex came across as a level-headed decent guy, a 180 from his "My gut is never wrong and I'll cut their throats" persona from Africa. But then the thing with Rob happened and he lost his mind for the rest of the season (and if the DVD commentary is any indication, for a long time after as well). Lex going off his nutter was one of the most entertaining things ever.

[ByaNose]

2 hours ago, fishcakes said:

The sad thing was that in the first part of All Stars, Lex came across as a level-headed decent guy, a 180 from his "My gut is never wrong and I'll cut their throats" persona from Africa. But then the thing with Rob happened and he lost his mind for the rest of the season (and if the DVD commentary is any indication, for a long time after as well). Lex going off his nutter was one of the most entertaining things ever.

IIRC, this was the first time that an outside friendship came in to the game for a returnee. I'm sure people are either for it or against it. I remember watching this live and Lex took it on a different level than Rob did. Then to have Rob & Amber (spoiler alert) in the Final 2 just amplified the matter. Good times, indeed. LOL!!!

[tvgoddess]

14 hours ago, TVFan1 said:

Lex was insufferable in Africa. I never liked him. I never saw All Stars, but I plan on watching it probably sometime after seeing Season 40. I heard that Lex has a meltdown or something after Rob votes him out or something. I can't wait to see that episode.

It's glorious. Curious to hear what you think of All Stars. It's a very polarizing season. People either love it or hate it. I fall on the side of absolutely love it.

[Mrs. P.]

1 hour ago, tvgoddess said:

It's glorious. Curious to hear what you think of All Stars. It's a very polarizing season. People either love it or hate it. I fall on the side of absolutely love it.

So do I. I fell in love with Boston Rob while watching that season and still adore him.

[RescueMom]

8 minutes ago, Mrs. P. said:

So do I. I fell in love with Boston Rob while watching that season and still adore him.

I love it except for the Richard Hatch / Sue Hawk incident. And after season 39, I suspect it will bother me even more on subsequent rewatches. 
 

Edited to add: I was immediately angry at myself for calling that an incident. Makes it sound like they were both at fault. Make that "Richard's extremely inappropriate behavior toward Sue" instead. And some of the reactions to it.

Edited January 24, 2020 by RescueMom

[tvgoddess]

Just now, RescueMom said:

I love it except for the Richard Hatch / Sue Hawk incident. And after season 39, I suspect it will bother me even more on subsequent rewatches. 

Ugh, I had almost forgotten about it, even with all the mentions of it during season 39. Yes, that was a really horrible part. He should have been kicked off.

[meatball77]

5 hours ago, RescueMom said:

I love it except for the Richard Hatch / Sue Hawk incident. And after season 39, I suspect it will bother me even more on subsequent rewatches. 
 

Edited to add: I was immediately angry at myself for calling that an incident. Makes it sound like they were both at fault. Make that "Richard's extremely inappropriate behavior toward Sue" instead. And some of the reactions to it.

They've pulled that episode from Hulu (not sure if it's on CBS).  All you get is the preview that something is going to happen in the episode before and then the recap in the episode following.  The Jenna, Heidi PB episode has been pulled also.

Rich is just a sexist harassing asshole during that entire season.  There are other survivors that get naked but none like he did.

Speaking of that I'm watching White Collar Vs Blue Collar Vs No collar right now, episode two and it's just pantsless all around. . . .

[LadyChatts]

Rich just got into his own head too much about the whole naked thing from his first season.  I can't even remember his original reason for it, wasn't it so people would leave him alone?  Anyway, it was so shocking at the time to see some guy walking around a "deserted" island naked that was as pompous and arrogant as he was, and it helped Rich become even more legendary. 

I know there's some other episodes pulled from Hulu, although I don't know why.  There was a Guatemala ep pulled (I think where Cindy was voted off?), and one from Vanuatu, though I can't remember which one.  I just know when I was re-watching Vanuatu I got royally confused when it went from one episode, and then the next there was one less person there without explanation lol   

[meatball77]

There are a bunch of episodes missing from the first ten or so seasons, including a bunch of the first episodes from different seasons.  Makes me wonder why they were missing.  It can't be an accident that the PB and Sue quitting episodes are missing.  I wonder if there are smaller problematic things in other episodes or things that were lawsuit material.

[omophagia]

14 hours ago, LadyChatts said:

Rich just got into his own head too much about the whole naked thing from his first season.  I can't even remember his original reason for it, wasn't it so people would leave him alone?  Anyway, it was so shocking at the time to see some guy walking around a "deserted" island naked that was as pompous and arrogant as he was, and it helped Rich become even more legendary. 

I know there's some other episodes pulled from Hulu, although I don't know why.  There was a Guatemala ep pulled (I think where Cindy was voted off?), and one from Vanuatu, though I can't remember which one.  I just know when I was re-watching Vanuatu I got royally confused when it went from one episode, and then the next there was one less person there without explanation lol   

Last I checked, the episodes from both of seasons that were pulled had rewards from companies that no longer sponsor the show; since Cindy's ouster hinged so much on her winning the infamous car reward, pulling the episode would be a lot easier than trying to edit around it!

Re: Hatch. I try to avoid hyperbole on the internet, but what he did to Sue in All-Stars was assault. And the way that other players-- especially Kathy, who spent All-Stars squandering every bit of goodwill she earned in Marquesas-- was especially gross. All-Stars didn't have any real precedents in reality TV, and seeing that group struggle to navigate the in-game v IRL dynamics really wasn't fun to watch, though there was some interesting gameplay. It's a bottom-tier season for me.

Edited January 25, 2020 by omophagia

[Lady Calypso]

Ok, so very nearly done David vs Goliath (I'm just getting to the winner being announced). This was a very fun season. There were a lot of great players and I don't think anyone was slacking off. 

I am impressed with Nick as a winner. I do think that, had Mike won, I wouldn't have been upset because he played a really great game as well. And sure, Nick's win SEEMS lesser than Mike's...but really, Nick's game was great, and I think he did a great job at explaining it in FTC. I think his FTC really helped to elevate his win.  Plus, that blindside against John was excellent to watch. And I appreciate that, even as a winner, he wasn't always at the top. He was blindsided a couple of times, which I don't mind for a winner. 

Here's the issue I'm running into: I know people consider this a top three or top five season...but I'm debating whether I liked this more than Millennials vs Gen X. And, right now? I'm not so sure. It's a very, very tight race between both those seasons for the top spot of the 30s for me. But I think Millennials vs Gen X takes the spot over David vs Goliath for me, at least for the moment. 

I liked a lot of players from both seasons. I think DvG have the edge on memorable players compared to MvGX. 

As for the winners of both, I...did actually like Adam and his win. I could see his strategy from the get-go. I think there are people who underestimate his win, because I don't think he won just because of his sob story. Unfortunately for him, production leaned TOO heavily into his sob story, so that does take away from his win. But, as I was watching, ignoring the sob story aspect, I could see how he earned his win. It was sometimes hard because it was masked behind the confessionals every episode about how his mom was sick, but Adam played a great game.

And so did Nick, and he only had his sob story right from episode 1 (I'm guessing that David sharing their hardship moment from episode 1 was a not-so-sly jab at Adam's story). It was very interesting to watch his game throughout the season, with the knowledge that he was the winner. He had some of his own struggles throughout the game, especially toward the end. And I enjoyed seeing him make certain moves to benefit himself. I wasn't thrilled with him naming his one-on-one alliances (I get enough of that from Big Brother, thank you) but it's a memorable part of himself, and it also shows how he built up personal relationships in order to win. 

And that's why Nick's win edges out Adam's win. 

But in terms of blindsides and gameplay and enjoyable moments for both seasons? I feel like Millennials vs Gen X slightly edges out DvG for me. Not that DvG wasn't enjoyable for me. I actually really, really enjoyed it. But there's something about MvGX that I personally enjoyed more. I think it was seeing several players grow throughout the course of the game that impressed me. I love player growth stories.

But, like I said, it's very tight between both seasons. All I know is that Kaoh Rong and Island of the Idols are both in a very distant third and fourth. But DvG and MvGX could be intertwined. Like, it's really close. I could end up changing the placement when I watch another season and learn to appreciate DvG more, for example. 

I appreciate, in my binge watch, that I have a lot of fluid places for seasons. Not very many are set in stone on where they place on my list (besides Micronesia in number 1, and One World in the last right now). I like that I feel comfortable enough to shift specific seasons up or down, depending on certain aspects.

Either way, just some really great seasons that I got into. Now...question: should I watch Africa, Philippines, or Guatemala next? I probably will have time to watch two more full seasons before season 40 starts...maybe three, if I'm lucky? 

[Steph Sometimes]

I've been lurking here for a while reading and enjoying all these posts.

I know you don't know me, but I recommend Philippines of those three. I think it's really enjoyable with some great characters. 

[LadyChatts]

55 minutes ago, Lady Calypso said:

Either way, just some really great seasons that I got into. Now...question: should I watch Africa, Philippines, or Guatemala next? I probably will have time to watch two more full seasons before season 40 starts...maybe three, if I'm lucky? 

Though I prefer Africa and Guatemala, I would suggest Philippines.