Past Seasons Talk: The Tribe Has Spoken

[fishcakes]

I say Philippines as well. I wasn't a Denise fan, but she played a good game. Because of tribe shuffles, I think she's still the only player to have ever attended every single tribal council. The Guatemala and Africa winners are just less interesting to watch, though if you have time to watch two, I'd say Philippines then Guatemala. Personally, I think Africa is a better overall season than both those two, but in terms of wanting to see winners who can adapt to an all-winners season, those two are probably more relevant.

[LadyChatts]

48 minutes ago, fishcakes said:

I say Philippines as well. I wasn't a Denise fan, but she played a good game. Because of tribe shuffles, I think she's still the only player to have ever attended every single tribal council. The Guatemala and Africa winners are just less interesting to watch, though if you have time to watch two, I'd say Philippines then Guatemala. Personally, I think Africa is a better overall season than both those two, but in terms of wanting to see winners who can adapt to an all-winners season, those two are probably more relevant.

I'd say Guatemala, too, because Danni had an underdog story getting to the win.  Ethan not so much.  I also felt like it was kind of a Colby/Tina situation in terms of him getting to the final 2, except the gender roles were reversed.  

And Guatemala is the first season to introduce the HII.

[RescueMom]

1 hour ago, LadyChatts said:

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

I'll give a third vote for Philippines. It's one of my top 10 seasons for sure!

[Lady Calypso]

Well, it looks like I will get started on Philippines after dinner! 

Thanks for the answers! 

[meatball77]

Watching the episode in Kaoh Rong with the challenge where they almost killed half of the cast due to heat stroke.  That was a bunch of bad decisions piled on top of each other because of production.  They should have stopped the challenge and hydrated everyone after the first cast member went down.  It seemed wrong for them to continue when they were treating her from the start.  Probably should have done a challenge that wasn't so intense with the heat being what it was.

The tribe separation was so absurd.  A tiny blonde girl on the Brawn tribe and Tai on the Beauty tribe (his bromance with Caleb was amazing though).

Edited January 26, 2020 by meatball77

[Lady Calypso]

33 minutes ago, meatball77 said:

Watching the episode in Kaoh Rong with the challenge where they almost killed half of the cast due to heat stroke.  That was a bunch of bad decisions piled on top of each other because of production.  They should have stopped the challenge and hydrated everyone after the first cast member went down.  It seemed wrong for them to continue when they were treating her from the start.  Probably should have done a challenge that wasn't so intense with the heat being what it was.

The tribe separation was so absurd.  A tiny blonde girl on the Brawn tribe and Tai on the Beauty tribe (his bromance with Caleb was amazing though).

It's insane to think about how bad the environment was that season for everyone. From several players getting heat stroke to the several infections people sustained, it's no wonder they moved locations. 

But yeah, you'd think that they would have seen the several players panting for breath while digging in the sand and thought "hey, maybe we should give them water." Because 45 minutes digging for the three bags before anyone got anywhere close? That's a sign that there's an issue with the challenge, or an issue with...I dunno, the heat they were all feeling while digging through hot sand and exerting all of their energy. 

I agree that they really pulled out some weird players for the original tribes, but I get they were trying to defy expectations on what a Brawn or a Beauty looks like. Tai on the Beauty tribe made sense, because he didn't fit into the Brawn or Brain tribe. Alecia on the Brawn tribe was more questionable when I was watching. I don't think just being an adrenaline junkie is reason enough to be on the Brawn tribe but again, I get they were trying something different. I mean, she did hold her own against her two bullies and the others in her tribe who were mean to her in general, so I guess that takes a lot of strength. 

[meatball77]

It's not like they couldn't have stopped the challenge, insisted they all drink a bottle of water and then restarted it all without showing it on camera.  Or at the least they should have done that when the first player went down.  But then they wouldn't have gotten the most dramatic episode ever. . . . or the most dangerous season ever. . . .

Reading an article that interviewed Caleb it sounds like Dehydration was a real issue and it probably would have hit him (or someone else) even without a challenge.  He said he'd had seven bags of fluids and still hadn't gone to the bathroom.  I remember how much water my husband had to drink when they were in Iraq (to the point where you have to force yourself to drink water because they need so much) that they were probably all at risk days earlier.  I'm all for having them deal with the elements so it's "real" on survivor but I don't like when it seems like they're really messing with their health from dehydration (or the starvation of Erik or freezing of Naonka and Kelly), when the environment is exceptionally bad they need to give out cold water or raincoats.

[SVNBob]

10 hours ago, Lady Calypso said:

should I watch Africa, Philippines, or Guatemala next? I probably will have time to watch two more full seasons before season 40 starts.

I know you've already decided on Philippines for your next, so I endorse Guatemala for the next one after that.

I've just watched the finales of both those seasons in the last couple weeks, and One World a couple weeks before that.  The One World finale was a great microcosm of the winner's game.  The Guatemala finale was decidedly not.  That's a season that does need to be seen in it's entirety to see the winner's game.

Philippines' finale is closer to OW's as to showing how the winner won in a single episode.  But it has more of "how the rest lost" as well.  And it's also now marred in retrospect because of one of the other finalists.

[Ms Blue Jay]

@Lady Calypso you haven't seen Game Changers - have you?  It's so good.

[Lady Calypso]

24 minutes ago, Ms Blue Jay said:

@Lady Calypso you haven't seen Game Changers - have you?  It's so good.

No, I haven't yet. I had to put it aside for other seasons before season 40, but it'll be one of the next ones to watch, once I get through Philippines, Guatemala, possibly Africa, and then the finales for South Pacific, HvHvH and Ghost Island.

I know that, along with Game Changers on my secondary list, there's also Blood vs Water, Vanuatu, Borneo, All Stars, Cambodia, Palau, and Samoa to watch, not in that particular order. And, eventually, I'll need to watch the other Boston Rob seasons. 

[tvgoddess]

On 1/24/2020 at 11:35 PM, meatball77 said:

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.

I've been able to find most of the missing episodes on YT, but they're altered for copyright reasons so they're a little difficult to sit through.

Not that I relish in watching the Sue harrassment episodes, but I own the All Stars DVD. And that commentary is such sour grapes towards Rob. It's really pathetic. Shut up, Alicia.

[LadyChatts]

2 hours ago, tvgoddess said:

I've been able to find most of the missing episodes on YT, but they're altered for copyright reasons so they're a little difficult to sit through.

Not that I relish in watching the Sue harrassment episodes, but I own the All Stars DVD. And that commentary is such sour grapes towards Rob. It's really pathetic. Shut up, Alicia.

I remember after that season finished filming, some of the former castaways not picked for it were doing interviews, and said that they had heard how bitter and ugly the season was (that was an understatement).  Out of all the returning player seasons, even Redemption Island and South Pacific, I consider it the worst just for the bitterness involved.  Lex blew his own game, and I can't believe he held a grudge for so long.  This from the guy whose never-wrong gut instinct screwed Kelly over in Africa, but he just shrugged it off.  Jerri tried to warn her tribe, before she was voted off, to get rid of Amber because they were crazy to believe Rob.  He remembered it was a game.  I lost a lot of respect for these people after that season, and I'm glad the majority of them never got another chance.

Edited January 26, 2020 by LadyChatts

[Eolivet]

On 1/25/2020 at 2:48 PM, Lady Calypso said:

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

I know everyone has moved on from this, but I loved your write-up @Lady Calypso. Those are by far my two favorite seasons of the 30s, only I think DvG had better game play, while mvgx had stronger characters. I found that DvG had a generational character in Christian, a love-to-hate villain in Angelina, and likable guys in Davie and Nick, but I barely remember the rest of them as characters compared to the likes of David Wright and Jay and Adam and Zeke and Michaela (which isn't fair, considering three of those have returned on Survivor, so maybe it's not an equitable comparison, but it's how I feel).

DvG had a lot of "flashy" game moments for me (love that minority vote split and "bing!" idol nullifier, and who could forget the blowback on Christian's idol that hit Gabby?) and I feel more people played their idols and advantages correctly than mvgx (they had a string of really bad idol plays, despite all their blindsides and the rock draw).

I guess, to me, if you stripped out the players and only had me watch the game play, I would find DvG a more enjoyable season. But if you asked me to pick one cast to reassemble and watch them play again, I'd pick mvgx in a heartbeat.

Just my two cents, keep the change.

[Lady Calypso]

8 minutes ago, Eolivet said:

I guess, to me, if you stripped out the players and only had me watch the game play, I would find DvG a more enjoyable season. But if you asked me to pick one cast to reassemble and watch them play again, I'd pick mvgx in a heartbeat.

This is all very fair! Upon reflection after giving it a couple of days since finishing DvG, I do think that DvG had better gameplay moments than MvGx, more than I thought. 

I think DvG provided a couple of players that ended up being my absolute favourites (Gabby and Alec) compared to MvGx. Not that I didn't have favourite players from both ends, but DvG provided players that I would go to bat for any day. I think DvG had a much more memorable pre-merge (Natalie, Jeremy, Natalia, Lyrsa). And I think DvG had just as much of a likeable cast, in the sense that I don't think anyone hated anyone. 

But there wasn't that character growth in DvG like there was in MvGx. Besides with maybe Gabby, everyone else seemed very static. They didn't have a genuine arc. They played the game, and that's cool...but they didn't have a Hannah or a David or even a Jay. And, in terms of Nick vs Adam on who I liked better, Nick was the better player, but I liked Adam more personally. 

DvG had the better gameplay and strategy, but MvGX had the better stories and social moments. So I guess it depends what people root for. Which is interesting to me, because I always seemed to favour strategy but it turns out that the social dynamics mean just as much. 

[meatball77]

Mark the Chicken is by far the best player on 39 seasons of survivor.  He made a good alliance early on in the game that kept him safe and managed to stay safe for the entire game.  He was robbed in not getting the million dollars and his own chicken sanctuary.

[LadyChatts]

2 hours ago, meatball77 said:

Mark the Chicken is by far the best player on 39 seasons of survivor.  He made a good alliance early on in the game that kept him safe and managed to stay safe for the entire game.  He was robbed in not getting the million dollars and his own chicken sanctuary.

I still say sometimes the chickens are the most deserving winners.  Even the chickens on the EOE season that Wendy freed lasted longer in the game than Chris did.

[Lady Calypso]

So, I'm still working my way through Philippines (on episode 5 right now). Philippines is not a bad season so far. I like it, maybe not as much as other seasons, but it's fairly good at the moment. Watching the Matsing tribe get decimated one by one is hard to watch.

But it has some interesting players. Abi is...certainly a villain, that's for sure. I just haven't decided if she's fun or just plain aggravating. Ok, she's certainly aggravating...but is she a fun villain to watch? At the moment, I don't think so. I feel so bad for RC...and I gotta put some blame in Pete for his role in it, although not completely, since Abi reacts based on emotion. 

I do like Lisa at the moment, and I see why people love Malcolm. I also really like Denise. 

I've always had a soft spot for Penner. I don't know why, but there's something about him in the two seasons I've watched with him that has always made me root for him. He's a really solid gameplayer. And, because of what I know NOW about Michael Skupin that I didn't when I was watching Australian Outback last month, I am now completely turned off by him. Back then, when I watched AO, I was interested to see him return. Now? Not so much.

All the other players are fairly forgettable to me. I didn't realize there was a Carter and an Artis until episode 3 or 4. 

I also thought that I'd rank the winners of seasons I've watched so far, just for fun. I had to think about it, but here's my tentative list (kind of based off of various reasons, including likeability): 

1. Parvati
2. Natalie
3. Sandra (HvV)
4. Kim
5. Yul
6. Tony
7. Nick
8. Sandra (Pearl Islands)
9. Adam
10. Tina
11. Tommy
12. Jenna
13. Michele

I'd have to think on my list and why I placed everyone where I did. I could end up swapping a couple of spots around, but this kind of what I'm feeling right now.

The only reason why Tommy and Michele are low on this list (and they will likely move up as I watch more seasons) is because their edit was so poorly done and they weren't shown to do much for me, so it was hard to rank just on social game, which we were told was good, but not shown all that much. 

[fishcakes]

12 hours ago, Lady Calypso said:

But it has some interesting players. Abi is...certainly a villain, that's for sure. I just haven't decided if she's fun or just plain aggravating. Ok, she's certainly aggravating...but is she a fun villain to watch? At the moment, I don't think so. I feel so bad for RC...and I gotta put some blame in Pete for his role in it, although not completely, since Abi reacts based on emotion. 

Abi's problem is she's a narcissist and also really mean, and even worse, she has the capacity to not be that way but chooses to anyway. During Philippines, she was a nightmare, but then at the reunion and also when she and a few others from the season appeared on Probst's now-defunct talk show, she showed a lot of self-awareness about how terrible she'd been and made fun of herself over it. And based on the Ponderosa videos from that season, it seems RC had gotten a fairly good edit as she was also incredibly annoying and while Abi was willing to bury the hatchet, RC just wanted to continue to harp on how Abi had wronged her. So when Abi returned for the Second Chance season, I expected her to be a different person, but NOPE. She was worse, if that's possible, and definitely not fun to watch. Pete is also really mean and awful, so I wasn't surprised to learn that Abi and Pete started dating after the season was over.

Edited January 30, 2020 by fishcakes

[Steph Sometimes]

13 hours ago, Lady Calypso said:

I've always had a soft spot for Penner. I don't know why, but there's something about him in the two seasons I've watched with him that has always made me root for him. He's a really solid gameplayer. 

I love Penner. He's a decent guy but also a smart ass. And he was on Arrested Development. 

Denise is great too, and I kind of love Malcolm. Ozzy did nothing for me. Joe did nothing for me. But yeah. Kind of love Malcolm.

[Ms Blue Jay]

On 1/29/2020 at 10:25 PM, Steph Sometimes said:

I love Penner. He's a decent guy but also a smart ass. And he was on Arrested Development. 

He was on Seinfeld in the 90's too! 

Elaine dated him.  I think he was a drug addict who tried to give up the drugs and she took him through withdrawal.

The episode is called "The Bookstore"

.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bookstore

On 1/29/2020 at 9:00 AM, Lady Calypso said:

I also thought that I'd rank the winners of seasons I've watched so far, just for fun. I had to think about it, but here's my tentative list (kind of based off of various reasons, including likeability): 

I'm so happy you ranked Tony pretty high 🙂 I love him, but others seem to really hate him!

Edited February 2, 2020 by Ms Blue Jay

[Lady Calypso]

8 hours ago, Ms Blue Jay said:

I'm so happy you ranked Tony pretty high 🙂 I love him, but others seem to really hate him!

Confession time: before I posted that, I had Tony at 9th. I'm not a huge fan of Tony, but I realized that I couldn't post my winners list JUST based on likeability; if I did, that list would look different. So that also accounted for his game (though he's still below Yul for me!)

It's weird, because I've been feeling some things about Cagayan as a whole for a while now, in the sense that I'm not so sure I'd place it in the top five. But I'm not sure whether that's because my intense binge watching over the last two months has led to seasons mixing together, or if maybe I do prefer other seasons to Cagayan. Cagayan is one I will need to rewatch at some point. 

I notice that a lot of people online have Natalie lower on their list of winners rankings; meanwhile, I personally think she did an amazing job that season (again, SJDS is a season that I probably have higher than most). But I guess people have different criteria than I do. 

Also, confession time: I almost had Sandra a few spots lower as well. Her HvV win almost was placed at 5th or 6th. Her PI win was also almost placed a couple of spots lower. 

I'm still working my way through Philippines. I think I've hit a bit of a wall with Survivor; binge watching 13 seasons in two months has finally gotten to me. I think I'll be able to be finished today, but I'm not sure if I'm going to watch Guatemala in its entirety. Next weekend will be the last weekend before season 40 starts, so we'll see. 

I'm not so sure about Philippines at the moment. It's a good season, but it hasn't been wowing me like I've been hoping. I like Malcolm, but I'm not loving him. I like Denise, I like Penner, and I like Lisa. Everyone else is either average or I dislike them. Right now, if I'd have to place it, I might place it either below Australia/above Amazon, or below Amazon/above Island of the Idols in my season rankings.

[Steph Sometimes]

13 hours ago, Ms Blue Jay said:

I'm so happy you ranked Tony pretty high 🙂 I love him, but others seem to really hate him!

Count me in as another person who loves Tony, He's an aggressive player but he's having so much fun when he plays. Compared to someone like Russell (who is my least favorite player by the way) who is aggressive but a miserable person at the same time, Tony just seems to be feeling joy just being there if that makes any sense.

I also love the way he pronounces other players' names (SON-dra for one) and his llama noises in that one scene with Kass. Game Changers was not my favorite season because it seemed like every player I loved was on one tribe and they were the ones who kept losing.  Also stupid JT.

5 hours ago, Lady Calypso said:

I notice that a lot of people online have Natalie lower on their list of winners rankings; meanwhile, I personally think she did an amazing job that season (again, SJDS is a season that I probably have higher than most). But I guess people have different criteria than I do. 

I am a huge fan of Natalie's and think she is a complete and utter badass and hope she wins the season,

[treeofdreams]

Is it possible to win Survivor without a social game?  Has anyone ever done it?

[Lady Calypso]

59 minutes ago, treeofdreams said:

Is it possible to win Survivor without a social game?  Has anyone ever done it?

No, I don't think it is. I think the social game could be the most important factor to winning the game. Just because you gotta get the jury to want to vote for you and, if you have a poor social game, nobody's going to vote for you. That's why Russell lost two seasons...in a row. Strategically, he was good...but his social game sucked. 

[Lantern7]

2 hours ago, treeofdreams said:

Is it possible to win Survivor without a social game?  Has anyone ever done it?

The only person I think of is Tom Westman. I think of him as the Kool-Aid Man of Palau, winning all but two individual immunity idols. But the two times he was vulnerable, nobody voted for him. 

I think Tom’s win might have inspired hidden idols. I also think that things might have played out differently with a DYB moment.

Oh, and I heard he had an illness related to working at Ground Zero. I know he’s not that popular, but it would’ve been fun to see him go for a third time.

[tvgoddess]

29 minutes ago, Lantern7 said:

Oh, and I heard he had an illness related to working at Ground Zero. I know he’s not that popular, but it would’ve been fun to see him go for a third time.

Why is he not that popular? I loved him. He was a total silver fox and he played the game honestly.

[Lantern7]

38 minutes ago, tvgoddess said:

Why is he not that popular? I loved him. He was a total silver fox and he played the game honestly.

Well, he did shred Ian’s soul in the last few days. And since he’s a silver-haired dad, Probst wouldn’t sing his praises. I don’t think Probst is into “daddies,” figurative or literal.

[treeofdreams]

Poor Ian.  I wonder if he regrets what he did at the final immunity challenge.  I would love to see him play again.  (This time without Tom to psych him out.)

I didn't care for Tom because of the whole patriarchy thing he had going on.  It was understandable at the time because this was soon after 911 and he had been one of the NY firemen involved, so everyone catered to him out of respect.  But still.

[peachmangosteen]

21 hours ago, treeofdreams said:

I didn't care for Tom because of the whole patriarchy thing he had going on.  It was understandable at the time because this was soon after 911 and he had been one of the NY firemen involved, so everyone catered to him out of respect.  But still.

+1. I found him utterly insufferable. He certainly was a silver haired fox though, I will give him that!

[fishcakes]

I didn't like Tom much in Palau and he was absolutely awful in HvV. I'm so sorry that he's ill now though, especially since it's 9/11 related. Unpleasant personality or not, he is a legitimate hero.

[Lantern7]

Erik has a limited-edition print on sale with all S40 players. I figured this was a more appropriate place to link than the Media thread.

23 hours ago, treeofdreams said:

Poor Ian.  I wonder if he regrets what he did at the final immunity challenge.  I would love to see him play again.  (This time without Tom to psych him out.)

From what I understand, they had an agreement where the winner of the final IC would take Katie to Day 39 and get the all-but-guaranteed win. I also heard that Ian was ill, but I can’t remember with what.

[simplyme]

On 2/5/2020 at 3:27 PM, treeofdreams said:

Is it possible to win Survivor without a social game?  Has anyone ever done it?

I think my question here would be "How much of a social game counts as a social game?"

In S1, Hatch was not exactly beloved by his fellow castaways. And in S5 (Thailand) by Day 39 Brian Heidik had pissed off enough people that he only won 4-3 over Clay, the guy pretty much everyone else thought was lazy, possibly racist, misogynist, and an all-around jerk.

Speaking of Thailand, I just finished slogging through it. Man, was that season slow. Thank God for Helen's sense of humor and things that were unintentionally hilarious or I never would have made it. 

Like the first few 10 seconds shown in this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FL5XPdfug74

which shows Robb voting for Shii Ann and giving his reason. We howled.

Honestly, Robb looked like a PITA to live with, but he was the Angelina of his season.

[tvgoddess]

7 hours ago, simplyme said:

Speaking of Thailand, I just finished slogging through it. Man, was that season slow. Thank God for Helen's sense of humor and things that were unintentionally hilarious or I never would have made it. 

Ugh, this is next on my viewing list since I have to go in order. This was the first season in order I've never seen. Many more to come.

[LadyChatts]

On 2/6/2020 at 12:35 PM, fishcakes said:

I didn't like Tom much in Palau and he was absolutely awful in HvV. I'm so sorry that he's ill now though, especially since it's 9/11 related. Unpleasant personality or not, he is a legitimate hero.

Yeah, I remembered loving Tom a lot more until I re-watched Palau awhile back.  God, he was pretty insufferable, and when his name was being thrown around as a possible vote-out, he seemed to lose it (I mean, how dare they!)  That was one of those seasons that I actually enjoyed more than I remembered when it first aired.  He seemed out of his element during HvsV.  

Like you though, I am sorry he is sick.  

[nlkm9]

On 2/2/2020 at 12:16 AM, Ms Blue Jay said:

He was on Seinfeld in the 90's too! 

Elaine dated him.  I think he was a drug addict who tried to give up the drugs and she took him through withdrawal.

The episode is called "The Bookstore"

.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bookstore

I'm so happy you ranked Tony pretty high 🙂 I love him, but others seem to really hate him!

I saw Penner on TV, very sad his wife has ALS and they are fighting it every way they can...I always liked him as well. I had forgotten he was an actor. he was the first person i ever hear say the word "bollocks"

[treeofdreams]

There has been a lot of discussion lately about the fact that men have won the last few seasons, and speculation that the fire-making challenge has favored the men.

It has pretty much been the norm that men have found more idols, made fire more, fished more, etc., than women.  But these are not things that the women could have done as well.  If the women just sat back and let the men do them, then that is on their heads.

But have these things really been factors in the men winning?  I don't remember enough about past seasons to speculate, but those of you with better memories might be able to give some insight on this.  Is it possible that the men who won just had firmer alliances? better social games? won immunity enough to get them to the end?

Thoughts?

[Lady Calypso]

So, it looks like I won't get to watch another full season before season 40 starts, so I'll be watching the finales of the rest of the seasons tonight and tomorrow. I did start Guatemala, but didn't get too far into it. So...I'll have to settle for just the finales and then get into the full seasons later on.

[Lantern7]

1 hour ago, Lady Calypso said:

I did start Guatemala, but didn't get too far into it.

Did you get to see Bobby Jon lose his mind? That was always fun. I wonder if he ever got invited back.

On 2/7/2020 at 5:38 AM, simplyme said:

Speaking of Thailand, I just finished slogging through it. Man, was that season slow. Thank God for Helen's sense of humor and things that were unintentionally hilarious or I never would have made it. 

I think once you see Shii Ann get voted off, it’s safe to dump it.

On 2/2/2020 at 12:16 AM, Ms Blue Jay said:

He was on Seinfeld in the 90's too! 

Elaine dated him.  I think he was a drug addict who tried to give up the drugs and she took him through withdrawal.

Is that the one where she wound up creating the Detox Poncho? Good times. Judging by the title, I’m getting it’s the one where Jerry snitches out a shoplifting Uncle Leo. “SWARM! SWARM!”

[tvgoddess]

Wait, they gave a Saturn to the entire Marquesas group of players? After that mostly nothing of a season? Clearly, I never saw this reunion most likely due to wedding planning that would never come to fruition. Oh well, looks like I did myself a favor. Ridiculous.

[LadyChatts]

3 hours ago, tvgoddess said:

Wait, they gave a Saturn to the entire Marquesas group of players? After that mostly nothing of a season? Clearly, I never saw this reunion most likely due to wedding planning that would never come to fruition. Oh well, looks like I did myself a favor. Ridiculous.

If they were given out at the reunion, that might have been a Rosie O'Donnell thing.  She hosted the reunion that year, and at that stage was a huge Survivor fan, so she might have pushed production to do it.

[Guest]

19 minutes ago, LadyChatts said:

If they were given out at the reunion, that might have been a Rosie O'Donnell thing.  She hosted the reunion that year, and at that stage was a huge Survivor fan, so she might have pushed production to do it.

I seem to remember that Rosie-hosted reunion being kind of a mess (in a different way from how it's a mess now), and very different in tone from the three previous Bryant Gumbel-hosted ones. Didn't she have all the castaways standing with their arms around each other in a chorus line singing some dumb song at the end?

[LadyChatts]

15 minutes ago, tracyscott76 said:

I seem to remember that Rosie-hosted reunion being kind of a mess (in a different way from how it's a mess now), and very different in tone from the three previous Bryant Gumbel-hosted ones. Didn't she have all the castaways standing with their arms around each other in a chorus line singing some dumb song at the end?

Yes, she did.  I also think when they cut to the reunion stage while the finale was airing, she and some of the castaways that season were singing the theme to Gilligan's Island?  And IIRC, she made them do some challenge of eating gummy worms before telling them they were all winning a car.  It did have a very different feel to it.  But, I loved how much of a super fan Rosie was.  Bryant Gumbel wasn't terrible, but too much of a news man.  I was happy when Jeff finally took over, as I thought it only seemed right for the host to actually host the reunion show.  Obviously I feel kind of differently now lol

[cleo]

I'm watching Pearl Islands All stars, just got to the ep where Lex was voted off. So I gather he and Rob still are not friends?

I have to say it was idiotic of them to think Rob would 'take care of them'. And Lex voted out Jeri who was a vote in his pocket.

I thought Rob handled it pretty well, he was up front with them at least before tribal.

I'm not rooting for anyone to win, I dislike most of the cast by the merge except I am a Rob fan and I'm neutral on Amber (I have seen this before so I know how it turns out )

I dislike Cathy bc of how awful she was to Sue, though the others were also not that great.

I do think Lex was the only possible remaining threat to Rob bc the others are barely playing. So it was a smart move on his part.

 

[treeofdreams]

I remember early in the season in a talking head Lex says he will do anything to win, including stab friends in the back.

But when the tables were turned he was so outraged!  What a hypocrite.  And his Mohawk look on the jury was amusing.

[tvgoddess]

18 hours ago, tracyscott76 said:

I seem to remember that Rosie-hosted reunion being kind of a mess (in a different way from how it's a mess now), and very different in tone from the three previous Bryant Gumbel-hosted ones. Didn't she have all the castaways standing with their arms around each other in a chorus line singing some dumb song at the end?

Yeah, that song was so cringey. The beginning of the reunion was just weird, with Colby making a surprise appearance and all the various oddities. But Rosie knew the season and the past seasons well, so it was appreciated on that front.

13 hours ago, treeofdreams said:

I remember early in the season in a talking head Lex says he will do anything to win, including stab friends in the back.

But when the tables were turned he was so outraged!  What a hypocrite.  And his Mohawk look on the jury was amusing.

After his insane rantings in Africa of how he would twice cut their throats out, and then his gigantic, completely OTT reaction of what Rob did (Lex, you were the complete idiot for trusting him in the first place), I have to wonder if Lex is schizophrenic. In any case, he's a hypocritical, psychotic ass who had no problem voting off Ethan even though they were such close friends. I cannot stand him.

[fishcakes]

18 hours ago, tracyscott76 said:

I seem to remember that Rosie-hosted reunion being kind of a mess (in a different way from how it's a mess now), and very different in tone from the three previous Bryant Gumbel-hosted ones. Didn't she have all the castaways standing with their arms around each other in a chorus line singing some dumb song at the end?

It was not of the Lord.

The following season was the first time Jeff hosted the reunion and he did a promo beforehand where he said, "we're gonna answer all your questions about the season," and then followed it up with a dead-eyed, "no singing and dancing," in a not-so-subtle shot at Rosie. Jeff did a great job with the reunions when he first started doing them, but he's gotten increasingly terrible.

[Lantern7]

I know Rosie can be filed under “A Bit Much,” but at least she covered everyone. There’s a sizable area between “raging fangirl” and “guy who would rather hit the open bar immediately.” If CBS thought about network synergy, they’d . . . fuck it, they’d probably bring in Julie Chen, because Survivor is closer to Big Brother these days.

[Guest]

34 minutes ago, fishcakes said:

It was not of the Lord.

The following season was the first time Jeff hosted the reunion and he did a promo beforehand where he said, "we're gonna answer all your questions about the season," and then followed it up with a dead-eyed, "no singing and dancing," in a not-so-subtle shot at Rosie. Jeff did a great job with the reunions when he first started doing them, but he's gotten increasingly terrible.

Oh my dear lord. I kept looking at the giant behind Paschal and Zoe trying to figure out who it was...I guess it's Patricia standing on something. And look at that punk kid on the far left, who has no idea that 18 years later he would be married to another Survivor with four kids and about to have his 5th season air, and that he would have traveled the world at least 3 times.

Edited February 10, 2020 by tracyscott76

[OutOfTheQuestion]

On 2/5/2020 at 3:27 PM, treeofdreams said:

Is it possible to win Survivor without a social game?  Has anyone ever done it?

It's possible, just as long as you make sure you're sitting next to one or two people who have worse social games. 

[fishcakes]

9 hours ago, OutOfTheQuestion said:

On 2/5/2020 at 12:27 PM, treeofdreams said:

Is it possible to win Survivor without a social game?  Has anyone ever done it?

It's possible, just as long as you make sure you're sitting next to one or two people who have worse social games. 

Sophie won without a social game. She spent the entire season sneering at everyone and lording her majority alliance inclusion over them, the jury hated her, and they told her so at FTC. The only reason she won is because the jury thought Albert was transparently smarmy and because Coach wouldn't own his game. They were practically begging Coach to admit that he'd lied and backstabbed so they'd feel okay about voting for him, but he wouldn't do it and kept insisting that he'd played an honorable game, so they punished him by voting for Sophie. She claimed that she was the mastermind and that Coach was her puppet, but no one believed that except for her. Votes for her were purely "Not Coach" votes.