Past Seasons Talk: The Tribe Has Spoken

[ProfCrash]

Eh, Parvati was allied with a bullying asshole and seemed to encourage his bad behavior. Sandra did her best to work with the Hero’s to get rid of Russell but the Hero’s were too stupid to listen to her. By the time the remaining Hero’s figured out what was happening, it was too late. Sandra played a better social game and managed to convince Russell that she was not a threat. Russell actually thought Sandra was a goat.

Sandra is not a physical player but she is smart socially and she understands how to manipulate people. She earned that win in HvV. The best part was Russell telling Sandra that she could not beat him and Sandra agreeing with him and then winning the entire game. It was beautiful. 

[LadyChatts]

I finished watching Philippines.  As to another reason I adore Malcolm, this line from him: 'I keep getting thrown under the bus at tribal council.  With compliments of all things.'  Unlike some players, like Penner and Cirie, who would likely never win this game if they were to return again, I think Malcolm could manage a win.   I remember being somewhat surprised we didn't have a more bitter jury, although Penner is definitely my favorite kind of sarcastic bitter betty juror.  I totally forgot he exposed Lisa as being a former child star to the jury.  I don't know if RC still has bitterness going on about Abi/Pete or not, but I'm glad she hasn't been one of the ones brought back.  

Lisa is the type of player I want to reach through the TV and strangle.  It's like, she has a grasp of how the game is supposed to be played.  But anytime the opportunity came up to make a move, it was all about her morals and doing the right thing, and she got so wishy-washy.  She wanted to stick with her old tribe out of loyalty, despite knowing that they were fine getting rid of her as soon as they could.  And Skupin reeked of being an old school player when he thought an interesting story would win the jury over, and that sitting next to Malcolm (a strong threat) would look better than sitting next to someone with little chance.  Although I guess I like that strategy better than dragging two goats to the end.  I liked how Penner zinged him in the FTC, when he said that Skupin's name never got written down, despite Skupin claiming he was a threat in the game. 

 Overall, I consider this to be one of the better seasons (probably top 10 or close to it), so if anyone hasn't seen it or re-watched it in a long time, it's one I'd recommend it.  I'm slightly disappointed that we've only seen Malcolm, Denise, and Abi return to future seasons.  I thought the cast overall was fairly solid, even some of the pre-mergers.  The final 3 is probably one of my least favorites, however, and the only reason I can get behind a Denise win is that she wasn't Skupin or Lisa.  I also thought the reunion show was kind of blah.  But still a decent season.  

Edited June 21, 2021 by LadyChatts

[SVNBob]

9 hours ago, LadyChatts said:

I don't know if RC still has bitterness going on about Abi/Pete or not, but I'm glad she hasn't been one of the ones brought back.  

She was 🤏this close to coming back once.  She and her father were cast for the first BvW season, had flown out with the rest of the cast, and were ready to play.  But at the last minute, he failed his final health check before the game started.  Meaning they couldn't let him play, and by the conceit of the season she couldn't play either.  They were replaced by the alternate team of Candace (of CI and HvV) and her husband John.

[Hera]

13 hours ago, SVNBob said:

22 hours ago, LadyChatts said:

I don't know if RC still has bitterness going on about Abi/Pete or not, but I'm glad she hasn't been one of the ones brought back.  

She was 🤏this close to coming back once.  She and her father were cast for the first BvW season, had flown out with the rest of the cast, and were ready to play.  But at the last minute, he failed his final health check before the game started.  Meaning they couldn't let him play, and by the conceit of the season she couldn't play either.  They were replaced by the alternate team of Candace (of CI and HvV) and her husband John.

According to Jeff Probst, she was also offered a chance to be voted into the Cambodia/Second Chances cast, but turned it down.

[treeofdreams]

Oh yuck.  I just watched the Heroes/Villains reunion show - I had forgotten that Russell won the $100,000 Sprint Favorite Player award.

Why why why???

[ProfCrash]

31 minutes ago, treeofdreams said:

Oh yuck.  I just watched the Heroes/Villains reunion show - I had forgotten that Russell won the $100,000 Sprint Favorite Player award.

Why why why???

Because some people find him entertaining. 

[peachmangosteen]

Winning fan fave likely relies heavily on having a lot of screentime so it makes sense Russell won since he, for reasons I will never understand, dominated the screentime.

[LadyChatts]

2 hours ago, Hera said:

According to Jeff Probst, she was also offered a chance to be voted into the Cambodia/Second Chances cast, but turned it down.

I remember her being considered for SC, and I think the rumor was she turned it down because Abi was on the roster (not sure if that was true).  I should see if EW did one of those Survivor interviews with her, and if there’s still any bitterness.  

I did forget all about her being cast for BvsW though!

[Hera]

I saw the same rumor @LadyChatts—possibly even on this forum. If it's true, it's hard to blame her. With the exception of Pete, it doesn't seem like anyone enjoyed the experience of playing with Abi-Maria.

[AncientNewbie]

On 6/21/2021 at 9:27 PM, Hera said:

it doesn't seem like anyone enjoyed the experience of playing with Abi-Maria.

I've found I can barely enjoy the experience of watching a season with her on it. 

[seacliffsal]

I just finished watching Cook Islands.  Really enjoyed it and had forgotten how quickly they moved from the 4 racial/ethnic groups to 2 mixed teams.  Had also forgotten how much of underdogs the new Aitu team was and how handily they came back and won the challenges necessary to become the dominant team (with the help of Jonathan coming back to them under the threat of Yul's immunity idol).  The "mutiny" was crazy and I couldn't believe how Adam seemed to have a good deal of influence (why?).  Also couldn't believe that Yul "Mr. Integrity" voted out Jonathan ahead of Adam/Parvati; he was totally courting jury votes but endangered his end game as Ozzie could have joined up with Adam/Parvati.  I had forgotten that Ozzie was more well rounded in the challenges as he was also really good with puzzles.  So, I probably loss some of my 'awe' of Yul after viewing this season a second time.  However, this was a really good season.  I liked how they kept switched/allowed switching of teams.

[seacliffsal]

Okay, I now just finished the first Fiji season (the one Earl won).  Pretty good season.  However, although they did it once, I wish that every time a tribe won immunity that they had to chose either to keep immunity and go to the hard camp or lose immunity but get to go to the good camp (the Moto camp with all of the buildings and luxury items).  I think it could have been really a strategically interesting twist if they had to make that decision each time.  It also may have "balanced" the challenges/victories a bit more in that it is just not that fun to watch one team have all the comforts, food, etc., and the other...not.  I guess the producers thought that having more cocoanuts and pineapples (Ravo) would make up for everything else (Moto).  It did seem like the producers tried to provide similar necessities during the Reward Challenges, but Ravo just couldn't pull out the win.

Wow were Stacey, Lisi and Alex horrible to Cassandra and Dreamz.  Stacey and Lisi were really bullies towards them (refusing to tell Dreamz how to make coffee, shoving them aside within the camp, etc.).  Alex really saved his bullying until the final tribal council when he wouldn't let Cassandra answer his questions/accusations.  Lisi was horrible at the final tribal council as well.

I really do think that Yau man would have won had he been in the final 3.  Dreamz definitely was hoping for the sympathy vote.  Even at the FC he told them he shared his story with all of them so they would know him and then went full-on into how he needed the money.  So glad Earl responded that they all needed/could use the money.

Cassandra really demonstrated how much she observed and learned over time with her impressive win in the 'identify what the tribe thought' challenge in which she got every answer right (this was the "who does the tribe think..." challenge).

Really impressed with Earl, his strategy, and his interactions with others.  Am surprised that they never brought him back (that I can remember, they may have and I just don't remember).  Also glad that someone from the "have-nots" (Ravo) won the entire game.  I do wish some votes had gone to Cassandra/Dreamz as they were also underdogs to make it all the way to the end.  Especially as so many of the survivors thought they could manipulate them to helping their own selves win.  I also wish Dreamz had "owned" his change of mind about honoring his final 4 promise to Yau Man (giving up final 4 immunity because Yau Man gave him the truck [my heart broke a bit for Dreamz as after Yau Man gave him the truck, Boo had to drive the truck to the reward village as Dreamz didn't have a license as he had never had a vehicle before]).

Will be starting a rewatch of another season very soon (I have Prime so only access the seasons they have available). 

[bunnyface]

I was late to Survivor.  I started watching maybe season 18ish.  I have been watching challenges and I'm surprised at how many people, from the seasons I watched, are complete and utter blanks to me.  I see them compete and have no clue who they are.  Even a few that went deep in the game, I still have no memory of.  Fleeting fame.

[LadyChatts]

I started re-watching Amazon again, which had always been one of my favorite seasons.  Though I will say, it slipped for me a bit on re-watch.  I just made it to the merge boot, which had one of the best blindsides ever in Roger (now that is something that still stands the test of time), and I think the merge half of the season will redeem this season to its former standing for me.  Perhaps the biggest pre-merge highlight for me was Shawna whining to her tribe and begging them to vote her off, yet she was in an alliance that had the majority and they didn't honor her wishes because they wanted to keep their numbers.  Yet one minute she's whining that she won't be able to make it, the next there's a tribe swap, and with the first whiff of testosterone, suddenly she's cured.  

I will say the men and women were pretty equally annoying pre-merge.  You'd probably have no liver left if you took a drink every time you heard 'hot girls', 'young girls', 'jealous of our hot bodies', 'boobs', and 'hot'.  Roger still makes me wish there was a way to throw something through the TV and hit him.  It's weird to watch this season and see the legend that become Rob Cesternino.  Deena had always been on my wish list of people I wanted to see come back, but now I'm wondering why I ever felt that way.  It was nice to see a young 20-something male be the first boot for a change, though I'm still confused why it was Ryan, and not Daniel.  I feel like something got left out that steered it in Ryan's direction.  I thought some of the pre-jury boots were memorable (maybe not for the right reasons), but overall there wasn't anyone I was sorry to see go.   

How they did the tribe swap was kind of interesting-Dave and Jenna went out for a one-on-one overnight, Jenna spilled her guts about what was happening at her tribe, and immediately regretted it the next day when Probst had them pick their own respective new tribes.  Because Jenna said she was super close to Heidi, Dave picked Heidi to go to his tribe.  And she also said Jeanne was going to be the next to go, which seemed to lead to Jeanne's demise (although I guess either way she was screwed).  I don't think they picked tribes this way very often, even back then, but it was a fun old school twist I liked.  And there was a RC that probably would be boring by today's standards, but the tribes had to go out and catch as many fish as possible in a certain amount of time.  Whoever caught the most got to keep the fish as a reward.  As I said, not exactly exciting TV, but I'd take a challenge like today to squeeze in between all the challenges of digging for puzzle pieces, assembling the puzzle, and throwing balls to knock down the puzzle you just put together. 

[seacliffsal]

I have finished rewatching China and Gabon.  China had some amazing sights and rewards, but wow did Denise ever get on my nerves after a while as her sad sack routine just got really old. She went on some amazing rewards but always tried to play the pity card "I have to go back to my life...I haven't eaten in a long time (after being on several rewards), etc." I wasn't as charmed by Courtney as I was after the original airing.  It was still magic watching James go home with two idols (and prior to TC he even mentioned that he would rather play an unnecessary idol than go home with an idol in hand). My heart broke for Todd while watching, knowing that winning Survivor was probably the worst thing that could happen due to his issues after he won.  The final few survivors deserved to lose (IMO) as they kept talking about how liked Todd was by the jury and that they should get him out-and then didn't vote him out.

Gabon was also beautiful and amazing.  I really liked Matty (had forgotten all about him) and liked Sugar more than I did after the original airing.  Bob was far more impressive than I had remembered. I felt bad when Dan was voted out-he just seemed so desperate to be liked and so sad when voted out.  I looked him up and found out that he died in 2017.  I hope he found acceptance and love during his brief life. I liked Corrine more-and appreciated a lot of her sarcasm.  However, I had forgotten how much I didn't like Randy during the season (and it was still true).  Overall a really enjoyable season.

Sigh.  I wish Survivor still filmed in new locations as during my rewatch of these seasons I am as mesmerized by the locale as I am the gameplay (well, and sometimes even more than the gameplay).

[seacliffsal]

Oh, and it totally amazes me (or annoys me-take your pick) that in every season there are survivors who complain that someone else is playing hard and is trying to win... I mean, duh, that's kind of the point.  Yet, they always seem surprised...

[Nashville]

4 hours ago, LadyChatts said:

one minute [Shawna’s] whining that she won't be able to make it, the next there's a tribe swap, and with the first whiff of testosterone, suddenly she's cured. 

If I had a nickel every time a woman said that to me...

...I’d probably owe someone about 20 cents.  😁

[seacliffsal]

Just finished Tocanins (Brazil).  I had forgotten how much Coach irritated me.  I do not know how they were able to keep him around as long as they did.  However, I did love the eye-rolls every time he started another fictional story.  And I don't ever remember Jeff throwing as much shade at someone as he did Coach (and well-deserved IMO).  

J.T. really was able to work his way into the other alliances and it was magic to watch he, Stephen and Taj go from the minority to the majority.  I was sad they voted Taj out before Erinn.  Taj was wonderful and I wish she had been invited back for another season (especially instead of Coach).  JT and Stephen were a good team, but Stephen was not the mastermind I had misremembered him being.  Of course, I was sorry that Joe had to leave due to an injury but I think he would have been the next one voted out anyway.  

Of course, I wish JT had not returned for another season as he will always be remembered for the idol-play with Russell which really would have been a good move had it not been Russell.  It was interesting to see how much all of the other contestants liked JT and how easily JT, Stephen, and Taj were able to work their way into other alliances.

[Steph Sometimes]

On 6/20/2021 at 1:56 PM, LadyChatts said:

Overall, I consider this to be one of the better seasons (probably top 10 or close to it), so if anyone hasn't seen it or re-watched it in a long time, it's one I'd recommend it.  I'm slightly disappointed that we've only seen Malcolm, Denise, and Abi return to future seasons.  I thought the cast overall was fairly solid, even some of the pre-mergers.  The final 3 is probably one of my least favorites, however, and the only reason I can get behind a Denise win is that she wasn't Skupin or Lisa.  I also thought the reunion show was kind of blah.  But still a decent season.  

I finished it minutes ago and it's one of my favorites. I love the relationship between Malcolm and Denise so much that parts of the finale were hard to watch (and that's even knowing how it turned out and knowing they're still close today). And I just love Penner. He's one of my favorites. 

But in addition to having three of my favorites (the three mentioned above), this season is just hilarious. Carter's "Hey Penner. Katie or Penner?" Jeff Kent's Obama comment. Angie's cookies. "SISTER!!!" Dawson being straight up odd (one of my complaints is I wish the Kalabaw women got more of an edit although I understand why they didn't -- Katie we hardly knew ya). And I don't even know why, but I find this straight up hilarious. It's when Lisa and the 3rd finalist are having a talk about Jesus. I'm paraphrasing

Lisa:  What would it be like if Jesus played Survivor?
The other finalist: He'd probably look like Malcolm.
And he'd play like Carter.

I don't know if that's a compliment to Carter or an insult to Jesus honestly.

Caramoan's next. I love Malcolm, but I don't know if I love him that much to sit through that again. I may skip to BvW. Did you hear Ciera voted out her mom?

 

Edited July 31, 2021 by Steph Sometimes

[LadyChatts]

On 7/29/2021 at 12:28 PM, seacliffsal said:

Of course, I wish JT had not returned for another season as he will always be remembered for the idol-play with Russell which really would have been a good move had it not been Russell.  It was interesting to see how much all of the other contestants liked JT and how easily JT, Stephen, and Taj were able to work their way into other alliances.

I will always remember for being the idiot who screwed Malcolm's game.  Okay, that was mostly the show and that stupid twist for that episode, but JT and his great read on things didn't help.  And yes, for the reasons you mentioned, which will always be gold, too.  In some ways I want JT to return just to see how he can bungle his game again.   

Quote

 Caramoan's next. I love Malcolm, but I don't know if I love him that much to sit through that again. I may skip to BvW. Did you hear Ciera voted out her mom?

I guess I'd forgotten all about that!  You'd think Probst would mention such a monumental move once or twice ;)  I re-watched Caramoan a while back, and while it's far from a great season, it wasn't as terrible as the first time around.  Probably because I knew what was going to happen.  My biggest issues were more producer decisions (casting an unstable Brandon Hantz and making the pre-jurors sit in the audience during the finale so Probst wouldn't have to address the fact that Brandon wasn't there).  It's not like he ever pays much attention to the pre-jury anyway.  I'm actually disappointed we haven't seen some of the fans from that season come back.  Aside from Guatemala, which just had their first returning player last season, I think Caramoan is the only other older season that hasn't had anyone return from it. 

I'm debating whether to be brave and face Redemption Island and World's Apart, both horrible seasons for different reasons.  RI may actually not seem so bad on re-watch, but World's Apart...yeah, if it's possible it may actually be worse.  

[Steph Sometimes]

21 hours ago, LadyChatts said:

I will always remember for being the idiot who screwed Malcolm's game.  Okay, that was mostly the show and that stupid twist for that episode, but JT and his great read on things didn't help.  And yes, for the reasons you mentioned, which will always be gold, too.  In some ways I want JT to return just to see how he can bungle his game again.   

Game Changers had so much potential to me and then they put all of the people I like one tribe (Cirie being one of the few I was rooting for on the other), and they lost, and then JT. Ugh. That tribal council still irritates. I don't dislike Sarah though and glad she won of the finalists.

21 hours ago, LadyChatts said:

My biggest issues were more producer decisions (casting an unstable Brandon Hantz and making the pre-jurors sit in the audience during the finale so Probst wouldn't have to address the fact that Brandon wasn't there).  It's not like he ever pays much attention to the pre-jury anyway.  I'm actually disappointed we haven't seen some of the fans from that season come back.

I'm of the belief that Brandon shouldn't have been cast once let alone twice. And really were people watching SP and thinking, "Yes, the unstable Hantz rambling about God, melting down at every tribal council and acting extremely creepy around Mikayla... he's my favorite and needs to return as a favorite!" But good to know, Caramoan was better. I just remember Hantz the younger and the Brenda/Dawn stuff being ugly. I'm not the biggest fan of Cochran, but maybe I'll give it a rewatch. After all, I enjoyed both Gabon and Nicaragua to some extent on rewatch. And I do love Malcolm. 

 

Edited August 1, 2021 by Steph Sometimes

[LadyChatts]

57 minutes ago, Steph Sometimes said:

Game Changers had so much potential to me and then they put all of the people I like one tribe (Cirie being one of the few I was rooting for on the other), and they lost, and then JT. Ugh. That tribal council still irritates. I don't dislike Sarah though and glad she won of the finalists.

Same.  I was excited to see the likes of Hali back, and Varner (before the whole Zeke thing, but prior to that he had been on my list of people I'd wanted back for years, and then his time was cut short during S31, so I was happy to see him return here.  And then the Zeke thing happened).  But yes, the Mana tribe had most of my favorite people on it.

I liked Sarah better here than I did during S28.  I appreciated that she actually tried learning from her last experience and it showed that she was playing the game.  So I'd consider her a worthy winner.  And yeah, of the final 3 that season, I would have rooted for her by default.  It was a pretty funny finale, with Troyzan quickly realizing he had no chance in hell of winning, and seeing the look of defeat slowly cross over the once confident Culpepper's face as he sat there in his Barney Rubble attire.  

 

1 hour ago, Steph Sometimes said:

I'm of the belief that Brandon shouldn't have been cast once let alone twice. And really were people watching SP and thinking, "Yes, the unstable Hantz rambling about God, melting down at every tribal council and acting extremely creepy around Mikayla... he's my favorite and needs to return as a favorite!" But good to know, Caramoan was better. I just remember Hantz the younger and the Brenda/Dawn stuff being ugly. I'm not the biggest fan of Cochran, but maybe I'll give it a rewatch. After all, I enjoyed both Gabon and Nicaragua to some extent on rewatch. And I do love Malcolm. 

I can understand why the show (and especially Probst) would be some smitten with Russell Hantz, but this was a case of expecting magic again with his family bloodline.  They cast his brother on Big Brother, and he got kicked off for assaulting another houseguest.  And then there was Brandon.  I don't know why TPTB thought they would get the same Hantz game play and personality that they did with Russell, or what exactly they were expecting.  I mean there had been plenty of other popular, polarizing, and notorious characters long before Russell, and they didn't cast their family left and right on here or other shows.  The Brenda/Dawn stuff was ugly, but Brenda was really kind of ridiculous about the whole thing.  I think this is a good example of producer bias.  During the first FvsF finale, Ozzy really went off on Parvati, and told her to do a little dance to show him how much his friendship really meant to her.  She didn't, and probably because it was Ozzy and Parvati (mostly Ozzy), it was left on the cutting room floor.  Here, we see Brenda demean Dawn into taking her teeth out to prove some point.  Anyway, I had been a Brenda fan during Nicaragua and was excited to see her back, but maybe she needed to wait a while before returning.    

[fishcakes]

11 minutes ago, LadyChatts said:

The Brenda/Dawn stuff was ugly, but Brenda was really kind of ridiculous about the whole thing.  I think this is a good example of producer bias.  During the first FvsF finale, Ozzy really went off on Parvati, and told her to do a little dance to show him how much his friendship really meant to her.  She didn't, and probably because it was Ozzy and Parvati (mostly Ozzy), it was left on the cutting room floor.  Here, we see Brenda demean Dawn into taking her teeth out to prove some point.  Anyway, I had been a Brenda fan during Nicaragua and was excited to see her back, but maybe she needed to wait a while before returning.    

I side completely with Brenda on this. Dawn was an emotional vampire all season long with everyone, but especially with Brenda. When her dentures fell out, Dawn had (or pretended to have) a breakdown, saying she would quit the game if Brenda didn't find them for her. Brenda had a chance right there to get rid of someone, but she didn't; instead she found Dawn's dentures for her, and later after Dawn begged her, she let Dawn win immunity, only for Dawn to vote her out at that TC. Then at FTC, Dawn claimed that the dentures were no big deal, she didn't care if people saw her without them, she would never have quit, and therefore Brenda didn't do anything for her. So Brenda essentially and accurately said well, either you were lying then or you're lying now. If you're lying now, admit that I saved your game. If you were lying then, take out your dentures and prove that I did nothing for you. Dawn chose the latter, which was basically a Fuck You to Brenda. I don't see anything vicious in what Brenda did; Dawn had the option of not taking her dentures out at FTC; all she had to do was say that yes, Brenda helped her in the game. She was too small a person to do that.

[Steph Sometimes]

1 hour ago, LadyChatts said:

Same.  I was excited to see the likes of Hali back, and Varner (before the whole Zeke thing, but prior to that he had been on my list of people I'd wanted back for years, and then his time was cut short during S31, so I was happy to see him return here.  And then the Zeke thing happened).  But yes, the Mana tribe had most of my favorite people on it.

I like Hali too. I thought she was one of the few likeable people in WA. I just went to wiki to remember the tribe members because it was a long time ago, and damn so many people I like. Malcolm, Aubry, Hali, Tony, Sandra, Michaela, Ciera,... so few duds on that tribe (Caleb)...if only they had been challenge winners at the beginning. I'd be happy with any of them winning.

[seacliffsal]

I didn't know if I could do it, but I decided to at least start rewatching Samoa (the original Russell Hantz season).  And, you know what?  It was better than I remembered, and Russell wasn't as vile as I remembered.  He mainly oversold his importance during his interviews.  He would be all "I make all of the decisions" and then change who he was going to vote for because his alliance wanted someone else out.  He did find three idols without clues, but they really were all hidden in fairly obvious places.  He hid water and burned socks but that was really the extent of his destruction.  

It is really interesting to rewatch the seasons as I think I thought that there was usually a pagonging after merges, but Samoa (like other seasons) saw the tribe with fewer members at the merge end up dominating the majority alliance and go on to have one of their original members win the season. 

I am surprised that so many survivors willingly told people (especially Russell) that they didn't trust them which shortly led to their eliminations.  I guess I don't understand the strategy of telling someone you don't trust them.  Tell them what they want to hear and then make your own plans to eliminate them.   

Do I think Natalie deserved the win?  No.  But, juries can vote however they want and what was clear is they didn't think Mick deserved even one vote and that they did not want Russell to win.  Bittercakes?  Most likely.  

[Steph Sometimes]

Life's too short to rewatch seasons you're not enjoying. I couldn't make it through Caramoan. I made myself watch to the Philip exit and then decided I was out. I just don't like Cochran that much.

Started BvW yesterday. Much better.

[AncientNewbie]

I'm rewatching HvV currently and finding Russell hard to take, but it really does lessen his impact knowing the results. I tend to watch the first time like a complete mark, getting sucked in by the edit and the talking heads, so it's been a pleasant experience to watch with a more critical eye this time. 

[LadyChatts]

On 8/24/2021 at 1:47 PM, Steph Sometimes said:

Life's too short to rewatch seasons you're not enjoying. I couldn't make it through Caramoan. I made myself watch to the Philip exit and then decided I was out. I just don't like Cochran that much.

Started BvW yesterday. Much better.

Lol I don't blame you.  I made it through Caramoan, but have yet to even attempt to watch the likes of Redemption Island, Worlds Apart, or South Pacific again.  I'm not sure I'll put myself through that unless I get some really horrible stomach bug where I can't do anything else and want to watch something that's more miserable than a root canal.

I didn't care much for BvsW when it first aired, so maybe I'll give that one a shot once I finally finish Amazon.  I've gotten sidetracked by the Survivor channel on the Pluto app, which is finally showing a season beyond season 9 (they were just rotating between seasons 1-9).  But it they are showing HvsV, and it's the episode where JT makes the blunder of giving Russell his HII because the men thought the guys on the villains tribe were being picked off.  Good times.   

[Steph Sometimes]

47 minutes ago, LadyChatts said:

Lol I don't blame you.  I made it through Caramoan, but have yet to even attempt to watch the likes of Redemption Island, Worlds Apart, or South Pacific again.  

I've skipped Samoa, Redemption Island and One World and I plan to skip Worlds Apart. I did watch SP just because I do enjoy Sophie, but she's very overshadowed by Coach, Ozzy, Cochran and the Unstable Hantz. 

BvW is in the middle for me. I go back and forth on Tyson, but I remember the season having enough intriguing people and memorable scenes (FU Brad Culpepper coming up soon) to be somewhat enjoyable. And it's Hantz-free! And Colton leaves early, but his much better fiance (RIP) sticks around for a little while.

There are two future seasons I'm wondering about rewatching - KR and HHH. I liked the season but disliked the winners. I know a lot of people love Michele, but I just don't. And the Ben win still annoys me when I think about it. I won't watch Game Changers either because it had three things I hated (the stupid tribal council with Malcolm, Varner, and the Cirie situation).

[LadyChatts]

5 minutes ago, Steph Sometimes said:

I've skipped Samoa, Redemption Island and One World and I plan to skip Worlds Apart. I did watch SP just because I do enjoy Sophie, but she's very overshadowed by Coach, Ozzy, Cochran and the Unstable Hantz. 

BvW is in the middle for me. I go back and forth on Tyson, but I remember the season having enough intriguing people and memorable scenes (FU Brad Culpepper coming up soon) to be somewhat enjoyable. And it's Hantz-free! And Colton leaves early, but his much better fiance (RIP) sticks around for a little while.

There are two future seasons I'm wondering about rewatching - KR and HHH. I liked the season but disliked the winners. I know a lot of people love Michele, but I just don't. And the Ben win still annoys me when I think about it. I won't watch Game Changers either because it had three things I hated (the stupid tribal council with Malcolm, Varner, and the Cirie situation).

The things I liked about BvsW were what you mentioned (FU Culpepper never gets old), and seeing Gervase and Tina again.  On the other hand, it did give us Brad Culpepper, the legend in his (and Probst's) own mind.  Beyond that, the season is kind of just there for me.  I don't dislike it like that ones I mentioned, but it's also not a big favorite for me.  So maybe I'll give it a shot and see if my opinion has changed.

In general, I think the whole series in the 30s was pretty blah.  I don't like MvsGX as much as others, although I can't say it was a bad season, either (it's Adam winning that sours me on it).  Second Chances was good at the time, but not sure I look back as fondly on it anymore.  And I think Ghost Island had potential, but the twist was stupid, and the Navaiti tribe was beyond annoying and obnoxious.  I will say I liked Michele way more during S40, and am sad she didn't get 1 vote during the FTC.  If I were to watch KR again, I'd probably skip the scenes with the Brawn tribe, because I have no interest in seeing Alecia get bullied again.  And maybe just skip over Scot and Jason in general whenever they are onscreen.  I don't know if my opinion on Michele winning that respective season has changed, but I do like her more after last season.  I hate HHH for introducing the fire making final 4 challenge, which cost Devin his spot in the final 3, and how it seemed to rain idols whenever Ben was around.  The producers might as well just hold up a sign saying 'chosen one'.  In general I think that season had a boring cast and game play.  Game Changers is another season where I think it had potential and some good moments, but the things you mentioned really drag it down.  One of those in a season would be bad enough, but all 3...just no.

[Steph Sometimes]

On the BvW finale. Does anyone else find Monica Culpepper exhausting?

I did like a lot of this season. I liked a lot of the new players - Ciera (I know it's unpopular, but I find her scrappiness endearing -- SHE VOTED OUT HER MOM), Katie, Caleb... I liked how badass Tina and Laura were. I go back and forth on Tyson but he was fine here. I like that Colton and Rupert were gone early. FU Brad Culpepper.

Get your llamas ready. Cagayan is next!

[seacliffsal]

I just finished BVW and liked it better than I remembered.  I also liked Ciera more than I remembered.  The Culpeppers?  Wow do they like to talk and talk and talk.  I bet Jeff was not happy with how many idol clues were burned at the redemption arena.  

I, too, am so glad Rupert was out first (you can probably tell I'm not a fan...).  There was a lot of interesting game play throughout the season.  I did feel sorry for Monica at the final tribal council, but I could tell the other survivors were frustrated with her.  

I would recommend this season to anuone interested as I did really enjoy it.

[Lady Calypso]

Oh hey, it's been a while since I've posted here for my Survivor watch (the last time I binge watched a full Survivor season was before Winners at War). But I'm finally back at it. I decided to watch South Pacific, because one of my friends is also binge watching Survivor seasons and got to a season I haven't watched yet. 

And so far...yikes. I'm on the fourth episode and there's some frustrating moments, for sure. Brandon is such a troubled kid, and I'm amazed that he hasn't been voted out yet. The women are right; he's such a loose cannon and he really shouldn't have gotten as far as I know he does here. 

And Coach? I mean, I'm up and down on Coach with the season I did watch him in and this one so far, and I'm perplexed to the mentality that he's their leader that they must follow always. I do know of Coach's role this season, so I'm curious to see it play out for myself, but I'm just amazed at HOW loyal people are to Coach.

And Ozzy? I remember also being up and down with Ozzy (liking him in his first season, not liking him in his second), and am neutral with him thus far.

[Lantern7]

Funny you mention South Pacific, @Lady Calypso . .  . Mario Lanza is currently working on his #1 entry. Yeah, it's multi-part, like #2 with Dan Foley. I'll have to sit down and read to whole thing in one shot.

[Guest]

10 hours ago, Lantern7 said:

Funny you mention South Pacific, @Lady Calypso . .  . Mario Lanza is currently working on his #1 entry. Yeah, it's multi-part, like #2 with Dan Foley. I'll have to sit down and read to whole thing in one shot.

Ah, good to know! I wondered if the Dan entry wore him out and if he was ever going to finish.

To me, the key to enjoying South Pacific is to always pay attention to Sophie - when she's talking, in the background, whatever. She's gold. One of my favorite winners.

Edited December 14, 2021 by tracyscott76

[peachmangosteen]

19 minutes ago, tracyscott76 said:

To me, the key to enjoying South Pacific is to always pay attention to Sophie - when she's talking, in the background, whatever. She's gold. One of my favorite winners.

This so much!

[LadyChatts]

Way back I started re-watching Amazon and never finished it until now (got side tracked and then S41 started up).  Now I'm ready to start my re-watches up again and decided to finish this season.  Amazon was always one of my all time favorite seasons, and while I'm not as crazy about it as I was before doing a re-watch, it's still a good season (and one I'd suggest checking out if you've never seen it/want to re-watch an older season).

When Jenna was announced as the winner way back when, I was stunned that she managed to beat Matt, especially by such a landslide vote.  Upon re-watching I realize that Matt didn't seem well liked by his fellow tribe members and his game definitely wasn't respected, although I'm  surprised Christy voted for Jenna.  Jenna seemed to win by popularity, and in hindsight, she was always going to have 3 votes on that jury in Heidi, Deena, and Alex, so I guess her win isn't terribly surprising.  I kind of laughed at Heidi's jury question when she asked who the final 2 thought deserved to be there in their place, and they both picked Rob, and Heidi was all "yeah, but is that the only person?"  I guess she expected Jenna to pick her.  Probst had to tell Heidi they covered it.  I also completely forgot this was the era of Probst's amazing entrances into the finale (in this case, he jet skiied away from TC and into NYC).  

If there's one thing I take away from this season it shows that you can have an amazing season without boatloads of idols and advantages.  A lot of great blindsides and game moves, alliances shifting all over the place post-merge, unexpected challenge winners, memorable moments and cast members.  The game just progressed naturally. 

I will also say that in re-watching early seasons, I really wish that we've seen more contestants return from these seasons in returning player seasons, especially for WaW.  I feel like pre-S20 is so dominated by the likes of Boston Rob, Ozzy, Parvati, Rupert, Sandra, and anyone from Outback when it comes to returning players.  

Edited December 20, 2021 by LadyChatts

[treeofdreams]

20 minutes ago, LadyChatts said:

If there's one thing I take away from this season it shows that you can have an amazing season without boatloads of idols and advantages.  A lot of great blindsides and game moves, alliances shifting all over the place post-merge, unexpected challenge winners, memorable moments and cast members.  The game just progressed naturally. 

Yes, this was true Survivor.  So many of the earlier seasons were really good, without all the messing about.  They were all about strategy, which is my favorite part of the game - and used to be the whole point.  Now there is too much luck involved, and too many twists, and really good players are at risk of being out because of all these new elements (Hi, Cirie!)  At least we can re-watch older seasons and appreciate them all over again.

[NYGirl]

I'm watching Australian Survivor on Paramount Plus right now and I'm loving it.  First of all the full theme song and cast pictures at the beginning which really hypes you up!

Most of all no twists and advantages!  There are maybe 2 idols in play and they don't follow people looking for them.  In fact you don't know who has them.  They are definitely not the focus of the game at all.

Each episode is an hour and they flesh out every single contestant.  The host says lots of the same things Jeff says and reads the votes different every week so you don't know who's going home.

It's just like the old days and I'm loving it!!

[jsm1125]

1 hour ago, NYGirl said:

I'm watching Australian Survivor on Paramount Plus right now and I'm loving it.  First of all the full theme song and cast pictures at the beginning which really hypes you up!

Most of all no twists and advantages!  There are maybe 2 idols in play and they don't follow people looking for them.  In fact you don't know who has them.  They are definitely not the focus of the game at all.

Each episode is an hour and they flesh out every single contestant.  The host says lots of the same things Jeff says and reads the votes different every week so you don't know who's going home.

It's just like the old days and I'm loving it!!

While I do prefer Australian Survivor to US Survivor, there are always multiple non-elimination episodes per season. And the editing is arguably even more imbalanced than in the American version, in that a lot of contestants per season get purple edited. 

[treeofdreams]

I have just started re-watching David vs Goliath.  I had forgotten what a character Natalie was.

Since the early votes-off have to spend so much time together, I was wondering how Natalie and Jeremy, who were both voted off early, got along once they were out of the game.

[Lisapooh]

It’s funny what you notice on a rewatch! I just watched David vs. Goliath (my all time favorite season) again. And I immediately noticed that Dr. Allison is constantly checking her pulse during tense tribal councils. It’s such a small thing but it cracks me up. 

[jsm1125]

Poor Dr. Allison. She didn’t really ever seem to catch a break during her time on that season. And next to maybe Bi and Jessica, who went out pre-swap, I think she got the most purple edit of the season 

[seacliffsal]

I, too, just rewatched this season.  It seems like it was so much older than I realized (i.e. it was season 37 and we just had season 41).  Even though they had more advantages, it was nothing like this most recent season.  And, there are a lot of players I would like to see again (especially Davey).  I had forgotten how enjoyable this season was and how delicious it was when when Natalia and Natalie were voted out and Angelina did not get Natalie's jacket.

Am currently watching Fans v. Favorites (these are the only 2 seasons Netflix has...) and am amazed at the poor game play by so many of the fans and favorites.  It ended up being a cake walk for the Black Widow Brigade (trademark Parvati) but mainly because other favorites were too overly confident and/or fans being too naive and/or transparent.  I really hated that both Jonathan Penner and James had to leave due to injuries (not that I necessarily wanted either to win, I just think it's so hard on someone leaving that way without being voted out).  But, I am so glad they never repeated the challenge that resulted in Jonathan's injury as that so dangerous (and Chet certainly got battered during it as well).  

[LadyChatts]

Lol I forgot about Angelina asking for Natalie’s jacket!  “Natalie can I have your jacket?  Natalie?  Natalie?”  
 

S37 is the best recent season for me.  I don’t think I enjoyed a season so much since S28.  I will say that I started rewatching S33 and am enjoying that more on re-watch than I did the first time so maybe that will be the only other season in the 30s I remember fondly.  I can even appreciate Adam more after S40.  

[AncientNewbie]

On 1/12/2022 at 9:36 AM, seacliffsal said:

(and Chet certainly got battered during it as well).  

"I hit my head back there"

"I don't care."

"I know."

I only wish I could recreate the tones of Chet's voice in print. 

[SVNBob]

On 12/13/2021 at 10:16 PM, Lantern7 said:

Funny you mention South Pacific, @Lady Calypso . .  . Mario Lanza is currently working on his #1 entry. Yeah, it's multi-part, like #2 with Dan Foley. I'll have to sit down and read to whole thing in one shot.

You could do that now, as the entry, which is about the entirety of SP from the perspective of Benji, has concluded.  There's an interesting theory about Benji and Sophie at the beginning of the final chapter, and a lot of jokes about the stupidity inherent in S41.

But it's also not exactly over.  At the conclusion of the article, Erika showed up and used her time-changing hammer required that Mario re-write the entire entry as one from Sophie's POV, since she was the actual winner after all.  But not before doing a version from Ozzy's POV, as he, not Benji, was the final hurdle Sophie had to overcome.  In the end, it's going to be a trilogy!

(Ok, so Mario really got the idea while writing the Dan Foley entry when he noted that there's never really just one story-line in a season; there's 16-20, one for every player.  And that the stories for Benji and Ozzy are so different from the absolute beginning of SP, so it's a good season for this kind of analysis.  But since neither win, Sophie's story also needs to be told and examined.  Hence the three perspectives.)

 

On 12/14/2021 at 9:00 AM, tracyscott76 said:

Ah, good to know! I wondered if the Dan entry wore him out and if he was ever going to finish.

He's understandably taking a little break before getting into the serious work of the Ozzy POV.  And will likely do the same before the Sophie portion as well.  I wouldn't expect the absolute conclusion until sometime in 2023.

Edited February 26, 2022 by SVNBob

[SnideAsides]

I guess this is the best place for it, so: Ozzy has just come out as bisexual.

Good for him.

 

[meep.meep]

So, we turn off last night's episode of Survivor, and turn on HGTV.  My daughter says:  "isn't that Kim?"

Kim Wolfe, winner of the One World season (you remember Colton) has a renovation show with her husband Jeff.  Called Why the Heck did I buy this House?

[LadyChatts]

Started watching S33 again, and made it to Lucy's blindside.  I was never as crazy about this season as a lot of other people, and so far my mind isn't being changed on re-watch.  I really hope Jay returns in the future, and Michaela too.  I forgot how much I enjoyed her facial expressions.  Anyway, Lucy's blindside was great, more so because Jessica also got blindsided into how close she was to going home.  

Truthfully most of the cast on both tribes were obnoxious and/or annoying.  I wish Mari had lasted longer.  Paul's blindside was another good one, although it was frustrating the next episode that the girls who had been aligned with him (Sunday, Jessica, and Lucy) were having second thoughts about voting him off because it made Bret and Chris angry.  Had they actually stopped for 3 seconds and looked around they would have realized it put them in a power position.  Instead, they second guessed getting rid of a guy who openly said he would dump them in a heartbeat if an all-guy's alliance came knocking.  

One thing I've noticed re-watching more recent seasons compared to earlier seasons is how much they need to do a challenge overhaul.  Almost every challenge so far has had a puzzle element to it, and one challenge involved knocking the puzzle down and re-constructing it.  Been done so many times.  I can also appreciate that in the past 2 seasons, with how many idols and advantages were thrown into the game, they didn't factor in as much as one idol did in this time frame of Survivor.  It seemed like idols and idol hunts were the b-plot to the episodes.    

Edited June 17, 2022 by LadyChatts