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Post by bbg95 on May 18, 2021 15:55:01 GMT -5
Survivor Australia released their theme "Brains vs Brawn" also if you haven't seen Survivor Australia, I'd recommend it... It's very good (it's longer than a US season, which is both good and bad). The editing isn't the best, but production is very good at story telling and the longer season allows for more stuff (personalities and strategies) to be shown. Plus their host is better than Probst. Sorry not sorry. Maybe after I finish all the US seasons (seven more to go after I get done with All Stars), though it looks like Australian Survivor is roughly twice as many episodes. On the other hand, there's only eight seasons, so maybe I can check it out if I need something to watch.
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Post by bbg95 on May 18, 2021 23:14:25 GMT -5
The gameplay in All Stars is really frustrating. Rob and Amber didn't even attempt to disguise their relationship, and in a season with a final two, there is zero chance that either one would take anyone else to the end. So the only way to get to the end is to win final immunity, and Rob is really good at challenges, so that's pretty tough. Either Rob or Amber really should have been taken out no later than final five. There are no idols in this season, so Tom, Jenna and Rupert could have gotten together to get rid of whichever one didn't have immunity. But nope. They just vote out Tom like idiots. I get that Rob instigated a fight between Tom and Rupert, but how could those three not anticipate that Rob would do whatever he could to cause trouble?
Edit: Rob won the car reward and took Amber on what was obviously a date (a drive-in movie). This is the perfect opportunity for the other three people to get together and plan to vote out whichever of them doesn't have immunity after the next challenge the way Sandra rallied Darrah and Lil against Fairplay and Burton in Pearl Islands. Not only that, Amber gets a car of her own just because Rob took her on the reward (I was also amused that Jeff called shotgun and put Amber in the backseat--I'm surprised he didn't try to sit between them during the movie also). And she told the rest of her tribe about her car. The most obvious couple in the history of Survivor both got cars and went off on a reward by themselves, and the other three didn't vote them out. Unbelievable. Amber also said at tribal that she could "smell" the money, which prompted head shakes and eyerolls from the jury. This is a truly terrible season of Survivor.
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Post by bbg95 on May 20, 2021 15:48:36 GMT -5
I'm finally free of All Stars. The Final Tribal Council was pretty good, as it had a lot of fireworks, especially from Lex, Kathy and Alicia. I didn't care for the rest of the finale though, as there was way too much Romber on my screen (I know they were the final two, but I still found it nauseating). At first, I thought this season reminded me the most of Redemption Island, as both featured dumb people on Rob's tribe letting him do whatever he wanted and the opposing tribe making inexplicably stupid decisions (e.g. throwing a challenge to get rid of Russell, Lex voting out Ethan, Colby and Jerri) that allowed Rob to get the numbers at the merge and pagong the other tribe before making it to a final two or three made up entirely of unpopular people.
But the Final Tribal Council was a bit different, as South Pacific was the season this reminded me of. You had the main power player (Rob and Coach) botching it by suddenly apologizing for and feeling somewhat ashamed of their behavior after they were blasted by the jury. And then their partner-in-crime (Amber and Sophie) won because they were a bit better at FTC than the leader of their alliance was. Also, both Sophie and Amber seemed to be a bit taken aback by the negative feedback and acknowledged that they had some flaws that they were planning to work on in their life going forward. I definitely think Sophie was a significantly better player than Amber, and I'm pretty low on Sophie's South Pacific game, so I have Amber second-to-last among winners, ahead of Bob.
Edit: I forgot, but the rock draw at final four tiebreaker really robbed us of a potential Rupert v. Rob fire making showdown. The problem with rocks at final four is that the person who isn't immune but also isn't getting any votes (in this case, Jenna) is really disincentivized to force a tie because they can draw a rock and go home. I'm glad this rule was changed by at least Palau, and it's possible it was in place for Vanuatu as well, as a fire making challenge at final four is a lot more dramatic, and the vote is a lot more strategically interesting. If that tiebreaker was in place for All Stars, then Jenna certainly sticks with Rupert and forces a tie. If Rupert wins at fire, then Jenna almost certainly makes the final two and would definitely beat Amber and maybe Rupert too. Instead, she was forced to try to beat both Rob and Amber at final immunity. Granted, it's her own fault for voting out Tom at final five. But still.
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Post by bbg95 on May 20, 2021 15:53:36 GMT -5
I have updated my ongoing season rankings as follows:
Tier 1 1. Winners at War 2. Pearl Islands 3. Cagayan 4. Heroes v. Villains Tier 2 5. David v. Goliath 6. Cambodia 7. China 8. Tocantins Tier 3 9. Philippines 10. Blood v. Water 11. Millennials v. Gen X 12. Panama 13. Samoa 14. Kaoh Rong 15. Nicaragua Tier 3.5 16. Vanuatu 17. Amazon 18. Australia 19. Borneo 20. Africa 21. Cook Islands Tier 4 22. Game Changers 23. Micronesia 24. San Juan del Sur 25. Caramoan 26. Guatemala Tier 5 27. South Pacific 28. Gabon 29. Palau 30. All Stars 31. Thailand 32. Marquesas 33. Redemption Island
I was very tempted to rank All Stars behind Thailand because it is so long and so unpleasant and so boring. And I thought it would be appropriate that the three seasons that most prominently feature Boston Rob would all be DFL in my rankings. Ultimately, I think All Stars is a bit better (Jake and Erin in Thailand just aren't enough), but just barely. Next up is Fiji, the only season of the first 23 that I have yet to watch.
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Post by Hawk Attack on May 20, 2021 19:15:06 GMT -5
Ultimately, I think All Stars is a bit better (Jake and Erin in Thailand just aren't enough), I felt bad for Erin in Thailand. I hated that four person tribal council where she was forced out by that dumb ass twist.
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Post by bbg95 on May 20, 2021 19:26:32 GMT -5
Ultimately, I think All Stars is a bit better (Jake and Erin in Thailand just aren't enough), I felt bad for Erin in Thailand. I hated that four person tribal council where she was forced out by that dumb ass twist. Well, the fake merge actually benefited Erin and Sook Jai. If the merge happens when they expected, Shii-Ann flips and becomes the original Cochran in South Pacific. Instead, Sook Jai got rid of their disloyal tribe member and had one more chance to even up the numbers, which would have potentially set up a rock draw at the merge with eight players left in the game and two united tribes. Sadly, Chuay Gahn won the challenge, and we ended up with perhaps the least likable final two in the history of Survivor. Thailand would have been significantly better if it had gone the other way.
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Post by Hawk Attack on May 20, 2021 20:09:16 GMT -5
I felt bad for Erin in Thailand. I hated that four person tribal council where she was forced out by that dumb ass twist. Well, the fake merge actually benefited Erin and Sook Jai. If the merge happens when they expected, Shii-Ann flips and becomes the original Cochran in South Pacific. Instead, Sook Jai got rid of their disloyal tribe member and had one more chance to even up the numbers, which would have potentially set up a rock draw at the merge with eight players left in the game and two united tribes. Sadly, Chuay Gahn won the challenge, and we ended up with perhaps the least likable final two in the history of Survivor. Thailand would have been significantly better if it had gone the other way. I know... it was just so sad to see those four sitting there under those circumstances. Not that it was the most likable group in Survivor history. Just that the other group was legitimately the LEAST likable group in Survivor history.
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Post by bbg95 on May 20, 2021 20:24:31 GMT -5
Well, the fake merge actually benefited Erin and Sook Jai. If the merge happens when they expected, Shii-Ann flips and becomes the original Cochran in South Pacific. Instead, Sook Jai got rid of their disloyal tribe member and had one more chance to even up the numbers, which would have potentially set up a rock draw at the merge with eight players left in the game and two united tribes. Sadly, Chuay Gahn won the challenge, and we ended up with perhaps the least likable final two in the history of Survivor. Thailand would have been significantly better if it had gone the other way. I know... it was just so sad to see those four sitting there under those circumstances. Not that it was the most likable group in Survivor history. Just that the other group was legitimately the LEAST likable group in Survivor history. Yeah, fair enough. The last stand of the Sook Jai four was legitimately a very good episode of Survivor in the midst of a really bad season. Those four truly cared about each other, and I really liked that they were holding hands as they prepared for Jeff to read the votes, not knowing for sure who was going.
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Post by Hawk Attack on May 20, 2021 21:28:24 GMT -5
I know... it was just so sad to see those four sitting there under those circumstances. Not that it was the most likable group in Survivor history. Just that the other group was legitimately the LEAST likable group in Survivor history. Yeah, fair enough. The last stand of the Sook Jai four was legitimately a very good episode of Survivor in the midst of a really bad season. Those four truly cared about each other, and I really liked that they were holding hands as they prepared for Jeff to read the votes, not knowing for sure who was going. And how they all hug Erin at the end. If things had swung the other way I would’ve loved to see a Jake/Erin final two. The funny thing is on another season, with a different cast, I probably wouldn’t have cared much/rooted for Ken or Penny. But after this like, who else could you root for... Jan? Helen? Blegh.
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Post by bbg95 on May 20, 2021 22:09:39 GMT -5
Yeah, fair enough. The last stand of the Sook Jai four was legitimately a very good episode of Survivor in the midst of a really bad season. Those four truly cared about each other, and I really liked that they were holding hands as they prepared for Jeff to read the votes, not knowing for sure who was going. And how they all hug Erin at the end. If things had swung the other way I would’ve loved to see a Jake/Erin final two. The funny thing is on another season, with a different cast, I probably wouldn’t have cared much/rooted for Ken or Penny. But after this like, who else could you root for... Jan? Helen? Blegh. Yeah, a Jake/Erin final two would have been ideal. Jake was my favorite player on the season, just a standup guy all the way around. After that last immunity challenge, he blamed himself for the loss, even though he was by far the person least responsible for it. A great and underrated leader. I would have liked to see him get a second chance at some point, though that ship has long sailed by now. Apparently, production thought he was too boring to bring back.
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Post by bbg95 on May 25, 2021 0:06:24 GMT -5
For anyone interested, apparently CBS someone leaked half the cast of Survivor 41 (no spoilers about the boot order, etc.). Supposedly, the season is 26 days long instead of 39, probably because of COVID. And supposedly there's no theme for the season that Jeff will shoehorn into every tribal council. I also watched the first episode of Fiji. So far, this cast seems pretty bland, but I guess we'll see.
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bluepenquin
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Post by bluepenquin on May 25, 2021 7:54:39 GMT -5
For anyone interested, apparently CBS someone leaked half the cast of Survivor 41 (no spoilers about the boot order, etc.). Supposedly, the season is 26 days long instead of 39, probably because of COVID. And supposedly there's no theme for the season that Jeff will shoehorn into every tribal council. I also watched the first episode of Fiji. So far, this cast seems pretty bland, but I guess we'll see. My mind has always remembered season by numbers instead of location/theme name. I hear - Thailand, and I have no idea what season that is. I hear Season 5 - and I know that Brian is the winner. Calling this 'Season 41' is a welcome to me.
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Post by bbg95 on May 25, 2021 10:40:57 GMT -5
For anyone interested, apparently CBS someone leaked half the cast of Survivor 41 (no spoilers about the boot order, etc.). Supposedly, the season is 26 days long instead of 39, probably because of COVID. And supposedly there's no theme for the season that Jeff will shoehorn into every tribal council. I also watched the first episode of Fiji. So far, this cast seems pretty bland, but I guess we'll see. My mind has always remembered season by numbers instead of location/theme name. I hear - Thailand, and I have no idea what season that is. I hear Season 5 - and I know that Brian is the winner. Calling this 'Season 41' is a welcome to me. Interesting. I always think of the season name, but I can also name them in order and immediately identify them with the number. So if someone says "Survivor 27" (Stephen Fishbach does this sometimes), I immediately know that they're talking about Blood v. Water, even if I wouldn't say "Survivor 27."
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Post by bbg95 on May 26, 2021 17:52:32 GMT -5
I'm a few episodes into Fiji, and I think this season is pretty decent. It has a fairly good cast and an interesting story to date. It's not a great season by any means, but after watching Thailand and All Stars back-to-back, I'm happy for even an average season. I did like Michelle making the fire with the glasses, which I think is the first time this has been accomplished on Survivor via that method. There's something cool about a person or tribe who has never made fire before figuring it out. I have enjoyed this basically every time it has happened. There was also a fun sliding/basketball challenge, and I have to say that Boo had one of the most impressive performances in Survivor history during his run. If that was an Olympic event, he'd be the gold medalist.
I'm aware that Earl wins this season by unanimous vote at Final Tribal Council, and I just saw the throwaway vote that broke up his perfect game. In baseball terms, it would be like a pitcher giving up a bloop single in the third inning before closing the door the rest of the way. I think Earl is an extremely good Survivor player, as he seems to effortlessly get along with everyone, and no one seems to be even thinking about targeting him. I was impressed that when one of his allies, Erica, unexpectedly got voted out while he was on Exile Island, Earl just rolled with it and didn't seem to say anything about it. Someone like Jeremy got himself voted out of San Juan Del Sur when he accosted Jon about the idol after his trip to Exile Island. But I guess Earl just figured that something changed when he was gone, and he didn't want to make a big deal about it because he wasn't around to see what had happened firsthand.
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Post by bbg95 on May 28, 2021 9:37:01 GMT -5
As soon as I say the cast of Fiji is pretty good, some unlikable people have surfaced. Rocky seemed kind of fun for the first couple of episodes, but I really don't care for the way he's treating Anthony, which I think is pretty close to bullying. And on the other tribe, I find Lisi to be extremely unlikable.
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