Let it never be said that whining about “Survivor” on the internet got you nothing. As this finale clearly demonstrated, the editors have heard our complaints about the transparency of the victor, and so did a DAMN fine job of hiding the true victor from us. Hell, given who the final three end up being, I’d actually predicted CORRECTLY as of last episode, but went back on that when I calculated potential votes. THAT’S how good that misdirection was!
Want more evidence? There’s been complaints, even in this season, that saying that someone is definitely going means they’re safe. And yes, even in this episode, that’s sometimes the case. But, by and large, the cut and dried decisions go down exactly as planned. And that’s surprising! They’re fooling us by not fooling us. That is the level of meta that we have reached, but this is also taking away from the episode, and there’s a lot to cover.
Our finale kicks off to a good start with Bret in fine form about how STUPID it was to take out Sunday over David, comparing it to SEAL Team Six breaking into Osama Bin Laden’s compound, having him at gunpoint, and then giving up and going out for coffee. Incredibly insensitive? Perhaps, but it’s hilarious as all get out. Bret does get down to questioning Hannah about her motivations, and Hannah’s response is “It wasn’t the right time.” I guess I can see how that would make logical sense, but I have to ask, Hannah, when IS the right time? I’m all for waiting to make moves until the optimal time, but you’re running out of times to do it. David is THE major threat in this game, apart from Jay. One of those two needed to go. Better sooner than later.
Speaking of David, at this point his victory is all but assured. With this vote, it’s clear that he, Ken, and Hannah have an ironclad final three deal, so the only hope would be for Jay, Adam, and Bret to band together and force a tie. And given how much of a threat Jay is, that’s not happening. David’s already working on his victory speech (hell, we get to hear it a bit later in the episode), and picking a winner to emulate. In a somewhat bizarre choice, he chooses to go with Bob Crowley of “Survivor Gabon”. An underrated winner, in my opinion, but also one who’s not exactly well-remembered. No, David has been stealing bits and bobs from around camp and challenges, and has crafted himself a fake idol. And, I have to admit, it looks pretty good. At least in the dark. Of course, realizing that he is still at a minimum tied for biggest threat left in the game, David keeps the idol for himself to use as a bluff, since that would be the smart thing to do, and David usually does the smart thing.
But no, instead he hides it for someone else to play. I fail to see how this is any way helps David other than adding a bit of hilarity. I suppose David has a valid point of stopping people looking for idols, but as David himself admits, he feels there are no idols left. So, what are they in danger of finding? But even David brings out some smartness from stupidity, painting a little logo on a rock to fool people into looking there. He’s taking his knowledge of how the season works and is using it to his advantage. Mind you, given that all the idols this season have looked the same, it also means that someone should be ABLE to recognize a fake, but still, good detail.
Speaking of advantages, it’s time to FINALLY find out what all that buildup to the legacy advantage was. It’s… very underwhelming, basically just a one-time use hidden immunity idol. I mean, don’t get me wrong, it’s GREAT to have, and had Ken won immunity, it might have really come into play, as Ken could then give away immunity with no real risk to himself. But he didn’t, so it’s just kind of there. Can this twist work if tried again? Yeah, possibly. I think the main thing that holds it back is the guarantee that it will be there on Day 36. Look, one extra immunity, while a nice wrinkle, does not add much on its own. But how might it change how the game is played, how HARD people play, if they knew that had a big advantage coming late in the game. Or, might they use it as leverage, and pass it on to someone as a reward for loyalty? Those are intriguing possibilities. Now, I know why “Survivor” wouldn’t do that. You have a twist, you want it to come into play. But take this gamble, and the results would be worth it, I say.
Remember how I said someone would have to be an IDIOT to fall for David’s fake idol. Why hello, Jay! Yes, for all that the season has tried its damnedest to make us believe that Jay is not a COMPLETE moron, and while he certainly stacks up better than Taylor in the realm of intelligence, this guy is completely taken in by the ruse. And, for added hilarity, David is on-hand to silently giggle at the whole thing. Oh, and David’s fake idol is revealed to be even more fake, when we see that it is primarily painted pink. Simple facts: Idols do not come in pink. And no, the Bayon idol from “Survivor Cambodia” doesn’t count. Only the string on that one was pink.
We get to our first challenge, which is a pretty standard obstacle course. Nothing we haven’t really seen before, though I do like the fact that, as the puzzle is a hanging bat, it basically has to be assembled upside-down, so that’s pretty cool. And an obstacle course is pretty standard challenge fare for this point in the game, so I’ll give it a slight pass, but you’d better come up with better challenges later, show!
In case the “Jay is a goober.” edit hadn’t become clear with the fake idol debacle, it’s made clear at this challenge. With one element of the challenge being a combination lock, players are given a flap to throw over their lock to prevent cheating. But Jay, in his haste to move on, forgets, and naturally everyone goes over and copies his answer, blowing his lead. Jay still manages to do well on his puzzle, but in the end, David comes back to beat him.
Jay doesn’t get to leave empty handed, though. This was a reward challenge as well, for a steak dinner. Remember how I said the legacy advantage would never be used the way I suggested, because they want to be sure it stays in the game? Well, the same is true with the reward steal. I’m sure the producers wanted to throw in ONE MORE REWARD just to get the drama from it. And sure enough, Jay bites, stealing David’s steak dinner. In fairness to Jay, he actually plays things really well here. For one thing, despite my earlier comments, it’s likely that there won’t be any more rewards, so it’s now or never, and as Jay is still a target, he needs to win immunity (remember, he thinks he’s safe thanks to his fake idol) next, and the food could really help with that. For another, with so few people left, there’s fewer people to piss off by stealing a reward. And Jay even minimizes the damage there by taking David on reward with him, as well as Adam, both of which I’d say are the smart choices. Court the power players, make them feel comfortable, and you’ve got a better shot at making it far.
Sure enough, Jay gives us a pretty smart pitch all things considered: Keep him around as a shield. When the point is brought up about how they get to the end if he wins immunity, Jay insists he’ll take Adam and David no question. Which I’m sure he would. Because he would still win. That, right there, is the point in the argument that things get lost in: are you playing to get to the end, or are you playing to win? If you’re just trying to get to the end, Jay’s play is great. But Adam and David are not idiots. Both want to win, and both can’t do it with Jay in the game.
It will all come to nothing, though. Goober edit aside, Jay’s exit has been built up too much, and with Bret complaining about “crazy people” in this game, his exit is pretty much assured. Especially as David is completely on board, and Hannah willing to consider if Adam flips.
I don’t mean to diss this first Tribal Council. It’s actually a lot of fun, between the caged strategy and Bret’s snark (seriously, this guy is an actual sound-byte generator). But we all know the real story is Jay and the fake idol. The goober edit must be complete. Sure enough, Jay gets nervous, plays it, and Probst, after declaring it a “work of art” throws it in the fire. Ok, I take back my comments about the pointless move. It was all worth it for the look on Jay’s face.
Ultimately, goober edit wins out, and Jay goes home. As I say, the smart move for everyone left, and I’m overall not sorry to see Jay go. He made a fun rival to the major alliance, and his weird relationship with Adam was a good watch at times, but he’d served his purpose by this point. Plus, the goober edit demanded it. Guy leaves with a lot of class, though.
Ah, but there is one more point of note at this Tribal Council: Ken plays his legacy advantage, which he had kept hidden from everyone else. Now, why might he keep it hidden, despite no one really being able to do anything about it? Strategy. Apart from it always being good to keep information close at hand, bear in mind that Tribal Council is, in many ways, theater. Especially this close to the end, with jury at hand, you want to be seen as having victories. Even if these are just challenge victories, that you did little to earn, showing strength at the end can make all the difference. For example, I’d say that that was a major factor in Michele’s victory over Aubry on “Survivor Kaoh Rong”. Were Aubry’s victories bigger? Yes. Michele’s victories came right at the end, though, and so were very fresh in the minds of the jury. Thus, a factor (though not the only factor) in victory.
With no real post-Tribal Council fallout to deal with, we cut straight to our next immunity challenge, which is, regrettably, ANOTHER obstacle course. This one mainly hails from “Survivor Vanuatu”, with the “push the buoy” part, and it all ends in a puzzle. This is a far less exciting obstacle course than the first one, and long story short, everything about it is lame. Oh, and I have particular ire for the puzzle solution, which is “Not a Participation Trophy”. Funny and difficult, I’ll grant you, but it’s once again going back to those god-awful stereotypes we were stuck with at the outset of this season. I’ll be talking more about this at the end of this blog, but this season is at its best when it distances itself from the “Millennials vs. Gen-X.” theme as much as possible. Except for Zeke and Bret’s heart to heart.
Ken ends up winning, which makes the challenge even MORE pointless, since he wasn’t in danger anyway. David seems the obvious choice to go, but Adam wants to be absolutely sure, and so goes out searching for an idol. Adam states that “finding the idol is the most important thing” at this phase of the game, which I have to patently disagree with. Adam, at this phase of the game, the most important thing is STRATEGIZING TO MAKE SURE YOUR NAME ISN’T BROUGHT UP! But what are the chances of that happening? It’s not like Adam’s own allies have talked about voting him out before.
At the very least, Adam does find an idol, and gets more than a little emotional about his mother again. Contrary to my snark last time, I’ll give him this one. It’s an emotional time in the game, finding an idol can be an emotional experience, and Adam certainly has more reason to cry than some other people. Plus, for whatever reason, this one felt more organic than some other emotional moments from him.
Shock of all shocks, Adam’s being away from camp puts the target on his back. For all that Bret does have friends on the jury, and he’s initially considered the only alternate to a David vote, David actually tries to swing the vote against Adam, partly because Adam’s the only one not there at the time, but also as a strategic threat, which does, admittedly, have some logic to it. David even tries to swing it as a shutout by filling Bret in on the plan. David assumes that Bret would be happy to just not be targeted, but Bret is ALSO not someone who’s just playing to get to the end, which I commend. He makes a point of warning Adam about the votes, and Adam reassures him about the idol. Unfortunately for Adam, he falls victim to one of the oldest “Survivor” pratfalls: being cocky. When he brings the subject up to Hannah, he mentions his idol and his intent to play it. Now, I can understand Adam’s confidence. He and Hannah have been pretty close allies throughout the majority of the game, so I can see why he’d confide in her. But with all the information we have, we see that this is not the case. David, in arguing for an Adam boot, brought up his, Hannah’s, and Ken’s final three pact, which shows that no, Hannah is not to be trusted. She plays around with the idea of telling or not telling, and she basks in her power as we head off to Tribal Council.
As to what she should do? As with the Sunday vote, the correct answer is the choice that eliminates the biggest threat, which at this point is David. This final three pact is all fine and good, but as much as Hannah would deny it, she’s playing to get to the end if she goes through with it.
We get a bit more vitriol at this Tribal Council, particularly when Adam calls out David’s threat level. We get on the subject of how much David’s grown, and David gives a moving speech about being afraid of birds, throwing in some self-deprecating humor in the mix. Pretty much a textbook “Winner” speech for this show. And Adam calls it out, as he should. But mean Bret also shows up, as we’ll see shortly.
Sad to say, this is the most predictable part of the episode. What with the showing of the Hannah, David, and Ken discussion of a final three pact, there’s no way that’s broken or shown if it wasn’t significant. Bret goes, and really lays into everyone for not voting out David. I completely understand, but dude, Adam voted WITH you. Lay off of him, at the very least.
I’ve made clear that it wasn’t the smart move, but I must admit, I’m sorry to Bret go. He’s grown on me, mostly in the last couple of episodes, but sometimes that’s all you need. Between the heart he showed in bonding with Zeke and his genuinely funny turns of phrase (seriously, I laughed at this episode more than I have any other in a while), the guy was a character. He will be missed, and I certainly wouldn’t mind seeing him again.
So, what’s Hannah’s justification for not eliminating David THIS time? Well, it’s textbook egocentrism. Despite the fact that everyone else can tell that Hannah’s pretty much been guaranteed a finals spot for a while, she believes that this was not the right time to eliminate David. She’d have lost Ken’s trust, and Bret didn’t want to take her to the end. I can’t really blame her too much for not realizing her position in the game. It’s easy to see ourselves as the center of everything, especially in a game like “Survivor”, that’s all about personality. But even factoring that into account, Hannah should still have known better. Adam acknowledged previously that Bret is a threat, so it’s likely he’d want Bret out, and she’s pretty much neglected Adam in this equation. Most likely, either Ken or Bret goes next if you get David, and then, if you’re as big a threat as you say you are, you can waltz to an easy victory!
Moving on to our final immunity challenge, we get a repeat of “Survivor One World”. Again, GREAT CHOICE GUYS!
Please note the sarcasm.
Anyway, this challenge involves maneuvering a bunch of pots through a wire maze that can knock over a stack at the top. First person to stack all 13 pots wins. Or, should no one get them all in 30 minutes, the highest stack wins. Definitely a tricky challenge, and SO CLOSE to being an endurance challenge, but it still just kind of falls short for me. Fortunately, we do get a lot of back and forth between our players, and wind is a major factor. Adam actually takes my strategy of sitting back when you get a decently high stack and relying on other players goofing it up to get you a victory. And it nearly works, as Ken’s stack of 10 falls quickly, but Adam’s is undone by the wind soon after. Surprisingly, it’s HANNAH who’s the real competition, initially tying Ken at 10 pots. Thus, we get a five-minute time trial to determine the winner, resulting in a thrilling… anticlimax. Yep, Ken wins again, giving Adam and Hannah even less room to maneuver.
Adam gears up for a fire-making challenge, which certainly seems inevitable. Hannah, however, wants to try and talk Ken into doing the smart thing, for once, and voting out David. I’ll grant you that it’s better to have Hannah talk to him than Adam, as Adam’s skills at persuasion are sub-par against anyone not named Jay, but this is KEN we’re talking about. “Trust-Test” Ken. You really think a strategic argument will work on him? Granted, Hannah’s approach of “You don’t want to be seen as a moron” is about as good an argument for Ken as you can get, but as all we really hear from him is more pontificating about integrity, I’m not convinced in the slightest.
One nice bit, though: Adam and David cut the bullshit and just admit they’re targeting each other. Adam gets a little bit mean about it, but by and large, it’s just a friendly competition, and nice to see.
Tribal itself falls in the middle of the pack. I don’t remember much about it, mostly due to the outcome, but it did have it’s moments. In particular, I loved Adam’s pointing out of David’s threat level with his hands, only for David to move Adam’s hand a few inches higher. Like I said, this finale may not have been the most drama filled, but it definitely earns a lot of points in the humor category.
The trouble is that, with all the Ken loyalty talk we’ve been getting, there’s no way it’s not at best a fire making challenge. Adam going home due to Hannah not wanting to force a tie is also a possibility, but not what actually happens.
No, Ken actually decides to grow a brain, and David leaves with a lot of class. Before I talk about David, though, let me once again compliment this bit of editing. I’ve been happy with the editing this episode so far, but this was the moment that got me most of all. The Jay boot was kind of a surprise, but my jaw literally dropped at this outcome. Never in a million years did I think Ken would actually grow a spine and vote out David, but good for him. We’re shocked, but in a good way, and it’s this type of unpredictability that keeps the show good after all these years.
But as to David: Well, he’s kind of a hybrid of Jay and Bret’s exits this episode, in regards to how I feel. On the one hand, David hands down played the best strategic and social game of the season (overall), and the dude’s exit is a loss. That said, his victory would have been disappointing. While no one got a real “winner’s edit” this season (another example of how complaining can influence things, and another credit to the editors), David came the closest, with how blatantly his “fish-out-of-water” story came through. It was pretty clear that we were supposed to like this person, kind of like how Cirie was portrayed on “Survivor Exile Island”, or Yau-Man on “Survivor Fiji”. You could kind of see where they were going with these characters, so there was little surprise. I’m bummed his game wasn’t richly rewarded as it should have been, but I’m happy the field’s wide open for victory now.
Don’t believe me? In my pre-episode rankings, I gave Adam the edge in this final three scenario, but in counting up the votes, I’m not so sure. Since absolutely NOTHING of interest happens on Day 39, just the players overestimating how they’ve played this game, I’ll instead devote this portion of the blog to my at-the-time thoughts on probable juror votes to explain why the pool is wide open, at least between Ken and Adam.
Michelle-Tough to tell, since she was out so early and got very little screentime, but I’m putting her in the Hannah camp, since she seems to respect strategic play, and had more and better interactions with Hannah than with Adam.
Taylor-More in the “Not Adam” camp than anything, I’d peg him for Ken, since Taylor is the type to prefer a “bro-down” challenge threat like Ken.
Chris-Values strategic play. Probably doesn’t like the neuroticism of Hannah and the betrayal of Ken. I’d go Adam on this one.
Jessica-Ken, for sure. If she liked him enough to give him the legacy advantage, she’ll give him her vote.
Zeke-Another strategy appreciator, and so will probably go with Hannah, due to his difficulties with Adam earlier in the season.
Will-A tough call, since he really doesn’t have much favor for anyone left. I’d call Will for Ken, due to liking physical threats, but Will’s is probably the most up in the air vote for me at this point.
Sunday-Again, tough to tell, since we didn’t see much of her, so I’ll call her for Ken, due to having more contact with him than Hannah or Adam.
Jay-Adam. That mom sob story got to him.
Bret-As Adam was really the only one of the three who strategized with him, and Bret clearly values strategy, I’d say he’s definitely an Adam supporter.
David-Ken, since the dude was loyal most of the game, and I don’t see him holding too much of a grudge.
That, right there, is a Ken victory. Of course, the wild card here is Adam’s mom’s story. As Jeremy Collins demonstrated on “Survivor Cambodia”, a nice play like that at the end can swap some votes, and with people like Will in play, this is a much more live Final Tribal Council than you’d think.
Good thing, too, because this Tribal Council is tame in terms of questions. It’s not a bore like some other ones were, due to the banter between finalists rather than jurors, so I’ll once again keep things brief and go over each juror’s comments and how I’d predict their vote afterward.
Also, sorry that these aren’t in order of asking, but I can only remember so much. I’ll bring up how order matters on the questions where it matters, and I’ll be talking about it as a whole after all jurors are accounted for, as I think it has a real impact on this Tribal Council.
Michelle-Michelle comes later than I’m putting her, after Hannah has taken some heat, and so lobs her a softball about how often she was on the right side of the vote, before laying into Adam about his blunders. Pretty clear at this point she’s in the Hannah camp, as I guessed.
Taylor-Taylor claims his vote is live, and asks why everyone deserves to win. We get generic answers, but here we see another reason why Ken may have the edge. While Adam has more blatant strategic victories, and less neuroticism working against him, he and Hannah have similar resumes. And I’ll be damned if Hannah is going to let anyone forget that. What is most exciting about this Final Tribal Council is Adam and Hannah constantly rebutting each other’s arguments. It’s fun to watch, but doing so lessens their chances of victory. By claiming each other’s accomplishments, they fail to stand out, and seem like they’re desperately trying to hold onto resume points. Meanwhile, Ken gets to build himself up uncontested. Point to Ken, both overall and for Taylor.
Chris-Chris is our requisite “Here’s who you should vote for.” speech, though not nearly as entertaining as past entries. Unsurprisingly, he supports the strategic one, that being Adam.
Jessica-Surprisingly a lot of vitriol on Ken for betraying David but he seems to give a good response. Between that and her question to Adam about his contributions being answered poorly, I’m keeping her in the Ken category.
Zeke-Takes his time to praise Ken, but also questions Adam about his strategic accomplishments. Zeke’s the first vote I change, as no Hannah talk but good Adam talk probably puts him down as a vote for Adam.
Will-Will goes more strategic, and wants to know the logic behind Adam’s moves. Still keep him as a Ken vote, though, as Will seems more anti-Adam than pro-anyone.
Sunday-She wants to know how people adapted, and where one fits on the scale of “Millennials vs. Gen-X” (God, will this twist not DIE?). Not much information gained on her logic, so I’ll keep her a Ken vote.
Jay-Lobs Adam a softball about his mom. No surprise.
Bret-Naturally wants to know from Adam why it took so long to get rid of David. Adam answers well, and though it leads to more arguing from Hannah, I’ll keep Bret down for Adam.
David-Wants to know how people have grown from their time out here. And this is where Adam’s story comes into play. No one can top the tragedy of a cancerous mom. David probably flips to Adam.
Here’s where order is a factor. As I said, the Adam and Hannah debates could have doomed both of them. But again, Tribal Council in general, and Final Tribal Council in particular, is theater. How you shift the tone is important. And most of the front half of this one was the debates. But the back half was all about Adam’s Mom, and that being the last stuff heard before voting was probably pretty impactful. It’s not just delivery, but timing of delivery, that counts.
It should come as no surprise that Adam wins, so before I talk about that, let’s talk about Adam’s METHOD of winning. As mentioned, it comes off similar to how Jeremy won “Survivor Cambodia”. I called it a somewhat low-down way to victory there, and one would expect me to do the same here. And yes, I DO have an issue or two with this path to victory for Adam, and I’ll be talking about it. But with that said, I have MUCH less of an issue of Adam doing this than Jeremy. There’s a couple of reasons why:
First off, and this is purely a personal thing with me, but a dying parent is much more impactful to me than a new child. Perhaps it’s just because I have lost loved ones, but have no children of my own yet, but it seems to me like the former more naturally tugs at the heartstrings, and if you’re going to do a sympathy vote, it should be for something on this scale. But again, that’s my subjective opinion.
Secondly, this felt much more organic. Adam was lobbed questions that would naturally segway into talking about his mother. With Jeremy, perhaps my memory’s going, but he just kind of blurted it out unrelated to anything. Thus, it seems like Jeremy was trying to get out anything that will help him win, whereas Adam was just answering a question.
Third, and this is the important point: Adam NEEDED to do this. He was very much in danger of losing if he didn’t pull out all the stops against Ken and Hannah. Jeremy, by contrast, was probably winning no matter what, particularly given how Spencer Bledsoe (“Survivor Cagayan”) was perceived those last few days. Thus, Adam’s move was one of desperation, whereas Jeremy’s was one of rubbing salt in the wound.
Also, Adam was the guy I wanted to win from the beginning. Yeah, I’m biased, but I don’t care. My guy won. Neener, neener, neener.
All that said, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t take issue with this. Adam definitely was the more satisfying win of the other two. The inventor of “trust clusters”? The guy with “truth test”? Yeah, Adam had plenty of blunders along the way, but he was clearly the superior strategist of those left. But winning in a LOCKOUT? That’s a stretch. It’s not as though Hannah and Ken had NO accomplishments. Like Spencer and Tasha on “Survivor Cambodia”, they got gypped. The “right” person may have won overall, but don’t shaft good players. And, as I say, there’s a level of scumminess in exploiting a tragedy for personal gain. Ultimately, though, my fear is that future “Survivor” winners will be decided exclusively by degree of sob story. I’m ok with it being a FACTOR in victory, but if it just comes down to “Who has a sob story, and who doesn’t?”, that takes away from the strategy of it, and lessens the game, in my opinion.
But still, good for Adam. We even get a nice reunion show to go with it. I still wish we got more time on it, but Probst did a good job of covering the important topics, didn’t feel the need to talk with those we didn’t want to hear from, and actually got everyone who made the merge, and even a few post merge! Some of the questions were even interesting! Oh, and Michelle’s dragon dress. Awesome. Granted, compared to the reunion shows of old, it’s sub-par, but for everything post “Survivor Caramoan”, this is PHENOMENAL! More please!
Oh, and we hear about our new season. It’s called “Survivor Game Changers”, which already earns points with me for being a far superior title than “Survivor Millennials vs. Gen-X”. That said, if the rumored cast is true, I must take issue with the title of “game changers”. Even by Probst’s definition of “people who influenced the game”, a lot of these rumored people REALLY don’t fit the bill. I’ll save my full thoughts on this season idea for when the who cast comes out officially (since the internet can be wrong at times), but suffice to say that while I like the idea, I think it’s too soon for another all-returnees season, and again, I take umbrage with some of the casting criteria. Awesome looking logo, though.
Speaking of twists, it’s time for the regular…
TOP 5 AND BOTTOM 5!
Since the title of this season wouldn’t let us FORGET The way tribes were divided, this list will rank the best and worst ways of tribe division, at least for seasons that divided tribes by some factor or another. Let’s jump right in, since it’s 1:00 AM, and I have work tomorrow!
TOP 5
5. Gender: Bit of an obvious choice, but the conflicts that come from “men vs. women” seasons tend to be fun. Plus, the women usually win when they’re not up against Chris Daugherty (“Survivor Vanuatu”), and it’s good to see.
4. Heroes vs. Villains: Even though this was more of a new coat of paint for an “All-Stars” season, I’ll give credit that it did build up an epic narrative, and gave the season more color than it perhaps deserved. Fun, but relatively uneventful.
3. Blood vs. Water: Adding a personal dynamic to an already personal game can go REALLY well or REALLY badly. Thankfully, this twist has payed off both times (relatively speaking), and the conflicts we get from it make the game all the more interesting.
2. Fans vs. Favorites: This one wins out for giving us the best of both worlds: The excitement of new players along with the guaranteed entertainment of old ones. The only real negative is that the “Fans” side is at a distinct disadvantage, but even then, it’s still fun to see for the reasons described above.
1. Brains vs. Brawn vs. Beauty: When your tribe divisions are simple and natural, and lead to interesting, not forced, discussion, coupled with good characters, you’ve got divisions that are difficult to do badly.
Honorable Mention: Water vs. Shelter: I’m cheating a bit here, since this was more a division of camps than a tribe theme. Nevertheless the choice between ready-made shelter or easy access to water on “Survivor Thailand” was a dynamic that made the start of the game interesting, even if it didn’t significantly impact the tribes in any way.
BOTTOM 5
5. Age: Like with gender, a fairly easy idea, and one that had to be tried, but all too predictable outcomes make this division not much fun to watch.
4. Millennials vs. Gen-X: I’ve said before: it’s forced an unnecessary. It led to some nice moments in the end, which is why it ends up so low, but again, this season was at its best when the twist was not emphasized.
3. White Collar vs. Blue Collar vs. No Collar: Similar criticisms to the “Millennials vs. Gen-X” twist, only this one was MORE forced. Seriously, is “No Collar” even a thing? That, plus more annoying and forced talk about the twist make this one objectively worse.
2. Race: Needed to be on here for ethical reasons. I admire “Survivor” for trying to add more diversity into the cast, and we got a decent season out of it, but hearing about the “racist season” is just cringe-worthy in general.
1. Haves vs. Have-Nots: Just a poorly conceived twist from the beginning that once again led to predictable results, and ultimately hindered the season. Need I say more?
Honorable Mention: Age and Gender: This one doesn’t really count, as it lasted all of one episode, but as it has the problems of both dividing tribes by age and gender, it bears mentioning.
And now, to my season-requisite “How close was I in my cast assessment?” segment!
Michelle-Wrong. She was more strategic than I though, and less annoying that I thought. She did at least make the merge, but she was still close to my predicted exit point, at least.
Taylor-I’ll give myself this one. Apart from his romance, he was bland and was taken out post-merge as a challenge threat, just as I suspected.
Michaela-Wrong. While she was entertaining, and had some smarts, I way overestimated her social graces and her time in the game.
Zeke-Happy to be wrong on this one. Dude was game savvy and entertaining. Glad he stuck around for a while.
Hannah-I’d say I was right on personality, but she lasted longer than I gave her credit for. Arguably our first mixed bag of this group, and certainly won’t be the last.
Figgy-I didn’t get much of a read on her either way, and she didn’t last very long, so I was right this time.
Mari-Wrong. I think she had the POTENTIAL to be what I thought, but she was cut to early for me to be right about anything about her.
Jay-While I did nail his personality, he lasted much longer than I thought, so overall, wrong.
Adam-Wrong, and happy to be so. Again, some of his personality was like I thought, but I didn’t think he’d win.
Will-As generic as I thought, but much longer-lived.
Sunday-Again, right on personality, wrong on time in the game. She hung in there.
CeCe-Exactly right, for once this season.
Rachel-Let’s hear it for my second correct called first boot in my history of blogging!
Lucy-Again, about right in being a boring personality out fairly early.
Ken-Wrong, due to less game-savvy and being longer lived.
Jessica-Not as on the ball of the game as I thought, but right overall.
Bret-Wrong. He was smart, he was funny, he was more long-lived than I would have guessed. Good for him.
David-At first it seemed like I was wrong about him, but he grew into the strategist I predicted. All I got wrong was his victory.
Paul-WAY wrong. Much less easygoing and more short-lived than I’d have guessed.
Chris-We end on a note of me being right. I can live with that.
And there you have it. A satisfying end to a satisfying season. A lot of people seem to be throwing their hat into the ring about how great this season is, so I’ll give my two cents as well. I think it’s… pretty good. Certainly a season that got better as it went along, which is always nice to have, and the sheer number of crazy events also help make this a fun watch. But is it upper echelon “Survivor”, as someone like Dalton Ross claims? Definitely not! I’d probably say it’s middle-of-the-pack “Survivor”. Don’t get me wrong, it’s definitely a “good” season, and it’s a lot of fun, but one of the best? We got good characters, sure, but in the long run, I don’t think most of them stand out. Also, maybe it was just me, but we had a lot of duds on this season. Oh, most everybody contributed at least SOMETHING over an episode or two, but for the most part, there was hardly anyone who was consistently fun/good at strategy all season. People fading in and out of focus makes it harder to predict the winner, but it also makes it harder to latch on to someone to root for. For me, as well, the theme of this season REALLY drags it down, due to being forced and lame to hear. We got a tender moment or two out of it, but for the most part, the season was at its best when we focussed less on the theme.
Actually, I’d compare this season favorably to “Survivor Cook Islands”. Both have similar problems, with a cast with a lot of filler and a cringe-worthy theme. I think “Survivor Cook Islands” ultimately hit higher highs than this season did, but if I’m being honest, than “Survivor Cook Islands” ultimately had more dud characters than this season, as most people this season at least brought one small SOMETHING at SOME POINT! If you were to hold me down and force me to choose, I’d probably give this season the edge over “Survivor Cook Islands”, due to more consistency in quality and better unpredictability. No one reaches the high of a Yul or an Ozzy, but no one really reaches the low of a Stephanie or a Jenny.
Well, after a summary like that, there’s only one way to end this blog. TRIVIA! Adam is the first player ever to be featured first in the theme song and win the season. And it’s tidbits like that that give me readers.
See you all in March!
-Matt
Title Credit to Jean Storrs.
idolspeculation 