“Survivor” What-Ifs: Redemption Island

Well, last time we saw how one small change could turn a top-tier season into one that’s just… ok. This time, let’s see if making one small change to a season that is hated can produce the opposite result. Though given that our subject today is “Survivor Redemption Island”, it would be difficult to make things worse.

Welcome back to “‘Survivor’ What Ifs”, where I go back, change one small moment in “Survivor” history, and see the ripple effect it has throughout the season, as well as future seasons. Since we went over the format in the last blog, I’ll skip over a lot of it today, and just get right into the speculating. A quick reminder, though, that this blog assumes that the reader has already seen the season, and does not pull any punches accordingly. More succinctly, there are SPOILERS ahead, so read at your own risk. That said, let’s rewind space-time, and see if we can’t create a better world…

THE IMPACT: The moment most suited to changing “Survivor Redemption Island” seems to me to be at the merge. The Final 12. Specifically, we’re going to change the impact of one Andrea Boehlke on Matt Elrod. Yes, you may recall that Matt was initially out for revenge, before inexplicably swearing his loyalty to the man who had got him voted out before. Unsurprisingly, this led to his immediate exit, and with Andrea now having few options, led to the downfall of the former Zapatera tribe, and the inevitable march to victory of Boston Rob. This is really the last time in the game he could realistically have been challenged, so let’s give him that challenge. Let’s say that Andrea realized Matt would need a bit of watching, and so stuck to him, continually whispering in his ear about the threat that Boston Rob poses. This, in turn, leads to Matt and Andrea sticking with the Zapateras at the merge.

Now, here’s what I think is interesting about this change to the timeline: On a surface level, it changes almost nothing about the episode. Despite this change, in this timeline Matt still goes here. That part was inevitable. What DOES change is the mechanism by which he goes. You see, Andrea sticking so close to Matt has a bit of a cascade effect. Say what you will about Boston Rob, but he’s no dummy. I don’t doubt that he would have noticed how close Andrea was sticking to Matt, and how close the pair of them were to the Zapateras. Also remember that Rob had an idol at this point. Put these two together, coupled with confirmation for Rob that Matt’s against him, and I don’t doubt Rob plays his idol, and plays it correctly. Thus, Matt still goes home, but now Rob has to burn an idol to do so. That, plus the fracturing of Ometepe, makes all the difference.

THE FALLOUT: This is the section that suffers the most from having the change in the timeline set so far back in the season. With my previous blog, I was basically able to go blow-by-blow of how the season would progress. Here, though? With so many immunity challenges, plus new idols to be found, it’s pretty much an impossible task, both from a statistical standpoint and from a blogging one. Instead, I’ll be giving generalities on how the overall season would have gone from this point forward.

The first thing to bear in mind here is that, unlike our timeline where Andrea tried (poorly) to play both sides, this time she is now firmly in with the Zapateras. This sinks her chances at the game, but also gives the Zapateras an edge. While it’s impossible to say who finds Boston Rob’s re-hidden immunity idol, the numbers alone mean someone in the Zapatera alliance probably finds it. Bear in mind, while Rob had more OVERALL experience with “Survivor”, he had only been on one prior season with hidden immunity idols, and then didn’t really go looking for it. Both Ometepe and Zapatera had found one idol each, so they would have had a roughly equal chance of finding it. Given that they have an extra player now, that gives them the edge.

So, with no real recourse left, Ometepe is pretty much doomed, right? This should just be another Pagonging, but the reverse of what we had in our time, right? Not exactly. Remember that part of what made Zapatera the more interesting tribe overall was that, unlike Ometepe, they were a fractious bunch, more given to infighting than Ometepe. They could unite in the face of a common enemy, but tended to cave when there was no enemy left to fight, thus explaining the difference between Zapatera with Russell Hantz versus Zapatera without Russell Hantz. Come the merge, they now have a new common enemy in Boston Rob, and so their game probably becomes about getting him out, along with the other physically strong members of Ometepe. There’s an argument to be made for Rob going on an immunity run, but given that even in our timeline this didn’t happen, I doubt it happens here. So he gets picked off at some point in the early merge, along with Grant for his strength, and Phillip, mostly because he annoys everyone. But then? Oh, then the Zapateros start turning on each other. David probably plays too hard, too fast, and goes home. Mike is also probably a huge target for his strength, and since that’s what the tribe’s been doing post-merge, the pattern probably just keeps on going. What we end up with, then, is an amalgam of the non-threatening Ometepe and Zapatera members duking it out for supremacy. It’s a tough call to say who comes out on top here, but I’m inclined to say the old Ometepe remain the tightest bunch. Ashley, now free from the “buddy system” probably joins with Andrea when she sees the way the wind is blowing, and drags Natalie along with her following the vote out of Boston Rob.

Who, you might ask, comes back from Redemption Island in this scenario? Despite what I said, I’m inclined to say Boston Rob. I don’t think a full immunity run was in him, but dude’s still a beast a challenges, and since all he really had to do was not be last, at least until the final duel, he probably at least makes it there. Even the final duel being endurance, I feel, is not a major obstacle for him. Recall that Rob was pretty good at the endurance challenges on “Survivor All-Stars”, and given how competitive he is, I think he could come back into the game again. That said, I think he probably leaves right afterward as well. Ashley still being in the game at this point, coupled with Rob not eating as well, means he loses immunity. Since he doesn’t have his cult-like sway over the cast at this point, they rightly vote him out at this point, leaving us with the aforementioned probable Ometepe Final 3. Who wins in this timeline? I’m going with Ashley. Andrea burned too many bridges by flipping too early, and even in this timeline, Natalie is still seen as having done nothing. Ashley, meanwhile, took advantage of the fracturous Zapateras while still remaining true to the old Ometepe, thus earning a majority of the votes, and sparing us from the obvious outcome the season built to in our timeline.

THE LEGACY: Sure enough, “Survivor Redemption Island” is probably much better received in this timeline than it is in ours. The most common criticism, and the thing that cements this season’s reputation for me, is that it was just an obvious march to the finish for Boston Rob, and we really didn’t get a chance to learn much about the new players. Here, we get to see the new players demolish old favorites, and while that can be hard to watch sometimes, it does build a stronger overall cast, and paves the way for new legends, cementing their legacies by literally overthrowing the old guard. People in this timeline probably hotly debate whether Andrea was robbed for not having a better social game. People discuss the downfall of the Zapatera the same way they discuss the downfall of Galu, but with better characters. And while I doubt Ashley is a breakout character, she’s well received, and acknowledged as having played a subtle, but sound, game. Think Danni Boatwright of “Survivor Guatemala”.

That said, despite the season being better received, we probably get less overall returnees from the season. While the public as a whole loves the season a lot more, it’s still not probably seen as “top-tier ‘Survivor’” but rather as “Pretty Good ‘Survivor’”. Couple this with Probst’s best friend not winning and I think production is much less warm towards this season. Andrea and Francesca probably come back for “Survivor Caramoan” (the former due to actually good gameplay, the latter due to production REALLY needing a woman of color on the season), but Phillip? Yeah, at best he’s a one-season wonder. We may get a former Zapateran back for “Survivor Cambodia”, but overall, they’re not showing up as much as we think of them as doing. On the flip side, Boston Rob probably gets a fifth chance, because dammit, Probst just can’t stand that he hasn’t won! My guess is we probably see him on “Survivor Game Changers”, where he probably loses yet again.

What really intrigues me, though, is how Redemption Island is received as a twist as a result of this change to the season. Bear in mind, while the “Redemption Island” twist, was never beloved, it was not the main criticism of the season. Rob’s win was. True, I doubt this twist gains love from the fans, but now rather than be a mark of one of the most hated seasons of “Survivor”, it’s not associated with seasons that are considered, at worst, “ok”. Given that the producers refuse to get rid of a twist they like even when the audience practically BEGS them *cough*final-four-fire-making*cough*, you can bet this means Redemption Island sticks around much longer in this timeline. Rather than go away during “Survivor One World”, it’s probably a feature of that season and future seasons as well, thus changing the outcome of all seasons it affects. I think it would have taken someone losing due to Redemption Island who production REALLY wanted to see win for them to put the kibosh on it. Thus, I’d say “Survivor Caramoan” is probably when there’s a real push from production to put the kibosh on it.

Yes, the continued existence of “Redemption Island” as a twist eliminates Cochran’s win on that season, and not just because someone better at challenges than him comes back either. Look, Cochran was WAY better in challenges his second time around, but he was no master, and Redemption Island favoring the strong doesn’t help matters for him. But what really kills Cochran’s chances is an effect we didn’t really see in our timeline: An increased gutsiness in “Survivor” play. We missed out on this due to Redemption Island being so short-lived as a twist, but if it became a regular thing, people would have started to figure out that there was less risk to making a gutsy move. After all, even if it failed, you could still come back in the game anyway. With less risk available, people take on the power players more often, and given how vulnerable Cochran’s alliance was in multiple parts of “Survivor Caramoan”, this probably means one of them succeeds. And this is a problem for the show. Love Cochran or hate Cochran, he was far and away the biggest character of the season. With “Redemption Island” still in play as a twist, at best we get a Brenda win, and at worst, something like a Reynold or Eddie win. This, in turn, infuriates the producers, and spells the end for “Redemption Island”. It probably still sticks around for “Survivor Blood vs. Water”, but like in our timeline, that’s the last we see of it, and it probably isn’t even considered for “Survivor San Juan del Sur”.

In other words, we get a better season, but potentially at the cost of other good seasons, “Survivor Philippines” in particular. Would it be worth it? I leave it up for the reader to decide, but without Phillip Sheppard becoming a major character, I’m all for it regardless.

Hopefully you’ve enjoyed this little trip through time! I’ve got one more of these planned, but as always, I’m open to suggestions of changes you’d like to see! Feel free to suggest them in the comments! A quick reminder on the guidelines for submissions of changes to this blog:

One Change Only: This can’t be a whole bunch of things or multiple things going another way to alter the course of a season. This must be one singular event that alters the season in some way. Cascade effects, where one change naturally leads to another, are ok, but they have to be natural and logical. As an example, Shii-Ann not flipping and Chuay Gahn losing the final 10 immunity challenge on “Survivor Thailand” would definitely change things, but those are two independent changes that need to happen, and therefore not for this blog. I should also mention that the change has to be an EVENT, not a play style. Yes, “Survivor Heroes vs. Villains” probably goes much differently if Russell Hantz (“Survivor Samoa”) isn’t an asshole to everyone, but apart from that never happening, it’s a change in overall play style, not a single moment. It’s also, as I say, implausible, which leads to my next ground rule…
The Change Must Be Realistic: An unlikely change is ok, but it has to be something that COULD have happened, or it’s not worth writing about. Yes, Fang winning the first challenge on “Survivor Gabon” would drastically change the season. Would it ever happen? No. So there’s no point in talking about it.
The Change Must Have An Impact: By this, I mean the change has to actually alter the season in some significant way. Simply changing up the boot order is not enough. Someone new has to win, the perception of the season has to change, or both. As an example, I originally planned to do a blog on “Survivor Heroes vs. Villains”, with a timeline where Candice didn’t flip at the final 9. I thought this could lead to a Heroes Victory. Then I remembered that Russell Hantz plays his idol for himself in that same episode, meaning the flip doesn’t matter, and apart from a slight boot order change, the season as a whole remains untouched. Uninteresting, and therefore not worth talking about.
And there you have it! I’m glad to be back at this, and look forward to presenting you all with new and interesting timelines in the future (no pun intended)!

-Matt

“Survivor” Retrospectives: Redemption Island.

Ok, I know I’ve got a set format for these “Retrospectives” blogs, wherein I first snakily comment upon the public’s opinion of a given season versus my own, and then warn people about spoilers, but I’m breaking it here. There’s literally no way for me to introduce “Survivor Redemption Island” without spoiling the season in a major way. So I’m just going to say right up front that, if you just want to know my general, spoiler-free opinion on the season, scroll down to the bottom of this page. You should find a section labeled “Abstract” that is spoiler-free. If you don’t want spoilers, stop reading this paragraph. Right now. Yes, even you stragglers who can’t stop yourselves from reading something once you’ve started.

All those who want spoilers gone? Good.

Well, now we come to the follow up season to “Survivor Nicaragua”. After coming off of such bad season, you know “Survivor” needed a real home-run idea. Something to knock the fan’s collective socks off. As such we got “Survivor Boston Rob”… I mean “Survivor Redemption Island”. It did not knock the fan’s collective socks off. It sucked. Badly. Let’s read on and find out exactly what went wrong, which, since we start with the “Cast” section, should happen very quickly.

CAST

So, who out of the Redemption Island cast had any discernible impact on the season as a whole? Boston Rob.

Oh, what’s that? Like any good “Survivor” fan, you wanted more than that? It takes more than one person to make up a season? Well, too bad! CBS says you’re getting Boston Rob, and you’re going to like him, dammit!

Ok, ok, so I’m exaggerating, but only fractionally so. But before we get into the VERY few people who weren’t Boston Rob who mattered this season, let’s talk about exactly what Boston Rob brought this season that he did not bring over the last three seasons we had him on. Well, to his credit, Boston Rob learned from his past mistakes. Specifically, his mistakes in not locking down his alliance as solidly as he should have, and taking someone to the end who could easily win against him. He corrected both of these problems posthaste, leading to probably his best strategic game. This was both blessing and curse. We’d never really seen someone dominate an alliance quite so thoroughly and successfully, so, from a strategic perspective, a very enlightening season. Notice that I used the term “enlightening” rather than “interesting” or “entertaining”, since the latter two terms imply some form of positive feeling towards this development. The curse of Boston Rob 4.0, which I’ll be repeating several times throughout this blog, is that when it’s this obvious who the winner will be, THE SHOW GETS BORING! Yes, Boston Rob’s strategic dominance was impressive, but it also killed any sense of drama after about the fourth or fifth episode, which, in a season almost three times that length, is not a good sign. The fan reaction to Boston Rob reflects this. Most people agree he played a really good game, but one that ended up being boring, and except for die-hard Boston Rob fans (i.e. Jeff Probst), nobody really liked seeing the domination of Boston Rob. Add on to that that this was his FOURTH CHANCE at the game, and many people (myself included) felt like this was just CBS trying to give Boston Rob a win since he “deserved it”, and no one much wanted to see that. Personally, I like Boston Rob’s return here even less than the others, since I was never a big fan of his to begin with, and was just sick of him by the time this season rolled around. So yeah, Boston Rob. There you have it. Not much else to say. Even so, I’ll admit that I was more pleased to see Boston Rob than I was to see the person playing opposite him.

Yes, folks, Boston Rob wasn’t quite the ONLY big name of the season. For literally the THIRD SEASON OUT OF THE MOST RECENT 4, Russell Hantz of “Survivor Samoa” was coming back to play. If the audience was SLIGHTLY fatigued of Boston Rob, they were REALLY fatigued with Russell (except, of course, for the die-hard Russell Hantz fans, of which there are fewer and fewer by the day). He came back and, surprise surprise, played EXACTLY the same game as before. He went out and got his “dumbass girl” alliance, this time consisting of Krista Klump and Stephanie Valencia, and tried to dominate the Zapatera tribe. We didn’t really need to see it twice, and we DEFINITELY didn’t need to see the same game played a third time. Yet, strangely, I find this to be the most tolerable Russell Hantz ever was. That is because this is both his shortest and most ironic tenure ever. I’ll go over this more in the “Twist” section, but suffice to say that Russell Hantz’ exit is probably the highlight of the season. Ironically, because he is so hated, and because he left so early, his presence is probably the best thing out of this season. Again, I’ll talk about this more in the “Twist” section, and I really hate to say it, but once Russell left, the season just wasn’t the same.

Ah, but I would be remiss to not mention one of Probst’s favorite characters of all time to come out of Redemption Island. After all, the season wouldn’t be the same without Phillip “Special Agent?” Sheppard. Yes, Phillip, the large, loud, supposed former federal agent insisted upon not being ignored. And how did he do this? By being crazy. And no, since he made this argument, I am not saying he was “crazy” out of any form of racism. I certainly acknowledge that sometimes black people have been labeled “crazy” as a way of dismissing them, and I do not support such behavior in any way. Sometimes, though, crazy just means crazy, and Phillip Sheppard was just regularly crazy. I’m forgoing the fact that he walked around in his pink underwear a lot of the time, since there’s nothing wrong with hot pink underwear, and since it was hot, I’d imagine he’d want to go pants-less sometimes. What I’m NOT going to pass by is his claims of all these classified stories of his being a federal agent, his random yelling at people who supposedly slight Boston Rob, and ESPECIALLY his chats with Great-Grandpa Jessup. Yeah, it’s one thing to reminisce about dearly departed family members, or even “talk” to them, but Phillip took it to a whole new level. Claiming that said dearly-departed great-grandpa sent you a feather pretty well classifies you as nuts. Suffice to say that the audience did not latch on to Phillip Sheppard nearly as well as CBS would have liked. And they brought him back for “Survivor Caramoan” anyway, and there he was, if possible, crazier. I have heard that he has a few supporters; those who claim that Phillip was just playing up the “crazy” aspects of himself to make sure he got to the end. Given how over-the-top some of Phillip’s stunts were, I’d believe it. I would, if it weren’t for the fact that he DIDN’T OWN UP TO THIS STRATEGY AT THE FINAL TRIBAL COUNCIL! WHY WOULD YOU GO TO THE TROUBLE OF PLAYING THE CRAZY PERSON TO MAKE IT TO THE END, ONLY THEN TO NOT OWN IT, THEREBY DEFEATING THE PURPOSE OF THE STRATEGY? No, Phillip Sheppard is being 100% himself, and that’s kind of scary. Phillip is not a good addition to the “Survivor” lexicon.

Of course, there are actually two other people from Redemption Island who got invited to play again, and they do deserve at least a bit of consideration. The first is Andrea Boehlke, the little “strategist” with the unpronounceable last name. She’s usually remembered more for her potential on this season than anything else, which I can’t deny. Unlike most of the rest of her tribe, Andrea was NOT fully on the “Boston Rob is ‘Survivor’ Jesus” train. She did have something of a mind of her own, and was smarter than most of her competitors. On the other hand, this is really being damned by faint praise. Sea Slugs are smarter than 95% of this season’s cast. I’ve heard other people say that she’s hot, and she may be, but I personally don’t see it, and in any case, that shouldn’t be a criterion for what makes a good “Survivor” character. Nevertheless, I can say that Andrea didn’t annoy me this season, beyond just not living up to her threats to get Boston Rob. She wasn’t exciting, but at least she didn’t annoy me. The other major player this season, with the incomprehensible first name (according to Phillip) if the first boot, Francesca Hogi. She’s remembered not so much for her gameplay, but for her manner of leaving. She was voted out after a (admittedly hilarious) Tribal Council in which Phillip could not pronounce her name, but also got voted out for little to no reason. True, she did move against Boston Rob on the season where to even THINK of doing so was blasphemous, but she wasn’t the ringleader of that alliance. One Kristina Kell was. However, she had a hidden immunity idol, and so Francesca was targeted through little fault of her own. Not that Francesca was ever going to be a fabulous player, but she might have had potential as a character. I, like most of the audience, pitied her more than liked her, and while she wasn’t a bad character to come out of this season, she wasn’t the strongest.

Now there are those who were popular at the time, but who have (rightly so, in all cases) fallen into the cracks as time goes by. First up is Matt Elrod, the overall nice guy of the group who was an early boot, due to being too “nice” for Boston Rob’s liking. Matt got a lot of love early on, as a likable challenge beast who ruled the first part of Redemption Island (the twist, not the season). Sadly, when he came back at the merge, it became clear that Matt was really just an idiot who kind of deserved what he got, and I was on that bandwagon well before the merge. I will say it hurt a bit so see him go on a personal level, but that’s only because, as someone else named Matt, it’s rather jarring to hear your own name written down at Tribal Council. There was also Ralph Kiser, who at first seemed like he might be another Tom Buchanan (“Survivor Africa”). He had the same sort of drawl, but we quickly realized that, unlike Tom, there was no craftiness or intelligence behind it, just more stupid. Bear in mind that this is the man who once cast a vote for “Fillup”, Ralph’s stupidity these days is just another stain on the “Survivor” legacy, and good riddance to him. Oh, and I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention David Murphy, arguably the most missed potential of any contestant ever. David was built up big time pre-season as a major strategist, with the highest IQ of any contestant to date! He was also a smug bastard, with many a fun confessional. This led the audience to believe that he was going to become a major force on the season, and his smugness would be backed up with brilliance. Except it wasn’t. David did nothing smart the entire season. Indeed, he actually screwed up several puzzles (only one on purpose), was generally a moron, and like 95% of this cast, simply kowtowed to Boston Rob in the end. What is he remembered for? Awkwardly proposing to his girlfriend, Carolina Eastwood (“Survivor Tocantins”) live at the reunion show, and uncomfortable affair that I wouldn’t be surprised to learn actually led to the separation of the two. Seriously, watch that reunion show again, and watch the look on Carolina’s face when David proposes. You can tell she want’s to say “No”, but can’t do it on national tv. Seriously, you wanted us to like THIS guy?

And the trouble is, that’s really it. I did have a personal favorite in Ashley Underwood, that was more because a friend of mine knew her than anything. I do think she had more brains than most of the people on that season who weren’t Boston Rob, but again, sea slugs. Also, she had no real personality to back up that brain, so not much to see there. Stephanie did get some play recently when she was nominated for the upcoming “Survivor Cambodia”, but not much. She wasn’t picked, and rightly so in my eyes, since she didn’t DO anything on her season. She’s faded pretty quickly back into obscurity, and that’s where she belongs. Even the stunt casting of former NFL players Steve Wright and Grant Mattos did nothing to improve the cast.

People will often claim that this cast was hand-selected to give Boston Rob a victory. I don’t personally think that was the case (not to say that there weren’t OTHER ways the producers tried to stack things in Boston Rob’s favor, which we’ll go over in the “Twist” section), but I can definitely see why people think that’s the case. This cast is filled with nothing but idiots and aggravating people. You’re hard pressed to find anyone other than Boston Rob with a brain, much less an appealing character. The season gets points for having an amazing domination on Boston Rob’s end, but even that ruined at lot of the season. In the end, one of the worst casts the show has ever had.

SCORE: 3 out of 10

CHALLENGES:

Normally on a season with a bad cast (and, in this case, bad twists as well), one can at least say there were a lot of cool challenges. That is not the case with Redemption Island. Don’t get me wrong, it has it’s fair share of epic challenges (in particular, I like the first immunity challenge a lot), but for every challenge that’s great, it has one that just kind of sucks. You know that lame “Balancing balls on a plate” challenge that the show loves to use now? Yeah, that started here. Not a fun challenge to watch at all. This one also had the puzzle of “Count the numbers 1-100”, which is, in my opinion, the LAMEST puzzle the show has ever done. It does have the standout challenge of the “Ribbing the Fish One-Handed” puzzle (which sounds like a sex position to me), ut it also has the “use Craftsman Tools to get through an obstacle course” challenge. Apart from one or two standouts, the challenges just aren’t that spectacular this season. For the most part, they’re either boring or lame, and that’s really not good for a season with little to go on to begin with.

SCORE: 4 our of 10.

TWISTS

In case you haven’t figured it out by now, pretty much every aspect of Redemption Island sucks. Usually, if the cast is bad, the twists are ok, or vice versa. This is not the case here. The twists of Redemption Island suck hard. And the mere concept of Redemption Island (the twist, not the season) also sucks hard. But I’m getting ahead of myself. This was not the first twist of the season. All the advertising was not for “Redemption Island”. No, it was for the “Rob vs. Russell”, playing off a boast Boston Rob made at the “Survivor Heroes vs. Villains” reunion show. Let me state categorically that this was a TERRIBLE idea for a season. Now, I’ve said before and I’ll say again that returning castaways, in and of themselves, are not bad. But there’s a right and a wrong way to do it. The right way is like in “Survivor Guatemala”, where the players brought back had not been oversaturated in the public consciousness at this point, and both were pretty universally loved, or at least tolerated. With Boston Rob and Russell, this was their fourth and third times playing, respectively, so they felt a lot more tired than Stephenie and Bobby Jon did on “Survivor Guatemala”. On top of that, while Boston Rob had won a lot of respect on “Survivor Heroes vs. Villains”, neither of them was as universally loved as Stephenie was, or even close to what Bobby Jon got. The other aspect that made “Survivor Guatemala” the right way to have returning castaways, and Redemption Island the wrong way to have returning castaways, is based on the strength of the supporting cast. True, Stephenie was still the star of “Survivor Guatemala”, but she wasn’t the only person who had anything going for her. As mentioned before, Boston Rob and Russell were really the only entertainment game in town this season, which is not how the returning castaways should be used. They should add spice to an already good season, not have to carry the entire thing. Ultimately, while I can see why these two were wanted back, it was too soon, and these two were the wrong two to do it with.

Next, we come to the titular Redemption Island. You’re hard-pressed to find anyone today who likes this twist, and I am no exception. I’ll be trashing it a lot, and pointing out it’s shortcomings in a moment. But first I would like to take a moment to give the ONE logical reason I have come up with as to why CBS thought this would be a good idea, since many of the flaws with this twist are obvious to most everybody.

Now, I hate to do this. I hate to have to put the season into a context where it must be compared to the seasons around it. I feel a season should be able to stand on its own, without any influence about what the seasons around it were, since it can unfairly bias people against an ok season when it came after a spectacular season. But in this case, it must be done, since the one justification I can see for the Redemption Island twist is tied directly to “Survivor Nicaragua”. Remember how I said in my last retrospective that what people have the most about “Survivor Nicaragua” is the Na’Onka/Purple Kelly quit? And how it was made worse by the fact that Brenda and Marty, the two most popular strategists of the season had just been voted out? Well, I would say that Redemption Island is a direct response to that problem. Yes, even before the season aired, I think the show realized that two big names from the season going out before two pathetic players was a major problem. The solution, then, was to make sure that, if good players went out, they still had a chance to get back in. This wouldn’t have solved the problems of “Survivor Nicaragua”, mind you, but it would have made them slightly less bad. So there, the one justification for why Redemption Island seemed like a good idea.

Now for the reasons that Redemption Island is obviously a bad idea. First off, as Dalton Ross of “Entertainment Weekly” has pointed out, it effective gets rid of the best moment of the show: the torch snuffing. Talk to any person on the street, even if they’ve barely HEARD of “Survivor”, and they can probably tell you at least a little about the torch snuffing process. It’s the icon of the show, and you’ve gotten rid of it in favor of this lame little duel arena. Shame on you, show. Shame on you. Another major obvious problem of Redemption Island is that it eliminates reward challenges from the mix. True, we get “duels” at Redemption Island instead, but those are never as epic as the confrontations of tribe vs. tribe we all wanted. Plus, this meant that, with one challenge combining reward and immunity throughout the game, it was a case of the rich get richer. After all, fewer team challenges is fewer chances for a tribe to gain back some momentum, all the while it’s easier for the other tribe to keep momentum. Beyond these problems, though, it should have been obvious that Redemption Island is simply unfair. Unlike something like the hidden immunity idol, which theoretically anyone can find, Redemption Island favors those who are good at individual challenges, basically saying that people who are good in this area deserve more of a shot to win, despite this NOT being what the game is about. Part of the appeal of “Survivor” is seeing that the physically strong do not necessarily survive. As an audience, we LIKE seeing the strong be overthrown in an epic blindside. But here? They’re rewarded for not playing the game well. Oh, and do you remember how I said that while I don’t think casting was intentionally done to give Boston Rob the victory, but that the producers did do things to benefit him? Well, Redemption Island is that main thing. As I said, Redemption Island favors people who are good in individual challenges. People like, oh, I don’t know, BOSTON ROB?! Yes, I’m willing to bet the producers were worried that Boston Rob or Russell (or, heaven forbid, both of them) were going to be early boots, since they were too well-known and often disliked, and wanted to be sure they’d stay around a while. So, they stuck in Redemption Island to help ensure that, if the cast didn’t rally around one of the returnees, they could still stick around. Blatant favoritism, truly the mark of a good twist! Please note the sarcasm in that sentence. Redemption Island sucked as a twist, and needs to go die in a fire.

One minor twist is that Boston Rob and Russell were randomly divided to their tribes by picking an envelope with a buff in it. Boston Rob went to Ometepe and Russell to Zapatera. Nothing much else to note there. Not a bad way to divide them up, but kind of boring. Although I will say, I’m surprised Ometepe didn’t see the twist coming, since they had three guys and five girls on their team before Boston Rob showed up. Gender imbalance should have clued them in that something was up.

Now, for all that I bash the twists of this season, the first three episodes were actually pretty good blindsides. First there was the craziness that was the Francesca boot, then there was the Matt Elrod conspiracy due to his being too friendly towards the other tribe, and finally Zapatera throwing the challenge to get rid of Russell (the best episode in the series, mind you).. Three pretty excellent blindsides, and actually a pretty good way to start off the season. Mind you, this is the ONLY good thing about Redemption Island. The chaos was fun, and it was great to see Russell finally be shown for what he really is: a horrible, single-minded player whom nobody likes. His breakdown at the beginning of episode 4 (after losing at Redemption Island) is the highlight of the season. It’s also worth noting that the tribes got to choose each time who went to watch Redemption Island duels. This part was actually kind of cool. It added a new layer to tribal politics, and allowed for the selective dissemination of certain information. Mind you, this does NOT in any way make up for the overall awfulness of Redemption Island, but at least one aspect of it wasn’t HORRIBLE.

Now, many people have said that Russell’s leaving the game was where Redemption Island got bad. I agree with them, but not, like many have said, because Russell would never have given up. His boot was the point where the season became bad because it spelled the end of the Zapateras. Think about it. Part of what was exciting about early Redemption Island was Boston Rob trying once again to lead a band of “buffoons”, but being thwarted by his tribe’s incompetence. Boston Rob is at his best and most likable when he’s playing an underdog trying to come back from the brink. Had the season continued without Zapatera throwing the challenge, but instead continuing to dominate, that’s exactly the position Boston rob would have been in. Instead, as throwing a challenge so often does, the Zapateras found themselves in a downward spiral they couldn’t control. This allowed Boston Rob to dominate the rest of the game, and make it incredibly boring.

Don’t believe me that Boston Rob’s domination was boring? Consider the fact that, after the Russell boot, there were literally NO twists until the merge. And then, do you know what the big twists were? Matt coming back into the game, granting false hope that Boston Rob might be overthrown, only to turn around and be LOYAL to the person who stabbed him in the back, and then be voted out again, and Boston Rob getting the tribe to name themselves after one of Amber Brkich’s (“Survivor The Australian Outback”) teddy bears. Whoopee. They did at least move to a new campsite, rather than go to one of the tribe’s campsites, which is rare to see, but again, not all that exciting.

This is also where Boston Rob’s infamous “Buddy System” comes into play, and it, in my opinion, is what kills the system. Basically, Boston Rob decreed that his alliance must always have at least one other person around them, to dissuade them from talking with the down-in-numbers Zapatera tribe. I’m not going to deny that this was a smart strategy. It effectively neutered any possibility of uprising against Boston Rob (not that such a thing was ever much of a threat with this group), but it also meant that the second half of the game (and even some of the first half) clearly showed that Boston Rob was the winner. there were no other options. We just had to sit there as first all of Zapatera and then the popular members of Boston Rob’s alliance were picked off one by one. Oh, there were a few surprises here and there. There was a surprise immunity challenge at Tribal Council, leading to a double Tribal Council, which mercifully shortened the inevitable Pagonging of Zapatera by one episode, and there was Ashley’s immunity winning streak near the end, forcing Rob to blindside Grant, but none of it mattered. We all knew Boston Rob was going to win the game. Even Andrea winning the final Redemption Island duel, a fairly impressive feat, didn’t matter. She just got voted out next anyway. We all knew that Boston Rob was going to win, why did anything else matter?

There is one aspect of this season, that could be called a “Twist” that I have yet to touch on. It bears mentioning, though, because for me it exemplifies a lot of where Redemption Island went wrong as a season. At the “merge” the two tribes agreed to live together under one name, but stayed two separate tribes. They had different supplies, different fires, even different shelters, with Zapatera’s being noticeably lower than Ometepe’s. This will become important shortly, I assure you. Now, this in and of itself is not too novel. After all, especially in the early days, many of the “merged” tribes were effectively this. However, this was the most blatant we’ve ever seen, and the shelter division exemplifies this. Due to difference in shelter height, Ometepe was quite literally putting Zapatera beneath them. Why is this important, you may ask? Consider the fact that psychologically, for normal human beings, it takes a lot to make us ok with killing. Army training is months long not only because of the physical demands of the job, but also because that time is needed to “train” people to be ok with killing. One of the quick and easy ways to do this is to dehumanize the enemy, to make them seem less than you. One need only look as far as war propaganda cartoons, particularly during WWII, to see this. Why do you think, in American media, the Japanese were depicted either as stooped over, backwards men with buck teeth, or even as demonic figures? It made it easier to hate them, easier to kill them. While it’s probably easier to vote someone out of “Survivor” than to kill someone, there are a lot of similarities. You’re effectively ending their “Survivor” life after all. Wouldn’t it be infinitely easier to vote someone off if you could just dismiss them as being “less”than you? And conversely, wouldn’t it be hard to protest your execution if you were told, day after day, that you were not as good as the others, that you deserve less than they did? That’s exactly what happened on Redemption Island, and nowhere is it evidence more blatantly than with the shelter division. I have said before, and I will say again, one of the smartest things Boston Rob did was to put the other tribe literally beneath his alliance. It helped secure him the game, but it also made the season incredibly boring. No one fought back, so the season was completely predictable.

Also, this is the season that got rid of the “Fallen Comrades” tribute, something I’ve never really gotten over the loss of. I’m glad it wasn’t shown in this case, since a lot of the things said were mean and hateful, but I hate that it became precedent. Yeah, it could get lame at times, since players had to comment on people they didn’t know, but I always looked on it as something not so much for the players, but for the audience to reflect on their 13-episode journey. I wish they’d bring it back.

I can’t say EVERY single twist of Redemption Island was bad. But I can say all the major ones were, and they outweigh the very few good ones by way too much.

SCORE: 2 out of 10

OVERALL

In terms of theme, Redemption Island went for a theme of, well, redemption. It took on the culture of typical Central American ruins, which wasn’t bad, but had been done before, and just didn’t stand out. As to the redemption theme, it’s a bit hard to buy when the only person who seemed to overcome anything was Boston Rob, and as I’ve said before, having one person run the entire season is not fun to watch.

It’s hard sometimes for a season with all good elements to come together. A season with bad elements? Not happening. The cast, challenges, and twists all came together in this case to create a season that was at BEST boring and predictable, and at worst downright unpleasant. Don’t get me wrong, the first few episodes are fairly exciting, but that’s barely a fourth of the season. When three quarters of your season is just utter crap, it’s not a good sign. Overall, the season does not work. Unsurprisingly, a bunch of bad aspects come together to make a bad season.

SCORE: 10 out of 40.

ABSTRACT

Redemption Island is by no means a good season. For someone looking for one season of “Survivor” that is an entertaining watch, I say skip this season and never look back. From a strategic point of view, this season is well-played, but only by one player, and this makes for a boring and predictable watch. That said, this season does sadly have a MAJOR influence on later seasons, so if you’re at all interested in seasons beyond this point, you’re going to have to watch this. Suffer through it once, then never see it again.