“Survivor” What-Ifs?: Pearl Islands

Well, with the off season soon to turn “On” again, the writing bug has bitten once more, and I’d like to get one more of these out before we talk about Season 40… I mean Season 39! Yes, yes, there is still one season to go before the fabled “all-winners”, but for now, I’d like to focus on something a bit earlier in the timeline. As early as we’ve had in these blogs so far. Yes, it’s time for us to go back in time, to the days of “Survivor Pearl Islands”.

Before we start, though, a couple of quick notes. As you probably know by now, this blog will contain SPOILERS for how the season turns out. If for some reason you haven’t seen “Survivor Pearl Islands”, stop reading this blog right now and go watch it. Really. It’s that good. But do return when you’re done. Or, you know, just don’t care about spoilers.

Still with us? Good. Now, normally I’d dive right into the scenario, but I should mention that this scenario is not entirely my idea. While I did modify it for a situation I see as being more realistic, this scenario is technically the brainchild of user XX_TR15T1NHO_XX on Reddit. Thank you for your contribution. It is much appreciated.

THE IMPACT: Unsurprisingly, what we’re changing here is the most controversial part of “Survivor Pearl Islands”: The Outcast Twist. What might be surprising is that what I’m changing is that it still happens. Yes, though I’m sure many wonder what a season without the Outcasts at all would have been like, I don’t see the producers NOT doing this twist. Even if it probably ended up being a bad idea, it was also an obvious idea that needed to be done at some point, at it fit the “pirate” theme about as well as anything, so it definitely stays in. What I think could change is the outcome of the challenge. Don’t misunderstand me. Morgan still loses. With how beat down they were that day, I doubt they could have won a staring contest. Drake, on the other hand? Drake had a decent shot. Bear in mind, the Outcasts had a number of advantages in the challenge, even if it was presented as fair. Their set of cells were used for the challenge demonstration, leaving their ground softer. They had the bright idea to use their ribbons on the arms as rope, which made for better rope than the materials everyone else had. Most important, and I still don’t know how they were allowed this, they got to use all six of their tribe in building the pole, which is no small difference in what ends up being a pole-building race. And yet, despite all of these advantages, Drake was not far behind in that challenge. So, I think it’s within the bounds of reason to say that one small change could lead to Drake being the initial victor, with only Morgan losing a member in favor of the Outcasts.

So Drake pulls out a win somehow. Any little thing could have given them the edge. Maybe production takes away one or more of the Outcast’s advantages. Maybe Drake’s cells get used for the demo. Regardless of how it happens, Drake now wins the challenge, with Morgan coming in second. This, of course, means we have one less Tribal Council, and Shawn Cohen doesn’t get voted out this episode. But pretty much everything else still happens the way it does. Osten still quits, Savage still rants against the Outcasts, and I even think they hold the Outcast Tribal Council until the next episode. We might see some of it this episode, but the cliffhanger of “Who gets to come back?” would be too great for the show to pass up. Since we’re in the next episode, we move on to the next section.

THE FALLOUT: Normally, when changing a season this far back, I’d only use vague generalities for this section. However, “Survivor Pearl Islands” comes in the pre-hidden-immunity-idol days, thus making specific prediction easier. True, individual immunity is still a factor, but a slightly more predictable one, so I’ll try my hand at how the season would generally go down, blow-by-blow.

First off, the Outcasts. With only one person to vote back on, they naturally vote back on Burton. It’s not even a contest. Some people may not have wanted Lill around to “ruin their vacation”, but the overwhelming sentiment of the Outcasts was to have one of their tribe win it all, and it was pretty much universally agreed that Burton was their best option.

So Burton comes back, and here we have the first major change beyond just one person coming back: Burton is now on Morgan pre-merge. Remember, the only reason Burton ended up on Drake in our timeline was because Lill was with him, and pulled a Morgan buff. With only Morgan losing, Burton now has no choice but to go to Morgan. And with that, any delusions about Drake having power come the merge go out the window. On the surface, losing Osten for Burton looks like it gives Drake a 6-4 edge. But don’t forget, the only reason Drake ended up winning out in our timeline was because Burton had to play nice with Drake since he ended up back on that tribe. And Lill had an axe to grind with Savage, and Burton was loyal to Lill, so Drake it was. In this timeline, Burton has neither incentive, so you can bet that he’s declaring himself Morgan Strong. Not only does this give Morgan a solid five, Burton can now spill the inner workings of Drake to them, giving them even more of an edge.

Further working against Drake is that they were a fractious bunch. It’s hard to remember, given how effectively they dominated overall, but the Drakes did not particularly like each other. Shawn and Jonny Fairplay both played nice when they needed to, but really didn’t want the Rupert-Sandra-Christa threesome around. Combine that with a solid Morgan five with no clear cracks, and I’m guessing both of them flip to give Morgan a 7-3 majority.

So, with that settled, Rupert goes home, right? I don’t think so. In this alliance, Savage is still calling the shots, and he and Rupert had a working relationship. Note that even in our timeline, his alliance alone didn’t choose to target Rupert. True, he had immunity, but we don’t see them discussing it even before he has immunity. No, I think Savage sets up a “Take out the weak” mentality, and so Sandra and Christa are the primary targets. Of the two, though it pains me to say it, I think Sandra goes out, depriving us of a season of Sandra. I’m sure many of you are saying “Blasphemy!”, right now, but I think Sandra probably would have been the target. Savage wanted out the “Wimpy little non-leaders” as he said in “Survivor Cambodia”, and remember, he holds a grudge. Remember Sandra taking the Morgan’s tarp after an early reward challenge? Remember how aggravated al the Morgans were with her? I don’t think Savage would have forgotten that, and I think he would have thrown his weight around to ensure that she left, with Fairplay, Shawn, and Burton going along because they have no choice. Sandra’s a great social player, but as we saw on “Survivor Game Changers”, sometimes the numbers are just insurmountable.

So, Morgan’s up 7-2 now. This means that Morgan does that Pagonging we’d expect, right? Well, yes and no. Things are obviously better for Morgan in this timeline, but I don’t think things are as straightforward as one might think. Again, Savage was big on that “keep the strong” thing, but Savage also holds grudges. And apart from Sandra and Jonny Fairplay, who did Savage hate the most? Why, the person who came back from the Outcasts of course! Even in this timeline, he still declares they “Do not deserve to be here”, and with a now comfortable majority (Rupert also holds a grudge, so I doubt he’s willing to work with Fairplay or Shawn ever again), I think he turns on Burton. Since the next immunity was basically just a popularity contest, someone like Ryan O. or Tijuana probably wins. With Burton vulnerable, Savage strikes, and Burton becomes the first member of the jury. Hell, I think Savage probably pulls in Rupert and Christa, both to get on good terms with a potential ally, and to make sure Burton’s boot is unanimous.

The next vote afterward is pretty straightforward. Savage, still bitter about Fairplay’s comments at the last reward steal, votes out Fairplay. Yes, this means no “Dead Grandma” lie. We’ll come back to that in the next section. But it’s the vote afterward where things get really interesting. You see, the most popular theory I’ve seen online for if the Outcasts don’t happen is “Morgan dominates, and Savage wins, because Savage was the leader of the Morgans.” Personally, this never rang true for me. Oh, I’m definitely sure Morgan would dominate, and Savage would definitely do better than in our timeline. But for me, Savage’s view of the game is too simplistic, and his moralizing wouldn’t have rung true with everybody. The other Morgans respected him, sure, but as the game got nearer to the end, I think greed would have overcome the Morgans, especially with vengeful Drakes like Fairplay and Shawn whispering in their ear. And here’s where I think things split. Ryan O. was probably going to stick with Savage. The “shields” strategy works in his favor. But Tijuana and Darrah? At some point, they were going to split. Darrah was most on the outs of the remaining Morgans, as the alternate target to Lill at her boot. Tijuana, while generally loyal, was smart enough not to throw her game away for Savage, and would have felt she had the social bonds to survive. Shawn is still probably the next to go, but I think here Tijuana and Darrah approach Rupert and Christa about developing a foursome to take out Savage, which I think they go for. Rupert probably gets a confessional about being conflicted about voting out his “buddy”, but given that he still believes in (loyal) Drakes, with some prompting from Christa, he probably goes for it. Thus, Savage goes out at the final six. A better showing than before, but still not a win.

From there, I think Tijuana and Darrah slip back with Ryan O. for the remainder of the season. Now the precedent for voting out the physical powerhouses has been set, and Rupert is now the biggest fish in that pond. There’s no way he wins that final five immunity challenge, since it favored the skinny, so he’s out. Tempting though it would be for Ryan O. to leave here, I think there was still enough “Morgan Loyalty” (or at least fear of reprisal from the jury) to get Christa out. Ryan O. can’t make it past the Final Three, though. Darrah was a challenge beast by this point, and that Final Immunity Challenge did not favor strength, so I’d say Darrah wins, and votes out Ryan O.

Thus, we have a final two of Tijuana and Darrah, with a jury of Burton, Fairplay, Shawn, Savage, Rupert, Christa, and Ryan O. Quite a difference from our own timeline. It’s tough to say who wins in this scenario. I think Tijuana has the better social game of the two, but also burned Savage and Ryan O. harder due to being closer to them. Since they’re only two votes on the jury, though, I’m inclined to end off this section by declaring Tijuana the winner in this timeline.

THE LEGACY: It feels wrong to say, but while by no means a “bad” season, this version of “Survivor Pearl Islands” does not gain the legendary status of the one in our timeline. True, it does have some things going for it that our timeline doesn’t. Savage probably takes Rupert’s place as the “beloved, burned leader” archetype. The zeitgeist that is Rupert is probably even bigger than in our timeline, as while he no longer has an arch-nemesis in Fairplay, he lasts longer and has the arc of bringing back a losing tribe from the brink post-merge. Tijuana is probably a MUCH bigger deal, and gets lauded as having one of the best social games the how had seen up to that point. But the trouble is that the post-merge loses a lot of its momentum in this timeline. True, the Savage Vote is probably the equivalent of the Rupert Vote in our timeline, but the Savage Vote comes two episodes further down the season than the Rupert Vote in our timeline, so you’ve got a lot of season to slog through before things get exciting. There’s some intrigue with “How long can Rupert hang on?”, but it just doesn’t have the excitement that the post-merge in our timeline had. Then there are the moments that just don’t have any equivalent in this timeline. The family visit passes without incident, denying us the “Dead Grandma” lie. With no Rupert vote, there’s no sabotaging the fish. And, perhaps worst of all, we get no “I sear on my two kids I’m gonna screw you and Burton.” The post-merge is intriguing, strategically, and I think this season becomes beloved among hard-core game fans. But, for the everyday viewer, it’s just not as exciting.

So, how does this change our returnee prospects? Well, despite having less of an impact overall, I think “Survivor Pearl Islands” actually initially gets more returnees than in our timeline. Rupert still gets asked back for “Survivor All-Stars”, but I think Tijuana ends up taking Alicia Calaway’s spot. After all, Alicia was seen as kind of a “huh?” choice at the time, and if you’ve got a relatively popular black female winner knocking on your doorstep, you take her on. I do think that Tijuana fades into the background, as while she’s well-liked at the time, she just isn’t as memorable as Sandra is in ours. I’m tempted to bring Savage back for “Survivor All-Stars” as well, but I just don’t see who he can replace. He most closely fits Colby’s archetype, but there’s no way Colby of all people doesn’t come back for “Survivor All-Stars”. “Survivor Micronesia” probably stays the same as well. True, Fairplay doesn’t have the “Dead Grandma” lie to give him infamy, but if they brought back Boston Rob for the potential shown pre-merge, I think they do the same for Fairplay. But, of course, Savage is our big hero of the season, so you know he’s coming back at some point. “Survivor Heroes vs. Villains” is his time. Savage, in this timeline, as seen as the robbed, heroic leader of the Morgans, so on a season with a tribe called “Heroes”, there’s no way he doesn’t return. He probably takes Rupert’s spot, but if Rupert stays in the public consciousness enough, I could see Savage overruling Tom Westman as well. Assuming Fairplay still quits “Survivor Micronesia”, we probably don’t have a representative for the “Villains” side, so Natalie Bolton probably comes in in place of Sandra. Even as someone who really likes Sandra, it would be nice to see Natalie Bolton back.

Speaking of Sandra, does she go quietly into that good night of “Survivor” obscurity? If you’re asking that question, clearly you don’t know Sandra. Even if she lost out on a lot of her iconic moments by missing the jury, Sandra had enough arguments pre-merge that I think she gets the nod for “Survivor Cambodia”. Whether she passes the vote I’m not sure, but I think she’s on the ballot, and I could see people like Ryan O. and Darrah being up there as well. I don’t see anyone here getting the nod for “Survivor Caramoan”, since they were just too far in the past at this point. For what it’s worth, Rupert probably still comes back for “Survivor Blood vs. Water”, since that reason didn’t care as much about how iconic you were on your season “Survivor Game Changers” will be our last major discussion for returnees (I don’t think anyone here qualifies for “Edge of Extinction” territory, nor would I wish anyone on that season), as I think Savage, being even more of a zeitgeist than before, probably comes back one more time. If Sandra or someone else does well on “Survivor Cambodia”, they probably come back as well. Let’s say Savage takes JT’s spot, and Sandra keeps the spot she has in our timeline.

Oy, my head hurts from all the different threads to follow in this timeline, but I hope you enjoyed it. “Survivor Pearl Islands” is still a great season, and even in this timeline, I doubt it’s vilified, but rather just seen as kind of ok. You’d have to work hard to make this season bad, but evidently, it’s easy to make it less memorable.

This will probably be the last of these blogs pre-season 39, but even so, more will come at some point in the future, as I’ve discovered a love for this format. As such, the suggestions for future scenarios remains open! A quick reminder of the rules below:

1. 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…

2. 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.
3. 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. Hope, once again, that you’ve enjoyed my ramblings, and see you in my next blog, whatever it may be!

-Matt

“Survivor” Retrospectives: All-Stars

I’m back, after a week’s hiatus!  I needed it, because let me tell you, this next season is a doozy.  The other seasons have been standard, to the point of appearing formulaic, but this was the first season to turn everything on its head.  It may seem like a bad fanfiction at the outset, but no, it’s really happening.  Favorite castaways are returning to play once again.  This, my friends, is “Survivor All-Stars”.

However, since it’s been a few weeks, I’d like to remind everyone that this review does contain spoilers.  If you wish to avoid spoilers about the season, scroll quily down to the bottom of the page, and read the section entitled “Abstract”, where I give my general opinion on the watchability of the season.  Now, as I haven’t said for a while, on to the review!

CAST

Given that this is the “All-Stars” season, you’d think that the producers would pull the “Best of the Best” from all the season, and come up with a hit cast.  You’d be right, for the most part.  One thing I will give the producers is that they did get a nice variety of castaways for the season.  You had your overall nice, honorable castaways in people like Rudy Boesch (“Survivor Borneo”), Colby Donaldson (“Survivor The Australian Outback”), and Rupert Boneham (“Survivor Pearl Islands”).  You had your hard-core schemers in people like Jerri Manthey (“Survivor The Australian Outback”), Lex Van Den Berghe (“Survivor Africa”), and “Boston Rob” Mariano (“Survivor Marquesas”).  Then you had your people who were sort of a mix, such as Alicia Calaway (“Survivor The Australian Outback”), Tina Wesson (“Survivor The Australian Outback”), and Kathy Vavrick-O’Brien.  Nearly all of these people provided memorable moments, making nearly all of them good choices.  You could argue that some of the early boots, like Tina, didn’t get a chance to be memorable, but as I’ll discuss in the “Overall” section, this season was more about honoring the past than glorifying the present, so it was still good to see.  If, however, you were asked to pick the people who defined the season, the only name that can be reasonably put forth is Boston Rob.  Compared to his last performance, which I would describe as only slightly above average, Boston Rob dominated, both physically and mentally, and ran the game from start to finish, woe betide anyone who dare to stop him.  He got annoying to me after a while, but the ay he played the game was impressive, and he wasn’t the worst character I’ve ever seen.  Even if he was, the other cast members help balance things out.  Jenna Lewis should also be noted as coming into her own here, making it much father than her first appearance, and showing some pretty decent strategy.

So, overall, it sounds like I’d have nothing to complain about, and yet I do.  In fact, I have not one, but several things to complain about with regard to the cast.  One I’ll discuss in the “Twist” section, as it has very much to do with the very idea of an “All-Star” season.  For now, however, I’ll go through them one at a time.

First off, the variety of the cast.  Now I said earlier that the producers got a good, vaired cast this season, and I stand by that for the most part.  Even when it came to distributing who was on what tribe, they did ok, except that the Chapera tribe was made up mostly of schemers, or mixed schemers, so there were few people to root for.  No, the real distribution problem has to do with how many people from each season were invited back.  I’ll mention here that this season had 18 castaways for the first time in the show’s history, so with seven seasons, every season should have had 2 people, with a couple of seasons getting 3 or 4, depending on how well-liked the season was.  What happened was that between “Survivor Borneo” and “Survivor The Australian Outback”, nine of the 18 slots were filled.  That just doesn’t sit right with me.  I know the seasons were well liked, but it doesn’t seem fair to have two seasons alone make up half the cast.  The 4 from “Survivor Borneo” I could maybe understand, but “Survivor The Australian Outback” getting 5?  No, no, no!

The second problem this season was screen time.  Up until this point, CBS had done a fair job of giving all castaways equal screen time, or at least what they deserved given their time in the game.  This season, however, gave us the first instance of someone hogging all the screen time.  I refer, of course, to Boston Rob, and while I admit he was the one doing most everything this season, it kind of detracted from the rest of the cast.

My major problem, though, rests with one castaway in particular.  I said that nearly everybody cast this season was spot-on and deserved to return.  NEARLY everybody.  There is one castaway this season, who’s lack of memorability, whose shear blandness makes me want to tear my hair out, and she WON this season.  Yes, I must ask, WHY BRING BACK AMBER BRKICH?  I’d just finished watching “Survivor The Australian Outback” when I saw the season, and I couldn’t recognize her easilly.  She just left me so empty.  In a season full of household names, of great, memorable castaways, THIS is the best person you could find?  No, I refuse to believe this was intentional.  I know Amber was a backup, and was only asked after Colleen Haskell (“Survivor Borneo”), Elizabeth Hasselbeck (“Survivor The Australian Outback”), and Sandra Diaz-Twine (“Survivor Pearl Islands”), all refused to come back, but still, there were so many alternatives!  In fact, the following is a list I’ve made of people who, while maybe not the biggest characters on their season, would at least have been better than Amber!  Note that, for this list, I’ve imposed a few requirements.  The castaway must be a woman, as they’re replacing a woman, and may not have been booted out earlier than seventh, as this is the earliest the other All Stars were booted on thier seasons, specifically a tie between Boston Rob and Shii Ann Huang of “Survivor Thailand” (who, incidentally, also came into her own on this season.  Now then, the list:

Gretchen Cordy (“Survivor Borneo”)

Kelly Wiglesworth (“Survivor Borneo”)

Kelly Goldsmith (“Survivor Africa”)

Kim Powers (“Survivor Africa”)

Teresa Cooper (“Survivor Africa”)

Tammy Leitner (“Survivor Marquesas”)

Neleh Dennis (“Survivor Marquesas”)

Helen Glover (“Survivor Thailand”)

Deena Bennett (“Survivor The Amazon”)

Christy Smith (“Survivor The Amazon”)

Heidi Stroebel (“Survivor The Amazon”)

Tijuana Bradley (“Survivor Pearl Islands”)

Christa Hastie (“Survivor Pearl Islands”)

Darrah Johnson (“Survivor Pearl Islands”)

Any one of these people would have been an improvement, but you didn’t pick them CBS.  Shame on you.

I wish I could talk about the other major problem with the cast, as it had a large effect on my score, but suffice to say that my low score here will make sense later.  Not a bad cast on the whole, I suppose, just one with a couple of major flaws.

Score: 7 out of 10

CHALLENGES

Like the cast of this season, the challenges were the best reused from previous seasons.  Unilke the cast, however, the challenges hit 100% of the time.  Unlike another season with returning castways, all the challenges were epic, and the coices for which to reuse were good ones.  If challenges were changed, or a new element added, it improved the challenge, making it more difficult, and oftentimes combined an element from another season’s challenge to make the whole thing even more difficult.  About the only new challenge was the “Build the Best Shelter” challenge, and even that, it could be argued, had elements of the “SOS” challenge from previous seasons.  It could be argued that the challenges were unfairly portioned, as some seasons like “Survivor Marquesas” got a lot of reused challenges, whereas “Survivor Pearl Islands” got none.  I’d argue, however, that “Survivor Pearl Islands” also had the challenges that had the most distinctive theme, and so would be harder to reproduce in a more generalized context.  In any case, I don’t care that much, the challenges were just so exciting and appropriate that I can’t give this season’s challenges anything but a perfect score.

Score: 10 out of 10

TWISTS

There’s a lot of twists to get through this season, so let’s not waste any time with fancy introductions.  In the All-Star Season, the first twist you’d naturally see would be the returning castways.  For the most part, this was a good idea.  It gave fans a chance to fangasm, and upped the gameplay to a new level, making it truly time to prove who was “the best of the best”.  Unfortunately, this led to the problem with the cast I alluded to earlier.  You see, in earlier seasons, while people did get understandably upset at being voted off or targeted, they got over it eventually, and didn’t make too big of a fuss.  They knew they were playing a game, and didn’t take anything personally.  They could only do so, though, because the people coming into the game were all strangers, and so it didn’t seem like friendship would enter into the game.  The All-Stars, however, did know each other, in some cases for four years.  This led to people taking the game personally, with a lot of bloody, unpleaseant arguements, the one between Boston Rob and Lex being a particularly difficult example.  And before I get off the subject, yes, Lex, what you did to Ethan Zohn (“Survivor Africa”) is EXACTLY the same as what Boston Rob did to you.  While I admit the All-Star idea was overall very engaging, and had to be done at some point, it was still a somewhat unpleasent affair that made the cast as a whole look bad.  I should say, going along with the All-Star twist was the aforementioned 18 castaway premier, and the first (and up until the upcoming “Survivor Philippines”, only) instance of 3 tribes in one season.  Personally, I liked this.  It created new dynamics, and gave the season a feeling of honoring yet surpassing its predecessors.

Another aspect of this season being All-Star was that even less supplies were given to the castaways.  Now, in the past seasons, what supplies were given had been steadily decreasing, and as these were veterans, the twist was understandable, and had the potential to be good.  Unfortunately, this also meant giving no one fire, and with no one able to make one, most of the first few episodes was the castaways whining with entitlement, which was not fun to watch.  Richard Hatch (“Survivor Borneo”) was later revealed to have smuggled waterproof matches up his ass, but as he never used them, his Mogo Mogo tribe whined as well.  A twist with potential, but not one that went well overall.  If it hadn’t been for a reward, this would have continued.  Along with this reward came the realization that a lockbox with rice was at the tribe’s camp, and winning rewards would give clues to keys that would open the lockbox. A good twist.  It raised the stakes, and gave an air of seriousness to the season.

The next twist was a sad one.  Jenna Morasca (“Survivor The Amazon”) became the second castaway ever to quit the game, due to her mother being ill with cancer.  This turned out to be a good thing, as Jenna’s mother regrettably passed away 8 days later.  A good twist, albeit a somber one.

One twist that did do well came in episode 5.  In addition to fishing gear (the reward for that episode) the tribes played for the right to dismantle the last place tribe, and absorb their members into two remaining tribes.  This was a great way to play.  High stakes, major consequences, and it made sense, not to mention being a uniue way to shuffle the tribes.  The Saboga tribe ultimately lost, but even their dismantling couldn’t deter them.  Their members made it through several tribal councils before being voted off.  This same episode brought the next “Twist” as such, when Richard Hatch rubbed his (naked) body over Sue Hawk (“Survivor Borneo”).  This only counts as a twist because it later caused Sue to quit the game in a memorable fit of rage, and, much like Jenna’s quit, it was a good, if unpleasant, twist.

Although this season was meant to honor seasons past, it didn’t mean that this season couldn’t start trends itself.  This season gave us the first instance of a combined reward/immunity challenge outside of the first immunity challenge, as well as the ability to kidnap a member of the other tribe, thus keeping them from tribal council.  Chapera won and chose Kathy, which led to a lot of good strategy talk, so I’m calling this a good twist.

This season also saw another instance of a reward that allows you to steal items from the other tribe.  This wasn’t like it’s inception on “Survivor Marquesas”, which was a free-for-all, nor was it a running twist like on “Survivor Pearl Islands”, but it was just a “Pick 3 items for a reward” deal.  I though this was a good balance, and liked the reward.

Drawing from “Survivor Thailand”, this season also gave us a fake merge, when in actuality, it was just another tribe swap, the first time it happened twice in one season.  This caught most people off guard, and made for some funny moments.  Notable, however, was that the tribes exactly flipped, with only Amber getting new tribemates.  This twist of the switch served to make it much more memorable and enjoyable, so I can’t say I don’t like it.  It also led to one of the few player twists of the season, when Boston Rob asked Lex for a favor to save Amber, in return for his keeping Lex and his alliance longer in the game.  It was a bold move, and created much drama when it didn’t work out, including the aforementioned argument with Lex.

Post merge was a move back to an old camp, which was slightly new.  Beforehand, tribes had moved to an already settled camp, or else an entirely new one.  To return to the old Saboga beach was unprecedented.  Also, no merge feast for the new Chaboga Mogo tribe.

From here on out, it was pretty boring, with the old Mogo Mogo getting Pagonged.  There was a reward challenge where edveryone got to eat, which would show up in a few later seasons, and the betrayal of Alicia, “Big Tom” Buchanan (“Survivor Africa”), and Rupert, which provided a few more player twists, but for the most part, everything was normal.  Then Amber won.  What an unpleasent twist.

This wasn’t the end, though.  Jerri Manthey walked out in justified frustration at the Reunion show, which was unpleasant, but this wasn’t the end either.  After 8 seasons, CBS saw fit to hold a popularity contest of the All-Stars, with the winner getting another million dollars.  Naturally, Rupert won, and the twist was decried as unfair, as it relied heavilly on editing.  I, however, diagree.  It was a nice tribute to the audience, who helped make the show, and as long as it didn’t become a regular thing, I saw no trouble with it.  In fact, it was an overall enjoyable tribute to the seasons.

Overall, a lack of player twists, and some general unpleasant twists drag this season down a bit, but overall, the twists were pretty good.

Score: 8 out of 10

OVERALL

The unpleasentness of how personal the cast took this season really cost it some points with me.  Also, while most of the cast was good, the ones who dragged it down REALLY dragged it down.  But you know what?  It doesn’t matter that much.  This was not a season, for new, original, dynamic cast members. This really was a different sort of season, existing to memorialize and praise past seasons.  This is why the problems with the cast don’t matter that much: it’s worth it just to see them back again.  The excitement of that sheer fact overwhelms everything.

Score: 33 out of 40

ABSTRACT

All-Stars is very much a “Survivor” fan’s season.  It contained so many refferences, so much nostalgia for the first 7 seasons, it couldn’t be anything but.  It does have some unpleasent factors that make it less enjoyable, but any fan of the show must see this season.  On the whole, I’d give it a watch, but ONLY after watching the other seasons before it first.  I admit, I myself did not follow this, but this was because at the time, only “Survivor Borneo”, “Survivor The Australian Outback”, and “Survivor Pearl Islands” were on DVD, so I had no choice.  Now all seasons through 12 are out, so there’s no excuse not to see them.

“Survivor” Retrospectives: Pearl Islands

Well after “Survivor The Amazon”, the show was riding a high, and the pressure was on the next season, Pearl Islands, to perform and keep the popularity going.  By all accounts, it did so, but was it really deserved?  Let’s find out.

First, however, the usual reminder that this review will contain spoilers for the series.  If you just want a reccomendation as to wheer or not the series is watchable, scroll down to the bottom of the page and read the “Abstract” section, which will be spoiler-free.

CAST

When one thinks of the cast of Pearl Islands, the name that immediately leaps to mind is Rupert Boneham, and certainly with good reason.  Right out of the gate, he was easily distinguishable from the rest of his tribe, due to his large size, impressive facial hair, and the distinctive tye-dye tank top he is now famous for. Still, he might have faded into the background if he was just a follower who sat back and did nothing, but this possibility was blown out of the water in the first few minutes.  Due to a twist in the game I’ll discuss in the “Twist” section, Rupert was put in a situation where he had to guard the Drake tribe’s shoes.  While doing so, Morgan (the opposing tribe) also came by, sat their shoes next to Rupert, and ran off.  Rupert, realizing that this was “Survivor”, and malicious behavior was therefore justified, proceeded to steal Morgan’s shoes.  This single event was probably what he is best know for, if it boils down to a single event, which is a bit funny, as it contrasts greatly with his image.  Rupert, you see, would go on to portray the bastion of morality in “Survivor”, the goddiest goodie two-shoes you ever did see.  This does not mean he didn’t make alliances, but merely that he hd a hard time breaking them, or lying to people (as we would see next season).  Let me make this clear right now: although Rupert is COMPARATIVELY a moral contestant, he is not COMPLETELY moral.  He does lie, cheat, and steal, as shown by the aforementioned event.  Doesn’t make him a bad character, it just means that his image is not entirely justified.  What is justified, however, is the hype for his skills as a fisherman, the other thing Rupert is known for.  Aside from Richard Hatch (“Survivor Borneo”), Rupert is perhaps the castaway with the greatest fishing skills.  Most of his strategy in the game revolved around providing for his tribe using a fishing spear.  We would see in later seasons that his real skill was the ability to get fish without an actual fishing spear (as his skills are not unparalleled with an actual spear), but for now, let’s focus on Pearl Islands.  Rupert’s gusto for fishing, and desire to provide for his tribe, helped endear him to the audience, but not as much as the final aspect of Rupert that made him a surefire hit: his attitude.  I don’t mean his supposed “morality”, I mean his attitude towards life, which is best summed up by his quote “Never give up, never surrender, never admit defeat”.  This was exemplified in an incident where fellow tribemate Shawn Cohen lost the spearhead of the tribe’s fishing spear.  Rather than pass it off as a lost cause, Rupert swam an area of about 5 or 6 football fields to find a very small spearhead that blended with the rocks, and, most amazingly, succeeded.  Such an uplifting attitude was rarely seen on “Survivor” and was something of a breath of fresh air for the viewing audience.  As if this wasn’t enough, we also came to find that Rupert had a sad backstory, being picked on in school for being fat and somewhat dim, making him something of an underdog in life.  Audiences loved an underdog, and this basically cemented Rupert’s popularity.  Now, some would argue, rightly, that Rupert is a fairly weak strategist, requireing a strong alliance with others to decide who to vote out for him, and that this makes him an interesting character.  I will never try to argue that Rupert is a strategic mastermind, but not interesting?  I disagree entirely.  While I enjoy the strategic masterminds as much as the next viewer, I don’t want a cast of NOTHING but strategic masterminds.  The make the game play a bit too predictable, and a good, semi-moral person changes things up in a good way.  Moreover, Rupert’s zest for life and general likeability make him fairly interesting, and on a personal level, he reminds me a lot of myself (I, too, was the fat, picked-on kid for a good chunk of my life), and my father (physically, they’re practically twins), so, for my money, Rupert’s a great character, the flagship for the season, and I enjoy watching him.  It seems audiences do as well, since he’s the only threepeat of the season, and also takes the top spot on the DVD box set, a space usually reserved for the winner of the season.

However, every moral guardian needs an amoral opponant, and Rupert got perhaps one of the biggest assholes ever for his opponant.  Jon “Jonny Fairplay” Dalton, for a long time that he would be unsurpassed in just how offensive and annoying he was.  A self-styled master strategist, and lover of professional wrestling, he came into the game pretending to be a moral player, that his “Jonny Fairplay” nickname was a straight title.  In reality, he wanted to be the next Rob Cesternino (“Survivor The Amazon”) and, to give him his due, he did actually have some strategic gems, no matter how despicable.  His biggest maneuver was, perhaps, the now infamous “Dead Grandma Lie” in which his loved one, a friend named Thunder D purported to tell Fairplay about the supposed death of his real loved one, his grandmother, when in reality, Fairplay’s grnadmother had never been invited out, and Fairplay pulled the lie to earn sympathy from his fellow tribemates and win the challenge.  What makes this a good strategic move is that he parlayed the lie into several alliances, and, to his credit, he wasn’t found out until after the show started to air.  Fairplay also had a knack for getting people to trust him again, and weasling himself into several alliances, flip flopping to keep himself and ally Burton Roberts on top.  Now, this sounds a lot like what Cesternino did, but the viewing audience and I like Cesternino a lot more.  Why is this?  Because while Cesternino was endearing and funny, Fairplay was offensive and a jerk.  Disparaging remarks about women asside, Fairplay’s humor was unfunny (when it wasn’t offensive) and he was a cocky bastard, something Cesternino never descended to.  Does this make him a bad character?  No.  It makes him an unpleasent character, to be sure, and it makes me not want to see him back, but he was memorable.

Well, that’s the big two, now for the others who get play these days.  Eventual winner Sandra Diaz-Twine is the big one, though more for her performance during her reappearance on “Survivor Heroes vs. Villains”.  Sandra is well known for her “I’ll vote for anyone as long as I don’t go this time” strategy which earned her a deserved million bucks, and she could spout a nice quip with the rest of them.  Also, after Rupert’s eventual vote-off, she threw away the fish he’d caught, giving her a sort of “Robin Hood” image.  She also was somewhat strategic, and had a propensity towards sneaking around in the bushes to spy on people.  Somewhat less well-liked, but still remembered is runner up Lillian Morris, the Boy Scout troopmaster.  She’s most famous because of a twist she was involved in, so we won’t say much about her now, suffice that she came off as whiny, emotional, and hypocritical, and so gets a fair ammount of hate.  I’m happy to say that Darrah Johnson is also getting some play these days.  While she wasn’t the most strategic or interesting character ever produced, she was good-looking, and turned out to be a challenge dominator of the season, and odd feat for such a small girl.  Andrew Savage is also called an “underappreciated” castaway, as he had fair strategic game, brought the Morgan tribe back from the brink of destruction, and was a generally likeable guy.  Personally, I don’t think it’s deserved.  Although I don’t DISLIKE Savage, I just don’t see him as anything special.  Still, Probst likes him, so points there.  Also of note is Osten Taylor, who is remembered purely because he was probably the most physically fit contestant of any season, yet sucked in challenges and in the game.  I’ll  into more detail about Osten in the “Twist” section, as he was involved in one of the major twists of the season, but suufice to say he’s remembered for sucking hard.

That about covers it for the major players.  Most everyone else doesn’t get much talk today, but even then, nearly everyone offered something that made the season interesting, and so are at least peripherally remembered, and would probably be better remembered but for the large number of characters on this season.  Burton Roberts, although generic, played a solid game, and was another key player in a twist I’ll be discussing later.  Also, I’ll say at this point that I like Ryan “Skinny Ryan” shoulders.  He was endearing, and I think he could have done a lot better had he not landed on the “He-Man” tribe.

So overall, great cast.  Lots of well-remembered people, and even those that aren’t at least contributed a little something.  I think what best sums up how good this cast was, is that fact that one contestant (Sandra) hold the rcord for longest gap between seasons, having 13 seasons between this and her appearance on “Survivor Heroes vs. Villains”.  If a cast can wait that ammount of time and still be memorable, they’re doing something right.  I can’t give a 10, as there are 1 or 2 people in this cast that are forgettable, but I’d really like to.

Score: 9 out of 10

CHALLENGES

What can I say, these challenges ROCK!  While I do enjoy puzzles on “Survivor”, after two straight seasons, they were starting to get a bit tired.  Thankfully, Pearl Islands provided something of a break, and pulled out all the stops physically.  I’ll go over it more in the “Overall” section, but each challenge was epic and fit perfectly with the theme of the season.  I mean it, boat battles, cannon pulls, human chess, even blow darts were involved in this season.  Yes, just about every challenge was physical, epic, and on mark.  Unfortunately, one challenge snuck through that wasn’t, this being the “Word Scramble” immunity challenge.  It’s notable for a twist, and given how late in the game it was played, I suppose it’s challenging, but for such a physical season, it just didn’t fit.  Still, anyone who’s read my blog of “Survivor South Pacific” knows I named a challenge from this season my favorite challenge of all time, so it’s got to be good for something.

Score: 9 out of 10

TWISTS

I have steeled myself for writiers cramp, as this is going to be a very long section.  For the first time since “Survivor Africa”, we have the creation of a twist that would later be reused a lot on the show, namely throwing the contestants into the game with nothing but the clothes on their backs.  Previously, contestants had gotten to choose their clothes, and been given some supplies, however meagre.  However, this was the first time the start of the game was sprung on people, leading to some funny clothing problems.  Nicole Delma, notably, had no bra on.  Many seasons later would copy the “surprise start” twist, and with good reason.  It creates some funny moments, and fits in well with the idea that these people are actually shipwrecked, and not just on a tv show.  Frankly, I’m surprised it took them this long to do it.  In conjunction with this twist, the tribes were given $100 in Panamanian Balboas, and told to barter in the local fishing village for supplies.  It could be argued that this destroys the “castaway” illusion, but I still like this twist.  It’s unique, funny, and gives each castaway a chance to shine.  Notably, Sandra got some screentime for being able to speak Spanish, leadiung to the only time Fairplay complemented anybody besides himself.  The twists kept right on coming in the second episode.  At the reward challenge, the tribes found out that there was a buried treasure on their islands (as a side note, this was also the first time tribes received separate islands), and that parts of a treasure map were also up for grabs at each reward challenge.  More importantly, the winner of each reward challenge would get to steal one item from the other tribe.  This twist had a lot of petential and lived up to it, keeping things interesting, and leading to some good politicking moments.  This also created kind of a legacy, as looting a tribe would later be used as a singular reward, but lootin every episode was never brought back, and that’s a shame.  An oft forgotten twist came in episode 4 when, for winning an immunity challenge, Morgan got to kidnap a member of Drake.  They chose Rupert, and it helped turn the Morgan tribe around (before, they had been on a downward spiral of challenge losses) and created some drama.  The twist would be fully realized in “Survivor China”, but here it works as well.  So, so far all the twists I’ve mentioned have been good ones, well thought out, well executed, and well received.  Now for the big one, the one that EVERYBODY hates: the outcast twist.  After 6 people had been voted out, both tribes anticipated a merge.  However, on the merge date, instead of a merge the tribes found out that the people they’d voted out had never actually left, and faced a challenge to get back into the game.  Should the “Outcast” tribe win, each tribe they beat would vote someone out, and the Outcasts would get to vote someone back into the game for each person voted out.  Naturally, the Outcasts won, replacing Shawn and Osten with Burton and Lill.  This is what Lill’s remembered for: coming back into the game when she didn’t serve to.  She was whiny, emotional, and didn’t know how to play the game.  It was later admitted that several people voted Lill back in because they knew they weren’t going back in, and didn’t want Lill ruining their vacations.  Frankly, Lill was judged because of the surprise start to the game.  She was wearing a Boy Scout uniform, and was therefore given no liscence to lie, something I didn’t understand.  Yeah, she’s a Boy Scout Troopmaster, but you people wore suits into the game, does that make you snooty and uptight?  The twist surprised you all, don’t judge Lill by what she got surprised with!  She’s still a weak character, but she gets a lot of undue hate.  Getting back to the twist, people hated this twist, and with good reason.  The Outcasts had an advantage, having persumably eaten better, and had a determination.  Moreover, it went against the decree of “Once the decision is made, the decision is final.”  Also, it got some undeserving people back in, and got rid of a couple deserving people.  Was it a mistake? Absolutely.  Did it need to happen?  Absolutely.  This sort of obvious twist was bound to happen sometime, so I understand why it was done.  Still stank though, especially since the outcasts got automatic immunity, and therefore were guaranteed to make the jury.  The next twist is another big one, and now it’s time for my discussion of Osten.  As I said, he was a bodybuilder, probably the most physically fit castaway of the time, yet was afraid of the outdoors, constantly underperformed, and was a wimp in nearly all aspects.  His twist, such as it was, was to be the first castaway to quit the game, setting off a legacy of quitters.  It made him memorable, but it also made him hated.  Since I didn’t like Osten to begin with, I didn’t mind, and it was cool to finaly see someone quit.  The next twist took a little while, but it was a big one.  Rupert and his alliance of Sandra and Christa Hastie had been controlling the game, but Burton and Fairplay flipped things, and voted off Rupert, setting off a chain of flips throughout the game, as well as what Fairplay’s remembered for, besides the “Dead Grandma” lie.  Much though I like Rupert, it did shake thin up, and made the game unpredictable, and much more interesting to watch.  It would have been horrible to watch, had Burton and Fairplay not gotten their comuppance, with Burton going at the final 5, and Fairplay at the final 3.  I think this is part of what makes Fairplay memorable as a villain.  The problem with villains is that you love to hate them, so you want them to stick around for a while, but you don’t want to see them win.  Take, for instance, the case of Richard Hatch vs. Jerri Manthey (“Survivor The Australian Outback”).  Both were villains that everybody loved to hate, and both were considered to be problematic.  Hatch won, increasing dislike of him, but Jerri was voted out too early, decreasing interest in her.  Fairplay is sort of a perfect combination: he lasted a while, but we got to see him get his just deserts later on.  Another twist of note is the first (and so far only) instance of Probst stripping someone of immunity due to a technicality.  In the afforementioned word scramble challenge, Burton was declared the winner, only to have him lose it in a double check (it turned out he’d misspelled a word).  A lot of people hate this, again as it goes against “Once the decision is made, the decision is final”, but I like it. It was something novel to see.  The only other minor twist is that the jury got to play for immunity at the final 4, which I liked, though I will say, as the jury made decisions by committee, it seemed a bit unfair.

All I have left to say is that I would have given this section a 10 but for the horrible outcast twist.

Score: 8 out of 10

OVERALL

The theme of Pearl Islands was piracy, and it worked great.  Challenges were unique and easily identifiable, and it influenced how people played the game.  Rupert’s shoe stealing might not have happened if not for this twist.  It turned a generic island location into a heaven of fun possibilities, and I give it credit for doing so.  More than that, however, I think what works for the season, aside from the fact that it really has no weak suits, is that it gave us a lot of unpredictability, a lot of gameplay and moves and elements we hadn’t seen before.  This made it distinguishable, unique, and helps bring the season together into greatness.

Score: 36 out of 40

ABSTRACT

I’m going to recommend watching this season, as it’s great, entertaining, memorable, and one of the most talked about seasons of “Survivor”.  However, for all that it’s great, I’m NOT going to reccommend you watch it unless you’ve seen some other seasons first.  The thing is, in Pearl Islands, a lot of strange things happen that one doesn’t normally see on “Survivor”, and as such, it could give the wrong idea about the game.  Watch this season, but watch some other seasons first, please.