Idol Speculation: “Survivor Kaoh Rong” Episode 10: The “Survivor” Holiday Special

Ok, I’m not one to promote “Survivor” conspiracy theories. I won’t go so far as to say that the show is as purely “real” as we’ve been led to believe, but I don’t buy anything about the locations being faked, or the outcome being fixed beyond producer “suggestions”. But I’m putting my foot down here. They knew. THEY KNEW! They had it all figured out, realized this set of challenges would be in a episode that aired April 20th, and made SURE that every challenge involved pots. Well played, “Survivor”.

No, this will not be a blog done in the style of me being “high”. I’ve never been high, nor do I particularly care for this “holiday”. I just can’t resist low-hanging fruit like this. What I DO care about is “Survivor”, so let’s get started!

So we get back to camp, and Joe is rightfully pissed off at being left out, as well as his closest ally Debbie going home, and is therefore thinking about… No, wait, sorry, I was channeling the universe where Joe actually wanted to CONTRIBUTE to the game! No, instead we get Jason, Scot, and Tai gloating over their victory at the previous Tribal Council, which, since they do it by themselves, I really can’t begrudge them that much. What I DO begrudge them, however, is the idea that their “psychological warfare” was their salvation. Guys, the best it did was piss off Debbie, who’s now gone. It was your IDOLS, and the fear thereof, that saved you.

Speaking of idols, Tai takes this time to return Jason’s idol to him, which I’m a bit disappointed about. Not to say that Tai SHOULDN’T have returned that idol to Jason, but in this case, having two idols is very much better than having just one, and unless he asks for it back, you could pull the “There was no need, since it’s the super idol.” gambit.

Oh, and their one disappointment? That it was Debbie, and not Cydney, who went home. Truly, Cydney’s flop on them was a great move! Geez, it really seems to go back and forth whether or not this was a good move for her, doesn’t it? The first week, she was giving up a safe spot. Last week, it seemed like she’d gotten herself in a swing vote position. Now, while she’s still in power, we can see that she’s irredeemably pissed off Scot and Jason, thereby meaning that’s at least two jury votes she’s lost, with the possibility of those two influencing others on the jury. I get that to win “Survivor”, you need to build your resume, but that doesn’t mean that the practice of voting AGAINST the person you don’t like has gone away. It’s still something to consider, and right now, it looks like it may come back for Cydney.

Dawn at Dara, and Tai’s conscience once again rears up. He asks Scot if, now they’ve made it through one Tribal Council they shouldn’t have, if they can ease up on the sabotage. in a surprisingly mature move, Scot agrees, admitting that he doesn’t want to play like Russell Hantz (“Survivor Samoa”). This earns him one iota of respect from me. Scot won’t stop for free, though. Needing a fifth person on his side, he elects to talk to Aubry about wanting her to come with him, couching his tactics as a result of his frustration at providing for the tribe being worth nothing. A very diplomatic play. Aubry returns the diplomacy by being polite back to Scot, but remaining fairly noncommittal. Fortunately, Aubry is a smart cookie, and sees through what’s said on the surface to realize that Scot is effectively engaging in blackmail. Unsurprisingly, this makes Aubry want him and/or Jason gone, but in the short term, all seems well at camp. Certainly there’s no sabotage, so I’d call that a net gain. Some would argue that it would actually be in Aubry’s best interest to KEEP the sabotage going, providing a disincentive to people to join up with them, but I’d argue that, first of all, that damage is already done, and secondly, when the game is more predictable, it’s easier to influence. Eliminating a chaotic element that you yourself are not generating is good in this regard.

On to the reward challenge, which is not interesting in and of itself. It’s the “Balance the Pot on a Log with your Leg” challenge, first seen as a redemption duel on “Survivor Redemption Island”. A decent endurance challenge, but never one of the most exciting. Oh, but THIS time it’s different! Now you have TWO pots stacked instead of ONE! Oh, the humanity! In all seriousness, I’ll admit that this probably does increase the difficulty of the challenge somewhat, but it still doesn’t change the fact that the challenge itself is kind of underwhelming.

Fortunately, what the challenge itself lacks in interest, it gets made up for in the twist with the challenge. Yes, we’ve seen choices of reward on the tribal level before, but, for the first time, we’re getting a reward choice (outside of an auction) in an INDIVIDUAL challenge! What’s more, it’s not a case of “Winner gets their pick.” Oh no, it’s not NEARLY that simple. Before the challenge, every individual picks what they’re playing for (food, letters from home, or an advantage in the game). Then, they compete ONLY to beat the other people who selected the same reward as they did. If I wasn’t being abundantly clear, I LOVE this twist to death. It elevates the game, reveals some Tribal Dynamics, and feels very fitting for “Survivor”. Above all, though, it’s a complex and many-layered twist. Probst himself, in a really good moment tonight, puts it the most clearly, pointing out that in choosing what reward to pick, you have to balance what you need versus what you think other people will want versus who you think you can beat. It’s not an easy decision for anybody, and that’s what’s great.

Well, I say it’s not an easy decision for anybody, but that’s not true. It’s an easy decision for Scot and Jason. Contrary to what they keep insisting on, Scot and Jason are still in trouble, and need to compete for the advantage, so naturally… No, wait, that’s what they’d do if they were SMART! No, instead they opt to compete for the food against Michele. It’s a battle between Julia and Joe for the letter from home, leaving Aubry, Cydney, and Tai to compete for the advantage. Clearly, this shows us who has their head in the game.

Unsurprisingly, since she’s up against Joe, Julia wins her letters from home. The other two are a bit more of a contest, though Michele ends up pulling victory fairly quickly from Scot and Jason. I would say I’m surprised, but history has shown us that endurance challenges tend to favor women, so it’s not too big of a deal. The real war, though, is the fight for the advantage, which unsurprisingly takes the longest. Cydney ends up dropping out first, leading to a sweet duel between Aubry and Tai. Evidently realizing the “Seeing how long I can go” tactic worked for Tai two episodes ago, Aubry tries to utilize it herself. Unfortunately, Buddha favors Tai, and so he summons a gust of wind to undo Aubry, leading Tai to win reward, and for Scot to comment on how good it is for his alliance that that happened, and how they’re now unstoppable.

Goodbye, Scot, we knew too much of ye!

After a bit of well-deserved bragging from Michele about beating the two burly guys, we get to see what Tai’s advantage is. Sadly, unlike the twist at the reward challenge, it’s not innovative and new, but instead the “extra vote” twist won by Dan Foley on “Survivor Worlds Apart”. I feel pretty much the same about it now as I did then: not a terrible idea, but too easy to overcome, so not as exciting. Still, perhaps it’ll actually make a DIFFERENCE this time around.

Oh, and we also get Julia gushing over her letters from home. It’s nice in and of itself, but then she has to use to talk about how badass and tough she is, which, given what we’ve seen, is really not the truth here. Perhaps I’m being harsh here. After all, it’s important to remember that on “Survivor”, everyone is the protagonist of their own story. In Julia’s mind, she really HAS been a major driving force this season. We, as the audience, see something different. As it stands, though, to us it comes across as a little bit flat and forced. The bits that are purely emotional are sweet, though.

Not to say, of course, that Julia doesn’t TRY and earn that badass title she thinks she has. Walking with Michele and Aubry, she admits that she’s worried about idols, and wants them gone. As a result, she comes up with a plan pile all the votes on Tai, figuring that either he’ll go out with an idol in his pocket, or he’ll play it, Cydney will go, and they’ll still be in power. Actually a pretty good plan. It flushes the idol, keeps Julia’s potential flip allies in check, and it has plusses for Michele and Aubry, making them more likely to go along with it. Why would Michele and Aubry be inclined to go for Tai over Jason and Scot? Well, it’s a bit of a stretch, but they don’t know how the super idol works, and they didn’t SEE Tai give Jason back his half, so theoretically he’s the only one they know has an idol, making him an ideal target. Michele buys the whole thing hook, line, and sinker, and even Aubry admits that it’s definitely a good plan on Julia’s part. Aubry isn’t fully on board, though, mostly owing to still being on the Anti-Julia warpath. Watch out Aubry! You’re getting dangerously close to Stephen Fishbach’s “Joe Vote” level of determination from “Survivor Cambodia”!

So, if she’s really Anti-Julia, what’s Aubry to do? Join up with Scot, Jason, and Tai? Of course not! She’d move from a position of much power to a position of no power, and would still have to work with Julia in any case. No, Aubry instead tries to flip the script entirely, by buddying up with Tai. In a smart move, compared to Scot and Jason’s strongarming, Aubry is very low key, philosophizing about the game with Tai, and throwing out the offer that she’s a free agent who’s willing to work with him. What she means is that she wants Tai on her side, but Tai reads it as her volunteering to work with himself, Jason, and Scot. Intrigued, and friendly with Aubry, Tai goes to Jason and Scot, and proposes the idea of Aubry working with them. Scot responds by suggesting they vote Aubry out. What great people skills this pair has!

Actually, like with Julia, this is another area where I can’t actually give these two a hard time. Not to say that the way they phrased things to Tai was a good move, but there was a cut between Tai’s comment and Scot’s response, implying that there might have been other conversation between the two that may have been politer. Unlike, say, Nick’s conversation with Michele in episode 6, which was one clear, solid take of him disrespecting her, this may be a case of manipulative editing. Plus, to be fair, the move makes sense. Targeting Cydney is a pure revenge move, they’ve admitted that. Aubry, however, is emerging more and more as the real brains behind the majority alliance, and, as we’ve seen this episode, a bit of a challenge threat. She’s the smart person to target at this point. Plus, as they’ve noted, they’ve been so vocal about targeting Cydney that the opposition would never see it coming. Good logic, all around! Just maybe don’t be so unilateral about it.

Sure enough, Tai is upset about Scot and Jason not including him in their decisions so much, and debates leaving. While I get that it’s upsetting for Tai, at this point, the smart move is for him to stick with Scot and Jason. He’s pretty much guaranteed a final 3 spot against two guys who don’t look the best in front of a jury, and there’s the benefit of the super idol. Note, however, that I say his best move is to stay with Scot and Jason FOR NOW. That will change.

It’s time for the immunity challenge. They wanted to do the “Hold bars vertically against a plank.” challenge from “Survivor Gabon”, but realizing it wouldn’t fit with the holiday theme, they turned it 90 degrees and made it so that you were holding disks with pots attached to them instead. Not a bad twist, and more original that most of the challenges we’ve been seeing post-merge. Still, I feel like we can do better.

For all the lack of originality, DAMN if this isn’t a fun challenge. Unlike a lot of other endurance challenges we’ve had this season, we get a lot of good reactions and facial expressions this time around. I think there are two stand-outs, though, even amongst this cast. The first is Tai’s look when his left hand starts slipping. His head just SNAPS to the left, as if he’s saying “What are you doing? Stop that!” like some sort of drill sergeant. It’s pretty hilarious. Also, for whatever reason, this is one endurance challenge that Tai doesn’t do well at. Odd. The other great moment has to be when we get down to our final two combatants. Good versus evil. One alliance versus another. Aubry versus Jason. Jason, uncultured as he is, spits. This would be disgusting, but then Aubry decides to return the favor. Not to say that the “disgusting” factor goes away, but it is hilarious to see petit, likable Aubry copy move for move the behavior of a ruffian like Jason.

Sadly, good does not always win on “Survivor”, and despite seeming strong for most of the challenge, Aubry falls, leaving Jason to have his victory. Hearty congratulations are in order for the both of them, though in Aubry’s case they’re tinged with “Oh, sorry, you’re going home!”

With everything seemingly set in place, Julia comes over to inform the guys of the plan to vote for Tai. She encourages them to use the super idol on Tai, thereby transparently showing how what she really wants is the idol gone, but her two new allies still in the game. Ok, I think people have been a little harsh about how un-subtle Julia is, but this is one time where I will agree with the consensus. It’s so clear what Julia’s trying to do here, it’s not even funny. Scot and Jason agree with her plan, and give her assurances that, since they can’t beat Tai in the end, that as long as she complies with them, she’s final three.

And this, my friends, is the moment where it becomes the right move for Tai to flip. Super-idol aside, the main advantage of Tai sticking with Scot and Jason was a guaranteed final three spot, and therefore a likely win. With that option now off the table, even if it’s unlikely that Aubry and Cydney’s alliance will let him near the end either, the odds are still better with them, especially since he’ll have a lot more decision making power there than with Scot and Jason. Granted, having the possibility of a super-idol still makes them a semi-appealing prospect, but between his own idol and his advantage, Tai can probably make it at least a vote or two past when the other alliance would vote for him.

Aubry and Cydney talk it over, and decide Scot and Jason need to be split up. Naturally, this means switching the vote to Scot, since Jason has immunity. Plus, Scot annoys them. The tricky part is getting the votes. Julia can’t be trusted, and right now Michele’s with her, so they’re out. Joe can probably be persuaded to vote for Scot, but that’s still only three. Ergo, Aubry gets to work on Tai, trying to persuade him to vote for Scot. It’s worth noting the stark difference in how Aubry handles Tai to how Scot and Jason handle Tai. Aubry never actually throws a name out, instead simply telling Tai that he can make a move and he has three other people behind him. This gives Tai at least the feeling of agency (given how the vote ultimately goes for Scot, I’m guessing that the pair later came together and agreed on that target), and comes across well socially to him. Compare this to Scot and Jason basically telling him how to vote. It may not be the smart move from Tai’s perspective, since as far as we know he doesn’t know about Julia being promised final three, but it’s easy to see why it’s an appealing prospect for Tai.

Before we leave for Tribal Council, though, let us take a minute to note that, since he’s immune, Jason gives Scot his hidden immunity idol for safekeeping. Remember this. It will be the icing on the cake later.

Even though the editing dictates that Scot will go home, logic dictates that Aubry’s number is up. That’s a large part of why this episode is awesome, and also a large part of why this Tribal Council is awesome! Seriously, this may very well be the best Tribal Council of the season. Everyone is on point with their comments. From Michele talking about how balsy Jason and Scot’s idol move is, to Julia talking about shifting dynamics, to Aubry’s “deranged llama” comment with regards to the immunity challenge, this one was a blast. Oh but don’t think there weren’t good moments of strategy insight either. Aubry, when asked about what she thinks Jason and Scot are doing, says she’s run up against a wall with them, and can’t know what they’re doing. Scot jumps in here, pointing out that they offered her a chance to be in on the plan, and she was noncommittal. Yet another demonstration of the way Scot and Jason play, since Jason then backs him up. they bully and strong-arm people who dare go against them. And it doesn’t sit well with Tai. You can tell by the look on his face during the whole thing.

Ah, but perhaps the most telling comment of the night comes to us courtesy of Jason. Further elaborating on the “Aubry should have gone with us.” tack, he talks about how the momentum of the game has shifted, and you either need to jump on his train or get left behind. Actually, a pretty good metaphor in this case. Narrative and momentum are both important on “Survivor”, and at this point, individual survival is key. You want to win, but at the very least, you want to make it as far as possible. This means going with the flow. However, that flow might lead to someone else’s victory. In this case, Jason is setting up a narrative of “Go with us or perish.”, a narrative that could very easily get him to the end.

So what do you do? You change the narrative. And that’s exactly what Aubry has done tonight. If she hasn’t cemented her place in with the “Survivor” greats by now, this episode should do it. Rather than try to figure out a way around the Jason, Scot, and Tai threesome like everybody else, Aubry decided to flip the script entirely, take a known from their side, and convert him. It’s brilliant, masterful gameplay, and it makes me love Aubry all the more.

And it works! Yes, I haven’t been too subtle about it, but Scot gets voted for by Tai, and then Tai refuses him the super idol. Actually, props to the editing team on that one; they really upped the tension here of whether or not Tai would use his idol for Scot. Incidentally, I’ve been a fair-weather fan of the super idl, but I’d say this episode made it worth it. The drama from that one moment alone was worth the possibility of a super idol getting played at some point. Scot goes home and I am not sorry at all! While he had a few tender moments, Scot was by and large a bully whom I didn’t like watching, and we’d already seen what we needed from his character. Plus, after his treatment of Tai this episode, his eviction felt deserved.

Just to be abundantly clear, this was an EXCELLENT move on all parts. As I said, Tai has more agency with this new alliance, and as Scot and Jason had kicked him out of the finals anyway, most incentives to stay with them are gone. As for Aubry, Cydney, and Joe, they gain another potential ally, save a founding member from elimination, and regain power over the vote. All around, a gain for them, but especially Aubry. And, to top it all off, the hidden immunity idol is now gone! Scot never played it, and had to take it out of the game with him, eliminating another major threat to their alliance. They can’t have planned it that way, but it’s still a plus! It just occurred to me: that means that Jason winning immunity was arguably the BETTER outcome than Aubry winning immunity. Had Aubry won, I doubt Jason would have given his idol to Scot, and unless the vote would have gone for Jason instead, the idol would still be in the game, making things harder for the alliance. So, excellent loss, Aubry!

In case it wasn’t obvious, this was a FANTASTIC episode! Lots of funny character moments, good misdirection, and excellent strategy from all corners! And what better way to end off a fantastic episode than with another…

TOP 5 AND BOTTOM 5

Yes, I think we’re well past due for another one of these. Tonight’s topic is a bit hard to put into words. The best way I can describe it is as a list of “persuasive arguments”. Rarely is flipping by itself just a case of numbers. There needs to be some passionate reason behind it, like tonight with Aubry convincing Tai to vote out Scot. They’re a staple of “Survivor”, and we’re going to be counting down the best and the worst of them. There are two limitations here. One, to make the “Top 5” the argument has to have actually worked, and actually flipped somebody. Anything goes on “Bottom 5”, but something can only really bet “Top 5” material if it works. Two, only one argument per season. With all that said, let’s get started with…

TOP 5

5. Aubry’s Social Prowess (“Survivor Kaoh Rong”): Yes, let’s get the obvious choice for the list out of the way early. As I said earlier, Aubry’s persuasion of Tai was masterfully done, well deserving of a spot on this list. As I also said, though, it deprives us of any really stand-out quote or moment where she really got to Tai. In terms of gameplay, the perfect move, since what Tai seemed to want was autonomy in the alliance. In terms of viewership, however, the lack of one stand-out moment in this persuasion makes it pale in comparison to the other ones on this list. Still, well executed, and hardly a bad move at all.

4. Yul’s Super-Idol (“Survivor Cook Islands”): Ah, the moment that made “Survivor Cook Islands” what it was. If you remember anything from “Survivor Cook Islands”, except for the racial divide and the mutiny, it’s this moment here. The Aitu 4 were down in numbers come the merge, and things looked pretty bad. Fortunately, Yul Kwon was there to save him with his super-idol, as this was back int he day when ALL hidden immunity idols were super idols. Revealing it to Jonathan Penner, Yul effectively threatened Penner with eviction if he didn’t flip back over to join Aitu. Granted, that move was kind of a gimme which didn’t take much effort on Yul’s part, hence why it’s not higher on the list. What it lacks in effort, though, it makes up for in style. This is where Yul’s reputation as a “Survivor” “Godfather” got cemented, and the fact that it remains in the minds of the fans to this day makes it worthy of this list.

3. “If you could get rid of anyone, who would it be?” (“Survivor Cagayan”): Trish Hegarty is not really remembered amongst the players of “Survivor Cagayan”, and not unfairly so. Not to say that Trish was bad, just that she wasn’t as much of a character, and wasn’t really a strategic driving force overall, hence the focus on other characters. Still, she is not to be ignored entirely, and this one vote is her shining moment. With the new Solana alliance having lost Sarah to the new Appari alliance, it looked pretty bad for them as a whole. Then, however, Trish noticed that Sarah and Kass were not getting along very well. This led to her striking up a conversation with Kass in which she got Kass to admit that she’d like to see Sarah go. From there, Trish made a real 11th-hour play to switch the vote to Sarah, a move that ultimately saved her alliance and changed the course of the game, arguably even making Kass act against her own self-interest. It combines the prowess of Aubry’s move the memorableness of Yul’s move. Excellent work, Trish.

2. “Ace wants the idol.” (“Survivor Gabon”): No, I am NOT getting over my love for “Survivor Gabon”! My “Gaboner”, if you will. Granted, I will concede that the season starts out slow, and the first five or six episodes are nothing to write home about. But that back half, though! It’s got some amazing confessionals and strategy, and it all starts here, with Ken Hoang turning Sugar against her closest ally. With his allies turing on him, and Fang continually losing, Ken was in a bit of a spot here, quickly losing power on his tribe. What’s the solution? Why, turn the closest ally of your enemy, of course! Knowing that Sugar had the idol, Ken planted the thought in her head that Ace would ask her for the idol, since he was plotting against her. This was a bold-faced lie, but it was well-executed, and made all the more believable when Ace actually DID ask Sugar for the idol. Frankly, this move is reminiscent of Gollum’s actions in the movie version of “The Return of the King”, and that’s what makes in hilarious. That, and the mastery of this little guy turning the closest ally of his biggest enemy. Bravo, good sir!

1. “What’s your story?” (“Survivor Philippines”): I commented on it then, so it feels only right that I comment on it now. We once again get Jonathan Penner on the list, though this time in his third outing on the show. Penner, as seems to be the case with him, was down in numbers at the merge, and desperately trying to flip someone to his side. Since they both worked in show business, he opted to target Lisa Welchel. Not a bad idea in general, but it’s Penner’s brand of argument that seals the deal here. Rather than come at her from a numbers or a personality perspective, Penner takes the unique perspective of asking her how she wants the narrative of the game to unfold. Ok, maybe it’s a stretch to say that this mode of talking is UNIQUE to him, but at the time, it was the first of that type of argument that we’d seen, and it was fascinating to watch. A new take on strategy that is memorable and plays with the notions of the game? How could that not be number one?

Honorable Mention: “Jon is just, like, a girll!” (“Survivor Pearl Islands”): By my own rules, I can’t put this one on the list, since it didn’t work out as a flip. However, Sandra’s line here to Darrah about the physical prowess of Jonny Fairplay was too hilarious to not give a mention to. A very unique argument, to say the least!

BOTTOM 5

5. “The guys are sexist.” (“Survivor San Juan del Sur”): A bit of a cheat here, since morally speaking this is a perfectly legitimate reason to flip on one’s alliance. However, this list is largely about strategy, and guys being dicks to you is not enough to merit a flip back, Jaclyn. Granted, it could be argued that this was still a good move regardless, but the reasons behind it seem so lackluster on this season, that I can’t help but think badly of it. But oh, compared to what we’re GOING to be seeing on this list, it’s positively Vulcan!

4. Coach Taunts Sierra (“Survivor Tocantins”): If you want a textbook example of how NOT to persuade people to join your side, look no further than how Benjamin “Coach” Wade handles Sierra. After it was made clear that the old Jalapao were sticking together, Coach began to have second thoughts about going with them to the end. Naturally, this meant getting Sierra, someone he’d pretty much openly despised, on board with him. Sierra, a little bitter, asked that Coach admit how he’d treated her. Coach, rather than smartly aquiess to her demand, instead insisted that he’d done no such thing, and taunted her for it. To no one’s surprise, the old Timbira did not stick together for this vote. Yep, nothing more to say here except that this one was pretty bad.

3. “You take care of her, I’ll take care of you.” (“Survivor All-Stars”): Frankly, I’m still baffled this one worked. Sheer stupidity on the part of Lex Van Den Berghe earns this one a spot on this list. Lex had been working so damn hard to get his alliance at least half the tribe come the merge, and now he had a member of the enemy right in his hand. And he didn’t take the shot! Boston Rob’s supposed “favor” never came to pass, and Lex was rewarded as stupidity deserves. It was memorable, but only because of its ludicrousness.

2. Tyson Votes Himself Out (“Survivor Heroes vs. Villains”): Speaking of stupid moves, lets see a guy flip for literally NO REASON! Russell Hantz got into the head of Tyson Apostol that he could curry favor and power by changing his vote to Parvati, thereby undoing the split vote Boston Rob had planned out. Some creative idol play, and Tyson has effectively voted himself out! The manner in which Russell did it is unmemorable, hence why it doesn’t quite land on the top of this list, but stupidity of this caliber deserves at least some acknowledgement.

1. “12 Worry-Free Days” (“Survivor Exile Island”): I don’t really blame Terry Deitz for this one. Guy was trying to make the best of a bad situation, and didn’t have a whole lot of cards to play. But even considering that, this attempt at getting some of the old Casaya to flip was just a pathetic attempt. I can’t put it any better than Cirie did, so I’’ll just let her speak: “What does he have to offer me?”

Honorable Mention: “Please take this risk.” (“Survivor Vanuatu”): Probably one of the most memorable flips of “Survivor”, but also one of the least exciting in terms of argument. After being given the idea to flip Eliza by Twila and Scout, Chris went to go recruit her. No small feat, since Eliza didn’t like either Twila or Scout, and certainly the move is impressive in terms of results. But I don’t know, there’s just something lame about your signature line being “Please, take this risk.” Just doesn’t stand out as much as some others. What it does speak to is Chris’ social prowess, and for that alone, I can’t put this one on the list proper.

Well, there you have it. Great episode, great list, great blog (I hope)! This season has been excellent so far, and it shows no signs of slowing.

-Matt

Title Credit to Jean Storrs.

“Survivor” Retrospectives: Tocantins

Tocantins continues the fine “’Survivor’ Retrospectives” tradition of covering two seasons back-to-back with opposite stories. Not like “Survivor Vanuatu” and “Survivor Palau” though, and certainly not to the extreme of those two seasons. Quite the contrary, I actually have very little negative to say about either Tocantins or “Survivor Gabon”. No, the opposite stories come from my own take on the seasons over the years. As I mentioned last week, “Survivor Gabon” was one of my favorites at the time of airing, but has lost some of its appeal as time has passed. Conversely, while I never hated Tocantins by any stretch of the imagination, I always sort of lumped it into the “pretty ok” category along with “Survivor China”. However, five years on, I find that I may have underappreciated Tocantins in its heyday, and perhaps the good elements it had hold more water than I gave credit for, and the bad elements don’t matter as much as they did in the moment. Admittedly, this intro is fairly detailed, and probably means you already know my opinion, but for those interested, let’s take a deeper look into what makes this season good, and why I thought it average at the time of its airing.
Beforehand, though, I should once again like to remind my readers that this review will contain spoilers for the Tocantins season of “Survivor”. Those who don’t feel that my intro is enough, but also don’t want to be spoiled on the season, can scroll to the bottom of the page, where I’ve added an “Abstract” section. This will give my general thoughts on the strengths of the season without spoilers for the events therein, and is a good overview on how watchable the season is. Now then, with that bit of business out of the way, lets get to the in-depth analysis.

CAST
As I’ve said about many a season before, the cast of Tocantins is a polarizing one. However, I usually mean that in the sense that people either love it or hate it. In this case, however, I mean that the cast itself contained a lot of people who were and are much beloved, and a lot of people who were and are much disliked. For your guide to who’s who, let’s start off with by far the most famous player to come out of the season, James “J.T.” Thomas Jr. The ultimate winner of the show, J.T. was beloved both for his good-old southern boy charm (as he himself said, “It’s something in the accent.”), and for his actually exceptional gameplay. J.T. holds the distinction to ever play a “perfect” game of “Survivor”, which is usually defined as receiving no votes against you before the Final Tribal Council, and sweeping all of the votes at the Final Tribal Council. This is definitely an impressive feat, and while a lot of the people at the time decried J.T. for seeming to have little mental game, leaving it to his alliance-mates, the fact is that, while not necessarily his STRONGEST asset, J.T. did play a great mental game, and an exceptional social game. To have won over the entire jury, and make no mistake, his opponent was no goat, J.T. HAD to have been planning this, and this planning shows in certain moves of his, such as going against his alliance and refusing to vote off Benjamin “Coach” Wade. Don’t tell me that didn’t influence Coach’s decision to vote for J.T. in the end. To be fair, J.T. has lost some fan adoration for a particular action of his on “Survivor Heroes vs. Villains”, but even to this day, he has a pretty decent fan following, his name is still occasionally brought up in “Great ‘Survivor’ Players” conversations, and people still seem to like him. While J.T. wasn’t my absolute favorite on the season (we’ll get to him shortly), I certainly liked him a lot then, and I still like him quite a lot now. His gameplay was good, he got off a lot of nice one-liners, and there was some sort of charm to him that infected even me. I’m glad he was on this season, and I’d be happy to see him again!
Still, whatever J.T. said to the contrary, he could not have gotten to the end on his own. That’s where his main alliance-mate, Stephen Fishbach, comes into play. In a sort of buddy comedy move, Stephen and J.T. became the closest alliance in Tocantins, despite their seeming to have little in common. As mentioned, J.T. portrayed himself as the good-old Southerner, very athletic and socially confident. Stephen, in contrast, was almost your stereotypical East-Coaster. A longtime resident of New York City, Stephen was lanky, awkward, and by his own admission, not very good in challenge. Stephen was a hard worker, to be sure, but he just didn’t quite have the same natural ability as J.T. when it came to survival. To make sure the irony was incredibly thick, Stephen was quoted in the first episode of saying words to the effect that the Southerner (nobody knew each other’s names yet) and himself would probably have little in common, and that he was accordingly afraid. Not to say that Stephen was entirely defined by his relationship to J.T., of course, just that it played the biggest role in the season. On his own, Stephen was still a great character. A little lanky and awkward, but very determined and quite the good schemer. Put it this way: he managed to obtain an idol despite not having been to Exile Island, but instead by making a close relationship with the person who HAD been to Exile Island. That takes some doing. On top of this, Stephen made a good “Fish out of Water” (pun totally intended) story, due to his being very brainy but lacking in outdoor skills. This gave him almost an underdog quality, and it was a joy to watch his machinations keep him in the game longer and longer. And to guild the lily, Stephen could be counted upon for both insightful and funny confessionals. In case it wasn’t clear, Stephen is my favorite castaway from Tocantins. I identified a lot with his brainy aspects, and he made a lot of the same moves I made. While in some ways he was overshadowed by J.T., Stephen still made a great impact on the fandom, and when talking about the smartest “Survivor”-players ever, he’s usually way up there. It helps that he has a regular role on “Rob Has A Podcast”, reality tv podcasts done by Rob Cesternino of “Survivor The Amazon”, which keep him in the public consciousness somewhat. Personally, I’m very disappointed that Stephen has not been brought back for a season yet, and hope that, in future, Stephen will get the second chance he so richly deserves As a final note, I’ll say that at the time of the airing of Tocantins, Stephen was the second closest I’d ever come to rooting for the winner, and even as of the time of this writing, he’s still the third closest. Given how the people I like USUALLY fare, that’s pretty impressive.
Tamara “Taj” Johnson-George makes up the third member of the three-person alliance J.T. and Stephen were the key members of. While regrettably not as well-remembered as J.T. and Stephen are today, Taj was much talked about at the time, and I would argue is criminally underrated. Like Stephen, Taj was not very comfortable in the outdoors, and perhaps even beat out Stephen in this regard. Larger than the average contestant, and not in a good way, Taj was also used to a fairly nice lifestyle, having been a famous singer with the “Sisters with Voices” group, and married to pro-football player Eddie George. Needless to say, most people had her pegged as an early boot, but Taj became a pleasant surprise to most with very impressive strategic chops. Sent to Exile Island very early on, Taj managed to make a cross tribal alliance with Timbira member Brendan Synnott (who, while a perfectly fine person, did not leave much impact, and as such will not be talked about much in this blog), and even wormed her way into the good graces of her tribe, mostly through her never-give-up attitude and her warm, bubbly personality. Although down in numbers come the merge, Taj, along with J.T. and Stephen, managed to make a majority out of a minority. While J.T. and Stephen tend to get the credit for turning around the fortunes of the Jalapao tribe come the merge, Taj played her part as well, and by the end was respected as a nice person and a good strategist. Her popularity has died out, mostly due to being overshadowed by J.T. and Stephen, which is unfortunate. Similar to Lisa Whelchel of “Survivor Philippines” Taj was an out-of-place woman expected to be gone early, but had surprising strategic chops, and lasted quite a long time. While she could be a bit over-the-top for my tastes at times, I still enjoyed her story a lot, and wouldn’t mind seeing her come back either.
But, having gone over the good of the “Survivor Tocantins” cast, we must now discuss the bad of the “Survivor Tocantins” cast. Far and away, the big name in all this was the aforementioned “Coach”. The self-proclaimed “Dragonslayer” and leader of the Timbira tribe, Coach was the one promoted the most for this season. He was crazy. He had outlandish stories. He wanted to restore “honor” to the game. It was this last part that really turned me off to Coach. No one, and I mean no one, plays the game “honorably”. Some may play it COMPARATIVELY honorably, but Coach doesn’t even fall into THAT category. He lied and betrayed almost as much as everyone else on the show, professed to wanting to keep the strong, but then voted out Brendan, just became all-around very hypocritical, and hypocrisy really bugs me on this show. What was worse, he seemed to have no self-knowledge, and didn’t realize just how these stories and grandiose statements were making him sound. The reaction of his fellow cast members pretty much mirrors what other people thought of him. Some, like Tyson Apostol, found him highly entertaining and a good guy, while others life Erinn Lobdell and Taj couldn’t stand him and his bragging. Erinn herself put it best, simply by saying “Who IS this jackass?” The audience pretty much fell into the same two camps, and it’s pretty obvious that I put in more with the Erinn and Taj camp. Admittedly, I may be being a bit hard on Coach, as he did get much less annoying in his later appearances, but at the time, particularly because he was the most hyped contestant of the season, I was ready to see him gone.
Following the patter seen with J.T., Stephen, and Taj, where all the well-liked people aligned, all the people I like less seemed to align. In this case, Coach’s ally Tyson was also a character I didn’t particularly care for. Unlike Coach, however, I seem to be alone on this, as audiences loved Tyson. He was fairly good looking, and had a very snarky sense of humor. Honestly, I think it was the humor that made me not very fond of Tyson. His brand of snark often involved making very derogatory comments towards his fellow contestants. Now that’s all well and good, it can be funny, except that with Tyson, I got the feeling he really meant them, hyperbole and all. On top of that, I never really saw him make fun of himself, which to me is the mark of a good comedian, and would have served as a nice balance to his snark towards others. As it stood at the time, I saw him as a very mean-spirited narcissist, with not a lot of strategic game. People talk up Tyson’s strategic mind, but taking this season on it’s own, Tyson really didn’t do anything. He was out fairly quickly at the merge, most of the blindsides on his tribe were orchestrated by Coach, and while he did win a few immunities, which is always a nice touch, I just don’t get what made Tyson so special. What I did see, I didn’t like, so I, for one, am not a fan of Tyson.
That really sums up the cast of Tocantins who made a lasting impact, but there are a few who were popular at the time who bear mentioning. One, Sierra Reed, was often the target of Tyson’s humor, and was considered one of the more “outdoors-challenged” people to make it far. A lot followed Tyson’s lead with the snark, but some had sympathy for her. I tended to be neutral on Sierra. I liked her ok, but she wasn’t one of my favorites, and I wasn’t sorry she left. She was fairly nice, though. Overcoming similar odds was Sandy Burgin, a tough older lady whom many thought left too soon. I was one of those people. Sandy was a lot of fun, and as we don’t get enough tough older ladies on the show, I enjoyed her tenure. Also fun to watch was Sydney Wheeler, who is often called one of the better looking women to have appeared on the show. While I do agree, and she was one of my first “Survivor” crushes (though only lightly, as our ages were still a bit far apart to be feasible), I’m not one of those people who watches “Survivor” to look at young women in swimsuits. Thankfully, Sydney had more going for her than that. One of the more socially apt women, she tried to play a Parvati Shallow-esque (“Survivor Cook Islands”) game, and flirt her way to the top. While it didn’t work, it was fun to watch, and I enjoyed Sydney.
All that said, however, Tocantins must be acknowledged to having a lot of flops, and a lot of flops who made it deep on top of that. Most egregious is the aforementioned Erinn, who made final three despite being fairly boring, the occasional one-liner notwithstanding. Debra “Debbie” Beebee, Brendan, Joe Dowdle, and others not mentioned, seemed like perfectly nice people, but just left no impact on the game, and as such people make up a large portion of the cast, and those who were memorable being a fairly even split between good and bad characters, my score might seem high. All I can say is that more will be revealed in the “Overall” section.

Score: 9 out of 10.

CHALLENGES
They’re not often talked about, but a lot of the challenges from Tocantins became staples of the series, and are counted amongst the greats. The rolling of giant crates, and using said crates to build a set of stairs comes from Tocantins, as does the now overused Water-Basketball challenge. It’s rare that a season not only reuses very few challenges, but also sets the standard and creates the ideas that form the basis of later challenges, so Tocantins must be commended for that. While unable to do quite as much as “Survivor Gabon” in terms of scale, Tocantins was still very impressive, and more importantly, managed to keep that scale in later challenges after the merge, something that very few seasons get right. On top of that, Tocantins did a great job balancing its challenges. Nothing felt too repetitive, nothing felt like it had been done before in the same season, every challenge seemed fairly designed. However, for all these good points, Tocantins did have a few “odd duck” challenges that just felt very un-“Survivor”. For example, there was an immunity challenge that involved memorizing math symbols. Alright, memorizing numbers is one thing, but ARITHMATIC signs? That just doesn’t seem to fit to me. On top of this, it was GLARINGLY obvious when the season reused challenges, and while the original ones tended to be pretty good, it’s also worth noting that a lot of them have faded from consciousness over the years. For these reasons, I can’t score the season as high on challenges as I’d like to, but let it be said that when the season nailed the challenges, it REALLY nailed them, and that cannot be taken away from it.

Score: 7 out of 10.

TWISTS
Contrary to a lot of past seasons, Tocantins’ twists were few and far between. What WERE there were good, to be sure, but compared to the past couple seasons, this was very light. This in itself was a twist: a return to old-school “Survivor”. Sure there was Exile Island and the hidden immunity idol, but there were only 16 contestants, two tribes, no shakeup, and a merge at 10. Pretty standard fare, but it was nice to see a return to basics after so long.
Not that you’d know this was a return to basics by the leadup. While there were virtually no producer-implemented twists this season, what few producer-implemented twists there were got frontloaded into the season. Exile Island was back, of course, reusing the twist from “Survivor Micronesia” that sent two people of Exile Island each time pre-merge. A slight change up was that whomever was sent from the losing tribe picked someone from the winning tribe, rather than the winning tribe picking both people. Once again as well, the hidden immunity idol was hidden back at the camp, this time in the back of a statue by tree mail. Not the most original of twists, but another way to prevent Exile Island from getting too repetitive. It helped that there was some strategy changeup due to this twist, as this was how Taj and Brendan were able to form their cross-tribal alliance early in the game, and the intrigue of how to keep it up and who to send to Exile Island made for a lot of interesting episodes.
Probably the one twist that flopped was the mutiny. With two people at Exile Island, each had the option of switching tribes, a similar offer to the ones made in “Survivor Thailand” and “Survivor Cook Islands”, but without the time limit. As with “Survivor Thailand”, no one was dumb enough to take it, nothing came of it, and while it wasn’t bad, it was pretty pointless.
Rounding out the producer-implemented twists was the “first impressions” twist. After another salvage operation opening, each tribe was asked to select one member to not make the hike to camp with them. Presuming they were voting someone out, each tribe selected their weakest member. Jalapao selected Sandy for her age, and Timbira selected Sierra due to her sickness. It was then revealed that these people would instead be flown to camp, and have a chance to redeem themselves. While calling it the “first impressions” twist was a bit corny, it was an effective fake out for the contestants, and fun to watch for everyone else. It helped that Sandy and Sierra, once they reached the camps, had a choice to either search for a special hidden immunity idol that was good at the first tribal council, or try to improve their impression by building a shelter. Sandy looked for the idol, while Sierra built a shelter. Neither method was very effective, but both avoided being first out, which was nice to see. Both overcame their impressions well, though to varying degrees of success, as Sandy didn’t last more than one tribal council beyond the first. Still, good to see that preconceptions could be shattered.
After this we entered a dry spell. The trouble is that threesomes on each tribe (J.T., Stephen, and Taj for Jalapao, Coach, Tyson, and Debbie for Timbira) controlled the vote pretty well, meaning that there were almost no blindsides pre-merge. The exception might be Spencer Duhm, at the time the youngest contestant ever, but even he had some inkling of what was happening.
No, nothing much really happened until we got to the merge, where we once again had a twist overload. First, we got another evacuee in Joe, whose knee became too infected for him to continue in the game. It was a nice reminder that the game was real, and while it’s always disappointing to see someone leave without being voted out, Joe made very little impact on the game, so from a viewer’s perspective, not a huge loss. But THEN! First Brendan is blindsided, due to Coach’s delusions of grandeur, then Stephen, J.T., and Taj manage to pull in Erinn and change the course, blindsiding a no longer immune Tyson in place of Sierra. Then, to appease Coach and Debbie, Sierra is voted out anyway. This upset is the highlight of the season, and deservedly so. It helped cement the underdog story of Jalapao, and created excitement where there was none. Best twist of the season.
Sadly, this led to a dry spell of twists. There was a minor producer-implemented one at the reward auction, when Taj, having bought a visit from her husband, sent herself and her husband to Exile Island, and in return getting everyone else’s loved ones out, which was nice, but similar to twists before it.
The finals were also a bit chaotic, as J.T. and Stephen turned on longtime ally Taj as a jury threat, but even then, the obvious final two of Stephen and J.T. came to be. It DID give us an interesting, if landslide, Tribal Council in which Stephen, despite being fairly well-liked, was lambasted compared to the comparatively loyal J.T., particularly after Stephen honestly admitted that he would not have taken J.T. to the finals, and J.T. put up a great show (of pure B.S.) about how put out he was, and how this ruined the friendship. Finally, J.T.’s perfect run was pretty cool to see, and went to a deserving guy.
While I admit most of the twists were good, they were just too infrequent to really give this section a good score. However, I will give it credit that there was barely a stinker amongst the twists.

Score: 5 out of 10.

OVERALL
Theme-wise, Tocantins didn’t have a lot to work with. True, it was better than “Generic South Pacific Island”, but somehow the culture just didn’t feel that distinctive, particularly after “Survivor The Amazon”, which was filmed in the same country. Still, it made up for this with a dramatic and evocative landscape, so I give it a pass.
Looking back, I think I can see why I had a harder time liking Tocantins at first, along with a lot of others. It was a slow start of a season with overall fewer characters. Compared to, for example, “Survivor Gabon”, not a lot happened in the early episode. Granted, once the merge came and things started happening, it was exceptional, but it just seemed like a case of “too little, too late.” Further, for people like me who were more recent fans, and not accustomed to the “twist lite” attitude of early seasons, this one felt lazy. Now that I have more appreciation for “twist lite” seasons, I can respect Tocantins a lot more for what it did. I should add that it was a very well-executed season, where applicable.
I think the big thing that time gives us, though, is perspective, and that also makes this season go up in my estimation. As I said before, at the time Tyson and particularly Coach were the most heavily-promoted aspects of the season. I didn’t like them, and so thought negatively of the season. Five years hence, however, I find that what I remember most is the relationship between J.T. and Stephen, which I really loved, and so I look on the season more fondly. Stretching a bit further, one could argue that camaraderie was the theme of the season, and due to the cast, it fit very well. While each individual aspect of the season may not have performed as well as others, combined, they made for a great season.

SCORE: 31 out of 40.

ABSTRACT
Fans of the more modern, producer-twist-heavy “Survivor” may have a hard time getting into this one, and will certainly be taken aback by the sparseness of it. If you can get past a slow pre-merge, however, you’ll find an engaging and (mostly) likeable cast that’s a nice throwback to the early days of “Survivor”. Given the chance, I’d say watch this one if you can.