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Bright Future
Oct 9, 2007

[let's] fuck that crazy-ass robot

doomisland posted:

I feel like I need to watch it just for that 12 hour challenge.

Yes you should, Palau is very good.

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Otteration
Jan 4, 2014

I CAN'T SAY PRESIDENT DONALD JOHN TRUMP'S NAME BECAUSE HE'S LIKE THAT GUY FROM HARRY POTTER AND I'M AFRAID I'LL SUMMON HIM. DONALD JOHN TRUMP. YOUR FAVORITE PRESIDENT.
OUR 47TH PRESIDENT AFTER THE ONE WHO SHOWERS WITH HIS DAUGHTER DIES
Grimey Drawer

Spirogyra posted:

I can't wait for Wednesday to see if Tony totally blows his little scheme when he sees that Alexis is gone instead of Jeremiah by saying something like "The plan didn't work!" or making it otherwise obvious he expected Jeremiah to be gone.

From last page, but I'll bet Tony will be so stone cold unmoved cop-faced about it that it'll be obvious.

Bjay9
May 3, 2011

Kid, touch is for video games and gynecologists
Also, even if you hate Vanautu, watch the Vertical Maze Immunity Challenge. It wasn't particularly competitive but it's design was amazing.

Poque
Sep 11, 2003

=^-^=

Bjay9 posted:

Also, even if you hate Vanautu, watch the Vertical Maze Immunity Challenge. It wasn't particularly competitive but it's design was amazing.

I like Vanuatu alright but damned if that's not my favorite challenge in Survivor history.

Bjay9
May 3, 2011

Kid, touch is for video games and gynecologists

Poque posted:

I like Vanuatu alright but damned if that's not my favorite challenge in Survivor history.

King snake is best snake.

Propaganda Machine
Jan 2, 2005

Truthiness!

JesusSinfulHands posted:

Why do you hate saying it? Palau's pretty well-regarded. Can't think of many gripes fans would have about it, aside from Jonathan and Wanda getting screwed.

People think it's boring, and they further don't like Guatemala with Bobby Jon doing nothing and Steph being terrible.

But I love the characters, and I love the WWII flavor. Also, Jenn :(

BGrifter
Mar 16, 2007

Winner of Something Awful PS5 thread's Posting Excellence Award June 2022

Congratulations!
I dislike those two, especially the latter who might be the single most overrated Survivor in the history of the show, but Palau was fantastic. I put it right behind China for having the best setting of any season. It's easily a top ten season.

Propaganda Machine
Jan 2, 2005

Truthiness!

BGrifter posted:

I dislike those two, especially the latter who might be the single most overrated Survivor in the history of the show...

I didn't dislike them. That returnee season was kind of a drag, but most overrated Survivor in history? I actually think ~~~Stephenie~~~ got railroaded by one or two of the actual most overrated Survivors in history in HvV, James and Amanda, who were actually decent on China, but terrible in the outings after that.

STAC Goat
Mar 12, 2008

Watching you sleep.

Butt first, let's
check the feeds.

I think ------Amanda-------- was pretty excellent in China and Micronesia and in general kind of an underrated player besides her obvious glaring flaw in the -----Final Council performances. But from what I remember she was pretty bad in HvV. I honestly don't remember the HvV details very well except that the Heroes were giant idiots.

I don't think I ever thought ----- Stephanie---- was an especially great Survivor but she was an engaging and likable one at least the first time around with her strong performances and underdog story. And at least she held up better than ----Bobby John----.

Bigass Moth
Mar 6, 2004

I joined the #RXT REVOLUTION.
:boom:
he knows...
Every person on this season is mentally challenged except possibly Spencer. Nobody is playing a good game.

STAC Goat
Mar 12, 2008

Watching you sleep.

Butt first, let's
check the feeds.

That's kind of an exaggeration. LJ notably seems to have a head on his shoulders and hasn't made any missteps that I've seen. He found an idol based solely on good guesswork (saw Morgan coming from an area so suspected she might have been looking for the idol there), has managed to keep it secret, and did a solid job cozying up to Trish to survive what should have been a game ending tribe shuffle for him. He also seems to be the first person to notice that Tony is a nutbag liar.

But I also don't think half the cast has done anything notably dumb. Sure, players like Jefra and Woo don't seem to be playing any kind of game right now but that's not necessarily a bad move this early if you're safe. Cliff didn't seem to do anything wrong and was merely voted off because he was seen as a threat and betrayed by his allies. Brice was a lovely social player and smug as hell but he just got beat. Tasha and Kass got more or less pushed into the J'Tia decision by Garrett's gameplay and alliance with Spencer and might not still be in the game if they had done differently. Sarah's just blinded by cop loyalty. Even the first guy out David just made one blunder navigating a twist in the opening minutes.

Jeremiah's dumb. Garrett was an idiot. Tony and Trish are nuts. Morgan seems dumb. J'Tia. I'm not sure anyone else stands out.

I still don't get why Spencer is some standout. I don't think he's a bad or dumb player but I don't see what he's done overly well aside from proving himself more trustworthy than J'Tia. And that's a pretty low bar. I'm not saying Spencer should be mocked for misreading Jeremiah and Alexis or allying with Garrett but the few game things we have seen from him have mostly been failures, haven't they? That doesn't make him a failure since he's still in the game and in a pretty decent position, but he's no better off than Tasha or Kass. And they all owe that break to the Tribal Swap landing them all on the same tribe.

Bright Future
Oct 9, 2007

[let's] fuck that crazy-ass robot

STAC Goat posted:

I still don't get why Spencer is some standout. I don't think he's a bad or dumb player but I don't see what he's done overly well aside from proving himself more trustworthy than J'Tia. And that's a pretty low bar. I'm not saying Spencer should be mocked for misreading Jeremiah and Alexis or allying with Garrett but the few game things we have seen from him have mostly been failures, haven't they? That doesn't make him a failure since he's still in the game and in a pretty decent position, but he's no better off than Tasha or Kass. And they all owe that break to the Tribal Swap landing them all on the same tribe.

I think most people have latched onto Spencer because he is somewhat interesting and doesn't seem that stupid. Additionally the brains tribe are officially the underdog tribe and that always helps.

As a whole the general theory that the cast is as dumb as a box of rocks is probably because all the airtime has been devoted to the many many terrible moves.


It's not like it's a bad thing though, better a dumb and entertaining cast than a smart but boring one.

STAC Goat
Mar 12, 2008

Watching you sleep.

Butt first, let's
check the feeds.

Yeah, I get that. I know why people want to root for Spencer. I just don't think he's done anything to objectively merit praise or a standout position from the pack at this point. But again, that's not a knock. Its still very early in the game and being in a solid position of power at this stage is about as good as you can play to this point unless you're some mastermind. I'd put LJ and arguably half a dozen other people ahead of him in power rankings at this stage (but again, super early in the game).

And yeah, I don't think this cast is especially dumb or crazy but they've largely been driven by their dumbest and craziest members so far.

Lone Goat
Apr 16, 2003

When life gives you lemons, suplex those lemons.




People love Spencer because he has the same haircut as a Pomeranian puppy.

Fast Luck
Feb 2, 1988

STAC Goat posted:

I still don't get why Spencer is some standout. I don't think he's a bad or dumb player but I don't see what he's done overly well aside from proving himself more trustworthy than J'Tia. And that's a pretty low bar. I'm not saying Spencer should be mocked for misreading Jeremiah and Alexis or allying with Garrett but the few game things we have seen from him have mostly been failures, haven't they? That doesn't make him a failure since he's still in the game and in a pretty decent position, but he's no better off than Tasha or Kass. And they all owe that break to the Tribal Swap landing them all on the same tribe.
Well people know Spencer is smart and he's also made it known he's a huge fan of Survivor. He's referenced Rob C's podcast a few times and stuff like that. So while so far his biggest accomplishment is just surviving that Brains tribe disaster (which I think he did well, by the way) people are projecting a lot of high hopes onto him. Personally I think people are giving him too much attention compared to Tasha, also my prediction is he's out next and the first member of the jury.

JesusSinfulHands
Oct 24, 2007
Sartre and Russell are my heroes
Spencer is getting a ton of support on here and reddit because he is easy for them to identify with. young, male, white, nerdy, snarky in the way you get when you spend too much time on the internet.

I like him too but comments like "he's the only interesting/competent character this season" are not accurate and does a disservice to other players this season who have done just as well if not better such as LJ and Tasha.

BGrifter
Mar 16, 2007

Winner of Something Awful PS5 thread's Posting Excellence Award June 2022

Congratulations!
Spencer just seems like a sharp kid who did his homework, that's why I'm a fan. Little stuff like knowing the "throw the idol in the air and go for the opponent" in that one challenge is a clear sign of a diehard fan. Plus for such a young player he's shown a remarkable capacity for restraint. In a lot of ways he's the anti-Tony right now, playing as hard as he can without going too hard and drawing attention to himself. Considering he's been playing from a bad position almost the entire game, that's really impressive.

LJ is still the front runner though and playing the best game of the season so far. A little boring to watch but he's going to be tough to beat.

Going back to the older season discussion, I agree that Amanda is a touch underrated. She's an above average player who came incredibly close to winning twice.

Stephanie on the other hand is a walking train wreck. She seems to have absolutely no grasp of the game whatsoever and has a strategy of "hurrrrrr challenges" which she's pretty awful at. Kind of a less likeable Rachel Reilly from Big Brother that sucks at challenges. That she was brought back for an All-Star season was pretty cringeworthy and she proved useless there too. Terrible Survivor player.

blue squares
Sep 28, 2007

BGrifter posted:

Spencer just seems like a sharp kid who did his homework, that's why I'm a fan. Little stuff like knowing the "throw the idol in the air and go for the opponent" in that one challenge is a clear sign of a diehard fan.

I thought so too, but then he didn't do it against Woo the second time, which really puzzled me. I wonder if Jeff told them they couldn't?

BGrifter
Mar 16, 2007

Winner of Something Awful PS5 thread's Posting Excellence Award June 2022

Congratulations!

blue squares posted:

I thought so too, but then he didn't do it against Woo the second time, which really puzzled me. I wonder if Jeff told them they couldn't?

It looked to me like he was setting up for it and Woo was just too quick. He had to get at least somewhat close before throwing his in the air or Woo would just motor across the ring. The first time he did it he waited till he had Woo backed against the wall.

Huge Liability
Mar 2, 2010
I've found Spencer to be pretty boring, so I'm not rooting for him right now. I think his high point so far was the joy he expressed in finally winning immunity. He seems to be a smart player, but that'd be more impressive if weren't surrounded by idiots most of the time.

Nonetheless, I'm really loving this season so far.

STAC Goat
Mar 12, 2008

Watching you sleep.

Butt first, let's
check the feeds.

Yeah, I think that's really just my take. I get why people root for him. He's obviously relatable to a certain demographic that is well represented by this forum. I get that and I get rooting for him. I don't really get praising him because he's just struck me as a pretty boring, middle of the road player. I don't dislike him or think he's bad, I just don't see anything special about his gameplay. As I said his only positives so far seems to have been not doing anything to make himself seem less worthy to keep than J'tia and being fairly good at a couple of challenges. I'm just not impressed.

But LJ has been the only one who has impressed me this far. I think Tasha, Sarah, and Woo have all shown me something so I'm hoping they step up their games but Spencer is at best behind them on my power rankings probably dancing with Jefra and Kass. And that's with me not giving fair consideration to Tony who as crazy as he is has made some good plays and seemed to have everyone fooled until he outed himself. Or Trish who seems nuts but managed to flip a tribe and better her position and could probably be a major comp threat down the line in those challenges that favor fit women. Sarah and maybe Woo seem like her only real competition there.

Arcanen
Dec 19, 2005

blue squares posted:

I thought so too, but then he didn't do it against Woo the second time, which really puzzled me. I wonder if Jeff told them they couldn't?

If your opponent has good reflexes, they can just throw their idol in the air after you do, meaning you'll lose because yours will hit the ground first. So it's only really useful the first time (when you can take the opponent by surprise), or if you can do it when you're close enough that they won't be able to respond. Woo was just too quick that Spencer didn't have the chance.

RE: Spencer, I think a major reason is that he seems like a genuine Survivor fan. So often (particularly in Fan vs. Favourites seasons) we've seen people claim to be big survivor fans but make incredibly elementary mistakes (Garrett is a good example of this). Spencer talked big in his promos, but people like him because he's not just all talk.

I know people think it's just a goon-thing projecting themselves onto him like with Cochran (who I thought was thoroughly "meh" in both seasons anyway), but I don't think it is. People are rooting for him because he's playing the mastermind with the right mind set; he nudges people in the direction he wants them to go and lets them believe it's their own decision, and then laughs at them in their confessionals rather than in their face (which has been the downfall of many a would be mastermind). While he misread Jeremiah, his interpretation wasn't necessarily the wrong one given the information he had (after all, doing what Tony did was a moment of genius). I'm not really sure what people are saying about him misreading Alexis though, he was totally correct in his decision. She undoubtedly would have flipped in a merge, it was possible that Jeremiah had an idol (with Spencer assuming the clue given by Tony was genuine) and they don't yet have the numbers of split the vote, and she was also a week challenge competitor (better than Kass and perhaps Tasha, but they are part of his alliance, so) who might cause more eliminations before the merge.

Now what I really don't understand is people saying Kass and Tasha have game. Kass is terrible at Survivor (hey crazy person, I'm telling you right to your face that we're voting you out!!) and has just lucked into her position thus far (so I agree that the Sandra comparison is apt), and Tasha almost destroyed the brain tribe by taking so long to turn against J'Tia who she allied with for no discernible reason.

BGrifter
Mar 16, 2007

Winner of Something Awful PS5 thread's Posting Excellence Award June 2022

Congratulations!
I suppose part of it for me is I've always appreciated players who demonstrate the skills to play out of a bad position. It's far less impressive watching Boston Rob dominate a season from post-to-post the way he did than to watch someone with their back against the wall scrambling to stay alive. It's a big part of what I appreciated about Russell's first game in Samoa, he wormed his way out of some pretty impossible situations. It almost never works out, it wouldn't be a bad position in the first place if it did, but a player rallying from early adversity to come back and win is when Survivor is at it's best. (Denise Stapley is a recent example)

Luck is also a huge and often underappreciated element of Survivor. The biggest difference between Cochran 1.0 and 2.0 was being put on the island with a better assortment of players to work with. He caught a few breaks, took advantage of them when he could, and cruised to a pretty solid win. Marty Piambo had some terrible breaks in Nicaragua despite being one of the better players out there, fought his rear end off to stay alive and in the end just couldn't make it work.

I don't think Spencer can overcome the bad breaks so far in the game, but drat if he isn't trying his rear end off. Shuffle the tribe compositions a little with the very same cast and we're likely talking about him in the front runner position where LJ is now. He's a pretty decent player dealt a lousy hand of cards. Should be fun to watch no matter how it turns out.

Edit: Yeah the goon thing has absolutely nothing to do with why I like Spencer. For that matter it had nothing to do with why I liked Cochran either and he actually posted here. I liked Cochran because he was willing to roll the dice on a slim chance to win rather than roll over and play dead like Ozzy wanted. Didn't pan out, but I like players who take sensible risks.

BGrifter fucked around with this message at 19:20 on Mar 29, 2014

STAC Goat
Mar 12, 2008

Watching you sleep.

Butt first, let's
check the feeds.

I don't think its fair to categorize LJ as a "lucky" player. He got a pretty bad shuffle in that tribe swap and at least partly helped his case by making nice with Trisha, and he managed to make his own luck by deducing the idol location without a clue. He's had some good and bad luck. Spencer's had a healthy helping of bad luck but he also caught a pretty great break by that tribal swap. If he can make it deep into this game or win that might be the primary reason why.

But I totally agree that luck is a big and underrated part of the game. People only tend to bring it up to try and drag players down. But the truth is there's good luck and bad luck in every player's game, its just what they do with it that changes things. Cochran (since we brought him up) got unlucky his first go around and lucky his second. But I don't think his win was "lucky", he just played his game properly to take advantage of that lucky break.

Shakugan posted:

I'm not really sure what people are saying about him misreading Alexis though, he was totally correct in his decision.
Its not him (them) voting her out, there was some segment earlier in the episode where Alexis told him the truth on something and he said she was lying and just a big manipulator and gamer. I forgot exactly what it was but it was really off target and came right before he was off target with Jeremiah so it just kind of added up and made Spencer look bad. But they were isolated things so I don't think they're REALLY things to take him to task for.

quote:

Now what I really don't understand is people saying Kass and Tasha have game. Kass is terrible at Survivor (hey crazy person, I'm telling you right to your face that we're voting you out!!) and has just lucked into her position thus far (so I agree that the Sandra comparison is apt), and Tasha almost destroyed the brain tribe by taking so long to turn against J'Tia who she allied with for no discernible reason.
We've been over this so I don't want to harp on it but Tasha had a very clear reason to ally with J'Tia. She correctly surmised that Garrett, Spencer, and Kass were allied against them and that left her as the next logical target if J'Tia went. Backing J'Tia and trying to flip Kass was an obvious play to survive deeper into the game and theoretically worked. We have no idea how the Brains would have performed with Garrett replacing J'Tia but its safe to say if the Brains had lost another challenge she would have been on the line.

Here's why I think Tasha has SOME game. She correctly read the Garrett/Spencer/Kass alliance and recognized she was in trouble. She made a risky move to flip Kass and succeeded. She also took another risk letting J'Tia go and trusting in Spencer which has yet to play out given the way the tribes went. I don't think that makes Tasha a good or great player but she did manage to flip a tribe and go from second to last on it to first or second. That takes SOME skill. I don't know if she has more of it, though.

BGrifter
Mar 16, 2007

Winner of Something Awful PS5 thread's Posting Excellence Award June 2022

Congratulations!

STAC Goat posted:

I don't think its fair to categorize LJ as a "lucky" player. He got a pretty bad shuffle in that tribe swap and at least partly helped his case by making nice with Trisha, and he managed to make his own luck by deducing the idol location without a clue. He's had some good and bad luck. Spencer's had a healthy helping of bad luck but he also caught a pretty great break by that tribal swap. If he can make it deep into this game or win that might be the primary reason why.

But I totally agree that luck is a big and underrated part of the game. People only tend to bring it up to try and drag players down. But the truth is there's good luck and bad luck in every player's game, its just what they do with it that changes things. Cochran (since we brought him up) got unlucky his first go around and lucky his second. But I don't think his win was "lucky", he just played his game properly to take advantage of that lucky break.

When I say lucky I don't mean he's a fluke, he's playing a very good game so far and is maximizing the good breaks he gets. You're right lucky has a negative connotation to it and I certainly don't want to detract from LJ's game, he's been rock solid if a little dull so far. Pretty much every winner in the history of the game gets a little luck, the good ones are the ones who effectively maximize the good bounces and minimize the bad ones. LJ and Spencer are #1 and #2 in terms of doing that so far this season.

savinhill
Mar 28, 2010
The most impressive thing about Spencer for me so far was when he almost single-handedly won that basketball water challenge for his tribe. There's also a lot to be said for having the restraint to not do or say anything to piss off tribemates when you're in lovely/unfair situation. I hope he's not as good as that whole situation made him seem though because Tony and LJ are my favorites and the less competition for them the better.

Arcanen
Dec 19, 2005

STAC Goat posted:

We've been over this so I don't want to harp on it but Tasha had a very clear reason to ally with J'Tia. She correctly surmised that Garrett, Spencer, and Kass were allied against them and that left her as the next logical target if J'Tia went. Backing J'Tia and trying to flip Kass was an obvious play to survive deeper into the game and theoretically worked. We have no idea how the Brains would have performed with Garrett replacing J'Tia but its safe to say if the Brains had lost another challenge she would have been on the line.

I see what you're saying, but I think this is playing for day 39 on day 3 (a mistake the thread has accused many of the castaways of doing this season). Focusing so much on the boot order of the initial tribe in a three tribe game that is likely to have a 2-tribe merge then a single merge is a huge mistake. I think this is especially true when improving your position in that boot order (that will change as new alliances are made through tribe swaps, merges etc) comes at the cost of keeping the worst castaway in the history of the show around, inevitably leading to losing immunity constantly. Having numbers before going into a tribe swap or merge is much more important than the pre-swap/merge boot order. You're right in that Tasha would have gone pretty quickly from the brains, but it was still a mistake on her part since her actions essentially resulted in the tribe getting whittled down to 3 people which in the vast majority of possible scenarios (though extremely luckily for them, not the scenario that actually occurred) would be extremely disadvantageous. It's much better to be no. 5 of a group that has the numbers to make it to the final 5 than no. 1/2 of a small group that is unlikely to.

xbilkis
Apr 11, 2005

god qb
me
jay hova
I think that last sentence is probably not at all true, but either way, keeping J'Tia instead of Garrett wasn't "playing for day 39 on day 3"; it was "playing to not get voted out on day 9 on day 6." Tasha was completely frozen out of any strategic conversation on what was about to become a four person tribe. The writing was on the wall that she was very likely to be booted next if the Brains tribe lost, and they were terrible at challenges even with Garrett. I know posters here really really highly value team immunity success, but it's not worth preserving at all costs if it hurts your odds of surviving in the short term — especially when, as you said, there's likely to be a tribe swap as salvation within a few rounds.

BGrifter
Mar 16, 2007

Winner of Something Awful PS5 thread's Posting Excellence Award June 2022

Congratulations!
Yeah Tasha working with Kass/J'Tia to vote out Garrett was kind of a no brainer for her. She was clearly next if they kept him and even with Garrett they were likely to lose at least one more challenge before a shuffle. It put her in a spot where at the time she had to assume Spencer would be next, leaving her in the middle of Kass and J'Tia buying her two tribals of safety. It didn't work out like that when they voted out J'Tia, but at the time of the Garrett vote it was a reasonable assumption.

STAC Goat
Mar 12, 2008

Watching you sleep.

Butt first, let's
check the feeds.

xbilkis posted:

I think that last sentence is probably not at all true, but either way, keeping J'Tia instead of Garrett wasn't "playing for day 39 on day 3"; it was "playing to not get voted out on day 9 on day 6."
Yeah, I was going to type exactly this. I'm a big believer in "don't play for Day 39 on Day 3" and "keep your tribe strong early on" but the three tribe breakdown along with two quick losses just changes that part of the game. Tasha had to play to better her "boot order" position because not doing so would have left her 4th on a 4 person tribe. It took six more days and two Tribal Councils for a swap to come. That's a huge risk to take if you're Tasha, who couldn't know if it would be even more. After all the last time they did three tribes they played until one tribe had two people left. There's no way Tasha and Kass survive that if they keep Garrett.

Fast Luck
Feb 2, 1988

STAC Goat posted:

But LJ has been the only one who has impressed me this far. I think Tasha, Sarah, and Woo have all shown me something so I'm hoping they step up their games but Spencer is at best behind them on my power rankings probably dancing with Jefra and Kass.
I don't know why everyone still has Sarah so high on their boards. She's blinded by blue, had an idiotic notion to throw a challenge, and hasn't done anything

Shakugan posted:

Now what I really don't understand is people saying Kass and Tasha have game. Kass is terrible at Survivor (hey crazy person, I'm telling you right to your face that we're voting you out!!) and has just lucked into her position thus far (so I agree that the Sandra comparison is apt), and Tasha almost destroyed the brain tribe by taking so long to turn against J'Tia who she allied with for no discernible reason.
First vote was David in that tribe, he's gone, now you have Spencer and Garrett being allies and talking shop all the time, former David ally Kass being openly recruited by Garrett right in front of Tasha, and J'Tia. If those three boot J'Tia, she's next. What she did by flipping Kass was not "allying J'Tia for no discernible reason," it was a necessary move to save her own skin! It worked and she got the power in that tribe. I see this has been replied to by other people though so whoops. I agree with Goat and xbilkis.

Fast Luck fucked around with this message at 21:01 on Mar 29, 2014

Joose Caboose
Apr 17, 2013
Finishing up the few seasons I never saw (Fiji, Gabon, Tocantins) and going through Fiji right now cause I always heard it was one of worst seasons so wanted to get it out of way. So far, it hasn't been nearly as bad I anticipated - clearly nowhere near as bad as the Nicaragua/One World type seasons. Though I could see it being very forgettable. The Alex/Mookie/Edgardo trio did get pretty annoying with their smugness. Also, now I see when what people mean when they talk about the Earl edit - it's definitely very heavy throughout the season.

Couple questions:
Was there some sort of backlash around this time about Survivor not having enough minorities? Because there are so many more in this season than any other I can remember, and not that that's a problem - but I was surprised. I know I read that this is the season that every single player except one was recruited so I guess that can explain it.

Also, I was wondering if anyone knows how many seasons were won by recruits rather than actual fans that applied? Not sure if there's a list anywhere of who were recruits.

Propaganda Machine
Jan 2, 2005

Truthiness!
Honestly, I'm not pulling for anybody except perhaps Spencer and Woo, and I'll happily admit that I don't have great reasons for that beyond just liking them for some reason.

I like that this season is an epic clusterfuck between lots of players who aren't terrible. We haven't Sen anything like this in years.

Edit: yeah, the criticism about minorities is precisely why they cast Cook Islands and Fiji the way they did.

JesusSinfulHands
Oct 24, 2007
Sartre and Russell are my heroes

Joose Caboose posted:

Finishing up the few seasons I never saw (Fiji, Gabon, Tocantins) and going through Fiji right now cause I always heard it was one of worst seasons so wanted to get it out of way. So far, it hasn't been nearly as bad I anticipated - clearly nowhere near as bad as the Nicaragua/One World type seasons. Though I could see it being very forgettable. The Alex/Mookie/Edgardo trio did get pretty annoying with their smugness. Also, now I see when what people mean when they talk about the Earl edit - it's definitely very heavy throughout the season.

Couple questions:
Was there some sort of backlash around this time about Survivor not having enough minorities? Because there are so many more in this season than any other I can remember, and not that that's a problem - but I was surprised. I know I read that this is the season that every single player except one was recruited so I guess that can explain it.

Also, I was wondering if anyone knows how many seasons were won by recruits rather than actual fans that applied? Not sure if there's a list anywhere of who were recruits.

The context is that season 12 (Panama) had a tribe (La Mina) that was all lily white and the optics looked pretty bad and they were getting some criticism, so Survivor infamously divided the season 13 (Cook Islands) tribes into 4 races. Then to show that it wasn't a one-season gimmick, they cast 5 whites/5 blacks/5 hispanics/5 asians again for Fiji (14), then went back to the old ways after that :shrug:

There's an unofficial recruit/applicant list on Sucks for seasons 1 through 19 here:
http://survivorsucks.yuku.com/topic/61049

JesusSinfulHands fucked around with this message at 21:42 on Mar 29, 2014

xbilkis
Apr 11, 2005

god qb
me
jay hova

Joose Caboose posted:

Finishing up the few seasons I never saw (Fiji, Gabon, Tocantins) and going through Fiji right now cause I always heard it was one of worst seasons so wanted to get it out of way. So far, it hasn't been nearly as bad I anticipated - clearly nowhere near as bad as the Nicaragua/One World type seasons. Though I could see it being very forgettable. The Alex/Mookie/Edgardo trio did get pretty annoying with their smugness. Also, now I see when what people mean when they talk about the Earl edit - it's definitely very heavy throughout the season.

Couple questions:
Was there some sort of backlash around this time about Survivor not having enough minorities? Because there are so many more in this season than any other I can remember, and not that that's a problem - but I was surprised. I know I read that this is the season that every single player except one was recruited so I guess that can explain it.

Also, I was wondering if anyone knows how many seasons were won by recruits rather than actual fans that applied? Not sure if there's a list anywhere of who were recruits.

I'm pretty sure Fiji was supposed to have the same racial divide as Cook Islands, but someone dropped out just before filming started so they just rolled with it. I think Fiji is a decent season, but Cook Islands/Fiji back-to-back is one of the biggest lulls of the pre-HvV era so it generally gets knocked down in my mind.

STAC Goat
Mar 12, 2008

Watching you sleep.

Butt first, let's
check the feeds.

Fast Luck posted:

I don't know why everyone still has Sarah so high on their boards. She's blinded by blue, had an idiotic notion to throw a challenge, and hasn't done anything

She's only "high" on my board because so few others are past her. Its less a glowing recommendation of Sarah then it is a statement on the rest of the field. Sarah's definitely made some glaring mistakes and if she can't see past Tony's blue blood then she's probably screwed. But as much as I hate the throwing the challenge thing that's at least tied to the Tony thing. She still seems reasonably astute when a cop isn't involved, a solid social player, and a good comp player. I don't have her pegged as a "good" player but I think she's got the skills if she doesn't get tanked by the Tony thing or make an equally bad call.

mancalamania
Oct 23, 2008

Shakugan posted:

People are rooting for him because he's playing the mastermind with the right mind set; he nudges people in the direction he wants them to go and lets them believe it's their own decision, and then laughs at them in their confessionals rather than in their face (which has been the downfall of many a would be mastermind).

Yes, the mastermind who got blindsided in the very first episode when the entire rest of his tribe voted out his closest ally. It was all part of his master plan.

Joose Caboose
Apr 17, 2013
Holy poo poo this Fiji jury are bitter assholes

doomisland
Oct 5, 2004

So whats up with people on survivor and never knowing to wear clothing that's suitable for surviving when you first show up?

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blue squares
Sep 28, 2007

doomisland posted:

So whats up with people on survivor and never knowing to wear clothing that's suitable for surviving when you first show up?

Production has some say over what you wear. I don't know the extent of that. I doubt they force any of these idiots to show up in full suits or to wear your precious shoes that might get buried by a crazy lady.

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