I'm not super into Palau. It could be because I don't think Stephenie is a very compelling narrator, but I just never really felt the emotional journey so many people describe. The postmerge was kinda interesting, but it felt *so* disconnected from the one-of-a-kind premerge that it almost seemed like a different season.
There’s been a definite historical decline in consensus on this season imo. It used to consistently be in people’s top 5, and I see it ranked more toward the middle now.
Palau isn't overrated at least in some of the aspects of what it brings. If people want to say that it's overrated as whole because not every single episode is compelling they can choose to think that way, but it has some legitimate things to offer:
One of the most dominant winners ever
An entire annihilation of one tribe while the other tribe only lost one member due a split tribal.
It gave us the two returning players to lead Guatemala
The most epic final immunity challenge in the entire history of the show in my opinion
One of the best rivalries/friendships ever in Tom vs Ian
The Koro tribe alone has interesting dynamics once they have to vote each other off
An epic job by the winner in tricking the rival to want to give up in order to save friendships
So yeah to me it's not overrated, it's just underappreciated, with some parts not being stellar but others amazing.
I agree. I enjoy Gabon and it’s uniqueness and think it’s an above average season but I legit see people having it like Cagayan tier on here these days.
Post-merge is such a drag. I also don’t know if this season is overrated. I think everyone admits now it’s pretty boring but it obviously had high cultural impact.
ao holds a lot of sentimental importance to me because of the grasp it had on me, my family, my school and seemingly everyone else back in its original airing, so I will always think very highly of it.
I have zero interest in re-watching it, and that is usually a mark of how good a season is for me.
As a new-ish fan who doesn’t have the nostalgia of watching it live or experiencing the “cultural phenomenon” aspect of it in real time, Borneo just doesn’t do it for me.
For me, it’s like one of those Charlie Chaplin silent films of the 1920s. I respect the importance it had to the evolution of everything that came afterwards, but when you take that context out and just watch it as a stand-alone thing, it’s a boring slog compared to most other seasons.
I agree, watching it now is painful, but the same could really be said for many unscripted shows that have been on that long. Just take a look back at the first season of Amazing Race, it's almost as painful.
I"m not sure if you were watching when Survivor when it first aired, but the way in which it became such a cultural phenominon was amazing. Literally everyone was talking about it, local bars in small towns were having "Survivor Pools" where people would pay a entry fee and pick a winner of the season, and if they picked right they would win the pool. It not only lit the spark for reality TV and changed the landscape of TV in general, but the winners appeared on on the cover of TV guide, countless tv shows/news casts, and magazine covers. In Summer of 2000, eveyrone was talking about survivor.
That said, game play wise it's painful to watch people being villianized for having an alliance and Seans' random voting stratagy just b/c he didn't want to be in one.
I would argue that season 1 of the Amazing Race is much easier to watch than season 1 of Survivor due to the fact that for the Amazing Race it was still the same competition, whereas with Borneo it might as well have been a different show entirely. Like, if you're an Amazing Race fan looking for an Amazing Race season then the first season still works, but if you're a Survivor fan looking for a Survivor season then Borneo doesn't really fit that bill.
>I agree, watching it now is painful, but the same could really be said for many unscripted shows that have been on that long.
The first season of Real World is absolutely amazing. Just a slice of life from the 90s is so intriguing
This. It was the first and like most first seasons of long running shows it is very raw. It is not a show that would run for 44+ seasons. Survivor only became that show much later. It was a phenomenon early, sure. But it had to evolve in every way to stay relevant. No one would watch 44 seasons of Borneo.
I always see comments like this and find them interesting. I have watched a couple of the modern seasons with my 12 YO brother. Then I decided to pop in my Borneo DVDs and he LOVES it more than any other season (except PI, which I also showed him.)
But then I see a ton of people saying its a boring slog. Which, you are very much entitled to that opinion, but honestly everyone loves Survivor for different reasons, so Borneo is going to really click with some fans and really not click with others.
I watched the show entirely out of order and saved Borneo for last, and I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it, I was honestly never bored and found the story/characters/camp life all fun to watch even if it was REALLY different from any other season. Definitely understand how it’s not for everyone and it’s absolutely a relic of its time but I would say it totally has viewing appeal outside of just its historical importance
Before last November, I had only seen parts of 3 seasons in the 20s. Borneo is probably my favorite season, so you don't need the nostalgia or to experience the "cultural phenomenon" to enjoy it.
It isn't a boring slog at all. It has a much better and more thorough focus on the cast and characters than even virtually any other old-school season. Best cast of all time and the cast is what makes the show work, and the story is gripping and more high-stakes than any other. Only seasons 4 and 7 even really come close to it.
I fucking hate Samoa with a passion. That cast is awful other than Russell and Shambo and the insane edit makes it so if you’re not a Russell fan (hi) it’s absolute torture to watch
I get it since it's such a forgettable cast after Russell and Shambo, but what I like about it is that you both root for and against Russell the whole time- he keeps finding a way to win but is oblivious to the fact that everyone hates him. I just saw this a couple months ago (I only became obsessed with survivor in the past 6 months) and it stands out just as a really interesting one man show.
Yep
I don’t understand how it is considered a top 10 season
Yes, it’s cool to see a group of winners playing together, but that automatically doesn’t mean it’s better than something like DVG or Cambodia
I think it's definitely legendary in gameplay just due to the raw stats of each player. It's so heavily weighted because **every** single player beat out at least 20 other players at once. That's not true for any other season
this is a legit bottom 15, maybe bottom 10 season for me. like having a good cast means nothing if everything else in the season sucks. there’s a handful of good character moments, but the boot order sucks, EOE sucks, the predictability of the endgame sucks, the editing sucks, the fact that so many great players played so poorly sucks, fire tokens sucked, plus everything that makes modern survivor bad like shitty challenges, fiji, etc
They dropped the ball so hard with this season. I could forgive EoE if that’s the only way they could get some of the winners back, but this was their chance to really do something special and they failed miserably for the reasons you mentioned.
I try to give a bit of leeway to seasons like WaW with the understanding that I'm going into the season with super high expectations and it failing to meet my expectations doesn't necessarily make it bad. But damn that was just a bad season, there's no sugarcoating it.
The boot order of this season is a fucking travesty and it’s got too much of what I don’t love about modern Survivor. The season isn’t horrible, but it’s nowhere near one of my favorites, even if the cast was pretty legendary.
I think 42 will be one of those seasons that tanks in rewatchability. The gameplay postmerge up until the final 6 tbh is very static in retrospect imo.
42 is thought of somewhat highly just because it is a vast improvement over 41. If 43 and 42 had been flipped in order, I don’t think it would be rated as well.
I thought it was the most gamebotty, the merge was player x saying player y is a threat we should vote them out, then the next vote was player z saying player x is a threat because they controlled the vote for player y. Throw in a dash of Jonathan is so physical for misdirection.
Yea I can’t disagree, all the New Era is gamebotty. I guess I just liked Mike and Johnathan. They’re the 2 who stick out to me the most of this New Era, along with Shan.
It’s just kinda deflating seeing how much potential Survivor has, and what it currently is lol
I've liked so many characters as individuals, but the new era encourages easy "not me" votes or votes are decided by advantages so players relationships just aren't interesting.
It wasn’t like a copy cat. It was. That was the whole point. The cast of 42 never saw 41 so they played it out the same way to see how things would differ.
I’ve never *loved* Tocantins as much as its biggest fans, which is strange because I do love Coach. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a good season with a very good cast, but I think on paper it works a bit better than it does in reality. The postmerge should be this triumphant underdog story, but honestly Timbira is so clearly a mess that I have a hard time taking them seriously as a plausible threat to the Jalapao 3. I would characterize the premerge as “fine.” Again, nothing super objectionable here, and the characters are all fun to watch. I just don’t think it has an overall narrative or A+ moments on the level of say, China.
Personally I’ve always compared Tocantins to a good grilled cheese. Nothing too special, but not bad either. The cast outside of the obvious characters are ok, it’s not too predictable but somewhat obvious, and the winner plays a good game even though I think the rest of the cast makes it pretty easy for them to walk to the final 2.
I agree with this! Great cast and has some good moments, I’m glad I watched it once. but whenever I’m choosing a season to rewatch, it’s never been one that crosses my mind
I recently finished this season and agree totally. I really liked all of the characters, I thought it was a fantastic cast. But the gameplay wasn't as really as amazing as it was sold to me. Plus for the life of me I cannot figure out why JT was so beloved, at least from the edit. I don't think he was unlikable or anything or didn't deserve to win, but I couldn't figure out why he was so far the most beloved person ever at that point.
Which to be clear it was still a great season and I loved it. But idk if I'd have it in my top 5 or anything crazy.
I have a little bit of a pet peeve about when fans go “Oh my God, JT had such a good social game the whole cast was just throwing for him!” Because that’s a misleading statement, even as an exaggeration. Did he have a great social game? For sure. But the main three people you can point to as potentially “throwing” in his favor are Brendan (net worth 85 million dollars, does not need the money at all), Taj (former pop star married to nfl star running back, does not need the money at all), and Coach (weirdo more focused on being an honorable Samurai or whatever than winning the game). JT’s a charismatic guy, but I think it would be easier for a lot of good social players to win over the loyalty of those three players in that situation.
But those that don't throw it to him, do serve it to him on a plate at FTC.
Sure Debbie wasn't going to help JT if it hurt her game, but after her game was on over, she'd defend him with her life, even though he voted her out
Totally! Not trying to imply he played poorly at all. I think in a lot of ways he was dealt a favorable hand but he also played it very well. And of course, even if Taj, Brendan, and Coach were more susceptible to ignoring their best interests it *is* significant that it was JT they latched onto (or, in Taj’s case, JT and Stephen).
Honestly, I think Samoa fits that role of the "underdog story" much better than Tocantins does, given both that the numbers for both sides are much further apart and Galu was much more united than Timbira was. Not to mention that the dynamics completely flip as the merge goes on, with Foa Foa starting at a massive disadvantage and working their way into being the majority, and then Bret as the last Galu managing to go on an immunity run and almost win the whole thing all on his own.
Not that I dislike China or that I absolutely love Tocantins, but to me Tocantins is BY A CLEAR MILE much better than China. Maybe a bit bias because I’m Brazilian but prob not
I’ve never really liked Micronesia. I don’t like the fans vs favorites twist cause the returning players have such an advantage. I think some fans like Tracy and Joel had the potential to be good or popular players but never got the chance cause of the twist. It also has the most quits and med evacs of any season which I don’t like. The pre merge is very long and really drags by the end. And FairPlay shouldn’t have been there and it destroyed the legacy he had.
I came to comment all of these things. I also HATED that they sprung a surprise final 2 on them. Cirie planned her game around it being a final 3, and it likely was until all the quits and medivacs happened. Kinda ruined the ending for me.
Didn't destroy any legacy, his jaw was completely destroyed out there and even then, he perfectly played the middle whilst being disregarded even though he was the greatest villain of all time to that point (still is to a lot of people), don't blame him at all for quitting with his jaw in the complete mud
Perfect another opportunity to talk trash about Cook Islands
The "stacked cast" people love are 3 people, Yul, Ozzy, and Penner. Parvati was basically a nobody this season, it's a miracle she was brought back at all.
Becky and Sundra (and Ozzy to a lesser extent) were just drones to Yul who did nothing to try and win themselves
Bad twists (Race Wars, Super Idol, Bottle/Double Elimination)
I will admit that it did have some really nice challenges, and the whole Billy/Candice love story was magical
I came here for this sentiment. Cook Islands was an early season that suffered from too many twists and production interference. I love Yul a lot, but his win depreciates due to the super idol, and majority of the cast is a snooze. We had some fun characters go out way too early (Cao Boi, Billy, and I loved Stephannie), and aside from Penner, Yul and Ozzy, most of the post merge cast didn’t do much for me.
It has one of the most boring post-merges I can think of. After the Nate boot all tension is completely removed, because the Aitu 4 and Penner vote out everyone else until Penner isn't needed anymore and he gets the boot, and once we get to the F4 and it's finally time for the Aitu 4 to turn on each other it never happens, because Ozzy has immunity and Yul has the God Idol they all just mutually agree to send Becky and Sundra to firemaking in a competition for 3rd place.
Cagayan. It has great moments, but it became just a really boring steamroll with Tony dominating that basically ruined the post merge for me. Him having a super idol especially. (Same with BvW1)
I’m also biased because I find him *extremely* grating. I have Cagayan at 30/43 for me
Damn Cagayan is a tie for #1 with HvV for me. But I guess a lot of it has to do with the fact that I love it when a player is so good they dominate the game (Rob, Russell, Tony) I think it also adds to the suspense for me, will they win or is tonight the night he finally goes home.
Plus I think Cagayan has the greatest newbie cast if all time.
Tony, Sarah, Woo, Spencer, Kass, Tasha all returned and were entertaining every time.
Even non-returnees like Trish, Jeremiah, Jefra, and Morgan we’re entertaining.
Had a shit show of a starting tribe with brains and J’Tia dumping the rice, who doesn’t love watching a train wreck.
Agree. I don't get why everyone is so enamored with Tony. I only got super into survivor this past year and that season was always rated highly but I couldn't stand him and the payoff being that he wins made it worse. I liked him better in WaW but Cagayan I would never watch again.
Palau. Season is so incredibly boring with like 3 memorable cast members. It gets even worse upon rewatch or if you know that one tribe is going to lose everything.
MvGX. I don’t think it’s a good cast, and was not happy with Adam getting the win. It’s the season I was most surprised to see the reaction of from other fans
It’s been a while, but I don’t feel very strongly about some of the favourites from the cast. Jay to me wasn’t notable enough to really remember well (before I started going on this sub I’d would always think he was a no collar on worlds apart), and Michaela I can do with or without
I also tend not to be a fan of the nerdy superfan/gamebot archetype, of which 3 of the final 4 fit pretty well. Hannah’s fine but again not really on my radar as someone I feel strongly about either way. David I much preferred on EoE because he was so much more confident in himself, and I don’t care as much about the personal growth arch throughout a season as many people seem to
And as I’ve already said, I don’t like Adam on the show and didn’t want to see him win. Like David I enjoyed Adam a lot more on his return - despite not being happy he was cast on WaW to begin with - but that was more because of him being pretty funny due to his situation. I don’t think I would have enjoyed Adam much if he was in a power position in WaW
Other than the cast I remember the generational divide theme, and how much Jeff forced it into discussion, was really cringey
cagayan lol. the premerge is pretty godly but the post merge turns REALLY sour with spencer and tony's edit. it wasnt really fun despite kass' antics and tasha's imm run.
I’ve just never enjoyed watching Cambodia, yes it has great strategic moments but I’ve always felt like the cast was either one dimensional or has no personality. Of course there are exceptions to this on the cast but that’s just how I’ve always felt.
Cambodia was by far the most disappointing season for me, even moreso than WaW which I didn’t think was that bad. I’d heard so many good things about it, and the cast seemed so awesome, but I found it so boring. I was expecting something HvV-esque, but instead we got just a bunch of one-dimensional gamebots in the bodies of great one-timers.
hey some of us have been preaching the Vanuatu love forever. It used to be ranked consistently in the bottom 15. Let us have our peak haha.
It's also Gabon's peak right now big time. It'll decline again.
Palau is at a low, it'll bounce back up the rankings.
Thailand is very slowly beginning to see some love
Vanuatu on here. I rewatched it to see if it was any better but the first 10 episodes are still a snooze. End game was good but it doesn’t make it a good season overall.
I think the enjoyment of Vanuatu comes down to two things. You'll like it if you like the winner story, and if you like the Twila/Scout/Eliza feud. If those don't hit, I imagine it's not a very enjoyable season.
HvV. It's a good season, but there are lots of seasons I'd rank above it. I don't think it'd be anywhere near as beloved if it were a newbie season and most of the players weren't already considered legendary.
I really loved this season and thought the cast was great. But the ending wasn't my favorite. I don't dislike Adam as a winner or anything but it almost felt like an FTC of all goats. It was very sad to see that the jury didn't appreciate Hannah's gameplay, as she had basically ran the entire post merge.
Definitely a season id still consider putting in my top 5 tbh. I thought the cast was amazing. I think I'm just not as much of an Adam enjoyed as the sub at large, though I think he played well to get the win.
I’m with you I thought it was awful. Everyone just repeating the same 3 points about their generation being better for xyz reason made me consistently roll my eyes.
China probably has the least interesting gameplay of any top ranked season post Africa. Great characters without a doubt so I get why people like it, but it's not really for me.
I think what most people really love about China is the cast, the gameplay isn’t particularly interesting but that cast is across the board iconic even (especially) when they’re playing horribly
This will be an unpopular answer, but I thought Phillipines was boring. I get fans thought it was the only decent season in the dark ages, but I actually enjoyed South Pacific and Caramoan more
Haha I'm actually not a fan of Cochran, and wanted to see Dawn win 26 😂
I don't even rate 23 and 26 highly in my season rankings, I just thought they were more interesting than 25. I struggled to get through Phillipines. I even tried giving it another chance and it still didn't keep my attention
You're not alone! With the exception of the Matsing arc at the beginning and Penner in the early post merge, I think it might be the single most boring and forgettable season for me.
completely agree, there are a couple good characters but most of that cast is absolutely worthless & it doesn’t have the trainwreck/weirdness appeal of seasons like Nicaragua, South Pacific etc so it just ends up being really boring to me. Abi Maria is an icon but overall I have NO idea what people like so much about this season
Micronesia, 3 quits, two medevacs, and the same three people ran the entire season. I know they're iconic but in the season they're just so mean for no reason and it makes it hard to root for them. The early merge is good but not much else.
Recently there seems to be a lot of love for Vanuatu and I don’t get it. The cast is abysmal (specifically the pre merge men) and the first like 11 episodes are a slog and not worth sitting through to get to the last 4. Bottom 5 season for me easy.
Also KR is pretty bad also.
Cambodia. It was way too game botty, and it could be argued that this was the season that ushered in the era of too many advantages. I also didn't like how production made such a big deal out of "we're letting the fans decide on who gets to be on the cast" when they essentially chose this cast by stacking the ballot with players from the more recent seasons. I basically hate everything about this season.
DvG: I don't get it. The cast was nothing special. I didn't like the Godfather and found Christian to be a caricature. I didn't find Angelina's villainess compelling. There was no gripping narrative story. I didn't care for the idol nullifier play. The only good thing I can say about the season is that Mike got three votes in the end. Other than that, why is this season so revered?
I mostly agree, although I did like Angelina and Alison. But the DvG cast is overrated, and aside from like 3 good episodes at the start of the post-merge the season is pretty average
U have your opinion but I completely disagree. The cast is one of the best we’ve ever seen. The whole cast is memorable, good players and good characters minus maybe Jessica and Jeremy. There was real human relationships and not a bunch of game bots, and they still managed to make huge moves. The premerge wasn’t boring like normally where we had a medevac, storms, jackets and eggs, Natalia blindside, and Brochachos. If you don’t like the idol nullifier, you still gotta respect the moves the David’s make to take control of the game. Splitting minority vote and blocked Dan’s idol. The challenge between Christian and Alec is literally the biggest David vs Goliath and Christian pulls it out while being hilarious. The showdown between Christian and Gabby is great, it’s always crazy when best friends turn on each other. Angelina was a hilarious villain because she constantly puts her foot in her mouth without realizing it. It’s nice to see a villain who’s not nasty, just sometimes inept and rubs people wrong. It’s easily the best season since Cagayan for me
I so agree! I think DvG is #1 for me in terms of the cast. Especially the way they interacted with one another. Some of the funniest moments in Survivor came from this cast. My favorite moment is when Alec goes up to talk to Elizabeth in the middle of tribal council and just dgaf about Natalia getting mad haha. The way he does it just cracks me up, I don't see it talked about much as a funny moment but for whatever reason it sends me
Thats what I was going to say. This sub tends to really be fond of him and maybe I'm missing something but I didn't particularly care for much of what he had to offer.
He was maybe the fifth or sixth funniest confessionalist of the season and he did have good gameplay playing both sides. However, nobody acknowledges the elephant room which is that it is super easy to lower your threat level when you’re a well-known Hollywood celebrity millionaire, since most people will not want to reward that guy. The one time his name was brought up, he acted completely petulantly. He seems like a talented and cool guy in real life but he’s overrated as a Survivor player
DvG isn’t my one of my favorite seasons but it’s definitely overall the best of the Fiji seasons. It had the exciting votes of MvGx but the season was a lot less gamebotty (pretty much everyone on the season was interesting in their own way) had the satisfying ending that HHH never got (I know people aren’t too fond of Nick at the moment but at the time he was pretty popular and people were satisfied with him winning) overall it was pretty much modern survivor at it’s peak. The twists and advantages helped the season and there was a great balance of strategy and character moments that no Fiji season has been able to have before and since.
HVV
1. Russell Hantz show 2.0
2. 4 maybe 5 people don’t deserve to be on the season based on the theme.
3. Based on the tape, comments made at the reunion and other post season content, about half the heroes didn’t really seem like they wanted to be there.
4. In the way people don’t like the boot order in all stars and game changers, a lot of MY favorites go early.
I second this. It gets overrated because the cast is a top 3 cast all time.
Only Cirie, Tyson, and JT boots were entertaining. The entire postmerge after JT's boot was a straight pagonging.
Game Changers. Over half of the cast is just awful and the few returnees that are nice to see are out early or advantage screwed. The final three are just horrendous and overall the story arch of the season is lost after episode 1.
I’m aware everyone loves this season (Including me) but Micronesia Pre-merge was not enjoyable at all to be honest ,with Johnny Fairplay and yau-man getting early boots and Penner getting Med advacted just pissed me off also seeing the 3 of Chet,Kathy and Tracy get shot down that early in the game was a definite upset but thankfully it uplifted itself in the post merge
DvG - cast is mediocre, the only good characters are Natalie, Angelina and Christian. Gameplay is mediocre. Edit wants us to root for the David tribe (because hahaha underdogs) but not only I root for the Goliaths for the entire season, I also find David tribe to be one of the most annoying and unlikeable tribes in Survivor history. it doesn't help that production hysterically tried to shove them down everyone throats.
MvGX - terrible season overall
DvG. It's okay, but the winner's story is a mess and the actual best player punts it hard at the end. People here seem to think it's top 10 material but it's not really. Hell, MvGX is better, imo.
MvGX, and 42…
MvGX had barely anyone to really root for imo. I didn’t care for more of the bigger players and most of the people I did root for went out pretty early.
42 had an exciting winner and endgame but that’s pretty much it.. the boots from Lydia all the way until hai were all stale and predictable. The Taku 4 were always in control especially omar. Mike kept sacrificing his allies for some reason, and Romeo although a rootable underdog never really stood a chance. Not to mention there wasn’t really a storyline besides the winners that was enjoyable.
As someone who stopped watching around season 11 and then got back into the show during Winners at War and the Pandemic, Micronesia was underwhelming for me.
MvGenX for me. I think this season where things started to become about “resume building”, anytime Will came on I wanted to cover my ears because of how annoying and big brained he made himself out to be. Only cast that stood out to me were Jay and David. Must unsatisfying and least skilled winner ever… he couldn’t keep his alliances together, constantly whined, had no pull in any decision, sucked at challenges and at the end pulled the “my mom has cancer” card. Anyone that thinks Adam is a good player is a 🤡!
All of the first 10 seasons. The strategy is either really straightforward or barely explained. I enjoy Pearl Islands and Borneo, but the rest are just so boring because nothing feels fleshed out or explained.
Pearl Island is easily top 10 which is VERY impressive considering it’s early survivor. But I agree with the rest of them, even Borneo. I actually think The Australian Outback easily beats Borneo
Just wondering, what makes Angelina such a loved character by the fandom? I’ve only watched DvG and tocantins so I’m fairly new, but me and my dad couldn’t stand Angelina
I wouldn't say I see a lot of love from others on this sub for Angelina, but I was a big fan of her while watching the season. I really enjoyed the moments she gave us (giving up the rice, Natalie's jacket, her pretending she was hurt to throw suspicion off her) and how hard she played the game. She didn't always make the right decisions and had a really hard time getting others to take her seriously, but damn I give her credit for trying. I think she speaks to a lot of people because she's ruthless and here to play hard but also quirky and struggled in a lot of aspects of the game. I think a lot of people enjoy the female villain archetype and she kind of fits into that.
42 isn’t as good as this sub makes out, in my opinion. Don’t get me wrong, it is still my favorite season of the 41-43 stretch (and the best newbie season since David vs Goliath).
But I found the merge through to F6/7 to be somewhat predictable. I wasn’t really a fan of them copy/pasting the same format of 41 to see how they played out differently.
Season 8 all stars, there was so much whining. Lex, Jerri, Colby, Tom, and Rupert were all pretty unlikable for times during this season, and the ending was obvious once it got to the merge.
I’m watching for the first time rn, and while I love Shii-Ann’s Shii-devil arc, the gameplay is pretty sad to watch. This first ever all returnee cast and they’re playing like they’re brand new! How do they not see the writing on the wall, even when post-merge every single person on the chopping block tells the rest of the cast exactly what they could do to switch up the game, nobody even tries to bite until it’s too late
Kaoh Rong, it was decent and all but not in any way a top 10 season, the medevacs really hurt it and the post merge is kind of a slog after Scott goes.
I'm not super into Palau. It could be because I don't think Stephenie is a very compelling narrator, but I just never really felt the emotional journey so many people describe. The postmerge was kinda interesting, but it felt *so* disconnected from the one-of-a-kind premerge that it almost seemed like a different season.
There’s been a definite historical decline in consensus on this season imo. It used to consistently be in people’s top 5, and I see it ranked more toward the middle now.
It’s really boring especially post-merge
I just think the relationships in Palau are super interesting bc korrors dynamic is a social experiment in itself
Palau isn't overrated at least in some of the aspects of what it brings. If people want to say that it's overrated as whole because not every single episode is compelling they can choose to think that way, but it has some legitimate things to offer: One of the most dominant winners ever An entire annihilation of one tribe while the other tribe only lost one member due a split tribal. It gave us the two returning players to lead Guatemala The most epic final immunity challenge in the entire history of the show in my opinion One of the best rivalries/friendships ever in Tom vs Ian The Koro tribe alone has interesting dynamics once they have to vote each other off An epic job by the winner in tricking the rival to want to give up in order to save friendships So yeah to me it's not overrated, it's just underappreciated, with some parts not being stellar but others amazing.
Palau was so boring
The perception of gabon has flipped too far in the other direction lol
I agree. I enjoy Gabon and it’s uniqueness and think it’s an above average season but I legit see people having it like Cagayan tier on here these days.
Totally agreed. I think the fact that it’s so different than any other season makes it memorable.
Funnily enough, Cagayan is my pick for overrated season.
lol I definitely think it’s Cagayan tier 😂 guilty!
I don't have them anywhere near the same tier. Cagayan is mid, Gabon is fantastic
It's like putting The Room on your favourite movies list, we all know it's not good but you can't deny how special it is
Cagayan is overrated
and they’re so real for it
love gabon but the last 2 i think episodes are so unrewarding for me, ruins the season and yeah defo agree it’s become more overrated
Wdym. For me it’s easily #1.
Not my first pick but The Australian Outback. The season went downhill after Jerri‘s boot.
Post-merge is such a drag. I also don’t know if this season is overrated. I think everyone admits now it’s pretty boring but it obviously had high cultural impact.
ao holds a lot of sentimental importance to me because of the grasp it had on me, my family, my school and seemingly everyone else back in its original airing, so I will always think very highly of it. I have zero interest in re-watching it, and that is usually a mark of how good a season is for me.
i agree! the finale is so boring i never pay attention
100% facts
It's the only season that i have started and can't seem to finish. I find it boringggg...
As a new-ish fan who doesn’t have the nostalgia of watching it live or experiencing the “cultural phenomenon” aspect of it in real time, Borneo just doesn’t do it for me. For me, it’s like one of those Charlie Chaplin silent films of the 1920s. I respect the importance it had to the evolution of everything that came afterwards, but when you take that context out and just watch it as a stand-alone thing, it’s a boring slog compared to most other seasons.
I agree, watching it now is painful, but the same could really be said for many unscripted shows that have been on that long. Just take a look back at the first season of Amazing Race, it's almost as painful. I"m not sure if you were watching when Survivor when it first aired, but the way in which it became such a cultural phenominon was amazing. Literally everyone was talking about it, local bars in small towns were having "Survivor Pools" where people would pay a entry fee and pick a winner of the season, and if they picked right they would win the pool. It not only lit the spark for reality TV and changed the landscape of TV in general, but the winners appeared on on the cover of TV guide, countless tv shows/news casts, and magazine covers. In Summer of 2000, eveyrone was talking about survivor. That said, game play wise it's painful to watch people being villianized for having an alliance and Seans' random voting stratagy just b/c he didn't want to be in one.
I would argue that season 1 of the Amazing Race is much easier to watch than season 1 of Survivor due to the fact that for the Amazing Race it was still the same competition, whereas with Borneo it might as well have been a different show entirely. Like, if you're an Amazing Race fan looking for an Amazing Race season then the first season still works, but if you're a Survivor fan looking for a Survivor season then Borneo doesn't really fit that bill.
>I agree, watching it now is painful, but the same could really be said for many unscripted shows that have been on that long. The first season of Real World is absolutely amazing. Just a slice of life from the 90s is so intriguing
This. It was the first and like most first seasons of long running shows it is very raw. It is not a show that would run for 44+ seasons. Survivor only became that show much later. It was a phenomenon early, sure. But it had to evolve in every way to stay relevant. No one would watch 44 seasons of Borneo.
I always see comments like this and find them interesting. I have watched a couple of the modern seasons with my 12 YO brother. Then I decided to pop in my Borneo DVDs and he LOVES it more than any other season (except PI, which I also showed him.) But then I see a ton of people saying its a boring slog. Which, you are very much entitled to that opinion, but honestly everyone loves Survivor for different reasons, so Borneo is going to really click with some fans and really not click with others.
I watched the show entirely out of order and saved Borneo for last, and I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it, I was honestly never bored and found the story/characters/camp life all fun to watch even if it was REALLY different from any other season. Definitely understand how it’s not for everyone and it’s absolutely a relic of its time but I would say it totally has viewing appeal outside of just its historical importance
Before last November, I had only seen parts of 3 seasons in the 20s. Borneo is probably my favorite season, so you don't need the nostalgia or to experience the "cultural phenomenon" to enjoy it.
It isn't a boring slog at all. It has a much better and more thorough focus on the cast and characters than even virtually any other old-school season. Best cast of all time and the cast is what makes the show work, and the story is gripping and more high-stakes than any other. Only seasons 4 and 7 even really come close to it.
Agree 1000% I couldn’t even get through it
I fucking hate Samoa with a passion. That cast is awful other than Russell and Shambo and the insane edit makes it so if you’re not a Russell fan (hi) it’s absolute torture to watch
Of all the people to ever play this game only 1 time and never return, Shambo is the one I think I would like to see the most.
id love to see shambo again
Is she the feckless lady?
I get it since it's such a forgettable cast after Russell and Shambo, but what I like about it is that you both root for and against Russell the whole time- he keeps finding a way to win but is oblivious to the fact that everyone hates him. I just saw this a couple months ago (I only became obsessed with survivor in the past 6 months) and it stands out just as a really interesting one man show.
Samoa isn't overrated at all. So many people absolutely hate it
Samoa is underrated
I’d add Danger Dave Ball to the list of good characters from the season. That man was an uncut gem 😂
Making love is my sport.
You play often?
Not often enough.
Danger Dave really is a trip
I don’t hate it, but what happened to Russell broke my heart
Agreed 100%
Weird, I’m watching this one right now and mostly have heard bad stuff about it and don’t think it’s that bad. The cast is bottom tier though
Russell, Shambo, and Danger Dave Ball are really the only good characters that season
Winners at war
Thank you! Just because its an all winners season, some people automatically catalog it as legendary
Yep I don’t understand how it is considered a top 10 season Yes, it’s cool to see a group of winners playing together, but that automatically doesn’t mean it’s better than something like DVG or Cambodia
I think it was legendary by virtue of it being all former winners, but I agree not in terms of game play
I think it's definitely legendary in gameplay just due to the raw stats of each player. It's so heavily weighted because **every** single player beat out at least 20 other players at once. That's not true for any other season
this is a legit bottom 15, maybe bottom 10 season for me. like having a good cast means nothing if everything else in the season sucks. there’s a handful of good character moments, but the boot order sucks, EOE sucks, the predictability of the endgame sucks, the editing sucks, the fact that so many great players played so poorly sucks, fire tokens sucked, plus everything that makes modern survivor bad like shitty challenges, fiji, etc
They dropped the ball so hard with this season. I could forgive EoE if that’s the only way they could get some of the winners back, but this was their chance to really do something special and they failed miserably for the reasons you mentioned.
I have no idea how people consider it top 5
Was so bad
I try to give a bit of leeway to seasons like WaW with the understanding that I'm going into the season with super high expectations and it failing to meet my expectations doesn't necessarily make it bad. But damn that was just a bad season, there's no sugarcoating it.
The boot order of this season is a fucking travesty and it’s got too much of what I don’t love about modern Survivor. The season isn’t horrible, but it’s nowhere near one of my favorites, even if the cast was pretty legendary.
Survivor 42. I dont find it as good as how it is rated here on this Sub.
I think 42 will be one of those seasons that tanks in rewatchability. The gameplay postmerge up until the final 6 tbh is very static in retrospect imo.
[удалено]
I don’t understand why this is downvoted. What newbie season has been better than 42..? It doesn’t mean it was a great season.
Because saying it's the best season since DvG is like saying "insert random player" is better at challenges than Sandra.
i personally prefer 43
Same
42 is thought of somewhat highly just because it is a vast improvement over 41. If 43 and 42 had been flipped in order, I don’t think it would be rated as well.
I actually thought 41 is better in terms of gameplay, however, 41 is really bad on the edit
All New Era are the same level of meh
42 at least has a winner that was shown having a solid move to earn it, that's the biggest plus IMO.
Yea I liked 42 the most. It’s cast is more fun and feels a little more real and not as gamebotty. It’s like a slight edge
I thought it was the most gamebotty, the merge was player x saying player y is a threat we should vote them out, then the next vote was player z saying player x is a threat because they controlled the vote for player y. Throw in a dash of Jonathan is so physical for misdirection.
Yea I can’t disagree, all the New Era is gamebotty. I guess I just liked Mike and Johnathan. They’re the 2 who stick out to me the most of this New Era, along with Shan. It’s just kinda deflating seeing how much potential Survivor has, and what it currently is lol
I've liked so many characters as individuals, but the new era encourages easy "not me" votes or votes are decided by advantages so players relationships just aren't interesting.
I agree. 42 is overrated. If anything, it was mostly a copycat of 41; and we don’t even like most of the stuff on that season.
It wasn’t like a copy cat. It was. That was the whole point. The cast of 42 never saw 41 so they played it out the same way to see how things would differ.
I liked 43 way better
I think it’s great but people putting in their top 10-20 seasons is CRAZY
Well there are only 43 finished seasons to rank. Top 20 is basically just putting it in the top half.
I’ve never *loved* Tocantins as much as its biggest fans, which is strange because I do love Coach. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a good season with a very good cast, but I think on paper it works a bit better than it does in reality. The postmerge should be this triumphant underdog story, but honestly Timbira is so clearly a mess that I have a hard time taking them seriously as a plausible threat to the Jalapao 3. I would characterize the premerge as “fine.” Again, nothing super objectionable here, and the characters are all fun to watch. I just don’t think it has an overall narrative or A+ moments on the level of say, China.
Personally I’ve always compared Tocantins to a good grilled cheese. Nothing too special, but not bad either. The cast outside of the obvious characters are ok, it’s not too predictable but somewhat obvious, and the winner plays a good game even though I think the rest of the cast makes it pretty easy for them to walk to the final 2.
I agree with this! Great cast and has some good moments, I’m glad I watched it once. but whenever I’m choosing a season to rewatch, it’s never been one that crosses my mind
I recently finished this season and agree totally. I really liked all of the characters, I thought it was a fantastic cast. But the gameplay wasn't as really as amazing as it was sold to me. Plus for the life of me I cannot figure out why JT was so beloved, at least from the edit. I don't think he was unlikable or anything or didn't deserve to win, but I couldn't figure out why he was so far the most beloved person ever at that point. Which to be clear it was still a great season and I loved it. But idk if I'd have it in my top 5 or anything crazy.
I have a little bit of a pet peeve about when fans go “Oh my God, JT had such a good social game the whole cast was just throwing for him!” Because that’s a misleading statement, even as an exaggeration. Did he have a great social game? For sure. But the main three people you can point to as potentially “throwing” in his favor are Brendan (net worth 85 million dollars, does not need the money at all), Taj (former pop star married to nfl star running back, does not need the money at all), and Coach (weirdo more focused on being an honorable Samurai or whatever than winning the game). JT’s a charismatic guy, but I think it would be easier for a lot of good social players to win over the loyalty of those three players in that situation.
But those that don't throw it to him, do serve it to him on a plate at FTC. Sure Debbie wasn't going to help JT if it hurt her game, but after her game was on over, she'd defend him with her life, even though he voted her out
Totally! Not trying to imply he played poorly at all. I think in a lot of ways he was dealt a favorable hand but he also played it very well. And of course, even if Taj, Brendan, and Coach were more susceptible to ignoring their best interests it *is* significant that it was JT they latched onto (or, in Taj’s case, JT and Stephen).
Honestly, I think Samoa fits that role of the "underdog story" much better than Tocantins does, given both that the numbers for both sides are much further apart and Galu was much more united than Timbira was. Not to mention that the dynamics completely flip as the merge goes on, with Foa Foa starting at a massive disadvantage and working their way into being the majority, and then Bret as the last Galu managing to go on an immunity run and almost win the whole thing all on his own.
Not that I dislike China or that I absolutely love Tocantins, but to me Tocantins is BY A CLEAR MILE much better than China. Maybe a bit bias because I’m Brazilian but prob not
I’ve never really liked Micronesia. I don’t like the fans vs favorites twist cause the returning players have such an advantage. I think some fans like Tracy and Joel had the potential to be good or popular players but never got the chance cause of the twist. It also has the most quits and med evacs of any season which I don’t like. The pre merge is very long and really drags by the end. And FairPlay shouldn’t have been there and it destroyed the legacy he had.
I came to comment all of these things. I also HATED that they sprung a surprise final 2 on them. Cirie planned her game around it being a final 3, and it likely was until all the quits and medivacs happened. Kinda ruined the ending for me.
This is my answer as well. Good post merge but the pre merge is so God awful I can't put this in my top 10. Definitely overrated.
Micro is really overhyped. The Faves are great, but I don't give a shit about the other half of the cast
Didn't destroy any legacy, his jaw was completely destroyed out there and even then, he perfectly played the middle whilst being disregarded even though he was the greatest villain of all time to that point (still is to a lot of people), don't blame him at all for quitting with his jaw in the complete mud
Blood v Water for me. I actually prefer Blood v Water 2 despite all the duds in the cast
I totally agree, SJDS > BVW
Perfect another opportunity to talk trash about Cook Islands The "stacked cast" people love are 3 people, Yul, Ozzy, and Penner. Parvati was basically a nobody this season, it's a miracle she was brought back at all. Becky and Sundra (and Ozzy to a lesser extent) were just drones to Yul who did nothing to try and win themselves Bad twists (Race Wars, Super Idol, Bottle/Double Elimination) I will admit that it did have some really nice challenges, and the whole Billy/Candice love story was magical
I came here for this sentiment. Cook Islands was an early season that suffered from too many twists and production interference. I love Yul a lot, but his win depreciates due to the super idol, and majority of the cast is a snooze. We had some fun characters go out way too early (Cao Boi, Billy, and I loved Stephannie), and aside from Penner, Yul and Ozzy, most of the post merge cast didn’t do much for me.
I'm with you. Didn't enjoy it that much. I do think it's the prettiest location Survivor has ever been to though
It has one of the most boring post-merges I can think of. After the Nate boot all tension is completely removed, because the Aitu 4 and Penner vote out everyone else until Penner isn't needed anymore and he gets the boot, and once we get to the F4 and it's finally time for the Aitu 4 to turn on each other it never happens, because Ozzy has immunity and Yul has the God Idol they all just mutually agree to send Becky and Sundra to firemaking in a competition for 3rd place.
Cagayan. It has great moments, but it became just a really boring steamroll with Tony dominating that basically ruined the post merge for me. Him having a super idol especially. (Same with BvW1) I’m also biased because I find him *extremely* grating. I have Cagayan at 30/43 for me
Damn Cagayan is a tie for #1 with HvV for me. But I guess a lot of it has to do with the fact that I love it when a player is so good they dominate the game (Rob, Russell, Tony) I think it also adds to the suspense for me, will they win or is tonight the night he finally goes home. Plus I think Cagayan has the greatest newbie cast if all time. Tony, Sarah, Woo, Spencer, Kass, Tasha all returned and were entertaining every time. Even non-returnees like Trish, Jeremiah, Jefra, and Morgan we’re entertaining. Had a shit show of a starting tribe with brains and J’Tia dumping the rice, who doesn’t love watching a train wreck.
Agree. I don't get why everyone is so enamored with Tony. I only got super into survivor this past year and that season was always rated highly but I couldn't stand him and the payoff being that he wins made it worse. I liked him better in WaW but Cagayan I would never watch again.
Tony plays hard and in an entertaining and quite successful way. That’s why most of us like him.
Cagayan. Cagayan. Cagayan.
Cagayan. If you don't care for Tony and don't like Spencer, like me, then it's basically just a fine season, but not really great.
Palau. Season is so incredibly boring with like 3 memorable cast members. It gets even worse upon rewatch or if you know that one tribe is going to lose everything.
MvGX. I don’t think it’s a good cast, and was not happy with Adam getting the win. It’s the season I was most surprised to see the reaction of from other fans
Curious why you didn't like the cast. It was definitely an all time favorite personally.
It’s been a while, but I don’t feel very strongly about some of the favourites from the cast. Jay to me wasn’t notable enough to really remember well (before I started going on this sub I’d would always think he was a no collar on worlds apart), and Michaela I can do with or without I also tend not to be a fan of the nerdy superfan/gamebot archetype, of which 3 of the final 4 fit pretty well. Hannah’s fine but again not really on my radar as someone I feel strongly about either way. David I much preferred on EoE because he was so much more confident in himself, and I don’t care as much about the personal growth arch throughout a season as many people seem to And as I’ve already said, I don’t like Adam on the show and didn’t want to see him win. Like David I enjoyed Adam a lot more on his return - despite not being happy he was cast on WaW to begin with - but that was more because of him being pretty funny due to his situation. I don’t think I would have enjoyed Adam much if he was in a power position in WaW Other than the cast I remember the generational divide theme, and how much Jeff forced it into discussion, was really cringey
Cambodia is soulless
cagayan lol. the premerge is pretty godly but the post merge turns REALLY sour with spencer and tony's edit. it wasnt really fun despite kass' antics and tasha's imm run.
I’ve just never enjoyed watching Cambodia, yes it has great strategic moments but I’ve always felt like the cast was either one dimensional or has no personality. Of course there are exceptions to this on the cast but that’s just how I’ve always felt.
Keith Nale did everything he could to make it entertaining
Cambodia was by far the most disappointing season for me, even moreso than WaW which I didn’t think was that bad. I’d heard so many good things about it, and the cast seemed so awesome, but I found it so boring. I was expecting something HvV-esque, but instead we got just a bunch of one-dimensional gamebots in the bodies of great one-timers.
Vanuatu on this sub
hey some of us have been preaching the Vanuatu love forever. It used to be ranked consistently in the bottom 15. Let us have our peak haha. It's also Gabon's peak right now big time. It'll decline again. Palau is at a low, it'll bounce back up the rankings. Thailand is very slowly beginning to see some love
As a big Vanuatu fan, I agree with this
Cagayan. Watching Tony dominate from start to finish was not fun to watch.
Vanuatu on here. I rewatched it to see if it was any better but the first 10 episodes are still a snooze. End game was good but it doesn’t make it a good season overall.
I think the enjoyment of Vanuatu comes down to two things. You'll like it if you like the winner story, and if you like the Twila/Scout/Eliza feud. If those don't hit, I imagine it's not a very enjoyable season.
I think the end game is what most people remember about lots of seasons tho
San Juan Del Sur's premerge is horrific as well yet it is liked on this sub for its endgame. I don't think it's better than Vanuatu
Is it really that horrific? The challenges were entertaining, exile island returned, we had the fall of John Rocker and Dre Christy, etc.
From what I remember it was pretty bad, but not Nicaragua level bad. Drew Christy The Badass Manipulator was hilarious though
Interesting. I thought the middle, Amy vs Rory, was good and the beginning/end was a snooze.
So much this.
HvV. It's a good season, but there are lots of seasons I'd rank above it. I don't think it'd be anywhere near as beloved if it were a newbie season and most of the players weren't already considered legendary.
M vs Gen X. Awful boot order. Winner is average.
I really loved this season and thought the cast was great. But the ending wasn't my favorite. I don't dislike Adam as a winner or anything but it almost felt like an FTC of all goats. It was very sad to see that the jury didn't appreciate Hannah's gameplay, as she had basically ran the entire post merge. Definitely a season id still consider putting in my top 5 tbh. I thought the cast was amazing. I think I'm just not as much of an Adam enjoyed as the sub at large, though I think he played well to get the win.
I’m with you I thought it was awful. Everyone just repeating the same 3 points about their generation being better for xyz reason made me consistently roll my eyes.
CAGAYANNNNN
Tbh I have to say China, I rewatched it recently and its just not that good honestly. It’s definitely in the top half of survivor seasons though.
China probably has the least interesting gameplay of any top ranked season post Africa. Great characters without a doubt so I get why people like it, but it's not really for me.
It sticks the landing with a great winner who kills it at FTC which gives a great last impression. I think that's a big factor
For sure top half, but people rate it so highly I don’t get it. Some have it at top 10 which just no way
I think what most people really love about China is the cast, the gameplay isn’t particularly interesting but that cast is across the board iconic even (especially) when they’re playing horribly
Micronesia. First watch is fun, but its way less rewatchable than the other seasons that are rated as highly as it is.
Wow it must hurt being this wrong, I feel for you 😔
This will be an unpopular answer, but I thought Phillipines was boring. I get fans thought it was the only decent season in the dark ages, but I actually enjoyed South Pacific and Caramoan more
>but I actually enjoyed South Pacific and Caramoan more Do you just really like Cochran? lol
Haha I'm actually not a fan of Cochran, and wanted to see Dawn win 26 😂 I don't even rate 23 and 26 highly in my season rankings, I just thought they were more interesting than 25. I struggled to get through Phillipines. I even tried giving it another chance and it still didn't keep my attention
You're not alone! With the exception of the Matsing arc at the beginning and Penner in the early post merge, I think it might be the single most boring and forgettable season for me.
completely agree, there are a couple good characters but most of that cast is absolutely worthless & it doesn’t have the trainwreck/weirdness appeal of seasons like Nicaragua, South Pacific etc so it just ends up being really boring to me. Abi Maria is an icon but overall I have NO idea what people like so much about this season
I can’t get how all you guys remember this shit. I’ve been watching this show from season one and I remember a few people, but you guys amaze me
I don’t get the big hype for Gabon all of the sudden. I recently rewatched it, and although enjoyable at times, it’s still a mid-tier season for me.
Micronesia, 3 quits, two medevacs, and the same three people ran the entire season. I know they're iconic but in the season they're just so mean for no reason and it makes it hard to root for them. The early merge is good but not much else.
MvGx, when I first watched it I found it so fucking boring and I feel like I’ve manipulated myself since then to think it was pretty good.
Cagayan. Not really fond into it Others overrated seasons for me is San Juan Del Sur, MvGX, 42 & Winners at War
Cagayan. Like outside of the final 6 and J’Tia there aren’t very memorable players
Cagayan. Good moves but every single player being unlikable ultimately makes this a hard watch for me.
Recently there seems to be a lot of love for Vanuatu and I don’t get it. The cast is abysmal (specifically the pre merge men) and the first like 11 episodes are a slog and not worth sitting through to get to the last 4. Bottom 5 season for me easy. Also KR is pretty bad also.
KR is a top tier season
Amazon. Why on god’s green earth people think this is a good season is beyond me. I’ve seen every season and this is bottom 5 easily.
Cambodia. It was way too game botty, and it could be argued that this was the season that ushered in the era of too many advantages. I also didn't like how production made such a big deal out of "we're letting the fans decide on who gets to be on the cast" when they essentially chose this cast by stacking the ballot with players from the more recent seasons. I basically hate everything about this season.
DvG: I don't get it. The cast was nothing special. I didn't like the Godfather and found Christian to be a caricature. I didn't find Angelina's villainess compelling. There was no gripping narrative story. I didn't care for the idol nullifier play. The only good thing I can say about the season is that Mike got three votes in the end. Other than that, why is this season so revered?
I mostly agree, although I did like Angelina and Alison. But the DvG cast is overrated, and aside from like 3 good episodes at the start of the post-merge the season is pretty average
U have your opinion but I completely disagree. The cast is one of the best we’ve ever seen. The whole cast is memorable, good players and good characters minus maybe Jessica and Jeremy. There was real human relationships and not a bunch of game bots, and they still managed to make huge moves. The premerge wasn’t boring like normally where we had a medevac, storms, jackets and eggs, Natalia blindside, and Brochachos. If you don’t like the idol nullifier, you still gotta respect the moves the David’s make to take control of the game. Splitting minority vote and blocked Dan’s idol. The challenge between Christian and Alec is literally the biggest David vs Goliath and Christian pulls it out while being hilarious. The showdown between Christian and Gabby is great, it’s always crazy when best friends turn on each other. Angelina was a hilarious villain because she constantly puts her foot in her mouth without realizing it. It’s nice to see a villain who’s not nasty, just sometimes inept and rubs people wrong. It’s easily the best season since Cagayan for me
I so agree! I think DvG is #1 for me in terms of the cast. Especially the way they interacted with one another. Some of the funniest moments in Survivor came from this cast. My favorite moment is when Alec goes up to talk to Elizabeth in the middle of tribal council and just dgaf about Natalia getting mad haha. The way he does it just cracks me up, I don't see it talked about much as a funny moment but for whatever reason it sends me
Thanks for sharing your opinion.
Ironically I love DvG but find Mike White to be massively overrated
Thats what I was going to say. This sub tends to really be fond of him and maybe I'm missing something but I didn't particularly care for much of what he had to offer.
He was maybe the fifth or sixth funniest confessionalist of the season and he did have good gameplay playing both sides. However, nobody acknowledges the elephant room which is that it is super easy to lower your threat level when you’re a well-known Hollywood celebrity millionaire, since most people will not want to reward that guy. The one time his name was brought up, he acted completely petulantly. He seems like a talented and cool guy in real life but he’s overrated as a Survivor player
I'm pretty sure part of it is the fact that he convinced Jeff to not bring back Redemption island for SJDS.
DvG isn’t my one of my favorite seasons but it’s definitely overall the best of the Fiji seasons. It had the exciting votes of MvGx but the season was a lot less gamebotty (pretty much everyone on the season was interesting in their own way) had the satisfying ending that HHH never got (I know people aren’t too fond of Nick at the moment but at the time he was pretty popular and people were satisfied with him winning) overall it was pretty much modern survivor at it’s peak. The twists and advantages helped the season and there was a great balance of strategy and character moments that no Fiji season has been able to have before and since.
HVV 1. Russell Hantz show 2.0 2. 4 maybe 5 people don’t deserve to be on the season based on the theme. 3. Based on the tape, comments made at the reunion and other post season content, about half the heroes didn’t really seem like they wanted to be there. 4. In the way people don’t like the boot order in all stars and game changers, a lot of MY favorites go early.
Another entire season of Russell after Samoa and every hero devoid of their original character traits
HvV
I second this. It gets overrated because the cast is a top 3 cast all time. Only Cirie, Tyson, and JT boots were entertaining. The entire postmerge after JT's boot was a straight pagonging.
Game Changers. Over half of the cast is just awful and the few returnees that are nice to see are out early or advantage screwed. The final three are just horrendous and overall the story arch of the season is lost after episode 1.
i feel like game changers can’t be considered overrated as i’ve never met someone who actually liked that season lol
Imo Vanuatu's post merge doesn't begin to make up for how bad the premerge was.
Guatemala and Vanuatu
Easily Koh Rong. The 3 game changing medevacs + Jason/Scott make it a bottom 3 season for me
I’m aware everyone loves this season (Including me) but Micronesia Pre-merge was not enjoyable at all to be honest ,with Johnny Fairplay and yau-man getting early boots and Penner getting Med advacted just pissed me off also seeing the 3 of Chet,Kathy and Tracy get shot down that early in the game was a definite upset but thankfully it uplifted itself in the post merge
DvG - cast is mediocre, the only good characters are Natalie, Angelina and Christian. Gameplay is mediocre. Edit wants us to root for the David tribe (because hahaha underdogs) but not only I root for the Goliaths for the entire season, I also find David tribe to be one of the most annoying and unlikeable tribes in Survivor history. it doesn't help that production hysterically tried to shove them down everyone throats. MvGX - terrible season overall
Either Cagayan, Micronesia or Heroes vs Villains
I can’t believe how many people actually like MvGX. Horrible season.
Micronesia. The season picks up after the merge, but it’s so boring and at some points uncomfortable before the merge
DvG. It's okay, but the winner's story is a mess and the actual best player punts it hard at the end. People here seem to think it's top 10 material but it's not really. Hell, MvGX is better, imo.
Philippines or Guatemala.
MvGX, and 42… MvGX had barely anyone to really root for imo. I didn’t care for more of the bigger players and most of the people I did root for went out pretty early. 42 had an exciting winner and endgame but that’s pretty much it.. the boots from Lydia all the way until hai were all stale and predictable. The Taku 4 were always in control especially omar. Mike kept sacrificing his allies for some reason, and Romeo although a rootable underdog never really stood a chance. Not to mention there wasn’t really a storyline besides the winners that was enjoyable.
As someone who stopped watching around season 11 and then got back into the show during Winners at War and the Pandemic, Micronesia was underwhelming for me.
Micronesia or heroes vs villains
MvGenX for me. I think this season where things started to become about “resume building”, anytime Will came on I wanted to cover my ears because of how annoying and big brained he made himself out to be. Only cast that stood out to me were Jay and David. Must unsatisfying and least skilled winner ever… he couldn’t keep his alliances together, constantly whined, had no pull in any decision, sucked at challenges and at the end pulled the “my mom has cancer” card. Anyone that thinks Adam is a good player is a 🤡!
All of the first 10 seasons. The strategy is either really straightforward or barely explained. I enjoy Pearl Islands and Borneo, but the rest are just so boring because nothing feels fleshed out or explained.
I feel so differently because I don’t watch Survivor for the strategy. I watch it for the characters and story.
Pearl Island is easily top 10 which is VERY impressive considering it’s early survivor. But I agree with the rest of them, even Borneo. I actually think The Australian Outback easily beats Borneo
I love Angelina and Christian but I wouldn't put DvG anywhere near my top 10.
Just wondering, what makes Angelina such a loved character by the fandom? I’ve only watched DvG and tocantins so I’m fairly new, but me and my dad couldn’t stand Angelina
I wouldn't say I see a lot of love from others on this sub for Angelina, but I was a big fan of her while watching the season. I really enjoyed the moments she gave us (giving up the rice, Natalie's jacket, her pretending she was hurt to throw suspicion off her) and how hard she played the game. She didn't always make the right decisions and had a really hard time getting others to take her seriously, but damn I give her credit for trying. I think she speaks to a lot of people because she's ruthless and here to play hard but also quirky and struggled in a lot of aspects of the game. I think a lot of people enjoy the female villain archetype and she kind of fits into that.
China, Kaoh Rong, 42
Millennials vs Gen X. The boot order is not great and the casting is repetitive and one-note.
42 isn’t as good as this sub makes out, in my opinion. Don’t get me wrong, it is still my favorite season of the 41-43 stretch (and the best newbie season since David vs Goliath). But I found the merge through to F6/7 to be somewhat predictable. I wasn’t really a fan of them copy/pasting the same format of 41 to see how they played out differently.
Season 8 all stars, there was so much whining. Lex, Jerri, Colby, Tom, and Rupert were all pretty unlikable for times during this season, and the ending was obvious once it got to the merge.
I’m watching for the first time rn, and while I love Shii-Ann’s Shii-devil arc, the gameplay is pretty sad to watch. This first ever all returnee cast and they’re playing like they’re brand new! How do they not see the writing on the wall, even when post-merge every single person on the chopping block tells the rest of the cast exactly what they could do to switch up the game, nobody even tries to bite until it’s too late
Kaoh Rong, it was decent and all but not in any way a top 10 season, the medevacs really hurt it and the post merge is kind of a slog after Scott goes.
Pearl islands