Survivor 49 Discussion Thread

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It's the start of another Survivor preseason. This time for Survivor 49! The cast dropped today, which you can check out below.

Feel free to talk about all things Survivor 49 in this thread. As always, this thread will contain spoilers of every episode that has aired, so stay away until you're caught up! Discussion of previous seasons and players is also allowed. If you happen to run into a spoiler somewhere, please do not post it here.

Looking forward to another season of Survivor!

Meet the cast of 'Survivor 49'

The 'Survivor 49' cast has been revealed. Check out the photos, bios, and tribe divisions for the 18 players competing for a million dollars.

ew.com

 

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Jeff Probst said in an interview that Survivor 49 features two of their alternates. It's pretty rare for an alternate to make the actual season. Often in the new era, they're cast on a future season. However, due to some kind of rules violation, two players were sent home, and the two alternates were put in 12 hours before filming. Those players are Jason and MC.

This cast also features two alternates from previous seasons - Sage and Sophie.

 

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The On Fire podcast is not keeping with the tradition of having a player from the previous season on it. Instead, they're bringing in Jeremy Collins for season 49.

I really like this. No offense to the new era players, but I feel like we hear from them a lot since they're so fresh. I like to hear from older seasons, since we haven't heard from them in a while.

 

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Time for my preseason winner picks. As before, I'll do one man and one woman. I tried to keep the S50 casting out of my predictions, and honestly I didn't even remember which woman was on until after I made my rankings.

For the men, they all seemed very "average", and nobody really stood out too much. I didn't find tons of flaws in them, but I didn't love any of them, either. That being said, Steven is my male winner pick. I think he might be a solid all-around player.

It was tougher for the women. I saw a lot with winner potential, but also had higher risk. I like Savannah, Sophi, Sophie, and Kristina. Kristina's obvious question mark is can she make it past the premerge and help her tribe in challenges. If so, she has a personality you're drawn to. Sophi has an electric personality, but I worry she'll be viewed as a "Parvati" or "Dee", and people will be scared of her. I think Sophie was a well-rounded player, but I fear she could be viewed like Bianca as the "strategic woman". Savannah was fun in her interviews, and I feel like she had some really good answers, but I feel like she could be too big of a "villain" and get targeted.

All that said, I'm picking between Savannah and Sophie, and I think I'm leaning Savannah.

So my official winner picks are...

Male: Steven
Female: Savannah

I started making picks before season 31. Since then, I've gotten the following right:

33: Adam
39: Tommy
44: Yam Yam (my top pick was Matthew, but threw Yam Yam in as a backup in case Matthew was med evac'ed)
48: Kyle

In 46, my top pick was Kenzie. However, I thought she was too perfect, so I switched to my #2 in Soda. So my thought was right, but my official pick was wrong.

I also got close with Victoria (I think she would've won if Chris hadn't come back), Ricard, and Jesse.

 

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Our 49th premiere is in the books! It's crazy to think I've only been watching since February of 2013. It feels like I've been following this show my entire life. It's become such a huge part of who I am, which sounds extremely nerdy... and it is. But I wouldn't have it any other way!

It was a solid premiere. There's never really any earth-shattering stuff in premieres, but I feel like we got a good foundation of where things stand in the tribes. I think we're going to have a lot of fun characters this season. I don't envision what we had last season, which is good. The bro alliance might be a little much, but they still seem like fun characters. And it seems like Sophi and Jeremiah might be the real ones in power on that tribe.

Nicole had several memorable moments in this episode. Her falling down was really funny. It was the slowest fall I may have ever seen. Then Jeremiah spitting water in her face. And then her throwing up... not sure we needed to see that.

I'm liking Savannah, and after one episode I feel solid with her as my winner pick. Same for Steven. I also like Sophi. Matt was fun. I enjoyed Nate. I really liked Kristina. She was compared a lot to Cirie in the preseason, but she has more energy than Cirie. I think her energy is very similar to Taj. I'm hoping she goes far. She's super fun.

Nicole didn't do a whole lot wrong, but I think the issue is she didn't do a whole lot. She didn't seem to be out making alliances. She seemed to be sitting back and not trying to be a reason someone votes for her. The issue is, everyone else was out talking to each other. The first vote, you have to just go and latch onto some group. Who cares who it is? You just have to make it through.

I'm excited to see where this season goes! I'm hoping we have a hidden gem in 49.

 

[dmw]

Shoe Bandit!!!

 

[dmw]

It really bugs me that some players feel it is important to be the first [insert your claim] to win Survivor.
Or that they are playing the game for some personal reason - dying/dead relative, being a role model for others, make some other kind of statement, etc.
I really don't care. Just play the game and prove you are worthy of being the wining Survivor.
Of course, I know that to some people, the player's story is important... it's just not my thing.

 

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It really bugs me that some players feel it is important to be the first [insert your claim] to win Survivor.
Or that they are playing the game for some personal reason - dying/dead relative, being a role model for others, make some other kind of statement, etc.
I really don't care. Just play the game and prove you are worthy of being the wining Survivor.
Of course, I know that to some people, the player's story is important... it's just not my thing.

I don't mind if players are playing for something other than themselves. Does it shift my mindset? Not really. If they don't play a good game, they don't deserve to win. But it's totally okay with me if mentally, they are playing for something bigger than themselves. It's not a terrible idea to think that way, as it probably motivates a lot of players to do better.

 

[dmw]

I don't mind if players are playing for something other than themselves. Does it shift my mindset? Not really. If they don't play a good game, they don't deserve to win. But it's totally okay with me if mentally, they are playing for something bigger than themselves. It's not a terrible idea to think that way, as it probably motivates a lot of players to do better.

to me, that is why so many players fail. They put a burden on themselves to be the first, or do it for someone, or win so it inspires others... Play to win. Make that the only reason. Any other reason and you put a mental burden on yourself, and if you don't win, you've not only lost a game, but you lost your cause. Way too much burden for me. No, thank you.

 

[artvandelay]

I think we can all agree that Rizo aka The RizGod is one of the season 49 players on season 50. He is the type of player Jeff loves and he gives good confessionals.

 

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to me, that is why so many players fail. They put a burden on themselves to be the first, or do it for someone, or win so it inspires others... Play to win. Make that the only reason. Any other reason and you put a mental burden on yourself, and if you don't win, you've not only lost a game, but you lost your cause. Way too much burden for me. No, thank you.

I see what you're saying, however I believe playing for someone else can work. There are many examples of it. Adam played for his mom. Jeremy played for his wife and newborn son. Maryanne talked about representing people of color. Gabler played for veterans. Ben talked about representing veterans with PTSD. Plenty of people have played for more than just themselves, but that doesn't mean they aren't playing to win. I don't believe those things are mutually exclusive.

 

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I think we can all agree that Rizo aka The RizGod is one of the season 49 players on season 50. He is the type of player Jeff loves and he gives good confessionals.

I'm still on the fence about Rizo. The nickname is a huge turnoff for me, not gonna lie. I hate it so much. And he gave it to himself. I also found it cringey when he started crying in confessional... I'm not sure. There's just something about him that makes it hard for me to root for. I'm sure he's a great guy, and he could be a great player. Outside of giving himself a nickname, he hasn't done anything that should turn me off. But there's something. I can't quite pinpoint it. This is probably more a reflection of me than him, though.

 

[Wendy Pleakley]

It's that special time of the year when Survivor comes back, follows the exact same template as the last eight seasons, and I make the same complaint that they really need to change things up a bit.

It's probably because I'm a few days removed from watching a momentous global Survivor showdown from Australia, but I just kind of zoned out a lot during this.

Can't wait for next week when the tribe without flint loses again and then we wait for the merge for the actual game to being.

Yeah, I'm being cynical, but I still love the show. Really.

The shoe bandit thing felt a bit cringe to me. Like, a forced effort to be a funny character. It just felt pointless.

 

[CynBeth]

I do not care for the blue team at all.

 

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Another pretty straight forward vote.

I will say, the journey was much better this time. I like that nobody lost their vote, and the person who won had to make a decision that would impact the game. Alex now has 6 people who may have a negative feeling towards him.

Outside of that, I'm so over the new era format. Everything is so predictable. The beware advantages aren't fun. The disaster tribe is soooooo overplayed. It's not fun to watch once group of people break down and be depressed and vote everyone off. And with 6 people to start, it takes away so many opportunities because people are just going to latch onto a group of 4. And even if one person wants to defect, like MC, they defect into a 3:3 tie. There's nothing good about it.

At least with 50, we're hopefully going to start with tribes of 8, which is a little better. But two tribes of 10 is the ultimate format. Sprinkle in some three tribes of 6 here and there, but two larger tribes opens up the game so much more.

I don't feel like we got a ton elsewhere from this episode. Jake's shoe bandit schtick is old already. We didn't learn much new about anyone else.

I'm more down on this season after the second episode than the first. But Jeff did suggest the idea that the season starts slow, but really picks up in the end. 46 was that way, too. Maybe one of the worst premerges of all time, but a really good post merge.

 

[artvandelay]

Another pretty straight forward vote.

I will say, the journey was much better this time. I like that nobody lost their vote, and the person who won had to make a decision that would impact the game. Alex now has 6 people who may have a negative feeling towards him.

Outside of that, I'm so over the new era format. Everything is so predictable. The beware advantages aren't fun. The disaster tribe is soooooo overplayed. It's not fun to watch once group of people break down and be depressed and vote everyone off. And with 6 people to start, it takes away so many opportunities because people are just going to latch onto a group of 4. And even if one person wants to defect, like MC, they defect into a 3:3 tie. There's nothing good about it.

At least with 50, we're hopefully going to start with tribes of 8, which is a little better. But two tribes of 10 is the ultimate format. Sprinkle in some three tribes of 6 here and there, but two larger tribes opens up the game so much more.

I don't feel like we got a ton elsewhere from this episode. Jake's shoe bandit schtick is old already. We didn't learn much new about anyone else.

I'm more down on this season after the second episode than the first. But Jeff did suggest the idea that the season starts slow, but really picks up in the end. 46 was that way, too. Maybe one of the worst premerges of all time, but a really good post merge.

I agree. The disaster tribe is not fun to watch. Maybe, for 51, go back to tribes of 8. With the shortened season and 16 people we can avoid the “both tribes going to tribal”.