Survivor: Ghost Island

artvandelay

Well-Known Member
Rob Cesternino did a 3 hour podcast with Dominic that was excellent. A very deep dive into the season. Dom was candid about his game and the flaws that lead to his loss.
 

Wendy Pleakley

Well-Known Member
Rob Cesternino did a 3 hour podcast with Dominic that was excellent. A very deep dive into the season. Dom was candid about his game and the flaws that lead to his loss.

I listened to an hour or so of this so far and it's quite interesting.

Good insight into the game, showing how building relationships and navigating a wide variety of personality types is the biggest challenge, and the key to doing well.
 

PUSH

Well-Known Member
Any chance we want to start a new Survivor thread for David vs Goliath? There's some big Survivor rumors/news (not sure if it's official).

Sounds like Lynne Spillman, the casting director, is out after 19 years with the show. I've heard she was fired. I believe she also did casting for The Amazing Race. And it sounds like Russ Landau, the man who is responsible for the Survivor music, is also out.

I heard this on Twitter from several different people, including former castaways.
 

artvandelay

Well-Known Member
Any chance we want to start a new Survivor thread for David vs Goliath? There's some big Survivor rumors/news (not sure if it's official).

Sounds like Lynne Spillman, the casting director, is out after 19 years with the show. I've heard she was fired. I believe she also did casting for The Amazing Race. And it sounds like Russ Landau, the man who is responsible for the Survivor music, is also out.

I heard this on Twitter from several different people, including former castaways.
Sounds like Jeff Probst is taking even more control over the show. Survivor casting has always been top notch. Hate to see her go.
 

PUSH

Well-Known Member
Sounds like Jeff Probst is taking even more control over the show. Survivor casting has always been top notch. Hate to see her go.
Really, from season 25 to now has been great in terms of cast. I can hop on board bad casts for seasons 21-24, and some of the earlier seasons, but they've nailed it lately. Ghost Island wasn't a bad cast, it's just so many good and interesting players were taken out pre-merge (Stephanie, Brendan, Bradley, Morgan, etc).
 

Wendy Pleakley

Well-Known Member
Really, from season 25 to now has been great in terms of cast. I can hop on board bad casts for seasons 21-24, and some of the earlier seasons, but they've nailed it lately. Ghost Island wasn't a bad cast, it's just so many good and interesting players were taken out pre-merge (Stephanie, Brendan, Bradley, Morgan, etc).

This is one of the things that makes Survivor continue to be entertaining, the unpredictability.

How do you "cast" Survivor in a way that makes it better? Isn't part of the point to have a diverse group of people and see what happens?

Just as an example, if you cast a fantastic player, and they go on to dominate, it's not the most entertaining thing to watch. What's the formula?

How much does casting even play a part anymore? The show is so focused on idols and twists it doesn't often feel that the show is about who has the best gameplay.
 

PUSH

Well-Known Member
This is one of the things that makes Survivor continue to be entertaining, the unpredictability.

How do you "cast" Survivor in a way that makes it better? Isn't part of the point to have a diverse group of people and see what happens?

Just as an example, if you cast a fantastic player, and they go on to dominate, it's not the most entertaining thing to watch. What's the formula?

How much does casting even play a part anymore? The show is so focused on idols and twists it doesn't often feel that the show is about who has the best gameplay.
I think casting is crucial. I get that each season is going to have duds, just because you don't have enough time to show every player's impact on the game, but you want to try and get as many Domenick, Wendells, and Kellyns are you can, rather than Sebastians, Angelas, or Jennas. You are trying to get good storytellers and people who will play the game. Even with the twists and idols, I still don't think the Nicaragua cast would have made for a good season. I think that was just bad casting.
 

artvandelay

Well-Known Member
Really, from season 25 to now has been great in terms of cast. I can hop on board bad casts for seasons 21-24, and some of the earlier seasons, but they've nailed it lately. Ghost Island wasn't a bad cast, it's just so many good and interesting players were taken out pre-merge (Stephanie, Brendan, Bradley, Morgan, etc).
For me the only two seasons where the casting was bad was Nicaragua and One World. Also, if you compare Survivor casting to Big Brother casting, you’ll see better players out of survivor casting.
 

PUSH

Well-Known Member
For me the only two seasons where the casting was bad was Nicaragua and One World. Also, if you compare Survivor casting to Big Brother casting, you’ll see better players out of survivor casting.
I'd say Thailand, Nicaragua, and One World were bad. Redemption Island and South Pacific were average at best. I also want to say Gabon was bad, but that just because the alliance I couldn't stand is the one that got farther. And as far as One World goes, we got one of the best players of all time in Kim Spradlin. I actually thoroughly enjoyed watching her dominance that season.
 

Wendy Pleakley

Well-Known Member
I think casting is crucial. I get that each season is going to have duds, just because you don't have enough time to show every player's impact on the game, but you want to try and get as many Domenick, Wendells, and Kellyns are you can, rather than Sebastians, Angelas, or Jennas. You are trying to get good storytellers and people who will play the game. Even with the twists and idols, I still don't think the Nicaragua cast would have made for a good season. I think that was just bad casting.

To what degree does the show want more Domenick and Wendells? I feel like they want big moments, like someone giving away their immunity only to be voted off. That's the type of thing that happens to poor players.

Dom & Wendell were great players, but their dominance made for a by-the-books season. I think the producers want unpredictability, hence the never ending twists and advantages.
 

PUSH

Well-Known Member
To what degree does the show want more Domenick and Wendells? I feel like they want big moments, like someone giving away their immunity only to be voted off. That's the type of thing that happens to poor players.

Dom & Wendell were great players, but their dominance made for a by-the-books season. I think the producers want unpredictability, hence the never ending twists and advantages.
I think two things play into their dominance. First, most of the big play threats were voted off pre-merge. These were the Stephanies, Brendans, and Bradleys. Post-merge there really was just Chris and Kellyn who would be considered bigger threats. In Domenick's interview with Rob Cesternino, he made it seem like Des was also a big player, but we didn't see it on TV. And that leads into the second reason, the editing. I do think Dom and Wendell deserve praise for the incredible games they played, but I think the editing had something to do with us feeling their dominance. They knew it was going to be a tie vote, and they knew they had to portray those two as equals. That's the storyline of the whole season, especially in the first ever tie season. Had they showed other players like Kellyn and Des as huge strategic threats, the storyline would have been watered down. Now, I'm not saying it wasn't more by the book than other seasons, because it was, but I think the editing affected that based on the producers' knowledge of the outcome. Really the only two crucial players to this season's storyline were Dom and Wendell, with Laurel as a side piece.
 

Wendy Pleakley

Well-Known Member
I think two things play into their dominance. First, most of the big play threats were voted off pre-merge. These were the Stephanies, Brendans, and Bradleys. Post-merge there really was just Chris and Kellyn who would be considered bigger threats. In Domenick's interview with Rob Cesternino, he made it seem like Des was also a big player, but we didn't see it on TV. And that leads into the second reason, the editing. I do think Dom and Wendell deserve praise for the incredible games they played, but I think the editing had something to do with us feeling their dominance. They knew it was going to be a tie vote, and they knew they had to portray those two as equals. That's the storyline of the whole season, especially in the first ever tie season. Had they showed other players like Kellyn and Des as huge strategic threats, the storyline would have been watered down. Now, I'm not saying it wasn't more by the book than other seasons, because it was, but I think the editing affected that based on the producers' knowledge of the outcome. Really the only two crucial players to this season's storyline were Dom and Wendell, with Laurel as a side piece.

Yep, and all of this brings it back to the original question - how do you improve the casting (if that is indeed their goal)?

If they did indeed cast several other "big players", it's still clearly a bit of a crap shoot in terms of who lasts a long time, and who doesn't.

Maybe they want more people that will be beloved by fans, like Rupert.
 

PUSH

Well-Known Member
Yep, and all of this brings it back to the original question - how do you improve the casting (if that is indeed their goal)?

If they did indeed cast several other "big players", it's still clearly a bit of a crap shoot in terms of who lasts a long time, and who doesn't.

Maybe they want more people that will be beloved by fans, like Rupert.
I heard Jeff say once that you have to cast with this thought in mind: If this person is the last person standing, do we still have a good season? I think that's the ultimate goal. I think casting has been fine as of late. You're always going to have some duds, even if you thought they'd make good castaways. Although with some of them, you wonder how they ever gave off the impression that they'd be entertaining (Jenna).

Also, Rupert was entertaining in Pearl Islands, but I couldn't stand him from there on. His ego grew, and I especially couldn't stand him in HvV. There was a Survivor Superlatives on YouTube and he answered himself for nearly every question... including telling us he's the most strategic ever to play and that people just don't realize it... yeah, okay.
 

artvandelay

Well-Known Member
I think two things play into their dominance. First, most of the big play threats were voted off pre-merge. These were the Stephanies, Brendans, and Bradleys. Post-merge there really was just Chris and Kellyn who would be considered bigger threats. In Domenick's interview with Rob Cesternino, he made it seem like Des was also a big player, but we didn't see it on TV. And that leads into the second reason, the editing. I do think Dom and Wendell deserve praise for the incredible games they played, but I think the editing had something to do with us feeling their dominance. They knew it was going to be a tie vote, and they knew they had to portray those two as equals. That's the storyline of the whole season, especially in the first ever tie season. Had they showed other players like Kellyn and Des as huge strategic threats, the storyline would have been watered down. Now, I'm not saying it wasn't more by the book than other seasons, because it was, but I think the editing affected that based on the producers' knowledge of the outcome. Really the only two crucial players to this season's storyline were Dom and Wendell, with Laurel as a side piece.
The edit is key. That’s why I like listening to the post eviction interviews and long form interviews after the finale. Rob Cesternino does a great job cutting through the edit and finding out info we didn’t see. In Ghost Island we found out that Des and Chelsea were better players than we saw, Dom and Chelsea threw the challenge so they could evict Bradley, and Angela was well liked by the post merge players.

I wish cbs would do a longer cut of each episode on all access.
 

PUSH

Well-Known Member
The edit is key. That’s why I like listening to the post eviction interviews and long form interviews after the finale. Rob Cesternino does a great job cutting through the edit and finding out info we didn’t see. In Ghost Island we found out that Des and Chelsea were better players than we saw, Dom and Chelsea threw the challenge so they could evict Bradley, and Angela was well liked by the post merge players.

I wish cbs would do a longer cut of each episode on all access.
I was actually kind of impressed by Chelsea's play based on Dom's interview with Rob. Sounds like they had a very close, under the radar, alliance that got them so far into the game. When she did have confessionals, it seemed like she was well-spoken and intelligent. She seemed pretty strategic, and I wish that was shown.
 

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