Survivor S39: Island of the Idols

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Dan issued an apology to Kellee - the first time he's spoken out about it. Reports say he was planning to apologize at the live finale, but was later uninvited to the finale. I have also heard that Elizabeth and Jack chose not to attend the finale.

 

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Not much to say about this finale. Super predictable. I predicted the exact order things would happen in. But I'm pumped for season 40! I'll start a season 40 thread soon.

 

[SAV]

Right up until they were down to 4, I thought Tommy had it in the bag. Then Dean went on his tear and was edited to look really good. He put up great arguments at Final Tribal I really thought it was going his way. But it didn't. This is definitely in the bottom 5 seasons for me. All of the Dan stuff really hurt it for me. I didn't mind Rob and Sandra in their roles. It was a part, but not a big intrusion on the game.

But...I am so STOKED for season 40. Is it February yet???

 

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The Dean edit was interesting, but I knew a guy who looked so foolish for the vast majority of the season was not going to win. Especially after they showed him saying he needed to go take a poop.

 

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Season 40 thread has been created!

Survivor S40: Winners at War

Welcome to the latest Survivor thread! With Island of the Idols in the rear view mirror, it's time to start talking about one of the most anticipated seasons of all time... Season 40: Winners at War! Here's the cast of 20 past winners: Ethan Zohn Sandra Diaz-Twine Amber Mariano (Brkich) Danni...

forums.wdwmagic.com

 

[Smiley/OCD]

Is it me or is Dean, Noah Wylie’s twin brother...

 

[BrianLo]

Something a little deeply satisfying that the one person not gifted 'the twist' was the winner. I too was fearful that they were making a last second pitch for Dean. Survivor was going to dig itself a hole if they basically had a second winner in a row that only sort of played the game in the remaining 5 days.

I still don't understand why Rob and Sandra watched the majority of the tribals. The twist was kind of dumb, honestly.


Next season sounds like a great palate cleanser. I'm glad Edge of Extinction is back, but they need to ensure if they do two returnees, that the people eligible for the first go are not eligible for the second (and preferentially that it occurs slightly earlier).

 

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So as some of you may recall, over the summer I started a rewatch of old seasons. I did season 1-14, as well as 17. I skipped 15 and 16 because I have rewatched those a second time since my original viewing of them. Probably 2 or 3 years ago. I have been compiling my own season rankings list. On this list are also seasons I remember clearly enough to feel confident ranking. It also includes season 26-28, which I have gone back and rewatched a second time since my original viewings of them. Here is the list so far, including IoI.

1. Micronesia (16)
2. Heroes vs Villains (20)
3. Cambodia (31)
4. Cagayan (28)
5. David vs Goliath (37)
6. The Amazon (6)
7. Borneo (1)
8. Blood vs Water (27)
9. Cook Islands (13)
10. Panama (12)
11. China (15)
12. Pearl Islands (7)
13. Caramoan (26)
14. Millennials vs Gen X (33)
15. Palau (10)
16. Africa (3)
17. Fiji (14)
18. Vanuatu (9)
19. All-Stars (8)
20. Game Changers (34)
21. Gabon (17)
22. Guatemala (11)
23. Marquesas (4)
24. The Australian Outback (2)
25. Heroes vs Healers vs Hustlers (35)
26. Thailand (5)
27. Ghost Island (36)
28. Edge of Extinction (38)
29. Island of the Idols (39)

My reasoning for having IoI so low is the same as Dalton Ross'. It just wasn't fun past the merge. Mainly due to Dan, but also because all of the fun characters were voted out early or weren't given air time due to their boot spot (Janet).

It does kind of alarm me that my current bottom three are all in the past four seasons. And 4 of my bottom 5 happened i the past 5 seasons. David vs Goliath is an extreme outlier it seems. I credit this to advantages giving the viewer what they want to see almost the entire season. This is rare in modern Survivor, as we just witnessed with Janet. I also do not have the early 20s in here, so I expect a lot of movement near the bottom. After my first watch, I consistently thought of Gabon as my least favorite season. I liked it much more the second time around, but it's still a pretty unlikable cast. I have just grown to like a guy like Randy with more Survivor experience under my belt, which makes the season more tolerable.

I also have a player ranking list going on, where I have tried to rank every player from these 29 seasons. That is a tough challenge, as it's hard to remember exactly what ever player did, even upon rewatch. I won't bore you with that list. Maybe I'll post it when I have rewatched all the seasons. That probably won't happen until summer, though.

 

[flynnibus]

here's why I think more recent seasons are less engaging...

They've taken survivor out of survivor. The environment, their clothing, their food situation, the location itself... its all been so managed and supported now.

 

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I think casting is great these days, Dan aside. I wish we could take the casting from today and put it with the game from the seasons in the 20s. I think the 20s has the right balance of idols and normal gameplay. But the casting was terrible for much of the early 20s.