Survivor S40: Winners at War

[PUSH]

Unless the players are instructed to act shocked when they are evicted. And if they don't do a satisfactory job, perhaps that scene is reshot.

I don't think that is the case. For example, with Parvati's vote we were led to believe it was a blindside. But Parvati said she new it was her and there was nothing she could do. She did not look surprised. I think many times it is a blindside for the person voted out, but not every time. I get why producers need to edit it as two different options, but it shouldn't be exaggerated.

 

[artvandelay]

This week, Dalton Ross asked the cast of Season 40 to name the best player to never win Survivor. A lot said Aubrey and Cirie. I’m going to pick 3:

Rob Cesternino

Dominic Abate

Stephen Fischbach

 

[NYwdwfan]

This week, Dalton Ross asked the cast of Season 40 to name the best player to never win Survivor. A lot said Aubrey and Cirie. I’m going to pick 3:

Rob Cesternino

Dominic Abate

Stephen Fischbach

Amanda was pretty good too.

 

[PUSH]

This week, Dalton Ross asked the cast of Season 40 to name the best player to never win Survivor. A lot said Aubrey and Cirie. I’m going to pick 3:

Rob Cesternino

Dominic Abate

Stephen Fischbach

I would say

1. Cirie
2. Rob C.
3. Aubry

In that order. Cirie could have won three separate times had one or two things or twists not happened. And for being a liability early on, she has done an amazing job getting to the end game in all but HvV. Rob was the first to really "game". I think Richard Hatch invented the game, but Rob was the first to really evolve the game. Richard is often seen as a crucial piece to why the show has lasted so long, but I view Rob as an important piece, too. And Aubry played an amazing game in Koah Rong. I think she is one of the best emotional players we've seen. She was able to build relationships and use players' emotion like we haven't seen before. She had control over so many different people throughout the season.

I agree Domenick is a great player. At the time of Ghost Island, I said I'd vote for Wendell to win because he was the better social player, but as time has passed, I think I've changed my opinion to Domenick. While not as social, I think he was the better strategist. But that one is still hard, because their games were so equal and tied together. Neither would have gotten to the end without the other.

And in hindsight, I think Stephen should have won Tocantins. JT played well that season, but in his subsequent seasons he proved to lack some sort of filter as to what is smart strategy and stupid strategy. He tried to get too cute. Stephen looks to be that filter. Stephen's biggest knock is he didn't build the social relationships that JT did that season. And JT roasted Stephen in the final Tribal Council. But I think that jury was so in love with JT that it wouldn't have mattered if Stephen had the best Tribal performance ever.

 

[PUSH]

Here's a secret scene from last week's episode. The follow up to the peanut butter purchase.

 

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Amanda was pretty good too.

I think Amanda is a good player, but she struggles with the dirtier side of the game. Like throwing others under the bus and owning her game at the final Tribal Council. And lying to friends. She definitely has the social skills, but I feel like she plays the sidekick role when it comes to strategy (Todd in China and Parvati in Micronesia). She never really had a solid partner in HvV.

 

[flynnibus]

I’m getting tired of all the whispering and walking around at tribal. Seems it’s just theatre now and not game play.

I said it when they first started doing it it was going to problematic and a detraction.. others claimed to love it at the time..

But I wonder what precedent it sets going forward. What's to prevent people from getting up and just huddling anytime moving forward?? Part of the drama in tribal was communicating between each other.. or figuring out what to do as the tribal played out. Now, if your voting block is pretty obvious, why not just call a team huddle and hash out any uncertainties that came up during tribal? Feel like one of your block is swaying? Just call a huddle and get them together with a friend and bring them back together before letting them vote.

The stupid thing in Adam's tribal is he continues to roll into Ben... while not taking note that EVERYONE besides those two are taking that opportunity to just do anything and everything. By continuing the engagement, all he did was give everyone else more time and opportunity to work WITHOUT him in any of the conversations.

 

[SAV]

This week, Dalton Ross asked the cast of Season 40 to name the best player to never win Survivor. A lot said Aubrey and Cirie. I’m going to pick 3:

Rob Cesternino

Dominic Abate

Stephen Fischbach

Russell Hantz. If he had a jury that wasn't a butthurt group of whiny... He would have won.

 

[manmythlegend]

Russell Hantz. If he had a jury that wasn't a butthurt group of whiny... He would have won.

I love Russell but the thing is he did things that were nasty and antagonistic that didn't need to be done. From my TV, it's fun to see. But I could see how that might cost him a few votes.

 

[PUSH]

Russell Hantz. If he had a jury that wasn't a butthurt group of whiny... He would have won.

I've always said I think he deserved to win Samoa, just because of the weaker competition in the final 3... and really it was pretty weak competition the entire season. You could argue Laura Morett was the next best player that season, and that's not saying a whole lot.

But in HvV, I think Parvati should have won. She was the target from the very beginning and used Russell as a way to get to the end. But she did not ride his coattails, as she made moves on her own, to which he got upset.

I love Russell but the thing is he did things that were nasty and antagonistic that didn't need to be done. From my TV, it's fun to see. But I could see how that might cost him a few votes.

I agree - the jury's opinions are all that matters. They aren't going to award the win to a person who is genuinely terrible to be around. Even outside of the game, Russell belittles contestants on Twitter and blocks people who disagree with him. I think he's legitimately a mean and nasty person. His strategic game is fantastic, but his social skills are nonexistent. Ultimately it's a social game over a strategic game.

 

[PUSH]

This is in a preview, so it's not really a spoiler, but if you don't want to know anything about next week's episode, skip this post.

Spoiler

You can thank Tyson for the kids coming. He wanted his daughter to be his loved ones visit. Jeff said if they let him do it, they had to let everyone do it. Tyson wasn't happy with that, but it's what happened. So we will have lots of children it looks like.

 

[NYwdwfan]

This is in a preview, so it's not really a spoiler, but if you don't want to know anything about next week's episode, skip this post.

Spoiler

You can thank Tyson for the kids coming. He wanted his daughter to be his loved ones visit. Jeff said if they let him do it, they had to let everyone do it. Tyson wasn't happy with that, but it's what happened. So we will have lots of children it looks like.

Well I’ll put my response in a spoiler as well.

Spoiler

That’s gonna make me cry. And probably @JenniferS too.

 

[Wendy Pleakley]

This is in a preview, so it's not really a spoiler, but if you don't want to know anything about next week's episode, skip this post.

Spoiler

You can thank Tyson for the kids coming. He wanted his daughter to be his loved ones visit. Jeff said if they let him do it, they had to let everyone do it. Tyson wasn't happy with that, but it's what happened. So we will have lots of children it looks like.

Spoiler: Spoiler for next episode

I just wish Rob was still in the game.

"Rob, let's bring out your wife Amber!

 

[manmythlegend]

This is in a preview, so it's not really a spoiler, but if you don't want to know anything about next week's episode, skip this post.

Spoiler

You can thank Tyson for the kids coming. He wanted his daughter to be his loved ones visit. Jeff said if they let him do it, they had to let everyone do it. Tyson wasn't happy with that, but it's what happened. So we will have lots of children it looks like.

Spoiler: My thoughts

Not a huge fan of this. This could very well be because I don't have kids and maybe this makes me a jerk, but you get 1 person that's it. Spouse, Parent, Sibling, or Child. 1 person, MAX. This shouldn't be a total family reunion.

 

[Wendy Pleakley]

I agree - the jury's opinions are all that matters. They aren't going to award the win to a person who is genuinely terrible to be around. Even outside of the game, Russell belittles contestants on Twitter and blocks people who disagree with him. I think he's legitimately a mean and nasty person. His strategic game is fantastic, but his social skills are nonexistent. Ultimately it's a social game over a strategic game.

Russell's losses will be debated for ages it seems. His strategic game is amazing, but Survivor is won by getting the jury to cast votes for you. Call them bitter, whiny, butthurt, emotional, irrational, or whatever. They're not a jury in a court case tasked with impartially assessing the evidence, you have to convince them to vote for you by factoring in the social and emotional factors.

That's why players earn votes by saying things like "I voted you out because you're a better player and would have beaten me". Suck up, fuel their egos. That's part of how one wins Survivor.

 

[PUSH]

Russell's losses will be debated for ages it seems. His strategic game is amazing, but Survivor is won by getting the jury to cast votes for you. Call them bitter, whiny, butthurt, emotional, irrational, or whatever. They're not a jury in a court case tasked with impartially assessing the evidence, you have to convince them to vote for you by factoring in the social and emotional factors.

That's why players earn votes by saying things like "I voted you out because you're a better player and would have beaten me". Suck up, fuel their egos. That's part of how one wins Survivor.

I have my own opinions on who should or shouldn't have won, but I realize I am a viewer of an edited show that can't possibly show everything. I am not living with these people 24 hours a day under those conditions. I'm sure if I was, my thoughts would change. I go by the belief that every winner deserves to win.

 

[manmythlegend]

Russell's losses will be debated for ages it seems. His strategic game is amazing, but Survivor is won by getting the jury to cast votes for you. Call them bitter, whiny, butthurt, emotional, irrational, or whatever. They're not a jury in a court case tasked with impartially assessing the evidence, you have to convince them to vote for you by factoring in the social and emotional factors.

That's why players earn votes by saying things like "I voted you out because you're a better player and would have beaten me". Suck up, fuel their egos. That's part of how one wins Survivor.

I would say Russell's strategic game is probably the best in the history of Survivor. His ability to manipulate, deceive, know precisely what is going to happen and who is going to vote for who, and knowing exactly when and how to play his idols is second to none. The only time he seemed to be in the dark was when Parvati was giving her idols away willy nilly in HvV.

 

[flynnibus]

russell lost because his jury couldn't face they got PLAYED and when he told them how he did it, they all just got butt hurt.

I really don't have any respect for people who need to be coddled or kissed up to for them to accept something. They literally couldn't get over being deceived and beaten. It wasn't as much as Russell being nasty.. it was they couldn't accept he beat them. I lost a lot of respect for the show after that.. and frankly it hasn't recovered much. It's too much about brown nosing vs deserving to win.

I get you gotta play along and do things like that to get THROUGH the game - but you shouldn't need that at the finale. If you do, it's because the jury can't be objective... and it defeats the entire purpose of the label JURY.

I also don't like the fact they took basically everyone to jury for this season. Final tribal is gonna suck.

 

[JenniferS]

russell lost because his jury couldn't face they got PLAYED and when he told them how he did it, they all just got butt hurt.

I really don't have any respect for people who need to be coddled or kissed up to for them to accept something. They literally couldn't get over being deceived and beaten. It wasn't as much as Russell being nasty.. it was they couldn't accept he beat them. I lost a lot of respect for the show after that.. and frankly it hasn't recovered much. It's too much about brown nosing vs deserving to win.

I get you gotta play along and do things like that to get THROUGH the game - but you shouldn't need that at the finale. If you do, it's because the jury can't be objective... and it defeats the entire purpose of the label JURY.

I also don't like the fact they took basically everyone to jury for this season. Final tribal is gonna suck.

I agree completely with the Russell part. He OWNED his first season.

I was in the ICU with my youngest son on finale night, and I was flabbergasted when Mike texted me to tell me that Russell had NOT won.

Even though I’d PVR’d it, I never did watch it. The jury weren’t the only ones who were bitter!

 

[PUSH]

On a somewhat similar note, one runner-up that I think is very underrated in terms of her gameplay is Carolyn from Worlds Apart. She played a strategic game and was in a good spot almost the entire game. And not to mention, she successfully found an idol at the start of the game, held onto it and kept it a secret all season (except from Tyler), then played it successfully for herself. I get why Mike won, but I think Carolyn deserved that win, too. I think she and Chrissy are very similar. Both "older" (in terms of Survivor ages, at least) women who are seen as the "mom" type who played strong, strategic games. Both beat out by players who went on immunity/idol runs.