Thought I'd try one of these, using seventh placers...
Gervase Peterson (Survivor Borneo)
Nick Brown (Survivor Australia)
Frank Garrison (Survivor Africa)
Alex Bell (Survivor Amazon)
Gary Hogeboom (Survivor Guatemala)
Bruce Kanegai (Survivor Exile Island)
Jonathan Penner (Survivor Cook Islands)
Alex Angarita (Survivor Fiji)
James Clement (Survivor China/Survivor Micronesia/Survivor Heroes vs Villains)
Ben "Benry" Henry (Survivor Nicaragua)
Matt Elrod (Survivor Redemption Island)
Tammy Leitner (Survivor Marquesas)
Penny Ramsey (Survivor Thailand)
Tijuana Bradley (Survivor Pearl Islands)
Alicia Calaway (Survivor Australia/Survivor All Stars)
Leann Slaby (Survivor Vanuatu)
Stephenie LaGrossa (Survivor Palau/Guatemala/Heroes vs Villains)
Corinne Kaplan (Survivor Gabon)
Sierra Reed (Survivor Tocantins)
Monica Padilla (Survivor Samoa)
Danielle DiLorenzo (Survivor Exile Island/Survivor Heroes vs Villains)
Edna Ma (Survivor South Pacific)
All right, let me give some thoughts on Survivor One World. Man, where do I start?
Men vs Women - This is probably the most intense men vs women showdown we've seen so far. I mean, Amazon was pretty mellow since the genders mixed together pretty well and Vanuatu's gender war fell apart in the end. But other than Colton, no one seems to be budging. I mean, in the first episode we already saw a lot of fuel added to the fire: Michael stealing from the women's supply (which I'm shocked they didn't focus more on him for that), Chelsea refusing to share the chickens, the women trying to steal and bargain for fire from the men, and the men just deciding to take immunity instead of finishing the challenge. There better be an intense war for all this build-up.
The Return of Old School and Survival - After watching a few of the older Survivor DVDs, I found myself craving some old school Survivor. It's called Survivor, where's the survival aspect? Luckily, we saw it return what with the chickens and the women's battle to get fire. I'm hoping that we see a bit more survival aspect, though I won't keep my hopes up. I'm also indescribably glad that they brought back some old school twists like the two tribes on one beach and men vs women, which have stirred up so much already. Above all else, I'm glad that the cast is fresh without any overly advantaged veterans(the way it should be!) and that Redemption Island is gone (I hate that it might return).
Alicia vs Christine - I can't blame Alicia for being suspicious about Christine's bargaining. I'd definitely be worried if I was in her shoes and I saw Christine doing that. But the way she went about it in Tribal Council, I was like "Oh snap, this just got real and it got real fast." Alicia could become NaOnka 2.0 with Christine as her Kelly, I don't know. We'll see.
Colton - He could easily play the victim card all the way to the end. He's done it with the girls and he got an idol for it. I guess we're supposed to root for him but he could easily get annoying. I'll give him a chance though. It takes more than one episode to make me loathe someone.
Sabrina - Right off, Sabrina stands out as the person who is the player. She made a big move right off the bat and so far hasn't been discovered. We could be seeing her for a while. First, we have to see if her gamble with the idol pays off.
Kourtney - So sad. I like rooting for the unique girls so I had high hopes for Kourtney. She seemed nice and could have stood out but too bad for that injury. If only she listened to Jeff and kept her arms in. Oh well, I'll move on.
Let me gloss over a few others
Leif - I thought he was going to be shoved in our faces as an underdog but he was actually pretty low-key. He might not be annoying.
Matt - Arrogant and condescending...he's going to attract a lot of negative attention with his attitude but he's in a solid alliance right now. We'll see if the other five band together against his foursome.
Jonas - He served as a narrator. I don't know, I like to root for the Asian guys (Cao Boi, Yul, Yau-Man) and although he's not that interesting yet, I still like him.
Chelsea - She made a strong impression with the chickens and could do very well in this game. She's already in a solid alliance so that's good for her.
Troyzan - He reminds me of Jimmy T in a way (There can't be a Tarzan, I'm Troyzan! Sound familiar, Jimmy J?). I'll keep an eye on him.
The rest haven't made a big impression yet. They were either relatively neglected or just there. But it's only episode one. Just noticed how many girls got kind of shafted even though they were the tribe going to Tribal Council.
Overall, my main thought is THANK GOODNESS. It's a huge improvement from the last two seasons and the show is getting back the momentum it desperately needs. I really hope they can keep it up. Just don't shove Colton in our face all the time and make sure to balance the editing and provide us with actually interesting footage instead of the same troll going on and on about how great he is and how he's running the game (I'm looking at you, Russell).
Number of Times I've Made Finals in Fastings: 17
Number of Times in 3rd Place: 12
Number of Times I've Won Fastings: 1
Seriously, is there something I'm missing here? I win POVs, survive nominations or go unnommed, tried talking a lot of strategy in PMs, talked a lot in public...seriously, what am I missing? O_O
OK, after what I just went through in there, there's no way I couldn't blog about it. So I tried Duel for the first time. It didn't go too well, I went through three consecutive duels before I lost on Deal. I figured based on strategy, I would never stand a chance in there. But just for the heck of it, I decided to give it just one more shot. And it ended up being probably the most intense experience I've had on this site yet.
I size up my competition and there's like three top 200 players in there plus a few others with really high kpgs so I figure I'm not going to do so well here either. So I squeeze through the first round without a hitch although I notice I'm at the bottom of people's lists so I'm thinking "Crap, the same thing is going to happen again..." Sure enough, I was nommed the next round. I win and then get nommed again. This is going to go on for a while.
At first, I figured based on the beginning strategy, I was being nommed because I would be perceived as weak and easy to beat. (To be fair, I wasn't exactly a hotshot in the immunity challenges) So I kept going up and I was winning. But as time went on, I noticed I was still going up. Well, that was an understatement. And since I had only one, maybe two trade deals, I got the notion that almost, if not absolutely, everybody wanted me out because all of a sudden, I was looking like a threat. Great...
It was an incredible experience. Never once did I think I was going to win my duel and yet somehow I prevailed. I went toe to toe with some amazing competitors, each time thinking I was toast, and fought my way to the finals. (I wound up facing off against the best because I had stopped paying attention to my vote list due to all the dueling. Oopsies.) The best duel for me was probably the one with alexclow345, who won a bunch of the immunity challenges and was largely responsible for my lengthy amount of time on the block, so it was a bit of a grudge match for me. It was a close match and after I slipped up in Guitar, I thought I was done, but as it turned out, I barely won by 40 points. Phew. I ended up dueling from the Top 11 all the way to the Top 5 and then finally won immunity at Top 4.
As stressful as that game was, I'm so glad I participated and just as surprised as everyone else was at how well I did. I was the underdog, the Matt of Redemption Island and yet somehow, I pulled off a huge upset. Did I win? Of course...not. I lost the last challenge by a margin. Still, second is way better than I expected when I started and after what I went through, I'm just happy to be in the finals.
My Victims: Idgaf - You were the first one. I guess you went up because you were up the first time. Such a shame. LiteCitrus - I had you at my bottom because your kpg scared me but you seem like a cool guy. MickJagger - Again, you seem like a nice person. Shame I didn't get to know you more. Lowwww - Shame that you wound up leaving right after your friend. I remember you specifically saying you were going to mess someone up if he left and then you went up and I was thinking "Crap..it's going to be me..." I wish you luck in the future! torimarie - Even though you were basically against me (I saw I was at the bottom of your list a lot of times too), you were still really cool about it and you were a nice guy. It was an honor to compete with someone of your caliber. Maybe we can work together in the future? alexclow345 - Again, the most shocking win out of all of them by far. Like torimarie, it was an honor to compete with you and it would be an honor to work with you in the future or compete against you again. We'll see. Florina - Sigh..my last victim. You were a nice person and I'm glad you set a personal best for yourself, which I'm sure you'll best again eventually. Good luck to you!
The Others Awesomeboyherelol - Sadly, you were the first to go. I wish I got to know you a bit better. Khianna - You put up a great fight in the challenges, even if you zeroed on some of them. Good luck to you! andrew8975 - My main ally and the only person who never had to duel for some reason. Either way, you've been cool to me and I hope you do well in future games! jtotalturtle - The guy who finally snuffed me. Congratulations on a well deserved win!
Anyone ever have to do eight or nine duels in a row? Because I did sit out the first and last duels so that's only seven. Also, I want to reiterate that I still think I just lucked out with all these wins. Was it great? Absolutely but was it luck? Just as much. The only challenges in the duel were the ones I was good at (except for one Words, I still have no idea how I won that) and even then, I made mistakes that should have been the end of me. I lucked out. A lot. Believe me, if I were really that good, I would have won a lot more immunity challenges where I placed in the bottom half many times.
All right, I think that's all I have to say! Laters! :D
http://www.tengaged.com/group/4342/poll/temple-challenge-poll-67500