Warning: this was going to be so short but things got out of hand
What happened last night was basically a Russel-beats-Natalie scenario, almost identical (Tony being the Russel of the two, which should be a given but this is Tengaged and who knows) While Tony made it to the end by having a shit-ton of idols, spying on people/being a little sociopath in general, blindsiding half of his alliance because of paranoia, swearing on his wife/baby daughter/ dead father for the sake of lying, and a bunch of bullshit in between, Woo has managed to make F2 unscathed without hurting anyone, forming enemies, idols, inappropriate swears ect. Woo didn't play a flashy game, but from the little we saw of him you could tell he was just a funny, cool stand-up guy who was pretty much well liked by the entire cast. A couple of years back and Woo would have won by a landslide. But instead fucking TONY wins almost unanimously (God bless Tasha), even though he's obviously wronged more people and shouldn't have been liked nor respected by them, let alone win their votes.. One of my favorite parts of the game, if not the most is the moral conflicts and struggles people face when they're out there and how it affects their gameplay. When a giant majority of the votes go to someone like Tony over Woo it's clear that morality is no longer a big factor in this game and I hate it and feel like it's going to change the future of the game. The social part is almost non-existent now, when future players see this season they'll get the idea that this is an effective way of playing and before you know it more and more 'Russell's' win, or even worse, my worst nightmare comes to life and Russel Hantz come back and wins. The game used to have so much more to it than just flashy 'big' moves, idols, #blindsides, a NON-stop strategy talk. It's like you can no longer win the game by just being likable, loyal and making finals/bonding with the jury along the way. It's not enough because these days that just makes you a goat apparently, and you also have to be running around controlling every vote and making big moves for the sake of putting them on your Survivor resume, even if they don't benefit you that much in the long run. This was also the case last season with Tyson and Monica to a slight extent so you can see how's things slowly get worse. In conclusion: according to this jury vote, we should all just be glad that Survivor Samoa was season 19 and not 29 #survivor
I partially agree that Tony was an annoying idiot in the context of the show, but if you can get the jury to vote for you to win, you win and you deserve to win. I'm usually the first person to say "There's no such thing as a bitter jury", but it's a two way street and just because Woo was clearly more socially adept doesn't mean he necessarily "should" have won.
survivorfan37 Not saying Tony is undeserving bc like you said, he got their votes and that's all that matters but it just bothers me that it happened so naturally whereas in an older season their way of thinking would be more like "This guy is an asshole, I'm voting for Woo" I'm more disappointing with the jury if anything
I've read interviews by Tony where he says he spent most of his time socializing and making friends, so I think it's more an issue with the edit deciding only to highlight his strategy.
And Woo was basically a jury goat who happened to win immunity. He played a clean game but the jurors obviously weren't attached to him and they didn't respect his gameplay that much.
Obviously they showed us that oh look Tony did all this bad stuff and won!!!! Screw morals!!!
But really I think Tony did do all that but he did forge bonds and Woo didn't. Even in confessionals people pointed out that Woo was pretty quiet and they didn't get to know him very much. It came down to Tony being up against someone he could sweep, same as Brian over Clay all the way back in Season 5.
but yeah really I think this was more a Brian-Clay scenario
Where Brian did all this stuff the jury didn't like but they liked him more than Clay
And as far as Tyson-Monica Tyson is actually a strong social player, most of the people out there really liked him even when they were against him and Monica isn't the most socially aware person in the world
Ghoul Definitely see what you're saying, plus we know that Tony is a good guy in real life so all the lies we saw him telling him in the game was clearly not an accurate representation of his real life personality
titanium162 Maybe not, but it's usually the moral struggles that people face as an inherent part of human nature that make for compelling television, while excessive "strat talk" like we've seen in recent seasons just comes off as repetitive and generally unappealing.
I do agree partially but there are few things to think about
1) Tony got an AWFUL edit. They made it look all mean and dodgy and we dont get to see funny things in between
2) Woo was AWFUL at FTC. If he had OWNED his decisions like not going with Kass and Spence when he could have, and that he picked Kass to go thinking she might beat him - idk? he could have done SO MUCH BETTER to change the perspectives on people.
3) Just cause the last few have been the more aggressive players winning that doesnt mean it will continue? It may be a flirt to win 29 - or a physical threat - or a nice guy - or the villian? the whole point of the show is that people from ALL types of lifestyles and background have a chance to win...
