#17: East Timor (Season 9, August - September 2013)
Winner: Adam B./AdamBongo (4-2-1)
Wiki page: http://bit.ly/1spwKlk
Other people like this season more than I do. To me, it's just an average season which has it's pros and cons, but has a key flaw that detracts from the season - the cast isn't good enough. The rivals twist brought back Caicos Island rivals Adam (AdamBongo) and Ronnie (JCB8), and Saint Lucia rivals Jake (jakehou97) and Katie (losangelesgirl), joined my a mirage of newbies, most of whom weren't very good.
Pre-merge wasn't particularly interesting one way or another. We had a quitter in the middle of a challenge, there was a tribe swap just two days into the game, and we had a vaguely interesting vote-off with Gen 1 winner Martin getting pre-merged.
Post-merge things became interesting as tribal lines meant nothing, when former Gen 1 winner Jack (JETTEJ) decided to try and put together an alliance against the returning players, with target numero uno being Katie (because of course she is more of a threat that two-time winner Adam.. ok). HOWEVER, this was unsuccessful, as former rivals Adam and Ronnie had decided to become best buds, and then pulled in fellow returnee Katie, as well as James (nutty14159951), Sean (Caliboy) and Rose (Glinda). With this they voted out Andrew (Manipulation), and proceeded to control the game, taking out Felix (someone irrelevant), then Jack after he was unable to build a counter-alliance out of inactives, followed by Rose as she started to self-vote. That Rose vote was an aweful point in the game where, at the final nine, FIVE PEOPLE SELF-VOTED. Over half of the Final Nine self-voted! The final vote tally was 4-1-1-1-1-1. On this vote, James finally realised - "oh yeah, the two time winner is controlling the game!" and defected from them to join.. no one. Because they all self-voted bar him. The next Tribal was the point in the game where the anti-returnees finally had a chance to take former two-time winner Adam out (after Adam's three challenge winning streak ended). Defector James and Jake, the only returnee not in the majority, teamed with the last remaining anti-returnee, Eric (Econ21), to try and finally take him down. This finally worried.... but he didn't need to worry. Because they had kept an inactive self-voter in just for this very reason. Garrett (another irrel person) had self-voted for the past FOUR votes, so all they did was pile the votes on him giving his self-vote the one vote they needed to take him out. It was a good thing they did, since one of Adam and Ronnie's allies, Katie, didn't vote the right way that round. It was then a safe ride to the end for the alliance of three returnees. Adam, Ronnie and Katie took out their former ally Sean, eliminating the unneeded one, and then used the discord within the dwindling anti-returnee alliance to take fellow returnee Jake our, followed quickly by Eric and James to make them the Final Three. The all-returnee Final Three. Three out of Four of the returnees... were the final three. Yup, the newbies sucked this season.
All of this that I have said makes East Timor look worse than Great Britain. Well, in regards to self-votes and power-shifts, you can argue it actually IS worse than that abomination. BUT, I still regard it as better than the four seasons already ranked because this season, a bit like Venezuela, is saved by the CONCLUSION - Adam's third win. No votes until Final Eight, majority entire game, SIX individual immunity winner, and made his former rival want to TAKE HIM TO THE END (Sorry Ronnie but I still don't know why you wanted to sit next to Adam at the end). Adam solidified his win this season, making him, hands down, one of the most deserving winners of all time. THAT, along with a heap of drama from the anti-returnee/pro-returnee conflict (most of which came from Katie lmao no regrets there) puts this at the top of the list of 'meh' seasons.
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LEVEL OF STRATEGY: 2 out of 5.
Adam placed his cards exactly where he needed them to be to create a perfect defensive barrier to get to the end with. Despite being the biggest threat to win, his allies STILL wanted to go to the end with him. Apart from that, everyone else lacked in strategy, with the exception of SOME signs of good thinking from Ronnie, James, Jake, Eric and Jack (it was a pitty Jack got booted so early, he had much potential to turn the tables. Good thing he has since proved himself again).
ENTERTAINING/LIKEABLE PLAYERS: 2 out of 5
Adam was a rootable gamebot, and that is key to why this is slightly higher than other seasons. He is the most likeable winner on the list thus far, and people WANTED him to win. Katie was also an interesting character so viewers were pleased she made it to the end. It was a pity that besides that, there weren't enough rootable people, besides perhaps James, who could be funny.
BLINDSIDES/DRAMA/SHOCKS: 3 out of 5
The drama in this season levels that of Venezuela, with the clash between anti-returnee and pro-returnee sides. Besides the Andrew boot at the merge and perhaps the Martin boot pre-merge, blindsided were scarce, but one of things on this category is shocks, and believe you me, five self-votes the final nine was most definitely a shock, for better or for worse.
SATISFYING CONCLUSION: 4 out of 5
HUGELY satisfying conclusion for all, as Adam played a near-perfect game, protecting himself with immunity, and the people around him, while taking out all his enemies, and keeping in an inactive to use to get him out of trouble if ever the time came.
VIEWER RECEPTION: 3 out of 5
This season got an average reception from the viewers. They didn't mind the fact that it was a one-sided season with Adam dominating, because he was likeable and it was satisfying to watch him win (similar to how people like One World due to female domination and Kim's win). So they came out feeling happy, but knowing there could have been more potential to the season.
TOTAL SCORE: 14 out of 25 (Grade: Glindalien)
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SEASON HIGHLIGHT(S):
Adam winning the season and becoming the first ever three-time winner.
STANDOUT PLAYER:
Adam. DO I HAVE TO EXPLAIN WHY AGAIN?
SUM-UP:
I would say this is a season that looks shit from the outside, but is a little bit more interesting when you delve under the skin of it. Some people would say this season is the season that proves Adam's genius as a player. Others (like Derek) say that it is a shitty season and that Adam only won because the cast was shit and that he isn't really a good player at all. A small group (like Millzipede) ignore it's existence because they despise Adam for a reason people still do not understand. It's a pity the newbies were shit, because then we may have had more than just TWO people from this season return for a future season.
In fact, worryingly, it draws comparisons from CBS Redemption Island. Multi-time returnee/multi-time finalist returns and wins the season, and the newbies are shit.
Moving swiftly on...
HINT FOR NEXT POSITION:
A season that someone from this season was in (there isn't many options lmao).
STILL IN THE RUNNING:
Saint Lucia
Brazil
Jordan
All-Stars
Caicos Islands
Brunei
Friends vs. Favourites
Vietnam
Occultus Island
Moral vs. Merciless
Cursed Hand
Reclamation
Second Chances
Jan Mayen
Bingo vs. Suitman
Allies vs. Adversaries
I don't despise him lol. I just think he's was kinda overrated in Gen 1 and I campaigned hard for him to be eliminated in Gen 2 as the cast would be stupid to take him to the end.
I actually hate the casts he played with more than him.
#17: East Timor (Season 9, August - September 2013)