#13: Occultus Island (Season 14, February - March 2014)
Winner: Mike S./Survivor8 (6-1)
Wiki page: http://bit.ly/14b6FOH
Oh right now this one might cause a few upsets. This season from the start of this year was greeted with firm applause for the return of the Occultus Island twist for Gen One, and featured both new and returning players in a Generation Wars twist. Needless to say it is quite the opposite of the previous season on this ranking, Caicos Islands. I feel like this season lacked in big gameplay and moves, but made up for it with some very interesting and entertaining characters. All you need for proof of that is the fact that Game T. was, for the first time, a truly likeable character *le shock*. Brace yourselves, this is going to be a long one.
The season opened with a Double Tribal Council, and shock twist that saw Andaib being unable to go to Occultus Island upon exit. This of course meant he was the first to exit the game, along with Zach, but in a very strange 4-2-1-1-1 vote from his tribe. This immediately solidified the Ganja tribe (The Gen Two tribe, lol) as a truly bad tribe, then evidenced by them loosing five challenges in a row. A tribe switch evened the odds, but still couldn’t save the remnants of the original Ganja tribe, and the Gen One Baku tribe mowed them down like flies. There were a few interesting votes pre-merge like the tie between Ed and Ty, that led to Ty’s exit after Dave flipped. However, the most interesting thing pre-merge was the unique range of characters. Andaib was as shockingly and hilariously bad as he was back in Brunei for the 24 hours that he was in the game, and Venezuela’s Will reminded us all of why we loved him with his confessionals. We also saw a quick glimpse at the power games going on in the strong Baku camp between Game, Austin and Neil in particular, while Dave took on a Cagayan Spencer-like role, as the underdog on a drowning tribe. Raphael too provided some entertainment. The Ganja tribe was worthless to begin with, so the stacked Baku’s tribe winning streak, while not as entertaining to watch on a gameplay standpoint until the last few votes, was met with happiness due to the fact the viewers loved most of that tribe.
A high point of the game came at the first post-merge Tribal Council (as is almost always the case). Statistically, Baku entered the merge 7-4 strong, having only lost two people pre-merge. However one of these people, Zach was through Occultus Island. Dylan and Dave were the only two Ganja members to survive to the merge without returning through Occultus Island, as Ganja members Ed and Will were the other two returnees. While Game and Austin both preached for the “Baku Brethren” alliance to dominate the merge with a six-person advantage (not including OI returnee Zach ofc), they were not anticipating Neil to be a fatal flipper. On an eleven-man merge tribe, a six-person majority is only just enough, so Neil, combined with OI returnee Zach, gave them the numbers to cause an unexpected Ganja control, and they got together to take out Michael (a strategic move to avoid idols).
This shocked the “Baku Brethren” and immediately put a target on Neil’s back. It was also an annoyance to the Baku-supporters, of which most the viewers were. The next vote, Neil decided to flip back to the Baku to remove the threatening OI returnees. Having sided with the returnees, Dave saw that the Ganja group was about to become a sinking ship, and took Neil’s lifeline to get out of the minority, flipping with him to the Baku side. The next few votes saw exits from both Will and Zach, as the Baku Brethren showed the strength with the added number of Dave to replace Michael. Even One Day Tribes couldn’t stop the domination, with the last OI returnee Ed departing, along with penultimate Ganja member, Dylan, much to the dismay of Dave, who was now the last standing Ganja, against five Baku members. The Baku Brethren had gone as far as they could, and now had to turn against each other.
In terms of exciting gameplay, the mid-merge did not deliver, with the minority finding themselves destroyed in the closest thing to a pagoning we have seen since Great Boretrain, even when faced with One Day Tribes, leaving a 5-1 original tribe ratio at the final six. However, this didn’t matter to the viewers, because in all honesty, it was a great group of six people. For once, the most interesting and exciting people made it the farthest, as one big majority group. However unexciting it was gameplay wise didn’t matter when you had such a great group of people, who now had to turn on each other.
The duo of Dave and Neil now planned to take control of the game to oust Austin, a big threat to them reaching the final two. However they needed both Game and Mike to execute their plan, which Neil thought he had due to an F3 deal. Game was now in the middle, forced to side with Dave and Neil or Austin and Raphael. Game made one of the biggest moves of the game by joining both Austin and Raphael to take out Neil the flipper, ending his game and putting Dave back in jeopardy, after just playing his idol on himself. Mike was out of the loop in that vote, thinking he was supposed to vote Dave, leaving him confused as to what happened. For the next vote, Game decided it was finally time for Dave to go, and was heading for a Final Three with both Raphael and Austin. But Austin didn’t want to face someone as likeable or physical as Raphael at the end, and saw Dave as an easy next exit. So he used Dave and Mike to turn the tables on Raphael and Game, putting Raphael onto the jury. Dave was shocked to even be in the Final Four, while Game and Austin repaired their relations to finally take out Dave. Mike, however, was now certain that Game had to leave for him to win the game, and so teamed up with Dave to vote him, resulting in a 2-2 tie and purple rock scenario. This was a very unfortunate way to have to decide the fate of such a great final four, especially when it was Dave who pulled the rock, leading to the end of one of the most tumultuous rides of any Suitman contestant ever. He should be proud to have made it to fourth place.
The Final Three faced off in their final challenge with Austin coming out trumps, leaving him with the fatal decision between Game and Mike to take to the Final Two. He resolved that he had a better chance against Mike, and so the viewers lounge screamed in horror as Game fell from grace, exiting in third place. Austin and Mike were then berated by the jury, half of whom were angry Ganja members, and the other half, pissed of followers of the Baku Brethren. In the end, Mike’s low-key gameplay was most respected against Austin’s more bloodthirsty and outspoken methods, resulting in a 6-1 win, which can and has been argued as a disappointing end, considering how close both Dave and Game were to an almost certain victory of they were against either of the F2.
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LEVEL OF STRATEGY: 4 out of 5
Despite the gameplay being lackluster, the level of strategy from the players was still high. Game, Austin, Dave and Neil were the main four strategists, with Mike, Raphael and Will all majorly contributing to the game, as seen through their confessionals. The unfortunate problem with this is that none of it caused any major game shifts, moves or plays. However, we always knew that they were playing hard.
ENTERTAINING/LIKEABLE PLAYERS: 4 out of 5
The characters in this season warrant the first four on our interesting character scale, and are by far the best thing about this season. Most of the Baku tribe was likeable with fun and interesting confessionals (although Austin was sometimes accused of being a game-bot, however this actually gave him a rootable character trait). Game was, for the first time, the person most rooted to win, and Dave really was the Spencer-esque underdog, with J’Tia-like abilities to dodge being voted out every single time. This is backed up by supporting under-the-radar players like Mike and Raphael, who both posted confessionals about their more rationale gameplay. And who could forget Neil, the guy who stirred things up and helped put the game on an unpredictable path for the end.
BLINDSIDES/DRAMA/SHOCKS: 3 out of 5
Unfortunately, we go down to a three in the drama department, as it lacked for a good potion of the game the drama, shocks and power shifts necessary for a top-tier season. The Baku tribe dominated most of the game with only of major hiccup, resolved by Dave’s induction into the alliance. The saving grace is the last half of the merge, where the game finally steps up to a level that it should have been throughout, with tension and power shifting. However, it comes a little too late, and is bloodied by Dave’s unfortunate rocking out, and a slight let-down of a conclusion.
SATISFYING CONCLUSION: 3 out of 5
A Dave/Game final two would have been one of the best of all time, as they were the two most popular and capable players in the game. Their downfall at the final four and three is very bittersweet, leaving us with a slightly less desirable final two of Austin and Mike. Despite Mike’s win being warranted and appreciated, no one should feel bad for hoping that it was Austin that took it instead with his more prominent and outspoken gameplay.
VIEWER RECEPTION: 4 out of 5
This season is one I feel the viewers, and myself at the time, overrated. We compared it to Brunei and All-Stars and Jordan and Caicos Islands (lol), but I always seem to over-rank more recent seasons so maybe that is why. But at the same time, its not hard to see WHY they liked it so much, when your favorite people make it to the end. It’s one of the reasons why I think CBS HvV is liked so much, despite the fact it’s a Villains and Russel Hantz cock fest (I’m not a fan of HvV, sorry). Characters and likeability mean a lot to viewers, and if anything this season had that.
TOTAL SCORE: 18 out of 25 (Grade: Three OI returnees… all gone within three days of each other… urgh)
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SEASON HIGHLIGHT(S):
- Neil flips on the Baku Brethren to join Ganja and the OI returnees to dent the majority.
- Game turns on Neil and ousts him from the game.
- Austin turns on Raphael and ousts him from the game.
- Dave’s survival streak ends with a small purple rock.
- Austin picks Mike to go to the final two with over Game, and the viewers start to scream. Loudly.
STANDOUT PLAYER:
Dave. As much as Game and Austin were awesome, I have to give it to Dave. He was on a sinking ship to start with, but he survived to end up on another sinking ship, which he quickly jumped off in favor of safety. He then dodged and weaved his was into fourth place, only to be ousted by a purple rock. A sad but strangely fitting way for him to go, as no one could ever seem to properly just vote him out.
SUM-UP:
To conclude, this is a very hard season to rank, as it is one that only really picks up speed gameplay wise at the Final Six, where it then became an exciting back-and-forth of people waiting for the next day to remove Dave. The pre-merge of the season wasn’t particularly exiting, but had a likeable dominant tribe, and despite an exiting first post-merge vote, the next few were slightly boring as the majority wouldn’t budge. But the key characters of the season all made the Final Six giving us, for once, an endgame where there isn’t a single useless floating person. The end result may be argued as a let down though, and the fact the season took a long time to get going cannot be ignored. The end result is this mid-tier placing.
Also, lets not forget that the entire pre-merge is full of forgettable people.
Except for Andaib.
Don’t forget Sackeshit.
Never.
HINT FOR NEXT POSITION:
A 16-person season that is NOT Jan Mayen or Brazil.
STILL IN THE RUNNING:
Saint Lucia
Brazil
Jordan
All-Stars
Brunei
Vietnam
Moral vs. Merciless
Reclamation
Second Chances
Jan Mayen
Bingo vs. Suitman
Allies vs. Adversaries
LEVEL OF STRATEGY: 3 out of 5.
This season was let down severely on the strategy front. Adam and Ronnie were the main two spearheads, with Anthony’s flopping gameplay all season long another vocal point. Brain and Matthew came out to remove Anthony and Adam when they needed to at the end, but until then there was little they had done by means of themselves. Some good other strategists like James and Jordan were booted way too early to leave their true mark on the game
same
lol plz be jordan or vietnam saint lucia is everything
#13: Occultus Island (Season 14, February - March 2014)