This season is another recent one. I've heard 2 main guesses of the 3 possibilities. Well it was neither of them. Jkjk it was. Which one you ask? Well, it's:
BLOOD VS. WATER!
Let me just say something right away. If I had done this ranking in the winter, this season would be at least 5 places higher. But when I had time for recent season bias to wear off, I realized this season had more negatives than we realized. People like to proclaim this season as one of the greats but I just don't agree with it now. The first episode to me was one of the worst premieres in survivor history. It just really dragged out and was too long for me plus it didn't feel like a survivor premiere with them going off in duos to begin the season. One thing I remembered that I kind of let go while I was watching the season is that they seemed to repeat the same storylines every episode. I swear they always talked about either the mother-daughter relationship in survivor between Laura and Ciera or Vytas' underdog story as brother of the golden boy. There seemed to be a little lack of character development for everyone else. Also I found the post-merge a little disappointing. This is really because once the Aras vote occured, Tyson and Gervase were on cruise control the rest of the game. The post-merge wasn't terrible because there were a couple of exciting votes in the middle, just underwhelming compared to the build-up going into it. I also didn't like having Redemption Island post-merge because the same thing happened as the previous 2 seasons. The returnee took up a spot in the finale but failed to make the final 3.
There were positives to this season though. It was a little different playing style on an emotional level. I liked having Redemption Island in the pre-merge for this season. I thought it was the best version of it they ever had. It allowed loved ones to see each other fight for their lives, sometimes against each other. It was also much more of an even playing field on RI which meant for more unpredictability. No one dominated it like Matt and Christine. There was also an extra layer of strategy because there were loved ones. The loved ones voted Rachel out just to target Tyson for example. This season also allowed everybody to care about who was being voted out on the other tribe. There were also things we've seen for the first time in a long time. Ciera being a big part of it. She really saved the post-merge from being a complete snoozefest. First she decides she's willing to vote off her mom, then she basically decides which male duo would get the power in Tyson/Gervase vs. Hayden/Caleb. Finally, she had the most memorable tribal council of the season in having ballsy enough gameplay to force a rock drawing which was the first time we've seen that since Marquesas.
But unfortunately, nothing Ciera did really changed the outcome of the game enough to significantly change my view of the post-merge. I think what people need to remember is that this season was very good compared to a lot of the seasons in the post-HvV era but I just don't think it stacks up as highly against seasons a little older.
Stay tuned for #18! Hint- this season had something shocking happen in the very first episode
28. Nicaragua
27. Redemption Island
26. South Pacific
25. One World
24. Thailand
23. Caramoan
22. All Stars
21. China
20. Cook Islands
19. Blood vs. Water
Remaining Seasons:
Borneo
Australian Outback
Africa
Marquesas
Amazon
Pearl Islands
Vanuatu
Palau
Guatemala
Exile Island
Fiji
Micronesia
Gabon
Tocantins
Samoa
Heroes vs. Villains
Phillipines
Cagayan
As long as its not cagayan or phillipines next im happy. Btw i completely disagree with bvw. I actually liked it compared to other seasons but i can see where you are coming from
Guess for next season is Palau