This next season had one of the greatest final 2/3 pairs ever. This season is:
AUSTRALIAN OUTBACK!
Arguably the most popular season in the show's history, this season lands right in the middle of my rankings. There's no doubt this season had positives. We had our first big hero and big villain in the same season with the obvious two being Colby and Jerri. Jerri's edit was one of the best early season ones because they did a great job building her up to be a big villain when she wasn't even that bad compared to some of the people now. Colby was the lovable hero who had all the morals and was built up as the unstoppable southern gentleman that joined the good side (Tina) rather than being with the bad guys (Jerri and her crew). We also saw some historical firsts mostly by Tina. She was the first to flip the vote in a minority alliance's favor by getting Mitchell out. This was great to watch since she was able to convince Colby to flip on the main alliance, cause a tie vote and get him out by number of votes. Tina also made one of my favorite moves ever in the merge in one of my favorite challenges. In the first merge challenge where all the players had to do was stand on a log as long as they could, she steps down for Keith because she knows he has the votes while knowing Kucha would go after Colby. This not only clinches majority for Ogakor but puts her in a great spot as well. She also smartly gets Rodger and Elisabeth on her side to use as votes to get rid of Jerri and Amber who she knew didn't like her. This season also had one of the most exciting finales when Colby wins final immunity and decides to take Tina to the end over Keith who would've been a lock to beat. There were a couple other moments too such as Kel getting voted out over a piece of grass that was claimed by others to be chocolate, Rodger jumping from a cliff into a river when he didn't know how to swim and Keith going into the river to save the tribe's supplies. But the most real moment was when Skupin was burnt in the fire. I felt that was a positive for the season because it showed the harsh cruelty of nature and what the players are facing when they go out there.
Despite all the moments I just shared, I think this season is a little overrated. Yes it's good but I really wouldn't call it great nor a top tier season. I feel like for one thing, the post-merge had a lot of untapped potential that just got ruined by Rodger and Elisabeth. Think about it. Once Jerri was gone, they were set up to take over the game by having Amber and Nick as allies. Instead, they choose to take Tina's side and be minority allies. Just think about how much the post-merge would've been shaken up had they went with Amber. They could've gotten Tina and Keith out and Colby's challenge streak would've been even more epic. I understand he really had to win anyway because Tina would've gotten rid of him but I think it would've been better defeating an opposing alliance all trying to beat you. Which leads me to the broader negative of Australian Outback still being in the learning phase of survivor. Basically, everybody was still figuring out how to play the game and Tina like Hatch, outclassed them strategically. Also, when I really look back at this season, Colby's immunity streak is a little overrated. I say this because he dominated every single challenge and with the people he was competing against and the challenges they did, I don't think anybody even had it in their minds that Colby might get beat. That makes it a little less exciting and the challenges almost all being for boyscouts and outdoorsman, Colby had a pretty big advantage.
I understand why people love this season but imo, I think people ignore some flaws and the bigger potential this season had.
Stay tuned for #14! Hint- there was a historical first in the pre-merge of this season
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
18. Palau
17. Gabon
16. Borneo
15. Australian Outback
Africa
Marquesas
Amazon
Pearl Islands
Vanuatu
Guatemala
Exile Island
Fiji
Micronesia
Tocantins
Samoa
Heroes vs. Villains
Phillipines
Cagayan
2. It was Tina who was the big heroine for saving the rice
3. Colby didn't just win physical challenges, he won mental challenges (actually more mental than physical including the fire bucket one because his strategy was to build a huge fire first, then get water). He was also in his prime though.
4. The game was still developing, so you can't blame Elisabeth and Rodger because they probably expected Tina to vote out Keith and Colby.
