We have now entered the top 10! Getting near the end of the list, I'm happy with the seasons still remaining. I'm not quite sure myself how I'm going to order the rest of the list but let's start with this. This season hasn't had a returnee. It is:
GUATEMALA!
I wasn't going to go with the obvious answer of Cagayan for this. I think I'm a little surprised at how high I ended up ranking this season but it lands in the top 10 of my list. I believe this is one of the more underrated seasons on this list. Everything about this season really deserves more praise than it gets. First of all, Guatemala is one of my favorite locations and I really wish survivor would return here. I liked all the ancient pyramids and the Mayan Empire stuff around the camp. It made the season stand out location wise. It was also interesting that this season started the most difficult way ever with a 24 hour hike challenge for the better camp. Talk about earning your luxury. In the beginning it seemed this season had a nice sense of unpredictability and depth. I say this because I think this is one of the few seasons after All Stars where it took the tribes a long time to have set majority alliances. Jim admittedly was an obvious boot for Nakum but the rest actually felt like you didn't know who would go. Morgan was one of the early shockers most around here remember. Then we have a tribe swap that no player saw coming that left for an interesting division. While the swap wasn't all positive (I'll talk about the negatives next paragraph) it did allow certain players to get in a set and more interesting position such as Steph transitioning to a villain, Judd developing into a big character, Danni getting her cover in a majority position at the time and Brian really getting tested for his true skills. I did like the merge story going in with 3 big guys and Danni in the minority. You saw Brandon go down honorably just missing the jury and Bobby John managing to make jury.
One of the best moments of the season came when the HII was intreoduced and Judd got the clue for it. His infamous quote to the Nakum "The idol is DEFINITELY on the ground." still is one of my favorites ever. When Gary finds it and calls Judd out on all his bullshit that tribal I nearly died of laughter. Then we see Danni by more time by convincing Rafe and Steph to get rid of their paranoid goat Jamie which was a foolish move for Steph in particular. Once Gary goes next, we see one of the greatest comebacks in survivor history. Down 5-1, Danni wins a vital immunity challenge that not only kept her in the game but allowed her the extra time to find a crack in the Nakum alliance. That crack was Rafe's ego. Danni played into that and made him believe their friendship was the most important thing. She convinced Rafe to go along with voting out Judd, Cindy and Lydia. Then Rafe tellls Danni she's excused from their final 2 deal, Danni actually goes along with it and Rafe is then mad about it when he gets to the jury. I just found that to be ironic and hilarious. The fact that this season hasn't had a returnee is absolutely criminal to me. There's so many underrated skilled and TV players such as Danni, Rafe, Judd, Gary, Ami and Brian.
There aren't a lot of negatives to this season but there's 2 that are worth mentioning for me. The first is the edit Danni got in the post-merge. I felt it didn't do her justice for not only the accomplishment of having a comeback win like hers but all the work she put into doing it was barely shown. I understand she didn't trust production and hid information from them but I still feel like they could've done a better job with her in the second half of the season. The edit just didn't make it feel as special as Chris' comeback when Danni did as good if not better than him. The other thing is as I mentioned the tribe swap. I didn't like the fact it screwed over some players completely such as Brian and Ami plus an argument can be made for Margaret and Brooke as well. The tribes may not have been the most physically even but there was a good flow going on both sides with a more unpredictable vibe that got neutered with the swap.
Overall this is still a great season that deserves a lot more recognition than it gets.
Stay tuned for #9! Hint- this season was arguably a revitalization of survivor
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
14. Africa
13. Fiji
12. Tocantins
11. Samoa
10. Guatemala
Marquesas
Amazon
Pearl Islands
Vanuatu
Exile Island
Micronesia
Heroes vs. Villains
Phillipines
Cagayan
shes so chirpy and so tiny