I apologize for the long delay guys. Tengaged was down and it's getting harder to find free time to write the rest of these. For those of you patient enough to keep following along I appreciate the support. The next season had one of the great winner journies to victory in survivor history. This season is:
VANUATU!
Vanuatu is really a season to be marveled at. It's not perfect but man does it shine with their positives. Lets start with the first episode. The show goes into the island culture right away by making the players participate in an island ritual that heavily favored the men. This set up the tribe division of men vs. women. The men have a huge lead in the first challenge until Chris goes on the balance beam. He fails tremendously and costs the guys the win. In some danger of going home, Chris decides to go in the Fat Five to save himself and blindside Brooke. If that episode didn't set the tone for the season than not many premieres have. We of course saw the rare swing vote go home in Dolly. I enjoyed seeing that only because we don't see a lot of swing voters get punished for overplaying their card right away like Dolly. Then we had an entertaining tribe swap. Travis stupidly tries to give a secret sign to Chris during an immunity challlenge that his whole tribe sees, Lisa unintentionally says the wrong thing to Ami and Twila plays Sarge hard to get rid of John K. Not to mention Julie flirts her way in with Sarge by sitting between his legs. Then we see Twila pull a major backstab of Sarge by flipping back to the girls with Julie.
Then we see an unbelievable finish to this season. Chris is the last man standing. He has his wife visit and compete in a challenge with him that he says if he loses, he's going home. Well he goes on to lose the challenge thinking he's fucked. Then we see the collapse of the women. Leigh Ann has pitty for Chris to keep him over Eliza, Twila realizes she's on the bottom of the alliance, snaps and gives Chris an opportunity and Chris gets Eliza to flip and blindside the hidden brains of the game Leigh Ann. Then we see Ami go. To take a moment for her, she was probably the best female villain survivor had since Jerri or perhaps better. Now we see Chris go into the position of power as the swing vote between Eliza/Julie and Twila/Scout. He backstabs the young girls (Eliza twice) and beats the older women in final immunity to make final tribal council. What we see next is the best and most entertaining bullshit speech in survivor history. He pretends to feel horrible about betraying Eliza and Julie when meanwhile, he could care less. And everybody bought it! I absolutely loved seeing a true master of the game win in the fashion and drama Chris did. His comeback really put the cherry on top of this season to make it what it was in its legacy. Who knows how badly this season could've gone if Leigh Ann didn't have pitty.
The negative in this season is that I feel like a lot of things were misinterpreted. The edit made Chris seem to be in big trouble when he was never in real danger and made Ami look like the head honcho among the women when it was really Leigh Ann from what I hear. The cast also wasn't the deepest, especially for a season this high. But luckily, most of the better characters/players stayed in the game long-term.
Overall I thought this season left one big thing to be remembered and that was the story of Chris' victory. The thing is there aren't as much supporting moments to put it higher on the list.
Stay tuned for #6! Hint- a location with a reputation
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
9. Philippines
8. Exile Island
7. Vanuatu
Marquesas
Amazon
Pearl Islands
Micronesia
Heroes vs. Villains
Cagayan
This next season has the name of the twist in the title. Some say it may be too high but this season is:
EXILE ISLAND!
Now before I go into anything, people should know this was the first survivor season I ever watched so it has a special little place in my heart that probably caused it to be a little higher than I would've normally rated it.
With that said, this season was fantastic. I don't care what anybody says, this was one of the more entertaining seasons ever. Let's start with the very first episode. The tribes are interestingly divided by age and gender into 4 groups. The legendary Cirie starts her legacy on the older women tribe. When the lose the first challenge, Tina leads the charge to vote her out but the thing is, she's perceived as being out there because she's still recovering from losing her son. Cirie uses this to her advantage and flips the script to vote out Tina. Then the tribes divide into Casaya and La Mina. Shane is relieved to be off the older tribe and Miranda is voted out with Cirie being told she'll probably go home next. Then shit starts to get crazy. We see what probably is the biggest clusterfuck of a tribe ever. Bob Dawg was only on for 4 episodes and he had a ton of gold moments such as his interactions with Courtney and drinking all the alcohol his tribe won on in a reward challenge with Bruce to end up passing out in their toilet stall which they also won. Shane and Courtney also look like they belong in an insane asylum with Shane really having a hard time not having cigarettes on the island. The alliance between those 2, Danielle and Aras goes absolutely off the wall but yet, the tribe ended up sticking together until they couldn't anymore. These guys drove each other crazy, but man were they fucking loyal. To be fair, Terry and his gang didn't exactly give them an attractive offer to flip and they really couldn't having 3 strong males in the minority but people have flipped for worse options.
Not only did we have the clusterfuck loyal tribe in Casaya but we had the underdog villain in Terry. Terry is my personal favorite survivor ever. He just added so much to this season and made it so much more exciting by winning out. He found the overpowered HII he never had to use because he kept winning. Yet this guy was hated because people thought he was a sore winner/loser. Not denying it but I don't get all the hate for him as a character/player. To me he was essential in making Exile Island what it was because without him, Casaya would've just pagonged them and had no one to unite against. Terry is also responsible for what in my mind is the best survivor rivalry of all time or at least in the top 3 in Terry vs. Aras. I can't think of 2 alpha males that hated each other or were more different than these 2. Aras was the Golden Boy who was nice and honorable while Terry was a middle-aged marine that was extremely competitive. I think it really bothered Aras that someone not only twice his age but someone with that ego/attitude was getting the best to him nearly every challenge. It's something that gets lost when talking about this season but I loved the desire these 2 had to beat each other and outlast the other. The ironic thing is both of these guys lost the final immunity challenge.
People also like to say this season had no strategy. I disagree with that because I thought we saw unbelievable strategy and social play from Cirie and Aras because they found a way to survive in that tribe of nuts. They were also really the only challenge to Terry taking over the game because he did have a solid plan as much as people like to talk shit about his strategy to go to the final 3 with Danielle and Courtney and use Shane as well to take out the main physical threat Aras and ostracize Cirie who was really the biggest threat to win the game. Cirie and Aras just managed to get the best of him every time in that department keeping themselves in the game when really both of them should've never made it as far as they did.
As for negatives, I think the main thing is La Mina. I say this because everybody on that tribe was a dud except for Terry. Sure Dan got a nice goodbye in final 11 but besides that, there was nothing really relevant about that tribe. They got outnumbered with no other memorable players that all got pagonged. Seriously if it wasn't for Terry they could've gone down as the most irrelevant tribe in survivor history.
Overall I think Dinosauro27 said it best that this season was a great example of the mental toughness it takes to play this game and people really can snap out here. This season showed it the best.
Stay tuned for #7! Hint- one of the greatest winner stories in survivor history
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
9. Philippines
8. Exile Island
Marquesas
Amazon
Pearl Islands
Vanuatu
Micronesia
Heroes vs. Villains
Cagayan
This next season was a big revitalization step for survivor. This season is:
PHILLIPINES!
Probably the most important recent season to date, this season lands at #9 on this list. It does a little bit of everything for positives. This season had the underdog story with Malcolm and Denise. I mean really they both come out being the last 2 left from their tribe, get split up and dominate the game. They both make final 4 and Denise goes onto be the first person/winner to go to every tribal council. How can you not love that ending? Then there's the clusterfuck of Tandang. We got RC/Abi hating each other mostly because of Pete when they were an alliance at one point, Skupin and Lisa being outsiders and key allies at the same time and Artis who gets a bad rep for rolling with the wrong people. Everybody served a purpose on that tribe. I felt like even the returnees were much more positive this season because they didn't bring back overbearing people. The returnees were more like role players this season which I liked. They made an impact but didn't take up too large of edits to do it. The cast was also very deep this season. We had Zane be one of the most memorable first boots ever with his plan majorly backfiring, Roxy be the religious nut, insanely hot Angie wanting the tribe to have cookies, Russell Swan with his meltdowns, UTR Katie, Jeff Kent who provided entertainment being so against Penner and then getting voted out because of him, Penner making a fatal mistake failing to change his survivor legacy and of course one of my survivor crushes RC.
I would say the main negative is that this season got a little predictable once Artis got blindsided. When Penner fucked up, the boot order was pretty much set. It made for a few boring episodes in a row tbh. There also wasn't a lot of over the top exciting moments like in outstanding seasons above this. The 3 big things from this season were Zane's blindside, the f10 tribal council and Malcolm's downfall. Not a lot of those are at the top of the list for most memorable moments in survivor history unlike other moments in seasons still on the list.
Overall I thought this was an above average season that really did the little things right. There just wasn't enough big things to compete with the best seasons.
Stay tuned for #8! Hint- this season has a twist as part of the title
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
9. Philippines
Marquesas
Amazon
Pearl Islands
Vanuatu
Exile Island
Micronesia
Heroes vs. Villains
Cagayan
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
This next season started a legacy. There have been a few guesses about what legacy and one of the main 3 guessed is the correct one. This season is:
SAMOA!
Samoa started the infamous legacy of Russell Hantz: the most polarizing player in survivor history. The main positive of this season was the excitement and entertainment Russell mostly brought to us. He's one of the few players ever that can successfully carry a season by himself. Think about it. Russell gets over 100 confessionals and the season mostly revolves around him and it results in one of the most popular recent seasons to date. But there's a reason for this. He took the term aggressive strategist to a whole new level and the edit LARGELY played into that probably more than anybody else. I mean he burned socks and poured water to mess with his tribe mentally. He took the lead in his tribe, had one of the most exciting HII plays ever, got Shambo to flip and won the clutch final immunity challenge to take down Brett. But while Russell played a big part, he wasn't the only factor in this season. This season had one of the biggest comebacks in survivor history with Foa Foa trailing 8-4 going into the merge. Before that one of the biggest downfalls due to medical evacuation happened with Russell Swan. Not to mention this cast rolled deep. Galu was one of the biggest clusterfucks in survivor history with everybody on that tribe being gold for television. Even Foa Foa had its share of entertainment in pre-merge boots from Marisa to Ben to Liz. Ben was such an ass that even Russell Hantz looked good next to him. To top this season off, we saw probably the most shocking win in survivor history from Natalie. I don't know about most of you but for me, once Russell beat Brett, I was expecting him to have the game wrapped up. I honestly would have a hard time believing most people thought Natalie would win watching that season live. Nevertheless, it made the season a hell of a lot more memorable watching Russell's treatment of the other players coming back to haunt him.
So why is a season that has everything exciting about one you want to see in survivor only #11? On paper, this should be a top 5 season. But we play the seasons out not only on the island but on TV. I don't like assuming that producers interfered with this season but there are legitimate claims that Russell was given a HII. Not saying it's definitely true but something I can't ignore either. The other big negative from this season is the editing. I mean really, you have a season with a deep set of characters especially on Galu, who might've been as legendary as Casaya with the right edit, basically got ignored. The edit focused on Russell and Shambo when at least 15/20 players out there had something to offer. I think most people feel we missed out on having a more balanced edit make this season a better version of Cagayan. It also caused Natalie's win to be a lot more questionable. Looking back on the season, it's harder to see just how good of a game she played than it should be. With the proper edit, this season had everything set to make it nearly perfect, it just wasn't done right.
Stay tuned for the top 10! Hint for #10- this season has a cast that has never had a returning player come from 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
14. Africa
13. Fiji
12. Tocantins
11. Samoa
Marquesas
Amazon
Pearl Islands
Vanuatu
Guatemala
Exile Island
Micronesia
Heroes vs. Villains
Phillipines
Cagayan
A lot of people guessed Pearl Islands because of the unaired mutiny twist. Well I hate to say it but a lot of you guys forgot another season had this too. This season is:
TOCANTINS!
There's a lot of things worth talking about in Tocantins. In the very first episode, things got shaken up with the first impressions twist with Sandy and Sierra getting targeted right away. Sandy was able to make things interesting on Jalapao really quick too. We also saw the first alliance ever based off Exile Island between Taj and Brendan. This would be key later in the game and would open up more connections by getting Stephen and Sierra involved. Part of the reason why this happened was because we had one of the best TV tribes and one of the biggest clusterfucks of a tribe in Timbira. The fact this season had Coach 1.0 is also a bonus. Arguably one of the greatest characters survivor has ever had, we just never knew what this guy would say next. We also had Tyson who was the fun and arrogant young player, Brendan and Sierra of course, the 2 black people on this tribe of course voted out before the merge and then Erinn the loner who is probably one of the more underrated entertaining women from this season. This also resulted in having a pretty deep cast. Not to mention we had a great comeback story from JT, Stephen and Taj to overcome a 6-3 deficit to start the merge after Joe's evacuation. To put the cherry on top for this season, it was the first one since Exile Island and still the last season to date to start with 16 people, have a 7 person jury and a final 2. Just a nice touch of traditional survivor we all like seeing.
So these are all pretty big positives. I bet you guys are wondering what negative I possibly have for not putting this at least 5 spots higher. My answer might piss some people off, but I felt like the editing wasn't great from this season. I just felt like they did a poor job hiding the fact JT, Stephen and Taj would come out on top. I always felt like they were never in any real danger, especially once the merge started and we saw just how divided Timbira was. I know they were never in any real danger but that's why it's a negative. The edit made them out to be underdogs when in reality they had control of the entire merge. It just felt a tad predictable. Don't get me wrong, it was great to see some of the best gameplay in survivor history from those 3 but they were almost too good for Timbira. Just ask yourself this question, did you have any real doubt those 3 would not overcome Timbira once we saw the merge? I feel like for TV purposes, other seasons still remaining had better underdog stories or had more dramatic endings.
Stay tuned for #11! Hint- this season was the start of a legacy
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
Marquesas
Amazon
Pearl Islands
Vanuatu
Guatemala
Exile Island
Micronesia
Samoa
Heroes vs. Villains
Phillipines
Cagayan
