http://www.youtube.com/user/stentily.../0/EpJfLWAPpX8


i guess ill check out exile island with all the talk about it. i dont even remember shane, but i think i saw the season. no spoilers plz

I use youtube for all of them.

Cool, you will enjoy it. After watching it again I think there's a good chance it's the best season.

Cook Islands >>>>>>> .... >>>>>>> China, imo

I forgot to list Cook Islands on my watched list

But I have to say that the season was overrated and a snoozefest post-merge, at least imo. It was redeemed by the strength of the F3, the epic F4 2 hour fire challenge, and the closeness of the FTC vote

Not a terrible season by any means, you had the young Parvati developing her skills, a young Ozzy dominating the challenges, but the overpowered immunity idol ruined it for me.

Lets get more input from other posters ITT on their favorite/least favorite seasons. I think it will be refreshing between episodes.

yeah agree. hated how powerful the immunity idol was. really ruined that season for me.

I could get behind Todd as GOAT. As much as I think different playing styles can be successful, I still think Todd's is optimal. Align with someone else who is trying to play the game as well, and is loyal, but who you can definately beat at the end. Then, the two of you have your own little side alliances (as in people who give you information or who trust the information you give them) as you slay the competition together. Be likeable and show your competitors respect even if you don't have much for them. It's a winning recipe, I think.

I think the most important part of his strategy was actually his alliance with Aaron, not Amanda. Align with someone who wants to take the lead and whisper your strategy in their ear and let them execute it. That way they take all the heat, and you can cut their throat before they can take all the credit.

I think the recent ratings show that Russell is better TV for the general public. Either would have been better than Tyson imo.

How dare you **** on FrankieBigNuts this way!?!

Todd won in spite of himself. Calling him GOAT is laughable.

Todd is very good, but not GOAT material imo. He made a massive blunder in not booting JRB and James the other way round, and he would have lost if Amanda hadn't imploded at F4 but he thinks about the game at a high level, and he'd definitely be worth inviting back for a future ASS.

Also, Clovis, please don't restart your feud with Kart. I disagree with him about a lot too (because I'm a raging Russtard) but that's completely unconnected to whether or not he's a moron, and he's clearly not.

Russell is leaps and bounds above Shane (and most of the people Kart would rate highly I imagine): he may always falter in the endgame and his jury management, but at least he can consistently get himself to the point where those things even become relevant, unlike the vast majority of players. Shane was incredibly entertaining, but not because he was some sort of master strategist.

I think this works a lot better in theory than in practice. Somebody who is able to play the game well enough that you'd feel threatened by them might be good as a short-term ally, but they'll identify you as a strategic threat and try to eliminate you when it's convenient; Amanda was definitely loyal initially, but Todd doesn't win China unless she makes the bizarre play of targetting Denise at F4. Being generally likeable is good, but it's hardly a 'playing style', it's just obvious.

Everybody (rightly) talks about people like Cirie, Heidik, Rob C. etc. as GOAT candidates, but person I think should be mentioned more is Stephen Fishbach. He was placed in a season with an incredibly warped social dynamic (everybody post-merge with the exception of Tyson, Erinn and himself was playing for JT to win rather than themselves), and yet still put himself in the best position to win (i.e. either he or Erinn wins F3 immunity challenge). His comments on Sucks and his blog make clear that he has a very analytical and mature approach to the game, and I think he'd be a favourite in any future season he was on.

Exile Island had better ratings for premiers, finales, and averages than both Samoa and Heroes v. Villains.

Samoa had the lowest ratings on average of any season. Heroes v. Villains had the 2nd lowest.

Edit: Obv this is skewed b/c of the rise of DVR and internet watchability, but at best you can't be sure your statement is correct and at worst it's false.

I think it's hard to judge the quality of recent seasons by their subsequent ratings, because Survivor as a whole has been in a steady decline since Australia.

Heck, notoriously crappy seasons like Thailand and Fiji still almost had double the amount of viewers than Heroes vs Villains did.

Not necessarily a glimpse into quality, but a disturbing trend that I don't see getting reversed any time soon

Except a few more gimmick seasons such as a Second Chance edition, a version based in a cold climate, a celebrity edition, and something like a "Masterminds" version to close out the series around S24 or S25

I wasn't using them to compare quality. I was just shooting down Gary's argument of why Russell is better TV to most people than Shane. A rather hollow argument to begin with, but it was false on top of it.

I don't think many people around these parts would disagree. Stephen doesn't get enough credit from the general viewing public, but he's awesome.

Talk to me about rating for Samoa in the context of the seasons around it. I talking out my ass here, but I'd guess Shane's presence did nothing to move the dial.

He wanted to boot James, but Amanda insisted that they keep him longer. I'm not positive, but I believe she threatened to tell James if Todd didn't change his plan. I know this wasn't the edit, but this is what Todd claimed in all interviews afterwards.

I never claimed Shane was a better player, and even later admitted he was MUCH worse after watching more episodes. Only that Shane is better TV, and to me Shane is as much better TV as Russell is a better player, which is to say, a lot. I think my opinion is likely in the majority among Survivor fans outside of this thread.

I totally agree about Stephen. Anyone else here agree that Erinn/Stephen/JT was the best final 3 of all time? Certainly if you discount all-star seasons, but I think this final 3 may well have been stronger than HvV or FvF, the only other 2 contenders in my mind.

All the data is here.

i've watched seasons 11 to 20 + 7 + 8 within the last year... after watching borneo and africa and then falling out of the loop due to living in australia

i'll try and keep it ambiguous but if u plan on watching the past seasons *SPOILER ALERT* maybe dont read below. but i've tried hard to not give anything obvious away.












my favourite season was Tocantins... Tyson was so funny, Coach was awesome lol, JT was likeable, and i really liked Sierra. and a lot of the tribal councils were classics. coach's poem at the end of tribal council was great.

but since it was the first full season i watched since back in the day it holds some sentimental value to me.

otherwise best seasons:

1) Micronesia - Technically hands down the best season of them all i think. Awesome characters, and the events that go down in the jury phase were astonishing. Also i really like the winner and was happy with how it turned out.

2) China - Was just a cool season with good cast members. I thought john robert was funny, im not really sure why i liked it so much but i know the final tribal council was absolutely epic... best final tribal jury speech/answers of all time i think.

3) Exile island. The epic battles between Terry and Aras. Bobby Mason taking a 10 pound Deuce in the toilet and drinking the wine bottles with Bruce. Shane Powers... enough said.

worst season:

1) Gabon -> thought it was kinda dull for the most part. too many older people for my liking. and i didnt like anyone in the final 3. in fact i didnt really like anyone in particular, i was half cheering for Kenny. hated corinne. disliked marcus/charlie. although Randy playing the fake idol goes down as a classic moment, lol. but overall, thought this season was pretty crap.

2) Fiji -> Rocky was awesome but once he left it was a bit of a snooze fest. But it had its moments... i guess Cassandra was a big drag on the season, she wasnt very nice to look at :/ and Yau got owned at the end... i dont know why this season was bad since it had its moments, but i guess the end was disappointing. The style of the end vote and how none of them really deserved it.

comments and thoughts?

Rocky was awesome? Never heard a single person say that before, ever.

If anyone in this thread has not watched Survivor S12: Panama, Exile Island; I suggest you do so as soon as you get a chance

So much entertainment, such great dysfunction

Best post-merge out of any season IMO and several deserving Second Chance/All-Star members

Watch it for this guy alone

http://www.youtube.com/wa...edded&has_verified=1

Here is a gif of Shane lighting himself on fire, for our entertainment

Stephen wasn't better than JT, so no he's probably viewed exactly where he should be.

Can you imagine Stephen writing a love letter to Russell and enclosing a HII? Would he have made almost everyone in his tribe distrust him going into the merge if he had been on HvV? It's very easy to say 'Oh, JT won, so he was better' (since I can't think of any other reason to claim that JT was better), but we've seen that JT is liable to make blunders when he can't cruise to the finals (while being loved by everyone to the point that they never tried to vote him out is to JT's credit, it does mean that his strategic game didn't have to be as strong); there were multiple opportunities for Timbira (or Stephen+Erinn+some number of others) to regroup to take down JT, but they irrationally refused to do so.

I watched this season for the first time about a month ago and had to google "Shane Survivor" to remember who he was. In retrospect, he was very entertaining, but if I had to jog my memory to even remember who the guy was. . .