Survivor megathread

[100% pro-life no matter what]

Compiled list of guesses based mostly from Twitter. Pretty close to your list, Harry!

By the same logic, Kim follows both @realdonaldtrump and @POTUS on Twitter, and those are her only two remotely political follows.  My guess is that she was not a Trump primary voter, but voted for Trump in the general election.

[100% pro-life no matter what]

**DON'T READ IF YOU DON'T WANT TO BE SPOILED ON THE WINNERS OF OTHER SEASONS**


Also, it's interesting that the winners not on this season were probably more Republican as a whole:


1. Hatch- Democrat
2. Tina- Republican
4. Vecepia- Probably a Democrat demographically, though the fact that she is very religious may play against it
5. Brian- Really seems like some sort of libertarian, but I have no idea
6. Jenna- Probably a Democrat
9. Chris D.- Probably a Republican
10. Tom- Really seems like a Republican
12. Aras- I heard he voted for Jill Stein
14. Earl- Probably a Democrat
15. Todd- Probably a Democrat
17. Bob- Tossup
18. JT- Almost certainly a Republican
19. Natalie- Almost certainly a Republican
21. Fabio- I'd be surprised if he's ever voted
26. Cochran- Almost certainly a Democrat
30. Mike- Republican
38. Chris U.- Probably a Republican
39. Tommy- No clear indication either way

[100% pro-life no matter what]

So I decided to have some fun and create a situation where we live in a alternate world where my personal choice on who wins if the one that determines what happens ultimately. Like if I was the only jury vote. But I decide to have some extra fun with this and create two rules for myself.

1. I have to treat this as one linear timeline, not 40 separate ones
2. I can only choose between the finalists that were in the real life show
3. If you want to, you can make your own version of S40 under this alternate universe, and determine who wins in that case, if its radically different

You guys can do this same thing if you want as well, just remember to have fun

1. Richard
2. Colby
3. Ethan
4. Vecepia
5. Brian
6. Jenna
7. Sandra
8. Rob
9. Chris
10. Tom
11. Danni (kind of conflicted on this- might need to rewatch Guatemala soon)
12. Aras
13. Yul
14. Earl
15. Amanda
16. Parvati
17. Bob
18. JT
19. Russell
20. Parvati (was rooting for Russell at the time, but I would go Parvati now)
21. Chase (although, I wonder if Chase is kind of glad he lost, so he can be Chase Rice, not "Chase from Survivor")
22. Rob would be my jury vote, but he probably doesn't play.  I suppose Philip over Natalie, but there would have had to be a third finalist, and I probably would have voted for him/her.
23. Coach
24. Kim
25. Skupin without hindsight/Denise with
26. Cochran
27. Tyson
28. Tony
29. Natalie
30. Mike
31. Jeremy (almost want to say Spencer though)
32. Aubry
33. Adam
34. Sarah (I wanted Brad to win when watching, but I think the edit missed a lot of what Sarah was doing)
35. Chrissy
36. Domenick
37. Nick
38. Gavin
39. Dean
40. WAW would have been a completely different season with this.  Tony absolutely deserved the vote in the real season though.

My Winners at War cast with those winners (leaving out IRL winners they did not cast even if I would have wanted them to):
Men- Colby, Ethan, Rob, Russell, Coach, Tyson, Tony, Jeremy, Domenick, Nick
Women- Sandra, Danni, Amanda, Parvati, Kim, Denise, Natalie, Aubry, Sarah, Crissy

Could you imagine how epic Winners at War would have been with Russell Hantz in the mix too?  Come to think of it, I need to see Russell and Tony play together some day!

[100% pro-life no matter what]

Here would be my casting for some often-discussed themes for future returnee seasons, keeping in mind that production would favor some more recent people for some of these (don't personally agree with every characterization):

Legends (maybe split them into one tribe of winners and one tribe of non-winners)-
Men: Tony, Boston Rob, Cochran, Jeremy, JT, Russell, Colby, Rupert, Devens, Rob Cesternino
Women: Sandra, Parvati, Kim, Sophie, Sarah, Wentworth, Ciera, Aubry, Andrea, Cirie

Second Chance 2 (this is going to be weighted towards recent seasons, but I'll include a couple old-school people)-
Men: Devens, Ron, Wardog, Christian, Davie, Domenick, Ryan U., Devon, Shane Powers, Sean Rector
Women: Janet, Elaine, Chelsea Walker, Lauren O'Connell, Angelina, Kara, Lauren Rimmer, Alexis Maxwell, Natalie Bolton, T-Bird (if Kellee from IoI wants to return, replace Chelsea with her)

Third Time's a Charm-
Men: David Wright, Tai Trang, Spencer Bledsoe, Brad Culpepper, Phillip Sheppard, Stephen Fishbach, Erik Reichenbach, Terry Deitz, Rob Cesternino, Lex van den Berghe
Women: Michaela Bradshaw, Debbie Wanner, Hali Ford, Kass McQuillen, Abi-Maria Gomes, Monica Culpepper, Brenda Lowe, Laura Morett, Sugar Kiper, Eliza Orlins

Republicans vs. Democrats (there's no way this would actually happen, but...)-
Republicans:  Hayden Moss, Russell Hantz, Bret LaBelle, Nick Wilson, Mike Holloway, Sarah Lacina, Anna Khait, Tina Wesson, Ciera Eastin, Lisa Whelchel
Democrats: Brad Culpepper, Chris Hammonds, Stephen Fischbach, Jeremy Collins, Colton Cumbie (yes, he's a Democrat now), Angelina Keeley, Parvati Shallow, Courtney Yates, Wendy Diaz, Eliza Orlins

*Rupert starts the game on the Edge of Extinction as the sole member of the Libertarian Tribe

[100% pro-life no matter what]

Bob would have been the second oldest contestant in history

Assuming you're talking about Rudy, Joe Del Campo from Kaoh Rong would also have been older.

[100% pro-life no matter what]

Here would be my casting for some often-discussed themes for future returnee seasons, keeping in mind that production would favor some more recent people for some of these (don't personally agree with every characterization)

Winners vs. Final 3 losers

Winners not on WAW

• Vecepia, Todd, Natalie W., Mike, Chris U., Tommy

People they beat

• Neleh, Amanda, Russell, Carolyn, Gavin, Noura

WAW Contestants who also won another game or lost in the F3

• Tony, Michelle, Sandra, Parvati

People they beat

• Woo, Aubry, Jonny Fairplay, Cirie

This is similar to a "legends"-type cast, and you have extra layers, since in addition to all of the pairs, Tony also beat Michelle, Sandra also beat Parvati and Russell, and Parvati also beat Amanda.

Possible alternates could include Tina/Colby and Aras/Terry.

I like that cast, but Fairplay technically wasn't a finalist on Pearl Islands.  He came in 3rd, but it was a Final 2.  Still, that could be worth it to get him back.

EDIT: Same with Cirie in Micronesia, but you may be referring to any 2nd or 3rd placer, regardless of if it was a Final 2 or Final 3.

[100% pro-life no matter what]

That's not a bad idea, but even a season that just consists of runners-up probably could be entertaining too. We won't be seeing Russell Hantz among those contestants though. To my knowledge that bridge was burned since his psycho nephew made his appearances on the show.

Yeah, I wouldn't be surprised, but I'd love to see him play one more time. I think he's an obvious early boot though.

Another idea would be a combo of Fans vs. Favorites and Blood vs. Water

• The Culpeppers
• Laura & Ciera (though she better not vote off her mom this time)
• Russell & Brandon (if allowed back)
• Any of the Survivor couples, such as Sebastian & Jenna from Ghost Island, or Jon & Jaclyn, or Alex (S6) and Kim (S3), etc.
• 4-5 pairs of new contestants

I wouldn't mind seeing Rusell come back, but Brandon is up there with Colton and the Dan/Rodney/Will alliance as among the least likable contestants ever.

The crazy thing is Brandon may very well have won South Pacific if he hadn't given up individual immunity.  I've heard that jurors said in interviews that he probably would have won if he got to Final Tribal Council.

[100% pro-life no matter what]

My updated quartiles list.  I haven't seen All-Stars, Vanuatu, or Fiji and am partway through Borneo, so I'll leave those out (All-Stars will be my next one to watch).

Great: 7, 15, 16, 18, 20, 28, 31, 37, 40 (I always refer to 15-20 as the Golden Age)
Good: 6, 10, 12, 17, 19, 25, 27, 33, 38 (hot take on the last one although I didn't like the ending)
OK: 2, 3, 4, 11, 13, 29, 30, 32, 35
Bad: 5, 21, 22, 23, 24, 26, 34, 36, 39

I find the first four seasons very hard to rank, as their so fascinating, but are fundamentally so different than everything else that follows.  I find that even more true for Borneo.  Also, the only seasons I'd truly call bad are Thailand, Nicaragua, and Island of the Idols.  I might have previously included One World in that, but I recently rewatched it and thought it was actually decent but only if strictly viewed to laugh at the contestants (and appreciate Kim's dominant game).  I suspect the same might be true for Nicaragua if I ever get around to watching that again.

Thanks to the mods for merging these threads so that we can have general Survivor discussion organized in a single thread.

Off the top of my head

Great seasons: 1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 20, 28
Good seasons: 6, 9, 10, 13, 14, 15, 16, 18, 19, 29, 30, 33, 37, 40
Meh seasons: 11, 12, 17, 22, 25, 27, 31, 32, 34, 36, 38
Bad seasons: 5, 8, 21, 23, 24, 26, 35, 39

I did consider adding WAW into the top tier, but the Edge of Extinction was terrible and almost ruined the game again, there were still too many idols/advantages, and the editing was a bit confusing -- like, from the viewer's perspective Nick just joined the majority alliance at the final 10 without any explanation, but even though he was working with Michelle, she wasn't a part of it?

Still though, it was a very entertaining season and everybody came to play hard. I think I would rank it 3rd in the current "second half" of Survivor (seasons 21-40) behind 28 and 37.

Has anyone watched any of the English-speaking international seasons (Australia, New Zealand, South Africa)?

I haven't, but I've heard good things about the Australian version.

[100% pro-life no matter what]

I need to sit down and rank the seasons, but I also wouldn't consider 40 a great season - the show has just gotten a bit overcomplicated in my opinion, they need to go back to the basics again. People overthink it so much, it'd almost be fun if they have a season with no immunity idols in advantages - people wouldn't know what to do!!! I know that won't happen, just wishful thinking...

Season 39 goes down as one of the worst with the Dan controversy - you'd think with after how that season went, a woman would have won, but nope, the only woman who made the family was totally out there and had no shot. Also Dean should have won, but I digress. I also wasn't a fan of Redemption Island - everyone was excited for Rob and Russell to battle it out, then Rob got voted out, played the twist, and then he just embarrassed all of the players. In general, I'm just not a fan of people being able to come back after being voted out.

Rob never got out in Redemption Island.

[100% pro-life no matter what]

The Fijian government has given Survivor approval to return to film Season 41, following a two-week quarantine period.  I'd expect that we will get a fall season, maybe delayed to October.

https://insidesurvivor.com/survivor-looks-set-to-resume-production-in-fiji-soon-44539

[100% pro-life no matter what]

The only runner up that still genuinely pisses me off is that Coach lost by only two votes. He was so close to winning a perfect season

Imagine Coach on Winners at War...

[100% pro-life no matter what]

Some bad news on season 41:

https://insidesurvivor.com/update-on-filming-plans-for-survivor-season-41-44621

The earliest they will start filming is September, which would likely rule out a premiere before November/December (more realistically January to avoid Christmas).

Season 42 won't film until very early 2021, but I could see a late spring/early summer airing as not totally impossible.  Season 43 will film in the early summer of 2021, which should allow for a normal airing schedule in 2021-22 if either season 42 is postponed to fall 2021 or they go ahead and film season 44 next summer as well.

[100% pro-life no matter what]

Survivor has been pulled from the CBS fall schedule.

https://ew.com/tv/cbs-pulls-survivor-fall-schedule-coronavirus/

Unfortunately, that became inevitable when they didn't push to film in the US, instead waiting for Fiji to work again.  Hopefully, we can at least get a spring season.

At least sports are back so I'll have something to watch.  I'll probably watch the new Amazing Race that took Survivor's timeslot too.  I've watched TAR off-and-on over the years.

[100% pro-life no matter what]

Is this the most ridiculous Survivor-related video on the whole Internet?

That was...bizarre.  I'm somewhat of a Russell apologist and think Russell actually seems like a decent guy on his Twitter (and also should have at least won Samoa), but Brandon is a different story.  I'm certainly not qualified to diagnose a mental condition, but he still seems off to me.

[100% pro-life no matter what]

RIP Cliff

https://twitter.com/UConnMBB/status/1299711145385787392

RIP Jenn
RIP BB
RIP Caleb
RIP Dan
RIP Rudy
RIP Ashley
RIP Cliff

[100% pro-life no matter what]

The current plan is to begin filming in early 2021.  If Fiji is not yet possible, they will film in the Dominican Republic, which is already open to Americans.  There has been some talk of filming three seasons this spring/summer so that they can air the first of those three in the late spring/summer and not mess up the schedule for the 2021-22 TV season.

[100% pro-life no matter what]

RIP Angie from Palau (season 10)

https://www.gardenofmemoriesmetairie.com/tributes/Cassandra-Jakusz

Jonathan Penner's wife also passed away this week after her battle with ALS that was publicized last season.

In less sad news, Inside Survivor is reporting that production has reached a deal with the Fijian government to begin filming in April.

[100% pro-life no matter what]

#russellshouldhavewonsamoa

I actually agree and either he or Parvati should have won 'Heroes vs. Villains.' I did end up re-watching that season a month or two ago, and it really is in the top three seasons almost entirely because of Russell. Though I do think he got way too paranoid and sloppy with his gameplay towards the end of the season after starting off making some real impressive chess moves. It really did feel like he had a little crush on Parvati (even though he's married)...not like I could blame him. And for that reason I would have been fine if Parvati won instead in turn.

After that season I've continued watching some old season on Amazon, I finished 'Cook Islands' a few weeks ago and am currently now watching 'Survivor: Panama' again.

Yeah, watching it live when I was 14, I thought Russell should have won HvV.  Looking back on it now as an adult (having rewatched it last year), Parvati should have won.  I still do think I would have voted for Russell in Samoa.

[100% pro-life no matter what]

OK, I come to expect a certain amount of bias in major TV, but tonight was really extreme.  From the "come on in guys" controversy to a "pregnant man" to even so much talk of covid at the beginning of the episode, it really felt like they were going all in with being progressive.

I didn't really love the "broken fourth wall" intro either, and don't care either way about the provisions/game length.  The twists are at least theoretically interesting, and I'll be curious to see how they play out.

I just really hope they stop with the woke stuff after tonight and just let the players play the game.

[100% pro-life no matter what]

Now that we're a few weeks in (and the political stuff has quieted down), what are everyone's thoughts on this season?  Personally, I feel much less invested in it than usual.  Most of the interesting people seem to be getting voted out early, none of these twists seem to be panning out, and lots of contestants seem woefully under-developed.  Last night's blindside should have been epic, but it just feels like something is missing.

Hopefully 42 will be better.  Prior to covid, I felt like the show was hitting its stride again (37, 38, and 40 were all really good- except for the ending to 38), but I feel like covid killed the momentum it had built.

[100% pro-life no matter what]

I'm going to revive this tradition and guess the politics of each S41 contestant. All of this is based on vibes from watching the show - I haven't researched or looked at their social media profiles.

In order from right to left:

• Heather - White female from South Carolina. While she was receptive to learning more about it, did not seem to be aware of the struggles of black Americans.
• Brad - Demographically, a rancher from rural Wyoming is very likely to be a Republican. He got along well with LGBT/BIPOC members of his tribe, so I wouldn't say he's certainly a Trump voter, but I still say it's more likely than not.
• Tiffany - I don't remember her ever discussing politics. She gives similar vibes to Heather, but she's from Nassau County, NY, so could go either way.
• Voce - No real indication either way. Demographics (white male surgeon) lean Republican, but he is a millennial from California.
• Naseer - Ironically, I wouldn't be totally shocked if he were a pro-Trump South Asian immigrant, but I still suspect he's more likely to be a Democrat. Not sure what religion he is. For that matter I'm not sure what % of the Sri Lankan-American vote Biden got.
• Sara - No real indication either way, but she is a millennial (Gen Z?) woman from California who now lives in Boston, so probably Democratic.
• Sydney - I could actually be totally wrong here, but she gives off huge liberal elite vibes. Through 2012, I might have had her as a total tossup, but I just don't see her liking Trump.
• Abraham, JD - I don't remember either of them talking about politics or BLM on the show, but I'm just going with demographics.
• Genie - I also don't remember her discussing politics, but it seems very likely that she is liberal, given her demographics.
• Erika - Canadian, immigrant, minority, and talked about how her experiences as each.
• Xander - Would have been the medium red, but his strong words about Black Lives Matter and the black cast members calling him an Ally put him here.
• Evvie - Super visible LGBT  from Massachusetts in academia.
• Ricard - Gay man married to a transman. The only cast member to object to "Come on in, guys." (Not sure if he's a minority or a tan white man.)
• Danny, Deshawn, Liana, Shan - Major plot point of the season.

So this would be an unusually liberal cast. I think a vote count (really a support count because Erika and possibly Shan can't vote in the USA) of 13-5 Biden is pretty optimistic for Trump, and it could easily be a 16-2 Biden wipeout.

ETA - I just realized that I gave everybody their own line, except for the black contestants who had to share lines because they had the same views and justifications. That should not be seen as intentional or a statement of "all black people are the same." It's just the way they were portrayed on the show. Please don't move me from dark red to light blue.

Sara and Xander both did wear crosses, but Sara seemed to also affirm and approve of a homosexual marriage in the premiere.  Also, I could at least conceivably fathom someone like Danny or Deshawn voting Republican, while I could absolutely say with certainty that there is no way Evvie (who also said in her Survivor bio that her inspiration is AOC) or Ricard does.

[100% pro-life no matter what]

The Survivor 42 cast was announced today...and one of the castaways (Daniel Strunk) *has* to be an Atlas poster:
https://ew.com/tv/survivor-season-42-cast-photos-bios/?slide=4fd56ff1-d15a-47d9-9374-4dacadb1af26#4fd56ff1-d15a-47d9-9374-4dacadb1af26

What is the accomplishment you are most proud of? I wrote in my journal a personal philosophy on what I think the purpose of life is, influenced by my battle with cancer, my religion, and my ideological beliefs.

What is something we would never know from looking at you? I collect signed pocket U.S. Constitutions. Among others, I have one signed by Chief Justice Roberts, Justice Thomas, Justice Alito, Justice Sotomayor, and the former U.S. ambassador to Estonia.

Who is your hero and why? George Washington, for being one of the few to ever resist power of that magnitude. Roddie Edmonds, for putting his life on the line to do what was right.

Also, Tori Meehan seems to be a devout Christian.  It's been a few seasons since we've had someone open about their faith on the show, so I'm excited for that!

Who is your hero and why? It would be so cheesy to say Jesus, but I did want to use this question to explain the importance of my faith. I am a fully devoted follower of Christ, and my life motto is to "love God and love people." I recognize that there is a higher calling on my life than simply living for myself.

[100% pro-life no matter what]

Bump for the premiere tonight.

I thought it was a solid premiere, and this cast seems better than the Survivor 41 cast to me.  I feel like everyone's going to be talking about the evacuation/ejection.  But, what seems most likely to me is that the producers were going to let the situation play out, but someone on the legal team was worried about liability and stepped in.

[100% pro-life no matter what]

A few episodes in: is anyone else loving this season? I think it’s certainly leagues better than 41 at this point if only for the lesser focus on advantages and more well-rounded editing in general.

So much better than 41. The editing is a lot better, the twists haven't occuppied half the episodes' runtimes, and in my opinion, this cast having a wider range of beliefs and personalities helps as well, because it's not just about life experiences sometimes.

Completely agree.  This season is night and day versus last season.  I'll let Harry due his traditional "guess their politics" thing, but it seems to me that the backgrounds and life experiences of the cast is much more varied than it was last season*.  Plus, every episode has been exciting and every vote unpredictable.

*I do remember reading that Daniel worked on Jeb(!)'s campaign, which is just kind of funny!

[100% pro-life no matter what]

Update for the castaways’ politics thread: Jonathan’s audition video features him serving as a bodyguard for Roy Moore and his dad (Dean Young, the guy who made him run up a mountain every day when he was five) is challenging Kay Ivey from the right in the GOP gubernatorial primary next month.

For this season, I'd guess Jonathan, Tori, Daniel, and Mike are on the right.

I'd guess that most of the rest lean left, though I'm not sure about Marya and Omar.  Maybe Rocksroy too.