Survivor megathread

[The Ex-Factor]

Russell might be even more polarizing than Trump.

Great winner, although this season was not the best. Ben, Denise, and Nick were almost total duds this season. Kim was the only person from like the F10 on who realized how dangerous Tony was. For winners at war season the gameplay was surprisingly tentative.

[MasterJedi]

Natalie should have won it, she helped shape the game more than Tony did without even being in it full time. Didn't help that a lot of people played stupid this season and knew Tony didn't want them but refused to take him on.

[7,052,770]

Natalie should have won it, she helped shape the game more than Tony did without even being in it full time. Didn't help that a lot of people played stupid this season and knew Tony didn't want them but refused to take him on.

We just thought Chris's win was bad. Imagine if someone got voted off on Day 2 and then didn't play perfectly and epicly when coming back, and still won.

Had Natalie actually used her idol to get rid of her target at 6, then survived without an idol at 5, and then stood up to take down Tony in fire at 4, well I still wouldn't want her to win, but it wouldn't have been as bad as if she'd won last night. Natalie had all that time on the Edge to get tokens and advantages, bought 3 for the return challenge, and still only barely won it.

If say, Sophie, had come back in the game and played well (as in taking down Tony herself), I could see a case for her. She'd say she was in for most of the game and had great play before and after her won screw-up (where she got 4 of 9 votes and was eliminated). But Natalie just had nothing other than getting voted out so early she had the jump on finding advantages and then she happened to find an immunity idol at 5.

[Orwell]

As someone who doesn't watch Survivor, I saw the advertisements during Wheel and Jeopardy.  I hope all of you were pleased by the end of the season yesterday. Good luck in your future seasons.

[Progressive Pessimist]

I'm very pleased that I got my all New Jersey final three! I was also correct with predicting that Michelle would make it to the final three. I was very satisfied with this final three and would have been happy if any of them won.

And in defense of Natalie, I think she had much more of a claim to be the winner than Chris did from two seasons back. She actually contributed to the game fairly significantly and played her ass off when she got back in, absolutely throwing the Tony-Sarah-Denise-Ben alliance for a loop. I think Michelle also had a case for winning in managing to survive as a constant underdog and exceed expectations. The problem for both of them was that they were up against Tony. This game was always Tony's to lose if he made it to the final three, and low and behold, he did. He certainly deserved it the most in playing a near-perfect game and is truly the show's king. Sandra still gets to be "The Queen" though, so she's probably happy about that. She hasn't been completely usurped even as Tony is probably the truer paragon of how to play the best.

I do think that either Michelle or Natalie could have beaten Sarah...I mean, Lacina, though if she made it to the final three. No matter how many emotional speeches or helping to fulfill Ben's wish of being voted out (my mind is still boggled by that) she still probably would have been perceived mainly as being Tony's puppet and can't even take credit for the many blindsides he pulled off since she wasn't always on-board with them. Though this finale did make me soften my opinions of Ben and Lacina, who prior to it kind of irritated me in how they played and behaved.

Though I also must say that I still wish the whole final three would be nixed in favor of returning to a final two. Like clockwork, there is always a third player who doesn't get any votes, and it just feels pointless. I also am in favor of Edge of Extinction going extinct too. I didn't mind it this season since it allowed us to keep seeing some of our favorite contestants, but it really is kind of an unfair concept. That also goes with the fire-making challenge. I never liked it, ever since it originated in Ben's season. Fire tokens added an interesting new dynamic though, I'm curious how they could factor in a future season without Extinction Island.

Overall though, this was the best season in awhile, but I don't think it was the best ever as it sought to be. That title still goes to Heroes vs. Villains to me. Maybe it's because a lot of the players we know and love the best all got voted out early in season 40 and left us with somewhat less interesting, albeit fresher, faces.

[7,052,770]

Chris

• Survived two tribal councils before being sent to the Edge, voting for the eliminated contestant both times
• Returned to the game at final 6
• Survived the F6 council without winning immunity or playing an idol, because he convinced Lauren to play an idol for him. Voted for the eliminated contestant (Victoria).
• Survived the F5 council by playing his idol. Voted for the eliminated contestant (Lauren).
• Won the F4 immunity and gave it up to make fire against the obvious winner in any F3 matchup
• Made good relationships with the jury throughout his time on the Edge

Natalie

• Survived 0 tribal councils before being voted off first
• Returned to the game at final 6
• Had to use her own idol to survive F6, but her plan to vote out Ben failed
• Only survived at F5 because she happened to luckily find another immunity idol. This time she did vote for the eliminated contestant (Ben), although she really had nothing to do with Sarah's decision.
• Apparently did not make many good relationships with the jury throughout her time on the Edge
• Won the F4 immunity, but choosing Tony vs. Sarah was a terrible decision. She could have faced Tony herself and if she'd won, she would have gotten something on her resume. Or, even better, matchup Tony and Michelle, and if Tony wins, Sarah might siphon some votes from Tony, and Michelle may vote for her, at least a lot more likely to vote for her than Sarah was.
• Sent Tony's two closest allies to the jury where they'd be sure to vote for him without them being mad at Tony

So while there's no doubt that Chris is the worst winner of all time by default, he at least has some impressive big moves on his resume. Natalie's game is nowhere close to that, and her winning would have been a franchise-killing disgrace.

[100% pro-life no matter what]

I narrowly won my Fantasy league.  If Natalie had defeated Tony, I would have only tied for 1st.  The person who had Tony actually came in 4th place out of 5 people because his other three were Danni, Ethan, and Amber- who just so happened to be the bottom three finishers.  My team was Nick, Michele, Tyson, and Ben.  The 2nd place team was Jeremy, Natalie, Sophie, and Denise.  The only reason that I won was that I cleaned up in the "voting correctly" category, with a 11 point edge there, versus my overall 5 point margin of victory.

The prize: A season 40 commemorative buff

[Progressive Pessimist]

Chris

• Survived two tribal councils before being sent to the Edge, voting for the eliminated contestant both times
• Returned to the game at final 6
• Survived the F6 council without winning immunity or playing an idol, because he convinced Lauren to play an idol for him. Voted for the eliminated contestant (Victoria).
• Survived the F5 council by playing his idol. Voted for the eliminated contestant (Lauren).
• Won the F4 immunity and gave it up to make fire against the obvious winner in any F3 matchup
• Made good relationships with the jury throughout his time on the Edge

Natalie

• Survived 0 tribal councils before being voted off first
• Returned to the game at final 6
• Had to use her own idol to survive F6, but her plan to vote out Ben failed
• Only survived at F5 because she happened to luckily find another immunity idol. This time she did vote for the eliminated contestant (Ben), although she really had nothing to do with Sarah's decision.
• Apparently did not make many good relationships with the jury throughout her time on the Edge
• Won the F4 immunity, but choosing Tony vs. Sarah was a terrible decision. She could have faced Tony herself and if she'd won, she would have gotten something on her resume. Or, even better, matchup Tony and Michelle, and if Tony wins, Sarah might siphon some votes from Tony, and Michelle may vote for her, at least a lot more likely to vote for her than Sarah was.
• Sent Tony's two closest allies to the jury where they'd be sure to vote for him without them being mad at Tony

So while there's no doubt that Chris is the worst winner of all time by default, he at least has some impressive big moves on his resume. Natalie's game is nowhere close to that, and her winning would have been a franchise-killing disgrace.

Fair points, I guess I was just more endeared towards Natalie as opposed to Chris due to the editing. She had a very compelling story-line that was presented to us and she seemed to be more relevant throughout the game than Chris was, the edit couldn't even make Chris seem like a winner. I think considering the edit is important when discussing a reality television show. It's how I got the inkling that Michelle would make it far.

[Farmlands]

Good final overall. Michele getting third place with her game leaves me feeling sad for her, but she's at peace with it. The key move for Tony's game really was the Sophie blindside, it made Sarah and Ben have to work with him and I have no doubt she would've worked something to get him out eventually.

[7,052,770]

Seems like we usually speculate on contestants' politics on these threads, so I'll give it a stab. Note that I haven't scoured through anyone's Facebook or Twitter pages, so I could be totally wrong about some of these.

In order from right to left:

• Danni - Definitely gives off a conservative vibe. From Kansas.
• Kim - Also get a conservative vibe from her. And IIRC she is pretty religious. From Texas.
• Tony - No smoking gun, but a white male cop from New Jersey seems like a Republican.
• Sarah - She described herself as conservative in Game Changers during the Zeke outing controversy, although she did support him and use his preferred pronouns. Police officer from Iowa. The speech she gave to the jury at F6 was pretty feminist, so who knows. She may be a Trump-Biden voter, she may not see her speech as un-conservative, or she may have been playing to a mostly liberal jury.
• Ben - A veteran with PTSD issues. From Idaho. Son of a gay father. Wouldn't be shocked if he generally didn't vote, but if he does and I had to predict, I would guess Republican. Also could be libertarian or drawn to Trump's non-interventionism.
• Nick - Not really sure on him - no obvious vibe. He's white and comes from an >80% Trump county in rural Kentucky. But he is a public defender, which seems like a liberal career choice.
• Tyson - A faithful Mormon family man originally from Utah, but sure doesn't give off a Republican vibe.
• Rob & Amber - I remember them endorsing Kerry back in 2004, but aside from that they don't give off strong vibes either way. Plausibly Obama-Trumpers.
• Denise - No smoking gun, but a sex therapist seems like a Democrat.
• Parvati - No smoking gun, but a female yoga teacher from California seems like a Democrat.
• Sandra - No smoking gun, but Puerto Rican woman vote mostly Democratic.
• Michelle - Could be misreading, but I think she gives off a liberal vibe, as urban millennial woman from New Jersey with a black ex-casual boyfriend.
• Adam - Gives off a strongly liberal vibe. Urban millennial from California.
• Sophie - Also gives off a strongly liberal vibe. Seemed uncomfortable with her tribe's religiosity in her first season. From California.
• Wendell - No obvious evidence, but assuming an urban millennial black man is probably on the Left unless there's evidence otherwise
• Jeremy - Black man from Massachusetts. Recognized and disliked John Rocker for his racist and homophobic comments.
• Ethan, Yul, Natalie - Come from Democratic minority groups and spoke about their liberal politics during their original seasons.

[tmthforu94]

^^Harry, there was a whole Reddit dive/research on the politics of each contestant at the start of the season, I'll try to find it and share it in here. Pretty sure Tony is a liberal, also, Sarah is a Trump voter.


My thoughts on the finale: I like an underdog story and was never a fan of the Tony-Sarah-Ben alliance, so found myself rooting for Natalie and Michelle. However, upon reflection, I think Tony deserved the win, he played a fantastic game. I will give Natalie credit for doing an incredible job on the EoE, but ultimately, I don't think what happens there should equate to what is happening in-game. She was lucky to make it to the finale, but made a couple of critical mistakes along the way that weakened her argument.

I felt bad for Michelle that she got 0 votes, I think she should be proud of the game. A lot of the contestants were anti-EoE going into it which I think hurt Natalie. From some post-finale interviews, Michelle claims there were several that had planned to vote for her, but voted for Tony instead to block Natalie from winning. If only the vote was IRV. I liked Sarah's women's empowerment speech, then found it ironic how she so blatantly propped Tony up as she was getting her torch snuffed and then voted for him, considering there were two well-deserving women also sitting there.

I liked the pace of the finale, but am sad there was no reunion element - I always enjoy hearing what they say after the fact.

[100% pro-life no matter what]

Seems like we usually speculate on contestants' politics on these threads, so I'll give it a stab. Note that I haven't scoured through anyone's Facebook or Twitter pages, so I could be totally wrong about some of these.

In order from right to left:

• Danni - Definitely gives off a conservative vibe. From Kansas.
• Kim - Also get a conservative vibe from her. And IIRC she is pretty religious. From Texas.
• Tony - No smoking gun, but a white male cop from New Jersey seems like a Republican.
• Sarah - She described herself as conservative in Game Changers during the Zeke outing controversy, although she did support him and use his preferred pronouns. Police officer from Iowa. The speech she gave to the jury at F6 was pretty feminist, so who knows. She may be a Trump-Biden voter, she may not see her speech as un-conservative, or she may have been playing to a mostly liberal jury.
• Ben - A veteran with PTSD issues. From Idaho. Son of a gay father. Wouldn't be shocked if he generally didn't vote, but if he does and I had to predict, I would guess Republican. Also could be libertarian or drawn to Trump's non-interventionism.
• Nick - Not really sure on him - no obvious vibe. He's white and comes from an >80% Trump county in rural Kentucky. But he is a public defender, which seems like a liberal career choice.
• Tyson - A faithful Mormon family man originally from Utah, but sure doesn't give off a Republican vibe.
• Rob & Amber - I remember them endorsing Kerry back in 2004, but aside from that they don't give off strong vibes either way. Plausibly Obama-Trumpers.
• Denise - No smoking gun, but a sex therapist seems like a Democrat.
• Parvati - No smoking gun, but a female yoga teacher from California seems like a Democrat.
• Sandra - No smoking gun, but Puerto Rican woman vote mostly Democratic.
• Michelle - Could be misreading, but I think she gives off a liberal vibe, as urban millennial woman from New Jersey with a black ex-casual boyfriend.
• Adam - Gives off a strongly liberal vibe. Urban millennial from California.
• Sophie - Also gives off a strongly liberal vibe. Seemed uncomfortable with her tribe's religiosity in her first season. From California.
• Wendell - No obvious evidence, but assuming an urban millennial black man is probably on the Left unless there's evidence otherwise
• Jeremy - Black man from Massachusetts. Recognized and disliked John Rocker for his racist and homophobic comments.
• Ethan, Yul, Natalie - Come from Democratic minority groups and spoke about their liberal politics during their original seasons.

I saw someone say that Nick is a big Trump supporter.  I could see Tony as less conservative than you might guess though.  Parvati is definitely quite liberal now, though it wouldn't surprise me if she was somewhat more conservative when she played her first time.  I could easily see the Marianos as Obama-Trump voters.  Ben seems conservative to me, but I thought I read someone saying he said on a podcast he voted for Hillary (but even then, I would think he could be a Republican in non-Trump elections).

The only ones that I'm pretty sure are Republicans are Nick, Kim, Danni, and Sarah.  Rob, Amber, Ben, Tyson, and Tony are probably pretty moderate or could go either way.  The rest are likely Democrats, though I get the sense that Jeremy, Yul, and maybe Ethan are probably not as liberal as you are guessing they are.

[tmthforu94]

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

[100% pro-life no matter what]

Real-life politics also sometimes do play a role on the show, but it is rarely shown as such.

An example of this is that Brad Culpepper is (surprisingly?) very liberal and said that there were several outspoken conservatives on the post-merge Game Changers (Sarah, Sierra, and perhaps others), and he would have to forcibly remove himself from conversations to prevent himself from getting into arguments and potentially making enemies.

Another example that Victoria from Edge of Extinction hinted at on an AMA on Reddit was that she and Ron had a lot of friction with Lauren.  She wouldn't go into a lot of detail about it, but basically said that it wasn't personal but they couldn't relate to Lauren because of vastly different backgrounds, including Lauren being very religious and them not.  While she never explicitly mentioned politics, she said that "there is nothing wrong with either viewpoint", which sounded like they had some friction over religious views that could have spilled over into politics and values.  She also said that it was hard for her because the religious people in the game talked about their faith a lot.

[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

[Progressive Pessimist]

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

I didn't think it was possible to make Michele more attractive.

Also Nick being a public defender makes me think that he might not be as right wing as we think just because he's from Kentucky. I can't say for sure though, I'm just speculating as you are with some of these contestants.

[morgankingsley]

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. Kelly
2. Colby
3. Ethan
4. Vecepia, I guess, barely know this one
5. Clay
6. Jenna
7. Sandra
8. Rob
9. Chris
10. Tom
11. Danni
12. Aras
13. Ozzy
14. Earl
15. Todd
16. Parvati
17. Bob
18. JT
19. Russell
20. Parvati
21. Fabio
22. Phillip, only because Rob wouldn't be in this due to winning All Stars
23. Coach
24. Kim
25. Mike without hindsight, Denise with
26. Cochran
27. Tyson
28. Tony
29. Natalie
30. Mike
31. Jeremy
32. I like all three, but I'm going Michelle
33. Ken, the only unanimous vote I don't agree with
34. Brad
35. Ben
36. Domenick
37. Mike
38. Gavin
39. Tommy
40. Tony

[The Ex-Factor]

Nick is a Trump supporter. He has admitted so on twitter. Also he was in the RHAP patreon facebook group before he was on Survivor where he was known for posting MRA content. That's why that chart said 'LOL do you need to ask', all of the hardcore Survivor fans know that he's a Republican.

Tony is a registered Democrat and has made anti-Trump comments on twitter in the past, so I think we can safely say he is not conservative.

The rest of the chart is mostly accurate, although more of them are registered independents than you'd think. From when I last checked, these are each of their party registrations:

Republicans: Nick, Danni, Sarah
Independent: Rob, Amber, Kim, Michele, Natalie
Democrat: Adam, Denise, Ethan, Jeremy, Sandra, Sophie, Tony, Wendell, Yul
Not registered/I couldn't find them: Tyson, Ben, Parvati

[Progressive Pessimist]

Nick is a Trump supporter. He has admitted so on twitter. Also he was in the RHAP patreon facebook group before he was on Survivor where he was known for posting MRA content. That's why that chart said 'LOL do you need to ask', all of the hardcore Survivor fans know that he's a Republican.

Tony is a registered Democrat and has made anti-Trump comments on twitter in the past, so I think we can safely say he is not conservative.

The rest of the chart is mostly accurate, although more of them are registered independents than you'd think. From when I last checked, these are each of their party registrations:

Republicans: Nick, Danni, Sarah
Independent: Rob, Amber, Kim, Michele, Natalie
Democrat: Adam, Denise, Ethan, Jeremy, Sandra, Sophie, Tony, Wendell, Yul
Not registered/I couldn't find them: Tyson, Ben, Parvati

Okay then. I don't really keep up with the contestants' Twitter accounts. And even as some of them may be registered Independents, they may still have left or right sympathies which I think tmthforu's chart still reflects pretty accurately.

[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

[7,052,770]

So, now that the season is done, who should have been on the S40 cast? There were 18 winners not cast. Here's what I've gathered from some Internet articles. I've underlined the ones that I think realistically could have been brought back if production wanted them.

Only 4 women were left out of the cast.

• Tina (S2-Australia, also returned for S8-All Stars and S27-Blood vs. Water) - Producers talked to her but ultimately chose not to cast her, to her disappointment. She would have been 58 during filming, so oldest on the show by nearly a decade, but definitely not too old.
• Vecepia (S4-Marquesas) - Apparently never heard a word from producers
• Jenna (S6-Amazon, also returned for S8-All Stars) - Not sure. She was arrested for DUI a couple years ago, but apparently not charged. She dated Ethan for 10 years.
• Natalie W. (S19-Samoa) - Didn't find whether she was invited or even contacted by production. Not usually considered a very deserving winner.

14 men were not included:

• Richard (S1-Borneo, also returned for S8-All Stars) - Apparently rejected due to his incident with Sue in S8, especially in the light of the #MeToo movement and the S39 incident.
• Brian (S5-Thailand) - Appears to be on the outs with producers and generally considered to be too slimy to come back. Arrested for shooting a puppy (wtf)
• Chris D. (S9-Vanuatu) - No idea if he was considered.
• Tom (S10-Palau, also returned for S20-Heroes vs. Villains) - Reportedly has a lot of health problems, and there are photos online showing he's put on a lot of weight. However, despite this apparently was close to making the cut anyway
• Aras (S12-Exile Island, also returned for S27-Blood vs. Water) - Apparently talked to producers but ultimately not interested in coming back
• Earl (S14-Fiji) - Mutual interest between him and producers in him returning, but had to decline because his baby was born shortly before filming and spent a few months in the hospital
• Todd (S15-China) - Not sure. He's had a big alcohol problem since being on Survivor, but interviews suggest he was interested in returning
• Bob (S17-Gabon) - According to his Twitter he would have said yes, but was not invited. Would have been pushing 70 at the time of filming. Not usually considered a very deserving winner.
• JT (S18-Tocantins, also returned for S20-Heroes vs. Villains and S34-Game Changers) - Some rumors about production not liking him, but couldn't find anything definite. Did not live up to his S18 reputation in his subsequent appearances.
• Fabio (S21-Nicaragua) - Didn't find whether he was invited or even contacted by production. Not usually considered a very deserving winner.
• Cochran (S26-Caramoan, previously on S23-South Pacific) - Apparently production really wanted him but he declined.
• Mike (S30-World Apart) - Was apparently not invited. Has had some "controversial" Islamophobic Tweets, but IMO they weren't bad enough to exclude him by themselves.
• Chris U. (S38-Edge of Extinction) - Controversial winner, and he didn't know for sure that he had won while the show was being cast.
• Tommy (S39-Island of the Idols) - S40 was filmed before any of S39 aired, so it would have spoiled to Tommy that he'd won, and when the cast list leaked, the whole country would have known the S39 winner months early.

Ultimately, I would have loved to see them go with a 24-member cast, adding Richard (too iconic and I don't think it would have been all that controversial, at least not boycotts or anything), Tina, Jenna, and ... really any of the remaining men. I'll be controversial and say Fabio, who would have brought something totally different to the cast. Vecepia and Chris D. would have been interesting to see again if any of those 4 declined. Maybe all 6 can be considered for WAW2 once they have enough female winners to do this format again.

I actually think Richard, Jenna, and Fabio could have done well this season. I wonder if the Jenna/Ethan pairing would have been as awkward as Michelle/Wendell.

[morgankingsley]

Bob would have been the second oldest contestant in history

[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.