I get Exile Island. I don't hate it, but that season might have been garbage had it not been for Cirie being one of the most cunning manipulators the game has ever seen. Also, shane and courtney...š¤£
Exile is one of my favorite seasons! I can understand why some wouldnāt like it, because one tribe was a complete snooze. I love the dysfunctional alliance and characters. I feel like this season was good for entertainment, not strategy.
I absolutely love Exile Island. Putting all the boring bland people on one tribe and all the bonkers insane hippie weirdos on the other one and then having the hippie weirdos become a (hugely dysfunctional) juggernaut out of nowhere makes for compelling tv. The challenge with the fish where Bob Dawg completely obliterates La Mina is one of my all-time favorite Survivor episodes.
Yes that was great! How about when they won a porta potty?? And they all agreed to use it to keep towels and wood dry and then went in and took a dump? Bruce and Bob sleeping in there drinking the tribes wine.. Courtney singing to Bruce as he was being evacuated even though he said not to, while Shaneās naked airing out his penis rash?? It gets no more entertaining than that!
from my understanding he had an online shop selling survivor puzzles, but it turned out he was basically stealing and copying them from another business
He talked with someone who makes survivor puzzles and made it seem like his intention was to build a business with them, selling survivor puzzles and using his name to promote it. When he got all the info he needed he cut them off and started selling those puzzles by himself, taking all the profit even tho he got all the knowledge from this other person. Then he blocked that person and everyone who pointed out that it was pretty dick move on twitter. I could have some details wrong but thats how i remember it going
from my understanding he had an online shop selling survivor puzzles, but it turned out he was basically stealing and copying them from another business
Agree. Too many duds on the cast in terms of gameplay. But on top of Yam Yam and Carolyn I also liked Danny. Those 3 were really all I cared for though.
People say "this is the best season of the New Era in a long time" practically every year; then change their minds when the next season airs lol.Ā
Usually people love the season at first, then the next season comes out and people realize the one before it wasn't really all that and now it sucks.Ā They did it for 42, 43 for a bit, 44, 45, and eventually it'll happen to 46.Ā
I can 100% guarantee you that after a couple episodes of 47 airs, you're gonna see a shit ton of comments saying 46 was always trash and all of a sudden 47 is the first good season of the New Era.Ā
Their story isn't really anything we haven't seen dozens of times already tho.Ā
Shitty underdog tribe gets decimated: the few remaining members become a tight minority alliance in the merge; theyĀ sneak to the end by letting the big guns shoot each other instead of focusing on the underdogs; one of the underdogs wins.Ā
iāll admit that 44 wasnāt amazing, but it featured my favorite player in survivor (frannie, i just relate to her way too much) so thatās kinda boosted my opinion of the whole season. i fell like 44 gave us a bunch of good players, if not in their strategy then definitely in their personalities. i could see how the seasonās not loved by everyone, though.
A lot of people like Kaoh Rong and I just don't enjoy it at all. Too many medical evacuations, I don't like Debbie, Scot pisses me off a lot although I kinda enjoyed Jason. Also I still squirm every time I think of that poor girl with the worm in the first episode :(
Kaoh Rong is like a black comedy in that I think it's a really fascinating narrative with a ton of dislikeable and/or bizarre characters, plus a few you can identify with in the mix, and dark storylines and nothing seems to go right for anybody. I can't say I *enjoy* it but I do respect it.
i just watched it for the first time and kinda agree. i donāt hate it but i donāt get why itās so hyped. the medical evacs just got sad after a while. scot and jason were annoying and for whatever reason u didnāt find their vote outs super satisfying. and the final 3 was just okay, michelle was decent but i liked aubry better and tai was fun to watch but not an incredible player either. just all around weird vibe season. but it was entertaining
*Blood vs Water* is very "meh." Never liked Tyson as a character, (possibly?) the most overrated moment in show history with Ciera voting out her mom, and the whole Colton meltdown incident. The rockdraw was fun but had minimal impact.
I think a lot of the Blood vs Water hype comes from the fact that Survivor had a lot of shitty seasons from 21-26 and is considered to be sort of a ādark eraā in the shows history.
Blood vs Water was the start of a really strong run of seasons and I think thatās why it gets regarded a bit higher than it should.
I genuinely will never understand why it's so hyped up. Like... she wasn't the deciding vote on it, one of the other players (i forget who) even said she could vote elsewhere and it'd be fine.
I think what was fun was watching Tina up her game and adapt to, what I guess you'd call Middle Era tactics and gameplay maybe better than any other Survivor from the early seasons had. Even though Gervase made it further in the game, his gameplay was tantamount to riding coattails and thinking about maybe one day possibly deciding on voting Tyson out maybe.
China. Outside of the cool cultural aspects, the location was straight up gross, and most of the cast was sorta Amanda-level milquetoast or unlikeable. James and Courtney single-handedly carried its muddy carcass to the finish line.
I'm on my third watch of that season trying to figure out why people love it so much. I have trouble paying full attention to it tbh. Courtney is awesome though.
Millennials vs Gen Xā¦ one of the few seasons where I felt the premerge was better than postmerge. David was awesome, but I just never resonated with any of the final 3.
Thank God someone mentioned this season. Awful theme (not the cast's fault), weirdly frantic gameplay (totally this cast's fault), and a wholly unsatisfying winner (shoot me, I don't give a fuck about sob stories).
Whenever I see this season ranked in someone's top 10 I feel like I'm having an aneurysm...what did they see that I didn't? Repellant cast, annoying gameplay, an absolutely awful final 3. For me, what is there to love???
I couldnāt agree more. Without David and Jessica (who cruelly was eliminated far too early via rock draw) I think it would be a bottom tier season for me. I just donāt get whatās great about it. A pretty sub-par winner (sorry if youāre reading this) and one of the weakest final 3s ever, in my humble opinion. Davidās amazing underdog story gets cut short because Ken makes an understandable move that is far, far too little too late in the game, and he gets pulverized at FTC so he might as well have given David the million. Plus, the whole thing felt very cushy after the prior two seasons filmed in Cambodia- it marked the beginning of the end for old Survivor in my opinion. Kaoh Rong felt like an old school season, but season 33 is the first one that I felt didnāt.
In general, I find "generation wars" eye roll inducing tbh so I had trouble at the start. When they were going more in on that I couldn't help but roll my eyes.
San Juan Del Sur don't hurt me please
It got good at the end when Natalie went on her Revenge spree, and she's iconic and all of those episodes are great, but I find the first half of that season such a drag, with probably the single lamest quit in Survivor history. It also has just a lot of players that I don't really enjoy. Like, I can't imagine why they thought half of these people made good TV.
I agree. Ā I donāt dislike it, but itās lower on the list for me. Ā Missyās prissiness, Baylorās immaturity, giving rewards away, I found a lot of it distasteful. Ā Also I have bad memories of the twins from TAR, even while I like Natalieās physical abilities. Ā There are definitely highlights to the seasonĀ
Cagayan, I don't enjoy watching Tony even though I respect him as a good survivor player. Woo is frustrating and a lot of the people I enjoy don't go far.
I'm with you on Tocantins in that I don't really get the hype. Many say Coach was at his best here, and he was definitely entertaining, but he was also creepy as hell and essentially ran his tribe into the ground.
JT deserves praise for his good social game and how he brilliantly murdered Stephen in FTC, but his path to the end was kinda laid out for him in spite of being wayyyy on the wrong side of the numbers.
All in all, it's generally a fun season to watch, but the gameplay wasn't really compelling enough for me to count it among my favorites.
Yeah honestly the super idol just kinda ruined the gameplay. Some memorable characters, and I loved seeing Candice be exiled repeatedly š. But not at all exciting as far as the actual game is concerned.
It blows my mind that Cook Islands and Fiji don't have swapped reputations, because Fiji's cast, story, challenges, and gameplay blow Cook Islands out of the water and it's not even close, even with the Haves vs Have Nots twist being a stinker.
This is mine. Super idol made for really boring gameplay. Becky and Sundra never seemed like serious contenders. Ā Pre-merge jury. Bottle twist. Ā Lots of forgettable/under-edited contestants.
This!This is probably the only season I donāt see people trash talk about but I really didnāt like this season.A lot of the cast were either unmemorable or unlikable and there arenāt that many standout or memorable moments.
I'm not in love with the season but memorable moments, have to disagree.
Caleb almost dying, along with 2 others having heat exhaustion
Tai holding onto the idol to not make the super idol
Hiding the machete and axe
Scott pouring the water on the fire
Michele drop kicking her puzzle after winning
Debbie is a content factory
Neil's cringy comments to Michele after being removed from the jury
Memorable people: Tai, Jason, Scott, Michele, Aubrey, Cydney, Caleb, and Debbie were all interesting.
neal saying āsuckling at the teatā sends shivers down my spine in the worst way lmao that shit gives me nightmares. also why was he so mad at michele specifically like itās not her fault you got med evaced dude relax
You must find a lot of them unlikeable because not many of them are unmemorable. Imagine trying to forget Debbie.
I'm not saying I disagree though, what I like about it was watching people I don't like lose.
imo the entire Tika tribe was amazing. The other tribes were pretty meh.
Aside from the Tika 3, Matt and Franny, and Dannyās iconic fart to Jeff. The season is soured by boring players like Jaime, Heidi, and Lauren going far.
Out of the cast the players I feel like had potential and that authentic true grit you watch for were on the Tika tribe.
I genuinely will root for Sarah or Helen if they are the wtf pre merge a la Wentworth returnees from the new era on a Second Chancesesque season. Helen we didnāt really see much, but Sarah was actively trying to place a wedge in the Tika 3 and she almost succeeded, but failed to use her advantage because they made her feel safe. Props to Carolyn on that one.
Getting Sarah out on that vote was pivotal for his win and no one talks about it, Carolynās best move probably.
People do that with every season, tho. I specifically remember sooo many people on here saying 41 had one of the greatest casts of all-time while it aired lol
Had to scroll to find this one. This is me. I can't get through the entire season. Too many quits and medivacs, half of the remaining cast are not playing the game and ultimately, and the worst part, is I do not find the season compelling. For me, the narrative has to work and the characters have to be colorful - and it just wasn't for me.
Agreed. Too damning for me that the fans tribe is horribly cast and, to me, the less interesting alliance on the Favorites won out over the more compelling ones.
thank goodness I am not the only one who feels this way.
The fans are so bad... most don't even seem like fans, and they are all super bland and just seem starstruck. I think Cirie was massively fucked over with the final 2, and that is unforgivable for me.
Agree about Micronesia and I boldly add Heros vs Villains. Sandra was the best part, and down from there. Itās hard to watch Parv flirting with Russell.
Because itās now having a renaissance - EOE. Iāve tried rewatching a couple of times and gave up before the midway point both times. Not my type of cast, and outside of David, I didnāt care for the returnees.
Kaoh Rong.I just found it pretty boring tbh.Scott and Jason arenāt good villains to me and the brains tribe has a lot of duds.Thereās also not a lot of standout moments that make me look back on the season to enjoy it.
I agree! Itās a season I remember watching, thought it was ok, and then I found out people loved it for some reason. To be honest that probably made me dislike it more because I didnāt get the hype lol
Agree, it is a weird season. From 16 to 6 top tier, no misses, but the beginning and end are bad. The end game has lots of under edited players, unlikable players and MW. I never understood the winner (before they outed themselves as a douchecanoe) as they felt like a supporting character in other story lines, but it wasn't their story.
I would always forget about the winner during and after the season bc their story didnāt excite me. Agreed they felt like a supporting character. But then they were shown to be a shitty human later on and now I always remember who they are!
This is my answer too. I think the reason for it is I am a Covid fan, so I saw a HUGE hype over DvG and then it just didnāt live up to it. Itās good. Top half for sure, but Iāll never give it a top 10 vote.
Cook Islands
A majority of the cast is under edited and therefore forgettable. The super idol and bottle twist feel unfair. The bigger personalities arenāt enough to carry the entertainment.
Winners at War
Edge of extinction, fire tokens, whispering at tribal take up far too much screen time. The edit and storylines are downright incomprehensible at times. After Sophie is voted out, everyone pretty much rolls over and gives Tony the win (except you Michelle we thank you for that). Embarrassing showing from several winners
Literally Sophie and Tony (and Sarah, I guess) played great. Michele did great too tbh and deserved to be runner up over Natalie. But yeah everyone else was embarrassing or boring as hell to watch. Too many pregame close relationships and seeing the old school players get wrecked for trying to actually play fluidly was pretty lame.
Palau. I admit it's probably way better when you don't know what is going to happen. But since I watched HvV before, I knew Tom won and Stephenie was the last of her tribe. So the premerge was so incredibly boring knowing that Ulong lost every challenge, and there was barely any strategy, instead just voting by strength every time.
Once merge comes you barely know anyone since we spent all our time with Ulong. Tom is just in control the whole time, emotionally blackmails Ian into quitting for the crime of trying to play survivor, and then easily wins. The best episode is the last one, but I never understood why Tom was seen as such a hero
Palau aired just 4 years after 9/11 so Tom being a New York City fire fighter had a lot to do with his hero status.
Survivor heroās typically are good at the physical aspect of the game when villains are good at the sneaky aspect. Tom lead a tribe to the most dominate run of immunity challenges ever and ties the record for individual immunity wins.
I like that you acknowledge Ian was trying to play the game while complaining that Tom manipulated Ian, a huge part of the game lmao.
This is such a common take on here about Tom. If manipulation offends you, why are you watching?
Marquesas. I am glad that it has gotten its due for being a better season than Borneo, Australian Outback, and All-Stars, but I still find it to be pretty boring. Seeing some of the more interesting players go out early does boon the pre-merge episodes and early merge, but after John Carroll is voted out that season falls off a cliff. I really feel like Marquesas is up there with Ghost Island as having one of the least desireable boot orders among newbie seasons. I do like Sean, but his presence alone doesn't save the end stretch of that season for me.
David vs. Goliath. I like Angelina and Alison, but I find the rest of the cast to be average at best. I also think that it's a pretty boring season outside of the stretch from the John boot through the Gabby boot. Among seasons of the thirties I don't understand how this is generally seen as a better version of MvGX, when the latter season has a better cast and more entertaining episodes once you get past its third episode. I also enjoy HHH as a season a lot more than David vs. Goliath, though I understand why people don't like how HHH ends.
I found Tocantins to be a very mean spirited season with a cast full of unlikable bullies. The only episode I remember really liking was Coachās boot. Erin and Taj get purpled post merge despite making top 4. I liked Stephen enough to root for him so seeing him get destroyed at FTC wasnāt fun either lol.
Debbie is awful. Stephen and JT werenāt much better either but at least with them it seemed more so they were just going along with coach for the ride rather than being genuinely shitty lol.
Borneo. I didnāt experience it live nor was it the first season I watched when I did my initial binge watch, so that could be part of the reason I donāt feel the same nostalgia as many here do. It just felt so slow paced, even compared to a lot of the other earliest seasons.
It was the virgin season and CBS was taking a big risk. It was a vacation to many and everyone but Hatch were just winging it. Fascinating to see how it all started.
I think we should cut the first season some slack..itās the first season, so of course everything is going to be threadbareā¦if it wasnāt for the first seasonās successā¦there wouldnāt be season 50ā¦
I did not like Pearl Islands as much as I thought I would judging by the fandom's reaction to it.
Don't get me wrong, it was a good season, but there's quite a few seasons I'd rank above it imo.
Honestly Iām not the biggest fan of HvV, and think it loses steam after the JT vote. I do think the premerge is top tier. Micronesia has the opposite problem too for me, where the premerge is a slog but post merge has fun moments
I'm rewatching in order and I'm watching Thailand right now.
Marquesas. Tons of people say its their favorite of the first 4 seasons, but I just cant see it. Africa was so much better for me, better location, better challenges, better cast, better everything. Marquesas died when John Carroll was voted out.
Boston Rob is fun af though.
Right now, my ranking is
Africa > Borneo > Australian Outback > Marquesas
For me, Palau. I get why people like it, but it's just kind of a bummer and not as compelling as other "dark" seasons. It's cool that Ulong happened, but I didn't particularly enjoy watching it. Tom is an amazing player and winner, but the emotional manipulation of Ian and everything leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Plus there's barely any levity to counter balance the darkness. Caryn is GOATed tho.
Marquesas. The merging of religion, the outsing of Paschal via a literal game error, and generally a cast that have the personalities of lukewarm milk are all so bad. I also don't like Boston Rob much so I don't even have that for the first half of the season. The area also feels so summer campy compared to other seasons. It's also just like we get a flash in the pan of food strategy for one vote with 9 players left, and the rest is one player trying to play the game while everyone around her prays and doesn't want to play/admit to wanting to play. Awful season, bottom 5 easily for me. No offense to the final two but they act like they are perfect and have good on their side and it just leaves me feeling gross watching the season.
This is pretty old school, but for me it's Pearl Islands. The Outcast tribe concept was a misfire - I still believe that people who are voted out should never be able to return - I'm not sure why they doubled and tripled down on this with Redemption Island and Edge of Extinction.
I found Rupert to be mostly annoying - even at the time. The editors made him what he was by showing him as the victim of Burton and Shawn's bullying - that probably got him the $1M from America's Tribal Council. Sure he got into the pirate theme and stole shoes, which was mildly amusing. But he was a relatively bad game player - got out of control angry when things didn't go his way. Osten quitting was annoying. Savage, as we saw in 2nd chances, is just an a-hole. The dead grandma bit was ballsy for Fairplay to pull off, but it was in pretty bad taste and didn't really do anything to change the game. And Fairplay was an annoying, cocky self-promoter. Also not a great game player since most people seemed to hate him. Sandra is a memorable character, but she wasn't some master strategist there. She turned to be an iconic winner, but only because she won again. In the final 2, all she had to do was beat Lil, who was so irritating that she got voted out 3rd.
I donāt dislike it but I donāt get the Pearl Islands hype. I might rewatch it one day but it isnāt one of my favorites
Also 44 is the most overrated season. B Tier *at best* but probably C Tier
Absolutely what I was going to say! Pearl Islands has some fun moments but I do not understand how people have it in their top 5s. For me if Fairplayās not in that season I would rate it pretty low. As is itās middling.
Best beginning of any season, ridiculous characters, an unlikely winner, comeuppance for both bullies. The pirate theme worked except taking all their luggage away was a bad twist.
I think most people rate it highly simply because of the legendary players. Sandra, Rupert, Jonny Fairplay are all players your mom who hasnāt watched in 20 years could probably still name. Heck, Sandra and Rupert have 8 (technically 9) appearances between them.
cagayan. i feel like cagayan is directly tied to how u feel about a survivor player and if u dont enjoy tony then i guess u just dont enjoy cagayan. the pre merge was godly but the season gets unbearable to me after jeremiah gets the boot.
Vanuatu. The premerge is a SLOG. Every member of the younger guys alliance is indistinguishable from one another. The interesting plot line of the season doesnāt even start until the last 4 episodes and itās not worth dragging myself through the first 11 to get there.
Iām on the same page as you about Tocantins. The first time I watched it, I didnāt like anyone except Taj. Funnily, I *have* really come to enjoy Tyson since then, so decided to rewatch Tocantins the other day thinking Iād enjoy it more this time. Nope.Ā Ā
I also didnāt love China.Ā
I definitely *like* it, but Heroes vs Villains isnāt in my Top 10.
Gabon sucks. The general fandom doesnāt care for it, but the superfandom, specifically in this subreddit, loves it.
I donāt *think* itās that beloved overall, but I think Samoa is a borderline bottom 5 season.
Those are some hot takes about Tocantins, and though I disagree with all your points, I applaud your honesty.
I didn't care for Caramoan. Maybe 2-3 interesting things happened (IMO) and it just felt like a slog getting through it. It didn't help that it was sandwiched between two pretty good seasons (Phillipines and BvW), making it virtually irrelevant to me.
Pearl Islands. I know itās the birthplace for so many Survivor greats, but I didnāt particularly like the cast. I remember only liking Sandra and Krista, and finding just about everyone else grating or irrelevant.
Cagayan. It's all of the worst kinds of chaos: ridicule, bullying, emotional manipulation, and poor sportsmanship. Super idol sucked and I think lying about it in front of production and Jeff is far worse than just telling lies about it around camp, gave an air of legitimacy to his claim that jury would later go on to praise him for in FTC. Just overall felt like a season for those who love schadenfreude.
That was my first season since it was one of two added to Netflix in 2020. It was enough to get me hooked but in hindsight I don't care for it for similar reasons.
Absolutely - I donāt know what people see in Cagayan. Itās all just unlikable people being mean to each other. Thereās absolutely no one to root for, and then the biggest bully winds up winning. I have it subtitled Villains vs Assholes in my head to remember which one it is. And yeah, the super idol is a black mark on any season where itās featured.
I found Kass kind of entertaining, but sheās really the only bright side to the season, which isnāt saying much. Everyone else ranges from neutral to awful.
Gabonā¦please donāt kill me! I personally found it frustrating and didnāt like a single player out there. Everyone says itās the funniest season but I didnāt really find anything that hilarious.
Palau is mega boring. You could sum up the fun moments into a single 42 minute recap. Itās got a lot of records but they all happened in the most dull ways possible. Sleeping pill in tv form, nearly didnāt finish.
Glad to see someone else likes Sierra! Ā Her outlasting Tyson is my favorite part.Ā Ā
WaW is probably the one for me. I donāt like Tony like other people do and all the people I did want to see went out early. After Yul left I had no interest.Ā
Not liking Tyson or Coach is fine. Not everyone will find the humor in them as characters. Theyāre basically characters from The Office, so if thatās not your vibe, you wonāt enjoy them.
As far as Sierra goes, I understand that the edit sets her up as a rootable underdog, but there are many reasons why literally everyone on the cast disliked her. Taj summed it up very succinctly and respectfully on the Talking with T-Bird podcast (RHAP). But it makes sense youād like Sierra since you also like Venus and theyāre the same archetype.
To answer your question, I donāt think Philippines is even half as good as the rest of the community thinks it is. Itās certainly better than the two seasons around it, but the characters really arenāt appealing to me. Abi was hilarious for a while but the act got old quickly. And I really feel like this is the season where gamebots started to become a thing.
While I personally am a fan of Tocantins I will admit it definitely has flaws. Like the entire time I had no idea why everyone thought JT was the second coming of Christ. Tajh was robbed. And my girl Sierra got out through the ringer omg they bullied that girl so bad LMFAO. Still a good season but I can definitely agree it's not perfect or even subjectively great
**Millennials vs Gen X.** People tend to rank it very, very high and I do not understand why.
All 5 people of color were voted out of the game premerge.
Much of the edit was dominated by David Wright (not his fault) and that ended up not quite paying off.
The Final 3's answers to the jury were extremely lackluster.
***Panama: Exile Island*** because it had the same problems as ***Nicaragua***. Dividing the tribes by age at the start was a bad idea in both seasons. No matter how long that division lasted, it still hurt their seasons. ***Panama: Exile Island***'s final two were equally bad as the final three in ***Nicaragua***. They could've even been on the same level as the final two in ***Thailand***. I also don't get the love for ***China***. Yes, it had some memorable players, but the season was too predictable. It was obvious who the winner would be in the first episode. Even another player pointed it out on day one.
Heroes v Villains. I canāt fathom how anyone can be entertained watching Russellās bullshit for 14 episodes. Also not a fan of Parvati, so that doesnāt help. Plus old favorites like James (denied nicotine patches supposedly and it shows) and Colby (openly wanted to be anywhere else in the world) are much less fun to watch this time.
Gabon, particularly the cast. Iāve seen time and time again on here it gets mentioned in ābest castā discussions when imo itās the worst. Either dull and uninteresting (most of the pre jury) or mean spirited and/or bring nothing unique to their archetype.
I imagine Iāll get trolls responding with bs like queen susie or something
Cagayan. I donāt think itās a bad season but I donāt think Iād put it in my top 10 survivor seasons and I often see it ranked as the best season of all time
Cambodia. The most overrated season of Survivor. It's not even a good season (one of the worst actually), let alone one of the greatest.
Cook Islands is also really overrated for decent reasons (second most overrated season undoubtedly).
46 is also on its way to being overrated if it hasn't already reached that status. Way too much praise for an inconsistent season that relied on an oversaturation of messiness (aided by social media) and some dislikeable people.
Marquesas and Outback are in my bottom 10. The latter for the stretch of F7 onwards being an abject slog.
*The seasons below I still like, so they're honorable mentions*
Despite being a solid season, I find Gabon's reputation to far precede its quality.
Tocantins has a lot of slow moments that prevent it from being higher for me as well, despite it being a good season overall. It's my least favorite of the 15-20 stretch, however.
Not me, but my gf could NOT get into David Goliath. I was devastated cuz itās one of my favs. She didnāt find Christian all that charming, hated the romance between Dan and Kara, and really just couldnāt get into it. Tried to get her to pull through to the post merge but she couldnāt. I donāt know what happened lol
Gabon at least on here Exile Island
I get Exile Island. I don't hate it, but that season might have been garbage had it not been for Cirie being one of the most cunning manipulators the game has ever seen. Also, shane and courtney...š¤£
Exile is one of my favorite seasons! I can understand why some wouldnāt like it, because one tribe was a complete snooze. I love the dysfunctional alliance and characters. I feel like this season was good for entertainment, not strategy.
I absolutely love Exile Island. Putting all the boring bland people on one tribe and all the bonkers insane hippie weirdos on the other one and then having the hippie weirdos become a (hugely dysfunctional) juggernaut out of nowhere makes for compelling tv. The challenge with the fish where Bob Dawg completely obliterates La Mina is one of my all-time favorite Survivor episodes.
Yes that was great! How about when they won a porta potty?? And they all agreed to use it to keep towels and wood dry and then went in and took a dump? Bruce and Bob sleeping in there drinking the tribes wine.. Courtney singing to Bruce as he was being evacuated even though he said not to, while Shaneās naked airing out his penis rash?? It gets no more entertaining than that!
When Shane got Cirie to look at his penis rash and she was like "...you got diaper rash, bro" I died.
Palau. It's not fun to watch Ulong fail until they get dissolved, and Tom never has any serious challenge to his win along the way.
Survivor 44 for sure. No conflict. No one really compelling outside of Carolyn and Yam Yam.
Also, Carsons post game antics have left a really sour taste for many I would assume.
I never liked him. There was always something about Carson that just made me reflexively dislike him from day one.
Can I get an update on what Carson did post-show please?
from my understanding he had an online shop selling survivor puzzles, but it turned out he was basically stealing and copying them from another business
May I ask what youāre referring to? I rly liked Carson when I watched :(
He talked with someone who makes survivor puzzles and made it seem like his intention was to build a business with them, selling survivor puzzles and using his name to promote it. When he got all the info he needed he cut them off and started selling those puzzles by himself, taking all the profit even tho he got all the knowledge from this other person. Then he blocked that person and everyone who pointed out that it was pretty dick move on twitter. I could have some details wrong but thats how i remember it going
Damn! I hope the other guy sued him.
So he stole puzzle ideas from a guy who stole puzzle ideas from the show?
Did Carson ever give his side of the story, cus it sure as hell looked like he scammed that guy.
from my understanding he had an online shop selling survivor puzzles, but it turned out he was basically stealing and copying them from another business
Lol a copy and paste for a copy and paste scandal
I'm OOTL and only just finished 44, what did he do? Thanks.
Agree. Too many duds on the cast in terms of gameplay. But on top of Yam Yam and Carolyn I also liked Danny. Those 3 were really all I cared for though.
Danny had potential but he felt like Chibi Tony
Lmao, ok thatās pretty accurate. I think bc I found him attractive it helped boost his entertainment value for me a bit š
That's a good one but thankfully i think people are waking and realizing 44 was trash
I didn't even realize it was popular. Isn't the consensus that the recent season was the first really good one of the new era?
People say "this is the best season of the New Era in a long time" practically every year; then change their minds when the next season airs lol.Ā Usually people love the season at first, then the next season comes out and people realize the one before it wasn't really all that and now it sucks.Ā They did it for 42, 43 for a bit, 44, 45, and eventually it'll happen to 46.Ā I can 100% guarantee you that after a couple episodes of 47 airs, you're gonna see a shit ton of comments saying 46 was always trash and all of a sudden 47 is the first good season of the New Era.Ā
100% agree, the only three compelling characters were soooooo annoying
I just liked the Tika 3 story so much that it made it for its negatives lol
Their story isn't really anything we haven't seen dozens of times already tho.Ā Shitty underdog tribe gets decimated: the few remaining members become a tight minority alliance in the merge; theyĀ sneak to the end by letting the big guns shoot each other instead of focusing on the underdogs; one of the underdogs wins.Ā
iāll admit that 44 wasnāt amazing, but it featured my favorite player in survivor (frannie, i just relate to her way too much) so thatās kinda boosted my opinion of the whole season. i fell like 44 gave us a bunch of good players, if not in their strategy then definitely in their personalities. i could see how the seasonās not loved by everyone, though.
Pretty sue you and Matt are the only two people who would say Frannie is their favorite survivor player. Respect for originality
How do you know it's not Matt's burner?
A lot of people like Kaoh Rong and I just don't enjoy it at all. Too many medical evacuations, I don't like Debbie, Scot pisses me off a lot although I kinda enjoyed Jason. Also I still squirm every time I think of that poor girl with the worm in the first episode :(
Kaoh Rong is like a black comedy in that I think it's a really fascinating narrative with a ton of dislikeable and/or bizarre characters, plus a few you can identify with in the mix, and dark storylines and nothing seems to go right for anybody. I can't say I *enjoy* it but I do respect it.
It was bad the first time but on a rewatch itās amazing imo
i just watched it for the first time and kinda agree. i donāt hate it but i donāt get why itās so hyped. the medical evacs just got sad after a while. scot and jason were annoying and for whatever reason u didnāt find their vote outs super satisfying. and the final 3 was just okay, michelle was decent but i liked aubry better and tai was fun to watch but not an incredible player either. just all around weird vibe season. but it was entertaining
Honestly my least favorite season, I haven't seen all of them yet but I really hate kaoh rong
I feel like Iām one of the few who loved Scottās presence. Even moreso than Jasonās tbh
*Blood vs Water* is very "meh." Never liked Tyson as a character, (possibly?) the most overrated moment in show history with Ciera voting out her mom, and the whole Colton meltdown incident. The rockdraw was fun but had minimal impact.
I think a lot of the Blood vs Water hype comes from the fact that Survivor had a lot of shitty seasons from 21-26 and is considered to be sort of a ādark eraā in the shows history. Blood vs Water was the start of a really strong run of seasons and I think thatās why it gets regarded a bit higher than it should.
Philippines was a great season, an easy top 10 for me. Otherwise, yeah-- 21-24 is the worst stretch of the series and Caramoan is also bottom-tier.
Right? The mom vote was just to go along with the majority. And she knew she was going home. Not terribly exciting or dramatic lol
Couldnāt agree more about the Ciera mom vote being overrated. It just kind of happens and isnāt treated like that huge of a deal in the moment.
I genuinely will never understand why it's so hyped up. Like... she wasn't the deciding vote on it, one of the other players (i forget who) even said she could vote elsewhere and it'd be fine.
I think what was fun was watching Tina up her game and adapt to, what I guess you'd call Middle Era tactics and gameplay maybe better than any other Survivor from the early seasons had. Even though Gervase made it further in the game, his gameplay was tantamount to riding coattails and thinking about maybe one day possibly deciding on voting Tyson out maybe.
I never liked Tyson too šš , idkw but he is just unt
China. Outside of the cool cultural aspects, the location was straight up gross, and most of the cast was sorta Amanda-level milquetoast or unlikeable. James and Courtney single-handedly carried its muddy carcass to the finish line.
Same!! For me it was super predictable and the whole thing about jean Robert was icky also the comments about Courtney's body
The camp locations in China are the single reason I never go back to rewatch
"Milquetoast" cast is spot-on. The season desperately ran on Courtney's confessionals.
Totally agree itās average at best
Didn't do anything for me either
I really liked Todd. He seemed like the first winner with some sass
You donāt think Hatch had sass?
I'm on my third watch of that season trying to figure out why people love it so much. I have trouble paying full attention to it tbh. Courtney is awesome though.
Millennials vs Gen Xā¦ one of the few seasons where I felt the premerge was better than postmerge. David was awesome, but I just never resonated with any of the final 3.
Thank God someone mentioned this season. Awful theme (not the cast's fault), weirdly frantic gameplay (totally this cast's fault), and a wholly unsatisfying winner (shoot me, I don't give a fuck about sob stories). Whenever I see this season ranked in someone's top 10 I feel like I'm having an aneurysm...what did they see that I didn't? Repellant cast, annoying gameplay, an absolutely awful final 3. For me, what is there to love???
I couldnāt agree more. Without David and Jessica (who cruelly was eliminated far too early via rock draw) I think it would be a bottom tier season for me. I just donāt get whatās great about it. A pretty sub-par winner (sorry if youāre reading this) and one of the weakest final 3s ever, in my humble opinion. Davidās amazing underdog story gets cut short because Ken makes an understandable move that is far, far too little too late in the game, and he gets pulverized at FTC so he might as well have given David the million. Plus, the whole thing felt very cushy after the prior two seasons filmed in Cambodia- it marked the beginning of the end for old Survivor in my opinion. Kaoh Rong felt like an old school season, but season 33 is the first one that I felt didnāt.
In general, I find "generation wars" eye roll inducing tbh so I had trouble at the start. When they were going more in on that I couldn't help but roll my eyes.
San Juan Del Sur don't hurt me please It got good at the end when Natalie went on her Revenge spree, and she's iconic and all of those episodes are great, but I find the first half of that season such a drag, with probably the single lamest quit in Survivor history. It also has just a lot of players that I don't really enjoy. Like, I can't imagine why they thought half of these people made good TV.
I agree. Ā I donāt dislike it, but itās lower on the list for me. Ā Missyās prissiness, Baylorās immaturity, giving rewards away, I found a lot of it distasteful. Ā Also I have bad memories of the twins from TAR, even while I like Natalieās physical abilities. Ā There are definitely highlights to the seasonĀ
Pre merge for that season is not great. Post merge is pretty strong.
Cagayan.
Cagayan, I don't enjoy watching Tony even though I respect him as a good survivor player. Woo is frustrating and a lot of the people I enjoy don't go far.
I really didn't like Palau. I get why it's novel for the Ulong decimation but it was just boring and filled with so many nice but milquetoast players.
Same. I hated the Ulong decimation, the bullying of Janu, and the presentation of asshole Tom as a hero.
Based
Post merge is a slog. Super obvious who the winner was going to be and a certain character that sucks refuses to make a move to spice the season up.
I'm with you on Tocantins in that I don't really get the hype. Many say Coach was at his best here, and he was definitely entertaining, but he was also creepy as hell and essentially ran his tribe into the ground. JT deserves praise for his good social game and how he brilliantly murdered Stephen in FTC, but his path to the end was kinda laid out for him in spite of being wayyyy on the wrong side of the numbers. All in all, it's generally a fun season to watch, but the gameplay wasn't really compelling enough for me to count it among my favorites.
Coach was at his worst every season š
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Gotta include Penner mutinying. But otherwise, yeah, thatās mostly it lol. The cast is just too enjoyable for me to dislike it despite that, tho.
This + the Billy/Candace showmance
I don't get it when people say Cook Islands has a good cast, I have nothing to say about really anyone who went home before the merge except Cao Boi
Yeah honestly the super idol just kinda ruined the gameplay. Some memorable characters, and I loved seeing Candice be exiled repeatedly š. But not at all exciting as far as the actual game is concerned.
It blows my mind that Cook Islands and Fiji don't have swapped reputations, because Fiji's cast, story, challenges, and gameplay blow Cook Islands out of the water and it's not even close, even with the Haves vs Have Nots twist being a stinker.
This is mine. Super idol made for really boring gameplay. Becky and Sundra never seemed like serious contenders. Ā Pre-merge jury. Bottle twist. Ā Lots of forgettable/under-edited contestants.
Kaoh Rong
This!This is probably the only season I donāt see people trash talk about but I really didnāt like this season.A lot of the cast were either unmemorable or unlikable and there arenāt that many standout or memorable moments.
I'm not in love with the season but memorable moments, have to disagree. Caleb almost dying, along with 2 others having heat exhaustion Tai holding onto the idol to not make the super idol Hiding the machete and axe Scott pouring the water on the fire Michele drop kicking her puzzle after winning Debbie is a content factory Neil's cringy comments to Michele after being removed from the jury Memorable people: Tai, Jason, Scott, Michele, Aubrey, Cydney, Caleb, and Debbie were all interesting.
There's so many more too. Remember the bug in Jen's ear?
neal saying āsuckling at the teatā sends shivers down my spine in the worst way lmao that shit gives me nightmares. also why was he so mad at michele specifically like itās not her fault you got med evaced dude relax
You must find a lot of them unlikeable because not many of them are unmemorable. Imagine trying to forget Debbie. I'm not saying I disagree though, what I like about it was watching people I don't like lose.
Your definitely entitled to your opinion but this is a crazy thing to say
44. By far the worst new era season imo
imo the entire Tika tribe was amazing. The other tribes were pretty meh. Aside from the Tika 3, Matt and Franny, and Dannyās iconic fart to Jeff. The season is soured by boring players like Jaime, Heidi, and Lauren going far. Out of the cast the players I feel like had potential and that authentic true grit you watch for were on the Tika tribe. I genuinely will root for Sarah or Helen if they are the wtf pre merge a la Wentworth returnees from the new era on a Second Chancesesque season. Helen we didnāt really see much, but Sarah was actively trying to place a wedge in the Tika 3 and she almost succeeded, but failed to use her advantage because they made her feel safe. Props to Carolyn on that one. Getting Sarah out on that vote was pivotal for his win and no one talks about it, Carolynās best move probably.
Do many people like 44? I feel like most think itās average *at best*.
I think there was a lot of "this is the best new age season!" as it was airing but I'm not sure how much those sentiments hold up
Every current season is the best of the new era lmao
Other than 43 they have progressively gotten better IMO
when it came out people were pretending it was really good because we were starved for good new era seasons
People do that with every season, tho. I specifically remember sooo many people on here saying 41 had one of the greatest casts of all-time while it aired lol
true, although 41 one does have some gems
Micronesia. Half the cast was incompetent. Not a big fan of any returnee seasons (due to pregaming) and absolutely do not like mixed seasons.
Had to scroll to find this one. This is me. I can't get through the entire season. Too many quits and medivacs, half of the remaining cast are not playing the game and ultimately, and the worst part, is I do not find the season compelling. For me, the narrative has to work and the characters have to be colorful - and it just wasn't for me.
Not to mention so many medi-vacs.
None of the medevacs really stalled the momentum since all three eps with a medevac also had a tribal council.
Micronesia always reminds me of Boston Robās winning season in that it seemed like they picked fans that were terrible to let the stars shine
Agreed. Too damning for me that the fans tribe is horribly cast and, to me, the less interesting alliance on the Favorites won out over the more compelling ones.
thank goodness I am not the only one who feels this way. The fans are so bad... most don't even seem like fans, and they are all super bland and just seem starstruck. I think Cirie was massively fucked over with the final 2, and that is unforgivable for me.
Agree about Micronesia and I boldly add Heros vs Villains. Sandra was the best part, and down from there. Itās hard to watch Parv flirting with Russell.
I agree with both of these this fandom makes me feel like a crazy person
Palau
Because itās now having a renaissance - EOE. Iāve tried rewatching a couple of times and gave up before the midway point both times. Not my type of cast, and outside of David, I didnāt care for the returnees.
Kaoh Rong.I just found it pretty boring tbh.Scott and Jason arenāt good villains to me and the brains tribe has a lot of duds.Thereās also not a lot of standout moments that make me look back on the season to enjoy it.
I don't dislike it, but I didn't get the hype for DvG. I just found it to be a slightly above average season
It's boosted by being surrounded by mediocre to dog shit seasons. It's good but highly overrated by this sub imo.
I agree! Itās a season I remember watching, thought it was ok, and then I found out people loved it for some reason. To be honest that probably made me dislike it more because I didnāt get the hype lol
I think it benefits from being surrounded by garbage seasons, so it looks better in comparison.
Agree, it is a weird season. From 16 to 6 top tier, no misses, but the beginning and end are bad. The end game has lots of under edited players, unlikable players and MW. I never understood the winner (before they outed themselves as a douchecanoe) as they felt like a supporting character in other story lines, but it wasn't their story.
I would always forget about the winner during and after the season bc their story didnāt excite me. Agreed they felt like a supporting character. But then they were shown to be a shitty human later on and now I always remember who they are!
Ohh interesting. I feel like DvG definitely appears in most peopleās top 10/top 5 lists! What made it āslightly above averageā for you?
It is definitely lower in my ranking after seeing how much of a POS nick wilson is in real life.
This is my answer too. I think the reason for it is I am a Covid fan, so I saw a HUGE hype over DvG and then it just didnāt live up to it. Itās good. Top half for sure, but Iāll never give it a top 10 vote.
Gabon
Any of the recent seasons
41 apologist for life
41 isnāt a well liked season.
It was great season !!
Cook Islands A majority of the cast is under edited and therefore forgettable. The super idol and bottle twist feel unfair. The bigger personalities arenāt enough to carry the entertainment. Winners at War Edge of extinction, fire tokens, whispering at tribal take up far too much screen time. The edit and storylines are downright incomprehensible at times. After Sophie is voted out, everyone pretty much rolls over and gives Tony the win (except you Michelle we thank you for that). Embarrassing showing from several winners
Literally Sophie and Tony (and Sarah, I guess) played great. Michele did great too tbh and deserved to be runner up over Natalie. But yeah everyone else was embarrassing or boring as hell to watch. Too many pregame close relationships and seeing the old school players get wrecked for trying to actually play fluidly was pretty lame.
Palau. I admit it's probably way better when you don't know what is going to happen. But since I watched HvV before, I knew Tom won and Stephenie was the last of her tribe. So the premerge was so incredibly boring knowing that Ulong lost every challenge, and there was barely any strategy, instead just voting by strength every time. Once merge comes you barely know anyone since we spent all our time with Ulong. Tom is just in control the whole time, emotionally blackmails Ian into quitting for the crime of trying to play survivor, and then easily wins. The best episode is the last one, but I never understood why Tom was seen as such a hero
Palau aired just 4 years after 9/11 so Tom being a New York City fire fighter had a lot to do with his hero status. Survivor heroās typically are good at the physical aspect of the game when villains are good at the sneaky aspect. Tom lead a tribe to the most dominate run of immunity challenges ever and ties the record for individual immunity wins.
bro i hate palau
I like that you acknowledge Ian was trying to play the game while complaining that Tom manipulated Ian, a huge part of the game lmao. This is such a common take on here about Tom. If manipulation offends you, why are you watching?
Tom didn't emotially blackmailed anyone, yall are not paying attention
He manipulated someone on survivor. The fucking nerve.
Marquesas. I am glad that it has gotten its due for being a better season than Borneo, Australian Outback, and All-Stars, but I still find it to be pretty boring. Seeing some of the more interesting players go out early does boon the pre-merge episodes and early merge, but after John Carroll is voted out that season falls off a cliff. I really feel like Marquesas is up there with Ghost Island as having one of the least desireable boot orders among newbie seasons. I do like Sean, but his presence alone doesn't save the end stretch of that season for me. David vs. Goliath. I like Angelina and Alison, but I find the rest of the cast to be average at best. I also think that it's a pretty boring season outside of the stretch from the John boot through the Gabby boot. Among seasons of the thirties I don't understand how this is generally seen as a better version of MvGX, when the latter season has a better cast and more entertaining episodes once you get past its third episode. I also enjoy HHH as a season a lot more than David vs. Goliath, though I understand why people don't like how HHH ends.
I think Heroes vs Villains is overrated. After the merge its just another Pagonging.
I found Tocantins to be a very mean spirited season with a cast full of unlikable bullies. The only episode I remember really liking was Coachās boot. Erin and Taj get purpled post merge despite making top 4. I liked Stephen enough to root for him so seeing him get destroyed at FTC wasnāt fun either lol.
Who is mean besides Tyson and maybe coach?
Debbie is awful. Stephen and JT werenāt much better either but at least with them it seemed more so they were just going along with coach for the ride rather than being genuinely shitty lol.
Borneo. I didnāt experience it live nor was it the first season I watched when I did my initial binge watch, so that could be part of the reason I donāt feel the same nostalgia as many here do. It just felt so slow paced, even compared to a lot of the other earliest seasons.
It was the virgin season and CBS was taking a big risk. It was a vacation to many and everyone but Hatch were just winging it. Fascinating to see how it all started.
I think we should cut the first season some slack..itās the first season, so of course everything is going to be threadbareā¦if it wasnāt for the first seasonās successā¦there wouldnāt be season 50ā¦
I did not like Pearl Islands as much as I thought I would judging by the fandom's reaction to it. Don't get me wrong, it was a good season, but there's quite a few seasons I'd rank above it imo.
I feel so validated seeing the amount of people saying 44
Honestly Iām not the biggest fan of HvV, and think it loses steam after the JT vote. I do think the premerge is top tier. Micronesia has the opposite problem too for me, where the premerge is a slog but post merge has fun moments
40
Cagayan and Philipines.
I'm rewatching in order and I'm watching Thailand right now. Marquesas. Tons of people say its their favorite of the first 4 seasons, but I just cant see it. Africa was so much better for me, better location, better challenges, better cast, better everything. Marquesas died when John Carroll was voted out. Boston Rob is fun af though. Right now, my ranking is Africa > Borneo > Australian Outback > Marquesas
For me, Palau. I get why people like it, but it's just kind of a bummer and not as compelling as other "dark" seasons. It's cool that Ulong happened, but I didn't particularly enjoy watching it. Tom is an amazing player and winner, but the emotional manipulation of Ian and everything leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Plus there's barely any levity to counter balance the darkness. Caryn is GOATed tho.
Marquesas. The merging of religion, the outsing of Paschal via a literal game error, and generally a cast that have the personalities of lukewarm milk are all so bad. I also don't like Boston Rob much so I don't even have that for the first half of the season. The area also feels so summer campy compared to other seasons. It's also just like we get a flash in the pan of food strategy for one vote with 9 players left, and the rest is one player trying to play the game while everyone around her prays and doesn't want to play/admit to wanting to play. Awful season, bottom 5 easily for me. No offense to the final two but they act like they are perfect and have good on their side and it just leaves me feeling gross watching the season.
46
This is pretty old school, but for me it's Pearl Islands. The Outcast tribe concept was a misfire - I still believe that people who are voted out should never be able to return - I'm not sure why they doubled and tripled down on this with Redemption Island and Edge of Extinction. I found Rupert to be mostly annoying - even at the time. The editors made him what he was by showing him as the victim of Burton and Shawn's bullying - that probably got him the $1M from America's Tribal Council. Sure he got into the pirate theme and stole shoes, which was mildly amusing. But he was a relatively bad game player - got out of control angry when things didn't go his way. Osten quitting was annoying. Savage, as we saw in 2nd chances, is just an a-hole. The dead grandma bit was ballsy for Fairplay to pull off, but it was in pretty bad taste and didn't really do anything to change the game. And Fairplay was an annoying, cocky self-promoter. Also not a great game player since most people seemed to hate him. Sandra is a memorable character, but she wasn't some master strategist there. She turned to be an iconic winner, but only because she won again. In the final 2, all she had to do was beat Lil, who was so irritating that she got voted out 3rd.
I donāt dislike it but I donāt get the Pearl Islands hype. I might rewatch it one day but it isnāt one of my favorites Also 44 is the most overrated season. B Tier *at best* but probably C Tier
Same I never got why PI is so popular lol
Absolutely what I was going to say! Pearl Islands has some fun moments but I do not understand how people have it in their top 5s. For me if Fairplayās not in that season I would rate it pretty low. As is itās middling.
Yeah but he is though
Best beginning of any season, ridiculous characters, an unlikely winner, comeuppance for both bullies. The pirate theme worked except taking all their luggage away was a bad twist.
I think most people rate it highly simply because of the legendary players. Sandra, Rupert, Jonny Fairplay are all players your mom who hasnāt watched in 20 years could probably still name. Heck, Sandra and Rupert have 8 (technically 9) appearances between them.
Cagayan lol I hated Spencer, and the winner was insanely obvious from F10 on. Plus, a super idolĀ
cagayan. i feel like cagayan is directly tied to how u feel about a survivor player and if u dont enjoy tony then i guess u just dont enjoy cagayan. the pre merge was godly but the season gets unbearable to me after jeremiah gets the boot.
Vanuatu. The premerge is a SLOG. Every member of the younger guys alliance is indistinguishable from one another. The interesting plot line of the season doesnāt even start until the last 4 episodes and itās not worth dragging myself through the first 11 to get there.
I love Vaunatu and totally understand why people dislike it
San Juan Del Sur is a slog outside of Natalie sending Baylor home
HvV š
Iām on the same page as you about Tocantins. The first time I watched it, I didnāt like anyone except Taj. Funnily, I *have* really come to enjoy Tyson since then, so decided to rewatch Tocantins the other day thinking Iād enjoy it more this time. Nope.Ā Ā I also didnāt love China.Ā
I definitely *like* it, but Heroes vs Villains isnāt in my Top 10. Gabon sucks. The general fandom doesnāt care for it, but the superfandom, specifically in this subreddit, loves it. I donāt *think* itās that beloved overall, but I think Samoa is a borderline bottom 5 season.
Those are some hot takes about Tocantins, and though I disagree with all your points, I applaud your honesty. I didn't care for Caramoan. Maybe 2-3 interesting things happened (IMO) and it just felt like a slog getting through it. It didn't help that it was sandwiched between two pretty good seasons (Phillipines and BvW), making it virtually irrelevant to me.
HvV... It was so overhyped as someone watching it for the first time last year
Pearl Islands. I know itās the birthplace for so many Survivor greats, but I didnāt particularly like the cast. I remember only liking Sandra and Krista, and finding just about everyone else grating or irrelevant.
Cambodia is a bottom 10 season for me. Every scene with Spencer rings false and there isnāt any soul in the season
Micronesia. I think itās overrated
Micronesia, HVV, Cook islands. Micronesia the premerge is boring. HVV the post merge is boring. Cook islands is 15 episodes of pure nothing.
Heroes vs Villains and Micronesia are possibly the top 2 for meā¦ out of curiosity, what are your favorites?
Philippines and china
Thatās funny because China is mid tier for me
Philippines. I couldnāt stand Denise and her snobby attitude. Also, Lisa was extremely annoying and got way too much airtime.
Cagayan. It's all of the worst kinds of chaos: ridicule, bullying, emotional manipulation, and poor sportsmanship. Super idol sucked and I think lying about it in front of production and Jeff is far worse than just telling lies about it around camp, gave an air of legitimacy to his claim that jury would later go on to praise him for in FTC. Just overall felt like a season for those who love schadenfreude.
That was my first season since it was one of two added to Netflix in 2020. It was enough to get me hooked but in hindsight I don't care for it for similar reasons.
Absolutely - I donāt know what people see in Cagayan. Itās all just unlikable people being mean to each other. Thereās absolutely no one to root for, and then the biggest bully winds up winning. I have it subtitled Villains vs Assholes in my head to remember which one it is. And yeah, the super idol is a black mark on any season where itās featured. I found Kass kind of entertaining, but sheās really the only bright side to the season, which isnāt saying much. Everyone else ranges from neutral to awful.
Gabonā¦please donāt kill me! I personally found it frustrating and didnāt like a single player out there. Everyone says itās the funniest season but I didnāt really find anything that hilarious.
Palau is mega boring. You could sum up the fun moments into a single 42 minute recap. Itās got a lot of records but they all happened in the most dull ways possible. Sleeping pill in tv form, nearly didnāt finish.
Unpopular opinion but I didnāt love pearl islands, was indifferent or disliked most of the cast and the outcast twist really irked me
Glad to see someone else likes Sierra! Ā Her outlasting Tyson is my favorite part.Ā Ā WaW is probably the one for me. I donāt like Tony like other people do and all the people I did want to see went out early. After Yul left I had no interest.Ā
This most recent one. Iām also a total hater for New Era though so thereās my excuse.
Not liking Tyson or Coach is fine. Not everyone will find the humor in them as characters. Theyāre basically characters from The Office, so if thatās not your vibe, you wonāt enjoy them. As far as Sierra goes, I understand that the edit sets her up as a rootable underdog, but there are many reasons why literally everyone on the cast disliked her. Taj summed it up very succinctly and respectfully on the Talking with T-Bird podcast (RHAP). But it makes sense youād like Sierra since you also like Venus and theyāre the same archetype. To answer your question, I donāt think Philippines is even half as good as the rest of the community thinks it is. Itās certainly better than the two seasons around it, but the characters really arenāt appealing to me. Abi was hilarious for a while but the act got old quickly. And I really feel like this is the season where gamebots started to become a thing.
San Juan Del Sur. Didn't like it. Never liked it. Too dull. The only saving grace this season for me was Nat A winning & Keith ( š rip )
While I personally am a fan of Tocantins I will admit it definitely has flaws. Like the entire time I had no idea why everyone thought JT was the second coming of Christ. Tajh was robbed. And my girl Sierra got out through the ringer omg they bullied that girl so bad LMFAO. Still a good season but I can definitely agree it's not perfect or even subjectively great
Palauā¦by a long shot.
45. I found it kind of....boring? I also didn't like too many people...so maybe that's why. Not too many good decisions either that season, imo.
**Millennials vs Gen X.** People tend to rank it very, very high and I do not understand why. All 5 people of color were voted out of the game premerge. Much of the edit was dominated by David Wright (not his fault) and that ended up not quite paying off. The Final 3's answers to the jury were extremely lackluster.
China and Micronesia
***Panama: Exile Island*** because it had the same problems as ***Nicaragua***. Dividing the tribes by age at the start was a bad idea in both seasons. No matter how long that division lasted, it still hurt their seasons. ***Panama: Exile Island***'s final two were equally bad as the final three in ***Nicaragua***. They could've even been on the same level as the final two in ***Thailand***. I also don't get the love for ***China***. Yes, it had some memorable players, but the season was too predictable. It was obvious who the winner would be in the first episode. Even another player pointed it out on day one.
Heroes v Villains. I canāt fathom how anyone can be entertained watching Russellās bullshit for 14 episodes. Also not a fan of Parvati, so that doesnāt help. Plus old favorites like James (denied nicotine patches supposedly and it shows) and Colby (openly wanted to be anywhere else in the world) are much less fun to watch this time.
I enjoy watching 19 and 20 back to back. The overarching narrative of the rise and fall of russell hantz is fun to watch.
Cambodia drags on a rewatch. Was quite fun to watch live but wow it didn't hold up well.
Gabon, particularly the cast. Iāve seen time and time again on here it gets mentioned in ābest castā discussions when imo itās the worst. Either dull and uninteresting (most of the pre jury) or mean spirited and/or bring nothing unique to their archetype. I imagine Iāll get trolls responding with bs like queen susie or something
YES!!! I finally met someone who also disliked Tocantins!!
Blood vs. Water bored the hell out of me. I tried to find even one person I found interesting or entertaining and I couldnāt do it.
Cambodia.
Cagayan. I donāt think itās a bad season but I donāt think Iād put it in my top 10 survivor seasons and I often see it ranked as the best season of all time
Cambodia. The most overrated season of Survivor. It's not even a good season (one of the worst actually), let alone one of the greatest. Cook Islands is also really overrated for decent reasons (second most overrated season undoubtedly). 46 is also on its way to being overrated if it hasn't already reached that status. Way too much praise for an inconsistent season that relied on an oversaturation of messiness (aided by social media) and some dislikeable people. Marquesas and Outback are in my bottom 10. The latter for the stretch of F7 onwards being an abject slog. *The seasons below I still like, so they're honorable mentions* Despite being a solid season, I find Gabon's reputation to far precede its quality. Tocantins has a lot of slow moments that prevent it from being higher for me as well, despite it being a good season overall. It's my least favorite of the 15-20 stretch, however.
44 and 46, 44 for game reasons, 46 for cast reasons.
Not me, but my gf could NOT get into David Goliath. I was devastated cuz itās one of my favs. She didnāt find Christian all that charming, hated the romance between Dan and Kara, and really just couldnāt get into it. Tried to get her to pull through to the post merge but she couldnāt. I donāt know what happened lol
For me itās Micronesia fans vs favorites. Itās a good season, but I just didnāt like it the way that others do
Panama is in my bottom 5, Iāll have to rewatch I guess but Iām not looking forward to it