Dee Watches Survivor (Currently On Kaoh Rong)

[Deeee]

1 minute ago, #jeah said:

This might be a weird suggestion, but I’d almost suggest skipping Samoa now, watching HvV first, and coming back to Samoa after a few seasons do you don’t get burned out on Russell and it doesn’t ruin your HvV experience. Just a suggestion though!

LOL! Is he that hard to handle?

[#jeah]

11 minutes ago, Deeee said:

Can you explain why so many love Tocantins? I’m legitimately struggling to care about this season. Luckily, I’m at FTC.

 

Ahh the introduction of Hantz. Got it.

It was one of the first seasons I watched so it could be sentimental, but I just think it has a really fun underdog story with the Jalapao three and seeing both Tyson and Coach’s demises play out is really satisfying to watch. I’m also a big Stephen, Taj, and Erinn fan and I think JT is a fantastic winner. I also love the filming location. 
 

ALSO Brendan is hot af

Edited June 10, 2020 by #jeah

[#jeah]

9 minutes ago, Deeee said:

LOL! Is he that hard to handle?

He is just so prominently featured in both seasons, if you’re any amount annoyed by him it will likely be insufferable watching two seasons of him in a row tbh. HvV does a much better job spreading out airtime between the contestants but he’s still a big part of its story line

[Deeee]

16 minutes ago, #jeah said:

It was one of the first seasons I watched so it could be sentimental, but I just think it has a really fun underdog story with the Jalapao three and seeing both Tyson and Coach’s demises play out is really satisfying to watch. I’m also a big Stephen, Taj, and Erinn fan and I think JT is a fantastic winner. I also love the filming location. 
 

ALSO Brendan is hot af

 

I enjoyed the Jalapao Three until Stephen and JT became hard to handle, acting like Coach was some God and being so offended by anybody having anything to say against him. Tyson and Coach blindsides were great though. 

JT is a solid, but very boring winner. I really like Taj and Erinn though!

 

Definitely love the filming location.

 

I found Brendan attractive as well!

[Zoey]

The treatment of Sierra will forever ruin that disgusting season for me.

[QueenKalie]

2 hours ago, Deeee said:

LOL! Is he that hard to handle?

Oh God yes.

[Elliott]

Samoa has a great cast but a TERRIBLE edit.

[Elliott]

I’d watch Samoa and HvV in order. But just remember that HvV was filmed right after Samoa so the cast had never seen Russell before.

[Deeee]

THOUGHTS ON SURVIVOR: TOCANTINS

 

 

I am happy to be done with Tocantins. Not a good season in my opinions. This will be a short review post because I really do not feel like there is too much to say about this season. Clearly Tocantins is an attempt to revert to a back-to-basics season, which is appreciated. But you need a solid cast of characters to create a solid and memorable experience during a more barebones game.

 

Tocantins lacks larger-than-life characters! The final four are a very likable group of individuals, but none of them are ~legends~ in my opinion. Coach + Tyson are the two big characters, but neither of them are in the slightest bit likable individuals. At least Coach is so delusional and psychotic that there is some fun to be had in snarking about everything he has to say. Sandy is in my opinion the most fun character and personality of the season! And she leaves far too early to impact the season in a huge way.

 

Tocantins is also pretty boring from an entertainment standpoint. It's severely lacking in fun drama. The only drama came from everybody being completely disgusting to Sierra in a way that felt mean and uncomfortable. Really though, her treatment was not funny to watch at all. For the huge character that Coach is on this series, he is not that horrible this time around? I mean, he is definitely psychotic, a pathological liar, and extremely obnoxious, but he really did not cause too much of an uproar. Because for some sick, strange reason people liked him. I don't get it. Tyson coming back for three more seasons is truly distressing to me because he is a horrible individual. 

 

There is some fun gameplay. The Exile Alliance formation is some pretty cool stuff! At the least, something interesting came out of Exile this season - crisscross alliances before the merge and without a tribe swap. Definitely a positive. Not a positive? Idols being a non-factor. My big issue with the season is that the winner was telegraphed from Day One? Not just by the edit, but also because of the fact that everybody seemed to be playing for JT to win. Everybody. Nobody challenged him. At all. Even when the thought crossed somebody's mind to cut JT, it was quickly followed by them claiming that they could just never cut him. So boring. Maybe the most predictable winner since Westman! I think JT was a solid winner, but a very boring and unentertaining one. His win is not very satisfying, which I am sure will be a pretty unpopular opinion. I think he played a very smart game, but really did not face any challenges in the process. Sure, you could claim that the Jalapao Three were sitting ducks when entering the merge without the numbers, but this was never going to be the case. Because Timbira was never a unified tribe! Sierra, Brendan, and Erinn were always outcasts in the tribe and had already been in confrontation with Coach, Tyson, and Debbie. So I am not never really astounded by the Jalapao Three managing to advance to the finals. I will say that JT clearly endeared himself to everybody in the cast and was enough of a physical threat to save himself at crucial moments, but also to earn everybody's vote at FTC. Which was made easier by Stephen's terrible performance at FTC. LOL. The best gameplay moment is Sierra outlasting Tyson in a shocking blindside. 

 

A boring season with a predictable winner makes for a bad season. But there are enough likable personalities and interesting moments due to Coach to place this season above a few others. Maybe Tocantins suffers because it follows two juggernauts that really highlight why this season is such a lackluster one: the strategy-heavy Micronesia with really shocking gameplay + the entertainment heavy Gabon with a plethora of iconic characters.

 

However, Coach on Exile Island is some great stuff. Need to mention that before this write-up is over.

 

CAST RANKING

 

1. Tamara "Taj" Johnson-George - SWV is an iconic all Black women group and I love that she is one of the members of the band! Funny, sassy, entertaining, positive, sweet, emotional. I just got good vibes from Taj for the entire season, and she played a super solid social game. Taj was responsible for the Exile Alliance. Taj was responsible for connecting the Jalapao Three so tightly. I loved watching her journey on the show. She had a real dedication to winning and made zero excuses for herself and did not feel the need to beg for the win. Taj could be very emotional, but I love that she did not feel the need to grovel for mercy. And in all honesty, she never became disrespectful when emotional. Her emotions always read as justified to me, and I liked that she never lost her composure. Despite her emotions, Taj made sure to keep her eye on the prize and played a very savvy game. I also appreciated that Taj saw right through all of the bulls*t with Coach. I wish she made some different decisions, such as giving her Immunity Idol to Stephen, trusting Stephen and JT way too much at the endgame, not considering JT as a potential cut. But she also made som really solid gameplay moves, like developing the plan to blindside Tyson, convincing Jalapao to rid of Sydney. I think she was just a really great player with one of the most infectiously positive attitudes!

 

2. Erinn Lobdell - Erinn is awesome because she clearly never gave a f*ck about appeasing these people and called Coach out on his psychotic bullsh*t at every turn of the competition. While Sierra may have received the underdog edit, the true underdog of Tocantins is Erinn. She seemed to be cut from the game Day 9, but managed to advance all the way to the Final Three. Erinn did THAT! Absolutely on the outs of Timbira, Erinn constantly found a way to keep slipping through the cracks and work her way to the merge, where she linked up with Jalapao to gain herself more footing in the competition. Except she kept her ties to Timbira when necessary, so she never made herself a target on either side. I thought she played a very, very solid game, constantly placing bugs in ears and infiltrating the right alliance at the right moment to send everybody from Timbira home and even to advance beyond Taj! Girl knew how to manipulate a situation in her favor. Besides good gameplay, Erinn brought snarky confessionals! She was sarcastic, funny, and knew how to drop a good line. I also loved watching her survive the harshest Exile conditions of the season. I'm a fan!

 

3. Sandy Burgin - Crazy Sandy is the most fun I had with the season! She really was crazy, kooky, zany, and she made for fun television! I loved her 0 to 100 reaction when she thought she was being eliminated right at the start only to find out that she would be taken to camp via a helicopter. Her not being able to find the immunity idol because she had no idea what "paces" meant. LOL. I loved watching her attack Erinn at the reward challenge and damn near rip her shirt off of her. She continued crying over feeling like she was an inevitable elimination due to her age. Sandy was feisty and fun, and she played as hard as she could before her elimination! 

 

4. Sierra Reed - Amazing underdog. Just a true fighter up until her very last minute in the competition. The person that started the competition looking absolutely miserable due to tonsillitis, to the point where everybody noticed how unhappy she was and "voted" her out immediately...actually proved to be this rough, tough, fierce individual that learned to stop giving a f*ck what people thought about her. I liked how she quickly proved everybody wrong when she built a solid starter shelter by the time Timbira even reached camp, and then she kicked ass during the first immunity challenge. Sierra pretty quickly integrated herself into the tribe, and she seemed safe for the majority of the pre-merge, especially after being added into the Exile Alliance. Once the merge hits though, Sierra has a pretty quick downward spiral. Her friendship and alliance with Brendan quickly became an issue, since Coach is the target. Timbira feels betrayed, and she is then treated pretty horribly by everybody for her remaining time on the show. And for no good reason. To the point where these people dismissed her and made her cry. Everybody walked around calling her stupid, annoying, worthless. Refused to give her a chance. Acted like she is the most horrible person in the world and some huge liar. I just found all of it so heartbreaking, since Sierra fought so hard to really change her fate in the game. At least she outlasted Tyson and outed Coach for being a liar. She did not win, but she came across like a solid underdog!

 

5. Benjamin "Coach" Wade - He makes my skin crawl, so I will not write too much about Coach. But there is no way you can deny his presence, since he is pretty much the energy constantly pushing Tocantins along the tracks. Has there ever been anybody so noticeably diagnosable on the show? I don't think so. Most of the disgusting pigs on this show try to hide their personalities, but Coach fully embraces his holier-than-thou, Godlike, honorable, chivalrous, samurai warrior, dragon slayer, meditative monk, hardcore survivalist, cult leader like personality. In fact, he displays it for the world to see. Coach is very clearly a farce, playing up a personality for the show and for some exposure. But does not make me any less grossed out by the things he says and does, though he makes for compelling television and a villain that is not particularly vile or negative, but just a person that you love to hate. You cannot help but to laugh at all of the crazy sh*t that comes out of his mouth, the lies he tells, the webs he weaves. I mean he came to the Reunion show with most likely face polygraph results. LOLOLOL.

 

6. Stephen Fishbach - LOL @ the most strategic player of the season absolutely crumbling during Final Tribal! I really liked Stephen for the first half of the season. I thought he was intelligent, smart, and using his brain to play this game. Stephen really understood the game as a socially dynamic one, using this to his advantage since he was not a threat in physical challenges or the best provider. Stephen quickly links up with JT on Day Two to form a fast and loyal friendship that lands them both in the finals together. Stephen makes a quick and loyal friendship with Taj, and even is given the Immunity Idol to hold for her. Stephen clearly makes a great first impression, and plays a strong enough social game to earn trust very quickly. I really thought he guided JT into the correct decisions most of the time, since JT was guided more by emotion than Stephen, constantly trusting logic. So when did Stephn start to become less interesting? Post-merge. IDK. I just think Stephen started to shove his head so far up JT's ass that he became less interesting. His love for Coach was also pretty yucky, and him acting like Sierra and Erinn were horrible people for confronting him made me lose a lot of hope in him as a person. Much like JT, I think Stephen is all for men, which yuck. Also, the nerd that learns to adapt to his surroundings and become a more social being is also an archetype that is old and not entertaining to me. And for a player that seemed to be so logical, his insistence on staying true to JT due to their friendship, despite clearly realizing very early on that JT would win the entire game...just makes me think he is actually a pretty weak player. Then him falling apart at Final Tribal Council. Wow. What a downfall. I think his blind loyalty to JT prevented him from seeing that JT was actively playing the game, while Stephen was maybe more interested in achieving the advancement of his alliance. Because as soon as Stephen realized he was being critiqued by JT at FTC, he fell apart! Very interesting dynamic, especially because Stephen was so hellbent on trying to avoid saying anything against his butt buddy. Smart gameplay, but not smart enough. 

 

7. Brendan Synnott - Surprise, surprise, Brendan proved to be a much more entertaining person than I had expected her could be. This is not to say that Brendan is some hugely exciting character, but he was a solid gameplayer, strong challenger, and he was pretty funny in the confessional! I really liked his reactions to Coach's behavior, and his commentary were some of the brightest points of the season. He is part of the formation of the Exile Alliance, and I really enjoyed the bond he formed with Taj while constantly sent away. I appreciated his friendship with Sierra. I also thought his confidence in his game and his confidence in others to see Coach for the psychopath that he is were some of the more interesting aspects of the season. Brendan really invested a lot in the power of his immunity idol and Exile Alliance that was formed before the merge even hit. And though Coach sucked, I think Brendan underestimated the power of a cult leader. LOL @ him revealing his Immunity Idol because he is just so sure that he is going to be safe.  

 

8. James "JT" Thomas Jr. - Probably an unpopular opinion to rank him this low, but the sweet, charming, Southern white guy archetype is old, tired, boring, and unexciting. Sorry not sorry. JT might have been a solid winner with good gameplay, but that does not make me excited to talk about him whatsoever. I also find his constant defense of Coach way too annoying to really like him as a person. Plain. Boring. Occasionally a jerk. A very, very predictable winner. I thought he made solid alliances. He was a great competitor. He clearly made everybody like him. I think he did everything right, I just do not think he was challenged by anybody along the way. The fact that the only people he did not ever care for in the competition are the gay kid and women is also very telling of him as a person. LOL. 

 

9. Debra "Debbie" Beebe - Debbie is just a lapdog for Tyson and Coach, and she was pretty annoying imo. My favorite moment of hers is how genuinely excited she was by the idea of a beach bonfire when she walked up on Brendan and Sierra searching for the Idol. Debbie tried her hardest to just act as the sane and approachable voice of her Timbira alliance, since I think she realized that Tyson was grating and Coach was unexplainable. She was a very loyal soldier, fighting battles for her majority alliance and acting really cold towards two people that actually thought they had a positive relationship with her (Sierra and Erinn). Despite her few spats with them during the season, Debbie did not receive much airtime because she was boring. I could have come around to her more had she arrived at the "Coach is psychotic" conclusion much earlier than she did, but oh well. She was a surprisingly good competitor though.

 

10. Candace Smith - Sad that we did not get more of her because I thought she had a lot of potential. Eliminated second, but already began feuding with Coach. Clearly a ton of personality there, but not able to bite her tongue long enough to last in the competition.

 

11. Spencer Duhm - Adorable, likable, cute. Spencer was clearly very excited to be living out a dream experience of his, but he was not value added to the season. I thought maybe we would get more of Spencer when he started to discuss his hidden sexual identity, but he was swiftly eliminated. 

 

12. Joe Dowdle - Joe thinks that pretty girls make the best allies. Joe is also a dumb player and a boring one at that. Sucks to see him 

 

13. Sydney Wheeler - Another who? Very boring character that was relying way too heavily on Joe to get through the game. Offered nothing. Not a fun flirt.

 

14. Jerry Sims - Who? I just thought it was funny how he went from claiming that he needed to go because he was sick, to then quickly trying to throw Erinn under the bus and get her eliminated. Boring.

 

15. Carolina Eastwood - Her voice made me cringe. She definitely was loose at the lips too quickly. Non-factor.

 

16. Tyson Apostol - I strongly, strongly dislike him. IDC if he should rank higher for being a more interesting character than most on this season, he made my skin crawl. Truly one of my least favorite characters ever. Wannabe d*uche.

 

MY FAVORITE MOMENT

 

 

SEASON RANKING

 

1. Pearl Islands 

2. Borneo

3. Panama - Exile Island

4. China

5. Micronesia - Fans vs. Favorites

6. The Amazon

7. Palau

8. Vanuatu

9. Gabon

10. Guatemala

11. Africa

12. Tocantins

13. The Australian Outback

14. Cook Islands

15. Marquesas

16. Fiji

17. All-Stars

18. Thailand

WINNER RANKING

 

1. Sandra Diaz-Twine 

2. Todd Herzog

3. Yul Kwon

4. Parvati Shallow

5. Aras Baskauskas

6. Tom Westman

7. Tina Wesson

8. Danni Boatwright

9. Jenna Morasca

10. James "JT" Thomas Jr.

11. Vecepia Towery

12. Ethan Zohn

13. Chris Daugherty

14. Earl Cole

15. Amber Brkich-Mariano

16. Brian Heidik

17. Richard Hatch

18. Robert "Bob" Crowley

[Deeee]

@#jeah @Solaris @Alex95 @Elliott @QueenKalie @Zoey

 

Tocantins post up, starting Samoa after dinner.

[Deeee]

Mike making a very racist comment about Jaison right from the start. YIKES.

 

Shambo is too cute lol.

[Deeee]

How many times is Russell going to talk about his "dumb ass girl alliance?" 

 

He is a pig.

[Deeee]

Russell is a nutcase. 

[Deeee]

Poor Marissa. Too quickly understood that Russell is a POS.

[Deeee]

Yasmin has me screaming 

 

"The hood is not the woods." I AM F*CKING HOLLERING 

[Deeee]

This reward challenge was absolutely brutal. Ben being proud of being kicked out...he is a major d*uche.

 

Mike already being evacuated from the game.

[Deeee]

Yasmin coming for Ben 

 

I love her. 

[Deeee]

Ben can f*ck off for everything he just said about Yasmin. F*ck all the way off.

[Deeee]

Jaison schooling Ben at Tribal. 

[Deeee]

Poor Shambo! First she lost fishing gear and now a chicken. LOL.

 

The Idols being way too easy to find this season...

[Deeee]

Yasmia wearing those heels to Tribal Council. I AM DYING.

[Deeee]

Bye Ashley!

 

I am not a fan of Russell Swan.

[Zoey]

The funny thing is that I couldn’t stand Russell during his season because he was shoved down our throats.

 

I now actually enjoy watching him because he makes fantastic television and some other contestants wouldn’t be where they are today without him. He’s a great addition to Samoa and HvV.

[Zoey]

Russell Swan. 

[.Rei]

I really don't remember anyone from Samoa voted out premerge