[JerseyWins]

I tried my best to get through another episode of Thailand (episode 10) while I had a little bit of time just now but I just can't do it.

Idk why it's even this bad... I guess it's just that bland & uneventful or maybe I'm just getting bored of Survivor.

[JerseyWins]

Alright so I finished episode 10 and watched episode 11 - I should've just got some sleep.

But watching that is what has gotten me sleepy so

Anyway, aside from the Robb & Shii-Ann stuff, the moment of the season for me might be Jan's reaction(s) to the money they got before the auction reward.

[Macie Lightfoot]

Watched the merge episode of RI and for one of the better episodes of the season, it was not very good! It wasn't bad, especially when you factor in the fact that the next two episodes might be the two worst in franchise history, but eh it wasn't exciting at all. I guess Matt going through a revolving door is kind of interesting, but this season really hurts from the fact that it can't seem to present a storyline without fully ignoring half of the cast. Mike served as the lone spokesperson for Zapatera, and aside from him the only people to get focus were Matt, Andrea, and Rob. I'm not saying that they shouldn't have been the main focal points of the episode, but Natalie and Ashley and Grant and Julie and Ralph and David and Steve didn't exist in this episode and that's just really bad editing.

IDK, I don't have anything else to say about this episode is that I forgot just how extraordinarily bad Matt is at this game? Telling Rob about his temptations to blindside him is one thing, but then he went completely rogue and threw his vote away by voting for Steve??? and Andrea voted her BFF Matt out too??? Like, I get that Rob is the only one actually playing the game but good lord.

[Macie Lightfoot]

jesus, this scene where Ralph is trying to appeal to Ashley and she's just shutting his **** down is just brutal for the viewer. Ralph's attempts at getting off of the chop block are ridiculously transparent with him promising his jury vote at the final eleven, Ashley's smug as **** all "we're not allowed to talk about it kind of pointless for you to even ask me " and Ralph just walks off all " we can't even play the game if we don't know where to start!!!"

I actually feel like my intelligence was insulted.

[Macie Lightfoot]

and just when things can't possibly get any worse, we IMMEDIATELY cut to the introduction of ~the buddy system~ which is just flat out creepy? Like, it's not just "you can't talk to Zapatera alone," it's "we have an entirely separate shelter from Zapatera and a different food supply and we eat our meals at different times" and it's disturbing to watch Rob form a cult and just have everyone follow blindly. This is especially true when IMMEDIATELY after the buddy system scene, Natalie pulls Rob off into the jungle and is like "oh, Ashley didn't tell you what Ralph told her??? Well let me tell you then btw Ashley said you don't need to know about it " like... say what you want about how great of a game Rob played but this cast is ****ing DENSE and you know this season was drafted entirely for a Rob or Russell win from the get-go.

[Macie Lightfoot]

I know that Rob has some level of charisma but I refuse to believe that people actually enjoyed his RI stint and thought he was fun to watch. His entire mission statement for his game is to suck the fun out of every scenario and not let anyone enjoy anything. ~50 fish get caught in a net they left out on the rocks? NOPE, can't have those fish, because they are dead and therefore they are inedible. Not to mention that they were caught by The Evil Zapatera Tribe!!! Oh and Grant, don't you dare go over there and have even one bite of their fish!

[JerseyWins]

Originally Posted by Macie Lightfoot

this season was drafted entirely for a Rob or Russell win from the get-go.

*Russell's tribe immediately couldn't stand him and were planning to take him out from the get-go*

[DouglasS]

Natalie from RI is one of the worst castaways ever

[Macie Lightfoot]

Originally Posted by JerseyWins

*Russell's tribe immediately couldn't stand him and were planning to take him out from the get-go*

*Redemption Island existed with the explicit purpose of giving people a second, even a third chance*

[Macie Lightfoot]

No better way to start off the controversial Rice Wars/Race Wars episode with Phillip appropriating Buddhism and Native America culture all in one scene!

[Braden]

All of the women screaming at Tarzan beating out Troyzan in the slip 'n slide

[Macie Lightfoot]

Rice Wars is as dreary as ever, between Phillip appropriating Buddhism and Native American heritage, Ometepe treating Zapatera like complete **** for the past there episodes only for Phillip to steal rice from them out of spite ("ALL RICE HERE BELONGS TO ALL OF US!!!!" uh no it doesn't, considering you and your alliance have enacted separate shelters and diets and meal times), Phillip CHARGING up to Steve and demanding that Zapatera share rice with them just because they've mismanaged their own rice supply so poorly, his confessional where he states that black men tend to self-destruct and go on killing sprees (wtf), Phillip going nuts over being called crazy and equating it to being called the n-word when up until now he has had multiple confessionals in which he outlines that his strategy is to be perceived as crazy because he knows he can't win so he at least wants to make it to the final three (I can't emphasis just how infuriating this whole aspect of RI is)... idk, I'm only 20 minutes into the episode but I still maintain that Phillip's actions with regards to race are just as offensive, if not even more than Colton's.

[Braden]

I get so much second-hand embarrassment from watching Kat.

[Macie Lightfoot]

Don't we all

[Macie Lightfoot]

the only good part of episode 11.

[JerseyWins]

With no work and no class until tonight I finally decided to force myself to finish Thailand. Definitely the most boring season of the franchise and that's despite the fact that I really like the winner and sort of like the side that made it to the end. It's just that nothing was happening. Decent season while Robb & Shii-Ann were there but it was still pretty boring overall even then.

Thailand Cast Ranking:

1. Robb
2. Shii-Ann
3. Brian
4. Jan
5. Stephanie
6. Tanya
7. Ted
8. Helen
9. Jed
10. Penny
11. Ken
12. Clay
13. Ghandia
14. Jake
15. Erin
16. John

I could really do without #9-16 and that's half the cast. I didn't really dislike anyone very strongly at all but a lot of them were very boring and/or mildly annoying.

[TomC]

Helen was my favourite from Thailand. Really disliked Robb, he was a prick to Shii Ann

[JerseyWins]

Meh, they were both somewhat mean to each other but nothing even remotely bad IMO. They were like brother & sister and somewhat liked each other by the end. They were both really fun to watch and their dislike for each other only added to that.

Helen fluctuated between slightly funny to slightly annoying to me but overall she was a bit "meh" when I think about her as a whole. Decently ranked for me on this season but I thought this cast was very weak tbh.

[JerseyWins]

I still need to get to Amazon before All Stars but an update on the All Stars cast:

1. Boston Rob
2. Jenna L
3. Ethan
4. Shii-Ann
5. Alicia
6. Kathy
7. Tina
8. Tom (although a very weak like, maybe more fitting to be in orange - I didn't really like him but found him kinda amusing by the end; random for him to be an All Star as well)
9. Richard
10. Lex
11. Amber (the strangest All Star addition due to being probably the biggest non-entity... but I know how this season ends and I could go either way with her so I'll have to see how much of an edit she actually gets this time)
12. Rudy (I'll give him some credit for being kinda funny; my opinion on him has improved a bit over time)
13. Susan (she left me with a sour taste and gets a bit worse in hindsight)
14. Rupert
15. Colby
16. Jerri

Something like that but the ones in orange, in particular, are extremely interchangeable. Again, I'm still not loving the cast going into it tbh. There's enough people that I can get behind but still too many people I just don't really care about.

Still need to watch Rob C & Jenna M though and I'm hoping they can be two more that I like... I'm looking forward to Rob because he seems like a funny enough guy from what I've seen of his podcast.

[Macie Lightfoot]

Imagine having interchangeable opinions on people like Rich and Rudy and Sue and Rupert and then being excited to see people like Alicia... you never fail to surprise me hun!

[Macie Lightfoot]

In the middle of the Andrea boot and Rob's getting a sappy confessional about how HE NEEDS THIS and HE'S BEEN TRYING TO DO THIS FOR TEN YEARS NOW and like... am I supposed to be deeply moved and invested in his story? Like, am I supposed to care that he's so close to winning Survivor on his FOURTH try? Most players only play once. Most humans don't even get cast for Survivor! What makes you so special?

Also, things make so much more sense when you realize that Amber was truly the original Ometepe girl.

[Macie Lightfoot]

"Phillip, before we vote, share one little nugget that you think your great-grandfather would say if he were here right now "

Jeffrey really insults our intelligence as viewers more often than we remember.

[JerseyWins]

Yessss I'm really liking Rob C after the premiere episode. He's so cheesy already in a very funny & likable way. But Shawna might be my #1 favorite.

Loving this cast practically as a whole though on first impressions which is really refreshing after last season.

Amazing first episode too, I remained highly entertained throughout. Probably my favorite first episode out of the first 6 seasons. I was a little worried seeing the male/female split after watching Vanuatu but it's working out well so far this time. The one thing that could've made the episode perfect was if Roger or even Daniel went since those are actually the two I don't really like so far and I liked Ryan. I should start posting more about the episodes as I'm watching though because I forget what moments I wanted to comment on afterwards.

[Macie Lightfoot]

Ralph making Andrea sleep on the floor at Redemption Island Andrea getting kicked into the head when Matt I think crawled into the shelter

[JerseyWins]

Oh wow, Roger's gotten even worse this episode already in that homosexuality conversation with Alex. Alex