[TomC]

Not MvGX and GC

[JerseyWins]

MvGx, a wild ride of a season

[armand.kay]

welp Jeff in later seasons really is obsessed with exclaiming how anything that happens is the first in 30+ years of survivor history

also in MvGX everything anyone done was always because of their generation and not, you know, their personalities.

[armand.kay]

Is heroes vs healers vs hustlers any good? because the theme alone has tuned me off lol.

[MB.]

Originally Posted by armand.kay

Is heroes vs healers vs hustlers any good? because the theme alone has tuned me off lol.

imo it's the best post-Kaoh Rong season (it has some great characters and it's mostly enjoyable in spite of production's many attempts to make it otherwise), but if you enjoyed MvGX then I'm not really sure if you'll like it or not

[Macie Lightfoot]

Originally Posted by armand.kay

Is heroes vs healers vs hustlers any good? because the theme alone has tuned me off lol.

Surely MvGX turned you off more initially, no?

[armand.kay]

Originally Posted by Macie Lightfoot

Surely MvGX turned you off more initially, no?

well I didn't hate Nicaragua and it essentially sounded like the same theme but with a different name

[armand.kay]

lol why do you hate MvGX so much?

[MB.]

Originally Posted by armand.kay

lol why do you hate MvGX so much?

-It followed on from Cambodia in heralding the arrival of the "big moves" era of the show, where characterisation and humanising moments are replaced by endless strategy talk, where social game is treated as a footnote, where a constant stream of idols and advantages make coherent and structured gameplay a thing of the past, where phrases such as "trust clusters" and "resumes" are littered throughout as if they have any bearing on how the game should be played, where juries are expected to harbour no bitterness... or really any emotion whatsoever... I could go on. This approach all culminates in someone with highly erratic gameplay being rewarded unanimously by the jury for making (failed) "big moves" over someone more akin to an old school winner like Hannah or Ken

-Speaking of which, the cast is full of gamebots, of both the offensive (Zeke, Mari, Zeke, sort of Hannah, sort of Adam, ZEKE) and the offensively dull (Chris, Bret, Sunday) variety, and character moments are either non-existent or about as subtle as a bag of bricks to the head (the Zeke/Bret scene, the Jay/Adam scene, David's entire arc, and... whoops, that's it for character moments!), with no middle ground. Personally I'd say the only worthwhile people in the MvGX cast are Jay, Michaela, Taylor, Ken and Figgy? At a push?

-The theme allowed Jeff to engage in his talk show host bull**** at every Tribal, with the nadir of it all being "millennials are cool because they abbreviate words when they text!"

-It was the first season in the Mamanuca Islands, which is a location they've now filmed six consecutive seasons in and will likely never leave, as Jeff is lazy as hell, thus killing any semblance that Survivor is supposed to be a cultural experience as well as a game

-The fact that six of the seven pre-mergers were women of colour, and the only two women in the entire top 9 were both treated as goats

-Did I mention that Zeke is awful?

It does have a couple of defenders around here (and a lot more on Reddit), but that's about it

[armand.kay]

Originally Posted by MB.

-It followed on from Cambodia in heralding the arrival of the "big moves" era of the show, where characterisation and humanising moments are replaced by endless strategy talk, where social game is treated as a footnote, where a constant stream of idols and advantages make coherent and structured gameplay a thing of the past, where phrases such as "trust clusters" and "resumes" are littered throughout as if they have any bearing on how the game should be played, where juries are expected to harbour no bitterness... or really any emotion whatsoever... I could go on. This approach all culminates in someone with highly erratic gameplay being rewarded unanimously by the jury for making (failed) "big moves" over someone more akin to an old school winner like Hannah or Ken

-Speaking of which, the cast is full of gamebots, of both the offensive (Zeke, Mari, Zeke, sort of Hannah, sort of Adam, ZEKE) and the offensively dull (Chris, Bret, Sunday) variety, and character moments are either non-existent or about as subtle as a bag of bricks to the head (the Zeke/Bret scene, the Jay/Adam scene, David's entire arc, and... whoops, that's it for character moments!), with no middle ground. Personally I'd say the only worthwhile people in the MvGX cast are Jay, Michaela, Taylor, Ken and Figgy? At a push?

-The theme allowed Jeff to engage in his talk show host bull**** at every Tribal, with the nadir of it all being "millennials are cool because they abbreviate words when they text!"

-It was the first season in the Mamanuca Islands, which is a location they've now filmed six consecutive seasons in and will likely never leave, as Jeff is lazy as hell, thus killing any semblance that Survivor is supposed to be a cultural experience as well as a game

-The fact that six of the seven pre-mergers were women of colour, and the only two women in the entire top 9 were both treated as goats

-Did I mention that Zeke is awful?

It does have a couple of defenders around here (and a lot more on Reddit), but that's about it

I get your point about the whole 'big move" era but for me it was a nice change from seasons where we had like 4 people post merge actually playing the game and their alliances who just carried them to the final 3. if it wasn't for everyone trying to prove themselves as a player in the game then either david or zeke wold of had an easy ride to the final. Maybe I really enjoyed it because of how frustrated I was during cagayan when the cast basically just handed Tony the win. I will say though I do agree with you about all the advantages, its hard to enjoy the game playing when get out of jail free cards are being handed out willy nilly.

- I do agree with you about the Jeff thing too the MvGX talk was just ridiculous and I fond it annoying that even after merge he was still going on about it.

[armand.kay]

So here's a ranking of what I've watched so far. I did go on a survivor hiatus for a few years so I had to watch some clips back to remember some of the older ones.

1) Perl island
2) The Amazon
3) Gabon: I know this is a controversial one and as a survivor fan I should hate it but its ****ing hilarious and as a reality TV fan I love it.
4) Cook Island
5) Cagayan
6) Marquesa
7) Samoa
8) Millenials VS Gen X
9) Tocantines
10) Blood vs Water
11) Cambodia
12) Kaôh Rōng
13) Nicaragua
14) San Juan Del Sur
15) One world
16) Thailand

[Ashley.]

I've watched three more seasons since I last posted here (Palau, Guatemala, Panama)..

Palau was OK. The only two I really liked were Bobby Jon & Stephanie which was mainly motivated by their storyline, but the cast was interesting enough despite the terrible final three. I was surprised to see at the reunion that Tom was so popular as a player, I didn't think he was that great and essentially profitted from everybody else's idiotic decisions.

Guatemala had a brilliant cast and the final five or so were likable enough for me not to mind who won. Bobby Jon was my favourite again but Lydia and Stephenie were equally amazing. Jamie and Judd were equally awful.

Panama was my favourite of the three. Cirie is probably my favourite contestant of the series and a reason why I enjoyed the season so much. Aras winning was a great end to the season too, I thought he was lovely.

Season Ranking:

Spoiler:

1. Panama
2. The Amazon
3. Borneo
4. Pearl Islands
5. Africa
6. Australia
7. Guatemala
8. Marquesas
9. All-Stars
10. Palau
11. Vanuatu
12. Thailand

I'll probably get around to watching Cook Islands within the next couple of months or so.

[TomC]

Originally Posted by Ashley.

I've watched three more seasons since I last posted here (Palau, Guatemala, Panama)..

Palau was OK. The only two I really liked were Bobby Jon & Stephanie which was mainly motivated by their storyline, but the cast was interesting enough despite the terrible final three. I was surprised to see at the reunion that Tom was so popular as a player, I didn't think he was that great and essentially profitted from everybody else's idiotic decisions.

Guatemala had a brilliant cast and the final five or so were likable enough for me not to mind who won. Bobby Jon was my favourite again but Lydia and Stephenie were equally amazing. Jamie and Judd were equally awful.

Panama was my favourite of the three. Cirie is probably my favourite contestant of the series and a reason why I enjoyed the season so much. Aras winning was a great end to the season too, I thought he was lovely.

Season Ranking:

Spoiler:

1. Panama
2. The Amazon
3. Borneo
4. Pearl Islands
5. Africa
6. Australia
7. Guatemala
8. Marquesas
9. All-Stars
10. Palau
11. Vanuatu
12. Thailand

I'll probably get around to watching Cook Islands within the next couple of months or so.

Guatemala BObby Jon

Surprised you didn't like Palau, it was probably my favourite so far when I was doing my chronological Survivor watch

[Ashley.]

Originally Posted by TomC

Guatemala BObby Jon

Surprised you didn't like Palau, it was probably my favourite so far when I was doing my chronological Survivor watch

With shows like this, the cast is everything. You can't rely on the public to boot off the bad ones. Plus, I always seem to root for those who don't really stand a chance and leave early, Shii Ann being the biggest example of this. It probably comes from a place of really wanting them to defy the odds but deep down knowing that they have no chance. And obviously with Palau we had Bobby Jon & Stephenie who were my favourites by far, and once they both left I just didn't really care for anybody left other than Janu (who was also an outsider) and the predictability of it all just really made it a bit lacklustre. I like power shifts.

[armand.kay]

Originally Posted by Ashley.

With shows like this, the cast is everything. You can't rely on the public to boot off the bad ones. Plus, I always seem to root for those who don't really stand a chance and leave early, Shii Ann being the biggest example of this. It probably comes from a place of really wanting them to defy the odds but deep down knowing that they have no chance. And obviously with Palau we had Bobby Jon & Stephenie who were my favourites by far, and once they both left I just didn't really care for anybody left other than Janu (who was also an outsider) and the predictability of it all just really made it a bit lacklustre. I like power shifts.

Yeah I always root for the underdog and then when they get the power and get a bit too big for their boots I low-key hope they're knocked down a peg

[Macie Lightfoot]

Stephenie's mask slipping during Guatemala

[armand.kay]

So don't judge me guys but I've already finished HvHvH and i thought it was really good. No real villains so I enjoyed the game playing a lot more because I wasn't blinded by how much I hated a person when they pulled a big move.... I also really enjoyed all the drama in the camp and the fact that everyone was actually devistated when they got the boot.

So again guys no judgement zone... but I've also started Ghost Island and it's probably the worst thing I've watched for a while, this season might mark the end of my survivor binge...

[MB.]

I also enjoyed HHH and think Ghost Island is the worst thing I've watched in a while, so we're on the same page there

[LukeB]

Originally Posted by MB.

I also enjoyed HHH and think Ghost Island is the worst thing I've watched in a while, so we're on the same page there

Same here

[armand.kay]

Did they purposely get really stupid and mediocre people for ghost island so they could recreate the epic mistakes made in past seasons? So far It's not Thailand level bad but I defines did enjoy one world a lot more than this.

[armand.kay]

It feels like I'm watching a mock survivor season played by fans at some sort of cbs convention

[armand.kay]

Ok so I'm done now.. I ended up just fast forwarding to the challenges/tribal council for the last few eps... This season was just garbage, I'm actually pissed off at myself for watching it all... It's literally impossible to make a worse season. the only redeeming quality about it was Sia rhiturn for her fund a gay charity...

[Macie Lightfoot]

Philippines level bad isn't bad at all lol

[armand.kay]

Originally Posted by Macie Lightfoot

Philippines level bad isn't bad at all lol

I meant Thailand lol

[JerseyWins]

Ghost Island really isn't some really bad season. It was an unmemorable one though tbf.