Development of Blood versus Water Castaways

Development of Blood versus Water Castaways

Account             Adam Decker's Survivor Blog

Okay, so I’ve been having a minor problem with this blog. The word document that is made for blog posts on the version of word that I have does not always like posting the blog post that I put on the computer I have. But the problem isn’t that big, since I can just log onto the blog the regular way and then copy and paste what I have written here. I used to always post on the blog instead of documents but then I had an outdated web browser for a while and when I got better internet on a regular basis and accidently downloaded a great web browser (google chrome), I still kept to the old method mostly because it was easier that way to have the document posted in advance instead of writing it all at once. I used to have a regular word document where I would edit stuff before I posted it and deleted it afterwards, but I found this method to be the best. Hopefully, this won’t be that bad a problem. Anyways, I should get to the actual blog post now.

I did something like this with the Caramoan players and that included a table. But since tables don’t work that well in the blog post, I might not do that. It’s possible, however, that one would show up. Regardless, I’m going to talk about how the ten returning players have changed compared to previous seasons that they played. I will mention how they are a different player in this season (if they are, at least) and ultimately include which season they did best in. I will list each contestant individually and say how they are different. Also, just because they got farther in one season than they did in others doesn’t mean that was their best season. You might like certain players better in seasons they did worse in. Regardless, I will mention how the players changed in this season from previous seasons, if they’re different at all.

Rupert is an interesting contestant and great player and cast more votes to win than any other player in Survivor history. He is currently one of the only two four time players and could very likely become a five time player. I’m not sure why people hate him, but if people hate someone like Michael Skupin, then they’ll hate anyone! Regardless, when he first played in Pearl Islands, Rupert became a very likable contestant, strong competitor, and most notably, shoe thief. He was on the dominate tribe throughout the season and made it to the merge. He was ultimately blindsided by the merge tribe, probably because he was a threat to win. He returned for All-Stars and became the first player to do back to back seasons. He made it further the second time, only to be blindsided again by his alliance. After many years, he returned to Heroes versus Villains as a hero. He made it far again, but for the only time, he was not on the better tribe for any part of the game. Regardless, he made it on the jury for the third time, more than any other player. This time, he wasn’t directly blindsided, but as usual, someone flipping from his alliance to the rival’s alliance is what eventually cost him the game. Interesting, he made it quite possibly the farthest in the game with an injury than any other player had done. On Blood versus Water, his legacy hit a low point when he sort of chose to be voted out. He was switching places with his wife who really was voted out in a dumb twist. But he got sent to Redemption Island and had a chance to stay in the game by continuing to win duels there. Well, a stack falling cost him the game, but he’ll probably be back at some point. This season saw him as more of a sacrificial lamb than anything else and he did better in previous seasons. Main transition: From a hero who fought hard to a hero that fell on his sword.

Colton is an infamous and controversial player known for being a horrible villain that convinced his own tribe to give up immunity after they had won a challenge. His time in One World was cut short when he was medically evacuated from the game (although some say that he quit). He inevitably returned this season and more or less kept the same personality that we all hated in him the first time. This personality led him to quitting the game for pretty much no good reason. If Candice weren’t a last minute replacement/addition to this season, you’d think that he would have gotten voted out at first impressions, but for whatever reason, Matt from One World is the only Survivor contestant to cast a vote against Colton. So this season led us to hate Colton even more, but be relieved that he probably isn’t coming back. But if quitters are allowed back (like Colton, if he was one in the first place), then you’ll never know who might come back even if they did quit one of the times they played. They have asked Janu and Jenna back, although Jenna quitting in All-Stars was pretty strange in the first place. Regardless, Colton was probably worse this season as well. Main transition: From a villain to a loser.

Candice is not considered a great Survivor player. In fact, she might have done worse than any other three time player, meaning she played the least days among all the players who have played for three and only three times so far. Somehow, Stephenie LaGrossa had the record before her and that seems strange since Stephenie actually made day 39 in one of her seasons. I could be wrong about that, but I’m not entirely sure. Candice is also an interesting player based on the pattern in the seasons she’s played. I don’t know if anyone else has this sort of pattern or not. Some probably used to, but I don’t know if anyone else besides her has this pattern. She has played the 13^th, 20^th, and 27^th seasons so far, so she should return for the 34^th season next, no sooner and no later. Anyways, the first time she played in Cook Islands, she started on one tribe, switched to another tribe, mutinied back to her first tribe, made the merge, and ultimately got voted out and sent to Exile Island a lot. She was controversially considered a hero in Heroes versus Villains when she returned to the game the first time and ultimately flipped on her alliance again and got voted out because of it again. She returned again to this season and I feel that she got more love this season despite not making it as far this season. Fans could really feel for her after she got voted out after the first impressions twist. She then ruled Redemption Island challenges for a while before losing a challenge even though she finished it correctly in the less remembered, badly called duel of the season (the more remembered one and only other badly called duel was the one that Vytas lost by one freaking second). So she never went to tribal council the third time around and became more likable to some people (me at least). Main transition: From a traitor to a victim of a bad twist or from a flipper to a needlessly hurt contestant.

Kat is considered kind of ditsy and not all that aware of what’s going on. She debut in One World and almost became the first person voted out of her tribe and the game (remembering how Kourtney was medically evacuated before someone else could do that first). But she made it to the merge and her personality clashed with many of the players and viewers. But she was doing well enough until she was blindsided instead of the last guy left on the tribe. I just know realized that history must have repeated itself this season. While she wasn’t seemingly as dumb and annoying as she might have been in the past, she made bad choices again and saw herself voted out of a tribe of all women plus one man. Unlike Leann of Survivor: Vanuatu, the man that her tribe kept around (both times) did not go on to win the game. Regardless, like the last player and the next one, she probably was better received this season even though she didn’t get as far in the game. I’m not sure what most people would say the main different between them is. Main transition: From a dumb blonde to an unfortunate premerge boot.

Aras is one of twenty-six players to actually win the game of Survivor when he played Panama. Jeff Probst called him the most boring winner ever and it seemed like there were more deserving players when he won. (Of course, if I did a list of every player who more deserved to win over someone who did, then we’d be opening a Pandora’s Box of flaming and hate that I’m not sure that I’d want to do. By the way, maybe Aras wasn’t that bad a player and did deserve to win. He’s certainly not the worst winner or anything. By the way, I’m not going to tell you who the worst winner is, although I might in a future blog post, depending on how old this post is.) Anyways, Aras won Panama due to some last minute luck and probably other stuff that I don’t remember due to the season happening a long time ago and being unable to watch it again yet. I plan to, but you probably know the rules I have to buying an old Survivor season and those rules do not apply in this current case. He almost got medically evacuated on day 39, which is what I’m sure his final two opponent, Danielle, would have loved because she’d win by default. In what might be a complete coincidence, they first went without final twos in the season made right after that one. So he won the game the first time and came back to play the second time. The second time might have seen him the same, although he might have been different too. He was very controlling of the tribe that he was on and seemed to only care about playing with his brother. Ultimately, their time together in the game was short lived as he would be the first one voted out of the merged tribe and become the first member of the jury after losing the first post merge Redemption Island duel. So I’m not really sure what type of transformation he had here. Obviously, he was a better player when he actually won the game. Things fell apart for him this season after the merge. Main transition: From an uninteresting winner to an interesting jury member.

Laura Morett first played the game of Survivor in Samoa. She was put on the tribe that ended up being the strongest in the premerge part of the game that only lost two members on the way to an earlier merge. But things fell apart for her tribe after the merge. We saw a Pagonging of sorts and she was the victim of a tie vote. Plus, it hurt that she had a rivalry with Shambo of her tribe, otherwise there might not be a tie in the first place. But I think that we got to see more of her this season and her game wasn’t overshadowed by anyone else (with the possible exception of both Ciera and Tina, which would make this comment dumb since Russell Hantz and Shambo both overshadowed her the first time). She became a Redemption Island queen (quite possibly the first woman to do well at Redemption Island) and she made Survivor history by not being immediately voted out after returning to the game from Redemption Island. She made it farther back in the game as a result as three people were voted out before she eventually was voted out again. She lost the dumb final challenge on Redemption Island. It’s the final reentry point into the game and it never appeared besides a Redemption Island duel. I thought that the whole point of Redemption Island challenges were that they were already done in previous seasons and were thus tested challenges deemed fair to use in the game. But this standing on a vase challenge, called a leg up, was only used as a duel and thus was never really tested in previous seasons. This has arguably messed up the winner of Redemption Island in both seasons it was used. But, regardless, I think that she did do better this time both in duration of time lasted in the game as well as likability among fans. I’d give her the better ranking this season and hope that she returns for a future season. In fact, even including Rupert, she’s the returning player from this season that I’d most want to return for another season (sorry Rupert). Main transition: From a random player to a strong competitor and challenge threat.

Tina was originally from the second season of Survivor that was done in Australia. For whatever reason, a woman dropped out of doing the game and Tina, an alternate for the season, replaced her and played instead. (Tina is not the only winner to originally be an alternate for the season she won. Fabio from Nicaragua also holds this distinction. There might be others, but those are the only two that I know of and can think of for now.) She played a great game in Australia and due to extra days of filming that I’m not entirely sure was intentional, she became the only winner to play more than thirty-nine days. The only time she was in danger of being voted out was at the final three where Colby, who won the final immunity challenge, made what is considered to be a dumb mistake, took her to the end instead of an easy win. That move may have cost him the game, but that doesn’t matter since I was rooting for Tina (although my original favorite to win might have been Elisabeth, who had to be replaced at the last minute when she was voted out, although I can’t remember if I was rooting for someone other than Tina or not and have the feeling that I wasn’t). I never saw Survivor until early into the second season before being drawn into the great show, but I do have the first season on DVD and plan to watch it during the summer, if not sooner. When Tina appeared on All-Stars, she was immediately targeted for being a winner and voted out upon her tribe losing the first immunity challenge. She returned for this season and while still not the lovable winner we all remember, she proved to be a good part of the game. I’ll admit, she mostly had a lot of dumb luck with her Redemption Island challenges. Her beating Aras wasn’t that bad a win on her part. Her beating Vytas would have been changed if she had finished her puzzle just two seconds later. She almost thought of throwing the one with her daughter, but after her daughter dropped her key, it would be clear that Tina would escape death once again. And then the challenge that I already stated my disgust with brought her back into the game instead of poor Hayden who can’t seem to win a Survivor challenge or Laura who would have deserved it more after having to fight harder for it. Regardless, Tina played a great game and could have won again under different circumstances. But I’m not disappointed with who won by any means. I’d still have to rank her first season as her highest and best season and obviously the worst one was All-Stars. Main transition: From a wonderful contestant to a lucky but average player.

Gervase played the original Survivor in the very first season in Borneo. Since I have not seen the first season, I’m not sure how to describe how well he did that season. I know that he said a comment about women and someone else thought it was funny, thus getting blamed for the comment and voted out instead of Gervase. Gervase made it to the merge, but like the rest of his dumb tribe, did not realize until it was too late that people were voting him out. Thus, he became a member of the jury. He would then set a record that could eventually be broken of longest gap between seasons that he played Survivor. He played as far as he could this next season and became a finalist. But since he was mostly following Tyson’s commands throughout the game, he did not get any votes to win the game. Since I haven’t seen his first season, I don’t know which one I state as better, although you’d think that it would be this season. Main transition: From an obscure, early contestant to a boring finalist.

Monica, like the majority of Survivor players (I think), did not make the merge when she first played the game. Like others before her, she returned to play the game again. But first, in One World, she was doing well in the first portion of the game, before a tribe swap put her on the other tribe with no alliance of her own. She was voted out after the first tribal council after the swap. But she returned to Survivor in Blood versus Water, made it all the way to the end of the game, and beat Michael Skupin’s old record of most improved finished in the game. She did become a challenge threat and played a great game, but her ever shifting alliances and riding of coattails is what ultimately got her only one jury vote to win. Main transition: From a victim of a twist to a victim of not doing much in the game.

Tyson first appeared in Tocantins. He was one of two contestants to win individual immunity for no reason since a contestant was medically evacuated and no tribal council was held. I don’t really remember his time on Tocantins that well. Anyways, he returned as a villain in Heroes versus Villains and made a dumb move that got him voted out. He returned for this season, Blood versus Water, and played a much better game. Like Rupert, he lasted a long time in the game, although his injury wasn’t focused upon that much so I’m not even he had it that long. He might have recovered from it or he might have had it until day 39. Regardless, he played a great game and really deserved the win. So, he obvious did the best in this season. Main transition: From a dumb guy to a genius winner.

Not really sure what else to say here. So enjoy this complimentary table where I explain to the best of my ability what seasons are the best for each of the players in as few words as possible.

Contestant’s Name	Original Season	All-Stars	Heroes versus Villains	Blood versus Water
Rupert	pretty good	best	decent	worst
Colton	decent	did not play	did not play	worst
Candice	interesting	did not play	Why?	more likable
Kat	toss-up	did not play	did not play	toss-up
Aras	great	did not play	did not play	decent
Laura Morett	decent	did not play	did not play	better
Tina	best	worst	did not play	pretty good
Gervase	decent	did not play	did not play	better
Monica	worst	did not play	did not play	decent
Tyson	decent	did not play	worst	best

I hope that you enjoyed this random blog post of mine. Hopefully, nobody is offended by my opinions of this season’s castaways. For now, this is Adam Decker, signing off.