Underrated Survivor Seasons

Sadly, one will never be able to agree with someone else on different things relating to Survivor. For instance, there are a lot of seasons of Survivor that people don’t like. And I tend to like a lot of those seasons myself. This could be due to a flaw in my character where I tend to like things too much. But, I’m going to make a case as to why some seasons of Survivor are actually underrated.

Africa: I’m a bit surprised that there are people who don’t really like this season. This is truly a great classic season. For one, there are finally twists that make the game more interesting. Another aspect is the great cast and you have one of the greatest Survivor winners. This is classic Survivor at its best which is surprising since most people don’t seem to care about it.

All-Stars: On the surface, there is a lot to hate about this season and not many redeeming values about it. Even I, while defending it here, would not put it in the good seasons’ list, although I feel that it gets far too much hatred among people that I’ve seen. This season is actually quite interesting when you think about it. We have a season with all returning players from every season before it. We are not so much all focused on just keeping up with the players who did well before as we get players who weren’t as good before doing better the second time around. While it may only be slightly underrated, I say that it remains underrated in the end because it is interesting to watch.

Vanuatu: I’m honestly not entirely sure if people actually hate this season or not. But, it can still be on this list due to how it doesn’t get the love that it probably deserves to get. I mean, here is a season with unpredictable twists and turns throughout the game. The way the women started to dominate after the merge, you probably wouldn’t think that the last man left could pull off a win, but he does.

Cook Islands: This isn’t one of Survivor’s best season, but it doesn’t deserve all the hatred that it gets. Maybe I spend too much time on the highly negative Addicted to Survivor facebook group. Of course, the internet tends to be a fairly negative place in general, but I have this blog as an alternative to that. As I was saying, this season is pretty good and interesting, even if it takes a while for that to happen. The finale was quite interesting and it was cool seeing the Aitu four conquer the members of Rarotonga both after the mutiny by winning every challenge and then doing well after the merge as well. It deserves far more love than it gets. An underdog story is underrated.

Nicaragua: Fabio gets far too much unnecessary hatred in the Survivor community. So does this season as well, I feel. Sure, the two players quitting at once may be one of the worst ever Survivor moments in history. But the season as a whole is much better than people give it credit for. It’s interesting seeing the old versus young twist work out throughout the game, even if the young tribe does quite good in the end. The game always seemed interesting to me. Even the terrible quits were something that you wouldn’t see and changed the rest of the game from that point forward. You might not have had the same sort of interesting game.

Redemption Island: Okay, I may easily be fighting a losing battle with this one. I may never be able to convince anyone that this season was good. But I see it as an interesting season, the likes of which you’ve never seen before. Rob dominating the game was actually a lot better than people give it credit for. That, and the cast is much better than people tend to give it credit for. Phillip, as crazy as he is, brings a great entertainment level to the game not typically seen. Matt is a wonderful example of a tragic hero, the victim of his own niceness. And a really satisfying part of this game is that Russell Hantz’s ways finally get the best of him and we see him cry like a little girl.

One World: A lot of parts regarding Survivor is stuff that I’m surprised to learn is hated by most of the community. I quite enjoyed Survivor: One World. The point where Manono gave up immunity may have been an incredibly dumb move, but in my mind, it was one of Survivor’s greatest moments and one of the most shocking moments in all of television history. Seriously. I wouldn’t be that shocked by something on television again until Jane’s baby got kidnapped on the first season finale of Jane the Virgin. That moment alone was when I decided to create this blog about Survivor. Even outside of that moment, the rest of the game was very interesting to watch. Seeing Colton’s downfall being one of his body’s making is something highly unusual. But karma’s a bitch. And I find this season to be quite an awesome part of Survivor.

Caramoan: I once got into a fight with various people as I tried to defend this season, but I failed at making a good point and only succeeded in making myself look bad. Of course, a blog isn’t at all like a facebook thread, so here I go trying to defend it again. I don’t think that either tribe was as terrible as some people thought. Sure, it would have been way better without the likes of Brandon Hantz, the worst ever contestant in the history of Survivor. But then we wouldn’t have had his crazy meltdown affecting the game and that actually would have been disappointing. The greatest tribal council happened this season as Phillip was voted out of the game. As much as the Cool Kids alliance and the Three Amigos struggled against the tide, it was still quite fun to watch what all they could do even if they were fighting a losing battle. All in all, this is a much better season than people give it credit for.

Cambodia: I’m not entirely sure if the reaction to this season was all that negative, but it was negative enough in some places for me to put it here. What does game bot mean? It doesn’t make much since to me. This season was quite interesting. I love the players that made it far and it had great blindsides. Plus, there was a different format with it to keep people on their toes. It is certainly an interesting season and the final four was great. Why don't people like it?

Koah Rong: Maybe lots of people did like this unusual season and were just disappointed at the final result at the end. Now I’m going to have to make something clear and I will yell to do this (by typing in all caps of course). Are you ready for this? Here goes: MICHELE IS A GREAT WINNER! SHE IS NOT ONE OF THE WORST WINNERS OF SURVIVOR! WHY DID PEOPLE LIKE AUBRY!? AUBRY WOULD HAVE BEEN A TERRIBLE WINNER! Now that I have that clear, I can honestly say that I do not understand the love of Aubry who was quite stuck-up and incredibly rude. What ending for a season would it have been if the person who constantly has things going the wrong way for her ending up winning? I’ll tell you what: a terrible winner. Aubry would have been the worst winner since Sophie. Now a lot of unusual seasons are quite good in the end (look at Palau) and this one had a better cast than some people would give it credit for. The blindsides of the bullies in the end were something that were quite good to watch. So I’m not sure if people hate this a lot or not, but I like it.

Well, that’s all that I can think about for this blog post. Seasons that people hated that I like are basically the ones that I picked here. If I felt that they were good enough considered in the fan community and I liked them, I didn’t put them on the list. If they did get negative reception and I didn’t include them here, I basically thought they were crap too. I might have to do an overrated seasons list in the future, although I’m not sure that I will. I’ll reveal the random rankings of old seasons randomly and I will rank all the seasons in special blog posts, but only if Survivor ends. Of course, you’ll see more of my thoughts on current seasons as they progress. For now, this is Adam Decker, signing off.