The Case for and Against the Winners of Survivor 40

I don’t know how many posts I’ll be able to do in this blog about the upcoming season. I don’t think that I will be doing a post on this season where I predict the placement for it since edge of extinction takes the usual Survivor format and takes a sledge hammer to it. This might be the last post that I want to do on this season in question as I don’t know what else I might say. I heard that there will be a special on this show the week before the premiere. I might blog about that if I want to. Before I do that, I might as well explain what I mean by this post’s title.

You see, this might be a sort of cast assessment of the players from this season. But it will not be me prediction how they will place. It will instead be me focusing on the pros and cons of their games in the past, specially, which games they won in addition to any others they might have played. I will mention stuff that was good about them and stuff that was bad. I will not make any judgments as to who I thought was the best or worst among them. This will also largely only include thoughts that just I had about them while largely ignoring other fan’s thoughts. Still, let’s get to this post.

Ethan pros: He was and still is a very popular winner from this show. He survived cancer. He was the first person to win by a vote where one person didn’t decide the results. He made it further than all of the other winners on All-Stars.

Ethan cons: He won a season that just seemed easier than many others. Part of his success was due to the producers putting a flawed question in a challenge and his ally, Lex, being hated as much as he was. He didn’t win the final immunity challenge.

Sandra pros: She won the game twice. She went further than any winner has in any game without being voted out the first time. She lasted longer than all the other winners on Game Changers. She can have an intense way of playing and still others get voted out before her.

Sandra cons: She sucked the most recent time she played the game. She does terrible at challenges and her allies don’t always last like she does. Her tribes before the merge often suck at some point before it happens. She has never won an individual challenge.

Amber pros: She knew who to align with and didn’t care about romantic entanglements. She knew how to be more popular and who not to piss off. Others knew she was a threat, but still helped her win. She got more than just a simple win out of Survivor. The others never were smart enough to get rid of her in the season that she won.

Amber cons: She didn’t win the first time she played. The second time was largely Rob’s game, but she rode his coattails relying on him being hated more than she was. The first time she played, she was often too emotional and didn’t do as much.

Danni pros: She was able to overcome a huge numbers disadvantage at the final seven and was able to win the game despite the fact that six other players were all against her. She won a lot of votes and had only one vote against her.

Danni cons: She wasn’t really a stand out winner and only won by voting out a better player to face off against a bad one who burned a bunch of bridges. Her season wasn’t known for having great players or ones that were very memorable.

Yul pros: He was a very smart player who knew how to stay in the game and get the votes he needed to in order to win. He knew how to manipulate Jonathan and form a great alliance after the mutiny that lead to a final four of those people.

Yul cons: He had a super powered idol that didn’t ever really leave him in danger. Ozzy might have been a better winner that season. He didn’t have as much of an impressive résumé as other people who have won the game have had. He never won immunity.

Parvati pros: Tons of new players love her and often compare herself to her. Except for Rob, she has played more days than any other winner in the game. She has only gotten voted out once. She knows how to unite with other players in the game.

Parvati cons: Her win the second time around is a bit tainted from there being a final two instead of the then usual final three. She isn’t as known for much as she could be for strategy and is often just known for being sexy instead. Is flirting a strategy?

Rob pros: He danced circles around the other players when he won, able to play one of the best social games the show had ever seen. He has always played a good game, even if he didn’t win. He can be evil and snide and still make it pretty far.

Rob cons: He had quite possibly the easiest path to the win out of all of those who have won. It took him an unprecedented four times to win the game. He never served on a Survivor jury his whole career. He beat a bunch of newbies on his fourth time playing instead of all-stars.

Sophie pros: She was able to beat two different returning players in her season. She didn’t have many issues with how the game worked. She relied on others’ unpopularity in order to last longer in the game and win it in the end.

Sophie cons: Honestly, she’s the most recent winner that I didn’t like. She was whiny and entitled. I do not know what people saw in her that was good. It didn’t seem like she deserved to win. She had quite possibly the worst edit of all the winners.

Kim pros: There was a lot of good that she did such as finding an idol that she never needed to use, making the right allies, and winning a lot of the votes against the other players. She never seemed to be in much danger when she played.

Kim cons: Other contestants were unpopular that season and were all likely to lose. Part of her game relied on the collapse of the men’s tribe that season then the dominance of the women’s tribe and her alliance that dominated the game.

Denise pros: Facing more hardships than most winners, she survived every single tribal council in one single season. She could turn on her main alliance member at the end and still get his vote to win. She never had an idol, unlike a lot of other winners.

Denise cons: She could never bring either of her tribes to winning a challenge outside of one win that came with an asterisk. The alliances were too crazy that season for much to make sense. She might not be as popular if she had actually been on a tribe that won a challenge.

Tyson pros: He’s very cool with his methods and does quite a lot to win and earn it. He can own his past mistakes and knew what to do when he played again. He knew how to keep an alliance well the season that he won as he made it to the end with it and won.

Tyson cons: He wasn’t that good the first time he played the game and was downright terrible the second time. Only one other person needed to play Survivor more to win it. Part of his game was based on the luck of not drawing a certain rock.

Tony pros: He played perhaps the most devious game of anyone who wound up able to win it. He was able to manipulate others and still win nearly every vote to win the game. He might be one of the best villains who was able to win.

Tony cons: His second game was a total bomb and bust for him and nearly everyone who saw his game that time around. He is often too mischievous for his own good. He might not have won were it not for the stupidity of another player. He never won an immunity challenge.

Natalie pros: She was able to do a lot and make risky moves when she played. She knew who to align with and was able to take out the right people. Her win wasn’t predictable to some people which made it more interesting to watch.

Natalie cons: She seemed boring when she played and didn’t leave that much of a mark. Her win might have been helped by the fact that Missy wasn’t medically evacuated when she probably should have been. She wasn’t that great a player on The Amazing Race.

Jeremy pros: It was easy for him to win since he was against very unpopular players in the end. He was very good at what he did and knew what to do and who to go to the end with. Not all of his win was about his wife like some think.

Jeremy cons: He didn’t win the first time he played the game, even though he very easily could have. It seemed weird that he was on a second chance season when he didn’t really make any notable mistakes the first time that he played like many others in that season.

Michele pros: She is a much better player and winner than many people give her credit for. She knew how to beat other players and used a twist for her advantage to do what she needed to. It was easy for her to win when all she had to do was watch other players self destruct.

Michele cons: Being able to vote out a jury member changed some of what could have happened when she played. Her edit was too invisible and didn’t give her enough credit for what she did to win. She was not as well liked by fans, although that’s not really a con to me.

Adam pros: He won more jury votes than any other winner, I believe. He made it quite far even though others knew he was a threat that should be taken out. He wasn’t selfish and just playing for himself like many others are when they play the game.

Adam cons: This may come off as mean and insensitive so here goes: part of the reason that he won was due to a sob story about his dying mother. That puts some of an emotional influence on the jury that season due to circumstances beyond his control that he was exploiting. Now that I’ve said that, I do feel bad for her death still and hope that this isn’t too rude a thing to say. I like him as a winner and not just because he was the same first name as me.

Sarah pros: She knew how to trick the other players into getting herself to go farther in the game and getting their votes to win. She was awesome and sly, relying on what she needed to in order to make it to the end and win. She knew how to manipulate others.

Sarah cons: Her first time playing the game was kind of a bust due to how short she lasted or even could have lasted. She might not have won without certain advantages. The final six was controversial due to the immunity train when she should have been gone.

Ben pros: He puts a humanizing touch on military veterans and PTSD. He knew how to play to the jury and get all that he needed to out of them. He changed how the game could be played and was able to take what he needed to out of the game for his advantage.

Ben cons: Without idols, he is nothing as he never would have made it that far. He won largely due to a twist where he would have otherwise been the last person voted out. Too many changes in the game benefitted him, making his win tainted.

Wendell pros: He made one of the best alliances and was even able to make the end with it, as much as they wanted to take each other out. He did what he needed to in order to have the right person next to him as a finalist, not even knowing the jury votes in the future.

Wendell cons: He might have the most to prove of this cast as he won due to a tie-breaker as no other winner could claim they had to do (although not everyone could have faced a tied jury). He also was only there due to a change in the game that’s now part of it that wasn’t for many seasons before it.

Nick pros: He did a lot to his own advantage even if it meant turning on his best ally. He knew what he had to do in order to win and was able to outlast those on the other tribes even when he was basically the only one left of his own original tribe still around.

Nick cons: Some of what happened with his win was due to sheer dumb luck, especially the evacuation of Pat that prevented the first tribal council from happening. He had to rely on a lot of crazy votes and others to be bigger targets.

This is more or less the end of this post now as there isn’t much else to say. Like I said, I’m not pointing out in most cases who I thought was the best winner as I tried to stick with just the facts. Who do you think has the most to prove to the other players? Do you think that any of my points are wrong or off topic? Feel free to say whatever you want.

Now something major happened with this blog that resulted in the deletion of three old posts. I will explain more of what happened later in the introduction to a post on either Survivor: Gabon or Survivor: Winners at War. Know that it means I might do random posts on both Sundays and Wednesdays until the three are made up in some way. For now, this is Adam Decker, signing off.