How I Became a Survivor Fan

Everyone who has watched Survivor probably has a story of how they became a fan of the show. All of us would have different experiences with the show. But I don’t think that there is too much to say about this so we’ll see just how long this post becomes in the future.

At the time, my mother and brother were somehow into this show for reasons that I don’t remember. They set up a tape to record the fourth episode of the second season that is called The Killing Fields. I did not see much of it, as I had a hard time understanding the show at the time. But I did see the tribal council at the end and then had to see the next episode of the show. I think that it was the first show that I watched in primetime. My sister was a fan of it at some point during this season as well.

My fandom of the show seemed to only grow from there. I’m not sure that I had a bedtime anymore, but this became a problem more so as I slowly decided to get into other shows. But I wasn’t always into the show like I should have been. The fifth season, for instance, had me missing a lot to focus on school work and due to not liking the season that much, yet I still might want to see more of it in the future. I had missed plenty of episodes here and there throughout time. I especially hated when they moved the show to Wednesdays instead of Thursdays for two weeks during March Madness as that would always be during Lent, but I tended not to miss that many episodes then anyways.

I forget what the last episode of this show that I haven’t seen would have been. If I had to guess, it might have been back in Nicaragua or around that time frame. It was in the twenty-fourth season that I felt that something happened that was so big that I had to start blogging about Survivor in the future. While many hated that season, especially the episode where the male tribe gave up immunity, that was the episode that inspired me to create this blog.

Now that I have this blog, there are other old seasons of this show that I can watch and put in this blog. I wound up doing one on Palau pretty soon after One World after I got it on DVD. There have now been other seasons of this show that I have written about that wasn’t covered before and even more that I will keep covering since I might as well keep writing about the seasons I have on DVD to include more and more in this blog for future posts. 

I’ve decided that this is it for this post. Hopefully this makes sense to others and you like it even if there was some of the usual jumping back and forth that I do from time to time, too often, perhaps. I think that this show is pretty good or I wouldn’t keep watching it or updating this blog even now not knowing when or even possibly if it will return. But I plan to be back throughout the years even long after this show is no longer on the air. For now, this is Adam Decker, signing off.

On the Largely White Casts of Survivor

While it would be hard to remember all of the casts of Survivor, all of them except two seem to have one thing in common: they are largely white. Most of the contestants on a season are white. This is not really a problem on its own. Indeed, at one point, 80% of the applicants of Survivor are white. This may not be the case anymore. But is that alone why the casts are largely white? And is this a bad thing?

Well, for one reason or another, the producers of Survivor are either caving to the racial awakening of today (see my occasional posts in my Madam Secretary blog) or decided that they want at least half of the cast to be non-white in the future for other reasons (see previous post of this blog) which could be a good thing, deciding that the previous way of doing things just wasn’t cutting it. This isn’t that bad of a thing potentially, but the last major decision that they made with casting, getting rid of their long time casting producer, Lynne Spillman, lead to the very first season cast without her, Island of the Idols, to have a contestant ejected from the game. Is it post hoc ergo propter hoc? Maybe.

Once Survivor is back and has some of these casts for the first time, we’ll find out whether or not these casts work. But I have to talk about something that I neglected to mention in the post on the new rule of casting of Survivor. That is the two seasons done thus far without a majority white cast.

The first of these was Cook Islands. A lot of fans, at least in the one group that I’m part of and see the most on facebook, do not like this season. I don’t hate it, but I don’t think that I have it ranked high either. I put it in the middle of the seasons in my current ranking of them. But I don’t think that the hatred of that season had to do with the casting of it so much as perceived injustices in a last minute twist before the merge that might not be worth getting into here. If people don’t like the season that didn’t have a largely white cast, then one would think that it wasn’t a good idea. But was casting alone the reason that people didn’t like it? I’d say no.

We then get to the very next season which I didn’t like much at all. Fiji was cast in a way to make sure (according to Jeff Probst at the time) to prove that the other season wasn’t just a onetime thing. Due to the last minute quit of a player before the game even started, there were only four white players versus five of every other race. Jeff didn’t like the season. I hated the twist that put one tribe at a disadvantage over the others. Plus, I think that the main reason why I feel that this cast was weak was due to it being largely recruits instead of applicants.

If those two seasons were anything, it only brought Survivor casting back to how some feel that it should be in the end. Now I don’t know for sure just how many benefits white players might have versus those that aren’t white other than a numbers advantage on the other players (that never seems to happen that much, if ever, on its own) or why things seem to go this way a lot. I mean, most casts of TV shows are white (as I discussed recently in my TV blog) so one wouldn’t think that there being any issues with that on its own.

Now one might wonder if a largely white cast of this or any other show is automatically racist. I’d argue that it isn’t. I don’t think that even someone like Philip Sheppard would say something that irrational. Would anyone think that Survivor or any other show for that matter is racist simply for having largely white casts? It seems so normal, for better or worse, that no one would make that argument.

I forget where I was going with this post, so I’m largely just going to end it here for today. I hope that I can write a lot more of this blog and hope that I can come up with quality largely not done like it should be lately. I will get to more Survivor seasons in the future as I will explain in future blog posts on older episodes of the show. I just hope that I can get it all done and come up with something good. For now, this is Adam Decker, signing off.

Team Cagayan

As part of a planned idea, in every season that I can make work, I would put three men from it and three women into a season with new players. The twist that I plan is unlikely to ever happen (especially if CBS won’t allow any unsolicited ideas as part of their show), but it is still fun to speculate. Today, I focus on the cast of Cagayan. But I have to follow certain rules.

1- You can only pick people from this season who have only played the game just once thus far. If they have returned since they played, then you can’t pick them. 2- As often as possible, try to represent all of the tribes on this season. It can’t happen this time around for reasons that I’ll get into, but I’ll explain what else I can do to make up for it. 3- If there is any reason why you can’t or won’t pick a contestant, then you might as well explain it, especially if the previous rules don’t apply.

Let’s get started as to who isn’t on this season. I can’t go with Cliff because he is dead. I can’t go with Lindsey because she quit. I can’t go with Tony, Spencer, Sarah, Kass, Woo, or Tasha because they have all played again since they first played Survivor. Everyone else is fair game. It’s time to vote. No wait, that’s something else.

Starting with the men that I’d want to see on this season, let’s get to who would best represent Luzon that has not already played the game again. I think that I would go with Garrett since he would have more to prove the second time around. Since I can’t go with any man from the original Aparri tribe, I will go with one from the post swap Aparri tribe: Jeremiah. As for my last choice, I would go with L J as I think that he could prove to be a benefit the next time around.

Continuing on with the women, I think that a good choice would be Trish. I mean, she is the only person in the final six that season that hasn’t returned for another yet. I would also like to pick J’Tia so that Luzon can be represented. As for the last pick, I think that I’d go with Alexis to represent Solana.

Now while I’m not going to mention groupings of contestants, I am going to make my case as to why each of these players (outside of the dead one and quitter) should get to play the game again. David should prove himself to be a better person who can like blindsides that aren’t his own. Garrett needs to prove that he could be a good player who can make better decisions. Brice is wonderful and eccentric so he could prove to last longer if he ever played again. J’Tia could prove to be a good player in the future or be the same player she was in the past.

Alexis was wonderful, despite not making it to the merge. Sarah is likable despite being devious so she should get to play again. Morgan could prove herself to be more memorable playing the game again. L J also has a lot to prove if he were ever coming back.

Jeremiah was a bullfrog. He was a good friend of mine. And the player Jeremy from this season was one of the most memorable players on his tribe so he should play again as a result. Jefra made it the furthest out of her original tribe so she could play again and prove that she deserved this. Tasha wasn’t as good or memorable the second time that she played, despite making it further. She could prove to be a better player than that game was for her. Trish is one of the most memorable players from this season who has not already returned for one.

Spencer also has to prove himself after his reputation took a hit after the second time he played. Kass is a great player who would be a great one to return to see if she can win in the end. Woo still has a lot to prove in the game by playing again. And Tony has won twice now meaning that he could return to be the first three time winner, if people will let him.

And that’s it for this post. I’m scheduling this and other updates for the future so hopefully I can get it all done in the future to have enough planned out for the rest of this year. I doubt that I will be able to get much in with other blogs that I was wanting too, but this could still be good as a result. For now, this is Adam Decker, signing off.

How Important is a Beach for Filming?

Survivor is often known for filming at beaches throughout most of its seasons. This is not always the case. There are some seasons that have taken place that do not have beaches involved. I do not really care personally if this show is at a beach or not. But some people do care.

Here are all of the seasons that I’m pretty sure wasn’t at a beach: Australia, Africa, Thailand, Amazon, Gabon, and Tocantins. I might be missing some here and there. But there weren’t a lot of them that weren’t filmed there as pretty much the rest of them were.

Why does this matter? In fact, does it matter? Are there some people who can’t stand Survivor when it is not at a beach? Or do you not really care as much where they film a season? I know of one person who does not like it when Survivor isn’t filmed at a beach. But I don’t care. Survivor is about just being put in a remote location and surviving the other players, elements, and challenges, among other things. Putting it at a beach doesn’t seem to affect my enjoyment of a season that much.

So to sum up this short post, I don’t really care that much if Survivor is filmed at a beach or not. Others do. Production must care as they are often always filming seasons there. Thus, there isn’t much else to say about the topic in question. For now, this is Adam Decker, signing off.

Location, Location, Location

Before I get to this post, I should get to an important update. You see, I will not be able to do any of the planned calendars for December or January as I won’t be able to post about an episode of Survivor until next year at the very soonest or most likely in my mind. This means that you will only see updates in this blog on Wednesdays until next year. This is different from the usual Advent season as I normally have to delay when the blog is posted due to being at church while the new episode airs lives. Since I can’t post about episodes, then there will be no posts on episodes or none not on Wednesdays for a while. I have done ways of rigging rolls to go my way before to ensure that I could watch certain episodes at different times in the year, but this won’t happen again (if it does at all) until January at the soonest.

Now as to what this post is about, I’m really just examining places Survivor has gone to. Well, I may just be listing them more than doing anything else. With Survivor not going to Europe, they have still been to places pretty much every other continent or general area in the world. I have split this into different sections. If Survivor has been somewhere four or more times, they get to be added to that part of the list. Otherwise, they will be subjected to the general main area such as continent it was in.

Asia seasons (sans Philippines): This is where Survivor began. Despite this, it wasn’t until much later that a contestant of Asian descent won the game. Survivor has been here for the 1^st season (Borneo), the 5^th season (Thailand), the 15^th season (China), the 31^st season (Cambodia, filmed 32^nd season), and the 32^nd season (Kaoh Rong, filmed 31^st season). It is the most recent place not to be Fiji to be where Survivor would be filmed thus far. This continent helped inspire this post in some ways that I might get into in one of my posts on Survivor: China.

Oceania (sans Samoa and Fiji) seasons: This is the most well known and logical place for Survivor to film any of its seasons. Survivor has been here for the 2^nd season (Australia), the 4^th season (Marquesas), the 9^th season (Vanuatu), the 10^th season (Palau), the 13^th season (Cook Islands), and the 16^th season (Micronesia). It branches out into two other subgroups that I’ll get to later.

Africa seasons: Survivor has only been here twice. Once was for the 3^rd season (Africa) that was filmed in the country of Kenya. The other was for the 17^th season (Gabon). Neither of those seasons were filmed in a beach, which might affect some viewer’s perspective of it. I might have to do a post as to whether or not it matters that a season is filmed at a beach as I don’t care where it is filmed.

Brazil (filling in for South America) seasons: I’m calling this Brazil as Survivor in America has not filmed any season of their show in any other country in South America thus far. They should as I recommend Peru as a place that they should visit. The two Brazilian locations were very different. The first was the 6^th season (Amazon), filmed in the most well known place of this country and area. The 18^th season (Tocantins) was filmed in what could be seen as the lesser known highlands. I never heard of that area before, but I doubt that many have.

Central America seasons (sans Nicaragua): Survivor has been here for the 7^th season (Pearl Islands), the 8^th season (All-Stars), the 11^th season (Guatemala), and the 12^th season (Panama). What else is there to say about this? I have no idea.

Fiji seasons: This is now the most used location in all of Survivor history. After filming the 14^th season (Fiji) here, they have filmed every season here starting from the 33^rd (Millennials versus Gen X), then they continued for the 34^th (Game Changers), the 35^th (Heroes versus Healers versus Hustlers), the 36^th (Ghost Island), the 37^th (David versus Goliath), the 38^th (Edge of Extinction), the 39^th (Island of the Idols), the 40^th (Winners at War), and are set to film the 41^st and more seasons there.

Samoa seasons: They filmed four seasons here starting with the 19^th (Samoa), before filming the 20^th (Heroes versus Villains), the 23^rd (South Pacific), and the 24^th (One World). They weren’t originally supposed to film the other two seasons there, but I’ll get to that at the end of this post.

Nicaragua seasons: They filmed four seasons here as well other time. They did the 21^st (Nicaragua), the 22^nd (Redemption Island), the 29^th (San Juan del Sur), and the 30^th (Worlds Apart). It is hard to know if there is anything else to say about this, so I won’t.

Philippines seasons: This was the last one that I’m mentioning as it was the last grouping that I feel works for this post. They filmed the 25^th (Philippines) the 26^th (Caramoan), the 27^th (Blood versus Water), and the 28^th (Cagayan) all here over time.

There were also some planned, then rejected locations of this show. I want to say that this happened three times, but it may have only happened twice with it affecting three seasons. Jordan was to be the filming location for the fourth season, but 9/11 changed this. Tonga was considered for both the 23^rd and thus 24^th season, but they returned to Samoa instead. I don’t quite understand the economic issues that caused this to happen, but that was it.

That’s it for this post. Sorry if it was dumb in some ways. I just really wanted to list the general location of various seasons and never really examined them that well. But this is a post that I wanted to write and take care of so here it is. For now, this is Adam Decker, signing off.