The Foa Foa Four versus the Aitu Four

I’ve thought of this post for a while and would like to do a fairly quick post so here it is. I have often thought of the similarities of these two alliances which both overcame insurmountable odds in order to get what they got and make it as far as they did. What one was better in the end? It is hard to tell for sure as each has their merits and setbacks. 

The Aitu Four was instantly formed after a mutiny and now had to deal with a tribe that now had twice the members that they did with their even tribe of six now having two members defecting to the other tribe. Despite this serious setback, the new tribe of four won every remaining tribal challenge and due to a controversial twist that no one who attacks it ever considers the other side of, was able to enter the merge just one member short. By getting a person to switch back to their tribe, this alliance was able to make it all the way to the final four in the end.

The Foa Foa Four was formed at the now early merge, something that has become much more common in Survivor nowadays, to also deal with a tribe that had double the members that they did. But due to a strategic move that left one of the Galu members gone from the game, the dominoes started to fall and it wasn’t long until some Galu members joined the formerly failing tribe and saw them dominate the game in the end. One Galu member named Brett was able to prevent this alliance from being in all of the final four, but the only finalists from that season were from this alliance.

There are different ways that these alliances worked and how they are similar. Both benefited in a way from a twist that hadn’t been done before as people wouldn’t have even known the twist in the bottle from Cook Islands would be a double elimination as there had never been one before and an early merge also never happened before. One did what it needed to before the merge happened and the other could only dominate after the merge in question.

Honestly, I’ll leave it up to you to decide which of the two alliances you felt was better. I did think that there were stronger players all around in the Aitu Four while there were some smarter ones on the Foa Foa Four. Each of them had a stronger pair that got jury votes and a weaker pair that wasn’t seen as much in the game. Aitu might have had more likable people on it when it came to the end. But I don’t really have a favorite between either one of them yet. For now, this is Adam Decker, signing off.

Top Ten Survivor Stereotypes: Players

I have a lot of planned top tens for the future, but put them off in favor of other blog posts instead. Now I need more to write about and I don’t have much else to say so I might as well get to the stereotypes that you often see in Survivor. This will go beyond just the usual racial ones and go into a lot of them, some that aren’t part of any set race at all. Anyways, here’s the top ten.

 

#10 The never camped before: This doesn’t come up that much, but it does come up enough to be annoying. It is a stereotype and weird that it happens so often. Why would someone play Survivor who has never camped before? Plus, you are likely to be worse off on Survivor then most regular camping since you wouldn’t get much luxury and couldn’t just quit any minute. But this does happen a lot, but I don’t think that they ever make it that far.

 

#9 The female challenge beast: While not as big a stereotype as one that I’ll get to later, you do see this sometimes where a woman dominates the challenges in a way. I do not even know how this happens or why it doesn’t always seem to be known until more towards the end of the game. I just want one of them to tie the record that Colby made that only other men have tied thus far.

 

#8 The bossy leader: So often, you see so many people of all types try to take charge of their tribe and piss off everyone else leading to them being voted out in the near future. It doesn’t happen as much as others, but it does seem to happen very often.

 

#7 The obnoxious white man: At least a bad stereotype exists with this group of people, if not as common as other stereotypes of other groups of people that are more minorities. We don’t tend to see this as much nowadays, but it is a common enough stereotype that we see from time to time. It can even be combined some with other stereotypes like the next one.

 

#6 The eccentric gay man: At least you are almost certain to always get notable screen time on this show if you are simply male and gay as most of them are so eccentric that there is always something of them that is worth seeing a lot on the show so they have to make airtime. Does that make sense? I hope that it does. The point is that you see a lot of gay men who are eccentric on Survivor.

 

#5 The woman of Asian descent who is mistreated: This is sad that this happens so much and it took 29 seasons until a woman of Asian descent could even win the game. Why is she always mistreated? I have no idea why this happens so much and I feel bad for them that they have to put up with such asses over and over again when they play.

 

#4 The seemingly lazy black man: Are they actually lazy? Maybe they are some of the time or at least once. But we see this too often where a black man is just laying around doing nothing and it is during the day with their eyes open that we see this. Isn’t this a problem to always show black men this way? What is the problem with the edit?

 

#3 The black woman with attitude: This might be an even worse stereotype than the last one. All we need is just one fight involving a black woman making it on the screen and they just come off as some sort of asshole while providing the fights that editors always want us to see. They always seem to have their attitude being shown with them not being seen in a good way.

 

#2 The super fan: I have no idea when this first happened. But it has happened a lot throughout all of the show that it is certain to happen more from time to time again and again. So many people know a whole lot about Survivor and are such huge fans of the show that they have to appear on it. But simply knowing a lot about Survivor or being a huge fan can mean little to nothing when it comes to actually surviving the show in the end.

 

#1 The male challenge beast: Hopefully this isn’t too bad of a pick for the number one spot as it just seems to happen so much that there isn’t much else to say about this outside of how often we see a player make it far, at least to the finale. What else can I say? Not much.

 

Well, that’s it for this blog post as I need to spend more time on this while not doing too much else that takes too much time either. I just don’t want to spend just one day writing a post, but I still want to do all of these blog posts in good time. I don’t know why, but June 3^rd is said to be an important date for the Survivor community as they mention that on fandom even though that’s a Thursday. Maybe that will be when Survivor 42: Life, the Universe, Everything, will start filming. We’ll see what happens with that in the future. For now, this is Adam Decker, signing off.

Development of Millennials versus Gen X Players

It is time now that I talk about how the returning players of Millennials versus Gen X did on their first season versus times that they have played when they returned for other seasons. Now I’ve forgotten if I’ve done a version of this on All-Stars yet or not. I will do that soon if I haven’t already. Now some of you might think that I’ve covered stuff like this before in other blog posts. Well, you’d be right. A lot of this will be a copy and paste from previous blog posts of mine. But I’m still adding new things to this as well. Now four people from this season have played in other seasons thus far.

Michalea thoughts: She has always been an entertaining player when she has played. Despite not going as far the first time, she might have been more memorable the first time due to how she was. She does have one of the greatest reactions to being voted out that I’ve ever seen. After she played again, she was not really that memorable, although I thought that she made it further. Whatever the reason, I would say that there are clearly pros and cons to both times that she played. Main change: From quite the entertaining player to a better one that wasn’t as memorable. 

Original thoughts on Michalea after Game Changers: Michaela is someone who seems like she fully embodies the crazy black lady stereotype. I hope that doesn’t sound racist of me, but I would have to blame casting for that. Why else would they keep doing that, finding those people? She was hardly the only contestant to fit that theme, just the most recent. Anyways, she was a more savvy player, it seemed, the first time around, except for a bit of weirdness that somehow got her voted out. When she played again, we only seemed to see the crazy aspects of her with the few times that we saw her. She made it to the jury and was ultimately voted out for reasons that seemed unclear in the end. Main transition: From a short lived, crazy player, to a longer lasting, equally crazy player.

Zeke thoughts: Few lives would have changed as much from Survivor than his. When he first played, he was simply known as a young gay man who proved to be a good player. When he played a second time, his life changed when he was revealed to be transgender. This sadly ruined his own game (though not his game and reputation like the man who outed him) as he couldn’t make it far without having his own story as to why he should win. Basically, he didn’t have much to his edit after that and was voted out. Main change: From a great player in front of the camera to a great player behind the scenes.

Original thoughts on Zeke after Game Changers: Zeke probably had the biggest change this season when we learned something new about him that we didn’t know before. Only that might not have changed his game. The first time he played, he thought that he had power and was ultimately blindsided by a former ally. This second time he played, we learned that he was a she at one point. It might have ultimately ruined his game this time around since he couldn’t really do much once it happened. We may never know for sure. But I really don’t see much of a difference between how he played. Main transition (no pun intended): From a strategic player to one we didn’t see as much. 

David thoughts: He might have come close to winning the first time and could have done it if only he had won final immunity. There isn’t as much that we can say about that. He was up to some of his old ways, but there were still issues with some of his strategies when he played a second time. While he was part of one of the greatest alliance pairs that I’ve seen in the game, he couldn’t get back into the game and wasn’t that great a player the next time around. Main change: From a jury threat to just another part of the jury.

Original thoughts on David after Edge of Extinction: David thoughts: I don’t know if he changed much in the games. The first time he played in Millennials versus Gen X, he proved himself to be a formidable player in the game and came close to winning when he was voted out as the last one in the game, similar to both Kelley and Aubry in at least one of their seasons. When he played this time, he seemed to do well at certain parts, only to get voted out when all the other players started to band against the returning players. Main transition: From a strong player who made it far to a strong player who didn’t make it as far.

Adam thoughts: He had one of the most notable wins in recent Survivor history when he played the first time. His great game should not be dismissed as a sob story as it was a pretty good one that few others could obtain as they won. When he played again, he was just more obscure in the game while he just did not make it as far. Of course, he was against other winners so that was a problem. Main change: From a great winner to a strange person.

Original thoughts on Adam after Winners at War: Adam thoughts: He was one of my favorite players the first around when he played the first time. While I liked other players that season, he won by more than just his mother’s story. This time around, he did not make much of a positive impression on people and he came off as a goof, but not the good kind. He did not have as much to his story and never seemed to have much of a path to victory. Main transition: From a wonderful player to kind of an oddball.

Contestant’s name	Millennials versus Gen X	Second season
Michalea	More notable	Pretty weird
Zeke	Longer lasting	Not as visible
David	Best	Weaker
Adam	Best	Worst

That just might be it for this post. I won’t know when I’ll be back with a post on an episode. I am hoping that I can get it done in a better way, but might not have it done for a while depending on just how long am I behind on different things. Check out my Elementary blog on the first Monday of June and you’ll see for sure when the next Wednesday post won’t be for this blog. But I won’t know for sure just how many episodes I’ll be able to blog about in the future. I would like at least once a month until the show is able to return in the future whenever it does. I just like doing it for the schedule that I come up with that don’t really need to happen publically on this blog or any of them for that matter. For now, this is Adam Decker, signing off.

Gabon Ponderosa

I thought about doing a special blog post at the end of a season about the Ponderosa part of it and talk about all the jury moments in the game (sort of) while doing that. I think that I shall do this now for this season and hope that everything is good as a result of it. I might do this with new seasons as well if it is still easy to access Ponderosa videos on CBS’s website or Survivor’s YouTube page. Let’s get to it.

 

The first member of the jury is Marcus. He says that it is a long walk out of tribal council through the back door. He is driven to the Survivor production camp and recorded still. He gets a lot of food. After staying at the crew base camp for a night, he then leaves in the chopper the next morning. He then gets to where Ponderosa is. He got a pleasant transition going through the backdoor. He shaves his face. He felt that he didn’t stink, but had an essence. He misses being in the game.

 

Confessional count: Marcus- 3.

 

There is still treemail at Ponderosa. He gets to raise the banner high and he gets on a lighthouse where he raises the banner high. This is a great and familiar place to him now. He talks about getting through the main game by taking some water from a tree. He then returns to base camp on the chopper to return to the next tribal council.

 

Confessional count: Marcus total- 6, Marcus new- 3.

 

We then get to the second member of the jury. Charlie is shocked that he was voted out and Marcus was sure that Charlie had the best chance of winning the game. Marcus and Charlie then talk to each other and bond, finally. Marcus is glad that there was someone to share this experience with even if it was someone that he liked. Charlie doesn’t sleep that whole night and they enjoy the chopper ride to the site of Ponderosa itself.

 

Confessional count: Marcus total- 11, Marcus new- 5, Charlie- 5.

 

Marcus talks about the food at Ponderosa and how they get all the great food there. There is a couple that takes care of this place here. At one point, Marcus imitates Charlie for some reason. Marcus then talks about the different aspects to the game. Charlie wants the people to do well in the game, but also wants to see them and hang out with them at tribal council as well. He will be there with a very strong microscope. What all will happen next?

 

Confessional count: Marcus total- 15, Marcus new- 4, Charlie total- 10, Charlie new- 5.

 

Randy talks about being voted out. He is actually glad that it happened as he doesn’t have to put up with those people in the game anymore. Charlie is glad that they have company but isn’t sure that he likes the fact that Randy was voted out of the game. The next day, since there is a limited number of people that can fit in a helicopter at once, Marcus and Charlie have to welcome Randy with breakfast. Randy is glad that he doesn’t have to stick with the people in the game anymore as he thinks that being voted out makes him the happiest he ever was.

 

Confessional count: Marcus total- 17, Marcus new- 2, Charlie total- 14, Charlie new- 4, Randy- 5.

 

The jury gets to visit the ocean next as they take a car there and then fish. It has been quite a while since I have gone fishing. Charlie thinks that the rest of them suck at fishing. There will be a new Ponderosa next that will be accessible by road.

 

Confessional count: Marcus total- 19, Marcus new- 2, Charlie total- 18, Charlie new- 4, Randy total- 8, Randy new- 3.

 

Corinne talks about being voted out next. She gets to shower and not wear a buff. She is glad to be with people who like her. I still have no idea why they changed Ponderosa locations. They don’t think that it is official until a flag is put out there. Survivor is sweeter in Ponderosa to Corinne.

 

Confessional count: Marcus total- 22, Marcus new- 3, Charlie total- 21, Charlie new- 3, Randy total- 9, Randy new- 1, Corinne- 2.

 

A person named Dr. Lee White talks about Gabon, giving them a good lesson about it. He gives them a snap shot about it. They talk about a website that I will mention here. They then get to go on their own four hour safari. Marcus calls this the last night of being the fantastic four. This is what really separates the men from the boys. Fantastic four. Fantastic four. Is it, what?

 

www.gabonart.com

 

Confessional count: Marcus total- 23, Marcus new- 1, Charlie total- 25, Charlie new- 4, Randy total- 10, Randy new- 1, Corinne total- 2, Corinne new- 0, Dr. Lee White- 2.

 

They get treemail about a message on their phones. The message is from their love ones. Corinne shows the messages to the others, calling them her favorite people. There’s not much that can be gathered from this segment.

 

Confessional count: Marcus total- 24, Marcus new- 1, Charlie total- 27, Charlie new- 2, Randy total- 10, Randy new- 0, Corinne total- 3, Corinne new- 1.

 

Charlie, despite being gay, still likes the fact that there is a woman on the jury. Randy wants a Mohawk even though that’s a terrible haircut idea. In fact, I find it worse than a mullet. Corinne doesn’t like the blow dryer as it keeps cutting out. She hates Africa now. They don’t know how they will react to the next jury member, but are convinced that they won’t like this new person.

 

Confessional count: Marcus total- 25, Marcus new- 1, Charlie total- 28, Charlie new- 1, Randy total- 13, Randy new- 3, Corinne total- 6, Corinne new- 3.

 

Crystal is getting a massage. I feel like we skipped something maybe. She gets something on the phone from her family. She has gotten a lot of strength in the past few days. She is getting ready for jury in advance of what is going on. She is nervous about what will happen next.

 

Confessional count: Marcus total- 26, Marcus new- 1, Charlie total- 28, Charlie new- 0, Randy total- 14, Randy new- 1, Corinne total- 7, Corinne new- 1, Crystal- 2.

 

Now the next segment starts out right when Ken is voted out. He wants to eat as he is starving. He got played. He arrives there where there is good. He sees the others. But only Randy is there at first. It does not seem like they are happy to see him. But Crystal greets him. They weren’t cold to him as he was a provider. He packed very little with Corinne talking about it. He is now a man instead of a boy.

 

Confessional count: Marcus total- 26, Marcus new- 0, Charlie total- 28, Charlie new- 0, Randy total- 14, Randy new- 0, Corinne total- 8, Corinne new- 1, Crystal total- 3, Crystal new- 1, Ken- 2.

 

Ken starts out by talking about trying out a new look. He is going to shave, saying that it feels weird. He uses shaving cream. I have shaved a lot, but have never used shaving cream. He wants to know whether or not to keep his beard. That’s it for this dumb segment.

 

Confessional count: Marcus total- 26, Marcus new- 0, Charlie total- 28, Charlie new- 0, Randy total- 14, Randy new- 0, Corinne total- 8, Corinne new- 0, Crystal total- 3, Crystal new- 0, Ken total- 2, Ken new- 1.

 

Corinne is glad that they can just hang out with each other. The jury is even getting to be split some between the original Kota and Fang. They still seem to be at odds with each other. They could still be friends once the game is over. But are they?

 

Confessional count: Marcus total- 28, Marcus new- 2, Charlie total- 30, Charlie new- 2, Randy total- 16, Randy new- 2, Corinne total- 10, Corinne new- 2, Crystal total- 4, Crystal new- 1, Ken total- 6, Ken new- 4.

 

Matty talks about being voted out just one day away from the end. Matty thinks that he will appreciate things more in the future. He thinks that people don’t realize just how good they have it. Crystal talks about how much better he was greeted than she was. Was it bad? I don’t think that it was even on the DVD, unless I missed it somehow. Maybe there was an error. Some people don’t like Matty being there and give him the 3^rd degree, whatever that means. He thinks that everyone should do Survivor.

 

Confessional count: Marcus total- 28, Marcus new- 0, Charlie total- 30, Charlie new- 0, Randy total- 17, Randy new- 1, Corinne total- 10, Corinne new- 0, Crystal total- 7, Crystal new- 3, Ken total- 6, Ken new- 0, Matty- 4.

 

Matty talks about how people don’t like him as it goes back to when someone was voted out back in the earlier part of the game. Crystal wants an apology and Randy is still upset over the fake idol. One of them made it and the others were laughing. People want to figure out why Matty did what he did. But he doesn’t have answers or know why he did what he did.

 

Confessional count: Marcus total- 28, Marcus new- 0, Charlie total- 30, Charlie new- 0, Randy total- 18, Randy new- 1, Corinne total- 10, Corinne new- 0, Crystal total- 9, Crystal new- 2, Ken total- 6, Ken new- 0, Matty total- 7, Matty new- 3.

 

Matty gets a message from his loved one on a phone. I forget for sure if we know who this woman is. Randy wants to vote for the lesser of three evils. How is Bob evil? Crystal thinks about what she is doing going into the final tribal council. So are Ken and Marcus. Matty will have to live with coming one day short for the rest of his life. Crystal has narrowed her vote down to two people. They then prepare to enter the final tribal council in the game.

 

Confessional count: Marcus total- 29, Marcus new- 1, Charlie total- 30, Charlie new- 0, Randy total- 19, Randy new- 1, Corinne total- 11, Corinne new- 1, Crystal total- 12, Crystal new- 3, Ken total- 9, Ken new- 3, Matty total- 8, Matty new- 1.

 

There’s still one more bit of Ponderosa. Susie says that she wouldn’t be that nasty if she were on the jury. Bob talks about his brief time there after the final tribal council. They get to eat a meal, but the jury pulled no punches. It has been fun and many talk about wanting to go home. We get tidbits of nearly everyone so sorry if I missed someone.

 

Confessional count: Marcus total- 31, Marcus new- 2, Charlie total- 31, Charlie new- 1, Randy total- 19, Randy new- 0, Corinne total- 12, Corinne new- 1, Crystal total- 13, Crystal new- 1, Ken total- 10, Ken new- 1, Matty total- 8, Matty new- 0, Sugar- 3, Susie- 2, Bob- 3.

 

There’s not much else to say as I finish this last season’s post. If I did miss a Ponderosa that you know is on the DVD set, then let me know. I feel like there is one missing. I like the idea of doing these posts as a separate part of the main season. Now before I end, here’s the planned set of June blog posts for all of my blogs of mine. Remember that plans are subject to change and it is highly unlikely that any of these would wind up being exactly what winds up happening in the end.

 

Planned June blog posts

 

Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday
Not June	Not June	1: Madam Secretary	2: Survivor (maybe)	3: The Good Fight (maybe)	4: The Good Wife	5: TV
6: Survivor (maybe)	7: Elementary	8: CSI: Cyber (maybe)	9: Survivor (maybe)	10: CSI: Cyber (maybe)	11: Survivor (maybe)	12: TV
13: Survivor (maybe)	14: Elementary	15: freebie	16: Survivor (maybe)	17: freebie	18: Survivor (maybe)	19: TV
20: Survivor (maybe)	21: freebie	22: freebie	23: Survivor (maybe)	24: freebie	25: Survivor (maybe)	26: TV
27: Survivor (maybe)	28: freebie	29: freebie	30: Survivor (maybe)	Not June	Not June	Not June

 

This will not be the last update on Sunday as my new posts on Blood versus Water are going to come up there at some point in time in the future with it effectively replacing this in multiple ways. But now that you are seeing this post, I have completed all of the ones on Survivor: Gabon and you can now see them all in the archives of this blog. I hope that you have enjoyed this long journey as I started blogging about this season in 2019 and have just now finished it. For now, this is Adam Decker, signing off.