The Exile Island Analysis

Whether you loved it or hated it, Exile Island was a pretty interesting twist. It first appeared in Palau in an unofficial appearance. But after a season break, we saw it appear as a regular twist in many seasons. Then, it was suddenly retired for reasons unexplained to most. Is it a good thing for it to be gone from the game? We'll see. There are many possible reasons why it no longer appears. I couldn't care less about whether or not it will ever reappear. I'm happy without it and I'm happy if it does reappear. But here are the facts: there are lots of good things about it and lots of bad things about it. It's supposed to be bad since you are exiled away from your tribe mates and meant to deteriorate you. There are other twists relating to it. It sometimes helps limit the power of the hidden immunity idol because you can only find it on the island and would thus have to be sent there. So I'm going to list random facts about Exile Island and hopefully make a good post for the person who reads this blog.

39 contestants were sent to Exile Island over the course of the show. The first was Janu in Palau who was the first out of an immunity challenge and was sent their as a one-time punishment. The second was Misty in Panama when it was a regular twist. After the new tribes were formed, Bruce was sent their tribeless with immunity until someone was voted out. Terry was the next person sent here where he would find the all too powerful hidden immunity idol. He would spend the most time there that season. Sally, Austin, Danielle, and Aras would also visit that season. That would be the most of any season when just one person was sent by themselves, although I think there were twists that changed that at least once. Cook Islands would tie with Gabon for least people sent to Exile Island because Palau's twist was only used once. Jonathan would be sent at some point and so would Yul, Candice, and Adam. In Fiji, six people would be sent over the course of the show. Sylvia and Lisi would be sent there after being unchosen by their tribes in a selection of some sort. Earl would be an interesting character there. Yau-Man would go on to become a legend by creating a fake hidden immunity, although his would never be found. Mookie and Boo would also go to exile at some point. While Micronesia could have brought people who had visited before back on another season, this would not happen, although people who failed to visit the first time would visit the second. This season also had half the cast visit the island at some point. Due to the nature of the twist, it seems appropriate that half of the fans went and half of the favorites went. Cirie, Ami, Ozzy, Amanda, and Parvati were the favorites who visited the island. Most of them found an idol but only one would successfully use it while another didn't even take it off the island. The fans who visited were Kathy, Chet, Jason, Alexis, and Tracy. In Gabon, Ace visited and Sugar got sent their five times in a row. Bob and Susie would also visit. Tocantins was the last appearance of Exile Island. Joe and Erinn visited there but there appearance wasn't as memorable as others. Brendan, Sierra, Stephen, and Taj would form the so called exile alliance. While it was focused on for quite some time, it never really materialized and fell apart after the merge, when it was supposed to take effect. Coach was memorable as the last person who ever went there.

Here are the good things about Exile Island. It limited the power of the hidden immunity idol. Nobody found an idol without a clue when the island was in effect. Sometimes you had to go to the island to get the idol at the island. Other times, you found out that the idol was at the beach. You had to show what goes on at the island so people who otherwise wouldn't get airtime would get airtime. It helped keep things even with tribe swaps. It showed interesting things about contestants we wouldn't otherwise know. It brought a certain level of entertainment that wasn't otherwise seen. It helped keep things interesting.

Here are the bad things about Exile Island. It had its flaws and wasn't quite working right. The same person could be and was sent over and over again in back to back episodes and there were no rules against it. They had to show what happened and if nothing did, it made for some bad TV. Coach made it a good thing and not a bad thing. The failure of the Exile alliance makes the island seem worthless. It hindered people's ability to keep up with tribe dynamics. Those who couldn't fit in at camp couldn't at exile either. It caused two people to quit the game. It was boring sometimes. It brought nothing new to the game.

Ultimately, I didn't hate Exile Island, but I didn't like it that much either. I'm glad that it's out of the game, although I wouldn't mind it reappearing. I'm not sure what else to say.

Heroes versus Villains 2

Let's say that Survivor was going to do Heroes versus Villains a second time. Who would make the list and why? What criteria would have to be met in order to return? I am going to include the following people on my list. But first, the rules: Rule 1- The right people must be on the right tribe. If you don't know whether a person is a villain or a hero, then don't include them. Yau-Man cannot be a villain and Richard Hatch cannot be a hero. Rule 2- You cannot choose someone who has played the game three times. If it would be their fourth time playing the game if they're on the list, then don't include them. Rule 3- You can't choose someone from the twentieth season unless it was a hero who became a villain or a villain who became a hero. Rule 4- The setup would be the same as the first Heroes versus Villains. There would be twenty contestants: five male heroes, five male villains, five female heroes, and five female villains. You can include more on the list, but not less. Rule 5- You must choose someone who is likely to return. NaOnka was a great villain, but I'd be shocked if they let her play again because she quit the first time. Rudy was a great hero, but he is probably too old to play again. Rule 6- They should have made it far enough the first time to justify a return. Rule 7- Winners are allowed, provided they can be classified as either a hero or a villain. So if those are the rules, without further ado, my list.

The male villains- The first season brings the obvious choice of Richard who would have returned sooner if not for his time in jail. The second film didn't really have any villains. The third sort of had a villain in Lex, but I'm not going to include him. The fourth season had no obvious people except the one who already returned. The fifth season has Brian, but he's not on my list. The sixth season probably has someone that I can't remember. The seventh season has Burton, who I'm not putting as a returnee and Johnny Fairplay, who I am. I know that he unofficially quit the second time, but he totally has it in him to return, as much as everyone hates him. The ninth season and tenth season have no one. The eleventh could have Judd, but I'm not sure if he would work. If any of the original players from that season were any good, then they would have returned by now. The twelfth season has Shane, who should have been in the first one. The thirteenth has no one due to the limitations of my rules. The fourteenth season could have Dreamz or other people. But, ultimately, I'm going to pass that season. The fifteenth has Jean-Robert, but once again, I'm unsure about that decision. The sixteenth season had no standout villains, unless you think that Erik is one. The seventeenth has Ken, whose stupidity is ultimately what cost him the game. The eighteenth doesn't have someone who hasn't already returned. Besides the obvious one I can't include, Dave is close to being a villain. But I won't choose anyone from that season. The twenty-first had not many men who could call themselves villains that made it that far. The twenty-second could have Phillip, if you include him as a villain. I'm not sure he's either, so he's not on my list. The twenty-third had Brandon, who is probably not going to return to the game. The twenty-fourth obviously has Colton, the biggest villain ever who convinced his tribe to give up immunity. Troyzan might be close to the list, but I'm not sure if he's 100% villainy. The twenty-fifth had no one of interest. And the most recent season had no one really, unless you count Shemar who didn't do much as a villain and was the first male to leave the game. So if you look at the underlined names, you should tell who's on the list.

The female villains- There weren't really any villains in the first season. Well, Sue might have been a villain, but since she quit the second time, I don't think that she'll play again. And since I've never really seen that season, then it is hard for me to think of anyone. The second season also had no villains that haven't already returned, although Amber might work, if she'd actually return. Alicia could also work as well. The third might have had a villain, but I can't remember for sure. The fourth season had Vecepia who won. She might be considered too forgettable to some, but it can be hard to think of any of the women who aren't. Shii Ann was a great villain from the fifth season, but she's not on the list. The sixth season has no one of interest. Lillian was also a good villain when she played in the seventh season, but it could be hard to justify her return. Ami from the ninth season might work. From the tenth to the fifteenth, I can't think of anyone that I can choose by my rules. But the sixteenth had Natalie. Some might miscast her as a hero because she outlasted every fan that season. But in my mind, she's a villain. I'm sure that Erik can help testify to that. Corrine made a great villain from the seventeenth season. I might be forgetting someone from the eighteenth, but I don't think that there's anyone there. The nineteenth had Shambo, but I don't think we'll be seeing her again. The twentieth had Candice who flipped from the heroes tribe and can be considered a villain now. Alas, even though my rules could include her, I'd rather not. I don't know if Alina from the twenty-first season would count or not, so I'm not going to include her. The twenty-second to twenty-fourth season really didn't have any standouts, although I could be wrong. The twenty-fifth had Abby who wasn't much of a villain. I don't know if Sherri from the most recent season is really a villain or not, so I'm not going to include her either.

The male heroes- It's hard to say that there were any standout heroes in the first season who could actually return. Rudy is the closest, but he's much too old to consider anymore. L The second had Michael who would be a great returning player and was considered too much of a what if contestant to be used the first time. Others might be present, but I'm not sure who I can choose. The third could have Ethan, provided his cancer is in remission, but I'm not sure he'd play again anyways. I'm not sure if the fourth season had any heroes or not. The fifth might have had one in Jake. The sixth has no one and the seventh could have Andrew. Chris is an obvious hero from the ninth season. Ian might work from the tenth. Gary could be a nice one from the eleventh. Terry would work from the twelfth. Yul would work from the thirteenth season. The fourteenth could have both Yau-Man and Earl. I'm not sure who would work from the fifteenth, sixteenth, seventeenth, or eighteenth. It's hard to say that there were heroes in the nineteenth season, but if there were then Brett would qualify. Boston Rob was more heroic when he did the twentieth season, but he went back to his villainous ways for Redemption Island and he is ineligible by my rules anyways. I'm not going to have a five time player who probably won't return anyways. Fabio seems like a hero in a way from the twenty-first season. I'm not sure if Matt from the twenty-second is a hero. John from the twenty-third is hard to classify, so I won't include him. The twenty-fourth season didn't really have any, although Tarzan did make it the farthest of the men so he might count. The twenty-fifth had Malcolm and possibly others. The twenty-sixth had Reynold. But I ultimately only chose the ones that I underlined.

The female heroes- None of the first season women would work. The second season had Elisabeth who would probably not return unless she was no longer on The View. I'm not sure that Tina would work entirely but mostly because she could, but might not be, unable to do this due to the possible cast for next season. I can't think of someone from the third, fourth, or fifth seasons. Jenna would work from the sixth season, but she's a quitter so I'm not sure that would work. Would Christy work? I think so. The seventh season might have one, but I'll get to that later. Scout might be one from the ninth season. I find it hard to think about anyone from any season that would work. The eighteenth had Sierra as well as Taj. Natalie was definitely one from the nineteenth season. But two contestants in one season with the same name could be complicated. But that has happened in how many seasons? I don't think that matters. Sandra played a more heroic game the second time (and I thought the first time as well). She may be a two time winner, but when the five heroes on the jury vote for you, then you've got a guaranteed win. I'll think about whether she should be on the list. The twenty-first didn't really have any. And neither did anyone until the twenty-fifth season. Denise is an obvious choice for a hero and Lisa would make one as well. The twenty-sixth had no one.

So here's my list for Heroes versus Villains 2: Richard (Borneo and All-Stars), Johnny Fairplay (Pearl Islands and Micronesia), Shane (Exile Island), Ken (Gabon), and Colton (One World) are the male villains. Alicia (Australia and All-Stars), Vecepia (Marquesas), Ami (Vanuatu and Micronesia), Natalie (Micronesia), and Corrine (Gabon and Caramoan) are the female villains. Michael (Australia and Philippines), Chris (Vanuatu), Terry (Exile Island), Fabio (Nicaragua), and Malcolm (Philippines) are the male heroes. Christy (Amazon), Sierra (Tocantins), Taj (Tocantins), Denise (Philippines), and Lisa (Philippines) are the female heroes. Stay tuned for more random blog posts.

10 Worst Survivor Twists

Okay, there have been some good twists on Survivor and there have been some bad twists on Survivor. In order of tenth worst to worst, I will name the ten worst twists ever. These are just in a matter of my opinion and yours is probably different. First, I'll start by what isn't on the list: The Outcasts twist/tribe is not on the list because I, personally, was a fan of it. Since pre-jury boots are almost never returning players, this helped liven things up and give them a second chance in the game. Without this twist, it would have just been boring like every other season where you are just voted out and that's that. Redemption Island is also not on the list for the same reason. People may hate it, but I like how voted out people get another chance at the game. If I could put certain aspects of Redemption Island on this list, but not the whole island itself, then I would. But I won't. I'm also unsure of whether or not to include Exile Island on the list. I did like how the hidden immunity idol was buried there (sometimes) and you couldn't find it at camp. I think that I will do an entire blog post about Exile Island sometime because there's a reason why it isn't featured on the show anymore. I'm unsure as to whether the one returning player per tribe format is a bad idea or not. Most people hate it, but I'm not sure if it belongs on the list. Now if there are any other bad twists that aren't on the list, it's not because I liked them, but because I don't justify them being the ten worst twists. There are a lot of good twists too, that by nature, are not on the list. But I can talk more about that later.

#10 The hidden immunity idol (Guatemala-present): I know that I'm going to get a lot of crap for this, but I don't think that the hidden immunity idol belongs in the game of Survivor. People who should get voted out magically cheat death instead of making big moves with idols. Sure, it helps keep things interesting and lively in the game, but I don't think that it works quite right no matter how it has appeared in the game. But, even though I don't like it that much, I don't see why it should be higher on the list.

#9 Fans versus favorites (Micronesia and Caramoan): This twist is totally unfair to the fans or new players in the game. It has created two pretty interesting seasons that we wouldn't have gotten otherwise, but I still think that it's unfair since the favorites have experience in the game and are naturally better players. Why they don't just do all returning players is a mystery to me. It isn't as bad as it could otherwise be, but it still isn't that good a twist.

#8 Tribe swap via kidnapping (China): While normally I am a fan of the tribe swap and consider it to be the best twist that Survivor has ever done (if you include tribe dissolves and mutinies, it has happened in more season than it hasn't), this way of doing it was a complete joke. If you don't remember what happened in China the two tribes got to choose for themselves what two people would join their tribe as new members. Only two people would switch and the contestants even got to choose who they were. There was no special immunity given to anyone on the new tribes and when both of them went to tribal council before the merge, a kidnapped player would be voted out. Worst tribal swap ever.

#7 First impressions (Tocantins): Let me remind people what happened in this twist for those of you that don't remember. Before the game really started for the first time, two people were told that they would not be making the journey. They weren't voted out, but they were on the outs with their tribe and never really fit in the game. I do wonder because of this twist if more than 16 people were supposed to be on the season but they changed it to this twist when others weren't available. But it is still a dumb twist.

#6 Fake Merge (Thailand, All-Stars, Cook Islands *, Gabon): A fake merge doesn't really add anything to the game and only really screws the castaways out of a normal game. I admit that it was sort of interesting and entertaining to those who expect a change in the typical format. It did and didn't happen in Cook Islands due to the double boot twist. Also, in Palau, the no merge entirely was just dumb. They never switched the tribes around and when there were ten players left, there wasn't even a merge like there should have been. I had figured in my mind while watching the fourth season that there would always be a merge because even if one tribe won every immunity challenge, there would still be two players left and thus a merge. But probably because the producers wanted just once to see a season with no merge, they did that this season. At least the two screwed players got a second chance the next season. Likewise, a fake merge has never been that good an idea.

#5 Contestants choose their own tribes (Thailand, Palau, Gabon, Fiji): Okay, I'll admit that the producers choosing the tribes can get boring when they do it all the time. They typically put people who will conflict with each other on the same tribe. But contestants choosing their own tribes is very poor in execution. The first time is the only time it didn't create a one tribe being dominate the whole time. But after the fake merge on Thailand, Sook Jai became the first tribe since Pagong to undergo, well, Pagonging. Fiji might not have had a one tribe rule all were it not for another dumb twist that I will get to later. But contestants choosing their own tribes makes the last person chosen always on the outs. And there are other dumb parts of the twist like the leader getting voted out. I basically think that it would be best to never happen.

#4 The Medallion of Power (Nicaragua): What was this anyways? What purpose did it serve? What good was it to the game? I can't think of any real good it did. All it did was help mess up certain tribe's plans and gave some an opportunity for an advantage that most would argue is unfair. Now they only ever did this twist to help with the old versus young twist, but this only complicated things.

#3 The purple rock (Marquesas-present): I'll admit, it has been a long while since we've seen this twist. They only did it once so far when it wasn't even supposed to appear. I think that it probably will show up again at some point, although it's also likely that we'll never see it again. Maybe they didn't like the tiebreaker of votes cast at previous tribal councils. I'm not sure if that worked anyways since it was mostly meaningless, throwaway votes cast. But purple rock seemed even more unfair since it is random lottery against the people who didn't even have votes cast against them at tribal council (hence the reason it was misused the first time). I don't think that it's a good idea. Neither do the fans or the contestants. But it remains the tiebreaker for anything that's not resolved by revotes in any tribal except the final four, and for some odd reason, Ulong's tribal council of two.

#2 Two don't get to play (Palau): Poor Jonathan and Wanda. They weren't chosen to be on either tribe. Instead of being the outsiders on the tribe they'd join by default, they were eliminated from the game. How unfair is that?

#1 Rich versus Poor (Fiji): This is probably the worst twist that they have ever done on Survivor. Even the people behind the show said that it didn't work out as planned and it will probably never appear again. Jeff Probst himself states that he was against this twist. Now because of Melissa's departure from the game before it even began, there were 19 contestants. If she had played, this type of twist might have never appeared in the game. But it did and it led to the rich tribe predictably winning every challenge except one. I don't see how it was fair to anyone and it just didn't seem like a good idea. This is also known to some as Haves and Haves Not

Survivor: Second Chances

Here is my list for Survivor: Second Chances. Once again, here are the rules: 1- No winners allowed. Unless you can somehow justify why someone who won the game would need a second chance at it, you can't include them in your list. 2- They must have only played the game once. If you wanted to say, bring back Shii-Ann from Thailand because she was screwed by the fake merge, I hate to tell you this, but you can't. She already had a second chance when she did the eighth season. If you wanted to bring back Tyson because of his stupid move from the twentieth season, you can't because he has played the game once before that. The season is called second chances and if it is anything other than a second chance, then it just doesn't work in the game. If you want to include people like this as those that don't count, feel free to, but they cannot be on the real list. 3- Due to the sheer number of people who could come back, you must come up with a good reason as to why they in particular deserve to come back and others don't. 4- You can include maybes on the list if you so desire. 5- You must have ten men and ten women. You cannot have less, but you can have more if you can't decide otherwise. 6- You can't just bring people back for the heck of it or because you think they'd make a good player. There must be a good reason, as I've stated before. Feel free to come up with your own list. Although, I'm not sure if people ever comment on blogs or if they just read them.

Here are the men that I'd bring back: From the first season, it's hard to bring back anyone. Sean might make a great returning player, but since I can't bring back random people for no good reason, he is not on the list. The second season has a lot of returning players so far. Michael already had his second chance, and it would be hard to justify the two men (Jeff and Mitchell) who lost to tiebreakers because of votes cast at previous tribal councils. And Rodger would just be for the heck of it. The third season could have Silas, who lost due to the tribal swap, but I won't. I can't include Tom or Lex who lost because of a controversial immunity challenge at the final four because they both had a second chance already. The fourth season has the first person on my list. I believe he's probably on everyone's list. The producers even admitted that their decision that caused his elimination at the final four was a mistake. I am talking, of course, about Paschal. He is also known as the purple rock guy. He deserves a second chance because his elimination never should have happened. The fifth and sixth season have no one of interest for me. The seventh season brought us the outcast twist and while people think the Andrew was the only one screwed from that twist, I also think that Shawn was as well and both deserve a second chance. The eighth season was all returning players, so I'm not including that. In the ninth season, Travis was voted out after the swap for trying to signal to the other tribe to think about the merge. In the tenth season, Jonathan was removed from the game in an unfair opening twist. And most people remember how Ian shot himself in the foot at the final three. In the eleventh season Rafe also made a fatal error at the final three, although it's unknown for sure if his ally would have held up her end of the deal in the final two even if he hadn't released her from the deal himself. The twelfth, thirteenth, and fourteenth seasons and have no interesting, in my opinion. The fifteenth season brought the most unfair switch in Survivor history that seemed more like a joke. Aaron was the man screwed from the switch. I can't think of anyone from the sixteenth season because Erik already got a second chance. I might include Jason, but I don't think that I will. The seventeenth season did have Marcus, who was screwed from the second swap and throwing a hidden immunity idol into the sea. But I'm not sure that I'd include him since he was immune the first two tribal councils he went to. I'm also unsure if Matty deserves another chance. No men were screwed in the eighteenth season. In the nineteenth season, Mike was screwed by a challenge so dangerous, it has been banned from appearing again. The twentieth season was all returning players, so I can't include any of them. If I did, I'd include Tyson. But he had a chance before. The twenty-first season brought us Chase who lost by one vote and would have won if the two quitters weren't on the jury and the vote happened the exact same way. Since I'm at ten players, I can't really name anymore. Besides, Matt from Redemption Island has already stated that he wouldn't play again. But I would exclude Rafe, Travis, or Mike if he would want to return. I can't think of people from South Pacific and there are such a score of men to choose from One World, that it is hard to name any at all. I don't think the two most recent seasons have any men that would work. Erik played the game twice, even though I think that he should play again.

Here are the women that I'd bring back: From the first season, there aren't any women that would work. I can't think of any from the second season either. The third season had Lindsey who was screwed by a switch and former votes cast against her. To be fair, the other people on the tribe thought that a new tiebreaker was permanently in place. But I'm not including her because she seems just for the heck of it. The fourth season doesn't really have anyone. The fifth has Shii-Ann who already had a second chance. The sixth and seventh season didn't really have anyone and the eighth was all returning players. The ninth might have some contestant, but I can't decide due to all of them that would work. The tenth brought us Wanda who was screwed by an opening twist and never really got a shot at playing the game. In the eleventh season, Cindy might have lasted longer if she wasn't selfish. But, since she decided to keep a car for herself instead of giving one to every other player, she got voted out that very same episode. The twelfth and thirteenth season have no one of interest. In the fourteenth season, Sylvia was doomed from the start. She got to choose both tribes and the tribe that won would become the rich tribe. Since she would join the first tribe to go to tribal council, she would be on the poor tribe regardless of the outcome. After finding it hard to fit in with her tribe, she was ultimately voted out. Lisette was also screwed by swaps and Exile Island, but I am not going to include her. I don't know if I'd go with Michelle from that season who was screwed due to a tribal council twist. But I can think of another one from that season who would work. Liliana would make a good returning player. Believe it or not, she is one of a few castaways to never lose a challenge. A lot of them have never won a challenge, but Moto had to go to tribal council, or they'd lose the rich beach that they'd live on and would probably not keep their winning streak either. I already mentioned the screwy switch from the fifteenth season that got Sherea voted out of the game. Natalie lasted longer than the other fans on the sixteenth season and deserves another shot. No women were screwed in the seventeenth season. In the eighteenth season, both Sierra and Sandy had games messed up because of a stupid opening twist. The nineteenth season had no one and the twentieth was all returning players anyways. The twenty-first season had Jane, who was only screwed due to her popularity. But since I can't include people for no good reason, she is not on the list. The twenty-second season doesn't really have anyone. The twenty-third had Christine, who could have gotten back in the game if Ozzy hadn't taken himself out of the game to beat her. The twenty-fourth season brought us Kourtney who was eliminated after a challenge with a design flaw helped take her out of the game. I'd choose Dana from the last season, but I'm not sure since she's sort of a quitter. No one from the most recent season would work since Sherri doesn't really deserve a second chance.

Those are my ten men and my ten women. Feel free to post your own lists if you so desire. I have chosen Paschal (Marquesas), Andrew (Pearl Islands), Shawn (Pearl Islands), Travis (Vanuatu), Jonathan (Palau), Ian (Palau), Rafe (Guatemala), Aaron (China), Mike (Samoa), and Chase (Nicaragua) as the ten men. I have chosen Wanda (Palau), Cindy (Guatemala), Sylvia (Fiji), Liliana (Fiji), Sherea (China), Natalie (Micronesia), Sierra (Tocantins), Sandy (Tocantins), Christine (South Pacific), and Kourtney (One World) as the ten women. The reasons why were listed above. Stay tuned for more random posts in the future like contestant ideas for a possible Heroes Versus Villains 2 as well as an assessment of the cast for Blood versus Water. I will also include a list of the ten worst Survivor twists at some point and possibly blog posts about Jennifer Lyon.

Survivor: Caramoan Finale

The final five is John, Dawn, Sherri, Eddie, and Erik. There are lots of different spoilers that I've heard about this season that may or may not be true. I mentioned in the very first blog post about this season that I read a potential spoiler on who the winner of this season is. This is by the same people who thought that Michael would win the last season. They said (originally, at least) that there would be a final two. That is most definitely not true. But there is a 20% chance that the potential winner for this season is accurate. They say it is John. They also say that Eddie gets voted out at the final five and Erik either quits or gets medically evacuated at the final four. There are two times that a potential evacuation could have happened in the last three days of filming. The first time was in the fourth season when it happened to Paschal after he was just eliminated from the game by a purple rock. He collapsed and missed the final three tribal council. That is the only time a jury member missed a tribal council. We don't know if it would have happened if he hadn't been eliminated. The other time it was close to happening was in Survivor: Panama. On day 39 with only two players left in the game, Aras broke a glass at a celebrational feast for the final two. He got stitches on site, since you really can't be medically evacuated at the final two. Danielle would have won instead, but I think their decision was great as is. If that had happened at, say, the merge feast instead, that might have been a medical evacuation instead. If there is a medical evacuation in the last three days of filming, it may explain why Jeff Probst didn't reply to my tweet asking about that. But a lot of people don't reply to my tweets anyways and he only did that one time because of a legitimate problem. So we have yet to see if any of this will happen. My sister who unfortunately is out of the country is unable to watch this season or the next three (if there are three more) is upset at all the tweets I'm saying about Survivor, so I won't be on twitter during the live finale this week. Besides, I need to get more in the blog anyways. At least I know what I can get my sister for birthday and Christmas presents when/if they are finally released to DVD.

Also, I had a dream about Survivor: Pearl Islands. Supposedly, in that season, a mutiny was offered to the castaways at some point in the game, but since nobody took the offer, they edited that out and thus, the typical viewer would have no idea that it was offered at all. Well, my dream showed there being a full-fledged real swap that season. Nothing else really happened in the dream, except there were more thoughts on the Outcasts twist. An interesting thing about Pearl Islands is that it had produced a returning player in each all stars season until now. But since this isn't a full-fledged everyone is a returning player season, then maybe this doesn't count anyways. But it's the only season before Survivor: All-Stars to have a representative in Micronesia. For now, my picks to win in order of most likely to least likely are John, Dawn, Eddie, Erik, and Sherri. We just have to remember that the jury has Michael, Phillip, Malcolm, Reynold, Andrea, and Brenda. Plus, there are two more people who will be on the jury as well. Both fans left in the game could wind up on the jury, at the final tribal council, or one on each. It is possible that there is a final two, although the all knowing Survivor spoiler god named Jim Early says that it is a final three and there has never been a final two when five people were all in the game on day 37. An evacuation could mess things up, but it might not.

You know, if they do decide to bring back returning players from Fiji in the next season (that I don't think they will, but figure that I have to talk about something), there are a lot of versus that they could do. They could do Liliana versus Gary, who to my knowledge are the only players to never lose a challenge, but still had to leave the game regardless. They could do Cassandra versus Dreamz who tied at the final tribal council with the same number of jury votes. Dreamz versus Yau-Man would make more sense since that would be a valid rematch. There are probably more, but I can't think of them right now. But enough of my ramblings.

After the incredibly long recap of the season and the last episode, we finally get to the point we are waiting for. Poor Erik is getting screwed at the final five again. At least this time, it isn't by his own doing. This makes this the latest evacuation in the game to date. He made it even longer than James, who previously held the record. Erik is now one of the few contestants to rank in the same place when he played the game again. James is actually another one. Micronesia is now the next and probably last season to be eliminated from this season. This means that there's a 50% chance of a fan winning and a 50% chance of a favorite winning. If they ever do the twist from the last season, he could return with Bruce and Joe, the post merge evacuations. Shemar, Colton, and Mike (from Samoa) are another group of pre-merge evacuations. That leaves just Dana (if you count her as an available returnee), Kourtney, and Gary, the people who left the game to medical reasons before they could even go to tribal council. Or maybe the last one will never happen because Gary could return with a different twist and so could Kourtney. Meanwhile, the now four people returned to camp and talked about how they can win. Eddie made a good joke about trying to win the game. I wonder if the reward challenge that they are doing now was supposed to be an immunity challenge before Erik prematurely left the game. In fact, some people have argued that the same thing was messed up last season when Dana left the game. I don't think that Eddie will win the advantage of the reward based on previews for this episode. But since this is simply a reward, it really doesn't matter one way or another. People keep losing their stacks of cards so they don't know who will win. Until John finally won the reward. This could help him win the game.

In the next segment of the show, most final four scrambling happened. Dawn continued to be unstable. I do wonder if the advantage was a last minute edition to the game. Erik's evacuation was a Survivor first. Never at the final five has an evacuation ever happened. The sentimental rites of passage happened with the same sentimental music that they always play when they do that. Then, finally, we learn of the advantage at the final immunity challenge. It doesn't seem like that huge an advantage, making it fair, and it doesn't seem like that small an advantage where winning it was useless. Since there is no order that they do the challenges in, this could have been the final five one and it was switched with the last one. Or, maybe, this was always the planned final challenge. By the way, Caramoan and South Pacific are the two season that aren't going to be eliminated this season. It looks like John will win the challenge and thus secure himself a probable win in the game. I predict that Eddie will be voted out by the other three people. John, thus, is the only contestant this season to have no votes cast against him (unless I'm wrong). Now if he can only win unanimously (unlikely), he'll be able to do something that only JT on Tocantins has ever done. Maybe he'll come close to a perfect game, but I'm not sure that he'll get it. We have yet to see what else will happen. Now I'm about to eat a messy supper and, thus, will not have access to the computer for a while. Hopefully, I will be able to have a good blog regardless. I'm not distracted by twitter this time, so hopefully this won't be a huge distraction.

In the next segment of the show, Eddie got voted out at the penultimate tribal council leaving Sherri, Dawn, and John at the final three. As always when there is a season with returning players, at least one of them makes it to the final tribal council. Sherri outlasted all the other fans in this season. That was incredibly likely to happen. I couldn't see how Eddie makes it the farthest of the fans and he didn't. I see Sherri maybe getting one jury vote, if even that. John might win. If he doesn't, Dawn will win. I'll be shocked if Sherri wins. The jury speeches brought interesting entertainment. Phillip took back Sherri's membership in Stealth R Us. John is probably who he votes for. Could the vote be a tie? What would the tiebreaker be? How would they resolve it? Would they have to do a rematch of sorts? Would the jury vote again? Reynold had an interesting conversation with Dawn. The final three voted Brenda out of the game. Who will she vote for?

So, the winner of this season is John. That proves that www.survivorsucks.com sucks. It said who the winner of this season was before they even announced the cast. I see that they actually got it right this time. I think that he won unanimously since only one vote for him was shown. This makes him the second person to play a perfect game. Only, he did this the second time and not the first. But at least he didn't do anything as stupid as JT did the second time he played when he played the first time. He did flip on his tribe, which sucked for his tribe and didn't help him that much. While we are on that topic, I am going to bring up the three stupidest moves of the season. The bronze award goes to Andrea for getting voted out with a hidden immunity idol in her pocket. The silver award goes to Phillip for sitting out an immunity challenge, thus getting voted out that night. And the gold award for stupidest move of the season goes to Brandon's meltdown. I will also give an award to the most memorable moment of the season. Am I the only one who finds it strange that the pre-jury boots are not present where they normally are? I notice that they are there, but they are hardly focused on that much. I'm glad that Malcolm won player of the season. Him playing two idol and eliminating Phillip wins the award for most memorable moment of the season. Two seasons ago, if I forgot to give the award to Manano giving up immunity as the most memorable part of the season, then I am now. Last season, I know that I forgot to give the most memorable award of the season to the tribal where two idols were revealed. But, my congratulations are to John for playing a perfect game, the second person to do so. He is the third to win unanimously.

So, the next season of Survivor is called Blood versus Water. They didn't reveal anything else about it. Where is the location? Who is the cast? Why are you using such a lame time? Do you want to get cancelled? A family edition of The Amazing Race almost got it cancelled. There has been way too many Big Brother seasons when contestants knew each other and even one where a half brother and sister didn't know each other. Stay tuned for information about that season that will start filming soon around the time it starts airing. I will publish the cast when I know who they are. There have been different reasons people have won unanimously. I don't know why Jeff failed to mention that a perfect game had happened again. But as for a unanimous win, there are three ways that it could happen. Either everyone hate the other finalists (like in Fiji), everyone loves one of the finalists (like in Tocantins), or a combination of the two (like this season). Expect a lot of random posts during the summer. Hopefully, the next season isn't as bad as people think it might be. We have yet to see. I don't know if seasons typically haven't started filming when a reunion show is done or if they have. Typically, the spring season is already filmed at the fall finale, but I'm not certain about that and if it is always true or not. I don't know about the fall season being filmed during the spring season or not. I couldn't understand if the next season is returning players versus family members or new players versus family member. Neither of which seem like a good idea. Oh well. For now, this is Adam Decker, signing off.

Episode 26.13

You know, I've been trying to think in my head who would be a good set of contestants if they ever wanted to do a Survivor: Second Chances. You can feel free to come up with your own list if you want to. You just have to obey these rules: 1- No winners allowed. Unless you can somehow justify why someone who won the game would need a second chance at it, you can't include them in your list. 2- They must have only played the game once. If you wanted to say, bring back Shii-Ann from Thailand because she was screwed by the fake merge, I hate to tell you this, but you can't. She already had a second chance when she did the eighth season. If you wanted to bring back Tyson because of his stupid move from the twentieth season, you can't because he has played the game once before that. The season is called second chances and if it is anything other than a second chance, then it just doesn't work in the game. If you want to include people like this as those that don't count, feel free to, but they cannot be on the real list. 3- Due to the sheer number of people who could come back, you must come up with a good reason as to why they in particular deserve to come back and others don't. 4- You can include maybes on the list if you so desire. 5- You must have ten men and ten women. You cannot have less, but you can have more if you can't decide otherwise. 6- You can't just bring people back for the heck of it or because you think they'd make a good player. There must be a good reason, as I've stated before. My list may even have more than what should be on there. Those are all the rules that I can think of for now. I will come up with my own list later, during my hopeful sporadic summer postings.

I also mentioned my Big Brother dream. I don't think that I'd ever be a contestant on that show. The living conditions may be better, but you have to last for much longer to earn half as much money. Plus, you can only watch the season if you are out instead of being able to watch the whole season after finishing filming it. I only watched one season of Big Brother and that was because of a parody I saw of it on The Talk. For those that don't know, the same host of Big Brother is also a co-host on The Talk. But I shouldn't talk about it because this blog is about Survivor. A lot of interesting events have happened this season. Erik has now given up the immunity necklace (dumb move the first time he played that cost him the game), the tribal immunity (by coincidence, he was the favorite who handed it to the fans during the Brandon meltdown), and a hidden immunity idol (last episode). This makes him the first player to give up all three types of immunity. If the idol does reenter the game, although I'm not sure it will, I hope that he keeps it for himself this time. Like I've said before, I have no idea how the idol works. I've stated my theories here but I'm not sure if they are right or will always be that way. The most idols ever played in one season was six in the twentieth season. Four idols have been played this season. If there is another tie at tribal council, then Palau's record of most ties at four will be matched. Two ties, and the old record will be beaten.

Since I keep bringing up the topic of Survivor: Second Chances I might as well talk about Redemption Island. I think that it was a good idea, but there were some flaws regarding it. If I brought it back into the game, here are the changes that I would make. 1- The contestants do not see what goes on at the island. The viewer does, but not them. 2- Have reward challenges and immunity challenges in addition to the island. If this is not possible, do not have the island present during the individual part of the game. 3- When someone returns from the island, they get a special immunity at their first tribal council back in the game. (This would only work if not used post merge). The outcasts had immunity when they came back in and if they don't have immunity they'll just get voted out again. 4- If used throughout the whole game, there should be more than two reentry points. If only used premerge, then there should still be two reentry points. There could be a double tribal council where the winner of the duel would return to their original tribe and the two people voted out from each tribe would be the next in the duel. This twist should be used during a second chances season, in my opinion, even though it would give them more than a second chance. I just hope that it works better with these new rules. But enough of my ramblings.

So it began with Erik going a big crazy with wanted food and climbing a really tall coconut tree to help get the food. The castaways then got treemail regarding the loved ones challenge. It was very emotional as always. Brenda won and chose Dawn to go with the reward. But, she gave up both of their loved ones to give everyone else their loved ones and second loved ones as well. Next, the immunity challenge happened. Dawn ended up winning that. You know, I should stop the live tweeting during Survivor episodes and go back to the blog posts that we all know and love. Or maybe, I'll hope that whoever reads this blog also reads my twitter feed. So anyways, the people went against Brenda and she got voted out. It's sad for her. Nicaragua is the next season to be eliminated and since it is probably not a final two this season, only one other season can be eliminated if any season does. On the finale week, the final five have an interesting story. I'll be back then with more information. That is all for now. This is Adam Decker, signing off.

Episode 26.12

Okay, so I'm not sure if I should include information about Survivor 27 or not. If you google that, every link in the first page of search results will all say that same thing regarding a potential twist for that season. I'm going to mention it in this blog. Also, this summer I am going to rewatch Survivor: Palau again and write down more of Jenn's appearance on the show. I don't know if I'd share it on the blog or not. I know that her wikipedia page is in need of editing regarding her time on the show. Maybe they (the editors) don't want to or maybe they do. I just hope that it doesn't end up like another page I edited extensively where there's now a warning that it contains original research. Also, I've been old enough to legally drink alcohol for a while now, but I haven't. I also haven't played any drinking games yet either. If I do ever play that, I'd need a good drink to play it with and the knowledge that I won't be driving myself anywhere. I'd drink every time Jenn is mentioned that season, which isn't that much, but could be a lot. I'd also type up information about the contestant just because I want to and have nothing better to do. For those of you that know me outside of this blog, you know that I've frequently talked about drinking games, but have never actually played them. Maybe I shouldn't because I'm on medication. But I should get to the twist for season 27.

There have been a lot of crappy twists on this show. (Really, Adam? This is how you introduce it?) This twist would, wait for it; put one tribe of favorites versus their family member on another tribe. While it may not be the worst twist ever (cough, rich versus poor, cough), it does sound pretty bad. The podcast that I listen to (and have posted a link to in this blog) says that the twist is better suited for Big Brother. I only ever watched one season of Big Brother, although I have had dreams that I was on it. In the most recent one, a contestant wanted to use her sexuality as a weapon and was naked in front of all the other houseguests. I'm not sure that I'd ever do Big Brother, and probably would not. If I want to talk about dreams, then I should mention the Survivor dream I had where Erik got voted off this season. I'm not sure who will get voted out. I'm just glad that someone from the new Gota is finally gone. But I digress.

The twist I was talking about is also the type of twist that almost cancelled the Amazing Race. They are planning (supposedly at least) to pit favorite players versus their family members. Some people have wondered why it is favorites against family members and not new players versus their family members. I guess that the tribe of family members would be new players at least, although it is possible that some of them have been included in loved ones challenges. In fact, there probably won't be loved ones challenges if the twist turns out to be true. I actually hope that it isn't. I mean, it does sound kind of lame. At least it is original. I can't think of a season in any country quite like it. There are other twists that they could do. They could put two tribes of fans against one tribe of favorites, as I frequently suggest here. Of course, I suggest that all the returning players are from the tenth season and that the new season was filmed in Palau. I also suggest bring back Jonathan and Wanda from Palau and Kourtney from One World to be returning players in the other season filmed there. They could do first timers versus second timers versus third timers, although it would probably turn out really bad for the fans that season. They could do third timers versus fourth timers, second timers versus third timers, or even second timers versus third timers versus fourth timers. Some argue that they are going with it because of the Pagonging problem that people complain about sometimes. I don't think that it's a really big problem, per say, because people will always love the first season and so many think that it was the best season of Survivor ever. And that was the first time that it happened. It also happened in the fifth, eighth, tenth (although that was before the merge and it more known as Ulonging), thirteenth, eighteenth, nineteenth, twenty-second, twenty-third, twenty-fourth, and various other seasons it sort of happened to an extent (including some from that list). Ulonging can happen to one tribe and Pagonging to another in the same season, although I only think that it happened in Samoa and Tocantins, if it even happened in them.

If they wanted to prevent Pagonging, they should keep doing more than two tribes. But there are a lot of great twists that they could do that will probably never happen because they are unsolicited ideas from fans, and therefore cannot be accepted by the producers. I'd love to be a creative consultant for Survivor. In fact, I'd rather do that than be a contestant. Although, both are unlikely. If you keep up with twitter, see if any contestants are mysteriously absent when they are filming the next season. A lot of interesting things happen on twitter and I enjoy being on it. I don't know why Jim Early is letting me follow him. Maybe his tweets are unprotected and he can't ban me from following him. Or maybe he doesn't realize that I'm the same Adam Decker that he banned from his facebook group because I wanted to know who the winner of this season was before it even started airing. There was probably other stupid stuff that I did as well that helped contribute to that decision. I'm surprised that he's even allowed on twitter. He knows that Survivor Sucks might be wrong. It was last season when everyone thought that Michael Skupin would win and he got only one vote to win. So they might be wrong about the rumored winner or runner up. Maybe the rumored runner up is actually the winner. But I'm not sure that I want to follow him that much and could and probably will stop following him since I'm not into spoilers that ruin the season sometimes. Also, I should put a picture on my twitter account so people can better recognize which Adam Decker I am. I did not write the janitor and I'm not an attorney at law. I don't know why I'm telling you this anyways since people read this blog and not twitter (I think). But enough of my ramblings.

Today on Survivor, there's two tribal councils in one episode during the individual part of the game. If you don't count Redemption Island seasons, this hasn't happened since Heroes versus Villains. The final eight contestants were talking about what had happened during the tribal council. Eddie and Reynold are no longer the three amigos. I have since dubbed them the two friends. That doesn't sound as cool now, does it? Eddie made a dumb move at the immunity challenge, but not as dumb as others this season. Reynold didn't win either. It came down to Brenda and Andrea, and due to a Survivor first, rules made by contestants, Brenda was out and Andrea won. Erik found the idol and gave it up to someone instantly. What is wrong with that guy? Did he lose intelligence somewhere? Anyways, no idols were played at the first tribal council in the episode. A cruel commercial happened before the votes were read.

Who was voted out? Reynold was voted out with the rest of the votes scattered. I missed who voted for who. Andrea has the hidden immunity idol. After tribal council, people talked about what happened. Then, there was another immunity challenge. Erik won it. I hope that he does good things with it. Scrambling happened after the challenge and Brenda was possibly the target and could get voted out. Andrea got voted out in this episode. She was blindsided with an idol in her pocket. Erik should have that. At least if he had it, he wouldn't have been the other dumb one this episode. To think, Andrea had two forms of immunity in this one episode and she still got voted out. Eddie is still in the game in an alliance of one. The loved ones visit happens in the next episode and people will try to get rid of John. Also, Redemption Island is now the next season to be eliminated from this one. This leaves just one or two representatives left from each season. In my mind, if both the fans get eliminated than Caramoan will be eliminated this season (even though it technically can't happen since every contestant from this season is from Caramoan, just not originally). My best of luck goes to Eddie, even though I no longer have a favorite to win. For now, this is Adam Decker, signing off.