Survivor Redeemed Contestants

Remember when I posted on the tarnished legacy of Survivor players? Those are contestants who had great reputations ruined when they played again. On the flip side of that are those players who may not have had a good impression the first time around, but definitely had a better impression after playing the game again. So using my opinion, here’s the contestants who had improved games.

I’m not sure what order to go with for this list, so my apologies if the order doesn’t make sense. It’s not going to be a top ten this time, partly due to not having enough people for that list. Hopefully, none of this is controversial. No honorable mentions this time.

Now sometimes I don’t understand why different contestants are loved one season and hated a different season. I didn’t like Lex in Africa as much. But it All-Stars, he was a much better person to me. Call me crazy if you want (I already know that), but I say his negative edit in his first season was saved by his better edit his second time playing.

Here’s another contestant that I liked better in later games: Coach. His first time playing he came off as an arrogant player and habitual liar. When he played future seasons, he became better edited in my mind. He came off as nicer and more comical.

Speaking of people who came off badly the first time, John Cochran was well hated by pretty much everyone. They hated him so much, they couldn’t realize that Brandon was the worst player from that season. The second time around, he was a much better player and actually knew how to play the game this time. That’s not to say that he had a chance the first time (he clearly didn’t even if he didn’t flip), but he certainly knew what he needed to in order to win the second time around.

Laura Morett wasn’t entirely bad the first time she played. But she was one of the reasons that Shambo ended up flipping on Galu and handed the postmerge game to Foa Foa. It wasn’t her fault that happened, but we didn’t really know who she was when she played the second time. That’s when we saw her dominate at Redemption Island. If only the last challenge wasn’t so stupid. But she clearly has a much better legacy the second time around.

Monica Culpepper was the fifth person eliminated from her first season of Survivor. While she wasn’t well liked the second time around, she certainly played a much better game coming in second place. In my mind, at least, she was redeemed with her second game.

While Tyson wasn’t bad the first time he played, his second time around made him look pretty dumb when he inadvertently caused his own elimination. But that didn’t matter to him when he played the last time as he made the right moves and won the game.

The last contestant that I’m picking for this list is Kelley Wentworth. In her first season, she was out of the game pretty early into it. In her second season, she played very hard and came very close to winning. She will be remembered better for her time on Cambodia.

That’s all I can think of for this post outside of this probably meaningless paragraph. I know that some people I think were redeemed, other people thought were ruined in their edits. This is only based on my opinion, of course. For now, this is Adam Decker, signing off.

Big Brother Players on Survivor

I hope that this isn’t too weird of a post for a Survivor blog. Do you remember how Hayden Moss played Big Brother and then went to play Survivor? There’s actually interesting facts about that, but I’m sure if it is actually true or not, some of it. I’ll mention it later should I do a look back at the Blood versus Water season. Meanwhile, Caleb Reynolds also played Big Brother and then went on Survivor. Now I once did a post where I talked about which Survivor players should play Big Brother. Now I’m doing a different post where I mention other Big Brother players that I think should play Survivor. I mostly found out this information from Wikipedia or Wikia.

Disclaimer: I must admit that I might have never watched Big Brother were it not for a parody of it done on The Talk. I’ve thus missed a lot of the earlier seasons when they aired and might not know as much about it as I would want to. But, using what information I have, I can probably come up with a good enough list of contestants.

Rules: I am choosing at least one person from each season. There must be a reason that I’m choosing them out of everyone from their season. I mean, there’s so many people to choose from that there has to be a reason that I’m choosing them out of everyone. Of course, Hayden and Caleb are people that I can’t choose, but anyone else can be picked, although some of them clearly won’t be picked. Willie Hantz, for instance, is probably never appearing on CBS again.

Cassandra Waldon played the very unusual first season. I’m picking her since she worked with the United Nations and that might be interesting with Survivor. Does she know Survivor that well? Regardless, her international work could prove interesting on a show like Survivor.

Monica Bailey made it far in the game before being the last person evicted that season. She may just be a random choice of mine for this list. She was notable that season since one of her cousins died during 9/11. I’m not sure how she’d fair on Survivor, but you’d think it would be interesting for her.

Jason Guy is a nice type of person. He was so nice that he was only nominated because he lost final HOH. Unfortunately, he was the last person evicted from the game. Nobody else in Big Brother made it that far without being nominated and still get evicted. I think that he would be suited for Survivor for various reasons, among them being his likability.

Danielle Reyes lost by one of flaws of the game that has since been fixed. The jury could see the type of player that she was and she lost because of it. If something like that happened in Survivor, then Natalie might have won the season Redemption Island. She did get to play again on the all-star version of Big Brother. But it would be interesting to see her play Survivor.

Michelle Maradie was one of many people to get evicted from Big Brother due to one of the flaws of that game. You see, she was a pawn who was nominated against a target. She was voted out instead of the target. This has happened to tons of players. I’m picking her because I believe she was the first person in Big Brother history whom this happened to. On Survivor, she’d never have to worry about rules like that as it is a much different game.

Jee Choe made a big enough mistake when he played that angered the whole house. I’m not sure the option that he made was even a choice in most other seasons. He made everyone else the Big Brother equivalent of a have not so they all were upset at him. On a game like Survivor, he could start fresh with new people and probably not have to worry about such a twist like that.

Jase Wirey was another example of the flaws of the Big Brother game. But, his was of getting evicted is actually quite interesting and a good part of Big Brother. But, that didn’t mean that he should have left the way he did. They sort of fixed that method that got him out. I think that Survivor would be a better and more interesting game for him.

Adria Klein should have just stuck with her alliance, but she didn’t. This also affected her twin sister who was also in the game that season. But it was mostly her mistake. In case you are wondering, I wouldn’t put all of these planned people on the same Survivor season, although it could happen like that. Also, a lot of this could be considered potential for a Big Brother second chance season, although I would like all of these people on Survivor.

Karen Ganci was screwed in a way when everyone else in the house conspired against her to get her out. The two nominees both threw the challenge so someone else could win. That person then used it to take a nominee off the block and Karen was then put up and evicted before of it. That sort of thing couldn’t happen on Survivor which is why she should do that game.

Kaysar Ridha made a bad deal that got him evicted after he already was evicted earlier. He played again and was evicted again. But I would love to see his type of game on Survivor where he doesn’t have to worry about that type of trickery.

Eric Stein actually agreed to a play a Big Brother game that was different than all the other players before him. He was America’s player, meaning that he did whatever we wanting him to do. On Survivor, he could become his own player and not have to worry about what the rest of us would want him to do as he could do his own thing.

Allison Nichols faced a strange twist from the beginning of the game and it ultimately lead to an unusual eviction happening. That’s how she was eliminated. Her on Survivor would be interesting and we would wonder what type of game she might play.

Ryan Quicksall is someone that I would want to bring back simply because he was the runner-up to a terrible winner, quite possibly the worst winner in the history of reality television. I would love to see him on Survivor playing that great game.

Michelle Costa was basically yet another person who was screwed by other players going back on their deals. That’s why I would put her on Survivor where she isn’t as subjected to the whims of other players that have power as she would have pretty much the same powers that all players do.

Jeff Schroeder is someone that I’m choosing for different reasons. For one, I wanted one of the returning players from season 13 of Big Brother. Another reason is that he is probably a Survivor fan as he hosted the Survivor Live After Show during San Juan del Sur. Now I don’t think that hosting that web show would prevent him from playing Survivor. Plus, it would be interesting to see someone play all three major CBS reality shows, which he could do if he just played Survivor.

Michele Ross (nee Noonan) is a player who was screwed out of power by simply nominating the wrong person as a pawn. Now she probably had no idea that Chima was going to get expelled. But if she had nominated any other person against her real target and Chima’s expulsion still happened, her reign as HOH would have probably continued normally instead of her getting stripped of it. This affected her game and she was nominated by the person she was planning on getting out and evicted that week. Her game was messed up and I don’t see something like that happening on Survivor, even if there is an expulsion in the future on that show.

Annie Whittington, like Eric, had to play a different game than the rest of the houseguests on Big Brother. She had chosen this herself, like Eric probably did. But, I would still like to see her on a show where she could play her own game and be her own player.

Matt Hoffman was a strong and interesting player on Big Brother. He didn’t realize how much of a threat he was. He ended up being targeted and voted out by his own alliance. He would probably be great at the Survivor game and hopefully doesn’t create any great lies on it.

Britney Haynes is a popular Big Brother player. I like her and that’s one of the reasons that I’m picking her. That, and I want to have a coach from the fourteenth season. Could her popularity continue on a show like Survivor? I hope so, even if this whole post is just who I want and no one who is actually guaranteed to play.

Adam Poch is a fan of Survivor and would probably like to play it. He has appeared a lot in this one Survivor podcast that I listen to. Plus, it would be nice having another Adam play the game. I’m pretty much picking him for the same reason that I’d pick the next player.

Ian Terry may be a Big Brother super fan, but he’s also a fan of Survivor. On twitter, he’s posting a lot during Survivor episodes. He could probably be great at Survivor. Plus, I did want to choose a winner of Big Brother and he seems like he’d make a great player.

Helen Kim is one of the few players that I actually liked from the season she was on. There wasn’t much good happening that season, but she made for a good player and she’d probably work well on Survivor with new people to play with.

Donny Thompson was liked by the fans who made him part of a twist where he could earn extra money while still in the game. He was always targeted in the house, but I think that he would make a great Survivor player because, like many others on this list, he could benefit from playing a different game. He seems outdoorsy too.

Meg Maley is someone that I liked and not just because she is cute. Let’s face it, I’m not going to put every cute woman from Big Brother on this list. It would be much longer than this. Anyhoo, I liked her and she made a great player, despite not winning competitions. I think that she would make a great Survivor player.

John McGuire also suffered to some of the flaws of the Big Brother game as he was subjected to the whims of other players. On Survivor, he wouldn’t be used as a pawn by other players and could be his own person and player.

Here are the players that I chose: Cassandra Waldon (1), Monica Bailey (2), Jason Guy (3), Danielle Reyes (3 & 7), Michelle Maradie (4), Jee Choe (4), Jase Wirey (5 & 7), Adria Klein (5), Karen Ganci (5), Kaysar Ridha (6 & 7), Eric Stein (8), Allison Nichols (9), Ryan Quicksall (9), Michelle Costa (10), Jeff Schroeder (11 & 13), Michele (Noonan) Ross (11), Annie Whittington (12), Matt Hoffman (12), Britney Haynes (12 & 14), Adam Poch (13), Ian Terry (14), Helen Kim (15), Donny Thompson (16), Meg Maley (17), and John McGuire (17).

Well, I hope that this post is good to Survivor fans, even if it focused on Big Brother a lot. But I did do a Survivor players on Big Brother post, so I figured that something like this would make a good post. If you want more information about Big Brother in general and want to look up stuff that I did, then just go to this link: http://bigbrother.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page. You’ll have to check out other pages from there, but it is pretty good for the most part. For now, this is Adam Decker, signing off.

Top Ten Survivor Heroes

You might be wondering why I didn't update my blog on Wednesday, as I normally do and why I'm updating it today on Sunday. During the winter hiatus of Survivor, I allow myself to update the blog on Sundays in addition to Wednesdays. But, that's only under certain circumstances. During the break after Philippines, I didn't originally do random blog posts, nor were my posts scheduled for a certain time. During the break after Blood versus Water, I did this at first starting in January, but didn't have enough posts written to update on both days so I cut one day. During the break after San Juan del Sur, I originally thought that I might not due any posts on Sundays since the finale of that season wasn't on a Sunday. But a sudden sickness prevented a post on a Wednesday, so I started double posting then. Plus, I was trying to start updates of a different blog of mine on Sundays then anyways. Now you see, I decided to update a different blog on Wednesday and I don't update multiple blogs in a single day. Thus, you will see a post on Sunday this week and next. When Survivor starts again, my posts will be on Thursday for a while since Lent will be happening and I won't be able to see Survivor live. Now, sorry for this long introduction as I update what's going on with this blog. I'm getting to the actual post now.

Who are the best Survivor heroes? Well, that’s what I’m going to try to figure out in this newest blog post of mine. I’ll go through various contestants and list which ten I think are the best heroes in Survivor history. I might as well get started.

The rules: 1- This is the most important one actually: I’m choosing people based solely on my own opinion. So if you don’t like them or don’t think that they were actually heroes, then make your own list. These are my choices. 2- Tarnished heroes are not included on the list. Well, some tarnished heroes are not: those I felt were ruined enough that they were either no longer heroes or no longer good heroes. 3- I’m sorry if I don’t have enough women on this list. Now this could be like the villains list where I thought going into it that I wouldn’t have enough women, but half of my list was women. I don’t know yet if there will be enough women although that may not be the case when the list is made. I can’t think of any other rules at the moment. Clearly I’m choosing good heroes. Before that, here’s the obligatory honorable mentions section.

Honorable Mentions: A well known hero from the first season was Colleen who outlasted all of her tribe members. Jenn from Palau made a good hero. But, I decided to go with other players instead. Yau-Man was also close to being on it, as were people who aren’t even an honorable mention, but I’m not choosing him. JT was so heroic that he even tired to help out a villain in a move that famously backfired. I’m not choosing him due to picking other choices. Brett from Samoa fought valiantly against Russell and fell short. He’s not on the list because I picked a better person who was better able to control Russell. Jane from Nicaragua is someone that I liked, but I didn’t see much a reason for putting her on the top ten. Matt from Redemption Island fought hard to stay in the game, but I’m not choosing him to go with other choices. Malcolm may have debatable status as a hero and, like other honorable mentions, I decided to go with other choices. Spencer could be considered a hero, and probably is, but there’s enough against him recently for me to cut him from the list. Mike from Worlds Apart won against a villain’s alliance, but once again, I’m not picking him.

#10 Darrah (Pearl Islands): You might not remember Darrah, but I do. She was a challenge beast that helped Burton get eliminated. She fought hard to stay in the game. But her challenge wins made her a threat and she was voted out. But, she was still pretty heroic throughout the game.

#9 Ethan (Africa and All-Stars): I love this winner a lot. He was a great person to watch dominating the social game in Africa up until his win. In All-Stars, he did good enough that he outlasted all the other winners. It’s not often when you see heroes actually win the game, but he was great at the game as evident by his win.

#8 Natalie (Samoa): Some have called Russell Hantz the greatest Survivor villain. If you want my opinion as to where he ranks as a villain, you can read my other post on my top ten villains for that. But let’s say that you join with Russell and use him to bring you to the end. Then, you totally trump him in the jury votes, besting him at his own game. It takes a great hero like Natalie to beat Russell the first time at least and that’s what she did. It’s hard to think of other times off hand where the hero clearly won out over the despicable villain of the season.

#7 Jeremy (San Juan del Sur and Cambodia): His first game may have come to an abrupt end thanks to his alliance blindsiding him, but the second time around, his strategy to win worked. He was well liked by the rest of the jury that all ten of them voted for him to win and there wasn’t a single vote for either of the other great finalists. He’s certainly a great winner and a great hero.

#6 Sierra (Tocantins): This may be an odd choice, but I still like this contestant. I hate the fact that her tribe mates were terrible to her throughout the game. She managed to survive. I just wish that she outlasted Coach that time around. But I think that she’s a good hero the way she fought to be in the game, even if she never turned the game around.

#5 Terry (Panama and Cambodia): This player struggled against the odds past the merge in his original season. The second time he played, he left in a heroic manner by leaving to be with his sick son. He is certainly a dominate type of player, either though we didn’t see much of him the second time around. But, he could still return and he’d probably be as heroic the third time around as well.

#4 Chris (Vanuatu): I have heard arguments against him being a hero, but I see his game as being heroic. From the first vote out to the post merge game, Chris struggled against the odds to stay in the game and he fought valiantly, with and without immunity, to not only stay in the game, but to beat all the other players that season. Few people who win could turn the game around the way he did. He might have been one of the most successful people who did that.

#3 Denise (Philippines): Only one person struggled so much throughout the premerge game that they were never able to avoid a tribal council. After the merge, they would have to attend every tribal council unless they are voted out. Denise fought hard to stay in the game and was only immune once. She attended every tribal council her season and is the only contestant to witness the elimination of every other player in a single season. The way she made it to the end and won proves the type of great player, and the great hero, that she is to the Survivor world.

#2 Tom (Palau and Heroes versus Villains): This is another person who could be considered a villain to some. But he lead his tribe to its dominance throughout the tribal part of the game. He then won lots of immunity challenges, spending a record amount of time immune throughout the game (but not all in a row, like Joe did in Cambodia). Even the one person who didn’t vote for him to win the game knew the type of threat that he was. That’s why he’s so high on this list.

Now you might be wondering who I picked as the number one best hero in Survivor history. I actually almost cut him from the list, before deciding that he would work out as number one. I don’t know why he wouldn’t deserve to be a great hero. And while some people didn’t like him, I do. I’m not sure what he could do to change that.

#1 Rupert (Pearl Islands, All-Stars, Heroes versus Villains, and Blood versus Water): An eccentric person, by far, this person is so well liked that there is no way the other players would ever let him reach the end of the game. If he was there, you can bet that he’d sweep the jury votes for sure. His main flaw as a player is that the villains of the seasons always seem to get the better of him and the game. But he’s certainly a hero. Even when he doesn’t make it far in the game, his main move is being heroic and giving up his chance to play for someone else. But, he’s the greatest hero in my mind.

Well, that’s it for this top ten of mine. I hope that you like it. Did it fit well with my top ten on villains? I hope that it did. I wonder what heroes you think that I might have missed or what you think weren’t actually heroes. But I think that I made good picks. For now, this is Adam Decker, signing off.

Should Fans Cast an All New Player Season?

After Cambodia brought in the idea of fans casting a season, one has to wonder if they will ever do that with an all new player season. Now I may not have much to say on this topic, but I will mention what I think about this idea. What I’ll make sure to do is point out the pros and cons of doing this.

Pros: We are probably less likely to hate players that we had a hand in casting. We’ve done this once; we can do it again. Since we did this with returning players, we might as well do it once with new players. The people we choose to cast are probably all Survivor fans and we don’t have to worry about recruits who haven’t seen the game they are playing being on this season.

Cons: The fans don’t know what they want. Certain great people are certain not to get cast and bad people will get cast in their place. While you say that might happen in every season regardless of if the fans cast it or not, it does make sense given my first point. People will complain about the season no matter what happens.

Well, those are my brief thoughts on the subject at hand. I would say more, but I’m not really sure what else I would say. I guess that’s all for now. Do you think that we should cast an all new player season like we casted Cambodia? I say that we shouldn’t simply because what production does now typically works for the most part. For now, this is Adam Decker, signing off.

Development of Cambodia Players

When players come back for another season, the type of players that they were typically changes in different ways. While we can always just watch one season on its own to see them in just one way, our perspectives of them will probably be different. So now I will go through the cast of Cambodia and compare how they have changed from their previous season to this one.

Vytas was pretty much stuck to associations with his brother the first time around. They fought against each other and after the merge when they could finally play with each other, they were both targeted and voted out. During this time, he wound up on a tribe of all women besides himself. The second time he played the game, he came off poorly towards the other women and became the first person voted out because of it. His first game was clearly better. Main transition: From being hard to play on his own to being hard to play with others.

Shirin has her fans, as evident by the fact that they voted her into this season. The first time she played, she was mostly remember for contestants hating her and her getting upset because she has an abusive past. This time around, we didn’t get much from her due to her early exit from the game. This season portrayed her as more annoying although her main reason for being voted out was not being in the main alliance on her tribe. In my mind, her good reputation is still intact, although it took a bit of a hit this season. Main transition: From an unfortunate vote out to a bit of an annoying person.

Peih-Gee is someone that I remember from her first season simply due to how much a tribe member named Denise constantly mistreated her. This season, she had Abi mistreating her causing a much earlier elimination this time around. Clearly, she did better the first time around, although it is hard to say what exactly changed for her the second time around. Main transition: From a good player who made it far to a good player who didn’t make it far.

Jeff Varner definitely took a hit this season. He was remembered fondly in Australia where a strange rule at the time got the opposing tribe to vote him out. This time around, he came off as a bit dumb and slightly arrogant when we saw him in the game. All the airtime he got basically pointed to the reasons why he got such an early elimination this time around. If he’s back a third time, hopefully he can do better. Main transition: From a victim of a twist to a victim of himself.

Monica to me failed to stand out much in either season of hers. I do wonder how an unknown like her got her cast. I mean, that certainly didn’t help Jim Rice get casted by the fans. I can’t remember how she stuck out on Samoa, but since nearly the entire cast got an invisible edit that season, that might not be her fault. She obviously lasted longer the first time around, but it’s hard to say what the differences are between her seasons. Did she stand out better in either one? Not really. Main transition: From an obscure jury member to an obscure premerge boot.

Terry had a sudden and unexpected end to his story the second time around in an exit never before seen, although Jenna Moresca’s exit from All-Stars was kinda close to it. He left without a real resolution to his story. One wonders if he would have actually been blindsided had he stayed in the game. Were producers trying to do him a favor by pulling him from the game? Normally I’m against the idea that production ever interferes, but sometimes it just seems like nothing else makes sense. It probably was just a weird elimination. Regardless of what happened, it’s hard to really tell a difference between his game the first time against the second time around. The first time he lucked out getting a super powered idol that ultimately didn’t help him. He proved himself to be a challenge beast as well the first time around. This time we never saw much of a story arc from him this time around. We might have had he stayed in the game longer. Main transition: From a person who fought hard in the game to a person who fought hard for his son.

Woo certainly had a lot that could have gone differently for him the second time around. But he was the one finalist picked off before the surprise early merge. He was too lenient the first time around and took a much better player than him to the end of the game. This time, he failed to stand out for long although he was a big enough target to get voted out. Main transition: From a dumb runner-up to a forgettable vote out this season.

Kass tried to unembrace the nickname chaos Kass. She certainly was remembered in Cagayan for flipping on her tribe. Unlike most flippers, she actually made it very far in the game. This time around, it’s hard to say much of which she did in the long run. She was clearly on the bottom after the merge and she was voted out. But it’s hard to tell much of a difference for her. Main transition: From a cause of chaos to a person who couldn’t control other people’s chaos.

Andrew probably took a hit this time around in his edit, in my mind at least. Where he came off coming heroic the first time around leading the mostly struggling Morgan tribe until getting blindsided right after the merge, this time he came off as more of a villain and kind of condescending. I wouldn’t say that it was that bad an edit, but he was certainly seen worse this time around. Main transition: From a heroic leader to an annoying blindside.

Kelly Wiglesworth went from having a huge edit the first time to being widely ignored the second time. Whatever she did the second time must not have been good enough to show. She had what could quite possibly be the lowest confessional count of all time, or at least any jury member. One of the most notable parts about her game was her jury question. It made her seem bitter about her loss the first time. Did she really hold onto that for 15 years? She might hold onto it even longer. That’s weird and kind of pathetic in a way. Of course, she could have just been doing a call back to the very first season and it actually didn’t affect her vote in any way. Still, she just wasn’t in this season that much. Main transition: From a great competitor to an invisible competitor.

Ciera may not have gotten that good an edit either of the seasons that she played. At least she was playing the game and trying to make moves. They may not have worked out as well as they could have. As to which season she did better in, she did make it farther in her first season and probably got a better edit that time around as well. Main transition: From a risk taker to a bit of an annoying person.

Stephen is someone that I don’t remember as well from his first time around. Clearly there are people who like him. I might have to listen more to the podcast at www.robhasawebsite.com to hear more of him on it. I don’t really like the fact that they keep butchering a name of a contributor to the podcast, so it’s not something that I stayed interested in. Meanwhile, one does have to wonder how much the challenge designers wanted him to be at the final immunity challenge as it was the same final immunity challenge from Tocantins. Speaking of Tocantins, I missed a lot of that season as it was airing so I don’t have that much of an impression on it. For a while, I could not remember who this contestant was. He turned out well on this season, even though he couldn’t make it to the end. I feel that I’ve lost the point of this paragraph. Anyways, he lasted longer the first time around, but had a better edit (to me, at least), the second time around. Main transition: From a sidekick to his own player.

Joe probably learned nothing from his game the first time since he won too many challenges the second time around and thus stood out as a threat. He’s still well loved both of his seasons. He is pretty likable. It’s hard to tell a difference between his two games. There is seemingly no difference between them. Main transition: From a strong player to a still strong player.

Abi-Maria remains the person whom I’m most surprised come back. Why did fans want her back? She didn’t prove herself to be that good a player either time. Both times she played, people were so offended by her, they wouldn’t even let her be a goat at the final tribal council and they got rid of her before it. In fact, she probably came off worse this time. Main transition: From an annoying player, to an even more annoying player.

Kimmi probably could have had a much better edit than she did. I mean, she went from being the fifth person voted out of the game all the way to sixth place. In fact, it was only do to strangeness that she was voted out. At least she tried to make a big move. Meanwhile, she was the highest ranking person that I didn’t vote for to be in the game. The first time she played she may not have stood out as much. This time, she didn’t once again, which was weird. I will say that it’s clear that she did better this second time around, even though we never saw why. Main transition: From a boring premerge boot to a slightly more interesting jury member.

Keith is a likable person whose dimwittedness may prevent him from doing well at the game. It is a bit of a surprise that he made it so far either time he played. In fact, he’s the first person since Cirie Fields to be voted out in two different finale episodes. Nobody besides those two people can claim that. I’m not sure what, if anything, changed better his two games. Main transition: From a strong player to pretty much the same player.

Kelley Wentworth is a player that I personally have liked both times she played. There are some people who thought that she should have even won the game. Of course, I only found out about that discussion on facebook by getting notifications about a post that I never even commented on. (If anyone knows how to stop that from happening, let me know. It is kind of annoying for them to send me to a place I had no interest in. Do I have to unfollow groups? I only want notifications of things that I’ve commented on in groups.) I forget if she actually has the most improved game out of any of the players. Did she beat Monica Culpepper’s record? Anyways, she clearly did better the second time around, even though it meant that we saw more of her villainess side. Main transition: From an early exit to a power player.

Tasha probably took a bit of a hit this season despite doing better the second time around. Why did nobody vote for her to win? It seems sad in a way. She played a great game, but not good enough for any of the jurors to vote for her. The first time around, she basically made it far despite a bad starting position. She thus became a threat and was voted out. The second time around, she was good at the game, but not good enough to get a single jury vote. I guess that there wasn’t much to it. Main transition: From a strong competitor to one who lets the game pass her by.

Spencer is a great player who just couldn’t get rid of an even greater player from the game and lost the game because of it. (I just lost the game, a different one.) He came off as more and more arrogant, even though cast interviews have showed us that what editors showed us barely scratched the surface. He burned bridges, especially towards the end. I still like him in a way. What’s interesting is that he’s the first contestant voted out in one finale to become a finalist in a future season. If only he had played better. Main transition: From a hero who lost to a villain to a hero who lost to another hero.

Jeremy won this season and he could have won his last season if he weren’t such a power player. For some odd reason, nobody saw him as a threat and he coasted clear to the end. He’s the first winner whose only immunity challenge win was the last one. I do wonder if he played a perfect game, but I don’t think that he did. But I’m not sure what the difference is between his two seasons. I mean, he came off great in both seasons; he just only won this one. So I’ll have to say that he did better this season. Main transition: From a great player who didn’t win to a great player who did win.

I’m going to have a table now where I compare the games of players from this season. I will list their names and then compare their first season to Cambodia. Some did better and some did worse. Obviously, perspectives change.

Contestant’s Name	Original Season	Cambodia
Vytas	Best	Worst
Shirin	Good	Worst
Peih-Gee	Best	Worst
Jeff Varner	Best	Worst
Monica	Better	Not as good
Terry	Strong	Heroic exit
Woo	Loyal	Forgettable
Kass	Memorable	Better edit
Andrew	Better	Worse
Kelly Wiglesworth	Best	Worst
Ciera	Best	Not as good
Stephen	Longer	Better
Joe	Same	Same
Abi-Maria	Bad	Worse
Kimmi	Worst	Best
Keith	Same	Same
Kelley Wentworth	Worst	Best
Tasha	Better	Not as good
Spencer	Good edit	Further, but worse edit
Jeremy	Great	Better

Well, that’s all I can think of for this blog post, except for this paragraph. I’ll probably do this again with other returning player seasons as they happen. If they ever do a second chance theme again, I do hope that all the players fit with it and they aren’t just putting whoever on that season. I mean, around half of the cast (possibly more) doesn’t fit with the second chance theme for this season. But I guess that we’ll find out what happens with it in the future. For now, this is Adam Decker, signing off.

Survivor Second Chances Version 2

Now that a second chance season is behind us, I might as well get to another cast of mine. I’ll be casting a list for a different second chance season. Out of all the people that have played the game, who would I feel best needs a second chance at it? Well, this post will go through an updated list of mine from the last time that I told you who my picks were.

Before I do that, of course, here are the rules: 1- No winners allowed. This is a pretty clear rule as winners would not make sense in a second chance season. 2- You can only pick one time players. This rule is pretty clear as picking someone who has played more than one wouldn’t fit the theme of a second chance season. 3- Their return must make sense. Was something unfortunate the reason that they need a second chance? Was it a twist or dumb decision? You can’t just pick whoever. They have to fit with a second chance theme. 4- For my version, at least, you’d need ten men and ten women. I will list alternates for various choices. More on that later. I should get to the actual list of people that I would choose.

Starting with the men, there are different people that I would choose. My first choice would be someone who is on mostly everyone’s list for a second chance season. Paschal from Marquesas had to draw a purple rock and production even admitted that rock drawing shouldn’t have been the tie-breaker in that scenario anyways. My next pick is someone affected negatively from a tribe swap. While a whole score of people from various seasons were, I’m picking Travis from Vanuatu because his dumb choice to try to signal the other tribe about the upcoming merge is what got him voted out. The next person that I’m choosing is someone who basically didn’t even get to play the game due to a twist. That person is Jonathan from Palau. The next person made a dumb mistake towards the end of the game and was voted out because of it. That person is Ian from Palau. The next person also made a dumb mistake towards the end of the game that got him voted out. That person was Rafe from Guatemala.

Continuing my list of men, we have a man who made a bunch of dumb choices that ultimately got him voted out. That person was Jason from Micronesia. Then there was a man who had a lot going for him in the game until he threw it into the sea with the rest of the cast. That person was Marcus from Gabon. Also, there was a man who made pretty dumb choices by trying to get someone to give up immunity. I’m thinking about Ken from Gabon. The next person that I’m choosing lost Survivor by only one vote. While that normally doesn’t mean much, when two quitters are on the jury and they both vote for the winner, then it doesn’t seem as fair for you. While I like the person that won Nicaragua, I’ll have to say that Chase deserves a second chance due to this unusualness. And my last pick is someone who was picked off by his alliance and fought hard to stay in the game before falling short at the duel where he would have reentered the game. That person is John from Blood versus Water.

Now, here are the women that I would choose. A thread with some of them are immunity twists that cost people the game. Imagine a tribal council where people could work together and win immunity as a group despite them all being voted out of the game. That is how Darrah got voted out of Pearl Islands and why she’s on my list. Next is Wanda from Palau who is on here for the same reason Jonathan from the same season is. Neither player got to play the game due to a terrible twist. Speaking of terrible twists, later that season, the opposing tribe voted to give a person immunity who would have otherwise been voted out of the game that night. That caused Angie from Palau to get voted out. Then there was a time when a well known curse could be thwarted by giving a car to everyone else on the tribe by giving yours up. Thus, you are put in a no one situation and voted out once you keep your car. That’s why Cindy from Guatemala is on my list. While I’ll probably never hate the rich versus poor twist enough, there was a contestant who was doomed to be on the poor tribe regardless of what happened. That person left the game pretty early. I’m talking about Sylvia from Fiji.

Now when it comes to those screwed by immunity twists, there was only one person who was voted out despite being on a tribe that won every challenge up until this person’s elimination. A twist had them giving up immunity after winning it. That is how Liliana from Fiji was voted out of the game. I’m surprised that nobody mentions her on lists like these. Then there was a person who was an outcast on her tribe after a terrible twist. This negativity affected her for the rest of the game. I’m talking about Sierra from Tocantins. Next is a person who didn’t make the cast of the first second chance season. Her game was screwed by a terrible person. I’m talking about Mikayla from South Pacific. Next, I have a contestant who almost made it back into the game, but didn’t. That person is Christine from South Pacific. The last person in my cast is someone whose loved one helped get her voted out. That person is Marissa from Blood versus Water.

Here’s my cast for version 2 of Second Chance: Men- Paschal (Marquesas), Travis (Vanuatu), Jonathan (Palau), Ian (Palau), Rafe (Guatemala), Jason (Micronesia), Marcus (Gabon), Ken (Gabon), Chase (Nicaragua), John (Blood versus Water). Women- Darrah (Pearl Islands), Wanda (Palau), Angie (Palau), Cindy (Guatemala), Sylvia (Fiji), Liliana (Fiji), Sierra (Tocantins), Mikayla (South Pacific), Christine (South Pacific), Marissa (Blood versus Water).

Note about alternates: Okay, before I get to the alternates, I thought that I would make notes about them. First off, I decided that every season (except those that lacked new players) should get an alternate of each gender. That includes the seasons that have people on the main list. Also, I’m putting anyone that I think would fit with the second chance theme on the list of alternates. Well, maybe not everyone, but everyone that I could think of at least. I may not actually be able to defend all of them, but these are my picks for alternates.

Alternate Men- Dirk, Joel, Sean (Borneo), Mitchell (Australia), Carl, Silas, Brandon (Africa), Gabriel, John, (Marquesas), Jake (Thailand), Roger (Amazon), Shawn, Burton (Pearl Islands), Brook, Rory (Vanuatu), Willard, James, Coby, (Palau), Jim, Blake, (Guatemala), Dan, Bruce, Shane (Panama), Billy, JP, Anh-Tuan, Brad, Nate (Cook Islands), Gary, Mookie (Fiji), Aaron (China), Joel (Micronesia), Dan, Matty (Gabon), Jerry, Joe, Brandon (Tocantins), Mike, Erik, John, Brett (Samoa), Shannon (Nicaragua), Grant, Matt, Mike (Redemption Island), Keith (South Pacific), Bill, Jonas (One World), Zane, Jeff, Pete (Philippines), Shamar, Matt, Eddie (Caramoan), Brad (Blood versus Water), Garrett, Brice (Cagayan), John Rocker, Drew, Dale, Josh, Wes, Jon Misch (San Juan del Sur), Vince, Max, Joaquin, Dan, Rodney (Worlds Apart).

Alternate Women- Sonja, Ramona, Gretchen, Colleen (Borneo), Debb, Elisabeth (Australia), Lindsey, Kelly (Africa), Sarah, Gina (Marquesas), Ghandia, Erin (Thailand), Joanna, Jeanne, Deena, Christy (Amazon), Lillian (Pearl Islands), Lisa, Leann (Vanuatu), Caryn (Palau), Brooke (Guatemala), Melinda, Misty (Panama), Cecilia, Jenny, Sundra (Cook Islands), Lisette, Michelle, Stacy (Fiji), Sherea, Jamie (China), Mary, Tracy, Alexis (Micronesia), Michelle, Jacquie (Gabon), Sandy (Tocantins), Betsy, Elizabeth, Kelly (Samoa), Kelly Bruno, Alina (Nicaragua), Kristina, Stephanie, Natalie (Redemption Island), Elyse, (South Pacific), Kourtney, Nina, Christina (One World), Roxy, Dana, Sarah, RC (Philippines), Hope, Laura (Caramoan), Rachel, Laura Boneham, Katie (Blood versus Water), J’Tia, Sarah (Cagayan), Val (San Juan del Sur), So, Nina, Lindsey, Kelly (Worlds Apart).

I hope that you like my choices. If you don’t, you can look back through my posts to see who I picked the first time. I did change who some of the picks were and would probably change them again whenever returning player seasons affect my picks. That’s all that I can think of for my picks this time around. For now, this is Adam Decker, signing off.

Survivor: Blood versus Water- Hero or Villain

For now, this is the last installment of me assessing whether someone is a hero or villain from a certain Survivor cast. There will probably be more of this in the future, but I don’t know when or what seasons it could be. Here I go listing the cast of Blood versus Water and I’ll let you know if I think that they are a hero, villain, or neither.

Rupert was put on the heroes tribes for the twentieth season. Is he still the same type of player this season? His biggest move this time was basically falling on his sword so that another person could play the game. While it wasn’t a smart move, it was definitely heroic and he remains a hero in this season like all the others he was in.

Colton is someone that not a lot of people like. That typically makes one a villain. Now he certainly was a villain the first time he played the game. But, his status as a villain deserves to be revoked. That won’t make him a hero, but that will make the category easy this time. Why’d he quit anyways?

Rachel may not seem to have a category at first. But then, you may notice that she was sacrificed by her tribe in an effort to shake up the game. And while this ultimately didn’t work in her or her tribe’s favor, it made her seem like a hero to me.

Marissa is another player that was sacrificed by her tribe in order to possibly better their own games. She then won a lot of the early Redemption Island duels before she fell short at one and was eliminated from the game. Like Rachel, I see her as being a hero.

Candice may be a pick that I could potentially get backlash with. But, let’s face it, things can change. For instance, the first time she played may have been villainous and then production wrongly places her on the heroes tribe for her second season where she ends up betraying them. Then, a stupid twist and possibly her negative reputation or the fact that she’s a last minute replacement in the game gets her voted out of the game before it even starts basically. She wins a lot of duels to stay in the game before barely falling short at one that she could have potentially won given better ways of doing them. Suddenly, the status of hero finally fits Candice, the way she fought hard to stay in the game.

Brad may have fumbled his way through the game as he tried to control the alliance he was in and at the bottom of. To me, everything about him screamed villain. He may not have been as good a villain as others, but he helped screw enough people out of the game before he was blindsided himself.

Kat could be a hero, possibly. But, that might only work if you were to grasp at straws. She’s not a villain for sure. So, while some may argue for her status as a hero, I think that it’s clear that she was in neither category. What one would fit anyways?

John, for me, is another one that’s easy to classify. Why do I say that? Well, once again we have a player get sacrificed for other people’s own game while the person sacrificed then has to go fight for their lives in the game. He fought tooth and nail through the duels once he made it there before failing short when he would have reentered the game. So, once again, we have a hero in this game.

Laura Boneham may be hard to classify at first. But then you realize that she never did anything to fit either category. She tried to cause chaos, but was too bad at it to mean anything. Plus, there was never anything heroic that fit her either.

Aras could be fairly easy to identify. He is in my mind at least. Now sometimes leading a tribe is heroic. But it depends on how you do it. The way he controlled it, for a while at least, was very villainous. His game might have ended sooner than he wanted to, but he was certainly a villain this time around.

Vytas may not have had much of an edit outside of his brother’s shadow. But he stood out in different ways. While he was a good player, in my mind, he was certainly not a hero. There are many different ways this is clear to me. He’s a villain to me.

Caleb might not fit into either category. He made a move that was villainous when he helped blindside Brad. Other than that, he might be considered heroic the way he fought through the game. His death would certainly make people think better of him, if they didn’t think good of him already. Meanwhile, I’m still not sure if he fits into a category.

Katie, to me, can be considered a hero. There are not actually a lot to say to support that, but I think that there are in the end. She stay loyal to her alliance, even when it got her a rock drawn and eliminated (to Redemption Island) from the game. Also, she was pretty nice and kind to people from what we saw so it makes sense that she’s a hero.

Hayden is someone that different people might have an opinion on. There could be some evidence that he’s a villain since he abandoned the singles alliance for his own. But, I still see him as a hero the way he lead his alliance to fight against the villains of the season.

Laura Morett fought hard to stay in the game. She came back from Redemption Island and spent a record amount of time back in the game before being voted out again. I’m not sure what she might have been in her first season, but she’s undoubtedly a hero in this one.

Ciera is called a hero by some. I don’t know why they call her that. She flipped on the only two alliances in the game and helped vote out her own mother. I don’t see anything heroic in her. But I do like her as a villain. When I was revoking Colton’s villain status, I even put Ciera as a placeholder for greatest Survivor villain briefly, but I have since given that to Tony from Cagayan. The point is, she’s a great villain, but certainly not a hero.

Tina fits as a hero from her previous seasons and it seems that nothing in this season would change that. She still seems to fit the heroic name that she has. She may not have stood out as much this season as she would have wanted to, but a hero she remains.

Gervase was covered in my post regarding hero/villain status from Borneo. I didn’t see anything that put him in either category that season. But his next season of Blood versus Water is what made him find a category, this one being that of a villain. Why is he a villain? Well, that’s quite simple. He teamed up with another well known villain and they fought their way to the end together. They did a bunch of villainous things together.

Monica has the most improved finish of any two time player going from premerge boot in One World to second place this season. Of course, that doesn’t mean that she’s a hero. Everything about the way she played through the game seemed like that of a villain to me and I don’t think that many people would disagree with me about this.

Tyson was put on the villains tribe during heroes versus villains. While he might not have been that good a villain in previous seasons, his win this time proves that he is a good villain. I don’t see any evidence that he’s a hero and he certainly fits the villain persona. The villains were pretty successful as a tribe as they have produced three winners (Sandra, Boston Rob, and Tyson).

The cast: Rupert- hero, Colton- neither, Rachel- hero, Marissa- hero, Candice- hero, Brad- villain, Kat- neither, John- hero, Laura Boneham- neither, Aras- villain, Vytas- villain, Caleb- neither, Katie- hero, Hayden- hero, Laura Morett- hero, Ciera- villain, Tina- hero, Gervase- villain, Monica- villain, Tyson- villain.

Well, those are my thoughts regarding the cast of Blood versus Water and whether or not they were a hero or villain. I hope that I did well in picking them to whoever read this. Can you provide evidence to support Ciera being a hero should you believe that? Or do you agree with me that she’s a villain? Is there anyone else that you think that I got wrong? What all did I get right? I don’t know when or even if I’ll go through the cast of any other seasons to see if they were heroes or villains. For now, this is Adam Decker, signing off.