Development of Game Changers Cast

Once a person becomes a returning player, it is likely that their game is different in their new season. Even if they do try to play the same sort of game they did the first time, they will ultimately have a different game happen this time. So, as usual after new returning player seasons, I will go through the cast of the season and compare their most recent game to their previous games before this season. Hopefully, we can all learn something about how things change.

Ciera seems to be taking hits with each of her seasons. The first time she played, she was a likable villain who helped make huge moves even though it ended up costing her the game. The second time, she was still a villain but a bit less likable and her minority alliance never really took control of the game. Her struggles were most apparent with her third season where she played too hard too fast and got voted out first. Each time she has played, she seems to be getting worse. I don’t know if her reputation is ruined, but it keeps taking hits. Main transition: From a huge villain to an easy vote out.

Original thoughts on Ciera after Cambodia: 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.

Tony might have taken one of the biggest hits this season. We all know the type of player that he is after his first season and he acted like a lunatic near the very beginning. This made him like an outcast on his tribe and got him voted out early after clashing heads with another winner. The first time, he proved that he could be a huge player and yet still win the game. This time, he proved that arrogance goes both ways and it got him an early exit. Main transition: From a great winner to an irrelevant player.

Caleb just didn’t seem to do well in the game this time around, which is sad. If only there were more to him. The first time he played, he was considered a good player even though we never saw much of him and he wound up getting medically evacuated early into the game. When he played a second time, he never seemed to do that much again as he didn’t make it that far. It’s hard to tell what really changed about him, other than that I’m glad he’s presented better here than on Big Brother. Main transition: From a short-lived player for medical reason to a short-live player for no good reason.

Malcolm is a wonderful player who largely fell victim to a twist this time around. The first time he played, he may have failed on his first tribe, but he succeeded on his second tribe and did well after the merge. Unfortunately, his ally turned on him and he was the last person voted out. When he played the second time, he had an advantage in being unknown to the other contestants and it got him far into the game, until his great game play got him voted out a second time. This time around, his great game play once again got him voted out by another tribe basically this time. He didn’t make the merge over the unusual twist, but his largely great game play remains intact, in my mind at least. Main transition: From a great player who made it far to a great player who didn’t.

Original thoughts on Malcolm after Caramoan: He first appeared in the 25^th season. He was put on a tribe that was pretty bad before being put on a tribe that was really good. He was a strong player and jury threat. He was the last voted out. | He returned to the game, despite the fact that his season hadn't aired yet. He was the first back to back player to do considerably worse the second time. He was a master of the hidden immunity idol and saved himself once with one while convincing someone else to play one for him earlier. He was on the jury again.

JT is an ever descending, three time player. While not the only player to do worse every time he played, he is the first person to finish all three ways (finalist, jury, premerge) in the order of greatest to least. The first time he played, he had a perfect game. No one had done that before and only one person has done it since (if I checked right). The second time he played, he made one of the all time dumbest moves by giving his idol to someone on the other tribe only to get idoled out of the game himself. This time around, he wasn’t nearly as dumb but still enforced the stereotype that nice guys finish last. He was on the wrong side of the numbers and made too many mistakes. Main transition: From a great contender to an idiot.

Sandra won twice before playing this, her third season. She didn’t win for the first time, but she did outlast all the former winners this season, so she has that in her favor. The first time she played, she may not have been the most flashy villain her season, but she was the most liked compared to her competition. When she played a second time, she played against the majority nearly the entire part of the game before the merge. She then worked with that side when the heroes wouldn’t work with her and the heroes still voted for her to win the game, which she did. She then got way too cocky when she played again and everyone knew it. She still made it far somehow, but wound up on the wrong side of the numbers and was voted out. Main transition: From a cocky person who won to a cocky person who didn’t win.

Jeff Varner is someone who I thought couldn’t get any worse in future seasons. But he probably feels the same way that Paula Deen felt after her racist remarks were made public. He could have been doing so well in the long term had he not wound up on the bottom of the numbers and made a terrible decision in a last ditch effort to save himself which turned out to actually be the last nail in the coffin that was constructed for him. Ultimately, the only way he could succeed in the game is in a back to the basics season. His first season got him with a tie-breaker rule that his tribe didn’t know about. The second season got him after tribe swaps. This season was also a tribe swap that got rid of him, but that wasn’t what ultimately killed his game this time around. He made one of the dumbest moves of all time. Hopefully, his reputation can recover. Main transition: From an unlucky target to his own target.

Original thoughts on Jeff after Cambodia: 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.

Hali is someone that I didn’t like that much going into this season. You can read all my posts from before this season if you want to. They’ll all tell you about my old feelings regarding her. Only you may notice the past tense in this writing. You see, when she first played, there wasn’t much to her edit and she just became an obscure boot. Plus, she was on Worlds Apart, which was a pretty bummer of a season. This time around, I started to like the little devil that she is. She may have placed around the same place of the game this time around, but I felt she left a more lasting impression on me this time around, one where I actually like her. Main transition: From a forgettable player to a notable villain.

Ozzy has been all over the place edit wise throughout his various seasons. The first time he played, he was shown as a dominate player who fell short of winning the jury by one vote. The second time, he was still a power player, only he got voted out and wound up very bitter towards the end. The third time he played, he had his worst edit as he wound up being an egotistical maniac who made Redemption Island practically irrelevant after the merge. This time around, he got a better edit than the last two times and wasn’t really seen that much throughout the game. He did become the first player to make the merge four different times. I don’t know what to say about his difference between seasons, except that I’m glad he’s more toned down this time around. Main transition: From a major powerhouse player to an irrelevant player.

Debbie continued being the type of crazy player that I love because I love anyone who is crazy like I am. It’s good knowing that I’m not alone. The first time she played, despite her craziness, people still took her seriously enough to form an alliance with her. Only this alliance ended up blindsiding her. What was the reason for her downfall this time? I don’t remember this time. I could easily look it up. But I don’t think that there was any real change for her this time around. Main transition: From a crazy player to a more unexplained crazy person.

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

Sierra has sadly been largely irrelevant to both seasons she played. I like her, though. The first time she played, she made it all the way to the finale, but had the most invisible edit of those who did. This time around, we never saw much of her outside of her legacy advantage that ultimately went to someone else. Main transition: From an invisible player to a slightly more visible player.

Andrea is someone who I’m not really sure if I liked that much, but definitely didn’t hate before this season. Now, I don’t really like her if I even did in the first place. When she first played, she lucked into an easy alliance and didn’t have much to do except for getting rid of her showmance for blabbing about what he could have done. Ultimately, she got blindsided by her alliance and got voted out as a result where she lucked her way back into the game after an insanely stupid challenge only to get voted right back out again.

When she played a second time, she never really did that much outside of once again being part of a power alliance and once again getting the short end of the stick in that alliance causing her to get voted out again, this time with an idol in her pocket. When she played this time, she seemed to lack a notable alliance and became quite mean for reasons that didn’t entirely show up on screen. Main transition: From a nice coattail rider to a mean person.

Original thoughts on Andrea after Caramoan: She first appeared in the 22^nd season. She was in a showmance with another contestant. She got voted out twice. She won Redemption Island duels. | She found a hidden immunity idol, didn't play it, and got voted out as a result.

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

Cirie might be a player that I like more than I realize. It can be hard to remember what all she did over her four seasons playing the game. I don’t remember much of her first game only it seemed as she might have struggled early on, yet made it far enough to be in the finale, only to be eliminated in a fire-making tie-breaker. The second time she played, she had a huge dominance over nearly the whole game, only to be voted out after learning of a surprise final two. The third time she played, she was gone very early into the game over a minority was able to blindside her. When she played this time, she played a subtle yet awesome game where no possible mistake she made seemed to come back against her in any way. She made her third finale, a first for any player, and was eliminated simply because all the other players were immune. Main transition: From a great player to a still great player.

Aubry is someone that I didn’t like going into this season and still probably don’t really like that much. However, I don’t think that she’s that bad a person in the end. The first time she played the game, she was whiny and annoying, yet still beloved by others who aren’t me. She didn’t win the first time, but she did come in second. This time around, we never saw that much from her, yet she made it to the finale again. Ultimately, she ended up getting voted out after getting on the wrong side of the numbers. Main transition: From an entitled player to a less noticeable presence.

Tai doesn’t seem to realize that sometimes nice guys actually do finish last. The first time he played, he became evil and blindsided his allies leaving him without any friends on the jury and he got no jury votes as a result. When he played this time, he wanted to avoid being an evil person, although he might have if given the opportunity. Ultimately, he was a threat enough to get voted out. Main transition: From a bad villain to a person who was too nice for his own good.

Troyzan originally played in One World. He tried to fight against the women that season, but wasn’t successful. He appeared in the poll to potentially be part of Cambodia, but was rejected by the fans who voted on the cast. When he played this season, he picked a good ally. In fact, this ally was too good as Troyzan practically rode his coattails all the way to the end and was rejected by the jury as a result. First he was rejected by the fans in terms of the vote, then he was rejected by the jury in terms of the vote. He could work on being more likable. Main transition: From an arrogant player to a less arrogant, but still mostly irrelevant person.

Brad originally played in Blood Versus Water. He played with his wife who was voted off premerge her first season and became the second place contestant this season. How is that relevant? Well, in his first season, he became a premerge book after enough of his alliance turned on him. Like Troyzan, he was considered for Cambodia and not picked by the fans. This time around, he wanted to play like his wife who he frequently brought up. Ultimately it worked as he too went from premerge to second place. That was clearly not the result he wanted. Main transition: From a cocky player who didn’t make it far from a cocky player who did, yet still didn’t win.

Sarah played first in Cagayan and thought she held all the power, but didn’t. She thought that she could flip her way to a win, but someone else flipped and she was voted out as a result. The next time she played, she actually continued with her flipping back and forth only this time, it actually paid off. It can be a bit surprising that people knew this was going on, yet still gave her the win. Main transition: From a flipper who didn’t win to a flipper who did.

Contestant	Original season	Second season	Third season	Game Changers season
Ciera	Best	Average	Was Game Changers	Worst
Tony	Best	Was Game Changers	N/A	Worst
Caleb	Quickly left game	Was Game Changers	N/A	Irrelevant
Malcolm	Best	Most notable	Was Game Changers	Strangest exit
JT	Best	Dumbest	Was Game Changers	Worst
Sandra	Pretty good	Best	Was Game Changers	Good, but not good enough
Jeff Varner	Sadly short	Bad	Was Game Changers	Worst
Hali	Irrelevant	Was Game Changers	N/A	Villainy
Ozzy	Best	Shortest	Bad edit	Good again
Debbie	Same	Was Game Changers	N/A	Same
Zeke	Same	Was Game Changers	N/A	Same
Sierra	Same	Was Game Changers	N/A	Same
Andrea	Furthest	Almost nothing	Was Game Changers	Bad edit
Michaela	Shortest	Was Game Changers	N/A	Furthest
Cirie	Introduced	Going strong	Worst	Still good
Aubry	Entitled	Was Game Changers	N/A	Irrelevant
Tai	Bad villain	Was Game Changers	N/A	Too nice a person
Troyzan	Bad edit	Was Game Changers	N/A	Irrelevant
Brad	Shortest	Was Game Changers	N/A	Furthest
Sarah	Worst	Was Game Changers	N/A	Best

Well, there’s not much else to talk about besides that. I hope that you enjoyed this blog post. I’ll be back later with my next blog post at some point, probably still Wednesdays for now. Do you think that I did a good job comparing people from this season versus their previous season or seasons? I hope that you did. For now, this is Adam Decker, signing off.

If I had cast Game Changers

I’m not entirely sure if I should be doing this post. But I might as well do this since I don’t really have anything better to do. If I could cast whoever I wanted to in a game changers season, who would I choose? I’ll forgo any potential rules and am not sure if I’ll get into honorable mentions or not. I will avoid going with people on the actual game changers cast, even if I would have cast them, and I’ll also avoid any five time players, although I won’t be missing many people this way anyways. But I should go to casting my version of this season.

First, let’s start with the men that I’d cast. I wouldn’t do this season without Richard from Borneo and All-Stars, so he’ll be in my cast. Next, I’ll go a bit more unusual and cast Burton from Pearl Islands. My next pick would have to be Chris from Vanuatu. Keeping with my theme of always casting someone from Guatemala, I’d pick Gary from that season to be on this cast. I’d also have to go with Terry from Panama and Cambodia as another player.

I can’t think of many game changers better than Yau-Man from Fiji and Micronesia. My next pick is a bit unusual, even for me. I’d go with Ken from Gabon who was able to convince everyone else in the game to throw a hidden immunity idol into the sea. My next pick would be Brett from Samoa, keeping with the alpha male theme that I sort of have here. I would then go with Reynold from Caramoan and end with John from Blood versus Water.

Now let’s get to the women that I’d cast. If I must call the contestants who didn’t make the cast of Cambodia rejects and pick one of them for this season, I would go with Teresa from Africa. I think that Kathy from Marquesas and All-Stars helped change the game by creating the first ever power shift in the game. Christy from Amazon has to be in the cast in my mind. Jenna from Amazon and All-Stars played in a crazy hard way and should be cast as well. Plus, it would be fun to put Christy and Jenna in the same season again. Lillian from Pearl Islands may not have done that much different outside of a unique opportunity that she got, but I would still pick her to be on this season.

Stephenie from Palau, Guatemala, and Heroes versus Villains, did a lot to change the game in my mind. Candice from Cook Islands, Heroes versus Villains, and Blood versus Water is someone that I think should return due to how she practically invented the mutiny by doing it. I feel that Amanda from China, Micronesia, and Heroes versus Villains, is a great player and should return at some point. Natalie from Micronesia has to be included in my mind. And I’ll end by picking Denise from Philippines as who else won by surviving every tribal council in the game?

The Cast- Men: Richard (Borneo, All-Stars), Burton (Pearl Islands), Chris (Vanuatu), Gary (Guatemala), Terry (Panama, Cambodia), Yau-Man (Fiji, Micronesia), Ken (Gabon), Brett (Samoa), Reynold (Caramoan), John (Blood versus Water). Women: Teresa (Africa), Kathy (Marquesas, All-Stars), Christy (Amazon), Jenna (Amazon, All-Stars), Lillian (Pearl Islands), Stephenie (Palau, Guatemala, Heroes versus Villains), Candice (Cook Islands, Heroes versus Villains, Blood versus Water), Amanda (China, Micronesia, Heroes versus Villains), Natalie (Micronesia), Denise (Philippines)

Well, that’s it for this blog post of mine. I don’t know what else to say outside of whatever appears in this random, last, possibly useless paragraph. I hope that you like my version of a game changer cast. I wonder if we’ll see any of these people play again. I guess we’ll see. For now, this is Adam Decker, signing off.

Team from Blood versus Water Version 2

Well, now that more players from Blood versus Water have returned to play the game, I might as well update this list of mine again. You see, I would want a potential group of six players from the game and I will be editing my version of the original list to a new one. This could actually be the third version of it, but my original plan was only posted after the finalized cast of Cambodia was announced and I could no longer choose Vytas and Ciera and tribe members. Thus, I replaced them with Brad and Marissa. Now that Brad is returning for real, I might as well mention a new version of what the twist of mine would be now. But first, a reminder of what the twist is.

First, I should do a refresher of the cast of six players. My team x from Blood versus Water would be Hayden, John, Brad, Marissa, Katie, and Laura Boneham. I had picked only the one time players as I felt that was the best way to do the twist. But, I’ll now have to change my own rule since I can’t pick Caleb, the only one time player who’s a man left, because he’s dead and can’t play again. It’s a real shame too. One does have to wonder if would have played again if he hadn’t died. But I should get to the point: someone has to replace Brad. And it has to be someone from the original Galang.

There are five returning players to choose from. Let’s pick who I won’t go with without naming any names. I’m not going with the four time player or the three time player since I want someone who would have played the least amount of times in order to be potentially fairer. Since one of the three people left won the game, I’m not going to put him on this season. Another person quit, so I’m now left with the only player who I feel would best work.

The person who replaces Brad would have to be Gervase. I feel that he would work for a lot of different reasons. For one, I can’t pick him in my team Borneo twist anymore, so I might as well put him in this season’s version of that twist. He also seems to be without any advantage over the other players like Aras, a winner, would end up having. Another reason why he works is that he was on the post swap Tadhana, which is an added bonus. This means that my new version of the cast would have to be Laura Boneham, John, Katie, Hayden, Marissa, and Gervase.

Well, that’s pretty much all there is to say for this blog post. I have reworked my cast for this season again and could wind up having to change it again should any of those six people return for a future season. If anyone not mentioned returns, I guess this won’t affect my cast until the list does have to change again. I hope that you understood this post. For now, this is Adam Decker, signing off.

Survivor: Game Changers Finale

Well, I’m going to have to look back at what I’ve done for previous finale posts and do the usual end of the season awards that I do from one season to another. I’ll have to work on that some. I’ll also have to look up what predictions I did before the game to see just how few of them I got right.

I wonder already just how crazy the final six tribal council will be. There are three idols in the game, someone is going to win immunity, there’s the legacy advantage that Sarah has, and possibly one, unlucky person guaranteed to get the boot. Could this be the end of Aubry, Brad, or Cirie? I guess that we’ll have to see to know for sure. Also, while I’m on the topic of Aubry, I don’t think that I would hate it if she winds up winning this season. I might have gone so far to think that her winning would mean that it is rigged, but I don’t have that much hatred for her anymore. With that being said, I do think that there are more worthy people who should win instead of her. But enough of my ramblings.

In the first segment of the show, we get to Jeff introducing the show. We then get to camp after what happened. Sarah has it out with Cirie over what happened. I don’t think that Cirie realizes what she did wrong. Tai admits that he was targeting Sarah. Well played, Cirie. Once again, honesty gets the best of Tai. Tai wants to use his idol to gain trust. He reveals both idols instead of just one. If I had more than one and revealed that I had one, I wouldn’t reveal the other.

The maze challenge is brought back. I wonder how Sarah will handle this challenge. She doesn’t need to win, but she can’t get it easy without the other players getting suspicious. This will be a long first segment. I will admit that I like reward challenges in the finale but only if they are also for immunity. Troyzan is colorblind? Who would have guessed? Brad is at the challenge place first, but is quickly followed by other contestants. Soon, they are all there. It seems like most of the people are evenly matched when it comes to the puzzle. Brad was missing pieces, but he finds them and wins the challenge. Sarah was close, but didn’t need it. Troyzan and Sarah are brought along for the food part of the reward.

In the second segment of the show, we get to the reward. Also, what are the three seasons they were saying were out on DVD now? Is it San Juan del Sur, Worlds Apart, and Cambodia? Are they really out or are they just saying that? Blood versus Water still isn’t out, but I’ll mention that later. Brad wants to go after Tai’s idol. He demands to hold one of his idols. But he seems too mean about this. This could lead to even more chaos than I was expecting. Tai and Aubry talk and Cirie joins them wanting to work with them. Sadly, it seems like everyone in the threesome of Brad, Troyzan, and Sarah is or could be immune. Tai has a breakdown over this.

We then get to tribal council next. Tai reveals how people think that he was a rat. Is he taking responsibility for this lie? Tai doesn’t feel like he’s doing all the lying. I can’t gather much from the conversation at hand. I also don’t really like when the legacy advantage is played. Tai decides to play his idols on himself and Aubry. Sarah then plays her legacy advantage. Troyzan plays his idol which means that only one person can be eliminated is Cirie so she is voted out by default. Poor Cirie. I blame Tai for this. If only he kept his idols secret. But something crazy was bound to happen, as I correctly predicted in my introduction.

This is almost what could have happened at the final six back in Cambodia. It’s also why I’m not sure that I like all these immunity twists. Again, poor Cirie. At least I was right that she wouldn’t win, but I didn’t want to be right about that. We then get back to the reunion show as Cirie talks to us early. Panama, Micronesia, and Heroes versus Villains have all been eliminated from the game and now only two time players are left. Jeff promises not to come back without the votes.

In the third segment of the show, we completely skip the camp life and get to the next immunity challenge. I’m also starting supper now. Sticking with the challenge: don’t we all hate it when our balls drop? We got to handle our balls with care. Sarah doesn’t know how to handle balls. Brad now has four individual immunity wins. Aubry wants to make a move now. Who do I even want to win?

In the fourth segment of the show, Brad seems to be enjoying his immunity high. Sarah realizes that Troyzan will probably be brought to the end by Brad so she suggests that Aubry and Tai join her and vote him out. She has some trust issues. Tai wants to get Aubry out. Suddenly, this great idea of getting rid of Troyzan is gone. But he could still prove to be the goat at the end. Brad does more of his intimidation with Tai. This can’t be good in the end as someone could go against him at some point. The vote doesn’t seem set in stone before tribal council. Aubry gets voted out, which I honestly think is a bad move on the players’ part.

In the fifth segment of the show, we get to the last immunity challenge. I miss the endurance challenges being at the end instead of beginning of the merge. Brad wins the challenge and feels confident going towards the end of the game, wanting to get rid of Tai over his betrayals.

In the sixth segment of the show, Brad wants to get rid of Tai. Troyzan wants to tell him but this is shot down by Brad. I think that it might be good not to tell him least he work with someone else to force a tie. He tries to do this anyways. Will Sarah’s constant flipping get in her way? She thinks that forcing a tie might not work in her favor. If she doesn’t do this, will people know that she did anything? She has done a lot and most people wouldn’t know what happened.

Meanwhile, only two of the five other people who won five immunity challenges have won the game. (I just lost the game.) Tai brings up his idea to force a tie. Didn’t he help do that back in Kaoh Rong? Tai reveals more of Brad’s condescending ways towards him. They still don’t know what might happen and a tie could be irrelevant as it normally is (except for Gabon). Will Sarah force a tie? Only if Brad and Troyzan are agreed will the vote matter. Tai is voted out as the tie is avoided. I don’t know who I want to win of the three, but I honestly might be okay with either Brad or Sarah. I would rather it not be Brad that wins, though. Troyzan now reminds me of Gervase in Blood versus Water. Kaoh Rong becomes the last season eliminated from the game.

In the seventh segment of the show, Troyzan thinks that he can win the game and has a good feeling going in to the end. I don’t think that he’ll win. Sarah thinks that she played a good game, although I’m not sure if the jury knows this. I don’t know if she or Brad will win. It might be her, actually. Brad doesn’t want the money but does want to win. Could he do what his wife didn’t? They all then go to the final tribal council. It is worth noting that Andrea, Cirie, and Ozzy are all serving on their third jury. Jeff wants to shake up the final tribal council. Is that allowed? Or is he just saying things?

Total confessional count: Aubry- 19, Brad- 29, Cirie- 30, Sarah- 32, Troyzan- 13, Tai- 22. New confessionals this episode: Sarah- 6, Troyzan- 4, Tai- 4, Aubry- 3, Brad- 6, Cirie- 2.

In the eighth segment of the show, Zeke chooses to go first and brings up the jacket that he gave to her that she has worn. The jury seems like more of an open forum. Andrea brings up that Sarah is probably not trustworthy. Turns out that people did know about Sarah’s betrayals. I don’t think that I like this new format. Ozzy wants to be Brad’s champion and Zeke is Sarah’s. Some people think that Sierra was the brains at one point. I can’t even keep track of all that is going on. Sarah talks about how she has to be who she is in the game. Troyzan does get to talk some. It doesn’t seem like people respect his game at all. Brad tries to reveal what he did and Tai tries to turn it around on him. People seem to agree with Tai that Brad was being rude. All that was just part one of the open forum.

Now for the next part: Ozzy once again talks about why Brad deserves to win. Debbie thinks that Survivor is a lot of Lord of the Flies, which was an inspiration for the game according to Jeff back in All-Stars. Sarah then reveals how she played differently than Brad and how Brad might have dominated physically more because he was in the NFL. Michaela actually enjoys that the advantage was used against her and Jeff even admits that the advantage was meant for the sit-out.

Part three of the whole event is brought up and the finalists are given a final statement. Sarah thinks that everyone on the jury could have beaten her and that’s why she stuck with Brad and Troyzan. I think that Troyzan realizes that he probably isn’t winning and the jury seems to respect this.

In the ninth segment of the show, we get to the votes. I do wonder if a tie is possible. That could explain why no clear cut winner edit seemed present for me. There are at least two votes for both Brad and Sarah. It appears that Troyzan is ignored. The winner ends up being Sarah. That’s cool, I guess. I don’t have that strong feelings, but I’m glad that it wasn’t Brad, especially at the end. What’s interesting is that the two people who were rejected from the cast of Cambodia were now rejected as winners.

In the tenth segment of the show, we get to Sarah’s winner montage. Playing like a criminal actually worked for her this time around. I wonder if Tai voted for her. Did Sarah become a lot like Tony this time playing the game? Apparently, Sarah had to get permission from her friends to play the game. Brad talks about the decision to get rid of Tai instead of Sarah at the final four. Tai makes amends with Brad over that. Thanks for admitting the reality of the edit.

Jeff loves the game of what if that he likes to do at the jury that we see, but might be misleading. The person not in the tie gets to vote in the event of a tie, which wouldn’t work under all ties. But when would this have been known? Jeff is kind of being a bit rude with this question. Tai then gets to talk some about what he did in the game. Cirie then gets to talk some about what she has done during the game and past seasons of the game. Will there be another commercial? There is, but with a lead-in to it so we know what they will be talking about.

In the eleventh segment of the show, we get to the now infamous outing of Zeke. And just to clarify any confusion: he has transitioned, he isn’t transitioning. He honestly feels that it ultimately was a good moment in the end. Survivor is what got him through his post transition depression. You never hear about the depression that much regarding transgender people. Sarah helped Zeke in this moment and that might have been why he wanted to vote for her to win. Zeke thinks that his life is much better because of this, bad moment. Jeff Varner mentions his negative side of the bad moment that he did. He owned the mistake and has a new job because of it.

In the twelfth segment of the show, Aubry mentions that she has a crush on John Cochran which is quickly glossed over. Why mention that, other than to give him unneeded airtime? Sandra gets a quick segment as to why she is the person she is. Sierra talks about her mistake of giving her the legacy advantage. Was she the third vote for Brad? Malcolm talks about his vote. I love how they struggle to give people airtime, but at least they are doing that. Ozzy makes a possible political statement.

In the thirteenth segment of the show, we get to what the new season will be about. Have they filmed it yet? I don’t think that they have. I think wrong. They are returning to Fiji again and there will be three positive qualities given to them by others? The tribes are heroes, healers, and hustlers. Why h’s? They are one h short of being four h. Now how will Wikia keep the heroes tribe from the upcoming season separate from the heroes tribe of the twentieth season? I guess that they will probably give these tribes different names.

In the fourteenth segment of the show, Jeff Varner talks about the shame that he lived with after outing Zeke. I wonder if they will become friends in the future, if they aren’t that already. I just hope that people don’t think that Jeff Varner is trying to profit off of his situation. Hey, if you don’t want the book, then don’t buy it. Honestly, I should get books by some of the former contestants. Only I’m not sure that I will with any of them. Doubt I'd get Michael Skupin's book now that he's in jail.

Points at reunion show: Ciera- 0, Tony- 0, Caleb- 0, Malcolm- 1, JT- 0, Sandra- 1, Jeff Varner- 2, Hali- 0, Ozzy- 1, Debbie- 0, Zeke- 1, Sierra- 1, Andrea- 0, Michaela- 1, Cirie- 1, Aubry- 1, Tai- 1, Troyzan- 0, Brad- 1, Sarah- 2.

What do I think of this upcoming season? Well, I have a bit low expectations going into it. They are going with something different as usual, but I have no idea if that’s good or not. Worlds Apart didn’t wow me when they did their collar twist. Whether you liked the twentieth season or not, you have to admit that they did not do a good job casting the heroes for that. Before Worlds Apart aired, I thought of doing a random post called blue collar versus white collar versus no collar with all returning players. I never did it before the season aired as I just didn’t know who would work. I thought that I might wait until after the season aired only to decide “fuck it, I don’t care.” I didn’t like the collar twist in Worlds Apart as I felt that it did almost nothing to the game and that was the whole gimmick of it.

Hopefully this upcoming season can be better than at least Worlds Apart. Of course, Worlds Apart ranks pretty low for me. I don’t know if you’ll see a random blog post where I use returning players to cast this season. At least it seems like there are two good tribes to the one, potential bad one (hustlers). I’ll explain more of how I’ll handle this blog in the future until the show returns as I could have past seasons to blog about in the future.

Enjoy this post where I rank my earlier predictions versus what actually happened. Predictions versus reality: Here is where I originally thought the players would rank- Predictions: Premerge boots- Sandra, Ozzy, Andrea, Troyzan, Brad, Tony, Hali, Aubry; Jury members- Jeff Varner, JT, Ciera, Sarah, Sierra, Caleb, Debbie, Tai, Michaela; Finalists- Cirie, Malcolm, Zeke. Here’s how they actually did rank: Premerge boots- Sandra (right), Tony (right), Ciera (wrong), Caleb (wrong), Malcolm (wrong), JT (wrong), Jeff Varner (wrong); jury- Sierra (right), Debbie (right), Michaela (right), Hali (wrong), Ozzy (wrong), Zeke (wrong), Andrea (wrong), Cirie (wrong), Aubry (wrong), Tai (right); finalists (all wrong)- Troyzan, Sarah, Brad.

Let’s get to my thoughts on the three dumbest moves of the season. I don’t think that it will be that hard to come up with them. With the bronze award, the third dumbest move of the season would have to go to Tony for playing too hard too fast. With the silver award, the second dumbest move of this season would have to be Sierra telling Sarah about the legacy advantage. The gold award and dumbest move of the season would have to go to Jeff Varner for outing Zeke. I knew that would win the moment it happened and didn’t even bother to track potential nominees after that.

What is the most memorable moment of the season? Honestly, there’s a whole lot to choose from. I don’t have to go with something good in the end. And that is why I’ll have to pick Zeke’s outing as the most memorable part of the season as we may forget everything else about this season, but not that. This will be remembered for years to come by plenty of people who have never seen Survivor.

Before I rank this season, I’m going to rank the season’s tribe swap. I realize that I have messed up, in a way, with some of the rankings that I’ve done of this in the past. Gabon and Cambodia had two swaps, and I only counted them as one. All-Stars had a dissolve before a swap and Cook Islands had a switch from four tribes to two before a mutiny later. I will not change those season’s rankings yet. But I only mentioned them once in terms of swaps instead of twice. From this point forward, I’m going to mention swaps twice should they have happen more than once a season. I will fix this in past seasons when or if I blog about them. This means that out of 24 swaps, I will rank this season’s first as 20^th out of all of them and the second will rank as 17^th out of all of them.

You might be wondering how this season would rank among the other, thirty-four seasons. Well, while I think that this season is good, there’s a lot of bad stuff to it as well. It might rank a bit lower than some might think as a result. Of course, I don’t know how others feel about this season. But I’m putting it more towards the middle and ranking it 19 out of 34. I’m not sure that it offered as much as it could have. Like All-Stars, it had too many twists, although, unlikely All-Stars, these twists actually did more to the game than that other season did. The cast was pretty likable, although a lot of good players left early into the game. I do like the end result, though.

There’s really not much else to add outside of this closing. It is worth telling you when this blog will be updated in the future. If it continues to be random posts until the next season starts, then it will be on Wednesdays. But I will be wanting to get Survivor: Gabon on DVD to watch again. Keep a lookout on Sundays for this blog because if I get it, I will be blogging about it on Sundays. And I don’t yet know when Blood versus Water will be on DVD. If I blog about two old seasons at once, one of them will be on Sundays and the other one would be on Fridays. Keep a look out in the future for changes to this blog as a result. For now, this is Adam Decker, signing off.

Episode 34.11

I can’t tell yet if I want Sarah to win or if I want her to get blindsided. I think that the second choice would be the better one. With Brad, I don’t know if he actually could wind up winning this or not. I’m not sure if I’d want him to. But he seems to have control of the game so we’ll see if this leads to him getting dethroned a la Sandra or if he’ll win based on that. While I may have some doubts about Cirie winning, I would like to see that. One would question why they should show someone struggling the way they show Cirie struggling, but they did show Jenna struggling in Amazon so it could happen again. I just can’t think of a winner besides Jenna who they showed not surviving the way someone like Richard was shown surviving a whole lot.

While there were multiple people from the same season at the start of the game, now the only two people that are left who played in the same season are Tai and Aubry. Of course, this is if you don’t count Brad and Troyzan as being part of the not playing a season club because they weren’t voted into it. I wonder if the next returning player season will have women who didn’t make the cut of Cambodia. Not being in a season isn’t that notable. Carolyn from Worlds Apart was a candidate for this season that didn’t make it. I’m surprised that, last I checked, it seems that we didn’t know that many alternates for this season.

I still wonder who might win this season. I could wait until the next post to speculate, but that won’t be published before the episode in question airs anyways. It is possible that Brad wins as there is enough in his edit to support that. But I don’t know if I can see that as happening. Sarah could win or have a major blindside waiting for her. I would like Cirie to finally win. I just hope that she isn’t eliminated in a third finale episode, which is possible. Andrea’s edit seems too negative to support a win. Michaela’s is all over the place which doesn’t support a win to me. The rest seem too invisible, especially Troyzan. It can be hard to remember that he’s even on this season. But enough of my ramblings.

In the first segment of the show, Sarah gets the legacy advantage, but maybe not right away. The tribe talks about why Sierra was voted out. Sarah talks about how she was able to play Sierra and got the advantage from her. Sarah wants to get rid of Andrea. Please do it!

In the second segment of the show, we go straight to the first immunity challenge of the episode. It is the balance and make a house of cards challenge that we’ve seen before. I don’t know if this is a real classic the way he claims it is. It is fun to see it with more people. Aubry ends up winning the challenge in a record fast time. Andrea wants to get rid of Sarah.

In the third segment of the show, Aubry is glad that she won immunity. People want to vote out Brad since he is vulnerable. Michaela visits him. Brad thinks this might be blackmail. Clearly, it is black female. The idols continue to be irrelevant to the game. Why are they even there? There is so much confusion over what to do. Either Brad or Andrea is a good option. We haven’t seen Brad dominate that much in challenges, but I feel he is more of a threat to win. At tribal council, people discuss what to do regarding the impending vote out. The votes are cast and commercial break. Oh, come on!

In the fourth segment of the show, Andrea gets voted out. Move, bitch! Get out the way! Well, maybe she’s not that mean, but I do kind of feel like that right now. I wonder if she lasted longer than she did in Caramoan. She might not have. Redemption Island and Caramoan have now been eliminated from this season. Aubry is upset that Andrea is voted out. Tai consoles Aubry which concerns Cirie who thinks that they are a pair.

We then get to the next immunity challenge and Cirie is concerned. She didn’t win this in Panama, but it didn’t matter then. Cirie seems to fail at the challenge. Is Jeff allowed to just tell her to jump like he sort of did? Michaela almost wins the challenge, but messes up. Brad ends up winning the challenge in the end. Cirie wants to get rid of a threat to her. Who could that be?

In the fifth segment of the show, we get back to the tribe after the immunity challenge. Troyzan thinks that he might have to play his idol. Tai thinks that he needs to make a big move. Now, Tai: don’t do something too risky like you did last time. Aubry wants to get rid of Tai. Sarah gives her vote stealing advantage to Cirie. Isn’t that against the rules? I guess not. Cirie thinks correctly that Tai has an idol. She wants to do some of her crazy ways to get Tai to not play an idol. Tai doesn’t know what to think about this and actually considers playing his idol because of it. I have no idea what will happen next.

Next comes tribal council. Sarah thinks that people have been sneaking around.  Cirie thinks that a lot of lies have been going around the camp. This might be an attempt to cover up her own. There is more discussion between players before Cirie tries to play hers Sarah’s vote stealing advantage. Sarah points out that it can’t be transferred to someone else. Sarah then takes it back and drama unfolds with a whole bunch of secret whispers come out. What’s going on now? Sarah then plays the advantage going for Tai’s vote. Did Cirie still make a good move? This could come back and bite her in the ass. In the end, no idols are played. Was that a good idea? It doesn’t look like it. Somehow, Cirie gets no votes against her yet again and Michaela gets voted out for some odd reason. #what? This means that Millennials versus Gen X is eliminated from the game. I just realized that Michaela was voted out with the advantage she was supposed to have.

On the next Survivor, Tai does a potential crazy move that may end up costing him the game. I don’t know what else to think besides that. I guess we will see what happens when it happens, if you know what is happening. It seems confusing to me still.

Total confessional count: Michaela- 19, Brad- 23, Cirie- 28, Sarah- 26, Troyzan- 9, Tai- 18, Andrea- 18, Aubry- 16. New confessionals this episode: Tai- 2, Andrea- 3, Aubry- 4, Michaela- 1, Brad- 2, Cirie- 6, Sarah- 2, Troyzan- 1.

Andrea had three new confessionals in this episode. Aubry and Cirie are higher with Cirie as the highest with six. Michaela had just one new confessional this episode, tied for the lowest with Troyzan. In terms of total confessionals, Michaela had nineteen. Andrea had eighteen, tied with Tai. Aubry was lower but Troyzan remains the lowest with just nine. The highest is Cirie with twenty-eight. I have no idea how this season will end, but I just hope that it ends well. As long as an idol is finally played, I’m not sure that I’ll care too much about the end result. For now, this is Adam Decker, signing off.

Episode 34.10

It can be hard to believe that there are this many people still left in the game and the end is coming later this month. Soon the show will end. It seems like they will have to do more double episodes or something like that soon in order to catch up. Otherwise, maybe they will be doing a twist that sees four finalists at the end. I doubt it and don’t think that I’d want to see it. So either there will be multiple eliminations in an episode or yet another two hour episode before the season ends. But enough of my ramblings.

In the first segment of the show, the minority voted for Tai, I think, as the recap put it. Brad makes it seem like a mistake. Michaela points out that nothing is solid as the majority voted out one of their own. Sierra talks about getting the legacy advantage to Sarah. I’m not sure if Sarah’s long term chances are good or not. She seems to have a fairly uneven edit, but could possibly win still.

In the second segment of the show, we get to the reward challenge. Things get instantly emotional when Jeff says that their family is coming. I do wonder how awkward it would be if a contestant said they wanted someone only for someone else to come out in their place. I’m sure that I would like any relative, but some I might want over others. I do think that these are more emotional than they might need to be. I’m starting to wonder how short this challenge is going to be. Monica returns to the island as Brad’s loved one. The competition is a team challenge with three teams. I lose track of which team wins and they invite two people. Michaela is not picked by Andrea.

In the third segment of the show, we get to the reward and what people are talking about regarding the decisions. I lost track of things for a moment as I prepared supper for myself. At least I don’t live tweet Survivor anymore. I couldn’t keep up with that. Michaela prepares to flip. I’m beginning to think that there are too many flippers this season.

In the fourth segment of the show, we get to the immunity challenge and it looks like it might be balls to the wall. Wait, it is a buoy and not a ball. It looks like a larger than usual ball. It is larger than usual for us, but maybe not for someone like Chuck Norris. The challenge comes down to between Brad and Tai. People probably don’t think of someone like Tai as a challenge beast. But he doesn’t win this time. Brad wins immunity for the first time ever. Michaela talks about potentially flipping.

In the fifth segment of the show, we get back to camp and I need to come up with a more creative first sentence for these paragraphs. Andrea thinks that the vote will be easy. In Survivor, it is rare that things are ever easy and straightforward. Will Sierra be voted out? Sarah thinks that she could get the legacy advantage if she does. While Sarah may be evil, she is good at playing the game. Doesn’t Sarah have her own advantage already? Does she need to? I hope that Sierra doesn’t will the advantage to Sarah if Sierra does get voted out. Michaela talks about making the right decision.

At tribal council, Jeff talks about the reward and how it might have affected the game. Sierra doesn’t think that she’s the biggest threat so she talks about how Andrea is one. One shouldn’t do things like that if you want to advance in the game. Andrea thinks that the lie is either one way or another. Nobody plays an idol (will one ever get played?) and the person voted out is Sierra. This makes me wonder if she knows who flipped or not. Sierra does give the legacy advantage to Sarah.

On the next Survivor, tensions are high. People are still looking for an idol even though they should all be found. Are they? I guess that we’ll see. Cirie also has to make a potential tough decision of some sort. I guess we’ll see what it is later.

Total confessional count: Cirie- 22, Sarah- 24, Troyzan- 8, Sierra- 17, Tai- 16, Andrea- 15, Aubry- 12, Michaela- 18, Brad- 21. New confessionals this episode: Brad- 2, Cirie- 2, Sarah- 2, Troyzan- 0, Sierra- 3, Tai- 1, Andrea- 2, Aubry- 0, Michaela- 5.

Well, Worlds Apart has now been eliminated from this season. Even factoring in all the returning player seasons before they originally played, only Kaoh Rong still has multiple players left in the game. That’s if you don’t count the Cambodia rejects of Brad and Troyzan. As for the confessional count, Sierra had three this episode, only below Michaela with five. Everyone else is lower with Aubry and Troyzan having no new ones this episode. In terms of the total count, Sierra had seventeen, which is below Michaela, Brad, Cirie, and Sarah, with Sarah at the highest with twenty-four. A lot of the people with the highest count have been voted out this season. Will it happen again? As for the lowest in total confessional count, Troyzan is still there at eight. I wonder when he’ll get a new one. There’s not much else to say besides that. For now, this is Adam Decker, signing off.

Episode 34.9

I just can’t tell what still has a chance of winning or not. There are a lot of things to factor into that. We could wind up with a surprise winner. I forget the last season that truly surprised me with its winner. I might have to go back a long ways for that, actually. It honestly might have been Cook Islands. But enough of this very brief paragraph.

In the first segment of the show, the tribe gets back after the blindside. He feels like he is in terrible shape. They somehow thought Debbie was in charge. Whether that’s true or not, they still should have gone after Brad who is more likely to win immunity. I guess I don’t know who is in control right now. I don’t think that they know either.

In the second segment of the show, we get to the reward challenge. It is basically a night away from camp, if I’m understanding this correctly. Orange struggles with the challenge. I miss a lot of this part due to different distractions. Both sides struggle at the puzzle at the end of the challenge. It seems that the orange team loses.

In the third segment of the show, Sarah talks about winning the reward. Zeke feels that playing Survivor gets harder as you go along. You think, DiNozzo? Andrea is still upset at Zeke for whatever reason I think I missed. Do you remember, readers? I’d love a second comment on this blog. If I don’t, I’ll always cherish the first comment. The loser of the reward feel bummed out as usual. Cirie might want to get rid of Sierra, which is just a bit confusing. People want to get rid of Zeke. Sarah tells Cirie about her vote stealing advantage. I’m surprised that nobody noticed her getting it or thought nothing of her little trip to the sit out bench in the challenge she played in.

In the fourth segment of the show, Zeke freaks out about the camp being so calm. Sarah and Zeke talk about what could happen. Zeke tries to get a majority. Will it work? Remember what happened last time, Zeke. I can’t tell what the alliances are like this time.

We get to the immunity challenge which is a domino rally challenge. If you have never used a domino for another purpose, then I highly recommend that you start playing it with your family. I just hope that you have a more honorable family than me that doesn’t cheat as much as they do. (It isn’t major cheating, but we know most of the time what is going on.) After some concern, Andrea wins the challenge. Zeke could have won, but wasn’t fast enough. Also, I’m trying to avoid using pronouns with Zeke since I’m not entirely sure the right one to use.

In the fifth segment of the show, I wonder what the animal symbolism of the bird waiting to attack the fish is. Andrea still wants to get rid of Zeke. What was this betrayal? Was it right at the merge? Was it the Ozzy vote? I don’t understand why Andrea is so hard against Zeke. I don’t really like Andrea. She seems kind of bitchy to me. Sierra wants to abandon her alliance. Sarah wants to keep Zeke. Aubry feels that she has to strike before the other person strikes them. Michaela wants to work with Zeke still. If it isn’t Zeke, who would it be? It seems that Sierra is likely the other target. The fact that people can flip is constantly being brought up. Let’s put on my sarcasm hat as I wonder if any of this could possibly be important in any way.

We get to tribal council next. People talk about how things keep changing. I’m reminded of Australia and how the majority alliance never lost control even after they voted their own out. I never understood that. Was the first real flip back in Marquesas? I guess some might have happened earlier that just weren’t as important to the game in terms of changing alliances’ numbers. I’m getting distracted here. I don’t fully understand what all the talk at tribal council is about. How did Tai become a target? No idols are played. The person voted out is Zeke.

On the next Survivor, the subject of trust is brought up. The loved ones challenge is going to happen next. I don’t fully understand what will happen there for sure. I guess that I’ll have to wait until the next episode to see more of this crazy season happening.

Total confessional count: Aubry- 12, Michaela- 13, Brad- 19, Cirie- 20, Sarah- 22, Troyzan- 8, Zeke- 20, Sierra- 14, Tai- 15, Andrea- 13. New confessionals this episode: Andrea- 3, Aubry- 2, Michaela- 1, Brad- 3, Cirie- 2, Sarah- 6, Troyzan- 0, Zeke- 3, Sierra- 3, Tai- 1.

Zeke had twenty confessionals, tied with Cirie. Higher than both of them is Sarah. Everyone else is lower than the three of them. Troyzan is still in the single digits club with eight, the lowest of those still in the game. Troyzan was the only person in this episode without a new confessional. Zeke had three new confessionals, tied with Brad, Sierra, and Andrea. The highest in the new count is Sarah with six. Outside of them, everyone else is lower in the new count than three. That’s pretty much all there is to catch up on for now. I’ll be back in the future with new episodes. For now, this is Adam Decker, signing off.