Episode 38.2

Well, there’s not much to say in this introduction of mine. I just know that I should be given my eyes a bit of a break as I’ve been sick with a whole lot of things, pink eye being one of them. I even took breaks from all the movies that I was watching to limit my screen time. In fact, if I’m ever not here on time or if I’m not posting at all anymore, then go and read this blog instead.

Link: http://truedorktimes.com/s38/kaiser/index.htm

Let’s get to the idols from One World. Due to the twist this season of two tribes living at one camp, they had a layer of this season with the idols in terms of what could and couldn’t be done with it. Basically, each idol had to be found by a member of a tribe it was designated for or given to that member. Sabrina found an idol, but she found the idol for the Manono tribe and she was on Salani. Thus, she had to give her idol away and she gave it to Colton whom she felt could benefit from it more due to not being liked on his tribe. When Colton was evacuated, he had the chance to give his idol away. He wanted to give it Jay who was on the other tribe at this point, but the rules forbade it so he kept it as he was pulled from the game itself.

The Salani idol was found after they got the beach to themselves after the tribe swap. Kim was the one who found it. She was safe without it and never needed it. Troyzan found the rehidden idol that was replaced upon Colton’s exit. He knew he was a target, but wasted it when he only got minority votes. Kim’s idol was given by her to Troyzan after the season was over. He sold the idol on eBay, but the buyer returned the idol to her.

Lent is going to be starting soon and I normally give up all Wikia related sites for it. But I won’t be able to learn information about different hidden immunity idols as well from other sources. While I could take a break from telling you about it until after Lent is over, what makes more sense is for me to not give it up this year. I know that I could also learn all the information and write it down for the gap, but I do not think that I’ll do that. I could give up Wikipedia, but having found a page like this, I don’t know if I could ever give up that site again.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2018%E2%80%9319_United_States_network_television_schedule

Now I normally wouldn’t give up stuff for Lent and it was 2011 when I first tried to do something. I did fail at that and thought that in 2012, I would give up three things so I could fail at two of them and still be good on the other one. Well, it turns out that I did get rid of all three successfully. It used to be that I would always give up Wikipedia which I did from 2012-2015, but I haven’t given it up since. Giving up all Wikia sites is what I’ve been doing since 2014-2018 and it was my longest streak. I now give up a grand total of five things instead of just three, trying to double it once, but failing at one of those six things. I’ll get into that more in the next post. But enough of my ramblings.

In the first segment of the show, we go to the Edge of Extinction (so this isn’t an island?) where Reem is at by herself for now. She doesn’t know what’s going on right now. She finds information about the place and learns that there is no timeline on this place. She seems like a confused viewer would be when they talk about such a new twist. She’s emotional. I wonder if quitting the Edge of Extinction is the same as an actual quit. I don’t know why that would be.

Wendy talks about the tribal council and other things like it. She blames Kelley over her ally, Reem, as the one who was voted out. I may like Wendy for now simply because she has Tourettes Syndrome. Wendy thinks that David is okay to trust this time around. Kelley wants to get people to find the idol to make sure that Wendy doesn’t get it.

Aurora thinks that her tribe is doing well, despite being strange by singing. Aubry doesn’t like the tribe for being the way they are, although she thinks that it is good that they are together while they last in the meantime. Victoria thinks that Aubry is working with too many people. Isn’t chinchilla the code word to tell the boss about something, maybe related to the talismans or demons of the season? I can’t quite remember for sure, but Jackie Chan might know.

In the second segment of the show, people are looking for an idol. Someone thinks that Kelley already has an idol. David wants to get rid of Kelley since he thinks that she’s gunning for him. David wants to make sure that things are careful going into a blindside. David and Rick seem to be allies, although Rick, possibly joking, but maybe not, says that he’ll cut David’s throat at four.

Gavin and Eric look for idols, but people take notice. Julie and Victoria look for idols of their own. It does not seem like someone on this tribe knew who the hunters and the gatherers were. What happened when she played Ages of Empire? And has she never heard of hunter gatherers? I sadly think that it was just men who did things back then, but not as much women. Lauren finds an idol on her tribe.

In the third segment of the show, we get to what must be the only challenge of the episode. In this challenge, you have to get the cat out of the bag, I mean, the snake out of the cage. There is a reward, but who would want spices in Survivor when you could have fishing gear? This was a challenge that had been done before and Aubry talks about losing it due to a big and heavy snake. Maybe it just sounded like you lost it due to the intense pleasure you were experiencing?

Surely, black people know how to swim, right? Keith struggles and I’m honestly not sure if I can think of a lot of black men on Survivor who couldn’t swim. Gervase comes to mind and that’s it. Comma knows how to handle their snake. But the blue tribe does not know how to get it up. Maybe they need a blue pill in order to get the snake to come up. Man, I sure hope that kids don’t read my blog posts. At least they will just be confused instead of outright traumatized.

The tribe of comma needs letters. The yellow tribe, comma, seems to be doing better. And they win the challenge. They do a weird sort of like chant thing at the end. They got back to back wins. And now we get to take a break from comma. Yes, I know that’s not how you spell the name of that tribe. But I do not exactly care. The blue tribe is heading back to tribal council as they couldn’t make things go up and Wardog talks about things, but I can’t make much sense of what he said.

In the fourth segment of the show, Keith talks about his failures in the challenge. Wardog wants to vote out Keith while Kelley is certain that Wendy should remain the target. David doesn’t know what to do as a result. Chris feels that he can get loyalty from Keith so it seems like Kelley might be the target. A wave is shown in the ocean, but what does it mean? While people don’t trust Kelley, Wardog wants to keep her until at least a tribe swap. People feel like this is the vote to take out Kelley. She is worried that she will be voted out and blindsided. But what will happen?

In the fifth segment of the show, we get to tribal council. Jeff asks Wendy if she is concerned about the fact that she got votes in the last episode. It is believed that Reem is the person who voted for Kelley, but I did not keep track of if this was the case for sure or not. Keith is brought up as something that they think should be voted out of the game. Will the contestants go for loyalty or strength? Or will they go for something else entirely. Wardog and then David are asked how the vote will go. Keith is asked as well. Jeff points out to Kelley that a blindside seems likely.

The votes are cast and no idol is played. Keith is the person who gets voted out as a result. He thought that he knew how the vote was going to go. At least they were right about a blindside happening. He then gets to choice after the vote. He doesn’t seem to know what to do. It doesn’t seem like we will find out this episode what choice he makes. Would he really not try to stay in the game?

On the next Survivor, it is clear that people don’t want to work with the returning players and Wendy might have an injury or infection of some sort. Meanwhile, on the Edge of Extinction, Reem is hoping that someone joins her soon or she may have to quit. But why hasn’t she eaten? Is there nothing there to eat or is she just not taking care of herself? I guess that we won’t know Keith’s decision yet.

Total confessional count: Aurora- 2, Lauren- 3, Julie- 1, Keith- 5, Chris- 1, Kelley- 4, Gavin- 2, David- 5, Joe- 2, Victoria- 3, Aubry- 2, Julia- 0, Ron- 1, Wardog- 4, Rick- 4, Wendy- 4, Eric- 2; Reem- 4. New confessionals this episode: Wardog- 3, Rick- 2, Wendy- 1, Eric- 1, Aurora- 1, Lauren- 1, Julie- 1, Keith- 2, Chris- 1, Kelley- 2, Gavin- 1, David- 4, Joe- 0, Victoria- 2, Aubry- 1, Julia- 0, Ron- 0. Extinction Island confessional count: Reem- 2.

Keith had two new confessionals this episode, the same number as Kelley, Rick, and Victoria.  The two that are higher than him are Wardog and David with David as the highest with four. Everyone else was lower with Joe, Julia, and Ron tying for the lowest with zero a piece. As for total, Keith had five, tied with David as the highest. As for those with four confessionals total, they are Rick, Wardog, Wendy, Kelley, and Reem. Everyone else is lower with Julia as the lowest with zero.

There’s one important thing for me to say before I finish this blog post. Next week is Ash Wednesday. This means that I’ll be moving this blog to Thursdays instead of Wednesdays until Lent is over. I know that I could just watch the episode later on Wednesday, especially since the shows that I care about will not be on after Survivor right away (except for one). Now you know. I’ll be back on Thursdays from this coming week onward. For now, this is Adam Decker, signing off.

Survivor: Edge of Extinction Premiere

Things might be a bit different in this blog than it usual is because Lent won’t be starting for a while and this blog will thus be on Wednesdays as usual until it starts. I’ll be sure to make a note later about when the change will be. I’ll also let you know if any job of mine changes things.

I still don’t know if I’ll ever hear back from the two missionaries that I wanted to include in this blog that did not reply to my requests to put them in here. What I do know is that it might not matter if you want to support any of them as long as the others that I mentioned are still there where they are. I also know that I could include a Christian song called Survivor here in this blog. Maybe I will. I felt that I wasn’t able to include as much as I wanted to in those blog posts. I started out good, but didn’t finish that way.

Something that I need to keep track of in this post is the number of people who found idols based solely on what gender they are. If a person found more than one idol, I have included them more than once as a result, although the listing might change in the future. Men who have found idols: 23. Women who have found idols: 7. This counting only goes up to season 22 right now. Let’s continue on to the next set of seasons and there’ll be one for each previous season in each post this season.

Regarding the idols from South Pacific, Ozzy found one and continued to have bad luck with it. When he did his ploy of getting voted out to eliminate a potential ally for the other tribe from returning to the game, he gave his idol to John. John gave the idol back to Ozzy when Ozzy returned to the game. Ozzy then played this idol for Whitney at a tribal council, only she didn’t have any votes cast against her. This would have kept her safe had there been a rock draw, but John flipped instead. Coach find the other idol in the game, but never needed to use it nor did he give it to someone else.

Since Ron Clark is a contestant on this season, I thought that I would make a note about him. I have a movie called The Ron Clark Story that is based on part of his life. I might do a recap of the movie in the future and post it in this blog. I am not making it a priority to do now. If you want to see it, let me know. Just know that you won’t see it unless the blog is on hiatus and I’m not posting about a past season of this show at the time.

Speaking of past seasons of this show that I might blog about in the future, know that I have Survivor: Gabon on DVD, in case I hadn’t told you that before. I also still want Survivor: Blood versus Water on DVD, but do not have it yet. Once I’m done watching Survivor: Borneo on DVD, then I will add Survivor: Gabon to my list of things to watch.

I have no idea yet how Extinction Island will work and really don’t like the fact that they aren’t being open and honest about what it is like with Redemption Island. A lot of people don’t seem to like it, but I will still give it a chance before I see whether or not I do. I think it’s a bad idea, but I guess that I’ll have to wait to see until later if it really is or not. But enough of my ramblings.

In the first segment of the show, we get to the introduction of players. Wardog doesn’t want to tell the other people that he’s training to be a lawyer. Joe thinks that he’ll be a target. Wendy is a super fan of the game and doesn’t know what to expect. Jeff mentions to the new players that four of them will be on this season with them. Lauren loves Kelley and Joe. In fact, she could be in a showmance with Joe if things get far enough in the game.

Jeff does some recaps of who these players are with a sort of recap about who they are in his terms. I do wonder why they picked four returning players for a season as it seems an unusual number for now. I guess we’ll see if this works or not. Jeff starts them off with a sort of challenge of getting supplies ready as people dump things into the water and people get it. A man, a new player, gets a secret advantage. I wonder if they will ever go away. Keith struggles in the water. Is Survivor trying to portray some sort of unfair stereotype that black people can’t swim?

The two tribes continue to their beach where Rick introduces himself to the others as a huge fan of this show. Kelley wants to make sure that she gets in a good alliance with someone and wants to be more open as she felt that she didn’t do as well the previous times around. David also wonders what to do in the game and wants to make sure that people can trust him. It turns out that one of the contestants has Tourettes Syndrome. This is Wendy from earlier. She says hers is mild. Well, I guess this dashes my hopes of being the first player with Tourettes Syndrome. But I could still make firsts on the show.

Joe wants to offer help to the new players in the game, making sure that they get the help that they need. He also needs to make sure that he doesn’t stand out as a target like the other times he has been in the game. Victoria has good perspectives in the game. Aurora is gay. Ron has the secret advantage. He is told to dig next to the treemail. He gets an advantage menu and it only lasts until the third tribal. I do wonder when or if he has to decide what advantage to use.

In the second segment of the show, we get to the people on Kama, the yellow tribe, as two people seem to briefly wonder what Edge of Extinction means. Aubry wonders how to handle herself with newbies. Galvin wonders what to do with his time. Eric wants to turn on the returning players, specifically Aubry. Reem thinks that everything is going well thus far, but people don’t like her strange mannerisms. Reem, Keith, and Wendy seem to form a link among themselves which irritates the other players and might make them targets in the future.

In the third segment of the show, we get to the immunity challenge. It is also a reward for flint as well. Flint is a place in Michigan, right? David helps his tribe, despite its struggles in the first part. Kelley tries to cross the balance beam and it looks like she is injured as a result. Despite some struggles at the puzzle towards the end, the yellow tribe of Comma, I mean, Kama, wins the challenge, sending the blue tribe to tribal council where Kelley is worried about how things will go. She wonders if there is Wigglesworth, I mean, wiggle room.

In the fourth segment of the show, we get back to Manu, the blue tribe, after their loss. Keith wants to make sure that they know what to do next. Will Kelley or Lauren go? Keith wants to play this game for himself. Who doesn’t? Is he implying that most people don’t? Wendy wants to get rid of Reem. Wardog wants to take out Wendy and that’s what he tells David. Reem learns that she’s a target and this seems to set her on the warpath. This sends them off to tribal council.

In the fifth segment of the show, we get to tribal council. I still don’t know if I like the fact that it gets its own segment now, but I think that it makes sense and works for the most part. Jeff asks how the tribe is working well together. Reem mentions that he name has been thrown out as a target. Kelley wonders why David’s name wasn’t thrown out when hers was. Wardog mentions the problems that he has with Reem whom he says doesn’t have a personality that he likes.

Why would you touch someone’s stuff without their permission and wonder why they get upset when you touch it? Why would you need them to tell you not to do it in advance? Reem must be neurotypical. Reem is surprised by some of what is going on. The votes are then cast next. Some votes seemed to have been randomly cast, but it is Reem who is voted out of the game. She wants rain to be poured down on these people. She then has a choice to make and she takes a torch and gets on a boat. Bring a torch, Jeannette Isabella. She is then shown arriving at Extinction Island and notices that there is nothing at the island before she looks for more information there.

On the next Survivor, it seems like the returning players are targeted and David is quick to throw Kelley under the bus. Reem looks like she might have struggles on the Edge of Extinction. I guess that we will find out more about what happens later in the next episode because that’s only when these promos might make some bit of a lick of sense.

Joe- 2, Victoria- 1, Aubry- 1, Julia- 0, Ron- 1, Reem- 2, Dan “The Wardog”- 1, Rick- 2, Wendy- 3, Eric- 1, Aurora- 1, Lauren- 2, Julie- 0, Keith- 3, Chris- 0, Kelley- 2, Gavin- 1, David- 1.

I know that I missed a confessional from either Julie or Julia, although I don’t think that I know of any other one. Outside of those two, I have Chris as not having a confessional. As for the highest, Keith and Wendy have both three a piece. I don’t know what else to say right now about things so I’ll end this post here. For now, this is Adam Decker, signing off.

The Problem of the Ever Changing Survivor Game

While there is so much we won’t yet know about Extinction Island, nearly the whole consensus among the few people I’ve read about this new twist, people think that they will hate it. I might as well and plan to write a post about the various island twists during the next hiatus or some point when I have the time and aren’t writing about an old season. But I thought that I would use this post to talk about some of the changes in Survivor that have happened. I thought that I would stick to just the permanent changes that Survivor has done for this post.

Something that we knew for sure was affected was the tie-breaker. We don’t know for sure what the original way of resolving things after a revote were since it didn’t come to that the first season. Then, we got to a reveal or possible change that previous votes would get rid of people, something that may not be considered fair in every way. It didn’t work when it was a tribe’s first tribal council and we will never know what would have happened if they had the same number of previous votes against them, which they might not have even known about.

From the fourth season, it was revealed that a rock draw would cause people’s eliminations. It was not done right the first time as there was no fair way to do it at four people left. Thus, we did not see it done in a correct manner until the twenty-seventh season. It has only appeared once more and did have the chance to appear again were it not for complicated rules that would have left only one person as the guy who could draw a rock. This still remains controversial and I still don’t know what was wrong with the natural quiz tie-breaker. Why not make the rock draw just between who is tied instead of the rest of the players in the game? The way they do it doesn't seem to make sense.

When it comes to permanent game changes, a lot of the earlier players would never know what it is like to have a hidden immunity idol as it wasn’t present until the eleventh season and only then, it appeared as partway through it. While it took a few seasons to have an idol that had good rules, it will probably not ever again be without presence on this show.

More recently, we got to a change that might not have been as well received by everyone. Before we get to that, let’s get to how the final tribal councils are done now. Instead of one on one conversations, we get to a more open forum. I have the feeling that this was done as a way of trying to get people to not win in landslides which was common regardless of the number of finalists that appeared at the end of the game. But now it seems like people might not show up as a presence in the jury or hog up a lot of the conversation as a result. We don't get the same results.

I should talk about the fact that they got rid of the final two, but I’m not sure that it works as a chance since they brought it back around three times. Still, it seems like more of a twist to have it now instead of not having it. And they largely have used it since bringing it back.

Now for a highly unpopular twist: the forced fire making tie-breaker that is used at the final four. It has arguably made the fourth place person come in first two of the times it appeared and actually brought forth the elimination of a player that had no previous votes against it. It has changed the game too much and seems like we are stuck with it forever. Did they not realize what a terrible idea it was?

Well, that’s all I can think of writing for this post. I hope that I have come up with good posts this hiatus, although I’m not sure that it was as good as it could have been. It is hard to believe that the new season starts next week. It feels like this hiatus has been shorter than usual. What’s more likely is that we were stuck with a lot of breaks from the show that were longer than usual so we got used to them. Know that my blog will be here on Wednesdays until otherwise noted. I’ll be back next week to talk about the first episode of the new season. For now, this is Adam Decker, signing off.

Ten Almost Successful Contestants

I might as well explain what I mean by almost successful. What I mean by this post and my sort of top ten is that there were some players in various seasons, at least one if not more than that, where they had a lot going for them, but they weren’t able to win for one reason or another. It could be their own fault in some way or for reasons outside of their own control. All I know is that these contestants had so much going for them, but didn’t manage to pull off the win. I’m only going to include them as examples in the seasons I felt they came closest in, even if they played in more than what's listed.

#10 Matty from Gabon- He was just one fire making challenge away from winning it all. It did seem a bit unlikely that anyone could have beaten him at the final three outside of the person that he would have beaten at the fire making challenge, should he have won. He had so much going for him.

#9 Rafe from Guatemala- Like so many people, he messed up his chances at the game. But what made his especially bad was that it was right after the final immunity challenge. He released a person from the deal that could have taken him to the final two and thus, gave her no reason to keep her promise. He could have been a great winner, but instead, he fell short.

#8 Amanda from China and Micronesia- I’m not entirely sure why she fell short of winning the game in both of these seasons. I guess that I’d have to watch these seasons again. All I know is that she twice played the game and twice made it to the end, only getting a minority of jury votes each time. This does make her almost successful at the game.

#7 Colby from Australia- For him to come within one vote of winning and fall short, he is one of the most textbook examples of almost a success in Survivor history. While he probably would have beaten Keith, he took a gamble instead that didn’t pay off. Whether or not he could have changed anyone’s minds when he reached the end, I guess we don’t know whose vote mattered most.

#6 Rudy from Borneo- The first person to come to this classification of mine was Rudy who was just one hand slip away from winning the game. Heck, even the producers of Survivor were certain that the show would not last after he lost the last challenge. He had everything going for him and could have possibly even win, but lost focus and fell out of the challenge.

#5 Cirie from Panama, Micronesia, and Game Changers- How would you feel if you were the only person in the history of Survivor to still be competing in three different finales and never, not once, be a finalist at the end? First, she loses a tie-breaker. Then, she becomes the first person voted out at the final three in many seasons since there wasn’t an elimination there since before Cook Islands. When she played the fourth time, she made it to the final six a third time where she became the only contestant who was even eligible for elimination after the other five were made immune in some way. I don’t think that you could even say that all of these eliminations were her fault. Were any of them?

#4 Paschal from Marquesas- It was supposed to be a fire making challenge. It wasn’t supposed to have him involved at all. He went from no votes in the game to eliminated from it by random draw. We may never know if he could have won it, but his is widely considered one of the most unfair eliminations in the game. He made it that far only to draw the wrong rock.

#3 Brett from Samoa- While a Galu member winning seemed highly likely before the merge, it soon had become clear that they might be doomed. That might became probably, only Brett went on a winning streak with immunity and, had he won the final one, would have won the final vote. It might have been a close one, but it would have been his game to lose. He same so close, but came up short.

#2 Terry from Panama- There was so much going for him towards the end and this is where his game had sadly ended up fizzling out. He failed hugely at the final challenge and his ally in the game turned on him and voted him out. While it seemed like his was the closest game to being a success that wasn’t, it all falls to a more recent player who meets that mark.

#1 Domenick from Ghost Island- It came down to a tie vote at the jury that could have gone differently if only certain things were different at the end. He kind of messed up in the end that I’m surprised that it was not just a tragedy of Domenick at the end due to his cockiness towards the end. It was almost like a Shakespeare play, only good. It can even be hard to pin down what exactly he did wrong.

Well, that’s all for this post. I heard who one of the new contestants for the upcoming season is, but I do not think that I’ll get to a special post about them during this hiatus. I guess that we’ll see for sure what happens later when the show returns soon. For now, this is Adam Decker, signing off.

Top Ten Memorable Moments

When you think about the most memorable moments in Survivor history, you might not think of every good moment as some memorable moments aren’t good at all. But you do think of moments that are quite iconic and part of Survivor’s history. You may think a lot about this show by thinking about any of these moments in the end. Here are my top ten choices for memorable Survivor moments.

#10 Phillip’s blindside- Some may hate this moment for thinking that it was rigged, but I quite enjoyed it and think it is one of the most memorable moments in Survivor history. After making the dumb choice to sit out of an immunity challenge for little to know reason, Phillip had more to worry about when the other alliance pulled out their idols are were safe from being voted out as a result. It was one of the best tribal councils in the show’s history.

#9 The purple rock- Many hate this twist and I’m one of them. But it was also quite memorable to have this as a huge part of the game going forward. It affected a lot of the game going forward and we saw a lot of different moves that we wouldn’t have otherwise, eliminations we wouldn’t have otherwise seen, and game play that never would have existed.

#8 Manono giving up immunity- In my mind, this was the most shocking moment in all of the history of Survivor and might even make my list of most shocking television moments too. It is one of the most hated moments in the show’s history and leaves many bum puzzled. It was a moment of pure “what just happened?” I had barely been able to have an expression other than one of pure shock from the time that Colton first suggested that immunity be given up to the end of this episode and I started this blog as a direct response to this episode. That’s the affect it had on me.

#7 Taking clothes off for chocolate and peanut butter- While this is very random, nearly every Survivor fan would know about this event. Two of the women contestants wanted chocolate and peanut butter so much that not only would they give up a chance at winning immunity, they would take off all of their clothes on the way to get it. And that’s how we got to fandom that we all know.

#6 The blindside of James- This poor guy will never live this down. All he needed to do was play one of his idols. It wouldn’t matter much if he wasted it as he had another one. But people knew that he had the two idols and wanted to get rid of him. A majority of people voted for him and he was none the wiser, keeping both of them until at least one went to Ghost Island.

#5 Michael’s evacuation- Of all of the medical evacuations, his was one of the most serious and the very first of them all to happen. Him falling into the fire was so serious that they had to air a content advisory warning when that episode aired due to the serious nature of his burns. It is remembered very well in Survivor history as a result.

#4 The first tribe swap- Three people from each tribe have a secret meeting with Jeff and no one has any idea about what is going on outside of Jeff and the producers. The way that it went on was such a huge part of what would now be known about the game.

#3 Erik giving up the necklace- It would seem that the rule that the immunity winner being able to give up their immunity would become something that never comes up in the future. It is a twist that I’m pretty sure is still part of the game, but Jeff never asks about anymore. But this rule was in place and the women of this season knew it. They convinced a skeptical Erik to give up his only form of immunity and was promptly voted out as a result.

#2 Stealing shoes- Within the first eight seasons, this was picked by fans as the best Survivor moment at America’s tribal council. I almost had this as number one until I realized what truly belonged there. After the tribe Morgan left their boat of stuff right next to where Rupert was and left it there with no one to protect it, Rupert did the pirate thing and took all of the shoes from them. Who doesn’t remember such a thing like this? You'd have to be a very new fan.

#1 The snakes and rat speech- There’s almost no real good way to describe this and it might be better if I just quoted the speech verbatim. No one knew or quite understood what all the final tribal council will hold in the future and this is a speech that still can’t be topped. I had to pick something from the very first season and this, I believe, best tops the list.

Well, that’s all for this list. I almost had Rob’s proposal on this, but I decided to cut it at the last minute. I do wonder if I should give up doing these random posts and I’m not sure that I can write all that I want to and should. I’ll do my best to come up with some post until the hiatus of this show ends next month. For now, this is Adam Decker, signing off.

Top Ten Entertaining Players

When it comes to who I think are entertaining Survivor players, I don’t think that all of them are good players or players that most fans would like. But I think about who has valuable time when they are on the screen and their story arcs are often not wasted on us. In this post, I put who I think are the most entertaining players in Survivor history. Full discloser: I may not like all of these players, but I think that in at least one of the seasons that they played, if not all of them, they did a good job entertaining us and deserve their place on this list. A lot of them aren't even good players. But I felt that they were entertaining in some way and that is why they are on this list.

#10 Jonny Fairplay (Pearl Islands, Micronesia): I still despise the guy, especially after his pathetic time on the game the second time around. But I still think that he’s the type of player that you don’t even know that you need from time to time: a player that you love to hate.

#9 Zane (Philippines): Maybe you are correctly questioning why I’d put a first boot on the list. For the one episode that he was on, he was the star of it and was quite likable for some people like me, despite him being a relatively crazy person. How could you not like him?

#8 Greg (Borneo): Every time he was on the screen, he was often giving people reality gold. This is quite odd considering how he had no idea what the show would be like long term since reality TV like Survivor wasn’t around at the time as he was in the very first season of it. It’s a shame that we will probably not see him again on the show. But if you don’t think that he was entertaining, then you must not have seen this season of the show.

#7 Coach (Tocantins, Heroes versus Villains, South Pacific): While I originally hated him, I think that I like him more than I used to. He probably intentionally plays the crazy stereotype just for the airtime that he knows that he’ll get. He’s such an oddity that people might not understand his ways. I still don’t like how he treated Sierra, but I think that he’s still entertaining.

#6 Eliza (Vanuatu, Micronesia): I feel kind of bad that she’s the only woman that I find worthy of this list. If you don’t remember her, you’d remember her facial expressions as she always loved to express her shock at every moment in the game that she wasn’t expecting. And that wasn’t all the greatness that she brought to the game as she brought over great moments like her reaction to the fake immunity idol that her ally tried to give her. What's not to like?

#5 Tyson (Tocantins, Heroes versus Villains, Blood versus Water): He’s on here for his winning season, if no other reason. He proved to be such a likeable character that it was maybe too clear that he was going to do well this time in the game. From his bulge to him actually caring about finding an idol, he did well as was very entertaining that time around.

#4 Coby (Palau): One of the most moody players to ever play Survivor, it was clear that despite possibly seeming like he wouldn’t win, people voted him out because they were afraid that he would win. He did such a good job telling us about the other people in the game and he didn’t come off as terrible in his ways like some other shade throwers are.

#3 Tony (Cagayan, Game Changers): He might be the most entertaining winner in my mind. He was such a fun thing to watch and you couldn’t even be sure that his cockiness wouldn’t get the better of him the first time around. No, he was such a good player that he got a well deserved win out of it. He was far too crazy the second time around for his own good, but at least he proved that there are some ways that one can play the game and still win as a result.

#2 Rupert (Pearl Islands, All-Stars, Heroes versus Villains, Blood versus Water): Fuck the haters, this guy is freaking awesome. He was a lovable pirate who stole shoes, helped treat a snake, and did so many other loveable things. He was such a great person that no one would ever let him get to the end as they probably couldn’t think of why they shouldn’t vote for him as a result.

#1 Philip (Redemption Island, Caramoan): This might be my most controversy pick on the list and he is the number one choice for me. I never said that these people were good players. I just said that they were entertaining. He never stood a chance of winning with his terrible game play, but he was great for me to watch his debut season and even the second time around when he wasn’t someone else’s mere puppet and might actually have good control over the game.

Well, I think that I’ve hopefully come up with another good idea for a blog post. I have a lot of ideas for them, but I’m not sure if all of them will be written as I might not have as good an idea for them after all. So I hope that you liked this post. For now, this is Adam Decker, signing off.

Survivor Contestants who are Probably Ineligible from Becoming Returning Players

You might want an explanation as to what I mean by this type of post. I’m not entirely sure why I’m doing it, but I figure that I might as well come up with a post of some sort each week to keep fans of this show entertained while this show is on hiatus. I think that it might be notable to think of all of the past contestants who, for one reason or another, might be ineligible from playing again.

The one that is most obvious to me is that most quitters would be on the list. Maybe not all of them, but I’d think that Osten from Pearl Islands, Sue from Borneo and All Stars, Janu from Palau, Melissa from Fiji, Kathy from Micronesia, NaOnka from Nicaragua, Kelly Shinn from Nicaragua, Colton from Blood versus Water, Lindsey from Cagayan, Julie from San Juan del Sur, and Bi from David versus Goliath are more than likely not playing again in any future season. This doesn’t include all of the quitters as maybe some that aren’t listed would be considered to be brought back or are mentioned in a different group.

Next comes the group of those that were close to being quitters, but might not be considered that way to all, like me or others. I’ll explain more. They are Gary from Fiji, Dana from Philippines, and Terry from Panama and Game Changers. The first two were more like medical evacuations than anything else. It was the second one that retroactively changed the first one. But I don’t see them as true quits. Terry was an odd exit unlike any other. Still, it might be considered a quit to some. Whatever the reasons, if they are considered quitters to the producers, they won’t be coming back.

Speaking of people who would be considered quitters but might not be, there are a lot of people who had asked to be voted out. Some of these were stated by other players in interviews afterwards and might not be what some think they are. Thus, those players are Shawna from Amazon, Jonny Fairplay from Pearl Islands and Micronesia, Ashlee from Palau, Jeff Wilson from Palau, Willard from Palau, Chet from Micronesia, GC from Gabon, Jimmy Johnson from Nicaragua, and Zane from Philippines.

Now there are other people who for one reason or another would have been put on a hypothetical list of banned players to never be considered for playing again. I will go into what makes them unique and not to be grouped with the other players listed above.

If anyone were to start a banned players list, it would be Stacey from Borneo. After the show was over, she sued it, saying that the producers affected the game and convinced other players to vote her out instead of another player. I, personally, think she was out to make a quick buck and didn’t realize that she would be countersued by Mark Burnett for up to five million dollars. If you spoil any season, that is how much you would have to pay if they could prove that you did it. You would have to win the show 5 times just to break even. And nobody has played that much. Stacey is the reason that contestants are paid for being on the reunion show. Still, much mystery remains with the case that was settled out of court in some way. I just know that she ain’t coming back.

Something that I’m not quite sure of is if a member of a dream team can play Survivor as they might have insider knowledge on how challenges are played and know secrets about how to win them that ordinary contestants might not know. Hunter from Marquesas was once part of Survivor’s dream team. I do not know which season this might have been and it could have easily been more than one. So maybe he could play again, but I’m not entirely sure if he can.

Speaking of insider knowledge about the game, Jeff Probst once dated a contestant, Julie from Vanuatu. She has admitted that she thus knows more production secrets (whatever that means) than any other contestant on the show. Thus, she might not be able to play again.

There have been cases of contestants causing controversy whether they mean to or not. Denise from China caused issues when she said at the reunion show that she was demoted because of being on the show. Mark then gave her a special amount of money because of it. But it turned out that the change in her job was agreed upon before she left. She gave the money to charity as a result. Still, this whole mess of things, while brief, could make it unlikely that she could play again.

Sometimes, a contestant gets too full of themselves and very angry at things in general. One of the most notorious contestants in Survivor history was Russell Hantz from Samoa, Heroes versus Villains, and Redemption Island. I think that it is likely that he is banned now from the show. His family isn’t doing good on their reality show appearances. It is likely that they will part ways with him now as a result.

One of the most important rules of Survivor is that you can’t split winnings or potential winnings with other players in order to advance in the game. Sash from Nicaragua might have done that. But we do not know for sure if he did or didn’t as it all came down to he said/she said and apparently the cameras did not catch any potential real deal. Thus, it is likely that he might not come back as a result.

Here’s another example of something that might be based on conjuncture. There is a rumor that Steve from Redemption Island had thrown his duel. You’d think that intentionally throwing a duel would be considered a quit and thus, he wouldn’t return as a result.

One of the most explosive exits ever seen in Survivor history related to the departure of Brandon Hantz from South Pacific and Caramoan. The second time he played led to a meltdown that got him voted out after his tribe gave up immunity before any challenge took place. He might have been banned from the reunion show as a result, although I’m not entirely sure if he was or wasn’t. Still, a person of his quite bad temperament probably shouldn’t be on TV and given a platform. Have we learned nothing from the 2016 presidential election?

Another contestant who might have violated the rulebook was Bill from One World. For reasons that are unknown, he took Colton’s hidden immunity idol and threw it into the sea. The idol was returned to him as idols can’t be stolen and discarded of like that. Whether or not this lead to the now infamous giving up of immunity that production allowed, I’m not sure. (It was said to be why Colton hated Bill.) I do not think that they gave Bill much crap since he later hosted the Survivor live after show. But there is a huge difference between playing on the show and merely talking about it.

Regarding contestants who might have caused issues with production, Vytas from Blood versus Water and Cambodia accidently somehow spoiled that he was premerge on his second season. He thinks that it was a mistake that someone else had caused. Still, he was banned from the reunion show that season and it’s likely that he might not ever play again as a result.

Alec from David versus Goliath was the most recent person who caused issues with production when he had spoiled himself to be a contestant on that season and was banned by production. I do wonder if they are getting to be too serious at times, production, that is. Who knows? Maybe it won’t be too long before a contestant is officially expelled.

There might be more, but probably aren’t. These were all of the people that I could think of at least. I do not know much about who else I could have missed potentially. That’s actually a lot. There are more than you might think that there should be. In fact, probably no one should be on the list in the end. But there are a lot of people who might not be playing Survivor again.

Well, I need to give myself more time to write posts in addition to what’s going in the rest of my life and I can only hope that this blog can continue no matter what. I hope that you enjoyed this post and I will let you know if there are ever any changes in this blog. For now, this is Adam Decker, signing off.