Survivor

Doesn't sound like an All-Star season. Doesn't mean it'll be bad, of course. The 3 tribe dynamic usually works out for a good season.

I think they need to permanently switch to 3 tribes moving forward. It really helps keep the one tribe to rule them all after merge thing down to a minimum, since a run won't completely shift power to one side only. I have really enjoyed most seasons that had three tribes through the bulk of the pre-merge.

By the end, it is hard to even remember how many tribes their initially were, but it does seem to keep the game more interesting in the first few weeks. The stereotypes they lump people into can be kind of fun.

25 was also a mess. Malcolm and whatshername's tribe lost every challenge until they split them up. Then whatshername kinda coasted to the end (and won because Lisa Wenchel and the Burning Man were idiots).

Fell behind on this season, but got caught up for the finale. Overall, I still think it's been a weak season, but at least things have picked up in the past couple weeks, mainly because of Natalie. There wasn't really anyone I wanted to see win before she pulled off the Jon blindside. Really though, considering how prominent Jon and Jaclyn have been the entire season, I figured they'd both make it to the end since they've been made off to be this power couple. Natalie sort of faded to the background after her twin got voted out.

lanx_sl said:

Oh and in case you're wondering b4 s25 it was s13(yul) that had 3 or more tribes so they rarely use the 3 (or more) format.

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The three tribes thing typically seems to be a gimmick that doesn't last longer than a few episodes. There are too few people on each tribe for a tribe to last long enough (particularly if they are the weakest tribe) and it's difficult to edit an episode to show enough of what's going on at each camp. In fact, it usually seems like the seasons that start with more than two tribes are the ones that abandon their theme for the season the fastest. Once you combine the 3-4 tribes into 2 (which has been necessary in every season prior to the usual merge into 1) the gimmick becomes irrelevant, whereas starting with 2 tribes means it can usually continue until the merge and potentially even after it depending on how strong alliances are.

I left it vague because I remembered the two mentioned but was not sure if there was a third. The seasons with Yul and the like really didn't count in my mind as most of those only lasted a couple tribals or so. However, with those two, the format lasted almost all the way up to the merge, and yes in both cases one tribe got decimated, but it left two tribes almost completely in tact, so there was no dominant alliance by nothing other than attrition dictating the rest of the game post merge. The concept of the collars seems pretty interesting as well, so this next one shows some promise for sure.

I think all the studio audience interaction plays better there in the theatre than it does on TV. It just feels awkwardly scripted, people being all nervous on camera, trying to say what they were told to say.

Yeah, the last 3-4 weeks and Natalie stepping up her game at the right time did redeem the season a bit. Not the best season, but not the worst.

Reed fucked Missy up so good, LOL. I couldn't stop laughing when they cut the camera to Baylor and she was a waterfall of tears. HAHA!

Keith would have been fan favorite for sure. They need an all-stars season soon.

Reed and Jon voted for Jaclyn.

Natalie and Keith saved the season, I still think this whole format sucks and should never return, but I'm sure it will. Final tribal was going pretty terrible as well, Jaclyn sob story, Missy Baylor sob story, until Jeremy told them to straight up vote Natalie she deserved it, and Reed closing it out by putting the smackdown on Missy. Would have been a shame if Missy won after coasting out the last 6 days.

Alec the fly catcher needs to close his mouth, every shot of him in the final tribals had his mouth open wondering wtf was going on.

No player of the season but I think maybe they thought Natalie would have won that too anyways.

New season sounds like it could be terrible. Season 30 needed to be another all star cast.

Reed saved the season. Even with Natalie winning, I would have been extremely disappointed if nobody called out Missy on her shit, especially after that performance Baylor put on during her speech. And he said it so much better than I ever could have. I kinda hope he gets to come back on one of the all-star shows.

My immediate thoughts after seeing Reed cast the vote for Jaclyn was that he 100% knew Natalie was getting the votes to win, so he wanted to twist the dagger he'd already stabbed into Missy's back by ensuring that she gets 3rd place cash instead of splitting 2nd place with Jaclyn or however that would have worked. Fucking diabolical, I loved it.

Fight_sl said:

Yeah, the last 3-4 weeks and Natalie stepping up her game at the right time did redeem the season a bit. Not the best season, but not the worst.

Reed fucked Missy up so good, LOL. I couldn't stop laughing when they cut the camera to Baylor and she was a waterfall of tears. HAHA!

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Having a deserving winner always redeems a season a little, in my opinion. This very easily could've been one of those seasons where people take things too personally and fall for whatever sob story the others have. (Not that I ever understood why Missy was supposed to get sympathy for getting divorced three times.) I was glad to see Jeremy pull a Spencer and talk some sense into the jury, though I'm not sure it would've gone differently had he not. None of the guys really seemed to like Jaclyn and I'm sure that ridiculous lover's quarrel did little to win anyone over. And thankfully, no one was going to vote for the only person in Survivor history to ever sit outmultipleimmunity challenges and wasliterallycarried to the end.

And Reed's "wicked stepmother" speech is going to be the new Susan Hawk "snakes and rats" speech, no question.

Pizoi_sl said:

My immediate thoughts after seeing Reed cast the vote for Jaclyn was that he 100% knew Natalie was getting the votes to win, so he wanted to twist the dagger he'd already stabbed into Missy's back by ensuring that she gets 3rd place cash instead of splitting 2nd place with Jaclyn or however that would have worked. Fucking diabolical, I loved it.

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That really is an interesting theory that I hadn't thought of. I know in Fiji the two who tied (with no votes) both got $100,000. I'd love to know if that's why he did it. At the very least, he had to know how Josh and Jeremy were voting.

BrutulTM_sl said:

White Collar/Blue Collar/No Collar is a bit different than the rumor about dividing by class. I predict that the no collar/hippy tribe will not be effective at all.

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In a way, it sort of seems like a redo of Brains (White Collar), Brawn (Blue Collar), and Beauty (No Collar). Not sure if that's a good or bad thing, but I'm anticipating the No Collar tribe having some really annoying players (like Courtney the fire dancer in Panama).

Thank god this season is finally over. I hope they never do bvw again. Ever.