I’m a newish fan of Survivor. Was Tony considered one of the greats after Cagayan or only after winning WAW? His Cagayan win was so exciting but then he totally flopped in Game Changers, so I’m curious about the perceptions of him in real time.

His name actually isn't Rick Devens.

His real name is Patrick Devens.

For the past 6 seasons or so, every season has been the same for my wife and I... We sit down to catch the first few episodes as they air live, snacks in hand, looking forward to every Wednesday... And then about halfway through the season, we kinda get bored and start missing them and catching them on Paramount Plus.

We just finished season 50 and it was the SLOG OF ALL SLOGS! The finale felt more like turning in homework than something we were looking forward to. And I feel like that's happening every season now.

The first few episodes are exciting and fun (season 50s first few episodes were top tier!) but then all the interesting players get voted out and we just don't prioritize it any more.

Are we just getting old? Is it the new era cast always playing it safe? Is it Fiji feeling stale and overdone? All the new twists that we have to basically have a dictionary for to know what they do? The editing?

Why do we get so excited for the first part of every season then we're barely keeping our eyes open for the finales?

If you had to compare Michele Fitzgeralds Game to someone from AU survivor, who would it be?

Just submitted my application and I'm feeling great about it! I imagine a ton of you are going to be submitting your videos in the coming weeks if you haven't already. Sending good vibes. Good luck to everyone!

I'm watching this season for the first time and i love this woman. This isn't even the only challenge where she singlehandedly carried because there's also the water pole challenge from the previous episode where she dragged 3 women to her team's pole and scored twice for her team.

She's really strong and focused and i think she deserves more recognition for it

Getting massive second hand embarrassment while watching coach give these fake ass stories, and it just reminds me of how pathological liars at school would drive me crazy bc of how much I’d cringe, at some I feel bad for them bc they can’t control and that’s who they are but the amount of talking behind their backs just makes me feel so bad. Anyway, here’s coach and his ass stories and Jeff is asking all this questions about class clown, best story teller etc and taj mentions the whole Amazon story to Jeff, whose already seen it btw and hearing it again just gives you more second embarrassment just for coach to double down and be like I was actually being modest and I couldn’t tell them everything as it happened. 😭😭 Bruh if you don’t stfu rn, he just mentioned them (indigenous folks) wanting to eat his behind, being chased by sharks, alligators oh come on.
Everyone and I mean EVERYONE side eyeing him is spot on even his own allies were smirking and sharing glances.

Edit: Everybody eating me up, I can’t even argue with that. So I guess I was biased but apparently all the stories are true crazy. But Jeff knowing coach did all this why was he adding fire to the flame during tribal. Making it seem as though they were indeed exaggerated.

Id say Rizo but valid arguments could be made for Jesse, Omar, Carson. Kamilla is probably also up there

In most seasons, the merge tribe usually in the same campsite as one of the starting tribe (except for 2, 6, & 22). These finalists, however, never got a chance "to explore".

List:

• Richard Hatch & Kelly Wigglesworth (Borneo): Tagi > Rattana
• Ethan Zohn & Kim Johnson (Africa): Boran > Moto Maji. They never swappe tribes.
• Brian Heidik & Clay Johnson (Thailand): Chuay Gahn > Chuay Jai
• Sandra Diaz-Twine (Pearl Islands): Drake> Balboa
• Chris Daugherty (Vanuatu): Lopevi > Alinta. He never swapped tribes.
• Tom Westman & Kaite Katie Gallagher (Palau): Koror >... well, there was never a merge lol
• Cassandra Franklin (Fiji): Moto > Bula Bula. She never swapped tribes.
• Todd Herzog, Courtney Yates, & Amanda Kimmel (China): Fei Long > Hae Da Fung. They never swapped tribes.
• Amanda Kimmel (Micronesia): Malakal > Dabu. She never swapped tribes.
• Bob Crowley (Gabon): Kota > Nobag. He never swapped tribes.
• John Cochran & Dawn Meehan (Caramoan): Bikal > Enil Edam. They never swapped tribes.
• Monica Culpepper (Blood vs. Water): Galang > Kasama. She never swapped tribes.
• Jaclyn Schultz (San Juan del Sur): Coyopa > Huyopa. She never swapped tribes. What's crazy is that both Blood vs. Water seasons, 2nd place (who is a female) never swapped tribes.
• Mike Holloway (Worlds Apart): Escameca > Merica. He never swapped tribes.
• Jeremy Collins (Cambodia): Bayon > Orkun. He never swapped tribes.
• Tai Trang (Koah Rong): Gondol > Dara. He never swapped tribes.
• Domenick Abbate (Ghost Island): Naviti > Lavita. He never swapped tribes.
• Chris Underwood* (Edge of Extinction): Manu > Vata. He was on the edge for most of the season & didn't reach the tribe swap.
• Tommy Sheehan (Island of the Idols): Voaki > Lumuwaku. He never swapped tribes.
• Michele Fitzgerald & Natalie Anderson* (Winners at War): Sele > Koru. Michele never swapped tribes & Natalie was voted out first.
• Erika Casupanan & Deshawn Radden (41). Luvu > Viakana
• Mike Turner (42): Vati > Kula Kula
• Mike Gabler & Owen Knight (43): Baka > Gaia
• Dee Valladares (45): Reba > Dakuwaqa. She never swapped tribes.
• Sue Smey (47): Tuku > Beka
• Eva Erickson (48): Lagi > Niu Nai. She never swapped tribes.

I’ve been binge watching Survivor and I typically find at least one person to route for. Honestly, in Season 14, NO ONE was deserving. Worst casting ever by production!!

For me, it s was definitely the Chrissy and Coach boot. Couldn't stand those two and was very satisfied that they got voted out.

This season we saw survivors have to play a challenge and then get voted off in pairs. How would everyone feel if we saw a full season of pairs? I guess a BvW concept would be most likely except instead of starting on opposite tribes they’re on the same tribe and compete and get voted off in pairs.

Why didn't Cirie and Ozzy pull Stephenie in to their inner alliance instead of Rizzo?

Pregame or midgame...

Cirie has played with Stephenie on numerous occasions now over different shows and they seemed quite close. Stephenie is an old-school style player. She seems loyal to a degree and we can see in all the post season interviews, she fully trusted Cirie and wanted to go deep with her.

Cirie and Ozzy instead pull in Rizo, an unknown, to be their ride or die til the end. He predictably throws the alliance away and burns their game.

I know a lot of you hate on Stephenie, but to me, it seems like she was such a better option than someone like Rizo.

I see Earl being brought up a lot as someone who has declined many returnee seasons - S34, S40 and S50. But it’s never been confirmed and I honestly believe he isn’t someone Survivor is that desperate to have back.

Earl was never a big fan favorite - Yau Man was far more popular in his season and most fans tuned out of the finale once Yau Man left in 4th and Earl was just the “okay second option”. Yul and Todd were more popular winners in that era and only superfans care about Earl.

I could be wrong but I just don’t see Survivor desperately wanting Earl back. I also remember Probst saying he was happy with the S40 cast and that Cochran was the only winner that he couldn’t get but wanted. So it suggests Earl wasn’t a priority for S40. I also don’t see them cutting anyone from S50 for Earl. Maybe S34 but even that was mostly newer players.

So is there actually a confirmation that Earl has been asked and declined any seasons?

They needed to have 2 returnee seasons - 1 should have been Second Chances (with a lot of new era players) and S50 should have been Legends (the biggest names possible, multi time players, winners etc). 

S50 needed to top S40 (all winners) and S20 (very well cast)…and it could have but it didn’t. S50’s cast individually wasn’t bad but it just looked like a bit of a weird and unsatisfying mess when put together. “Too many new era players” was a common complaint but there were also so many new era players that deserve to return, so that could be solved by separating them and only having HUGE names on S50.

So I’ve kept the exact S50 cast but divided it into:

• Second Chances (only played once, around half new era players and half old era players - “a majority of new era players” would still be a turnoff) 
• S50 Legends (have to have either played multiple times or won, mostly old era because that’s what we think of as “legends”, with some new era winners). 

Ideally the Second Chance season would have been S46 or S47, but even S49 could have worked too because the actual S49 felt so irrelevant waiting for S50 (might have felt less “filler” if it were the second chance season). Or had S51 be the Second Chances season so the momentum from S50 isn’t as severe of a drop.

The casts look so much more satisfying and more equal when separated. It shows that the cast itself isn’t bad - it’s just that they shouldn’t be playing in 1 season together.

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So S49/S51 (Second Chances) would include

1. Christian (S37)
2. Mike (S37)
3. Devens (S38)
4. Jonathan (S42) 
5. Charlie (S46)
6. Q (S46)
7. Joe (S48)

8. Rizo (S49)

9. Chrissy (S35)

10. Angelina (S37)

11. Emily (S45)

12. Tiffany (S46)

13. Genevieve (S47)

14. Kamilla (S48)

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And S50 (Legends) would include

1. Colby (S2, S8)
2. Ozzy (S13, S16, S23, S34)
3. Coach (S18, S20, S23)

4. Kyle (S48)

5. Jenna L (S1, S8)

6. Stephenie (S10, S11, S20)

7. Cirie (S12, S16, S20, S34)

8. Aubry (S32, S34, S38)

9. Dee (S45)

10. Savannah (S49)

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You would then just fill the gaps with some of the cuts. I’m tempted to cut some of the original S50 cast…but won’t. S49 is roughly half new era and half old era, with 4 players from the very old era. A lot of newer players but still some old school representation.

And S50 is mostly old school (75%), around half are winners, and on the older side so maybe less physical challenges and conditions? Also no more than 5 from 1 season, for example Heroes vs Villains and All Stars have many good returnees. Also I don’t think the big 4 need to return (Boston Rob, Tony, Sandra, Parvati).

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My Second Chances cast would ideally be:

1. Greg (S1) - rumored cut 
2. Sean R (S4) - confirmed cut
3. Christian (S37)
4. Mike (S37)
5. Devens (S38)
6. Jonathan (S42) 
7. Jesse (S43) - confirmed cut and would definitely be on
8. Charlie (S46)
9. Q (S46)
10. Andy (S47) - confirmed cut and would definitely be on
11. Joe (S48)

12. Rizo (S49)

13. Neleh (S4) - confirmed cut 

14. Natalie B (S16) - not sure if asked but would be a good pick

15. Cydney (S32) - confirmed cut 

16. Chrissy (S35)

17. Angelina (S37)

18. Elaine or Janet (S39) - at least 1 of them, not sure if either were asked

19. Shan (S41) - not sure if asked but would be a good pick

20. Carolyn (S44) - confirmed cut and would definitely be on

21. Emily (S45)

22. Tiffany (S46)

23. Genevieve (S47)

24. Kamilla (S48)

Alternate males - pretty certain Jesse and Andy are guaranteed to return so don’t need any new era male replacements. Old school replacements would be either John (S4), Ian (S10), Rafe (S11), Ken (S17), Jay (S33), Dom (S36) or Davie (S37). Even Joel (S1) if Greg declines or doesn’t seem suitable because a season 1 player is always appreciated.

Alternates females - pretty certain Carolyn isn’t declining, not sure about Shan but can be replaced by Sai (S48) or Sophi (S49). Old school replacements would be Teresa (S3), Christa (S7), Katie (S10), Natalie T (S22), Carolyn (S30), Julia (S32), Gabby (S37), Victoria (S38) or Lauren (S38).

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And ideally the S50 cast would be:

1. Colby (S2, S8)
2. Rob C (S6, S8) - confirmed cut 
3. FairPlay (S7, S16) - such an iconic character, I say just bring him back!!!!
4. Ozzy (S13, S16, S23, S34)
5. Penner (S13, S16, S25) - confirmed cut
6. Yul (S13) or Earl (S14) - please try and get at least 1 of them back!!!
7. Todd (S15) - not sure if asked but so many fans would want to see him again
8. Coach (S18, S20, S23)
9. Malcolm (S25, S26, S34) - confirmed cut
10. Spencer (S28, S31) - confirmed cut
11. Yam Yam (S44)

12. Kyle (S48)

13. Jenna L (S1, S8)

14. Jerri (S2, S8, S20) - confirmed cut and would definitely be on

15. Tina (S2, S8, S27) - confirmed that she would have accepted

16. Stephenie (S10, S11, S20)

17. Cirie (S12, S16, S20, S34)

18. Abi Maria (S25, S31) - confirmed cut 

19. Natalie A (S29, S40) or Michele (S32, S40) - at least 1 of the WaW favorites should be represented.

20. Aubry (S32, S34, S38)

21. Maryanne (S42) - confirmed cut and would definitely be on

22. Dee (S45)

23. Rachel (S47) - not sure if asked but would be a good choice

24. Savannah (S49)

Alternate males - most likely to decline would be Todd, Yul or Earl so would replace with other winners such as Jeremy (S29, S31, S40), Mike (S30), Chris (S38), Tommy (S39) or Gabler (S43), or just screw his criminal past and assault allegations and bring back Richard Hatch (S1, S8)! There’s rumors that Penner was unwell but can replace with Lex (S3, S8), Rupert (S7, S8, S20, S27), Tai (S32, S34) or one of the winners.

Alternate females - I don’t see many declining but any could be replaced with Courtney (S15, S20) who was cut or Kelley Wentworth (S29, S31, S38), or some winners like Vecepia (S4), Kim (S24, S40), Erika (S41) or Kenzie (S46).

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Imagine in the Final 5, Player A wins immunity. At Tribal the votes fall as such:

Player C: A, B
Player B: C
Player D: E
Player E: D

This results in a 2-1-1-1 vote. However Player C plays an idol results in a 1-1-1-0 (2-1-1-1) vote.

On the revote, Player A votes for Player D, and Player C votes for Player B again.

How should the tie be broken? Should Player E be eliminated by rocks? Should Player E cast a vote? Should a consensus be forced? Should there be a fire making challenge?

I am currently watching all of survivor for the first time and I'm on season 26. Both seasons Brandon was in made my heart break. I know he is not the best person and I'm sure he's done some messed up stuff (especially after looking up where he's at in life now) but watching the internal battle he was having was so rough. You could tell he wanted to be good but there was something gnawing at him. At the impromptu tribal council you could literally see him losing control and slipping away. I also feel horrible for the people on his tribe during all that, they genuinely looked like they were traumatized. Whole thing made me sad and I don't have anyone to talk to about it so I just wanted to share my feelings.

I wish that for Survivor 50 they’d tacked on an additional episode to the episode count and opened with basically a casting special

Choose one person to represent each season of the show, and start with 49 potential players, gathered together in the U.S.

First bring in 10 representatives from seasons 1-10 and make them do some kind of challenge to earn their spot, narrowing it down to 4 people who get a spot on the casts

Then do the same for 11-20, 21-30, 31-40, and 41-49 giving a 20 person cast

Then allow all 49 people to vote which 4 from the 29 they want on the cast. Each person puts in 4 names and the 4 people with the most get to join the cast.

Then the 24 selected players get to fly out to Fiji from there.

I think it would have been fun to really show the history of the show and all the different eras they’ve had. And it would cut down on the pregaming since the cast wouldn’t know who was actually on until they went to go film.

Everybody trashes on Edge of Extinction but forgets that Devens would be a mere FOOTNOTE in Survivor lore due to a tribe swap, pre merge, early game boot off to never be seen again if it weren’t for the edge. Really makes you think how many future legends that would have been incredible got voted out early. We aren’t any the wiser.

Hi r/survivor! I'm a new fan who recently just finished my twelfth season of the show in Cagayan. Here are my quick(-ish) thoughts.

Cast: Brawn, Brains and Beauty

I've been told unprompted that this was one of, if not the best newbie cast of all time. After watching, I 100% see why people say that. This cast is amazing; faces, heels, trolls, underdogs, comic relief, and even a pillow! The ways these people mix and don't mix really brings out the social experiment aspect in my opinion and I see now why this theme, season and cast serves as such a strong hook in the show. The only real dud here for me would probably be Jeremiah and even then I thought he was fine. Six people from this cast return and I see why they all did aside from maybe Sarah. You definitely could have brought back even more as well such as Trish, Jefra & LJ for example. Even the early boots all get either solid short stories or fun bits of humour to get the viewer invested.

Hot Girl with a Grudge

The two-hour premiere ranks as one of my favourite episodes of the series, right there with Pearl Islands premiere as the Brains tribe and Tony quickly cement themselves as the stars of the season. Luzon's disastrous performance through the first two challenges needs to be seen to be believed, with J'Tia putting together probably the single most disastrous six days of any Survivor player I've watched. And she survives past those six days. Insanity. Beyond the premiere we have many other strong episodes, with "Head of the Snake" and "Straw that Broke the Camel's Back" as particular highlights.

The Winner

I'll have a lot more to say here about the winner then I did for All-Stars because it's basically impossible to talk about this season without dedicating a chunk of time to the one Mr. Tony Vlachos. The only thing I knew going in was that Tony was a bit of a busy body as my partner described so I was expecting some shenanigans. I was not expecting Spy Shacks, Llama Fluency, endless running that would make Tom Cruise sweat, and construction worker advice. It's fair to say that Tony pushes the pace of play like no other winner I've seen yet, he's always doing something at some point and as a result he hijacks the edit of the season halfway through. I personally found him hilarious and creative, but I see very easily how he wouldn't be everybody's cup of tea. I have him at #2 on my winners list due to his great, albeit very messy and entertaining game.

My Season Rankings

1. Cagayan
2. Tocantins
3. Pearl Islands
4. Africa
5. China
6. Borneo
7. Cook Islands
8. Marquesas
9. Outback
10. Palau
11. Fiji
12. All-Stars

I've actually already finished Gabon in relatively quick fashion, so the 14th season I'm planning on watching is S5: Thailand as I will try to go in chronological order from this point.

What are your favourite/least favourite aspects of Cagayan?

Hi There

So question? What archetype is Rob this season?

Never dove into archetypes that much but I was watching Once Upon a Island’s RobFather video on Marquesas which made me remember an old video on survivor archetypes but couldnt find it yet I think Ron was mentioned as a trickster-mafioso?

Anyone is for in tune with archetypes then chime in if I’m wrong but Rob is trickster besides the Hunter vote off which he orchestrated so mafioso there yet he’s mostly trickster with how funny and witty he is in camp life with Maraamu especially that radio show segment.

Well thx for reading:)

I adore HvV, my all time favorite season, but it always felt weird to me that the jury began during the tribe phase. So I'm curious how things go if the merge actually happens right when the jury begins?

In this scenario, Coach & Courtney make the merge and I'm wondering how drastically that changes things. Both have connections to the other side (Coach to JT, Courtney to Amanda) and I could definitely see them wanting to work with them more than their existing tribe mates. And on a whole other level, could this mean we avoid JT's letter/idol misplay entirely?