Survivor

The 17th Season of Survivor finished on Sunday. It was one of the few times where I didn't dislike any of the final four people (though # 5 Kenny was a huge cry baby wiener). And I was pleased with the winner. That doesn't happen often either. It was a decent season.
But, wow, 17 seasons! That is a bit misleading, because you have two seasons per year, but still a lot. Lots of memories. Haha. My favorite show. So I decided to RANK THE 17 SEASONS OF SURVIVOR , based mostly on how much I like them. Nice. I'll also include so of the cool parts of the season and such. Holler!

RANKING THE SEASONS OF SURVIVOR

#17 Fiji
Why 17? Boring. Predictable. Few likable people. Few attractive women. Even the twists were predictable. Even I didn't watch it all
Rundown: Don't remember much about this season. Sorry. It just wasn't good.
Cool People: Yau-Man
Cool Stuff: Yau - Man
Random: I remember one guy just berating only for being weak and womanly. It was bad.

#16 Survivor All-Stars
Why 16? This one sounded great. People were excited for it. They got to see all their old favorites - Rudy, Colby, Ethan - and old enemies - Richard, Jerri. But it quickly became evident that this would be way different because the people already knew each other. The dynamics of the game would be TOTALLY different. So they game became lame. The best players would be voted out and mediocre players would raise to the top.
Rundown - All the previous winners were voted off rather quickly. Same-season alliances were sniffed out and an alliance of Rupert, Jenna, Rob, and Amber over took the Lex, Tom, Kathy alliance. Seriously, all the good people were voted off in the first half of the season.
Cool People: Colby, Richard (he is entertaining), Colby
Cool Stuff: Lex getting mad at Rob, Ricard catching a shark, beginning with 3 tribes was cool
Random: I believe Sue threatened to sue (haha) CBS after Richard allegedly rubbed his wiener on her during a challenge.
Two people quit - Sue and Jenna M. Oh, and Sue's tirade at Jeff Probst was was pretty funny. She ended each sentence with a load JEFF!
Oh, and I forgot the worst part of the season, the end. Rob asked Amber to marry him. C'mon this is Survivor, not The Love Connection!
Where was Tony? Sophomore in college, but didn't watch this one religiously. I think I actually had a Tuesday/Thursday night class this semester.

#15 Survivor Africa
Why 15? Africa is hot. Very hot and very Dry. This was the major downfall of this, the 3rd season of Survivor. It caused uninteresting challenges and people pretty much to lie around all day. A few new twists here, but alliances stuck.
Rundown: Anticipated season. This is when alliances worked and remained. Not much back-stabbing yet. It started as old/young alliances and then for the 1st time Survivor switched up tribes. That changed things up for a bit, but the alliance of Ethan, Kim, Lex, and Tom.
Cool People: Ethan, Tom
Cool Stuff: Hmm
Random: Rigid military man Frank and flamboyantly gay Brandon had to share a reward together - a drive in movie. Pretty nice.
Ethan was cool cuz he played soccer
Where was Tony? Senior year of high school. Wow, long time ago.

#14 Survivor China
Why 14? It seemed a cool place, but the cast was kinda lame. Really very little memorable about this one. And a professional wrestler? Really?
Rundown: Lots of twists, changes, backstabbing, alliances, immunity idols, but not very exciting
Cool People: James
Cool Stuff: James
Random: James was a gravedigger. I also believed in interview he said he would possibly bang Denise if she were younger and not married. Hmm I did not like Courtney or PG
Where was Tony? First few episodes in Milwaukee living with parents. Rest of Season in MT.

#13 Survivor Thailand
Why 13? This season wasn't that bad, but in hindsight, yes it was. Predictable and I don't recall many likable characters. Very methodical.
Rundown: Brian ran things, made his alliance, back-stabbed when necessary. Jan made it to the final three, possibly the oldest female contestant in show history
Cool People: Ted?
Cool Stuff: Ok, I admit it, I kind of liked Brian. I believe he called Survivor "a business trip". I also liked all his "skating" comments.
Random: Gandia accused Ted of grinding with her. Ted denied it yelling "I'm not even attracted to you!" Ha
Where was Tony? Freshman year of college. I remember watching with my roommate who had never previously watched Survivor.

#12 Survivor Panama aka Exile Island
Why 12? Cool premises with the first Exile Island and having 4 tribes - young men, old men, young women, old women. I don't think there was anyone I really rooted for though. Oh, and you got Terry, who dominated the game, but did not win. I think that puts a sour taste in some people's moths.
Rundown - Like I said, 4 tribes, pretty even, switching of tribes left one pretty dominant and Terry became the dominant player from the underdog tribe, winning 5 straight immunity challenges and having the hidden immunity idol. He did not win the final 3 challenge, though and Aras was the winner.
Cool People: Sally, Bruce
Cool Stuff: Lots of cool challenges. It helps to be on an island.
The challenge where you get to choose to eat or play was first done here I think. I enjoy that one. I give props to Aras because he was the only one in the leading alliance that decided to play and not eat.
Random: Bruce was an interesting cat and had to leave for medical reasons. Also he went to the loser tribe after teams were already picked.
Where was Tony? 2nd semester senior year of college. I believe the finale was actually on graduation day

#11 Survivor Guatemala
Why 11? I might have this one a little low actually. It's the first one on the list I can call a good season. The cast was good. I think the lack of attractive women or a really likable person in the last 8 or so made me not rate it as high.
Rundown: This one started with a bang! Bobby Jon and Stephanie from the previous season are revealed as players for each team. And then, the game instantly begins with a 12 mile trek with all the supplies through the think jungle, with the winning tribe getting the better camp. People were vomiting and didn't recover for days. I think the temperature was extreme for most of the show. And the people couldn't bathe due to alligators. (Read my lips: Al-ee-gay-tors) A few twists and turns, including the first hidden immunity idol. Oooh.
Cool People: Bobby Jon, Stephanie, Rafe, Gary
Cool Stuff: The start was nice - caused vomiting, dehydration, people passing out.
Contestants you like to dislike are always good - Jamie and Judd.
Bobby Jon/Jamie feud. I like the passion.
Good challenges.
Random: Gary was an NFL QB. That was weird. And Danni was a sports talk radio show host. Coincidence?
Lydia was useless.
Jamie was voted off solely because he kept asking if he was going to be the next one voted off.
Cindy won the car challenge and was given the option of keeping the car for herself or giving one to the 4 other tribe members. She decided to keep it, and was voted off at the next Tribal.
Where was Tony? 1st semester Senior year of college

#10 Survivor Amazon
Why # 10? Cool season, cool location, but no water challenges and the final people were not very cool.
Rundown: First battle of the sexes season. I think they were really trying to increase sex appeal on this season. Makes sense after Thailand I guess, but pretty much all young attractive people.
I actually remember very little about this season, just that I didn't like most of the girls.
Cool People: Butch, Dave
Cool Stuff: Piranhas
Random: I remember Butch burning down the hut including his flag he got from his school children saying something like "Do your best"
I remember after drinking wine from some reward, there were allegations that Butch peed his pants in his sleep.
Rob was a pretty good player
Where was Tony? In the dorms, Freshman year of college, met some other people that loved Survivor too.

#9 Survivor Pearl Islands
Why 9? Good cast - Rupert as the lead, Johnny Fairplay as the villain . Darrah as the female interest. Lots of good challenges. Some weird twists, though. Didn't like any of the final three.
Rundown: This was the pirate themed Survivor, even had pirate tribe names, raiding, planks, and booty. Rupert was an animal! Amazing in challenges. Amazing. The big twist was two already voted off contestants got to come back, and one, Lille even made it to the final. That is what keeps this season from being very high. Sandra won and I guess deserved it.
Cool People: Rupert, Darrah, Burton was ok
Cool Stuff: Bartering to begin the game. Raiding the other tribes camp. Some cool challenges. One where the team had to support the weight of a single tribe member hanging over the water. One where you had to sink the other tribes boat, which resulted in Rupert pretty much sinking the other team's boat on his own.
Random: Tie-dyed tank top. One dude straight up quit. Oh and Johnny lied that his grandmother died
Where was Tony? 1st semester sophomore year of college.


#8 Survivor Marquesas
Why 8? So this was the 4th season. The 1st was figuring out alliances. The second was trying to best form them. The third was just straight alliances. This season seemed to be going that way, but nope, a big twist/switch/back-stab.
Rundown: One tribe kinda sucks and loses a lot. Tribes switch. Them merge. The good tribe picks off the bad. The lower half of the good tribe figure out the pecking order and align with the remaining members of the weak tribe.
Cool people: Pappy, Sean
Cool Stuff: awesome waterfall, Pappy pushing the rock, "Purple Rock"
Where was Tony? Senior year of high school, last semester, woo

# 7 Survivor Gabon
Why 7? Good season, good people won. Good challenges
Rundown: Just happened
Cool People: Bob, Matty last two episodes Sugar
Cool Stuff: Fake immunity idols, elephants,
Where was Tony? On the bus for the beginning of the season, so I ended up one night drinking beer and watching the first 7 episodes of the season

# 6 Survivor Micronesia aka Fans vs Favorites
Why 6? Ok, so again we have people we already know. This time I liked most of them, and this time there were other people as well. Cool location. The fans vs favorites worked and the later combining of the tribes worked. Intense season.
Rundown: Pretty unpredictable. Lots of people getting too comfortable, then getting sucker-punched. Lots of over thinking things
Cool people: Take your pick
Cool Stuff: I remember the big guy Joel dragging the gay guy Chet in a challenge where they were tied together. I remember James absolutely dominating in the challenges. Dumb use of idols, real and fake.
Random: Lots of attractive women, who totally manipulated some of the men. One person quite and two left due to injury. Lots of back-stabbing and feelings hurt. I did not like Natalie.
Where was Tony? partially on the bus, but mostly on Montana

#5 Survivor Palau
Why 5? We are getting to the real good ones now. This season was very interesting. One tribe DOMINATED, won every single immunity challenge. This made you really, really root for the underdog. It was fascinating to see if they would finally win, and what would happen if they did not. I thought it would be cool then to see the winning tribe have to tear each other apart in the end, but that was not really the case. They had people they did not like and people who did not deserve to be there so late in the game. So in this season, the first 8 episode were much more fun and interesting than the last 6.
Oh, and the winner Tom, also DOMINATED. He was a man-child.
Rundown: See above
Cool People: Tom, Bobby Jon, Stephanie
Cool Stuff: Bobby Jon vs. Stephanie to be the sole Survivor of their tribe. Lots of cool challenges. One that sticks out in particular - All tribe members were tied together with 20 pound bags of sand each. Tribes were on opposite ends of a track which was in shallow water. One tribe had to catch the other, but when one tribe member dropped out their weight had to go to someone else. In the end, it was three on three. Some people were carrying 80 pounds, attempting to run through knee high water. Intense! Watch it if you want.
Random: The final challenge was real weird. Ian let Tom win after a 12 hour challenge to regain the friendship of the other two people. WTF? Seriously? Oh, and the 2nd place person, Katie sucked. She pretty much had everyone in the jury rib the shit out of her at final tribal.
The southern redneck James was funny pretty much a cartoon character.
This season started with a school yard pick, one of Jeff's favorite terms and the two people who weren't picked just were done. That sucks for them
Where was Tony? England. I had a friend of mine tape each episode (he might have missed one) and watched them when I moved into my new apartment senior year of college. I would watch two or three episodes a night with my roommates. It was great!


# 4 Survivor Vanuatu
Why #4? This might not be too high on some people's lists but it is high on mine. Awesome location, battle of the sexes, good people, against the odds winner, lots of hot women.
Rundown: This was another battle of the sexes, and was probably the inspiration for the Panama season, as in each tribe it was kind of old against young. The women held the edge, and the older men voted out the younger men. I think in the end, it was 6 women left and one man, and the man, Chris, won. The women started cat-fighting. Chris was real weak, but must've been good at lying to people.
Cool People: Chad (one leg), Julie (hot), Ami
Cool Stuff: Volcano, great challenges
Random: Somehow Twila made it to the final two, and Scout to the final three.
Chad had one leg. The season started with one of the men having to climb up a greased poll get a Vanuatu good luck rock.

# 3 Survivor Borneo aka Survivor

Why #3? The one that stared it. When you talk about Survivor, this is it. The people from this season are now embedded into American pop culture. It was very new. People didn't really know what they were doing. Alliances were not in play until later. Very amatuer almost.
Rundown: 16 castaways. One Survivor. Two tribes, merge, cool people, things were very even. Then Richard put together an alliance and it was all over from there.

Cool People: Greg, Gervase, Collen, RUDY!

Cool Stuff: Rudy, unknown elements of the game

Random: Rudy at the story/memory challenge, Sean voting alphabetically, Gervase in the swimming challenges, Gervase becoming a father while in the game, Rudy losing the last immunity challenge, BB

If you watch these episodes now, they are very simple. The challenges are much less extravagent, there is much more footage of just small talk which you do not see these days, and even the intros/outros/B-roll is much more simple.

Where was Tony? If you remember correctly, this season took place during summer. I missed some of the episodes and I remember I missed the first tribal council because my dad locked his keys in the car. This is the "Where were you when....?" for our generation, ok not really, it's 9/11, but this is close, sort of.

#2 Survivor Cook Islands

Why #2? This was the "Race Season", but that is not why it is number 2. Here it is all about the triumph of the underdogs. There was a clear good guy/bad guy split. It was just all coincidence that all white people were the bad guys.

Rundown: Divided by race for like the first two episodes, then a tribe switch. The the voluntary tribe switch. Then the underdogs won and played a great game. That alliance held very strong and Yul edged out Ozzie in the final.

Cool People: Yul, Ozzie, Cao-Boi

Cool Stuff: Yul's use of the idol, Yul using Jonathon, Ozzie dominating challenges.Underdogs

Random: Jonathon and Candice switched tribes when given the choice. Cao-Boi getting rid of the other Asian dudes headache. Despite being a d-bad. I did enjoy Jonathan.

Where was Tony? In Philly. I worked Thursday nights, so remember watching all these episodes on a the computer.

#1 Survivor Australia

Why #1? This season was a great mix of personality, people you root for and root against, drama, strategy, and good challenges. This was hype. Everyone was talking about it and everyone was wathcing it. It was still early, so there wasn't too much strategy talk and over thinking.

Rundown: Two equal tribes, tied at the merge and then it went to previous votes, that is really what won it for the winning tribe. Tina won when Colby was dumb and took her instead of Keith. That is my one complaint of the season.

Cool People: Colby, Rodger, Elisabeth, Nick

Cool Stuff: Better challenges, better prizes, camp got flooded bad, ran out out of rice.

Michael Stupen, possibly the best Survivor contestant ever. He killed a pig! Then he fell in the fire. Man, that was hardcore! Another thing that changed the game. Jerri was a good villian and Keith was also easy not to like.

The first individual immunity challenge took 12 hours I believe. Man.

Random: Kel got voted off because there was a rumor about him having jerky. Rodger couldn't really swim. Mitchell was 7 feet tall. This was the height of the show. Every Friday the Encore section of the paper would have a brief rundown of the previous day's episode. That's how popular this was.
Where was Tony? Junior year of high school. Man. I remember this season had extra hype because it premiered after the superbowl. It was a weak Superbowl - Raven/Giants I believe and everyone really just wanted to watch Survivor.