Board Thread:Season Rankings/@comment-24899664-20141222121159/@comment-26485526-20170504223823

8) The Amazon (6) - There’s not much that I can say about Amazon that hasn’t been said already in this forum. I think that it was a fantastic season overall, with everything from the tribe switch until about the final five being absolutely gold! The Battle of the Sexes twist was initially an interesting concept, but as soon as the tribe switch hit, if you told someone that never saw the season that it was the first ever “Battle of the Sexes” they wouldn’t have believed you because both the men and women seemed so eager to align with each other. Rob Cesternino was the central character this season, and even though I’m usually not a fan when one person gets so much airtime, this season with Rob has been the only time that I’ve ever been perfectly fine with such unbalanced editing. I think the reason for that is because most of the time when the editors decide to focus on only one or two single characters, for whatever reason, they choose the game-bots. But with Rob this season, not only did he dominate much of the game strategically, and thus change how the game would be played forever, but he was also funny in his confessionals and he showed himself to be humble and relatable (in that he wasn’t afraid to admit to his own shortcomings, even making fun of them on occasion). When I said that Rob changed how the game was played forever, I’m talking about how he was able to constantly flip back and forth between alliances after the first five seasons were all pretty straight forward strategically. Rob’s strategy of flip-flopping would then later be replicated in some form by other great players such as Sandra, Tony, and Natalie Anderson, as well as 80% of the Cambodia cast.

Even though Rob was such a central focus of this season, they still managed to take enough time to develop most other people well enough so that you could really get invested in them and root for/against them. Deena was fantastic, Jenna, Heidi, and Shawna were all developed well (and Jenna and Heidi were both great characters). Matt was the psycho that formed a partnership with Rob, Christy was a tremendous underdog, Alex was the cocky jock that went out in an amazing blindside that changed the course of the game, and Roger was the chauvinistic asshole whose elimination was universally loved despite the editors openly telling you halfway into the episode that he was going (they would never get away with that today without some heavy criticism!)

That being said, despite the match-maker reward challenge (aka the greatest reward challenge EVER), the pre-swap was completely irrelevant and forgettable. Lastly, although Christy’s blindside was good, the season just kind of fizzled out from there. Jenna was a good, respectable winner, but for me, the ending is still just kind of “Oh… okay.” That being said though, even though the appetizer and dessert courses of Survivor: The Amazon fell flat for the most part, the main course was so spectacular that I could not help but move it up to number 8 in my rankings.

7) Micronesia - Fans vs. Favourites (16) -  Like all of these seasons in my top 10, Micronesia is a phenomenal season. Unlike Caramoan, most of the people on the "favourites" tribe in this Fans vs. Favourites season were genuine favourites that I was excited to see play the game again (as it should be!) The game started out with a bang as both tribes had their fair share of drama, and the first episode was great to watch... until Jonny Fairplay's shocking decision to ask his tribe to vote him out despite being a swing vote! The fans tribe was insane to watch as well at the beginning as the two rival factions (Kathy, Chet, Tracy vs everyone else) went to war, and then Joel decided to make a big move and blindside Mary! The next two episodes were also insane with Cirie playing-up her swing vote position and the drama that followed once she finally picked a side! The merge of Micronesia however was iconic, and is clearly what is remembered so fondly about this season. It was absolutely full of blindsides, and each episode provided us with either shocking or iconic moments (Eliza & the stick, Ozzy's blindside, Jason's blindside, Erik's blindside). The Black Widow Brigade was one of the greatest alliances (if not THE greatest alliance) in Survivor history as it was just awesome to watch them pull the wool over all of the gullible men (especially Jason when he mistakenly trusted them enough to not play his idol, and Erik, who GAVE UP IMMUNITY!) Alexis's blindside after Amanda played the idol was also fantastic! Micronesia had it all! So many great characters, so many great moments, and Parvati winning the season was a fantastic end.

So why is Micronesia only number 7 then? Well, despite all of the good things that came out of the first ever Fans vs. Favourites season, there were some pretty glaring flaws in my opinion. The period between the tribe switch and the merge in particular really dragged as the favourites on both tribes dominated the edit. Even though the new Malakal was a total train-wreck, that part of the season appeared to go on forever as we knew exactly who was in control at all times. Not only that, but the fact that there were two medevacs (and technically three quits) kind of soured the season a little bit for me because that meant that a quarter of the cast either asked to be voted out, or were not voted out at all! Especially since when Chet asked his tribe to vote him out, it was just appearing as though we may get a great blindside of Ozzy when Ami considered flipping, so that turned that episode into a bit of a disappointment. So yeah, even though there are tons of good things to say about Micronesia, the few glaring issues that it does have prevent me from moving the season any higher.

6) Philippines (25) - After a string of 4 TERRIBLE seasons (Nicaragua-One World), I feel as though the series was in DESPERATE need of a crazy and unpredictable season from beginning to end, and boy, Philippines certainly delivered! From the very beginning, Philippines is an absolutely amazing car crash of a season! Matsing and Tandang in particular were two of the best tribes ever put together, especially because in one aspect, both tribes absolutely defied expectations! On the face of things, Matsing appeared to be the strongest of the three tribes, yet they would go ahead and get destroyed in every single challenge! Not only that, but even though each of Matsing’s votes were unanimous, the lead up to each elimination was so compelling and awesome! Also, who can forget poor little Angie just wanting some cookies at their second Tribal Council? XD

Then you have Tandang, who appeared to be the weakest of the three tribes at the beginning, yet they never lost a challenge! Not only that, but the dynamics of the tribe were some of the most interesting ever! Abi & R.C. went from best friends to bitter enemies after Pete’s genius move! Lisa always seemed so out of place, but also managed to stay out of the drama and keep herself alive! Despite Tandang never going to Tribal Council pre-merge, as Malcolm said in a post-game interview, Tandang could have had their own TV show given all of the drama over there!

The post-merge was also one of the most crazy and unpredictable in history as you never knew who was going home at any particular vote. In addition to the constant fear of idols, alliances were constantly shifting and it just made Philippines so much fun to watch! Further, we were also provided with some great moments such as the loved ones visit (Lisa’s especially), Abi pretending to have an idol clue, Abi winning immunity at the final six and causing even MORE chaos, and many more! Not only that, but the story of Malcolm and Denise having gone from one of the worst tribes ever, to BOTH being in the final four (and Denise winning) was one of the best told stories ever. Lastly, Lisa also had a fantastic story as she started on Tandang as a massive fish out of water, yet evolved into a great player that took control of her game and made it to the Final Tribal Council.

The only thing that keeps Philippines out of my top 5 however is Kalabaw. Unlike other seasons that I pushed down the rankings because of one boring tribe, Kalabaw didn’t effect Philippines quite as badly because we didn’t see much of them until the tribe switch, and for those two episodes I always found myself longing for Tandang to return to the screen because Kalabaw was so boring! You know a tribe is bad when Jonathan Penner is on it and it is STILL BORING! That being said though, since we only saw a lot of Kalabaw for a mere two episodes, and since the rest of the season was so fun, exciting, and unpredictable, I truly believe number 6 on my rankings is a more than appropriate placement for Philippines.

Alright, and with that, we are down to my top 5!! The seasons that still remain are (in chronological order): Pearl Islands… China… Gabon… Heroes vs. Villains… and… Kaoh Rong!!