Board Thread:Season Rankings/@comment-24899664-20141222121159/@comment-26485526-20170420040543

17) Blood vs. Water - I personally really enjoyed Blood vs. Water, especially Redemption Island, which I never ever expected to say! I mean, watching your loved one come down on Redemption Island really did add a whole new layer to the game, and it led to some fantastic moments! I mean, Candice and Marissa both cussing out Brad on Redemption Island was just great to watch! I hated Brad Culpepper this season, but watching his rise in fall both happen in such a short time was just so damn satisfying! I also felt that Laura B.’s downfall was great to watch in the sense that you witness one little comment to Vytas absolutely ruin the game of someone who was in a great position despite nobody giving her a chance! Yes, telling someone that they’re going home is an objectively stupid decision, but it did make the episode much more interesting. In addition, Laura B.’s stupid move also allowed for the elimination of a relatively bland character for one that was more interesting.

Even post-merge, I did really enjoy Redemption Island overall, especially at the beginning of the pre-merge. Tina was great this season, and I honestly think that her time on Redemption Island was more interesting than the game itself. I mean, you had Aras and Vytas both think she’s easy pickings, yet she manages to survive. Then you have Laura Morett help Tina defeat Vytas in the next challenge because she assumed Tina would be easier to beat down the road… only to fall to Tina at the final Redemption Island duel of the season! Most exciting however was the duel in which she had to eliminate her daughter. You could really see that Tina did not want to step through that gate, but she knew it had to be done. All that being said though, it’s pretty damn sad when someone’s tenure on Redemption Island, of all things, is the most exciting part of the season overall. Tyson’s alliance just sort of took control, and somehow, they were presented as bland villains of all things! Ciera and Laura have both since talked about how funny Tyson was in this season, but we didn’t get to see it at all. The most character development we got from him was the fact that his girlfriend was eliminated early, so he decided that he wanted to win. I feel like the post merge of this season could have and should have been so much more exciting, especially considering that people like Tyson, Gervase, Tina, Ciera, and Hayden all made it to the final 6, but for some reason, it just wasn’t! During the actual game, the only true bright spot for me was the rock draw. That being said, the rock draw was absolutely phenomenal, and I remember freaking out as I hoped and prayed that Tyson would draw the odd rock! But alas, it wasn’t to be, and this season took on a more negative tone and simply became academic, with Tyson winning the final two challenges, and then the game in a predictable landslide victory. At the end of the day, I do consider Blood vs. Water to be a great season due to the pre-merge, Redemption Island, and the rock draw. Considering however that RI of all things had to be a saving grace for this season, I do believe number 17 in these rankings is quite appropriate.

16) Australian Outback - I’m seeing people on here talking about Australia being overrated I would tend to disagree about that in a sense. Rather, I think it’s more of a matter of taste than anything else. I think that if you’re a fan of old school Survivor, then you LOVE Australia! If not, then Australia is a bit lower. For me, I think old school Survivor has its place, but those seasons do have a little bit more work to do, as it were, since new school seasons are just naturally a little more exciting.

Personally, I love Australia, especially since it has an amazing cast! I mean, Alicia, Kimmi, Mad Dog, Jerri, Jeff Varner, Colby, Elisabeth, Tina, and even Keith were all great characters! It’s been said enough times, but Kimmi’s and Alicia’s fight was iconic! Jerri was TV gold basically all of the time! I mean, from her relationship with Colby, to calling out Kel thinking that he was eating beef jerky, to blasting Keith for being terrible at cooking rice despite being a chef of all things! As long as Jerri was on the screen, there was never a dull moment! Another thing that boosts this season up for me is that this is one of the few seasons that literally lived up to the name “Survivor.” Two perfect examples of this are Skupin’s legendary med-evac and the merged tribe’s camp being destroyed by the flood!

The only thing that really knocks this season down for me is the fact that this season slows down quite a bit after Jerri’s boot. For me, once Jerri was gone, the rest of the cast was solid enough to hold my interest, but it was still just not that exciting overall. At least the flood coming in the final six provided a nice change of pace for that little bit. Not only that, but Colby’s decision to take Tina over Keith to the final 2 is still talked about today considering that it cost Colby the million! Still however, although I do think this was a great season overall, the fact that it did slow down following Jerri’s boot lands it here at number 16 because simply put, the other seasons were just better and more exciting overall.