Board Thread:Season Rankings/@comment-24899664-20141222121159/@comment-27391152-20170403140157

I almost completely forgot about this thread......almost.

#9- Survivor: Amazon

This season can very easily be described in just a few symbols:

_/TTTTTT\_

Now I'm sure most of you are probably thinking what in the hell does this bridge-looking thingo have to do with this season, but I assure you, I will explain myself.

Amazon is a great season, there is no denying that. However, for the first four episodes, the season is a flop. Besides the guys being so arrogant in the first episode only to lose the first Immunity Challenge and Joanna not wanting to win immunity becase the immunity statue contained evil spirits, I remember NOTHING from the pre-swap. This explains the lead up to the bridge ("_/") in the picture above, as it was pretty terrible.

Thankfully, from the swap onwards, the season jumps from blindside to blindside to blindside and it is GLORIOUS. As much as I feel a lot of popular Survivor players are overrated, I stand by the fact that Rob Cesternino deserves ALL of the credit he receives. He was funny in confessionals, he was funny in person, he had not only an incredible strategy game but an entertaining one as well; the guy was the perfect person to be the star of this season. I mean he is the reason that the cocky asshole, Rodger, was blindsided, so he was automatically my favourite. Apart from him, there were still some great characters like Matt the psycho dimbo, who despite Rob telling him not to throw some of the challenges, decided to win them all EXCEPT for the last one which caused Rob's undoing (irony, I love you). Then there were Heidi and Jenna, who were hilarious, Christy, who was an amazing underodg and Deena, an iconic strategic queen THAT FOR SOME REASON HASN'T RETURNED!!!!!!! Like, you can bring back JENNA LEWIS but can't find a way to bring back Deena???? The amazing flip-floppy merge was completely different from the boring pagonging we had seen from the seasons prior, and explains the peak of the bridge ("TTTTTT").

So I'm sure many of you are wondering why there is a \_ in the image if the post-merge is so good. Well, it simply has to do with the Final 3. Instead of Rob winning the game unanimously after masterminding the whole season, we get Jenna as a winner, who while was a great character, was NOTHING compared to Rob or even Matt. Like Jenna? JENNA HAD TO WIN? Ugh! Why is it that people called Jenna always find ways to piss me off (*glares at Jenna Lewis*). ANYWAY, that fact is what keeps me from ranking Amazon any higher, but otherwise it is a top-notch season.

#8- Survivor: China

I actually think that putting China at eight will probably seem a little low for a lot of people. In all honesty, as much as I love this season, I do think it's overrated just a little bit. Yes, there is a phenomenal cast and some great strategic gameplay across the board, but is it better than the seasons I have above it? No. At least, not for me.

All along I've said that cast and characterisation are the two things I look for in a good season, which are two categories this season excels in. I think if I ranking seasons based solely off of those criteria, this season would easily be in the Top 3. We have so many crazy, cooky, unique characters that all bring hilarious moments to the table. Who could forget Jaime being the first to play a fake immunity idol or when Courtney and Todd did their impressions of the other tribe or when James woke up the tribe with pots and pans or when Peih-Gee obviously threw the Immunity Challenge, saying "but I'm good at sudokus" or when Jean-Robert called him himself a badass at Tribal Council or when.... the list goes ON AND ON. It's not even just a few characters that provided funny moments, almost EVERY person cast on this season played their role in adding something memorable to the season. Even the first few voted out; "DAYUM" Chicken, David Zoolander, oh I mean Dave, Goddess Ashley and the crazy Christian lady are all memorable despite only lasting a few episodes.

With ALL of that being said, I do think that while this season was comedy gold, there honestly wasn't enough focus on the game being played IN MY OPINION. I really can't remember much strategy going on during the pre-merge phase at all, which is probably because of how much they focused on characterisation. I mean, we all knew he HATED one another, but we didn't really get to find out who people were aligning with until the merge hit. I mean, I figured Jean-Robert and James were tight until they turned on each at the merge without a blink of an eye. It's these kinds of plot holes and missing information that I feel lowers the quality of the season just a little. Thankfully, Courtney's confessionals are MORE than enough to knock this season into the Top 10.

Anyone notice how I didn't mention James going home with two idols? Totally overrated blindside that really didn't change the season in anyway. It might have been ironic but certainly not iconic. oop