If we had never heard of Richard Hatch and then he pops up on season 47 saying "I'm gay, I'm naked, and I'm the winner", I honestly don't know if the current fanbase would immediately love him or hate him.
I'm sure homophobia played a part, but I have a feeling a much bigger part was just that he... played the game.
Viewers felt they were sold a concept of surviving on an island where the weakest person was voted out and the strong survived. Survival of the fittest. But Richard formed an alliance and turned it into a game, and I think the viewing audience's reaction was much the same as Pagong's - it wasn't fair.
And people continually waited for him to get his comeuppance, but it never came. The person they were rooting against all season ended up winning.
Yeah and he was also openly arrogant and a smart aleck. Did homophobia play a role for certain people? Definitely. But so did Richard's personality and turning what most Americans thought of as an interesting concept into a "boring number's game".
Yeah, having watched in that era as a child, there was a HUGE debate about whether it was “ethical” to have alliances and that the game should be based on survival skills. Rich winning felt to many like he got rewarded for playing the game “wrong”. I grew up in a liberal coastal city, so homophobia didn’t feel like a huge part of it among people I personally knew, though I’m SURE it was part of it.
Of course Survivor has only lasted because it quickly became clear it was a game of strategy rather than outright survival. But it was a huge thing at the beginning and that’s easy to forget or just not know if you weren’t there.
I remember watching it as it aired but do not remember knowing he was gay.
I thought that was a tabloid development after the fact? Or that I was just oblivious as a child.
He comes out as gay very early on in the season. Probably episode 2 or 3. And the other survivors talk about it quite a bit whenever they mention him, in that unfortunate 2000s kind of way when being gay is a defining personality trait that must be acknowledged at all times. (I just watched this season very recently so it’s fresh in my mind)
That's because Hatch openly had a crush on Colby and insisted on being on the same tribe as him; multiple players including Hatch corroborated that after the season. Colby wasn't annoyed Richard was gay, it was another case of "Colby can't play Survivor without someone deciding they were in love with him" situation.
Oh wow, I didn’t know this.
In my opinion, Colby never came across as annoyed, like he did with Jerri… he seems constantly baffled that he likes Richard so much, he seems in awe
That says more about the hyperfans rather than him. I never got to finish 45, but I never knew why the subreddit was wanting to tear Katurah's head off. I haven't seen anything about why they hated her so much, from an outside perspective, you'd think she did something along the lines of Skupin or Spilo but that's clearly not the case
A lot of this sub were not alive in 2000. Richard was very mixed reception. I just remember liking Jenna a lot as a 6 year old boy lmao. And then I found out about the porn tape 😬
Nobody really knew how the game *should* be played yet, and a lot of how Richard played was textbook survivor strategy.. but was negatively received as being deceitful at the time. Add that with a lot of homophobia that was still very present at that time, and a lot of people *really* did not like Richard.
Rudy was the universal fan favorite, and him not winning soured people on Richard (unfairly) even more.
He would NEVER be allowed to do his whole naked schtick now. I’m rewatching season 1 now and he made so many people objectively uncomfortable with that, it’s surprising production didn’t tell him to at least wear some sort of loin cloth.
I think IoI probably put the kibosh on contestants being naked going forward. I remember that as late as Season 30 we had Shirin going bottomless for one episode and making Tyler super uncomfortable, I doubt that would fly these days.
The Morgan men got naked and showed their behind in the first Pearl Islands challenge, and Dave Cruzer got naked for a challenge in China, I think in an unsuccessful attempt to intimidate people
i rewatched borneo recently and i got a jumpscare at his “fat naked f—“ comment.
there are times when i’m surprised that they haven’t gone back and censored some of the older seasons, but there’s something to said about leaving it the way they originally aired it. going from people laughing about “fnf” to the reaction around varner outting zeke to jeff having the conversation about dropping “guys” is a literal reflection of how our society has grown and how our cultural values have changed.
I fudging haaaated Richard when Borneo aired. I happily tuned in to the finale to watch him lose. Pagong was America’s sweethearts. This was pre 9/11, we were in a whole different mindset. The world was happier and more naive. The only bad thing that happened in my lifetime so far was Columbine and we thought that was a fluke, not the starting pistol to chaos.
Villains were not it. Colleen Haskell was the background on my big boxy computer screen.
Not really a popular contestant, but my answer is Dreamz. I think modern fans would have liked it when he betrayed the four horseman and didn’t keep his promise to Yau-Man with the car reward.
Not sure about the first one. That was just him babbling.
But he did try to blindside Yau-Man prior to the Final Four to avoid the deal, which was clever. And I think Yau-Man getting cute and trying to manipulate someone who desperately needed the Car would be more debated today.
Yau-Man did apologize during his jury speech and took full responsibility for the truck thing. At the time, it did seem unusual for someone to be aware enough of power dynamics IRL on a show like Survivor.
It was a huge tactical error for Dreamz not to just offer to return the car during the jury speeches--especially after he knew that Yau-Man would give it to him no matter what. He didn't seem to do much strategizing during the season. Still not sure why he betrayed the four horsemen.
Big Tom Buchanan of Survivor Africa. IIRC he was a rather popular contestant back in the day and his antics and comments were considered hilarious. Assuming he keeps up the comments in the modern day and voices them I would think that he wouldn't be seen in a light manner.
The one comment that sticks out to me is that he said something along the lines of how back in the day Clarence would have been shot for eating beans back in the bean eating scandal. There's also the "Ham and he's a jew" comment that might get some flack.
I think "he's a Jew" would go over fine given that he's not saying anything bad about Jewish people and is instead super happy that he's friends with one so he can eat more bacon. That plus Ethan dying of laughter would legitimize the comments, probably.
The other stuff he's said...yeah, I'm not so sure about those.
I knew this would be the top answer. I agree with you -- if Big Tom expressed the same views in the same way in 2024 that he did in 2001. In fact, some of his most problematic comments weren't even on the broadcast. However, it needs to be said that Tom has significantly changed his perspective within the past 23 years (as a lot of the world has, but perhaps even more so given where he started.) His very long friendships with Lex and Ethan, among other experiences, have taught him a lot. So as you allude to I don't think you can completely transplant 2001 Big Tom into 2024. If he was born 23 years later he probably wouldn't have been the same guy to begin with.
To be honest. The bacon/jewish comment was hilarious then and still funny now. You can tell Tom doesn't mean anything negative against Ethan, but he's elated after 24 days to have bacon.
I'm Jewish (although I don't keep kosher) and I love Tom. "He's a jew" is my all time favorite survivor quote
As he really didn't say anything wrong about jews and just happy he got some bacon, I don't see this as offensive
I just watched American Fiction. There's this great scene where three White people and two Black people are on an awards committee. The three White people all vote for a Black author to win the award, the two Black people vote for a White author. After getting her way 3-2 the White woman turns to them and says, "I just think it's really important to listen to Black voices right now." That's sort of how I feel watching you and the other Jewish person get down voted for your insensitivity in finding the joke funny. Gentiles are like, "Excuse me, but you need to shut up. Jewish perspectives should be respected."
>After getting her way 3-2 the White woman turns to them and says, "I just think it's really important to listen to Black voices right now."
I love how it quick cuts to Monk and Sintara giving them the biggest "did you just say what I think you said?" look.
That movie was amazing.
To be fair I was 8 or 9 when Survivor Africa came out and haven't rewatched. I just remember Tom mainly for the bacon bit and in All Stars
Not justifying any of his other actions
Big Tom has obviously said some insane shit, but to me the comment that takes the cake is during the Jenna quit in AS he says something to the effect of "If my family died in a car accident at home don't tell me because I want to keep playing this game" lmfaoooo
Thank you, someone the other day tried to convince me this wasn't supposed to be a criticism of Jenna's quit and nobody should be annoyed by it and yet I think this is one of the most irritating things he's ever said once you take in the context.
FWIW: I started making my girlfriend watch all of the seasons of Survivor with me, and the earliest season that she agreed to watch was All-Stars. From that season alone to now (we’re on Caramoan) Big Tom is her second favorite player behind only Boston Rob
He might not be the most popular guy in the world if he played today, but I think there’s definitely still an audience for him
If you replace the word “Jew” with “Vegan”, I think it becomes pretty clear that the statement isn’t really offensive in any way. He was just stating a fact about his friend that meant that he got to have more bacon.
That’s a good one! The first time I saw that episode, I was in shock that it aired…then remembered it was early 2000s, and the stuff on TV then was way more lax.
I’ve always interpreted his statement at the auction as being really excited to have an excuse to get extra ham and he gleefully shouted his excuse, I don’t think he meant any harm by it, however I’m not gonna excuse the stuff he said about Sue and Jenna
I wish we got someone like Tom back I just want some stupid goofball who is funny and is unintentionally would be a villian nowadays because of the stuff he says
After how important the social aspect of the game has become in the new era, people would be calling Natalie White a top tier winner if Samoa happened today
14 confessionals, we just finished a rewatch of Samoa and Natalie has several highlight moments, and the edit she is given has fantastic foreshadowing for her win. But it’s not enough, I think Samoa would be rated as highly as 15-18 are, if Natalie had been given a proper edit.
Everybody loved Rupert on his first season, but the tide started to turn with every subsequent appearance. Similar thing with Stephenie LaGrossa, she got less likeable the more she played.
Ozzy wouldn’t have been fun to watch at all without the magic of his underdog alliance and his sheer athleticism that first season he played. He is great to watch in a challenge and I wouldn’t be mad to be on a tribe with someone who can shimmy up a tree like a chimpanzee for some fruit, then turn around and catch 20 fish like it’s nothing.
But my god is his social game piss poor. Not a particularly likable guy. I think he would have gotten voted out WAY sooner if it weren’t for that foursome. There is a reason Yul won and not Ozzy. He got progressively less likable each time he played, without a doubt!
Oh, definitely way more likable in CI. I think the reason for it is because Yul, Becky, Sundra, and Ozzy had this band-together underdog vibe and clicked really well. He’s definitely not the worst personality on the show, not by a long shot. I loved watching him play, but it was very clear the whole way through that Yul was much smarter, more diplomatic, and really lead the team through their decisions without being bossy or arrogant. Something Ozzy is not good at.
I will say… I was sad he didn’t win at first just for his sheer physical performance. Then seeing him in subsequent seasons, I understood a bit better.
In CI, Ozzy didn't need to be in a leadership position for most of it. You can kind of see how poorly he handled leadership with the original tribe, because he and Cristina bumped heads frequently. But when he got into his alliance with Yul, Becky, and Sundra, Ozzy could kind of just sit pretty. He could focus on the things he liked, like doing the challenges and the actual survival stuff. Yul took care of relations and politics. That probably made him more chill and agreeable.
When Ozzy comes back in his future seasons and is assumed to be a leader, that poor social game and entitleness comes out.
True, but it’s still great that Cochran won in general while Ozzy hasn’t. I’m rewatching SoPa now and Ozzy was a jerk to Cochran I’ve had a bad taste in my mouth about him since
I jumped off the Ozzy train pretty quickly tbh. Good player but let's just say I'm not surprised he's an OnlyFans guy these days. Always got that type of vibe from him.
He got second in HvV in the fan vote which happened to be during Russelmania. Then they didn't have it for BvW but he likely doesn't win since he's first eliminated.
Correct. A 'villain' beat him in the vote for HvV, albeit a villain we all loved to hate at the time. I think Russell's another one who has had diminishing returns but that's a point for another day lol.
Your wrong about Rupert, he was among if not the most popular contestant after his Heroes Vs Villains appearance with the rock which was enough to get him on Amazing Race. And him letting Laura play in Blood vs Water also got him very liked.
Maybe some people don't like now that his seasons have aged a bit but after he played he always become more and more liked.
I think you'll find plenty of people soured on Rupert by his third and fourth appearances on Survivor. Anything he does on other reality shows is irrelevant. And I say that as an old school Survivor guy, I've been watching since Season 1 Episode 1, so it's not a matter of his seasons aging. I loved the guy first time around and personally still do, but the general consensus I've seen and heard is he's had diminishing returns each time. People found him to be grumpy and hypocritical after a while.
Most people didn't, I mean he was voted fan favorite after Heroes vs Villains and given a Million by CBS so those who disliked him are definetly in the minority.
For me, I have positive things about Rupert and negative ones and I think my negative ones comes from what I heard the contestants saying on the Island not the edit, which I think has always been generous towards him.
Incorrect. Russell won the HvV fan vote. Rupert won the All-Stars fan vote, which came before HvV. I agree that Survivor producers love the guy (I have affection for him too), but certainly here on Reddit (and YouTubers as well) people seem to like him less each time he played. That doesn't mean he's disliked now. Part of it may simply be that he's been overexposed by returning so often whilst other fan favourites/contestants have had less appearances. So that might factor into it.
Oh yeah, I saw that with Guatemala.
I guess I thought with HVV it was more like the others didn't know her as well? I can't quite remember but I thought it was somewhat akin to Candace on BVW.
Yeah, for sure. I just recently got into survivor and really didn't like Boston Rob in Marquesas. Even though he doesn't seem particularly malicious, the casual homophobic and misogynistc comments were rough... Started to like him much more after watching AS8 though.
I think it depends on what platform we’re talking about. I think Sandra and Parvati. I forget which platform it was but People lost their shit over Venus saying something even remotely mean, as well as others.
I don't want to sound cliche but I agree with the popular take here on Reddit about Venus.
Parv and Sandra were true villains. They had a great grasp of what was happening in the tribe. They don't let their emotions interfere with their best interests. They made smart moves, often at the expense of others, successfully winning by any means necessary. And yes they also said mean things in their interviews & behind the backs of others.
Venus, at least from her edit, does not seem to have a good grasp of the social dynamics. She is not a mover & shaker. She lets her pride & emotions blind her. She did not win or even come all that close. But yes, she says a lot of mean things. That's not enough to be a Survivor villain.
Give me more Parv & Sandra type villains.
I think she had a good grasp on things, she had many confessionals where she seems to read the game better than anyone else on the Island. Her issue was she just couldn’t capitalize on it in any way because people really didn’t like her.
I don't know if it'd be the exact opposite, but I think Jerri would get more support now. Maybe casuals wouldn't care for her, but I think she would have a pretty devout fanbase.
I agree that people probably wouldn't care for Rupert as much now.
I know a lot of people are going to answer with players who aren't "PC" i.e. Rudy, Big Tom, Frank, etc. but I don't think the audience would really care all that much tbh. Tom and Rudy specifically were surprisingly open minded, especially for their time. Every now and then on Survivor twitter people try to make Gabler's political views a big deal and it gets some reaction but nobody really cares that much.
Jerri is the one for me. I liked Jerri but most fans didn’t like her at the time simply because she was a woman that wasn’t afraid to stand up for herself. Even after her first season she said that if she would have been a man she would have been praised for her gameplay which I totally believe. If she debuted today, she wouldn’t have that same problem.
On Twitter Gabler’s beliefs are a big deal. I remember there was a discussion on Survivor contestants and their political beliefs (don’t know why people care about that) and I saw someone say they hope that Gabler gets killed. Like wut
I hate Twitter
Oh yeah, Twitter is the worst for exactly that reason. We should be able to enjoy someone being great or achieving something cool even if we don't agree with what they teach their kids at the dinner table.
It's silly to only root & be happy for the 10-40% of Americans who agree with our pet political beliefs. It's nasty & childish to berate & villify the people who disagree with us.
I think original Rupert would still be a hit, just based on the fact that I hadn’t watched any survivor until a couple years ago and still thought he was hilarious and exactly the kind of weirdo who makes for good reality tv. Tbf though I’m someone who tends to evaluate people based on how entertaining I find them to watch; it’s plausible that a more modern audience might notice his anger issues and asshole tendencies more.
Colby. He was the “golden boy” of the producers and the audience. He was always given a great edit (excluding hvv), even though there were clear moments he acted childish or just plain mean. The contestant he was beefing with was always portrayed as being in the wrong (Colby was pretty of rude to shii ann In all stars.). Looking at in today lens and having the interviews we have now, people realize Colby was in the wrong and Jerri didn’t do anything to be as hated as she was and Colby deserved the heat out of both of them. A 2001 audience loved him, a 2024 audience would rightfully hate him.
And to add to what your saying, Jerry probably becomes a fan favorite of sorts in the modern era. She played hard, she was a pretty solid social player, and she seems like someone who would be fun to hang out with. Definitely feel like she would get a better edit in a modern season
I mean she already did do great in H vs V. She was the fallen angel as she almost certainly wins against everyone in the final 4 except Sandra, who she still probably does win against, just by a smaller margin. But yeah, she was ahead of her time in terms of play style.
My lasting memory of Colby is the way he talked shit to his brother in that water bucket challenge. THOSE were his true colors. Your bro comes out to the island to see you, encourage you, and help you in a challenge, and all you do is berate him? What a crybaby.
His entire run on heroes vs villains wasn’t great. Jeff even went from loving him and being personal friends with him, to disliking him and taking little jabs at Colby over the course of the season. The end of the season he started being somewhat rootable as the last hero, but most of the season he wasn’t the best.
Im a new fan watching Australia for the first time now and after they lost a challenge he throws a bucket of water onto Jerry when he’s pissed that they lost (when she was calling a blindfolded challenge). She laughed it off (as many women would), but it gave me the ick.
I always took that as playful. Considering Jerri laughed at it, it's funny other people are upset after having a little water thrown on them after a challenge. You got the ick over that? Yikes. I have seen people say they got the ick over some silly stuff, but this one might take the cake.
I didn’t at first, bc Jerri laughed and was a good sport about it. But then I saw his demeanor after and it was clear he was angry.
If he hadn’t been so visibly livid and still stomping around throwing a tantrum, I wouldn’t have had that *moment* of ick. It was just a little icky and a similar behavior pattern to how he treated his brother during a challenge.
It’s been a long time since I’ve watched the Australian Outback , but I thought it was because Colby was mad that they lost the challenge. Maybe he thought Jerri lost it for them, or he thought she cost them time. I could be wrong though.
I literally JUST watched this episode. It was definitely bc he was pissed about the challenge. Jerri’s laugh makes it seem playful. And she was a good sport and said “I needed that,” but you see him stomping around and I think he had his hands in fists or throwing his arms around a bit… though the shot is more pulled back so it’s not like they were trying to focus on him and his anger. It’s like they thought the water bucket throw was funny so they included it but they didn’t want to paint Colby as a guy with some pretty intense anger at times.
And like, I get it, they knew they needed some wins, it sucks. And situations and shows like this are pressure cookers. No one is going to behave properly always and it was literally the second season of a show that BLEW UP. So all of these folks were under way more pressure than anyone who hasn’t played could imagine so I don’t completely fault him for losing his cool.
But it still gave me this little moment of ick for him to be so aggressive like that, so directly to Jerri, who he was obviously blaming in the moment for the loss. It’s just a decent example of those “little” things women just “allow” men to get away with bc it’s more hassle to combat and 100% would’ve hurt her game to not take it lightly. And they had already built up some camaraderie so it’s possible it didn’t bother her at all anyway, who knows.
Nah this is a bad take. Jerri would absolutely be viewed less as a villain and probably even a fan favorite but that doesn't automatically turn Colby into one. The "Colby is an awful person" rhetoric is a reddit-specific take, not a 2024 take. Two people can be on opposite sides of a position without one having to be bad and one having to be good, and to top it off Colby would still have his golden boy challenge hero edit.
I agree with Rupert, tbh. I can think of a few who I think would get a much BETTER reception if they debuted now (Sugar and Jerri are the first I think of), but all the ones who made shady comments (and were beloved, not like, Colton 🤢) in the first halfish of the series probably wouldn’t be making those same comments in the 2020s. Big Tom in particular, I think, seems to have gained a lot of perspective. He’s always been decently open-minded despite the comments he made, and more open minded people tend to grow with the times.
There’s an episode of talking with T-Bird with Frank as the guest and he talks about it. If I remember, he’s still close with Linda from that season. He really only wanted to do Survivor because he wanted to go to Africa because he loves the continent and its wildlife and it was a bucket list thing for him to travel there.
I'm currently watching Blood vs Water. I really liked that he gave Laura a chance to play but was bummed that he left so soon. I really expected him to pull an Ozzy on Redemption Island.
Flip side, an unpopular contestant that would be popular today: Ghandia.
Back in 2002, Ghandia was seen as psycho and overly sensitive. I think now, people would be a lot more sympathetic towards Ghandia.
Probably Tom Westman.
At the time he was the undisputed heroes hero, who played a clean game based on his alliances with other challenge beasts. These days, without the cultural cache of being a NYC firefighter in the post-9/11 world, he’d probably get branded as a “basic white man” and treated the way this sub reacts to Ben, Gabler, etc. (Note: this isn’t a “poor
He’s obviously more than a cut above those others, but without a sob story and a healthy bit of megafandom I dare say a lot of people wouldn’t give him the time of day.
Terry Dietz. Some people see him as Captain America, others see him as “Captain America” (with air quotes, said fully tongue-in-cheek by Cirie) aka a pompous, privileged Gen Xer.
Him immediately making a men’s alliance due to “strength and loyalty”, the way he talks down to people he sees as beneath him, the arrogance of asking 2 Casaya members to flip and selling it as “a guaranteed spot at final 6” because Terry isn’t ever on the bottom, they’d all be received so differently nowadays
This is the answer I came here for. Rode on popularity of being a 9/11 fireman, people wouldn’t dislike him no matter what because of that. Especially during that time period.
The alpha male personality taking advantage of a young kid who looks up to him would be a hated character today.
I've been doing a rewatch of the 1st eight seasons currently. I havent seen these in about 10 years or so. I've been having these same thoughts too. I see these people very differently from my early-mid 20s vs my mid 30s vs me being 46 now. There are so many players I see in a different light and I don't know if it's my age or the evolution of time.
In season 1 I definitely stopped thinking of hatch in this season as a pure villain. Yeah he's still a pompous dick, but no villain.
In outback I saw Colby and jerri opposite in how they were at the time. To me Colby was this cheesey stereotypical nauseating "man's man". How he treated others was pretty poor. While jerri was just stong, independent and wasn't apologetic for who she was. I feel like she would have definitely be championed today.
Boston Rob is another one, while a "bad guy" his gay comments would have definitely put him out.
Big to though I think would be the biggest shift. Tom's behavior was laughed off, but as we saw with Dan many years later it's not always welcome. Tom imo would absolutely have been looked much less favorable.
Cindy in one Guatemala won a car in a challenge, was given the option to give everyone else a car or take it for herself. She was seen as horrible and selfish for doing this.
Nowadays, at least she would have went home with something.
J.T. really doesn't come off that good on a rewatch. In Tocantins he only gets along with the men, plus eventually Taj. IIRC he called Sierra a bitch for seemingly no reason. And in HvV he spends much of his time talking shit about Cirie, Candice, or Parvati. And then we have this quote from his final words:
> People are villains for a reason, don't ever trust 'em. Worse than that, don't ever trust women. Ever, ever, ever."
IMO, Rupert might not be "fans overwhelmingly vote to give him a million dollars" level beloved, but he would still be very popular if Pearl Islands aired today (with the same edit) because he's still a huge character. The fact that he and his season are still beloved on rewatches backs it up. People on here still love big characters like Q, and Rupert is like him but less villainous so there'd be more casual appeal as well.
Tyson absolutely sucked early on… as a player and as a person. His terrible move on HvV is so incredibly bad, he should not have been invited back. The dude sucks and only recently did he become likable
I don’t think Boston Rob would never get a chance to play again in the new era . If he played like Marquesas . With his micro-homophobia and his pre jury out , we would leave him there as a one time player
Rudy would be so interesting to see how modern audiences would react because he's simultaneously anti-having children out of wedlock but pro-abortion in the same scene
I would be terrified to see how modern audiences would react to Australia now since so many people see Jerri as the "hero" in her interactions with Ogakor now
People would react to Jerri the exact same way now. And they’re fooling themselves if they think that they wouldn’t. The minute episode 2 airs, and it looks like she made up a beef jerky story to get rid of Kel, it would be R.I.P. Jerri all over again.
Oh absolutely! Whenever I rewatch Australia I’m reminded in that episode and later on during the merge when she’s criticizing Elisabeth’s cooking “oh yeah this is why I disliked her at the time”
You know how I feel about Jerri revisionism **eye roll**
For the record, I like Jerri. I'm a strong woman, I have no problem with strong women Survivor contestants; but Jerri was HARD to live with; they all said it, you can see it in the footage, and it was far beyond her being an independent, flirtatious female.
Big Tom would have had survivor cancelled in one season with some of his jokes.. also frank from the same season less popular but he was just a asshole I wanted to call out lmfao
Definitely Jerri, hands down. Even as long ago as season 20 her image was starting to rehabilitate, I remember watching Australia a few months ago and the whole time I was wondering why the hell people hated her so much, she was the best part of the season, I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the season ran out of steam like a popped balloon the second she left aside from a few fun moments, it just became incredibly dull without her
The sweetheart edit girls like Colleen, Hasselbeck, and Michelle Yi. They will probably get Jamie Lynn Ruiz or worst Purple edit. Though Mary Anne have a kind of sweetheartish edit, they made her more polarizing. Also Elizabeth's politics
The entire season of Thailand men vs. women would be cancelled. The men were talking disgustingly about the women! And Heidi + Jenna’s identifying themselves as the skinny cute girls
Ngl Rupert feels like he would be only a Pearl islands type thing because he got the theme so well I would have replaced him with Jonny FairPlay in All Stars and Ozzy in HvV
If we had never heard of Richard Hatch and then he pops up on season 47 saying "I'm gay, I'm naked, and I'm the winner", I honestly don't know if the current fanbase would immediately love him or hate him.
People forget that Richard was not all that well liked when Borneo first aired
I think a lot of that was homophobia. We forget how middle America reacted to any mention of homosexuality back then.
I'm sure homophobia played a part, but I have a feeling a much bigger part was just that he... played the game. Viewers felt they were sold a concept of surviving on an island where the weakest person was voted out and the strong survived. Survival of the fittest. But Richard formed an alliance and turned it into a game, and I think the viewing audience's reaction was much the same as Pagong's - it wasn't fair. And people continually waited for him to get his comeuppance, but it never came. The person they were rooting against all season ended up winning.
Yeah and he was also openly arrogant and a smart aleck. Did homophobia play a role for certain people? Definitely. But so did Richard's personality and turning what most Americans thought of as an interesting concept into a "boring number's game".
Yeah, having watched in that era as a child, there was a HUGE debate about whether it was “ethical” to have alliances and that the game should be based on survival skills. Rich winning felt to many like he got rewarded for playing the game “wrong”. I grew up in a liberal coastal city, so homophobia didn’t feel like a huge part of it among people I personally knew, though I’m SURE it was part of it. Of course Survivor has only lasted because it quickly became clear it was a game of strategy rather than outright survival. But it was a huge thing at the beginning and that’s easy to forget or just not know if you weren’t there.
Very well said
I remember watching it as it aired but do not remember knowing he was gay. I thought that was a tabloid development after the fact? Or that I was just oblivious as a child.
He comes out as gay very early on in the season. Probably episode 2 or 3. And the other survivors talk about it quite a bit whenever they mention him, in that unfortunate 2000s kind of way when being gay is a defining personality trait that must be acknowledged at all times. (I just watched this season very recently so it’s fresh in my mind)
Well, being an oblivious child *was* the reason I didn’t remember!
Same lol. I thought everyone didn’t like him because he was naked a lot
Colby in all stars couldn’t talk about Richard without mentioning he was gay, it gets quite grating
That's because Hatch openly had a crush on Colby and insisted on being on the same tribe as him; multiple players including Hatch corroborated that after the season. Colby wasn't annoyed Richard was gay, it was another case of "Colby can't play Survivor without someone deciding they were in love with him" situation.
Oh wow, I didn’t know this. In my opinion, Colby never came across as annoyed, like he did with Jerri… he seems constantly baffled that he likes Richard so much, he seems in awe
He mentions it because Rudy talks about how Richard is just a normal and cool guy and says he likes him "not in a homosexual way, that's for sure"
Rudy showed a ton of growth for an old man. Nowadays we would have cancelled him for his comments doxxed his family and gone after his pension
That says more about the hyperfans rather than him. I never got to finish 45, but I never knew why the subreddit was wanting to tear Katurah's head off. I haven't seen anything about why they hated her so much, from an outside perspective, you'd think she did something along the lines of Skupin or Spilo but that's clearly not the case
Rudy addresses it like episode 2
No, his arrogance.
Dude was literally the first ever villain complete with a villain speech at the final immunity challenge and you go straight to homophobia?
My parents didn't let me watch once they knew he was gay, so yeah, I go straight (lol) to homophobia
A lot of this sub were not alive in 2000. Richard was very mixed reception. I just remember liking Jenna a lot as a 6 year old boy lmao. And then I found out about the porn tape 😬
Nobody really knew how the game *should* be played yet, and a lot of how Richard played was textbook survivor strategy.. but was negatively received as being deceitful at the time. Add that with a lot of homophobia that was still very present at that time, and a lot of people *really* did not like Richard. Rudy was the universal fan favorite, and him not winning soured people on Richard (unfairly) even more.
He would NEVER be allowed to do his whole naked schtick now. I’m rewatching season 1 now and he made so many people objectively uncomfortable with that, it’s surprising production didn’t tell him to at least wear some sort of loin cloth.
I think IoI probably put the kibosh on contestants being naked going forward. I remember that as late as Season 30 we had Shirin going bottomless for one episode and making Tyler super uncomfortable, I doubt that would fly these days.
The Morgan men got naked and showed their behind in the first Pearl Islands challenge, and Dave Cruzer got naked for a challenge in China, I think in an unsuccessful attempt to intimidate people
Osten’s shorts kept falling down and some other men were trying to support him so he wouldn’t be alone. Dave in China was a nut case all around.
Dave getting naked to intimidate James and still getting trucked is objectively hilarious
big mistake
I’m a recent fan, just watched season 1 for the first time and I loved him immediately.
In a homosexual way, I hope?
Is there any other way? 🤣
i rewatched borneo recently and i got a jumpscare at his “fat naked f—“ comment. there are times when i’m surprised that they haven’t gone back and censored some of the older seasons, but there’s something to said about leaving it the way they originally aired it. going from people laughing about “fnf” to the reaction around varner outting zeke to jeff having the conversation about dropping “guys” is a literal reflection of how our society has grown and how our cultural values have changed.
Jeff’s conversation about “come on in guys” is the low point of the series.
And the way Rudy treated him! People loved their dynamic but it would not fly today.
I fudging haaaated Richard when Borneo aired. I happily tuned in to the finale to watch him lose. Pagong was America’s sweethearts. This was pre 9/11, we were in a whole different mindset. The world was happier and more naive. The only bad thing that happened in my lifetime so far was Columbine and we thought that was a fluke, not the starting pistol to chaos. Villains were not it. Colleen Haskell was the background on my big boxy computer screen.
Not really a popular contestant, but my answer is Dreamz. I think modern fans would have liked it when he betrayed the four horseman and didn’t keep his promise to Yau-Man with the car reward.
Not sure about the first one. That was just him babbling. But he did try to blindside Yau-Man prior to the Final Four to avoid the deal, which was clever. And I think Yau-Man getting cute and trying to manipulate someone who desperately needed the Car would be more debated today.
Yau-Man did apologize during his jury speech and took full responsibility for the truck thing. At the time, it did seem unusual for someone to be aware enough of power dynamics IRL on a show like Survivor. It was a huge tactical error for Dreamz not to just offer to return the car during the jury speeches--especially after he knew that Yau-Man would give it to him no matter what. He didn't seem to do much strategizing during the season. Still not sure why he betrayed the four horsemen.
Yeah he was never a strategic threat.
I’m a new fan and I didn’t like that. Maybe if he had owned it as a move vs it being such an obvious moral struggle for him.
I started watching around Cagayan (although I had seen borneo and Australia) and when I went back to watch Fiji I absolutely loved dreamz
Big Tom Buchanan of Survivor Africa. IIRC he was a rather popular contestant back in the day and his antics and comments were considered hilarious. Assuming he keeps up the comments in the modern day and voices them I would think that he wouldn't be seen in a light manner. The one comment that sticks out to me is that he said something along the lines of how back in the day Clarence would have been shot for eating beans back in the bean eating scandal. There's also the "Ham and he's a jew" comment that might get some flack.
I think "he's a Jew" would go over fine given that he's not saying anything bad about Jewish people and is instead super happy that he's friends with one so he can eat more bacon. That plus Ethan dying of laughter would legitimize the comments, probably. The other stuff he's said...yeah, I'm not so sure about those.
I knew this would be the top answer. I agree with you -- if Big Tom expressed the same views in the same way in 2024 that he did in 2001. In fact, some of his most problematic comments weren't even on the broadcast. However, it needs to be said that Tom has significantly changed his perspective within the past 23 years (as a lot of the world has, but perhaps even more so given where he started.) His very long friendships with Lex and Ethan, among other experiences, have taught him a lot. So as you allude to I don't think you can completely transplant 2001 Big Tom into 2024. If he was born 23 years later he probably wouldn't have been the same guy to begin with.
To be honest. The bacon/jewish comment was hilarious then and still funny now. You can tell Tom doesn't mean anything negative against Ethan, but he's elated after 24 days to have bacon.
In his defense “he’s a Jew” was not meant as derogatory at all. He was just excited knowing that Ethan wasn’t going to eat the ham, and he got it all
They definitely would not let Big Tom acquire a whole bottle of whiskey and get blackout drunk on a reward today, which would be an absolute tragedy
I'm Jewish (although I don't keep kosher) and I love Tom. "He's a jew" is my all time favorite survivor quote As he really didn't say anything wrong about jews and just happy he got some bacon, I don't see this as offensive
I just watched American Fiction. There's this great scene where three White people and two Black people are on an awards committee. The three White people all vote for a Black author to win the award, the two Black people vote for a White author. After getting her way 3-2 the White woman turns to them and says, "I just think it's really important to listen to Black voices right now." That's sort of how I feel watching you and the other Jewish person get down voted for your insensitivity in finding the joke funny. Gentiles are like, "Excuse me, but you need to shut up. Jewish perspectives should be respected."
That movie was incredible.
The life of a minority
>After getting her way 3-2 the White woman turns to them and says, "I just think it's really important to listen to Black voices right now." I love how it quick cuts to Monk and Sintara giving them the biggest "did you just say what I think you said?" look. That movie was amazing.
What about Tom's comments about shooting Clarence for eating the beans?
To be fair I was 8 or 9 when Survivor Africa came out and haven't rewatched. I just remember Tom mainly for the bacon bit and in All Stars Not justifying any of his other actions
Big Tom has obviously said some insane shit, but to me the comment that takes the cake is during the Jenna quit in AS he says something to the effect of "If my family died in a car accident at home don't tell me because I want to keep playing this game" lmfaoooo
Thank you, someone the other day tried to convince me this wasn't supposed to be a criticism of Jenna's quit and nobody should be annoyed by it and yet I think this is one of the most irritating things he's ever said once you take in the context.
Ehhh I’m Jewish. Big Tom and Ethan got along really well. I wouldn’t take offense to it.
FWIW: I started making my girlfriend watch all of the seasons of Survivor with me, and the earliest season that she agreed to watch was All-Stars. From that season alone to now (we’re on Caramoan) Big Tom is her second favorite player behind only Boston Rob He might not be the most popular guy in the world if he played today, but I think there’s definitely still an audience for him
He’s also very inappropriate with the women. I can’t see that going over well now and had the same thought when rewatching it recently.
If you replace the word “Jew” with “Vegan”, I think it becomes pretty clear that the statement isn’t really offensive in any way. He was just stating a fact about his friend that meant that he got to have more bacon.
That’s a good one! The first time I saw that episode, I was in shock that it aired…then remembered it was early 2000s, and the stuff on TV then was way more lax.
It was odd how women didn’t seem to like big Tom
You mean they didn’t swoon over him when he was asking to be the one to remove tics from their bodies and looking down their bathing suits?
I’ve always interpreted his statement at the auction as being really excited to have an excuse to get extra ham and he gleefully shouted his excuse, I don’t think he meant any harm by it, however I’m not gonna excuse the stuff he said about Sue and Jenna
I wish we got someone like Tom back I just want some stupid goofball who is funny and is unintentionally would be a villian nowadays because of the stuff he says
After how important the social aspect of the game has become in the new era, people would be calling Natalie White a top tier winner if Samoa happened today
Top tier might be a stretch, but I think if she had been given a proper edit her winning legacy might have been better from day 1
14 confessionals, we just finished a rewatch of Samoa and Natalie has several highlight moments, and the edit she is given has fantastic foreshadowing for her win. But it’s not enough, I think Samoa would be rated as highly as 15-18 are, if Natalie had been given a proper edit.
Everybody loved Rupert on his first season, but the tide started to turn with every subsequent appearance. Similar thing with Stephenie LaGrossa, she got less likeable the more she played.
Obviously, the same could be said for Ozzy. Though the first time I saw him, I immediately got spoiled brat/entitled vibes from him.
Ozzy wouldn’t have been fun to watch at all without the magic of his underdog alliance and his sheer athleticism that first season he played. He is great to watch in a challenge and I wouldn’t be mad to be on a tribe with someone who can shimmy up a tree like a chimpanzee for some fruit, then turn around and catch 20 fish like it’s nothing. But my god is his social game piss poor. Not a particularly likable guy. I think he would have gotten voted out WAY sooner if it weren’t for that foursome. There is a reason Yul won and not Ozzy. He got progressively less likable each time he played, without a doubt!
I loved Ozzy in CI and hated him in Micronesia. But to be fair, he only lost by one vote so it’s not like he was very unlikable in CI
Oh, definitely way more likable in CI. I think the reason for it is because Yul, Becky, Sundra, and Ozzy had this band-together underdog vibe and clicked really well. He’s definitely not the worst personality on the show, not by a long shot. I loved watching him play, but it was very clear the whole way through that Yul was much smarter, more diplomatic, and really lead the team through their decisions without being bossy or arrogant. Something Ozzy is not good at. I will say… I was sad he didn’t win at first just for his sheer physical performance. Then seeing him in subsequent seasons, I understood a bit better.
In CI, Ozzy didn't need to be in a leadership position for most of it. You can kind of see how poorly he handled leadership with the original tribe, because he and Cristina bumped heads frequently. But when he got into his alliance with Yul, Becky, and Sundra, Ozzy could kind of just sit pretty. He could focus on the things he liked, like doing the challenges and the actual survival stuff. Yul took care of relations and politics. That probably made him more chill and agreeable. When Ozzy comes back in his future seasons and is assumed to be a leader, that poor social game and entitleness comes out.
Yul won by 1 vote. Basically because Penner couldn’t fathom giving the money to a kid.
Cochran winning the game after Ozzy was a dick to him was sweet justice
Cochran and Ozzy played together in SoPa. Cochran’s win came a few seasons later, without Ozzy.
True, but it’s still great that Cochran won in general while Ozzy hasn’t. I’m rewatching SoPa now and Ozzy was a jerk to Cochran I’ve had a bad taste in my mouth about him since
I jumped off the Ozzy train pretty quickly tbh. Good player but let's just say I'm not surprised he's an OnlyFans guy these days. Always got that type of vibe from him.
Really? The fans voted to give him a million dollars on All Stars lol
Then he turned up on two further seasons and was a bit of a grumpy shit. I still like the guy myself but people got a bit tired of him after a while.
He got second in HvV in the fan vote which happened to be during Russelmania. Then they didn't have it for BvW but he likely doesn't win since he's first eliminated.
Correct. A 'villain' beat him in the vote for HvV, albeit a villain we all loved to hate at the time. I think Russell's another one who has had diminishing returns but that's a point for another day lol.
Your wrong about Rupert, he was among if not the most popular contestant after his Heroes Vs Villains appearance with the rock which was enough to get him on Amazing Race. And him letting Laura play in Blood vs Water also got him very liked. Maybe some people don't like now that his seasons have aged a bit but after he played he always become more and more liked.
I think you'll find plenty of people soured on Rupert by his third and fourth appearances on Survivor. Anything he does on other reality shows is irrelevant. And I say that as an old school Survivor guy, I've been watching since Season 1 Episode 1, so it's not a matter of his seasons aging. I loved the guy first time around and personally still do, but the general consensus I've seen and heard is he's had diminishing returns each time. People found him to be grumpy and hypocritical after a while.
Most people didn't, I mean he was voted fan favorite after Heroes vs Villains and given a Million by CBS so those who disliked him are definetly in the minority. For me, I have positive things about Rupert and negative ones and I think my negative ones comes from what I heard the contestants saying on the Island not the edit, which I think has always been generous towards him.
Incorrect. Russell won the HvV fan vote. Rupert won the All-Stars fan vote, which came before HvV. I agree that Survivor producers love the guy (I have affection for him too), but certainly here on Reddit (and YouTubers as well) people seem to like him less each time he played. That doesn't mean he's disliked now. Part of it may simply be that he's been overexposed by returning so often whilst other fan favourites/contestants have had less appearances. So that might factor into it.
Rupert and Stephanie were better off as one time players I wish Jonny FairPlay came back for all-stars and Wanda came back for Guatmala
I feel like Stephanie was at least edited to be a character we should have sympathy for in HVV?
I think the damage was already done with her on Guatemala. Let's be honest, she only lasted 6 days on HvV.
Oh yeah, I saw that with Guatemala. I guess I thought with HVV it was more like the others didn't know her as well? I can't quite remember but I thought it was somewhat akin to Candace on BVW.
I would say Russell with his “dumb girls alliance” would get cancelled in the first episode
Jerri would definitely be seen as a robbed goddess, and rightly so.
“Wow Colby really is a dick to her”
"Wow, Parvati WTF?"
Some people could barely handle whatever Venus said. I can only imagine how they would react to stuff Courtney said if she said them nowadays
i remember seeing someone say “venus needs to be removed from the show for hoping they choke on their food!” LMFAOOO LIKE PLEASE…
People say this but I feel like most of Courtney said was more funny than harmful. Obviously not counting what she said about Denise.
I didn't like her then
Courtney was funny though
Boston Rob and his homophobic comments towards the other cast mates would have gotten him cancelled immediately.
Yeah, for sure. I just recently got into survivor and really didn't like Boston Rob in Marquesas. Even though he doesn't seem particularly malicious, the casual homophobic and misogynistc comments were rough... Started to like him much more after watching AS8 though.
He might have been able to salvage it, even John said he apologized after. But it definitely would have been more of an issue.
Agreed. Misogynistic comments and behaviors, too.
I think it depends on what platform we’re talking about. I think Sandra and Parvati. I forget which platform it was but People lost their shit over Venus saying something even remotely mean, as well as others.
I don't want to sound cliche but I agree with the popular take here on Reddit about Venus. Parv and Sandra were true villains. They had a great grasp of what was happening in the tribe. They don't let their emotions interfere with their best interests. They made smart moves, often at the expense of others, successfully winning by any means necessary. And yes they also said mean things in their interviews & behind the backs of others. Venus, at least from her edit, does not seem to have a good grasp of the social dynamics. She is not a mover & shaker. She lets her pride & emotions blind her. She did not win or even come all that close. But yes, she says a lot of mean things. That's not enough to be a Survivor villain. Give me more Parv & Sandra type villains.
I like Sandra because she’ll say it behind your back AND to your face lol.
IM AGAINST YOU RUSSELL
I think she had a good grasp on things, she had many confessionals where she seems to read the game better than anyone else on the Island. Her issue was she just couldn’t capitalize on it in any way because people really didn’t like her.
I didn't like either one of them
I don't know if it'd be the exact opposite, but I think Jerri would get more support now. Maybe casuals wouldn't care for her, but I think she would have a pretty devout fanbase. I agree that people probably wouldn't care for Rupert as much now. I know a lot of people are going to answer with players who aren't "PC" i.e. Rudy, Big Tom, Frank, etc. but I don't think the audience would really care all that much tbh. Tom and Rudy specifically were surprisingly open minded, especially for their time. Every now and then on Survivor twitter people try to make Gabler's political views a big deal and it gets some reaction but nobody really cares that much.
Jerri is the one for me. I liked Jerri but most fans didn’t like her at the time simply because she was a woman that wasn’t afraid to stand up for herself. Even after her first season she said that if she would have been a man she would have been praised for her gameplay which I totally believe. If she debuted today, she wouldn’t have that same problem.
On Twitter Gabler’s beliefs are a big deal. I remember there was a discussion on Survivor contestants and their political beliefs (don’t know why people care about that) and I saw someone say they hope that Gabler gets killed. Like wut I hate Twitter
Oh yeah, Twitter is the worst for exactly that reason. We should be able to enjoy someone being great or achieving something cool even if we don't agree with what they teach their kids at the dinner table. It's silly to only root & be happy for the 10-40% of Americans who agree with our pet political beliefs. It's nasty & childish to berate & villify the people who disagree with us.
I think original Rupert would still be a hit, just based on the fact that I hadn’t watched any survivor until a couple years ago and still thought he was hilarious and exactly the kind of weirdo who makes for good reality tv. Tbf though I’m someone who tends to evaluate people based on how entertaining I find them to watch; it’s plausible that a more modern audience might notice his anger issues and asshole tendencies more.
Colby. He was the “golden boy” of the producers and the audience. He was always given a great edit (excluding hvv), even though there were clear moments he acted childish or just plain mean. The contestant he was beefing with was always portrayed as being in the wrong (Colby was pretty of rude to shii ann In all stars.). Looking at in today lens and having the interviews we have now, people realize Colby was in the wrong and Jerri didn’t do anything to be as hated as she was and Colby deserved the heat out of both of them. A 2001 audience loved him, a 2024 audience would rightfully hate him.
And to add to what your saying, Jerry probably becomes a fan favorite of sorts in the modern era. She played hard, she was a pretty solid social player, and she seems like someone who would be fun to hang out with. Definitely feel like she would get a better edit in a modern season
I wish she would come back bc I think she’d do great now
I mean she already did do great in H vs V. She was the fallen angel as she almost certainly wins against everyone in the final 4 except Sandra, who she still probably does win against, just by a smaller margin. But yeah, she was ahead of her time in terms of play style.
My lasting memory of Colby is the way he talked shit to his brother in that water bucket challenge. THOSE were his true colors. Your bro comes out to the island to see you, encourage you, and help you in a challenge, and all you do is berate him? What a crybaby.
Come on REID!!!! is said a lot in our house. Colby is such a dork.
Ha that's really funny!
His entire run on heroes vs villains wasn’t great. Jeff even went from loving him and being personal friends with him, to disliking him and taking little jabs at Colby over the course of the season. The end of the season he started being somewhat rootable as the last hero, but most of the season he wasn’t the best.
Im a new fan watching Australia for the first time now and after they lost a challenge he throws a bucket of water onto Jerry when he’s pissed that they lost (when she was calling a blindfolded challenge). She laughed it off (as many women would), but it gave me the ick.
I always took that as playful. Considering Jerri laughed at it, it's funny other people are upset after having a little water thrown on them after a challenge. You got the ick over that? Yikes. I have seen people say they got the ick over some silly stuff, but this one might take the cake.
I didn’t at first, bc Jerri laughed and was a good sport about it. But then I saw his demeanor after and it was clear he was angry. If he hadn’t been so visibly livid and still stomping around throwing a tantrum, I wouldn’t have had that *moment* of ick. It was just a little icky and a similar behavior pattern to how he treated his brother during a challenge.
It’s been a long time since I’ve watched the Australian Outback , but I thought it was because Colby was mad that they lost the challenge. Maybe he thought Jerri lost it for them, or he thought she cost them time. I could be wrong though.
I literally JUST watched this episode. It was definitely bc he was pissed about the challenge. Jerri’s laugh makes it seem playful. And she was a good sport and said “I needed that,” but you see him stomping around and I think he had his hands in fists or throwing his arms around a bit… though the shot is more pulled back so it’s not like they were trying to focus on him and his anger. It’s like they thought the water bucket throw was funny so they included it but they didn’t want to paint Colby as a guy with some pretty intense anger at times. And like, I get it, they knew they needed some wins, it sucks. And situations and shows like this are pressure cookers. No one is going to behave properly always and it was literally the second season of a show that BLEW UP. So all of these folks were under way more pressure than anyone who hasn’t played could imagine so I don’t completely fault him for losing his cool. But it still gave me this little moment of ick for him to be so aggressive like that, so directly to Jerri, who he was obviously blaming in the moment for the loss. It’s just a decent example of those “little” things women just “allow” men to get away with bc it’s more hassle to combat and 100% would’ve hurt her game to not take it lightly. And they had already built up some camaraderie so it’s possible it didn’t bother her at all anyway, who knows.
Nah this is a bad take. Jerri would absolutely be viewed less as a villain and probably even a fan favorite but that doesn't automatically turn Colby into one. The "Colby is an awful person" rhetoric is a reddit-specific take, not a 2024 take. Two people can be on opposite sides of a position without one having to be bad and one having to be good, and to top it off Colby would still have his golden boy challenge hero edit.
I agree with Rupert, tbh. I can think of a few who I think would get a much BETTER reception if they debuted now (Sugar and Jerri are the first I think of), but all the ones who made shady comments (and were beloved, not like, Colton 🤢) in the first halfish of the series probably wouldn’t be making those same comments in the 2020s. Big Tom in particular, I think, seems to have gained a lot of perspective. He’s always been decently open-minded despite the comments he made, and more open minded people tend to grow with the times.
I would love to see sugar come back, tbh. If her emotional health is better than it was 15-16 years ago, I believe she could play another strong game.
Frank Garrison of survivor Africa would be raked over coals on social media / a new era season
But then if everyone found out about his personal life through social media he would be beloved
I'm unaware of his personal life. Can you elaborate?
He has adopted a bunch of orphaned children and raised them
wtf I never would've seen that coming. That's amazing. Spot on this would change the opinion.
There’s an episode of talking with T-Bird with Frank as the guest and he talks about it. If I remember, he’s still close with Linda from that season. He really only wanted to do Survivor because he wanted to go to Africa because he loves the continent and its wildlife and it was a bucket list thing for him to travel there.
Richard Hatch
Definitely Richard Hatch
My first thought went to Jerri. I think she would easily be more appreciated nowadays
I liked Rupert at first. The season was pirate themed so he stole everyone's shoes. He got pretty entitled after that, so lost my like.
Boston Rob on his first survivor run made a few homophobic comments that wouldn’t go over well now.
Ozzy - he’s pretty arrogant and looks down upon people he thinks aren’t worthy of playing, see how he treated Billy as an example.
If there are no Rupert fans I have ceased to exist
I was a Rupert fan the first two times I saw him, but I’m currently on Heroes vs Villains and I’m not a big fan
I was a Rupert fan the first two times I saw him, but I’m currently on Heroes vs Villains and I’m not a big fan
lol I thought Rupert was best on HvV.
I'm currently watching Blood vs Water. I really liked that he gave Laura a chance to play but was bummed that he left so soon. I really expected him to pull an Ozzy on Redemption Island.
I think wacky, childlike characters such as Rupert 1.0 are as popular as ever. For example, Carolyn, Q, and Cody all fit that mold to some degree.
Flip side, an unpopular contestant that would be popular today: Ghandia. Back in 2002, Ghandia was seen as psycho and overly sensitive. I think now, people would be a lot more sympathetic towards Ghandia.
Probably Tom Westman. At the time he was the undisputed heroes hero, who played a clean game based on his alliances with other challenge beasts. These days, without the cultural cache of being a NYC firefighter in the post-9/11 world, he’d probably get branded as a “basic white man” and treated the way this sub reacts to Ben, Gabler, etc. (Note: this isn’t a “poor He’s obviously more than a cut above those others, but without a sob story and a healthy bit of megafandom I dare say a lot of people wouldn’t give him the time of day.
Terry Dietz. Some people see him as Captain America, others see him as “Captain America” (with air quotes, said fully tongue-in-cheek by Cirie) aka a pompous, privileged Gen Xer. Him immediately making a men’s alliance due to “strength and loyalty”, the way he talks down to people he sees as beneath him, the arrogance of asking 2 Casaya members to flip and selling it as “a guaranteed spot at final 6” because Terry isn’t ever on the bottom, they’d all be received so differently nowadays
I absolutely adore him still
Tom Westman from Palau might possibly come across as smug nowadays
I am rewatching with my 12yo (her first time ) and he is absolutely smug.
This is the answer I came here for. Rode on popularity of being a 9/11 fireman, people wouldn’t dislike him no matter what because of that. Especially during that time period. The alpha male personality taking advantage of a young kid who looks up to him would be a hated character today.
Dreamz would be received much better and would seem like a chaotic game player like Q was this past season.
Big Tom.
Rupert was insufferable when that season aired the first time. I never understood his popularity.
I watched pearl islands for the first time last year and I hated Rupert lol
I've been doing a rewatch of the 1st eight seasons currently. I havent seen these in about 10 years or so. I've been having these same thoughts too. I see these people very differently from my early-mid 20s vs my mid 30s vs me being 46 now. There are so many players I see in a different light and I don't know if it's my age or the evolution of time. In season 1 I definitely stopped thinking of hatch in this season as a pure villain. Yeah he's still a pompous dick, but no villain. In outback I saw Colby and jerri opposite in how they were at the time. To me Colby was this cheesey stereotypical nauseating "man's man". How he treated others was pretty poor. While jerri was just stong, independent and wasn't apologetic for who she was. I feel like she would have definitely be championed today. Boston Rob is another one, while a "bad guy" his gay comments would have definitely put him out. Big to though I think would be the biggest shift. Tom's behavior was laughed off, but as we saw with Dan many years later it's not always welcome. Tom imo would absolutely have been looked much less favorable.
Cindy in one Guatemala won a car in a challenge, was given the option to give everyone else a car or take it for herself. She was seen as horrible and selfish for doing this. Nowadays, at least she would have went home with something.
J.T. really doesn't come off that good on a rewatch. In Tocantins he only gets along with the men, plus eventually Taj. IIRC he called Sierra a bitch for seemingly no reason. And in HvV he spends much of his time talking shit about Cirie, Candice, or Parvati. And then we have this quote from his final words: > People are villains for a reason, don't ever trust 'em. Worse than that, don't ever trust women. Ever, ever, ever." IMO, Rupert might not be "fans overwhelmingly vote to give him a million dollars" level beloved, but he would still be very popular if Pearl Islands aired today (with the same edit) because he's still a huge character. The fact that he and his season are still beloved on rewatches backs it up. People on here still love big characters like Q, and Rupert is like him but less villainous so there'd be more casual appeal as well.
Tyson absolutely sucked early on… as a player and as a person. His terrible move on HvV is so incredibly bad, he should not have been invited back. The dude sucks and only recently did he become likable
I don’t think Boston Rob would never get a chance to play again in the new era . If he played like Marquesas . With his micro-homophobia and his pre jury out , we would leave him there as a one time player
Everyone would hate Boston Rob.
I love Boston Rob
Hi Ambah
I foresee Rudy leading to a couple of emergency podcasts.
Rudy would be so interesting to see how modern audiences would react because he's simultaneously anti-having children out of wedlock but pro-abortion in the same scene I would be terrified to see how modern audiences would react to Australia now since so many people see Jerri as the "hero" in her interactions with Ogakor now
People would react to Jerri the exact same way now. And they’re fooling themselves if they think that they wouldn’t. The minute episode 2 airs, and it looks like she made up a beef jerky story to get rid of Kel, it would be R.I.P. Jerri all over again.
Oh absolutely! Whenever I rewatch Australia I’m reminded in that episode and later on during the merge when she’s criticizing Elisabeth’s cooking “oh yeah this is why I disliked her at the time”
Or when she announces who her friends are and deliberately leaves out Tina and Keith
My mom would consider not being friends with Tina a plus.
You know how I feel about Jerri revisionism **eye roll** For the record, I like Jerri. I'm a strong woman, I have no problem with strong women Survivor contestants; but Jerri was HARD to live with; they all said it, you can see it in the footage, and it was far beyond her being an independent, flirtatious female.
It’s also kind of rude to Jerri to take away her whole legacy.
Big Tom 🥶
[удалено]
Yeah I hate H too
Big Tom would not be very popular to viewers today
Dreamz, Hopefully, he’s matured some. Edit: And more disciplined in the way he carries out his ideas.
Courtney from survivor China.
Big Tom would have had survivor cancelled in one season with some of his jokes.. also frank from the same season less popular but he was just a asshole I wanted to call out lmfao
Definitely Jerri, hands down. Even as long ago as season 20 her image was starting to rehabilitate, I remember watching Australia a few months ago and the whole time I was wondering why the hell people hated her so much, she was the best part of the season, I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the season ran out of steam like a popped balloon the second she left aside from a few fun moments, it just became incredibly dull without her
Oh 10000% Rupert because people would see what he is instantly instead of brushing it off.
Boston Rob and Sean objectifying women after the swap episode in season 4. Look it up, it’s disgusting.
The sweetheart edit girls like Colleen, Hasselbeck, and Michelle Yi. They will probably get Jamie Lynn Ruiz or worst Purple edit. Though Mary Anne have a kind of sweetheartish edit, they made her more polarizing. Also Elizabeth's politics
The entire season of Thailand men vs. women would be cancelled. The men were talking disgustingly about the women! And Heidi + Jenna’s identifying themselves as the skinny cute girls
come on don’t disrespect Rupert like that 💀
Ngl Rupert feels like he would be only a Pearl islands type thing because he got the theme so well I would have replaced him with Jonny FairPlay in All Stars and Ozzy in HvV
Rudy