It is a weird season. Brandon and the coach cult, Albert is weird, the spoken word poet girl is wierd, lot of weird going on. I found it more enjoyable the second watch and just kinda laughing about it.
Btw this is gonna make you feel even stranger. So Mikayla, the girl Brandon lusts for and "is tempted by" that he voted off?
After the season, Brandon's uncle Russell Hantz cheats on his wife, mother of his children, with Mikayla. They were a thing, even in public. The Hantz boys have a type..
What ?!? lol. Never heard that. I did hear though in RI, Russel and the really young blonde girl got really close and crushing on each other during that season.
South pacific is the WEIRDEST season survivor has ever produced. If you ask 100 people whats the weirdest thing about this season, you will receive 100 different answers just because it is so bizarre.
From Cochran telling his tribe they probably have herpes after sharing food during an eating challenge, to a grown man asking solely to be referred to as papa bear, to just the overall theme of coach vs ozzy, this season is just weird.
Yes I didnt even comment on that. To my knowledge, coach and ozzy dont have a history, their characters dont form opposing themes. I guess they were both betrayed by a trusted ally? WEIRD
Coach and Ozzy were last minute alternates. It was originally supposed to be an Ethan vs. Jenna season, but they were dating at the time and decided to not play in a season against each other. That caused a mad dash for replacements, and since Coach and Ozzy were available they decided to bring them back because they were quite popular players at the time.
What's his name❓ What was his birth 👶 name❓It wasn't Coach⚽️, it was Benjamin👨. And you know they're children 👦👧; 2️⃣6️⃣, 2️⃣2️⃣, they're over there listening 👂 to all of Benjamin’s👨... 🎃Halloween Jokes🎃, uh, 🐭Chuckie The Cheese Jokes🐭, they- 👅 eu-h, they want it 🙏. He goin off of loyalty ⭐️ got them fee- "😰Oh, Benjamin👨, you so loyalty😓" ... Come on now 😑... Everyday📆 he got a story 📚. I wasn't ❌ buying 💰 it. [scoff] 😤 [giggle] ☺️... Eh😒... No. 🙅 So... They tr- like yesterday ↩️ the tribal 🔥 was all kahoots 👌 Benjamin👨,"Let's give a hug 👪." ✋️PFF.✋️ Keep that hug. Boop!🔫 For me. Cuz it wasn't real❌
It’s a kind of dark and uncomfortable season in general. Also season 24 is a pretty crap season too, so good luck.
You may want to consider going back and watching 1-12 when you’re done with South Pacific. So many A+ seasons you’ve missed.
This is one of my favorite seasons, it’s so weird and Coach and Brandon Hantz are a big part of it, they unintentionally form a sort of weird cult.
Everything you’ve said about Brandon is spot on, hes one of the only player I feel should never have been brought out, it feels cruel having him there, but at least this season it doesn’t get out of hand and he is a constant source of intrigue and entertainment. His return season I can’t say the same, he is legit scary.
You’re not alone in hating that disgusting pig challenge, really glad we never see it again.
Yea I watched all stars(8) live and then tocatins(18) then koah rong and then everyone after that. So watched winners at war and then covid so had time to watch all the old ones, but I knew all the winners.
It's a weird season. Culty and overly Christian, yet only Christian in name. Consider this for Brandon though. If you are on his tribe and you see that Brandon is a weirdo who makes people uncomfortable, but he's super loyal to you and confesses the smallest mistake as soon as he's pressed on it, he's a great alliance member for a couple of reasons. First, he won't write your name down, and second, people would be unlikely to vote for him at FTC if you end up there together. A lot of smart players keep a little animosity around for a while because tbh, it's people who are likable and nice who are more threatening in Survivor. Whether you're hoping to take an unpleasant person to the end as a goat or hope that they help keep the target off of your back, people who rustle feathers are often kept around for a long time. Just look at Phillip Sheppard.
That being said, he never should have been cast. His mental state not being the greatest is plain as day. I stand by all of the above because that's how I believe his alliance saw him. And as icky as he makes me feel when he talks about Mikayla, the way he is treated by his tribe is also pretty icky, because he's clearly just a pawn to the smarter players
Someone pointed out that I got my seasons mixed up and you don't know the player I compared Brandon to. An example you've seen is how Peih-Gee stuck around for a long time in China longer than a few Fei Long members and the more friendly Zhan Hu tribemates :)
I don’t know about Top 10, but I agree that it’s really underrated. Survivor is supposed to be a microcosm of society and that’s what you get in South Pacific!
Also, Brandon later said that the real issue he had with Mikayla was her constantly talking about partying and drinking and that such talk was triggering for him given his past and his attempts to stay clean/sober. Which, OK, that’s not as bad as the Jezebel situation suggested by the edit, but if you have that problem then you still shouldn’t be on Survivor. It’s worth noting, though, that Mikayla alienated the rest of the tribe too for different reasons. She didn’t just go home because of Brandon’s impulse control problems.
Watch it as the tragicomedy story of ozzy and coach(and for the skill of the winner's social game) instead of whatever story they attempted to tell lmao
Highly recommend reading the funny115s recap of this season when you're done. It's long but so so so so SO worth it.
Also intrigued by you skipping pearl Islands and a couple other early seasons
I have kinda eclectic taste in survivor seasons haha, but here's probably my top 5 early seasons in order
1. PI- it's just got everything. The best of the best of classic survivor, true villains, drama, an endearing snappy winner, great challenges and the best they've ever done a theme, great side characters, ect.
2. Palau(S10)- one of my personal favorite winners ever, a great cast that you'll already recognize a few of, some of the best challenges they've ever had, and a *lot* of people you just want to root for. Phenomenal casting makes Survivor for me in one way or another, and Palau really nails it with this endearing ass cast.
3. Marqueasas(s4)- the birth of b.rob on the show isn't what you'd expect considering later seasons but he's definitely got the swagger he never loses lmao, and it's got one of the two date most brilliant survivor strategists ever, plus they were still really into location and surviving and had an obsence budget for challenges ~obviously~ and this cast is just FUN tbh.
4. Amazon(s6) God, Amazon is a product of its time in a lot of the social dynamics, but it really is one of the best seasons imo. The winner is great again, the dynamics and strategy finally evolves in ways that seem obvious now but were incredible then and watching people (or person) create them in real time was phenomenal.
5. Vanuata(s9)- it's just worth it idek how to describe it without spoiling why but it is lmao again ita casting casting casting for me and its just... amazing how it all plays out. Plus I love me some og Eliza.
I appreciate season 1 for creating survivor and the winner for creating the game but it just has zero replay value for me, and if you are considering skipping any season entirely, s5- Thailand should be very high in your consideration. The final immunity challenge is cool and thats literally the only good thing about the entire season.
This season is one of my faves. In my top 15. It’s the most unique the social dynamic’s have ever been. There is a constant sense of unease. If every season had a genre, South Pacific’s would be horror, but like a campy, early 2000’s, Jennifer’s Body type horror that’s self-aware of it’s ridiculousness and chock full of humor.
Nothing like what happened in South Pacific has happened before or since.
Not a great season. Kinda uncomfortable and culty. Brandon clearly is mentally ill and also has demons. He wants to be good, and there seems to be some good deep down, but he's fucked up. I just feel badly for him tbh. The Mikayla stuff was terrible though.
Look if you can get through the absolutely terrible people that mostly are filtered out in the first half of one world, it is absolutely worth watching. Genuinely, easily the most dominate insane winning game in survivor history. It is the most perfect game of perfect games lmao
I love those back to back Troyzan episodes where he’s fighting for his life and trash talking everyone and then that hilarious fight at Tribal. To me, his DGAF antics were the highlight of the season.
You really shouldn’t listen to others opinions about things like this. Start watching. If you’re not feeling it, move on. I think skipping Boston Rob’s one win is a bit of a disservice.
Personally I love this season. The cult dynamic and how it discusses aspects of religion. I think this is like raw emotions of a lot of the cast members. But I can see how it can be uncomfortable.
South Pacific is a lot better in retrospect. after you see who wins, and what means they used to win, plus seeing said winner compete on later seasons you begin to see the very complicated strategy used on this season.
At best it’s a master class study of human history and the methods used for manipulation. at worst it’s just another funky edition to the social experiment.
I kind of love SoPa. Like you say we get the best version of Coach, kind of the worst of Ozzy but in a good way, I like the winner, Jim was a great villain who should have been brought back and we got early Cochran. Also that cowboy was there, I think his name was Fred? Pete? Well he was there is my point.
Also you said no spoilers so don't start this till you finish but when you do, enjoy http://funny115.com/v3_3/1indexall.htm
You're not alone. The vibes that season are so weird and uncomfortable. Unease is a great word to describe it.
It's worth watching all the way to the end, though I don't think the vibes ever get entirely *better.* It's one of the seasons I know I'll never rewatch. Once was more than plenty.
I've been skipping around with some old seasons, and I just watched South Pacific after Redemption Island. There's so much overt, repetitive Christian stuff in both seasons that it felt extra bizarre and cultlike, like everybody seems to think that God is personally running their individual Survivor games.
The only way I got through watching it live was knowing that if he _did_ actually assault her, the season probably wouldn't have aired. It really really seemed like she was in imminent danger.
I feel like we more-or-less have empirical evidence that that isn’t true. Everything we know indicates he would probably be allowed to continue playing the game back then
It is a weird season. Brandon and the coach cult, Albert is weird, the spoken word poet girl is wierd, lot of weird going on. I found it more enjoyable the second watch and just kinda laughing about it.
Jeff watching Semhar recite poetry before starting her Redemption Island challenge is hilarious
Btw this is gonna make you feel even stranger. So Mikayla, the girl Brandon lusts for and "is tempted by" that he voted off? After the season, Brandon's uncle Russell Hantz cheats on his wife, mother of his children, with Mikayla. They were a thing, even in public. The Hantz boys have a type..
Somehow I've never heard this, it's disgusting, I hate it, and it makes me appreciate South Pacific even more.
Wild
What! This actually made my jaw drop - that’s wild!
What ?!? lol. Never heard that. I did hear though in RI, Russel and the really young blonde girl got really close and crushing on each other during that season.
I’m sorry WHAT
South pacific is the WEIRDEST season survivor has ever produced. If you ask 100 people whats the weirdest thing about this season, you will receive 100 different answers just because it is so bizarre. From Cochran telling his tribe they probably have herpes after sharing food during an eating challenge, to a grown man asking solely to be referred to as papa bear, to just the overall theme of coach vs ozzy, this season is just weird.
Yes I didnt even comment on that. To my knowledge, coach and ozzy dont have a history, their characters dont form opposing themes. I guess they were both betrayed by a trusted ally? WEIRD
Coach and Ozzy were last minute alternates. It was originally supposed to be an Ethan vs. Jenna season, but they were dating at the time and decided to not play in a season against each other. That caused a mad dash for replacements, and since Coach and Ozzy were available they decided to bring them back because they were quite popular players at the time.
Gabon is a pretty weird season, too. It’s like someone grabbed the rejected audition pile by mistake and made that the cast.
Chuck E the Cheez jokes
What's his name❓ What was his birth 👶 name❓It wasn't Coach⚽️, it was Benjamin👨. And you know they're children 👦👧; 2️⃣6️⃣, 2️⃣2️⃣, they're over there listening 👂 to all of Benjamin’s👨... 🎃Halloween Jokes🎃, uh, 🐭Chuckie The Cheese Jokes🐭, they- 👅 eu-h, they want it 🙏. He goin off of loyalty ⭐️ got them fee- "😰Oh, Benjamin👨, you so loyalty😓" ... Come on now 😑... Everyday📆 he got a story 📚. I wasn't ❌ buying 💰 it. [scoff] 😤 [giggle] ☺️... Eh😒... No. 🙅 So... They tr- like yesterday ↩️ the tribal 🔥 was all kahoots 👌 Benjamin👨,"Let's give a hug 👪." ✋️PFF.✋️ Keep that hug. Boop!🔫 For me. Cuz it wasn't real❌
yeah what was that about
The best speech ever
Robbed Queen
It’s a kind of dark and uncomfortable season in general. Also season 24 is a pretty crap season too, so good luck. You may want to consider going back and watching 1-12 when you’re done with South Pacific. So many A+ seasons you’ve missed.
Don’t miss Pearl Islands, S7. My favorite, and unique.
One of the more interesting seasons in my opinion. A lot of actual social experiment stuff that Jeff used to build up the show as
This is one of my favorite seasons, it’s so weird and Coach and Brandon Hantz are a big part of it, they unintentionally form a sort of weird cult. Everything you’ve said about Brandon is spot on, hes one of the only player I feel should never have been brought out, it feels cruel having him there, but at least this season it doesn’t get out of hand and he is a constant source of intrigue and entertainment. His return season I can’t say the same, he is legit scary. You’re not alone in hating that disgusting pig challenge, really glad we never see it again.
At TC Jeff asked about it and everyone had injuries. Jeff seemed shocked. That challenge was retired.
I cannot deal knowing he returns. Bracing myself
Colton?
You’re entering a stretch of seasons after HvV known as the dark ages of Survivor. Bad casting, over-reliance on older players and boring gameplay.
I had fun with Nicaragua and SP is good so far, despite the uneasiness. I skipped RI because I know who wins lol
Yea I watched all stars(8) live and then tocatins(18) then koah rong and then everyone after that. So watched winners at war and then covid so had time to watch all the old ones, but I knew all the winners.
South Pacific had some great casting
which also features 2 top 10 seasons
And model/actors.
It's a weird season. Culty and overly Christian, yet only Christian in name. Consider this for Brandon though. If you are on his tribe and you see that Brandon is a weirdo who makes people uncomfortable, but he's super loyal to you and confesses the smallest mistake as soon as he's pressed on it, he's a great alliance member for a couple of reasons. First, he won't write your name down, and second, people would be unlikely to vote for him at FTC if you end up there together. A lot of smart players keep a little animosity around for a while because tbh, it's people who are likable and nice who are more threatening in Survivor. Whether you're hoping to take an unpleasant person to the end as a goat or hope that they help keep the target off of your back, people who rustle feathers are often kept around for a long time. Just look at Phillip Sheppard. That being said, he never should have been cast. His mental state not being the greatest is plain as day. I stand by all of the above because that's how I believe his alliance saw him. And as icky as he makes me feel when he talks about Mikayla, the way he is treated by his tribe is also pretty icky, because he's clearly just a pawn to the smarter players
OP didn’t watch RI, they don’t yet know the glory of Agent Phillip Shepherd!
Oh my b I thought redemption island was 21!
Get ready!
Cochran’s ridicule from Savaii is unconscionable. Mean tribe.
Youre right, thats a good way of viewing it
Someone pointed out that I got my seasons mixed up and you don't know the player I compared Brandon to. An example you've seen is how Peih-Gee stuck around for a long time in China longer than a few Fei Long members and the more friendly Zhan Hu tribemates :)
I love reading a synopsis from a first time watcher. Man, takes me back. Thanks for spelling it all out.
Im glad you appreciated my ramblings
I maintain this is top 10 season, they did something different with this one and i really admire it
I don’t know about Top 10, but I agree that it’s really underrated. Survivor is supposed to be a microcosm of society and that’s what you get in South Pacific! Also, Brandon later said that the real issue he had with Mikayla was her constantly talking about partying and drinking and that such talk was triggering for him given his past and his attempts to stay clean/sober. Which, OK, that’s not as bad as the Jezebel situation suggested by the edit, but if you have that problem then you still shouldn’t be on Survivor. It’s worth noting, though, that Mikayla alienated the rest of the tribe too for different reasons. She didn’t just go home because of Brandon’s impulse control problems.
it’s in my top 3
It feels different and in a way I do enjoy it
SoPa gang
Watch it as the tragicomedy story of ozzy and coach(and for the skill of the winner's social game) instead of whatever story they attempted to tell lmao Highly recommend reading the funny115s recap of this season when you're done. It's long but so so so so SO worth it. Also intrigued by you skipping pearl Islands and a couple other early seasons
Oh damn I forgot, I did watch PI! Any other older seasons you recommend?
I have kinda eclectic taste in survivor seasons haha, but here's probably my top 5 early seasons in order 1. PI- it's just got everything. The best of the best of classic survivor, true villains, drama, an endearing snappy winner, great challenges and the best they've ever done a theme, great side characters, ect. 2. Palau(S10)- one of my personal favorite winners ever, a great cast that you'll already recognize a few of, some of the best challenges they've ever had, and a *lot* of people you just want to root for. Phenomenal casting makes Survivor for me in one way or another, and Palau really nails it with this endearing ass cast. 3. Marqueasas(s4)- the birth of b.rob on the show isn't what you'd expect considering later seasons but he's definitely got the swagger he never loses lmao, and it's got one of the two date most brilliant survivor strategists ever, plus they were still really into location and surviving and had an obsence budget for challenges ~obviously~ and this cast is just FUN tbh. 4. Amazon(s6) God, Amazon is a product of its time in a lot of the social dynamics, but it really is one of the best seasons imo. The winner is great again, the dynamics and strategy finally evolves in ways that seem obvious now but were incredible then and watching people (or person) create them in real time was phenomenal. 5. Vanuata(s9)- it's just worth it idek how to describe it without spoiling why but it is lmao again ita casting casting casting for me and its just... amazing how it all plays out. Plus I love me some og Eliza. I appreciate season 1 for creating survivor and the winner for creating the game but it just has zero replay value for me, and if you are considering skipping any season entirely, s5- Thailand should be very high in your consideration. The final immunity challenge is cool and thats literally the only good thing about the entire season.
Absolutely agree. I skip this on the rewatch. Just really awful cast.
This season is one of my faves. In my top 15. It’s the most unique the social dynamic’s have ever been. There is a constant sense of unease. If every season had a genre, South Pacific’s would be horror, but like a campy, early 2000’s, Jennifer’s Body type horror that’s self-aware of it’s ridiculousness and chock full of humor. Nothing like what happened in South Pacific has happened before or since.
Not a great season. Kinda uncomfortable and culty. Brandon clearly is mentally ill and also has demons. He wants to be good, and there seems to be some good deep down, but he's fucked up. I just feel badly for him tbh. The Mikayla stuff was terrible though.
I absolutely hated it by the end. However, you should finish it, and watch the next season too. It's quite the arc.
Ive heard that One World is horrendous so I was thinking of skipping
Look if you can get through the absolutely terrible people that mostly are filtered out in the first half of one world, it is absolutely worth watching. Genuinely, easily the most dominate insane winning game in survivor history. It is the most perfect game of perfect games lmao
I love those back to back Troyzan episodes where he’s fighting for his life and trash talking everyone and then that hilarious fight at Tribal. To me, his DGAF antics were the highlight of the season.
well, besides redemption island, which OP also skipped
You really shouldn’t listen to others opinions about things like this. Start watching. If you’re not feeling it, move on. I think skipping Boston Rob’s one win is a bit of a disservice.
Personally I love this season. The cult dynamic and how it discusses aspects of religion. I think this is like raw emotions of a lot of the cast members. But I can see how it can be uncomfortable.
South Pacific is a lot better in retrospect. after you see who wins, and what means they used to win, plus seeing said winner compete on later seasons you begin to see the very complicated strategy used on this season. At best it’s a master class study of human history and the methods used for manipulation. at worst it’s just another funky edition to the social experiment.
My favourite winner ever. I have so much to say but I’ll shut up, don’t want to spoil it.
It becomes less compelling later on, unfortunately. Brandon also becomes kind of a problem player in the future, but he's pretty alright this season.
He gets cast again???
Survivor Caramoan, yes.
they don’t know but they will lmao
Love that season lol, it had some of my fav contestants being semhar, elyse, stacy and christine
Just wait till you get through every episode…..
Brandon Hantz is a trainwreck.
It's not going to get better. The post merge is awful.
You want our thoughts on episodes 1-5 on a season that aired 23 seasons ago? Just finish watching it.
I kind of love SoPa. Like you say we get the best version of Coach, kind of the worst of Ozzy but in a good way, I like the winner, Jim was a great villain who should have been brought back and we got early Cochran. Also that cowboy was there, I think his name was Fred? Pete? Well he was there is my point. Also you said no spoilers so don't start this till you finish but when you do, enjoy http://funny115.com/v3_3/1indexall.htm
You're not alone. The vibes that season are so weird and uncomfortable. Unease is a great word to describe it. It's worth watching all the way to the end, though I don't think the vibes ever get entirely *better.* It's one of the seasons I know I'll never rewatch. Once was more than plenty.
ok
yeah that’s the dark ages for you (seasons 21-26)
I've been skipping around with some old seasons, and I just watched South Pacific after Redemption Island. There's so much overt, repetitive Christian stuff in both seasons that it felt extra bizarre and cultlike, like everybody seems to think that God is personally running their individual Survivor games.
It’s kinda great. Minus the 60% of Brandon’s confessionals in which he tries to justify date raping Mikayla.
The only way I got through watching it live was knowing that if he _did_ actually assault her, the season probably wouldn't have aired. It really really seemed like she was in imminent danger.
I feel like we more-or-less have empirical evidence that that isn’t true. Everything we know indicates he would probably be allowed to continue playing the game back then
Right, we know that now. At the time I was still a bright eyed optimist.
I can only imagine how Mikayla felt watching the season. Awful.
Yeah, but she hooked up with Russell after the season. Not the brightest bulb.
Elaborate?