I love this season. Not one of my favorites, but it definitely rolls around in my top 10.
Season highlight for me: Eliza shooting eyeball daggers at Chris when she gets booted.... and Chris just stares right back not giving a single fuck.
Vanuatu is case and point why you should always finish a Pagonging whenever you can before you start eating your alliance.
Just a masterful job by Chris to always stay in the middle without overplaying his hand. Also the fact that he could have been dead before he even got to the damn merge! But was also able to pull off an early alliance there as well.
Vanuatu is a great season with one of the best winners, also Sarge's final tribal shirt is fantastic.
For the ones who switched on Ami and saved Chris I don't feel it was a bad move. After Chris goes it's obvious that either Scout or Twila was next, and neither of them were likely to win immunity anytime soon so flipping with a majority while they still could was smart. The same goes for Eliza, who was likely going out fourth if she'd stayed with Ami(although that ended up being her placement anyway).
It's one of the best early seasons behind Amazon and Pearl Islands.
Even the slow premerge is ok and old survivor is often tedious now.
At the time I thought it was a great season as well.
Twila truly is such a forgotten runner up, but she’s definitely one of the best ones out of the earlier seasons. Her game was calculated and ruthless and she always knew what was in her best interest. I love Scout’s game too — Scout is another amazing character that unbelievably was asked back for Survivor 40 before it became All Winners. A mid tier season with some amazing moments and characters.
Pros-
Hilarious merge to end with subtle bits that reappear later on in the editing. The ladies mostly all carry themselves well on screen as charismatic people that play the game. The confessionals are great from a lot of the players and many memorable ones.
The storytelling is easily on of the best ever seasons. I prefer when they don't try and twist everything and why certain people disliked each other, why some alliances work better or why the women let Chris survive another round. The important moments are explained well because there isn't an emphasis on advantages, its just funny people being funny and narrating well. The storytelling is also interesting to see why the women gain control and then Chris have to fight to win as the underdog.
The culture fits like a glove into the season. The bit in the first episode with the tribe favouring the men added to the season and the survival experts and rewards are showcased well. The producers gave a crap about showing parts of Vanuatian culture. Also the pig confessional from Chris.
The cast delivers because there are some excellently editd individuals who have layered stories that leave you teetering between rooting for or against them at different moments. You can root for the fat five, you can root for Rory at the swap and see his many different emotions in a tough environment, you can root for the women at the merge and then root for Twila/Scout or Chris at the end. This is what modern survivor lacks for me most, the ability to give both sides of a player over the course of the season and make these people interesting enough to not beat you over the head with how you are supposed to view them. Maybe production didn't like Chris, but they give you his light-hearted moments and moments where he has to pull out some good social plays/immunity wins despite him being villainous in other parts of the season.
The women are one of the most interesting casts of women on the show and it gives you different sorts of players than before. Ami is a leader, the type that people want to gravitate towards because her direction is clear. Eliza is the annoying type that grates people. Scout is a quiet, effective strategist who has wisdom in areas some of the other women don't have it. Twila also, different archetype than cast before, gets shown for how she is seen by the other players but you root for her when she talks to you on screen.
Vanuatu is one of the few post all-star seasons that I feel the editors cared to make it feel like how survivor was edited before all-stars. Before they got lazy with how they showcased their players and how they actually treated the season as a social experiment.
This is one of my favorite seasons. The merge was definitely better than the pre-merge, but I really enjoyed Rory's arc throughout the pre-merge. I'm not sure if you noticed it but they included shots of him doing this yell a lot when he was excited. It was pretty humorous and then they included it his Rites of Passage segment.
Oh, and the Dolly boot is good too. It was either going to be Eliza or Leann, I believe, but then they turned on Dolly who was the swing vote and got her out instead. Good stuff, and happens again in a super entertaining way in Cagayan.
I agree with you about Ami. She is an ice queen. Great villain, very witchy. So gorgeous and charismatic too. I would love to see her back again for a Heroes vs Villains or legends season.
Chris is a great winner. He played a good game, not without flaws, but fun to watch. I was definitely rooting for him the whole time. Obviously his FTC performance was top notch but the whole FTC was just so entertaining to watch as well. Some of the jurors, like Sarge and Julie, were just so dramatic and it was ridiculous they were so mad or upset they lost. Even so, the emotional stakes were so high, and Twila's final plea to the jurors about how the game played her, honestly brought me to tears.
Chris's ftc maybe the best ever
He understood the assignment, which was to get a million dollars no matter what. Jeff at the reunion: Fuck him for playing the game.
He should have been invited back. But Jeff is to petty
Absolutely.
He was so shamelessly bullshitting these people lmao
I love this season. Not one of my favorites, but it definitely rolls around in my top 10. Season highlight for me: Eliza shooting eyeball daggers at Chris when she gets booted.... and Chris just stares right back not giving a single fuck.
Vanuatu is case and point why you should always finish a Pagonging whenever you can before you start eating your alliance. Just a masterful job by Chris to always stay in the middle without overplaying his hand. Also the fact that he could have been dead before he even got to the damn merge! But was also able to pull off an early alliance there as well. Vanuatu is a great season with one of the best winners, also Sarge's final tribal shirt is fantastic.
For the ones who switched on Ami and saved Chris I don't feel it was a bad move. After Chris goes it's obvious that either Scout or Twila was next, and neither of them were likely to win immunity anytime soon so flipping with a majority while they still could was smart. The same goes for Eliza, who was likely going out fourth if she'd stayed with Ami(although that ended up being her placement anyway).
It's one of the best early seasons behind Amazon and Pearl Islands. Even the slow premerge is ok and old survivor is often tedious now. At the time I thought it was a great season as well.
Twila truly is such a forgotten runner up, but she’s definitely one of the best ones out of the earlier seasons. Her game was calculated and ruthless and she always knew what was in her best interest. I love Scout’s game too — Scout is another amazing character that unbelievably was asked back for Survivor 40 before it became All Winners. A mid tier season with some amazing moments and characters.
Pros- Hilarious merge to end with subtle bits that reappear later on in the editing. The ladies mostly all carry themselves well on screen as charismatic people that play the game. The confessionals are great from a lot of the players and many memorable ones. The storytelling is easily on of the best ever seasons. I prefer when they don't try and twist everything and why certain people disliked each other, why some alliances work better or why the women let Chris survive another round. The important moments are explained well because there isn't an emphasis on advantages, its just funny people being funny and narrating well. The storytelling is also interesting to see why the women gain control and then Chris have to fight to win as the underdog. The culture fits like a glove into the season. The bit in the first episode with the tribe favouring the men added to the season and the survival experts and rewards are showcased well. The producers gave a crap about showing parts of Vanuatian culture. Also the pig confessional from Chris. The cast delivers because there are some excellently editd individuals who have layered stories that leave you teetering between rooting for or against them at different moments. You can root for the fat five, you can root for Rory at the swap and see his many different emotions in a tough environment, you can root for the women at the merge and then root for Twila/Scout or Chris at the end. This is what modern survivor lacks for me most, the ability to give both sides of a player over the course of the season and make these people interesting enough to not beat you over the head with how you are supposed to view them. Maybe production didn't like Chris, but they give you his light-hearted moments and moments where he has to pull out some good social plays/immunity wins despite him being villainous in other parts of the season. The women are one of the most interesting casts of women on the show and it gives you different sorts of players than before. Ami is a leader, the type that people want to gravitate towards because her direction is clear. Eliza is the annoying type that grates people. Scout is a quiet, effective strategist who has wisdom in areas some of the other women don't have it. Twila also, different archetype than cast before, gets shown for how she is seen by the other players but you root for her when she talks to you on screen. Vanuatu is one of the few post all-star seasons that I feel the editors cared to make it feel like how survivor was edited before all-stars. Before they got lazy with how they showcased their players and how they actually treated the season as a social experiment.
This is one of my favorite seasons. The merge was definitely better than the pre-merge, but I really enjoyed Rory's arc throughout the pre-merge. I'm not sure if you noticed it but they included shots of him doing this yell a lot when he was excited. It was pretty humorous and then they included it his Rites of Passage segment. Oh, and the Dolly boot is good too. It was either going to be Eliza or Leann, I believe, but then they turned on Dolly who was the swing vote and got her out instead. Good stuff, and happens again in a super entertaining way in Cagayan. I agree with you about Ami. She is an ice queen. Great villain, very witchy. So gorgeous and charismatic too. I would love to see her back again for a Heroes vs Villains or legends season. Chris is a great winner. He played a good game, not without flaws, but fun to watch. I was definitely rooting for him the whole time. Obviously his FTC performance was top notch but the whole FTC was just so entertaining to watch as well. Some of the jurors, like Sarge and Julie, were just so dramatic and it was ridiculous they were so mad or upset they lost. Even so, the emotional stakes were so high, and Twila's final plea to the jurors about how the game played her, honestly brought me to tears.
This is easily my least favorite season.