Survivor: Palau- A Look Back

Introduction

 

    For my birthday, my kind sister gave me this season of Survivor and now I am blogging about it and what has happened during it. Here's a look back at tenth season of Survivor. It is one of the more interesting seasons that has ever happened. This look back will include what contestants I think should come back for future seasons who haven't already. This season has a deceased contestant Jennifer Lyon, who placed fourth in the game. One wonders if they will have a special commemorating her time on Survivor. So Survivor: Palau was notable for being the first season with twenty contestants, the only season without a merge, the first tribe of one, the unofficial introduction of Exile Island, the only season where one tribe won every immunity challenge, and a season where two contestants never even got a chance to play the game. But I'll get to all that later, as the blog progresses. For now, I'll focus on who I'd want back in the future who isn't dead and hasn't already played the game again. One wonders if they'd allow Janu back because she quit the game. It was a strategic move, so maybe they would. Here is information I have written as I come up with it.

 

Palau Episode 1- This Has Never Happened Before!

 

    The season premiere started with the division of players into two tribes by the players themselves. It started with twenty players, but two of them never got a chance to play the game. There were no official divisions on the first day, but two people, Jolanda (the woman) and Ian (the man) who won a challenge got to divide the two tribes that would become Ulong and Koror. Ulong would become the worst known tribe in Survivor history. Three people would leave the game. Two by not being chosen by either tribe member and one by being voted out at the end of the episode. Jonathan feels unappreciated and tries to do whatever he can to make it further. Wanda acted like a crazy person. Crazy is good so I'd have say there's a 90% chance that she'd make a great player. I'm pretty sure that she was an English teacher, so that would explain her craziness. Jonathan never made much of an impact on the game so I'd say there's a 50% chance that he'd make a great player. Neither member would be chosen, but I'd like them both back for a future season.

 

Jolanda would soon fall victim to the Survivor leader curse. No one likes leadership in the game of Survivor, so they get voted out of the game. The only known exception was in Survivor: Samoa where the leadership was a big part of the first half of the game. We don't know what happened most of the first day of official tribe divisions where they lived at one beach for the moment. Koror did better at the challenge by just picking fire. Ulong stopped and brought too much which is how they ended up losing the challenge and sending someone to tribal council. There was no sense of leadership in the Ulong tribe, so, naturally, they immediately voted out who chose them. The Koror tribe is more of a risk-taking tribe and they went to a new tribe beach. They lost the fire making materials at first. While Jolanda, Bobby Jon, and Ibrehem would vote for Angie, the rest of the tribe would vote out Jolanda. She seems like another Survivor stereotype, the black woman with attitude. There was no leader and since she proved a rather ineffective one, she was voted out. I'd say it's a 25% chance that she would make a better player the second time around. I think that she went on to be an alderman, although reality stars and politicians shouldn't coexist. I mean, why would we want such stupidity associated with reality stars? (That's a joke, by the way). But I don't know what's right for her. If she can prove a better leader, then she should play again. If not, then she was the first out for a good reason.

 

Palau Episode 2- Love is in the Air, Rats are Everywhere

 

    The tribes were still getting used to their horrible conditions in the game. Koror was thinking that they were doing worse in the game with the new beach that they went to. At the reward challenge, Ulong actually did well and won. They got flint in the game. Angie was helping the tribe much better than before. She wanted to prove herself as a part of this team. Ashlee proved weak to the other members of Ulong. She never made that much of an influence in the game. Ibrehem would vote for Kim and Ashlee would vote for Jeff. Everyone else would vote Ashlee out of the game. Since she never made much of an influence in the game, she might be a good choice to bring back. I'd say there's about a 50% chance that she'd make a good player the second time around.

 

Who Will Be Back?- The Ten Medically Evacuated Players

Ten players have been medically evacuated from the game of Survivor. Three of them will be back for another season set in the Philippians. Who will those three be? Well, here's information about all of them. I will even include the two contestants from One World. While I'm not sure that they'll be back immediately, they could still return someday.

 

In the second season of Survivor that was set in Australia, there was a contestant named Michael Skupin who was one of the strongest players in the game. Before the merge happened, he was considered to be one of the strongest players. He helped lead the dominate Kucha tribe to six victories and the tribe was one ahead before his untimely departure at the most important part of the game. When he was out, his tribe would slowly disappear until they were gone entirely at the final three. Colby would become the most dominate player for the rest of the season because his greatest competition was out. What happened to Michael? He fell into the fire and burned his hands leading to his medical evacuation from the game. He considers this sad event to be one of the best things that's ever happened to him. Will he be back? I honestly was surprised that he wasn't back for Survivor All Stars, but I hope that he will be back for this season. I just hope that he stays away from the fire. He was the last person to leave before the merge that season. He was also the first person to be medically evacuated and the next one wouldn't happen for another nine seasons from now. No one ever voted for him and I hope that he is one of the three. I'll say it's about a 90% chance that he will return.

 

In Survivor Panama, or Exile Island, there was a contestant named Bruce who was originally part of the older men or La Mina tribe. After not that long in the game, he became part of the Casaya tribe after spending time on Exile Island for not being chosen on either tribe. He made it to the merge but got sick and had to be taken out of the game. I'm not sure that he made that much of an influence on the game, but he could still be back. I say it's about a 50% chance.

 

Few people can think of a worst season of Survivor than Survivor: Fiji. The twist where one tribe had everything and another tribe had nothing was the worst twist they have ever done to date. All I can hope is that they never do a worst twist. But, an even dumber move was the fact that no one applied to be on the show this season except Gary also known as Papa Smurf. He would be the player to leave the game due to allergic reactions to the bug bites at camp. He was in the better tribe and was the first of that tribe to leave. So the only contestant who was arguably qualified to play the game was the only one to leave the game that way. He left long before the merge and even before the switch. I don't know if he'll return but I say a 25% chance that it's him returning.

 

In Survivor: Cook Islands, a villain emerged who mutinied to the other tribe only to later betray them only to get voted out for constantly betraying people and deemed otherwise untrustworthy. He returned in Survivor: Micronesia. His name was Jonathan and he injured his knee. He didn't want to leave the game, but after a grueling reward challenge he participated in, they deemed his injuries too serious to continue playing the game. Thus, he was medically evacuated from the game. Will he return? Probably. He has a lot to do still in the game. I give it a 90% chance that he will return.

 

In Survivor: China, one of the stupidest moves, or lack thereof, occurred in the game. A man had two hidden immunity idols and didn't play either one of them. He was voted off. But, he did return for Survivor: Micronesia. His name was James and he was doing much better this time around, letting others make stupid decisions instead. Sometime during the season, he developed an infection in one of his fingers and during the merged part of the game had to leave to get treatment. I think that he made it the farthest of all the medically evacuated players. He actually returned again in Survivor: Heroes Versus Villains. He got injured again in the same challenge that got Mike Borassi (see below) eliminated and was voted out of the game not long after. I don't think that he'd want to come back again, even if he is the strongest player in the game. I'd give it a 5% chance that he would return.

 

In Survivor: Tocantins, there was a man named Joe who was a part of the minority tribe. After the merge happened, his leg developed an infection that had spread even more than before. The tribal council was cancelled and he was out of the game. I don't know if he got better or not, but I think that he left during one of the key moments in the game and could have lasted longer. I'm also not sure if he'd ever want to return or not, but he could. I give it about a 33% chance that he'll return.

 

In Survivor: Samoa, a contestant named Mike Borassi was in the game but due to an extremely difficult challenge, was hurt so badly he was the second person out of the game. Although the challenge was repeated once in Survivor: Heroes Versus Villains, after James was hurt during that, the challenge in question will never be seen ever again. But, Mike could return. I give him about a 15% chance at returning.

 

Also in Survivor: Samoa, another medical emergency happened which cancelled a challenge in progress and dramatically affected what would become the rest of the game. The leader of the tribe, Russell Swan, was very influential and was going places in the game. That, however, would come to a sudden end when he collapsed during a challenge and had to leave. His dominance was undermined by his departure, but his legacy lives on. While most people know the other Russell, it is very likely that he would return to the game soon. I give it an 85% chance that he'll return.

 

In Survivor: One World, the very first challenge had a design flaw that hurt contestant Kourtney and forced her out of the game. She wasn't interviewed during the live reunion show and if she were to come back, that would mean admitting that the challenge was a mistake. Since Survivor: Philippians was filmed before the live finale, that means that she might not have been able to go since that wouldn't be fair to the new contestants in the game who didn't know everything that happened that season. Hopefully, she, like all of these people, will be able to return for another season. I don't know how eager she'd be at returning into the game that screwed her out of a better place in the game, but she is more likely to be in the returning three simply because she didn't make it that far. She is currently the only female to be medically evacuated from the game and she was out of the game before anyone was even voted out. I say it would be a 60% chance that she will return someday.

 

And now, the most famous and recent example of how being medically evacuated changes the game forever, this one also from Survivor: One World. Colton is now the most famous villain excluding, possibly, Russell Hantz, was ruling the game and could have ruled it forever. Then, he got a sudden illness. What's ironic is how he told someone else to jump in the fire, but that didn't happen. In the ultimate form of karma, he was forced out of the game and didn't make it any further than he otherwise would have. Will he be back? Probably. Will this be the time he's back? That, I don't know. I'd give it a 75% chance that he will return to the game.

 

Those are my thoughts, but I do wonder why they do partial all star seasons because they favor those who have already played the game before. Also, there always seem to be guys coming back and no all star women.

 

The three I want back: Michael Skupin, Bruce, and Joe

 

The three most likely coming back: Michael Skupin, Russell Swan, and Jonathan.

 

My guess is that none of them will have worked on the same season together. Expect new posts when the next season starts. Hopefully, the blog will be working right then or I have better or more reliable internet. Also, am I the only one annoyed by how Survivor keeps changing their format? Will they ever have a normal season again? At least it keeps things interesting for the fans.