Ideas for Survivor Twists

When you watch Survivor, you’ll notice that there are different twists that they do each season. Then, there are people who want to come up with the ideas for new twists themselves. I might as well think about what would make good Survivor twists in this blog post of mine.

One of the things that might be a crazy idea to do would be one of the simplest twists that could be done at this point in Survivor: a back to the basics season. Can you imagine a season without hidden immunity idols, tribe swaps, or any other craziness that you see in Survivor nowadays? It would be an awesome season to watch and one that I hope that they consider doing at some point.

Another strange idea of mine would be to have six returning contestants who all played the same season together play on one tribe with two other tribes of six players each with all new players on both tribes. Now, you’d think that there would have to be some sort of theme to the new players’ tribes. They could do some sort of theme so that they aren’t strangers like tribes normally are. Or, they could at least have some sort of twist with them. This actually isn’t that good of an idea and I’m the one who came up with it.

Survivor films two seasons pretty much back to back. This could go into a theme that might otherwise never happen. After filming one of those seasons, they should take that exact same cast and start a new season. Can you imagine doing a different Survivor season with the exact same cast as the first one? I doubt that this would ever happen, but it would still be a cool idea.

There’s a strange idea that I (and many other people) have thought of doing relating to tribes, or lack thereof. Imagine starting the whole Survivor season with just one tribe from the very beginning. Now contestants would still be put into random groups for challenges during the first half of the game. But it would always be a different group and thus always be different people you’d have to worry about being sent with to tribal council. The only potential problem would be with when there are odd numbers of players in the game. But there’s something they could come up with.

Well, I’ve already run out of things to talk about in this post. Maybe there is more that could work and more that wouldn’t. I don’t know what twists are in the future of Survivor. I just hope that they are good twists and not ones that make you hate the show. These are my thoughts on what could make good twists in the future. For now, this is Adam Decker, signing off.

The Ten Most Failed Starting Tribes Post Merge

Sometimes tribes fail while still in the tribal part of the game. Sometimes, they don’t fail until after the merge when they fall apart at the hands of the other tribe or their own failures. And a lot of times these tribes had actually been doing well before the merge. Sometimes, they were clearly the better of the two tribes before the merge. But for one reason or another, they fail after the merge. Now what are the ten worst tribes after a merge? Read on and find out.

#10 Rarotoga (Cook Islands): For better or worse, when they controversially split tribes by race, the white tribe did very well in the premerge game. Due in part to how things worked after the mutiny, the members of all of the Rarotoga tribes, which included all of the remaining white players, were the main targets and it only took one person to flip and cause all of the members (including the flipper) to be voted out, one by one. What could have been a good tribe quickly turned around after the merge due in part to one of its own members too. Thus the tribe failed.

#9 Manono (One World): Who can forget the dumb tribe that gave up immunity? I figure that they are worthy of this list, even if their hugest mistake happened before the merge. They entered the merge with even numbers to the women’s tribe. They made the same mistake that Lopevi did back in Vanuatu. Only, unlike Lopevi, there wasn’t a tribe member on it that could overcome the odds of the women and by the finale, all the men in the game were voted out. They are the dumbest tribe in Survivor history after making two huge mistakes (the first one being far more serious than the other) and paid the price by all getting voted out at the hands of the better gender.

#8 Samburu (Africa): This tribe could have easily turned things around after the merge and it failed. They had a numbers disadvantage compared to the other tribe, but then the other tribe got rid of two of their members. But, this tribe just couldn’t keep things together when that happened and missed the chance to turn things around. Thus, they were eliminated one by one.

#7 Savaii (South Pacific): If this tribe only had the common decency to treat John Cochran with respect, they might have never brought forth their own demise. The tribes were even at the merge but nobody cared jack shit about John. His tribe was openly against him throughout the entire premerge game that you have to wonder why he gets the hatred and dumb move label for it instead of him. There was so much contempt for John among his tribe mates, in a way, they deserved to have him betray them. South Pacific was a pretty bad season due to overall predictability, but this tribe was terrible when it came to the treatment of one of its own and they all lost the game because of it.

#6 Kucha (Australia): Poor Kucha would have probably had an advantage were it not for Michael getting medically evacuated. Then, there were rules with tie-breakers that they other tribe knew that they didn’t which got themselves at a number disadvantage. Now while things were a bit out of their control for the beginning of the postmerge game, they could have flipped just one member of the other tribe to their side and regain the advantage. But even though there were times when Kucha members weren’t voted out, they pretty much failed throughout the rest of the game.

#5 Yasur (Vanuatu): This poor tribe was actually doing well early into the merge. They only had one member of the other tribe left to eliminate. Not only that, but he just lost the immunity challenge and was now a sitting duck. Then everything fell apart for them. One member after another got voted out leading to the one remaining member of the opposing tribe taking control of the game and winning. This tribe could have had what Salini would later have, but instead, the tribe fell apart in the end.

#4 Solana (Cagayan): With things going well for this tribe heading into the merge, you’d think that it wouldn’t have had that much of a problem in the future. But then, so much falls apart for the tribe all at once that they are the first tribe since Ulong to have their highest ranking member come in 7^th place. These are the only two tribes I can think of to have that low a number be their best member. It’s hard to even think about how the tribe fell apart so much, but it just didn’t work out for them.

#3 Timbira (Tocantins): Like many other tribes, they entered a numbers advantage at the merge and were even helped when a member of the opposing tribe was medically evacuated. But then, they started turning on themselves, one by one. Soon, almost no one was left in the game still that was on this tribe originally. It may have been more coincidence than anything else, but this tribe still failed a lot after the postmerge game happened.

#2 Pagong (Borneo): Poor Pagong just didn’t know what to do when it came time for the merge. They went with the highly ineffective vote to your conscious strategy so terrible that no group of contestants have ever done that since. How can they be that bad at the game? They thought of eliminating the other tribe one by one. Instead, that’s what happened to this tribe. They were so terrible at the merge that none of the five people who reached it were in the final five. If only they had stuck together.

Well, in my mind, only one tribe can be considered the worst tribe after the merge. This tribe had so much going for it and lost it all by being manipulated by the other tribe into getting rid of its own. They had the greatest advantage completely wasted.

#1 Galu (Samoa): Whether you love this season or hate this season, you might not have thought that a tribe that merged with double the members of the other tribe would have just one member left by the time of the finale. First off, a move got one of their own voted out and they would forever lose the power to split the votes. Then, members started flipping to the other tribe. By the time you got to the final three, not a single member left from Galu was still in the game. They turned an eight to four advantage into one of the biggest turnarounds in Survivor history. This tribe who had done so well before the merge failed spectacularly after it. Thus, I have it as the biggest postmerge failure as a tribe.

I hope that you liked this list of mine. I also hope that you understood it. I picked the tribes that may have been doing well before the merge, but failed after the merge. I hoped that I made good picks. For now, this is Adam Decker, signing off.

Survivor: Old versus Young with all Returning Players

With the verge of a season based on two different generations fighting, I thought that I would do another one of my hypothetical casts for a season this time putting old returning players against young returning players. I might exclude players from Panama and Nicaragua simply because they have already played a season like that before. Panama wasn’t too much like that, I’ll admit, simply because of the tribe divisions from episode 2 onward. But that doesn’t mean that they should do it again. Also, due to how people keep ageing, I probably will have to pass on some of the older people from earlier seasons so if they are among the older contestants now, then I might have to include them. But they can’t be too old or I know that they won’t be cast in seasons like this anyways.

Older men I’d cast: Paschal from Marquesas is a pretty interesting man. He fought hard and was eliminated from the game without a single vote ever cast against him. He should return. Gary from Guatemala would be a great player and great choice for returning to play the game again. Plus, at some point they are going to have to bring back a player originally from that season, right? Yau-Man from Fiji and Micronesia is a smart player who knows how to get things done. Tarzan from One World may be a random choice, but he’s the type of crazy person who still makes a good player to watch. Dale from San Juan del Sur is my last pick for the older men.

Older women I’d cast: Teresa from Africa is someone who has to return to the game at some point before she gets too old. Kathy from Marquesas and All-Stars is someone who I feel needs more done with her game so she should return. Gillian from Gabon is very active in the Survivor community so it makes sense that she should return to play the game again. Trish from Cagayan is a wonderful player and she should return again sometime. Carolyn from Worlds Apart is another great contestant who I think she be brought back. Thus ends the list of older players that I’d bring back.

Younger men I’d cast: James from Palau may not be that young, but he is entertaining and it would be a shame if we never see her again. Erik from Micronesia and Caramoan may not be the smartest player, but he’s still someone I feel should play again. Matty from Gabon is a player that I liked and will thus cast on this season. Eddie from Caramoan may have been on the wrong side of the numbers a lot, but he was still a pretty effective player. Spencer from Cagayan and Cambodia is a player who needs more love and I’m casting him on this pretend season of mine.

Younger women I’d cast: Jenna from Borneo and All-Stars may be a bit of a weird choice, but I am still putting her in my cast. Neleh from Marquesas is someone who I really liked the first time and feel should return again. Darrah from Pearl Islands is another player who should return and I’m surprised hasn’t been asked back ever. Eliza from Vanuatu and Micronesia is a player that I really like and feel should return again. Mikayla from South Pacific is my last pick of the younger tribe.

Well, there’s my cast. I would mention alternates, but I don’t feel that such a thing is necessary. Do you like my picks for an all-stars young versus old? Did I miss anyone that you’d think would work better? I just hope that I did a well enough pick. For now, this is Adam Decker, signing off.

Why Survivor Should Redo the Opening Twist of Philippines

At the beginning of Survivor: Philippines, the new contestants learned that three players who were medically evacuated in previous seasons would be playing again. That twist lead to a wonderfully great Survivor season. Could redoing the twist lead to another great season? Even if it doesn’t, shouldn’t medically evacuated players be brought back? What better way is there to bring them back? You might not have the same people to pick from again, but there are still some good players that can be brought back to play Survivor again.

We all know just how devastating it would be to be pulled from the game. It could be any number of bad things happening. Maybe you get an injury that just gets too serious. Maybe a sickness gets too serious instead. But these people didn’t do anything wrong. They weren’t voted out due to mistakes that they made. They were forcefully taken from the game simply because of medical reasons beyond their control. Do we really think that most of the players would leave the game without being pulled from it? Could some of the players really not reach the end on their own? All you have to do is bring back three of them. You can’t say that you wouldn’t have interesting picks.

Let’s first look at Bruce Kanegai. He was an entertaining player when he was in the game. He created a rock garden and proved to be a vital part of his tribe. Before he was pulled from the game, one might have thought that there would only be one evacuation ever in Survivor. Is he the type of player that you think should never play again? Even if he wasn’t medically evacuated, he would still be a person who should return to play the game again.

Next we have Gary Stritesky who was always on a winning tribe. Only one other person besides him has that distinction. Can you imagine not being able to compete in the game anymore even though your tribe has won ever challenge in the game? That wouldn’t be fair for him not to ever play the game again. Why is he even considered a quitter? He clearly left for medical reasons and he should be brought back, even if he might lose his perfect winning streak.

Different players who were medically evacuated had different amounts of success in the game and Joe Dowdle made it all the way to the merge. He knew loyalty to a fault. He helped lead his tribe to the camp when they first got there. All that freaking went wrong in his game was a knee that got infected. While hardly the first person to fall victim to this, he certainly would prove that he’s good a second time since he did so well the first time.

Sometimes players are taken from the game for dumb reasons such as what happened to Mike Borassi. The challenge that got him medically evacuated has now been banned from ever appearing on the show again. Isn’t that unfair? If you don’t think that is, imagine that you recover quickly after being pulled from the game. Not even the camp’s next tribal council had even happened yet. Sometimes you’d think that the rules regarding medical evacuations should be changed and since they aren’t going to change them, then you should at least bring him back to play again.

Speaking of medical evacuations that are unfair, Kourtney Moon was injured in another poorly designed challenge. I know that she had cancer in the past. I don’t know much about what happened afterwards. But she should be healthy enough nowadays to return to play the game again. I mean, she didn’t even get to finish the first challenge she was in. Even Jonathan and Wanda from Palau technically did a challenge. Poor Kourtney got just half a challenge that was messed up because she was pulled.

Now sometimes whether or not someone was medically evacuated is debated by people. But if you remember in Philippines, someone sadly did have to leave the game. And this was a season already devoted to bringing back players who were medically evacuated. So shouldn’t you bring back Dana Lambert? She had a lot of potential as a player that we never got to see. And if she really was a quitter, than why wasn’t her torch laid down on the rites of passage? She should probably return to play the game again because it just makes sense.

Sometimes productions messes up and they need to right their wrong. There were problems that lead to Shamar Thomas’s evacuation that were seemingly caused by production itself. But this poor person was pulled from the game when it probably never had to happen in the first place. He had a hand injury that caused a staph infection. You should bring him back to play again as his problem only got worse due to a lack of help until he eventually had to be pulled from the game itself.

Then we get to Erik Reichenbach. The first time he played, he made a really dumb move that got him voted out. The next time he plays, he does really well again despite some blunders here and there on the way to the end. But then a leg infection pulls him from the game right after someone else was voted out. It’s a shame that bad things keep happening to him. But that could end on a third appearance.

Another contestant has a debatable status as to whether or not he really was medically evacuated. Terry Deitz played in Cambodia (a season about second chances) and was told by Jeff Probst basically that he had to leave the game. The way Terry left was actually a new way, but it shares something in common with all the medical evacuations: he left because production forced him to. They shouldn’t have actually told him this information when you think about it. You go to Survivor knowing that you won’t receive any updates about your family until you are voted off. But they probably made an exception due to how serious the condition was. And thus Terry had to leave.

Only three contestants can be considered for most serious medical evacuation. One accidently fell into a fire. Another passed out at a challenge that was then cancelled and left incomplete. But at least Russell Swan was able to speak and say something as he was pulled from the game. When Caleb Reynolds was getting pulled from the game, he basically was unconscious the whole time. They had to air something immediately after his departure that said that he was okay. (Honestly though, if he wasn’t okay, they wouldn’t have aired the season when you think about it.) There was a lot of potential still in his game that we never got to see.

Now we get to another poor contestant who we know had a terrible overall Survivor experience. Poor Neal Gottlieb was medically evacuated after a specially ordered doctor’s visit in one of the most unusual ways of ever leaving the game. Since when do doctors just randomly visit the island? I know that he wasn’t the only one looked at, but he was the only person who had a serious enough problem that he had to be tearfully pulled from the game. And that’s not even the worst thing that happened to him. A twist that was highly unfair got one of the final three to vote out a member of the jury and he was the victim of that vote. How messed up is all that? They owe it to Neal to have him brought back.

Last is the most recent medical evacuation as of this blog post (although, since Cambodia was filmed after Koah Rong, Terry is actually the most recent if you count him) named Joe del Campo. He’s an old contestant (one of the oldest, actually) and his removal was sad that it was after he had won a challenge that caused his medical problem. That challenge was messed up in the rules and could have had a different winner had the rules made sense. Once again, a dumb decision with a challenge leads to a poor person’s medical evacuation. Like every contestant on this list (which is everyone I consider medically evacuated except those who have already played again), I believe that he should return to play Survivor once again.

Well, I wasn’t entirely sure what this post would be when it started out. But I guess that I can’t make the case for reusing the twist where three medically evacuated players are brought back without making a case for any of those players returning too. I’m not sure when they should redo the twist. They have overused returning players a lot even when this twist was introduced the first time. There have since been three more seasons with returning players since. I just hope that if they ever have to do the one returnee per tribe twist again that they will have the decency to do this again. I at least hope that they will consider it. For now, this is Adam Decker, signing off.