Ok, the fundamental question that arises from this season and its quality is this: Is Survivor a game that is on TV that happens to create drama or an
unscripted Drama that happens to include a game?
If Survivor is a game on TV (think like a sporting event such as football) then this season was god awful. There was a lack of strategic players and player after player made bad decisions. The game was decided because one player was never playing to win but rather playing to ensure that people she like won. This is an awful thing for a game standpoint. As a player, I would want the knowledge that everyone is playing to win and I can make moves accordingly. This season though was almost like playing poker with a bunch of people who are reckless and care free in terms of hands they play and how they manage their chips. Even though you know that they will not win, the unpredictable nature of their play makes it absolutely impossible for you to reasonably conduct your game and design it in a way to give yourself an advantge. For instance, if we belive Ken's claim that he knew Bob's second HII was fake and he just voted for Matty to get Onion Jury Votes, then he in reality played an excellent strategic game and would have certainly been the winner if the reality was that every player was trying to win. However, since Sugar was not and wanted to make sure the "good people" were there in the end, he did not. Also, the increased amount of "twists" and tribal switches really ruins any sound strategic plans you can come up with. For instance, the "onion" alliance had a good plan in place and their tribe dominated the challenges which should have allowed them an advantage to work with in terms of merge numbers. However, switches were thrown left and right giving the weaker Fang Tribe the ability to gain enough numbers through a switched tribe to vote off Kota members (Jacquie, Ace, Marcus all voted off due to "Fang" having a majority in one of the switched tribes- consider the only Kota to actually switch over alliances was Sugar which was offset by Randy also switching). The producers do this every season where they just randomly decide to pull twists on the castaways that completely hinder the games of certain players consider-
Fans v. Faves- after every HII is placed at exile island, they randomly give Amanda a clue saying where it's buried at camp. So she comes back and empties her bag so everyone naturally believes she didn't find it. Then she can find it without anyone knowing. Alexis and Natalie, assuming Amanda will not have the Hidden Immunity Idol since there's um no reason she would, they don't need to "blindside" her the way other Idol holders had been blindsided and thus Amanda is able to easily play the idol and the advantage Alexis and Natalie had built up by gaining a majority against Amanda and Parvati was done.
China- Um, each tribe got to pick 2 players from the other tribe to join theirs? Wow, those players got completely gipped. They were put in a completely lousy situation where each tribe basically got to handpick players that would be lame ducks. There was very little Aaron or Sherea could have realistically done to save themselves once that twist.
Fiji- Ok. So the tribes merge. Then at the Immunity Challenge they randomly divide into two teams of five for the immunity challenge. And then the losing team has to go to Tribal Council immediately without being allowed to talk to each other? Survivor is supposed to be a social game.. so people unaware of who they would be with are now supposed to have built up enough of a security wall that any combination of five should leave them safe I guess? Michelle was in a majority alliance but got placed in a bad situation with a majority of members from the other alliance on her team and to top it all off, couldn't even have a few minutes to strategize as to why they should keep her? Lame.
But then, if Survivor is just a TV show.... it's all great. Sugar's randomness made every episode exciting and rather than a dull, predictable season we got to be on the edge of the seat every week. Hey, it's just a TV show... a place to entertain the audience and get your name out there. If you're not being entertaining than you're not a good TV character. Strategy is a more "boring" element and it's the really wacky characters that don't have an ounce of strategic thought to them. And heck, think how boring the show would be without tribal switches? This person goes, followed by this person.... and yada yada yada. The switches change the whole dynamic of the situation and make it all compelling to watch. And Bob's win would be good for the show because as likable winner, it will likely help the show extend as it makes the "casual viewer" more interested in watching. This is because people end up with a smile on their face because a "good guy" won and if they have a smile after watching it, they'll tune in next season for more smiles.
If Survivor is a game on TV (think like a sporting event such as football) then this season was god awful. There was a lack of strategic players and player after player made bad decisions. The game was decided because one player was never playing to win but rather playing to ensure that people she like won. This is an awful thing for a game standpoint. As a player, I would want the knowledge that everyone is playing to win and I can make moves accordingly. This season though was almost like playing poker with a bunch of people who are reckless and care free in terms of hands they play and how they manage their chips. Even though you know that they will not win, the unpredictable nature of their play makes it absolutely impossible for you to reasonably conduct your game and design it in a way to give yourself an advantge. For instance, if we belive Ken's claim that he knew Bob's second HII was fake and he just voted for Matty to get Onion Jury Votes, then he in reality played an excellent strategic game and would have certainly been the winner if the reality was that every player was trying to win. However, since Sugar was not and wanted to make sure the "good people" were there in the end, he did not. Also, the increased amount of "twists" and tribal switches really ruins any sound strategic plans you can come up with. For instance, the "onion" alliance had a good plan in place and their tribe dominated the challenges which should have allowed them an advantage to work with in terms of merge numbers. However, switches were thrown left and right giving the weaker Fang Tribe the ability to gain enough numbers through a switched tribe to vote off Kota members (Jacquie, Ace, Marcus all voted off due to "Fang" having a majority in one of the switched tribes- consider the only Kota to actually switch over alliances was Sugar which was offset by Randy also switching). The producers do this every season where they just randomly decide to pull twists on the castaways that completely hinder the games of certain players consider-
Fans v. Faves- after every HII is placed at exile island, they randomly give Amanda a clue saying where it's buried at camp. So she comes back and empties her bag so everyone naturally believes she didn't find it. Then she can find it without anyone knowing. Alexis and Natalie, assuming Amanda will not have the Hidden Immunity Idol since there's um no reason she would, they don't need to "blindside" her the way other Idol holders had been blindsided and thus Amanda is able to easily play the idol and the advantage Alexis and Natalie had built up by gaining a majority against Amanda and Parvati was done.
China- Um, each tribe got to pick 2 players from the other tribe to join theirs? Wow, those players got completely gipped. They were put in a completely lousy situation where each tribe basically got to handpick players that would be lame ducks. There was very little Aaron or Sherea could have realistically done to save themselves once that twist.
Fiji- Ok. So the tribes merge. Then at the Immunity Challenge they randomly divide into two teams of five for the immunity challenge. And then the losing team has to go to Tribal Council immediately without being allowed to talk to each other? Survivor is supposed to be a social game.. so people unaware of who they would be with are now supposed to have built up enough of a security wall that any combination of five should leave them safe I guess? Michelle was in a majority alliance but got placed in a bad situation with a majority of members from the other alliance on her team and to top it all off, couldn't even have a few minutes to strategize as to why they should keep her? Lame.
But then, if Survivor is just a TV show.... it's all great. Sugar's randomness made every episode exciting and rather than a dull, predictable season we got to be on the edge of the seat every week. Hey, it's just a TV show... a place to entertain the audience and get your name out there. If you're not being entertaining than you're not a good TV character. Strategy is a more "boring" element and it's the really wacky characters that don't have an ounce of strategic thought to them. And heck, think how boring the show would be without tribal switches? This person goes, followed by this person.... and yada yada yada. The switches change the whole dynamic of the situation and make it all compelling to watch. And Bob's win would be good for the show because as likable winner, it will likely help the show extend as it makes the "casual viewer" more interested in watching. This is because people end up with a smile on their face because a "good guy" won and if they have a smile after watching it, they'll tune in next season for more smiles.
