Survivor: Africa

So I'm watching it for the first time, right?

DON'T SPOIL ANYTHING OR I'LL MURDER YOU BITCHES.

I'm three episodes in, and I've found my first disappointment:

Spoiler:

In any case, bummer.


I will say this: this is so nostalgic, even if I haven't watched it. The style of the game, the challenges, the attitudes, the players, the talk, the music, the editing, etc...it's all so old-school, and I love it. Jeff still hasn't grown into his smart-ass host self; in fact, he doesn't even talk during challenges. The music isn't always insanely dramatic and ominous like in the past couple seasons, and people feel so much more normal. I dunno why; maybe because they introduce them by their careers, and they talk more about their lives and their families and whatnot. They just seem more diverse *shrug*


In any case, I'm really enjoying it and I'll continue to post as I watch.

I remember watching this season when it first aired it was a good season but was overshadowed by Marquesas after that season aired.

I miss them discussing luxury items....

I miss the old style as well. Now they show strategy for 95% of every episode. It does not help when my mom is trying to remember people.

Africa was fun and different. I loved Kelly! She was so funny.

Survivor Africe is my favorite season.

My favorite player of all-time is in it: Ethan Zohn.

At that time (almost 10 years ago WOW), the game was kinda 'pure' in my mind.

Youll love it.

Cory wrote:

I miss them discussing luxury items....

YES YES YES

Quote :

Jeff still hasn't grown into his smart-ass host self; in fact, he doesn't even talk during challenges.

I've missed this aspect for the past five years, lol

It was really weird at first. I can see why they did it, actually. It's a little eerie, lol.

But I still enjoy it

Ya know, Brandon was really boring to me the first four episodes, and all of a sudden I like him in the fifth. It's like he just blossomed into "Oh shit, now I actually have to play." It's funny. My favorite line:

"It's just so great that I'm gay, because I just could not stand to deal with a crying woman!"


Brandon...I feel you. I thank the powers above for this all the time. I don't mean to offend, ladies, but a crying woman is so much more terrifying than a crying man.

Treemail was sooooo much better back then!

I LOVE how evenly matched this game has turned out to be

I'm so glad you're enjoying Africa. Not my favourite season, but I think a lot of that had to do with location, but definitely entertaining and old-school in the best way possible.

I LOVE the location. I think it stands out among all the seasons as one of the most unique locations they've used. It's so different in the way they have to live, what kind of space they have to work with, and the activities they have to do to survive. I think it's fantastic I'm loving it.

I loved that in Africa too. The threat of animal attacks!

Yeah! Like, how freakin cool would it be to wake up and be able to see an elephant walking by?

In my opinion, the majority of the locations are meh. The ones where they really stress the culture and uniqueness of the place are my favorites. Africa, Guatemala, China...these locations are ones that totally stand out to me as awesome. There are others I really enjoyed, but mostly...they're just places that Survivor happens to go *shrug*

I don't know how far you're into the season but wait until you see what the Final 3 do as the cultural experience before the Immunity Challenge.

Awesome.

I love Big Tom so much, even if he's a womanizin', queer-hatin', hillbilly that you can't understand...there just somethin about that fella ya can't help but like.

I also LOVE that Frank and Brandon were so pissed about being paired together for that challenge when they were actually the most capable team and clearly had the best shot at winning...and they did.

LOL. Now they have to spend a night together at the movies. What a cute little date they're gonna have.

Another thing I like about this older season: they talk about HOW they survive. So on this episode they were talking about the different kinds of food they make. They talked about their mush balls, and their gruel, and their unpoppedcorn, and their chicken water broth... lol. It's much more interesting when they talk about stuff like that than when they only talk strategy the whole time.

Aw, this is my favorite episode. Episode 10...go rewatch it.

Wow, I knew who won, but I had NO idea that this is how it happened

Um, whoa Jury Confessionals, lol.

I miss real jury questions.

That is all.

Okay, so I know I'm not shutting up about this, but I'm just kinda posting as it all happens, and now it's essentially over, so my overall impressions:


I loved this season. I loved the cast (personalities-wise), I loved the location (almost, if not as much as, my previous favorite, Guatemala), I loved the music, I loved the editing, I loved the Tribal Council set, and I loved the Jury questions.


What I didn't so much love? The finalists... I mean, not having seen this season, all I knew intimately about the cast was what I saw on All-Stars. Big Tom, I love him even more. Lex, I learned a lot I didn't know, and my opinions haven't changed... but Ethan? I was extremely underwhelmed by Ethan. I mean, I'm not trying to take anything away from the guy, or say I don't like him (I do, very much), but he's not at all what I thought he was. Kim? I mean, I wouldn't have been upset at all if she won, because her final stand in those challenges was fairly impressive.

I suppose this all goes back to the overall gameplay of this season. It wasn't very strategic. I mean, it's not like people weren't playing...and maybe it's because I'm so used to the OVER-strategery (yeah, I used a G-Dubs word) that we see in the most recent seasons...but neither of the two people in the finals were people who played especially hard. Kim didn't make any real moves; Ethan didn't make any real moves. They were aligned with the right people from day one, and they let their allies makes the moves and take the hits for them. And it wasn't just them...I feel like only a few people ever really tried to play:

T-Bird. T-Bird might have honestly been the hardest playing player. She tried many times to try to turn the tides, and it just didn't work.

Silas. Silas played hard...he just kinda sucked at it.

As for anyone else who really tried to play the game-game?

Not a whole lot of people did, lol.



Again, loved the season. Just kinda blurting my thoughts out as I type.



PS - How did this final vote work...? When did they cut to LA?

PPS - LOL @ Bryant Gumbel randomly appearing out of nowhere

PPPS - Double LOL @ Bryant doing the reunion... WEEEIRD.

Yeah...I never saw that season and no one has ever said "OMG YOU NEED TO SEE AFRICA, IT'S GREAT!"