She won because Maria flipped on her ride or die partner. She thought Kenzie needed the money more.

Charlie should've won.

Rupert is into his 60s and has throat cancer so he wasn't coming back. Hantz would have been really interesting stunt casting but it's hard to imagine a scenario where he isn't immediately eliminated when his tribe loses a challenge

The Original Houston 1836 said:

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Rupert is into his 60s and has throat cancer so he wasn't coming back. Hantz would have been really interesting stunt casting but it's hard to imagine a scenario where he isn't immediately eliminated when his tribe loses a challenge

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I was surprised Russell didn't get cast or at least go on social media saying he was considered. He's not exactly shy about that kind of stuff and he is the biggest villain (outside of Fairplay who quit episode 1 of S16)

tjack16 said:

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The Original Houston 1836 said:

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Rupert is into his 60s and has throat cancer so he wasn't coming back. Hantz would have been really interesting stunt casting but it's hard to imagine a scenario where he isn't immediately eliminated when his tribe loses a challenge

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I was surprised Russell didn't get cast or at least go on social media saying he was considered. He's not exactly shy about that kind of stuff and he is the biggest villain (outside of Fairplay who quit episode 1 of S16)

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I think if the show was not doing as well as it has been over the last few seasons since they went to the 1-1/2 hour format they might have gone a different way with casting and made him a priority. But they also have the fairly recent precedent of him playing the Australian version in 2018 and those people immediately got rid of him.

Also he apparently trashed the show and Probst specifically a few months ago. I didn't watch this whole thing, just read a few snippets.

Rudyjax said:

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She won because Maria flipped on her ride or die partner. She thought Kenzie needed the money more.

Charlie should've won.

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Should have has never had anything to do with Survivor.

The goal of Survivor has always been to get to the final tribal council to plead your case to the jury.
Kenzie had more allies on the jury than Charlie, and thus she won.

I wasn't a fan of Charlie and I thought he was carried by Maria the entire season.
The people that call Kenzie a "horrible" winner are just like the Russell Hanz fans that got mad their favorite player didn't win the game.

Kenzie was a very deserving winner and her journey of coming back from almost getting voted out 2nd to winning the whole game was a great character arc.

Look at Eva from this past season. She was a great physical threat, but would she have gotten 2nd place if she wasn't on a great team?
She got carried through the first half of the season by the muscle on her team.
I'm not faulting her for that since that is normal on Survivor.

HTownAg98 said:

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I'm looking forward to season 50. Should be a good one. I still want to see a season where everyone starts with an immunity idol, and there aren't any hidden ones. You can do what you want with it just like a typical idol. But once it's played, it's out; no more hidden idols. The one change I would make so that it doesn't mess with the number of episodes is that if everyone plays an idol, you draw rocks.

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I like this idea.

As someone who watched season 1, then forgot about it until literally season 45 or so, but really enjoys it again, what are the best seasons to go back and watch? I watched a few random ones on hulu I think, but no idea which ones they were.

Paramount+ seems to have them all though.

Spoiler free thoughts:

Season 13 (Cook Islands) is my favorite. A lot of players return from it later. Great cast and some unique wrinkles for sure.
Season 16 (Micronesia, Fans vs Favorites) is an all-timer. You'll ruin some older seasons potentially in that half the cast are returnees, but man it's good.
Season 18 (Tocachins) is another one with some great characters and players, many of whom return later.
Season 20 (Heroes vs Villains) will spoil a lot of previous seasons but it's kinda like the first Survivor: Endgame.
Season 25 (Philippines) is a personal favorite, with some wild characters and some good underdog stories and things like that. Just solid all throughout.
Season 27 (Blood vs Water) has returners, but also people playing against family members in some capacity. Some great drama and gameplay.
Season 28 (Cagayan, Brains vs Brawn vs Beauty) has a fantastic cast and a theme that really works. A lot of returners from this season. Some of my all-time faves.
Season 31 (Second Chances) will spoil previous seasons because it's fan-voted non-winner returners. But it's great.
Season 33 (Millennials vs Gen X) seems like a weak concept but it's actually pretty fun. Some stereotyping for sure but the blend of characters makes for some good gameplay and fun.
Season 37 (David vs Goliath) is one of the goats. Fantastic casting all around, incredible gameplay.
Season 40 (Winners at War) is the second Survivor Endgame, an all-winners season. Obviously that means a lot of spoilers but it's so good.



Honestly if you watched that list in order you'd get a lot of Survivor high points. There are other big seasons in Survivor lore (All-Stars was huge, for example, but it's not my favorite at all) but I feel like that handful might be the best of them all.

Some seasons are bad but have incredible winners, so they're enjoyable in their own way.

If you don't want to do the highlights mentioned above, but want to watch most if not all of the good seasons, I'd do… 2, 3, 6, 8, 10, 13, 15, 16, 18, 19, 20, 25, 27, 28, 29, 31, 32, 33, 34, 37, 40, 42, 44, 45, 47.

Avoid season 5, Thailand. Rapey and unlikeable from start to finish.

Roll the Bones said:

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As someone who watched season 1, then forgot about it until literally season 45 or so, but really enjoys it again, what are the best seasons to go back and watch? I watched a few random ones on hulu I think, but no idea which ones they were.

Paramount+ seems to have them all though.

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Sometimes I feel like these posts are just to see how much work people will do to respond. LIke the guy on the Marvel thread who claimed the only Marvel film he had seen was Endgame and was it worth it to watch the others.

Thank you so much for the detailed response! One of the seasons I watched on hulu had returning players including Rupert and Boston Rob. I had no idea that they were allowing returning players in some seasons and have not seen their "origin stories" but I enjoyed the season.

I have really enjoyed the last 4 or so seasons watching live again. Makes me wish I hadn't given up on it after season 1. It also got me to watch the amazing race the last few line seasons since it followed.

Thank you also for the response! Now that the Stars are out of the playoffs I need something new to watch so this will help!

If you're in a place where you can easily binge, it's almost more about which seasons not to watch. And they all have something redeeming (except Thailand).

My wife and I did the spoiler-free rankings somewhere, jumped around, then eventually realized we were going to watch them all and just finished all 39 right as season 40 aired. That was pretty awesome.

I still haven't seen Thailand or Fiji (I've seen the main moments of Fiji so I know what happens). Only seasons I haven't seen and I've seen them all at least twice.

With the exception of the very first season, we haven't missed a single one. Our absolute favorites are season 2 (Australia) and 26 (Caramoan Fans vs Favorites). We've rewatched 26 multiple times in fact.

I'd also say that 8 (All Stars) and 22 (Redemption Island) are must-watch seasons. A lot of the legendary players, strategies, and situations come from those two seasons.

Not sure if we should go ahead and start a Season 50 thread, but my wife and I are watching Season 16 (Micronesia, Fans vs Favorites) right now. We plan on watching 20 (Heroes vs Villains) next

My wife has been binging older seasons over the last 2 weeks. She's done seasons 10, 16 and 18 so far

Probst has done a couple of youTube shorts now that 50 is filming. He is more jacked up than normal, which is impressive.

I'm going to rewatch each players seasons or if they are a multi time returnee their "best/most memorable season"

So like for Cirie I'll watch S16. That was her best IMO.

Coach and Ozzy you could make an argument for South Pacific. You get them both at their primes but not as memorable for their "character" as their original seasons.

tjack16 said:

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I'm going to rewatch each players seasons or if they are a multi time returnee their "best/most memorable season"

So like for Cirie I'll watch S16. That was her best IMO.

Coach and Ozzy you could make an argument for South Pacific. You get them both at their primes but not as memorable for their "character" as their original seasons.

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You have to take a screenshot for me of coach trying to do cool dive onto a float in the lagoon on a reward and flips over into the water.

He's happy because his BFF is there.