Survivor 41

 originally aired September 22, 2021 to December 15, 2021

The order in which players left the game and the impact they left behind:

• Eric/Abraham (Yase) I don't remember him.  I've got scores of seasons on this blog where I simply don't remember players.  He's one of them.
• Sara (Ua) Ua was such a stupid tribe.  Every time someone got voted out early from this tribe, it's safe to assume it was because of how stupid this tribe was.
• David/Voce (Yase) I don't remember Eric as Eric or Abraham, but I know David was consistently identified as Voce by the show.  I wasn't a huge fan of the season early on because not just Ua was busy being stupid.  Yase merely benefited from Ua being even more stupid.  Voce was someone who got sacrificed by short-sightedness.
• Brad (Ua) Stupid Ua being stupid.
• JD (Ua) Stupid Ua being stupid.
• Genie (Ua) Stupid Ua being stupid.  Seriously.  Just look at how often they went to tribal council, out of three possible tribes.
• Sydney (Luvu) The big victim in Erika's big move, the move that almost handed victory straight to the Core Four, when she "turned back time."
• Tiffany (Yase) Someone who if she'd been interested in making good decisions could easily have changed the outcome of the game.
• Naseer (Luvu) Lovable character and yet not a particularly great player.  Too often a pawn in someone else's game.
• Evvie (Yase) Like Tiffany someone with great potential to make things happen who just could never bring herself to do so.
• Shan (Ua) Every week I text my sister and her friend during the show.  I always referred to Shan as "Evil Preacher Lady."  The originator of the Core Four, an all-black alliance meant to try and capitalize on the unrest of summer 2020, who stooped to any level to get herself ahead.  Including basically ditching any real allegiance to the Four with a secret alliance to Ricard.
• Liana (Yase) Until she got snookered into the Core Four by Shan I was a big fan of Liana, who ditched any semblance of strategic integrity and thus a shot at winning.
• Danny (Luvu) For most of the game I just thought of him as Deshawn's plus one, even if he was technically the celebrity player of the season, having played in the NFL.  I just think he never really considered playing the actual game.
• Ricard (Ua) Obviously you know my opinion of Ua as a whole, which included Shan and Ricard.  Apparently viewed as the most obvious potential winner, and thus his ability to actually make it to the final four was itself impressive, having outlasted his closest ally.  But I just never cared for him, especially how he became a bitter jurist.
• Heather (Luvu) Absent from about half the season's editing, she rallied in a big way to become an unlikely major strategic threat late in the game.
• Xander (Yase) The internet seems to agree with me that this guy was the one true highlight of the season and deserving winner, but the jury couldn't bring itself to recognize his brilliant gameplay, not just with advantages but maneuvering around players.  To dismantle the major alliance, its allies, and those who kept letting it happen, he had no choice but to play the game he did.  And he got no votes at all.  This was a terrible jury.
• Deshawn (Luvu) Dismantling the Core Four was the most brilliant thing he did, his own alliance, knowing it wasn't actually to his advantage, and clearly he was right, as he ended up in the final three and was at least acknowledged with a vote.
• Erika (Luvu) One of my least favorite winners, not particularly because she was so unlikable but because she seemed to go out of her way to do everything the hard way, the total opposite of Xander.  All three finalists had the same basic strategy, eventually, and needed to do a ton of maneuvering to get to the end, but Erika did it in the least graceful way possible.  And the jury clearly didn't want to give the win the player who did it best.  When she "turned back time" it turned the whole season around.  And then Deshawn dismantled a cynical alliance, and Xander kept pulling off miracles.  But a bad ending rubs the charm off the season, unfortunately, plus too few players really worth rooting for.

Survivor: Winners At War

 originally aired February 12, 2020 to May 13, 2020

The order in which players left the game and the impact they left behind:

• Natalie (Sele/San Juan del Sur) A victim of the early voting strategies targeting existing relationships (Jeremy), only to make it back in the game later and prove quite adept at maneuvering 
• Amber (Dakal/All-Stars) Same as Natalie; wife of Boston Rob.
• Danni (Sele/Guatemala) Even among winners it's apparently bad form to appear too desperate.
• Ethan (Sele/Africa) The battle lines between old school and new school players quickly found an early victim in a very classic old school player.
• Tyson (Dakal/Blood vs. Water) Brilliant as he was in his winning season, he didn't have the leverage to get far this time, and too many schemers around him.
• Boston Rob (Sele/Redemption Island) Even one of the undisputed best players ever couldn't overcome the numbers.
• Parvati (Sele/Micronesia) Another brilliant player who couldn't overcome the numbers this time.
• Sandra (Dakal/Pearl Islands, Heroes vs. Villains) A two-time winner became a huge target, and brilliant tribal council strategy made sure she was taken out.
• Yul (Dakal/Cook Islands) A classic old school player too good for his own good in this setting.
• Wendell (Dakal/Ghost Island) Never found the solid allies his game depends on.
• Adam (Sele/Millennials vs. Gen X) Minus the absolute perfect mix of tribemates around him, Adam looked like a much different player.
• Sophie (Dakal/South Pacific) You can go back and look at what I thought of her originally, but this was the most pleasant turnaround of the season for me.  She was a much easier player to root for this time!
• Kim (Dakal/One World) In her original season pretty easy to project as winner or very close.  This time there was no such guarantee.
• Jeremy (Sele/Campodia) Always worth rooting for!  Just a hugely underrated player of this game.
• Nick (Dakal/David vs. Goliath) Generally proved he knew how to play the game regardless of what's happening around him.
• Denise (Sele/Philippines) Honestly, since I'm doing this recap well after the season, a delay caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and its many disruptions, I don't remember what Denise did.
• Ben (Sele/Heroes vs. Healers vs. Hustlers) What made me like him so much his previous season was that he basically accomplished a huge turnaround from the kind of player he basically is, because scrambling made him look good.  He had no such redemptive arc this time.
• Sarah (Dakal/Game Changers) Loved her the first time, didn't love her the second time, when she won, and now I can say I love her again.  So on average, I think she's a great member of the Survivor legacy.
• Michele (Sele/Kaoh Rong) Clearly knows how to play this game despite being an under the radar player (or perhaps because of it), making it to the finals in her second attempt (and of course winning the first one).
• Natalie (Sele/San Juan del Sur) Something of reality TV competition royalty at this point, I guess.
• Tony Vlachos (Dakal/Cagayan) Such a favorite even before this, becoming the second-ever two-time winner, in typically brilliant fashion.  I don't know how a guy with such well-known tactics (see what happened the second time he played) can pull this off, but that just goes to show.  As deserving a win as there's ever been in this game.  A true legend.