Survivor: Edge of Extinction

originally aired February 20, 2019 to May 15, 2019

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

• Reem (Manu) First voted out, first to embrace Edge of Extinction, and stuck with it to the very end.  She becomes almost by definition the best example of a first vote loser ever in the game.
• Keith (Manu) The surprisingly impactful Manu tribe sort of crystalized over this particular tribal council.  Keith ended up being one of two players to quit Edge of Extinction.
• Aubry (Kama) The fifth voted out (Devens and Chris ended up back in the game thanks to Edge of Extinction) was one of the returning players, who never really figured out how to contend with the new players.
• Wendy (Manu) A standout personality in a season almost devoid of them, Wendy unfortunately couldn't compete in the actual game, and was the other one to quit Edge of Extinction.
• Joe (Kama) Another returning player, a hugely popular one among fans, but who just doesn't have the killer instinct to compete in the actual game.
• Eric (Kama) A key member of the overly ambitious Kama alliance that was quickly dismantled.  Take that for what you will.
• Julia (Kama) One of the more anonymous members of the edit and/or overly ambitious Kama alliance.
• David (Manu) Not as much the strategic powerhouse as the last time he played, David still proved a considerable threat and one of the main reasons the game played out the way it did, spurring Devens along to near-victory.
• Kelley Wentworth (Manu) Her appearance this season justified her reputation as a strong player, always scrambling for power.  Spurred her ally Lauren deeper in the game than she would've gone otherwise.
• Wardog (Manu) One of those would-be master strategists who've dominated the game in recent years despite a rank inability to win (although this really goes all the way back to Boston Rob in the fourth season).  Love the nickname, but he didn't have the personality to match.  Where o where art thou, Coach??? 
• Ron (Kama) Hugely cocky de facto leader of the overly ambitious Kama alliance that took on basically a whole tribe and thus epitomized why that's a horrible idea.  Also epitomized the charisma void in much of the cast this season.
• Aurora (Kama) Somehow made her name by performing well in challenges while complaining she had no allies despite being in the general Kama alliance.  Basically had no interest in strategizing.  That's a terrible way to play this game!
• Victoria (Kama) Sort of made an effort to strategize, but coasted too long on the Kama numbers.
• Lauren (Manu) Made it surprisingly far despite being the weaker player of an alliance with Kelley Wentworth that ended well before she was voted out.  A second chance could prove how good she can really be.
• Rick Devens (Manu) Originally eliminated ironically because Lauren and Kelley realized he was a huge threat, and then seized the Edge of Extinction opportunity to in fact become a huge threat, and by far the biggest and best personality of the season.  His late showdown with Chris in a fire-making challenge probably goes down as an all-time great moment in Survivor lore.
• Julie (Kama) The fact that she got no votes from the jury despite arguably looking best at the final tribal council ought to tell you pretty much everything you need to know.
• Gavin (Kama) A great story but...absolutely no!...personality!  And that's what sucked so much about the Kama alliance, that it only worked at all because of the ridiculous numbers that were thrown at it, not because any of them were particularly good players, and the fate of the alliance proved that beyond any doubt, and the fact that none of them ended up winning.  Again, this is exactly why you don't just assume numbers are all you need in this game.
• Chris (Manu) The greatest beneficiary, obviously, of the Edge of Extinction gimmick, which itself was basically a combination of Exile Island and the Pearl Islands outcast concept, which ended up backfiring spectacularly with an unlikable player ending up back in the game.  This time not only did we get Devens back, but Chris, who swooped in at literally the last minute and actually gave up protection at the last tribal council before the vote so he could prove his worth in the game, in an epic showdown with Devens in a fire-making challenge.  I'm so glad the season ended the way it did.  We've had too many seasons, recently, where it was players who thought they were master strategists basically cancelling each other out because they couldn't figure out how to actually maneuver this game.  It's always possible to be outmaneuvered, but the trend has more been players who weren't good at strategy thinking they were, just because they were aware of the general way the game is played.  They end up more like a Jerri than a Rich, which is why it's better when a Tina wins, someone who maybe didn't have the best game but still put in the effort to get to the end, no matter how it was accomplished, and won with honor.  That's where Chris stands.

Survivor: David vs. Goliath

originally aired September 26, 2018 to December 19, 2018

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

• Pat (David) A medical evacuation, but probably didn't greatly impact how early he was going to exit.
• Jessica (David) Her ouster was probably an early indication of the tone of the whole season.
• Jeremy (Goliath) Ironically, probably about as abrasive and socially clueless about this fact as Natalie, whom he tried to coach away from such tendencies.
• Bi (David) A rare player who values their life outside of the game more than the game, withdrawing after becoming aware that she'd damaged her MCL.
• Natalia (Goliath) A victim of David/Goliath cooperation led by Alec, an early indication that despite the Goliath bluster the Davids had a real fighting chance.
• Natalie (Goliath) Jeremy was right about Natalie; in her real life she's shielded herself from any real responsibility for her personality, so she thinks it doesn't matter.  But outside of that bubble?  It does.
• Lyrsa (David) I don't know why all the "strong women" this season were such poor examples of strong women, but Lyrsa, at least as far as this season goes, was the worst example.
• Elizabeth (David) The sort of player I could root for a little more if she had the gameplay to go with her personality.
• John (Goliath) In the interests of full disclosure, I've been a fan of John Hennigan/Johnny Nitro/John Morrison/Johnny Mundo/Johnny Impact since he first made a name (any name!) for himself in wrestling.  His Survivor experience probably helps explain why he never excelled in WWE, despite his considerable talent, because he has trouble asserting himself, as anyone who watched this season can attest.  He's content to sit back and try and let his work show itself.  Thankfully he has good social instincts.  He made a lot of good decisions with fellow players, and had better game instincts than his results suggest, but then he also voted for the winner, which is always a huge plus.  In the end he knew what was worth rewarding.
• Dan (Goliath) The recipient of a needless alliance split at the hands of would-be lover Kara.
• Alec (Goliath) A crafty player who signaled the way forward that didn't leave numbers as the only deciding factor, but played hard and smart for as long as he could, and didn't even get burned by his decision not to remain loyal to Goliath, but rather by how the season played out.
• Carl (David) There are a lot of players in Survivor history who think they're better than they actually are, and Carl is one of them.
• Gabby (David) The second of our three "strong women" who maybe ought to dial it back a little.  Obviously, her low point was backstabbing Christian basically because she discovered he had a committed relationship outside of the game.
• Christian (David) One of the most unique and lovable players in Survivor history (if there had been some kind of audience favorite reward this season, you can bet he'd've gotten it), in the end undone by the tangled knots of strategic would-be loyalties he himself eagerly, unwisely embraced when he decided to vote out John (which, in all fairness, John had intended to do, too; just imagine a scenario where the bonds any of these players made along the way actually stuck).
• Davie (David) I nicknamed him "Ninja Dave" early in the season, a remarkably nimble utilizer of advantages who was a highlight by any standard, and who managed to stay out of trouble for far longer than he was actually a threat.
• Alison (Goliath) The kind of player easy to root for...if only she had ever decided to make an actual, y'know, decision...
• Kara (Goliath) Made the baffling decision to vote out her own strongest ally, Dan.  See where that got her?
• Angelina (Goliath) One of the more idiotic and socially clueless players to ever play the game, this "strong woman" is even more ignorant of her effect on those around her than Natalie.
• Mike (Goliath) In the end, he couldn't divorce himself from the idea of the game rather than the reality of actually playing it.  If he'd managed to do that, he might have actually deserved to be in the final, and maybe even win.
• Nick (David) And sometimes the good guys really do win.  Nick did what a lot of these players only tried to do, and by securing the final three immunity necklaces, he was able to win the season, too.  He forged bonds easily, even if he didn't seem to know what to do with them, but he was as a result fun to watch and thus easy to root for.  If it couldn't be Christian or Davie (my top two choices), it really, really had to be Nick.  And I think the jury members were ideally selected to recognize that fact.  This isn't always the case, so it's great when it is.

Reconsidering Sandra

As of Survivor: Ghost Island, the thirty-sixth season, I have Sandra Diaz-Twine listed twenty-ninth out of all thirty-five winners.  She's, ah, the winner who won twice (Pearls Islands, Heroes vs. Villains), you'll recall.  Winning twice really ought to secure her a better slot, even on an entirely subjective list such as mine.  I mean, no one else has done that.  But I never liked her, and I never saw her as particularly earning those wins.  Even though she did it twice!

But here we are today.  I'm ready to offer a significant caveat.  It's possible that my opinion of Sandra is mostly reflective of the third layer of Survivor.  The first is the players themselves.  (Well, I suppose casting directors would be one if the results always matched what they thought they were casting.)  The second is Jeff Probst, who's always adding instant reaction as host.  The third is the infamous editing process.

Survivor lives and breathes in search of interesting personalities.  Players who have no shot at all of winning can dominate the edit for as long as they're still in the game, if for no other reason than they're compelling to watch, and thus easy calls to base episodes around.  Big personalities have existed from the start.  It just so happened that the biggest personality from the first season (Rich Hatch) also won, and that was one of the few times I personally was able to call the winner from the very first episode.  But it's not always that easy.

Sandra won, arguably, by competing in two seasons dominated by wars of attrition, not because there was any one player strong enough to bend everyone else to their will, but because a lot of good players kept getting in each other's way.  In these later seasons there've been a lot of self-styled master strategists, but I'm not really talking about those players.  I'm talking, maybe, about a lot of big personalities that just plain cancelled each other out.

Sandra was never a big personality.  She was just one of those players that was able to make the most of other people screwing themselves over, and being able to take advantage of that.  Most of the time that's good enough to get you in the finals, but it almost never gets you the win.  But it got Sandra the win.  Twice.

So what was different? 

The other day my sister actually met Sandra.  My sister's also met Rudy, by the way, not because she goes out of her way to track down Survivor players (Bob hosts his challenges not far from where I've lived in Maine, by the way, but I haven't had a chance to go watch those yet) but, I guess she's just lucky.  (Actually, don't tell Sandra, but this time it wasn't entirely luck.)

And she met an incredibly nice person.  According to my sister's account, Sandra was about as normal a person as you can possibly get, especially if you've been on two seasons of Survivor, and won them both.  She was taken aback by my sister even knowing her name without an introduction!  And she seemed completely honest about being happy to talk with my sister, and offered Facebook friendship on the spot, and even her phone number! 

So I suspect that the Sandra who competed in two winning efforts, who didn't exist in the edit, was someone who proved on a daily basis that she was just plain good to have around, normalizing in extreme circumstances, a down-to-earth type.  If she'd competed in one of these later themed seasons, she'd be on the Good People Tribe.

And that's how she won.  Twice.  So now I get it.  There's always going to be plenty left out of the edit, but it seems a terrible shame that two whole seasons of gameplay were lost in translation.  So maybe when I get around to watching her seasons again, I'll try and see if the hidden Sandra Good People Vibe was actually easier to see than I previously thought, and maybe bump her way up in my ranking.  I mean, she won twice.  Sometimes the nice ones really do win.

Survivor: Ghost Island

originally aired February 28, 2018 to May 23, 2018

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

• Stephanie Gonzalez (Malolo) This was a season where players tried playing hard right out of the gate.  This is ridiculous strategy. 
• Jacob (Malolo) If you're going to become obsessive about advantages, you might consider having a solid position without them. 
• Morgan (Naviti) The early tribe switch-up caused a lot of drama. One of Domenick's early allies.
• Brendan (Malolo) The victim in the season's first great moment, one of the more dramatic tribal councils in the early part of a season.
• Stephanie Johnson (Malolo) At this point Malolo had become easy pickings.
• James (Malolo) After another tribe swap, the surprisingly crucial Angela in the middle part of the season was responsible for his ouster.
• Bradley (Naviti) One of the stronger strategists in the season, a victim of the multiple tribe swaps, eventually.
• Chris (Naviti) Immediately made himself Domenick's target by volunteering as leader in the first challenge.  Biggest mistake was refusing to show his vulnerable side to anyone.  Otherwise a strong player.
• Libby (Malolo) One of several generic young lady, at least from the edit, basically a number.
• Desiree (Naviti) Decided way too late and too clumsily to try and compete.
• Jenna (Malolo) Another generic young lady, at least from the edit.
• Michael (Malolo) Great player, ultimately on the wrong side of the numbers, and the insane Naviti plan to stay strong from the original tribe even though most of them were always going to be cannon fodder.
• Chelsea (Naviti) Another generic young lady, at least from the edit.
• Kellyn (Naviti) The season cast two women who were proud of reclaiming their independence through divorce this season; Kellyn was by far the more obnoxious and smug of them.
• Sebastian (Naviti) Seemingly cast for the Ozzy role, for which he was hugely unqualified.
• Donathan (Malolo) The dude cast to be both a Deep Accent Person and gay, and clearly not at all prepared to play this game.
• Angela (Naviti) The other proud divorcee, and ex-military; her edit heavily emphasized this while she was still a threat, but eventually she faded into the background.  But still a notable player in the season.
• Laurel (Malolo) Part of the strongest finals I can think of, all three of them totally deserving to be there.  Always knew how to keep her position strong in the game.
• Domenick (Naviti) The would-be alpha male, just this side of another Russell, with an ego raging out of control.  Clearly a very strong player, but took for granted the strong players working around him.  Acknowledged for his season dominance as part of the first-ever tie in final tribal history.
• Wendell (Naviti) As good as Domenick was, he never seemed to realize or care how crucial his relationship with Wendell really was, or how hard Wendell had to work to keep it from dooming their chances.  Domenick and Wendell dominated the season as few players ever have, and were noticeably cocky about it, thanks to the Naviti pact to stay strong, with them always at the top.  But Wendell was better and totally deserved to win, thanks to that crucial tie-breaking vote from Laurel, who was always Wendell's secret weapon.  Had Domenick actually decided to do the fire challenge with Wendell, it would've been the first time since Tom and Ian in Palau that great competitors and allies had such a dramatic showdown.  That choice at least preserved the strong final three, and led to the best of them winning.

Survivor: Heroes vs. Healers vs. Hustlers

originally aired September 27, 2017 to December 20, 2017

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

• Katrina (Heroes) The initial chaos of her tribe meant it was either Katrina or Chrissy who would go home first this season.  Honestly, I don't really care what Katrina would've ended up doing, but I really wish it had been Chrissy.
• Simone (Hustlers) Ouster mostly reflective of the general character, or generally the poor character, and integrity, of this season.
• Patrick (Hustlers) Probably, he and Simone simply didn't really reflect the intended character of their original tribe.  But this season's depiction of the tribe themes was terrible, and pretty much pointless, the first time Survivor has really dropped the ball in that regard.
• Alan (Heroes) Honestly, sometimes it really seems black men are cast in this show just to look terrible in this game (Earl being a notable exception).
• Roark (Healers) First time Chrissy orchestrates the exit of another woman.
• Ali (Hustlers) Second time Chrissy orchestrates the exit of another woman.
• Jessica (Healers) A victim of the numbers, and her own stupidity, forming a relationship with Cole and not realizing that at least strategically it's a huge, huge mistake.
• Desi (Healers) A victim of the numbers.
• Cole (Healers) Basically a huge idiot, and a major reason the season played out the way it did.
• JP (Heroes) Seemingly nothing much more than a beefcake meathead.  But an amiable presence in an increasingly chaotic season, which is something of a miracle.
• Joe (Healers) A true spirit of chaos, but worth rooting for as opposition to an unlikable dominant alliance.  Also probably the best player to watch this season, until the final few episodes.
• Lauren (Hustlers) One of the members of the majority alliance that was fully convinced they were in charge of the game.  Which of course none of them were.  So they all turned on each other.
• Ashley (Heroes) One of the actually likable members of the majority alliance.  Mostly because she was one of the expendable members, and she had no clue.  So not such a good player, and a key reason the season turned out the way it did.
• Mike (Healers) A likable guy until he decided to become an adjunct member of the majority alliance, just to stick around.  So my respect for his gameplay fell drastically.  Betrayed the spirit of what he and Joe had fought for, and in hindsight ruined a terrific tribal council moment.
• Devon (Hustlers) An amiable cutthroat is still a cutthroat, and he's a key reason the horrible majority alliance happened.  None of the key members could've made it as far as they did on their own.  And none of them won.
• Ryan (Hustlers) One of them "lifelong fans" who too often turn out to be horrible students of the game, who mostly survive as weasels. 
• Chrissy (Heroes) A horribly insecure person who has made her life a fiction about how secure she is.  And maybe in the real world, she really is secure, but Survivor is a game that exposes people for what they really are, rather than what they've managed to make of their lives. 
• Ben (Heroes) Was actually kind of unlikable as long as he was leading the majority alliance, but his true character came through once he was forced out and had to scramble to stay alive in the game.  And that became, thanks to the latest twists in the game, and how it has evolved, one of the most thrilling finishes in Survivor history.  Honestly, it was a much-needed redemptive arc for the season as a whole, which otherwise characterizes the increasingly desperate nature of the game as it tries to justify its continued existence.  The producers seem content with a false image of the competitiveness of players trumping the ability to cast people actually worth watching.  But rats are still rats, and viewers, I think, would much rather watch snakes devour them.

Survivor: Game Changers

originally aired March 8, 2017 to May 24, 2017

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

• Ciera (Mana/Blood vs. Water, Cambodia) One of many players to find out she wasn't the mastermind she thought she was this season.
• Tony (Mana/Cagayan) One of my personal favorite players and winners in Survivor history vastly overplayed his hand this season.
• Caleb (Mana/Kaoh Rong) He didn't seem as impressive this time, so it kind of casts doubt on how impressive he really was the first time around.
• Malcolm (Mana/Philippines, Caramoan) The first victim of the somewhat arbitrary screwy twists this season.
• J.T. (Nuku/Tocantins, Heroes vs. Villains) Exposed as really needing a weak season to win in.
• Sandra (Mana/Pearl Islands, Heroes vs. Villains) No elimination has ever brought me greater satisfaction than seeing a two-time fluke winner finally, finally voted out, which made her cockiness this season even more egregious than Rich Hatch in the original returning players season, All-Stars.
• Jeff Varner (Mana/The Australian Outback, Cambodia) Here's where things get interesting, and not in a good way.  The circumstances surrounding Jeff's exit nearly made me quit Survivor.  And I'm one of those viewers who've watched from the very beginning, and have kept watching.  Like everyone else I thought I'd seen it all.  Jeff was never a strategic mastermind.  Clearly he thought he'd improved in that regard this season.  Until he made the most epic of Survivor blunders, outing Zeke as transgender at tribal council.  Believe me, I struggled a great deal with this.  I'm glad I wasn't live-blogging this season, because I would've written extensively about this moment, and probably I wouldn't have been able to make the decision to watch the next episode.  Putting aside what Jeff did, the reaction to it was hugely over the top.  I don't think Survivor has the moral high ground.  I just don't.  You can find numerous instances of the show handling similar situations far, far worse, barely acknowledging the magnitude of what happened in the footage it filmed and broadcast, of considerable social significance (off the top of my head: Sue Hawk and Rich Hatch in All-Stars, and the most ironic moment of a season called "One World," which the perpetrator was even given a chance to justify at the reunion, and still botched it horribly).  I get that Survivor is otherwise an excellent platform for exploring these kinds of things, trying to find common ground in a format that so often tears people apart.  This is a show about teachable moments, and it has been from the very beginning.  You can tell how far the culture, and the series, has slid since the first season in how Rudy and Rich were handled versus how Jeff and Zeke were handled.  And to compound all that, Jeff was violently betrayed, too.  Not just by Jeff Probst, who surely has seen it all, but by Survivor in general.  You don't compound one problem by creating another.  Jeff was not an unknown commodity.  I don't really care what his tribemates thought in the moment.  I get that it was tough for Zeke, because in his community this is an incredibly personal matter.  But Jeff Varner did not all of a sudden become a faceless villain.  We know this guy.  We watched him play in the second-ever season of Survivor, one of those players they brought back more than a decade later because they'd never gotten around to it but decided they still wanted to, because they knew fans even from a long distance still had happy memories of him as one of the genuinely nice players in the history of the game.  This is a game that routinely sees players make fools of themselves.  Players betray themselves in ways they never thought possible.  All the time.  Some of them learn from the experience, and some don't.  Jeff knew in an instant that he'd made a horrible mistake.  But everyone in that tribal council knew why he did it, and it wasn't because he was trying to be malicious, but because he was trying to play a game.  Robb strangling Clay will always be a far, far worse moment in this game than what Jeff did.  But they didn't immediately eject Robb.  There are viewers today who have no idea what I just referenced, and that's all you need to know, really.  The producers knew Zeke was transgender.  They knew it was going to come out.  They wanted a big moment, because at this point, and it was clear all season long, they wanted to find new justification for Survivor, prove how relevant it still is, how real it still is, and they got it, and they had no qualms about stabbing Jeff in the back to do it.  Never mind about Zeke, for a moment.  They exposed two people that episode.  They exposed Jeff to something that could have destroyed him.  Because unlike Zeke, there wasn't a community waiting to support him.  CBS made sure that it distanced itself from Jeff.  Thankfully, they backtracked in the live finale, and gave him a chance to do what he'd tried to do from the very beginning, which was apologize and try and salvage whatever peace of mind he might have left...
• Hali (Mana/Worlds Apart) One of the quintessential "no collars" from her original season thought Jeff got a raw deal, too.  She might not be a significant player this season, but I gained new respect for her in expressing that.
• Ozzy (Nuku/Cook Islands, Micronesia, South Pacific) Didn't really seem interested in being there.  Lost in the shuffle trying to find a new strategy.  At this point the player with the most days in the game is clearly just a participating fan.
• Debbie (Nuku/Kaoh Rong) One of the most irritating players ever, doesn't seem to know herself very well, but knows the game a little better. 
• Zeke (Nuku/Millennials vs. Gen X) Ironically, two seasons running his highlight had nothing to do with his gameplay but representing his community, whether willingly.  He was a better player last time.  Not much of one this time.
• Sierra (Nuku/Worlds Apart) She was a true force to be reckoned with this season, undone mostly by cockiness (maybe a given in a season where everyone was told they were really good players). 
• Andrea (Nuku/Redemption Island, Caramoan) Andrea wasn't quite at Sierra's level, but she surely thought she was.
• Michaela (Manu/Millennials vs. Gen X) If she could figure out how to get out of her own way, she'd be in a much better position.  But she didn't even manage to play better the second time than she did the first.
• Cirie (Nuku/Panama, Micronesia, Heroes vs. Villains) In four seasons this is the first time I actually liked Cirie.  The player Survivor most likes to pat itself on the back about, the one who "got up off the couch," actually showed up to play this season, and her attempts at mentoring Michaela were some of the most mature moments in the history of Survivor.  This was the act of showing the legacy of the game in a good, unforced way (unlike forcing her to complete a challenge for no other reason than to achieve a "moral victory").
• Aubry (Mana/Kaoh Rong) Wow, so the Aubry who showed so much potential last time never really showed up this time.
• Tai (Nuku/Kaoh Rong) I can't stand the guy.  His whole vulnerability angle, which is real, is something that allows him to get far in this game, but his neediness and utter cluelessness combine for a player who will only ever cause chaos, who will flip on any "alliance" at his earliest convenience, because other than finding hidden immunity idols I really don't think Tai understands Survivor or what's expected of him.  The producers should really stop enabling him, because it would really help him, and viewers, to see Tai explained for what he is rather than making excuses for him, like Brad's behavior, which believe me you'd feel compelled to express, too, if you were playing with him.
• Troyzan (Manu/One World) Here's a guy I always thought got a raw deal in his first season, flipped on by someone who decided they didn't need him (and Kim won, so she proved herself right), and now he's gotten a raw deal his second season, too.  The ability to form actual alliances has apparently fallen out of favor in the constant mad scrambling players seem to favor, the "I made this move!" mentality that's so reductive it misses the point of the game.  Troyzan actually found a loyal ally this time.  Two of them!  And made it to the finals.  This is not a guy who merely rides coattails.  He knows how to play.  But I doubt he'd be brought back a third time.  The edit certainly didn't seem to care he existed this season.  That's one of the problems Survivor has had, increasingly.  In its effort to chase the big personalities as they implode, they miss the solid gameplay that goes on around them. 
• Brad (Nuku/Blood vs, Water) Here's the biggest surprise of the season, and it really seemed like he was being primed to win, with the edit, with that self-congratulating moment where he admits vulnerability and Survivor gets to remind everyone how real it is.  I thought he played the classic Tom game (Palau), and deserved the Tom victory, but if Troyzan had one weakness, it was that he was no Ian.  They really did seem too comfortable as allies.  So the inevitable became...
• Sarah (Nuku/Cagayan) I have no idea how she does any undercover work.  The worst personality of any winner ever.  Yeah, she hustled in the later stages of the game, but watching all of it from home, I just wanted her voted out because she has such a horrible voice for engaging the viewing audience.  She sounds like a cop.  She holds herself like a cop.  If she picked up anything from Tony, it wasn't the ability to hide.  She won, basically, because everyone else self-detonated.  That was really the story of the season.  But at the same time, I am happy she won, because I liked her in her first season, and wanted to see what she could do with another opportunity.  And she won!  So clearly she made good on it, and rewarded my faith in her.  I just never expected that I would end up hating her along the way.  This was a season that left an overall bad taste in my mouth, so it figures that the winner is hard to swallow, too. 

Survivor: Millennials vs. Gen X

originally aired September 21, 2016 to December 14, 2016

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

• Rachel (Takali/Gen X) Apparently hadn't watched thirty-two previous seasons to know bossiness at camp is a game killer.
• Mari (Vanua/Millennials) A victim of the Triforce's early dominance.
• Paul (Takali/Gen X) The fatal blow to the patriarchs of Gen X, leading to the eventual downfalls of Chris and Bret, who never again had a secure base.
• Lucy (Takali/Gen X) Her elimination was David's first big play of the season, using a hidden immunity idol to save Jessica.
• CeCe (Takali/Gen X) A classic challenge albatross and overall mostly pointless competitor.
• Figgy (Vanua/Millennials) Her romance with Taylor solidified the Triforce and also guaranteed a big fat target on her back, and she never really figured out how to disentangle herself from either of them.
• Michaela (Vanua/Millennials) Decided to start playing way too late; her elimination was probably the point the season turned from not really having a direction to becoming one of the all-time greats.  Her second shot in Survivor: Game Changers will determine if Michaela really is better than she first seemed.
• Michelle (Vanua/Millennials) The "Triforce" consisted of four people, and Michelle was the fourth wheel, and easily one of the worst victims of tribe-swapping in Survivor history.  This girl would've been a force to be reckoned with had the Triforce stayed intact.  She would've outlasted it, as she was really the only member to be able to adapt.  But she was basically forced into a late-game situation early in the game, and that's an impossible riddle for even the best players to solve.
• Taylor (Vanua/Millennials) His love-hate relationship with Adam propelled Adam to victory, but left himself running in circles.
• Chris (Takali/Gen X) A far better juror than he was player, adequately making the case for Adam's victory without the need for that slam-dunk emotional appeal. 
• Jessica (Takali/Gen X) A necessary ally for advancing forward, but also a necessary victim, which makes her elimination by rock all the more ironic.
• Zeke (Vanua/Millennials) His epic showdown with David painted a hugely false impression of where this season was headed, but it was undeniably a highlight not just of the season but Survivor in general.
• Will (Vanua/Millennials) Somehow this guy's the youngest player to ever play the game, but that deep voice of his is great camouflage.  His gameplay, however, betrays him.  Like Michaela chose way too late to begin taking the game seriously, and like her was quickly and easily eliminated because of it.
• Sunday (Takali/Gen X) A classic coattail rider just filling space.
• Jay (Vanua/Millennials) The Triforce (excluding Michelle) was redeemed by this guy, who learned from Taylor's mistakes and made a game run to the end of the season.  Became very easy to root for.
• Bret (Takali/Gen X) The last of the patriarchs somewhat ironically turned out to be gay, in a moment made him relevant, because his gameplay otherwise relegated him to the last of the extraneous players in the game.
• David (Takali/Gen X) One of the most remarkable transformations in Survivor history, a would-be Tai who became a true mastermind and legitimate force, who bested all the obvious threats to his game, until finally everyone left realized he would win if he made it to the finals.  Because he really would have.
• Ken (Takali/Gen X) One of the best allies anyone could find in this game, whose reliability made David possible, who ultimately did what most players never do, which is turn on that ally at the very last minute.  And they didn't end up hating each other!
• Hannah (Vanua/Millennials) The David of the Millennials had a nearly comparable experience, except she had to scramble the whole time.  I would've been happy with any of the finalists winning, which happens, basically, never in this game.
• Adam (Vanua/Millennials) A feel-good winner all-around (and got all the votes, which has happened, what, three other times?), Adam's epic showdown with the Triforce defined the season that wasn't dominated by Zeke and David, and like the best players found and used cleverly all available advantages.  But when everyone found out why he was so driven, his mom's battle with cancer (which she lost an hour after he got home), is the kind of narrative the longevity of Survivor is geared around (they'd applied together to compete on Blood vs. Water, six seasons back).  Some will argue he manipulated jurors with that revelation, but I think it was beyond clear at that point he'd done plenty with his gameplay alone to justify a victory this season.