246 replies to this topic

[TWoP Pembleton]

This thread is for speculating on the next season.

UNTIL CBS RELEASES THE CAST, cast members names are spoilers. Please do not post them in here. I know they are out there on the Internet, but we are treating them as spoilers until CBS releases them.

Yes, I know it's dumb that CBS tries to hide what is common knowledge at this point, but there are some people who REALLY don't want to know yet, so please do your best to keep that information secret.

What you CAN talk about in here -- who you think might be returning, how you think the tribes will shape up, etc.

[Timewalker]

I've seen the list, and since I managed to miss several years' worth of seasons due to not owning a TV, the vast majority of the "favorites" will be brand-new to me. :)

[Lantern7]

Timewalker . . . lucky you, Ivar. The bulk of those people are annoying idiots at best. I'll be crossing my fingers, hoping the fresh meat can pull this season off.

Forgive me . . . when does Caramoan kick off?

[TWoP Pembleton]

February 13th.

[sully26]

I'm already aware of the cast list, but (and please let me know if I'm posting incorrectly), my ideal favourites cast list would have been as follows:

Malcolm (S25)
Ken (S17 - Gabon)
Matt (S6 - Amazon)
Colton (S24 - One World) - even though I despise the guy
Shane - (S12 - Panama - Exile Island)
Abi - (S25)
Brenda (S21 - Nicaragua)
Shambo (S19 - Samoa)
Corinne (S19 - Samoa)
Natalie (S16 - Micronesia - F v F)

I tried limiting it to contestants who've only appeared once, and excluded winners (though, a season with Todd, Earl, Chris, Brian, Yul, Kim, Dani and Aras would be fantastic).

[sienna gold]

You know though, a LOT of those winners are so quiet, unless it was trumpeted, Earl, Aras, Dani etc were winners, They could totally play it to the chest. (I mean, obviously the show would tell them that they were, but you know what I mean?) They weren't like Tom (very obvious winner) Sandra (ditto) and anyone pretty much S1 to I'd say S10 who were very public about their winnings.

[KimberStormer]

Assuming the Fans were really fans, though (big assumption I know) they would probably recognize them. A regular cast might not, though. It would be funny if they just snuck Danni or Aras in amongst the rest.

[bleacherbum153]

Looks like the cast list is no longer a spoiler, as of
this morning. (Link is to cbs.com).

[Lantern7]

Is it too much to hope that Sugar shows up just long enough to set Corrine on fire?

[Timewalker]

Ghah... it looks like one of the men is wearing PINK UNDERWEAR!

The only one I'm familiar with is Malcolm. I must have missed all the other seasons the rest are from, or else the individuals were so forgettable, I forgot them.

[KimberStormer]

Most of them are from some of the worst seasons ever, so you're not missing much. But Malcolm, Erik, Brenda, and Andrea are at least credible players. (I've never seen Gabon so I don't know about Corinne.) Everyone else can get voted off immediately, or better yet get some sort of non-life-threatening disease that takes them all out of the game on the first day.

I'm hoping this batch of Fans have more on the ball than the previous bunch. Otherwise it looks pretty dire.

[BML1980]

We're apparently getting a two-hour premiere according to the video preview on the CBS site, so that's fun.

[Hanahope]

Pink underwear is Phillip. Apparently he took his claim to fame to the extreme.

[Timewalker]

Apparently he took his claim to fame to the extreme.

Dare I ask what his claim to fame is?

[KimberStormer]

Dare I ask what his claim to fame is?

He basically wore nothing but a pair of pink tightie-whities (tightie-pinkies?) for the entirety of his season. But his main claim to fame, in my opinion, is getting the "look at this lunatic!" edit even beyond what they gave Coach in Tocantins.

[Lantern7]

Timewalker . . . Philip was supposed to be a special agent. To me, he was so Section 8, he was Section 64. Personally, nobody from Redemption Island should have come back because they handed Rob Mariano $1 million where he barely had to break a sweat. Sadly, that would include Francesca, who didn't help Rob out at all, but who was probably included to see Philip butcher her name.

Also, I never would've brought anybody from Nicaragua; I'm convinced the combined intelligence of the main players was so small as to guarantee shitty gameplay . . . and a reason for Redemption Island -- the following season, starring Rob and Russell -- to look that much better.

Edited by Lantern7, Jan 11, 2013 @ 3:05 PM.

[enlightenedbum]

In what universe is Erik a credible player? Unless we're going with "decent at at least one of the three elements (physical/social/strategic)" as our baseline. On a tribe full of morons (and Tracy), he was the dumbest. Brenda's not much better. Beneath her to scramble. Jesus.

Malcolm is definitely the best player in this group, Andrea's second (if nothing else, as a gifted female athlete, she's super valuable), and after that it's a wasteland.

[Timewalker]

Ick. I saw Coach's first season, and while I thought he was an unlikeable, narcissistic idiot, at least he wasn't too bad to look at. The only time I would expect a man to wear pink underwear is if his white underwear accidentally got washed with a non-colorfast item of red clothing.

[KimberStormer]

I don't know, I thought Erik was OK. He was out of his league with Cirie and Parvati out there, but he was not the dumbest Fan by a long shot. Dumber than Joel? Dumber than Jason? Dumber than Chet? I don't even think his social game was as bad as the Black Widows convinced him it was. He could certainly have won Fabio-style had he not made his epic move.

Nor do I buy this idea that Brenda thought scrambling was beneath her, she just seems to have thought it was useless and her best bet was to act like she trusted Sash enough to make him actually trustworthy. She was a good athlete too, as far as I can recall; I don't see why Andrea is that much better. (Yes, the stairs challenge was a monster and she was awesome at it.) Certainly Andrea was screwed over by having Matt around being a moron, but Brenda had Naonka playing spoiler. Brenda at least took control of the game, whereas Andrea just coasted, trusting Boston Rob to bring "the strongest players" to the end of all things--even if she was right that Rob was taking her and Grant to the end, that's playing a 3rd place game. I like her a lot, I hope she does great this time, but I don't see how she's better than Brenda at all.

[enlightenedbum]

Andrea kicked ass at pretty much every challenge. Brenda I can not recall at all other than being hot and haughty and sort of running things in a season with a lot of morons and two quitters.

Plus, even if it was dumb in a strict sense, Andrea refusing to deal with and then voting out Matt basically for being a sexist jackass makes me love her.

[ByaNose]

It's is a very, very, very weak casting for "Favorites" I do like Malcom, Brenda & Francescia but that's not even enough for me to consider this the best of the best for Favorites. It's a very weak term & I get why they used it since its a half & half season but how are Corrine & Brandon Favorites? Maybe, if they were on a Villians season I could accept it. Seriously, this a weak cast. Also, the only pretty girls are Brenda & Andrea. They are really low on the hot babes & the studs with the abs & such. Horrible casting.

[Oholibamah]

They are really low on the hot babes & the studs with the abs & such. Horrible casting.

I actually prefer that, because it gives me some glimmer of hope that they were cast for their personality and not their looks. Besides, for the women especially, I disagree.

Brenda, Andrea and Hope are stunning; Julia, Allie and Laura are quite pretty; and Dawn, Franesca and Sherri are gorgeous, mature women. Even Corinne isn't a beast when her mouth is shut.

Malcolm and Reynold also fit the abs description, and I personally think Eddie is really hot, and will admit to thinking Brandon is cute. I also think Michael looks good, but it could be a flattering photo.

Compared to the batch of "fans" they had last time, I'm thinking it'll be pretty hard for this not to be an improvement.

[BigRedCheese]

Dalton Ross has a new podcast up discussing the returning players, and an interview with Lisa Welchel.

http://insidetv.ew.c...-lisa-whelchel/

[Oholibamah]

In Micronesia, I felt the fans had 0 charisma, personality or gameplay ability, whereas every Favorite brought something fun and memorable to the table. This time around, I am gearing up to like the Fans more: the only Favorites I like are Brenda and Andrea (Malcolm is okay). And of course I don't know enough about them to hate them yet, but I think a number of fans show some promise: I get good vibes from Reynold, Hope, Sherri, Michael and Eddie.

I am hoping this will be the season the first-timers take the game back from returning players. I think it's interesting and very telling that every single season featuring returning players has had at least one make the finals (Steph, Parv/Amanda, Rob, Coach, Mike). If that player this time happens to be Andrea, I'm not complaining, but statistically, I would prefer a fan.

Edited by Oholibamah, Jan 12, 2013 @ 6:01 PM.

[RescueMom]

I don't know, I thought Erik was OK. He was out of his league with Cirie and Parvati out there, but he was not the dumbest Fan by a long shot. Dumber than Joel? Dumber than Jason? Dumber than Chet? I don't even think his social game was as bad as the Black Widows convinced him it was. He could certainly have won Fabio-style had he not made his epic move.

Agreed, KimberStormer. I remember Erik as being very athletic, a huge fan of the game, friendly, and someone who seemed to understand how the game worked strategically for the most part. He was quite young the first time he played and he made a huge blunder. I don't think that makes him dumb. He's one that I think has a good chance of playing well this time around.

I'm OK with the returning players. I like that they are all first-time returnees, and I'm OK that many of them weren't the biggest personalities in their seasons. If I hand-picked my favorites, would it be these 10? Not even close. But the only ones that would have been on my list of "never want to see again" would be Philip and maybe Brandon - and I am optimistic that Brandon will try to act a little differently this time.

[RaggedyAnne]

Also, the only pretty girls are Brenda & Andrea.

But they are all evil temptresses to Brandon. He is going to freak!

[Jobiska]

Be careful going to the upthread link for the Dalton Ross podcast--a comment, not that far down either, shares a final 3 spoiler. Waaahhh!

[toastyred]

Be careful going to the upthread link for the Dalton Ross podcast--a comment, not that far down either, shares a final 3 spoiler. Waaahhh!

Ugh, thanks for the warning. I really hate that with Survivor these days. You have to be so careful in looking in comment sections even since spoilers are so widespread. I love reading about the show, but it just becomes too dangerous on poorly moderated boards.

I'm happy enough with the favourites. I'm glad that they're all first timers and from later seasons since that's how we get new All-Stars. I could have done without another season of Philip and Brandon, but I suppose the inclusion of Philip led to the inclusion of Francesca.

[Hanahope]

I suppose the inclusion of Philip led to the inclusion of Francesca.

I'm sure that's the case, but I really fail to see why. Philip was crazy enough on his own, he didn't need Francesca.

I still think a great theme for a season would be first/second booties. That way, you don't have an entire season's worth of viewing as to how those people would play (which I think inherently favors the returnees of any season) and you give so many people a real second chance (after all, half or so will make the merge).

[toastyred]

I'm sure that's the case, but I really fail to see why. Philip was crazy enough on his own, he didn't need Francesca.

I think it's purely for his mispronunciation of her name in the first TC. I'm glad of her inclusion anyway. I'm always up for seeing more from what I deemed to be interesting characters.

I was thinking about who would be voted out first on the favourites tribe. Usually the strong players are targeted at the beginning, but with this lot, with the exception of Malcolm, there's no one particularly strong. The most successful in terms of placement is Philip and that was purely because there was no way he would win. If they vote out the weakest then surely that must be Cochran. He's also known to be untrustworthy. Brenda might also be a target since she was a bit schemey in her season, but I could also see her making an alliance early. Brandon might also be gone because he's such a loose cannon. It'll be interesting to see if they will go with the goat strategy. If they don't then Philip won't last long since I remember that he was terrible to live with (I can't remember his challenge performance).

Anyway, I'm looking forward to see what happens and I actually think that they've done a good job in casting the favourites.