LogFAQs > #919933471

To answer the poll question, Outcasts was by far the best of the three twists for a ton of reasons:

1. It was a surprise to both the players AND the audience, creating one of the truly great WTF moments in Survivor history.

2. Because it was a surprise to the audience, it didn't eat up screen time throughout the episodes, nor was it shoved down our throats. Beyond the two episodes where it actually mattered, it wasn't even mentioned (except in passing, ie Burton holding it over Lill's head).

3. It was designed to fit the theme of the season rather than shape it, making it feel much more natural despite being totally unprecedented.

4. It wasn't a guarantee anyone was going to return. The remaining players had an opportunity to prevent anyone from coming back, and they failed.

5. The returnees weren't simply placed back into the game - as punishment for explicitly losing the Outcast challenge, the tribes had to vote people out whom the returnees would replace, thus the cast size wasn't artificially bloated.

(EDIT: I KNEW I forgot one I was thinking of) 6. It was dead at the merge.

7. Because of all of the above, it wasn't intrusive to the narrative of the season. Only the results.

Objectively the only thing wrong with it compared to the others is that the returnees automatically had immunity the first tribal council after coming back, but that's a live-and-learn scenario. Frankly I don't think either of them would have been in danger of going home that night considering how things played out.

Honestly, I think the reason people loath it so much is because they hated the result it created. Lill, a player they felt was unworthy of still being in the game that deep into the season, came back and was directly responsible for voting out Savage, a player they felt deserved to go much further than he did. If the situation had been reversed the complaints would have been much fewer.
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darkx
Score: There goes bracket