Board 8 > Survivor: Island of the Idols Discussion Topic #3: We are thankful for Noura

(+) Yeah! (+)

hot take: island of the idols is definitely not the worst season in survivor history

that being said, everything surrounding and involving dan put it undoubtedly in the bottom tier, just a stretch above disasters like one world and redemption island, because it actually had SOME amount of compelling characters

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Im not sure where I have it. Definitely not dead last, but in the lower half.

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GTM posted...

I think I have it last too, but it may be an overreaction. There were some great weeks especially in the premerge. But the bad just felt sooo bad...

The pre-merge was surprisingly solid but the post-merge was just way too fucking awful for it to really even matter. It's possible that recency bias is coming into play for me and it might, like, just end up being bottom 3 or bottom 5 for me two years from now, but I really don't think there is any possibility or any future in which this season is looked upon even remotely favorably.

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I don't have it dead last, the premerge was too fun for me. But it is down there because of this dark cloud more than in reality.

EDIT: This is actually how I describe South Pacific. Perhaps a measuring stick?
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Maybe Tommy winning will be the straw that broke the camel's back and show the producers you don't need to have a million advantages thrown at you in order to win.

Jk everyone starts the game with 5 idols let's goooooo!

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Pokewars posted...

Maybe Tommy winning will be the straw that broke the camel's back and show the producers you don't need to have a million advantages thrown at you in order to win.

Jk everyone starts the game with 5 idols let's goooooo!

Shhhh, don't give Probst any ideas.

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I once saw somebody suggest a season in which everyone starts with one hidden immunity idol that is non-transferable and there are no other HIIs hidden in the season. So everyone gets one chance to save themselves.

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Apparently Elizabeth wasn't at the reunion either. I would never have noticed.

Who got to talk? Including interludes, Tommy, Dean, Noura, Lauren, Janet, Elaine, Karishma, Jamal, Kellee.... was that it?

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yup that sounds right. Elizabeth and Jack (and dan of course) were entirely missing

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Underleveled posted...

I once saw somebody suggest a season in which everyone starts with one hidden immunity idol that is non-transferable and there are no other HIIs hidden in the season. So everyone gets one chance to save themselves.

Survivor: Exploding Kittens

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eaedwards6400 posted...

I don't have it dead last, the premerge was too fun for me. But it is down there because of this dark cloud more than in reality.

EDIT: This is actually how I describe South Pacific. Perhaps a measuring stick?

south pacific gets more hate than i have for it, but it's got a hugely satisfying ending in its favor, which IoI lacks completely. i don't think i can think of a season whose entire final boot episode order and way of playing out happened exactly like i thought it would coming into the finale.

Underleveled posted...

I once saw somebody suggest a season in which everyone starts with one hidden immunity idol that is non-transferable and there are no other HIIs hidden in the season. So everyone gets one chance to save themselves.

while i am amused by the novelty of this idea, what's to stop the person who's the first boot target (or targets) to literally play their idols, followed by everyone else saving themselves, and everyone at the first TC being immune? i feel like this is far more likely to happen than not.

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THE WORST OF THE WORST:
39. Island of the Idols
38. Redemption Island
37. Caramoan
36. All-Stars
35. Cambodia

OFFENSIVELY BORING:
34. Ghost Island
33. Cook Islands
32. Millennials vs. Gen X
31. One World

LEAVE AN EXTREMELY BAD TASTE IN THE MOUTH:
30. Thailand
29. Worlds Apart
28. South Pacific

BORING:
27. Australia
26. Tocantins
25. Africa
24. Samoa

PROBLEMATIC:
23. Blood vs. Water
22. Game Changers
21. Edge of Extinction
20. Palau
19. Heroes vs. Healers vs. Hustlers
18. Micronesia

GOOD:
17. Amazon
16. Fiji
15. Exile Island
14. David vs. Goliath
13. Heroes vs. Villains
12. Nicaragua
11. Guatemala
10. Gabon

AMAZING:
9. Borneo
8. Cagayan
7. China
6. Philippines
5. Marquesas

THE BEST OF THE BEST:
4. San Juan Del Sur
3. Pearl Islands
2. Vanuatu
1. Kaoh Rong

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There's a LOT wrong with Samoa but it isn't boring. Certainly not the first time anyway.

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I know hating IotI enough to rank it last is a bit of a knee-jerk reaction, but I just...outside of Noura existing, there really aren't any positives solid enough to outweigh just how much of a failure I feel like this season was on all fronts.

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Underleveled posted...

There's a LOT wrong with Samoa but it isn't boring. Certainly not the first time anyway.

Samoa is interesting for exactly three episodes: the merge, the final eleven, and the final ten. Prior to that, it's a severe Ulonging in which Foa Foa eliminates everyone with a personality that isn't Russell. AFTER those three episodes, we continue the LONGEST reverse Pagonging in the show's history. All of this is capped off by 100+ confessionals from Russell, talking about how amazing he is. It's not fun to watch.

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yeah all the interesting characters were basically thrown under the russell train for like 14 episodes. it sucks

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Vis if nothing else you can say that your least favorite season remains, after 15 years, a season in which Boston Rob is in the entire season.

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Underleveled posted...

Vis if nothing else you can say that your least favorite season remains, after 15 years, a season in which Boston Rob is in the entire season.

Boston Rob is in every episode of 3/4 of my bottom 4.

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That's not looking good for Winners at War, since he'll likely be in every episode due to EoE.

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My hopes are not high for Winners at War anyway. Honestly, if I stay off of the internet and ignore the fans that are just going to ooh and aah over it for the cast alone (which is NOT my dream cast of winners by any means, mind you), it can probably do nothing but impress me unless some absolutely unforgivable shit goes down.

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Underleveled posted...

My hopes are not high for Winners at War anyway. Honestly, if I stay off of the internet and ignore the fans that are just going to ooh and aah over it for the cast alone (which is NOT my dream cast of winners by any means, mind you), it can probably do nothing but impress me unless some absolutely unforgivable shit goes down.

Yeah. A preview for an all-winners season that doesn't even let the only two-time winner (who happened to be relegated to a sidekick role for one-win-in-four-seasons Boston Rob in the season we JUST watched) speak tells me exactly what's in store for us. Buncha boring gamebottery, and our sixth male winner in a row.

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Inviso posted...

and our sixth male winner in a row.

Which is odd because in general the attitude going into all-returnee seasons has been "this is a woman's to lose."

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Here's a credit to Island of the Idols (which isn't the worst season, come on people): I was trying to formulate desired "returnee" season scenarios, the one I was working with was a recency bias kind of thing. 4 survivors from each of the past 5 seasons (so HHH onwards), excluding any winners or returnees from the seasons. 2 men and 2 women for each season. I'll probably post and solicit opinions on that soon now that I've been doing some binge skimwatches of the past seasons recently, in the next discussion topic or a separate one.

Anyways, the problem is, all the women I'd choose from IotI: Elaine has to be there as a huge fan favourite, and Kellee really SHOULD get another chance (and I was honestly hoping Jeff would tell her she'd get one in their interview, but I guess that would be too weird to say/promise in that moment, but I really hope she does).

But just taking those two freezes Lauren and Noura who would be rock-solid locks if from most other seasons. Really a very strong season of women characters. Even though there were 2 white guys at the end - sorry Inviso!

(the editors might've tricked me into thinking Tommy's win wasn't 100% certain, but the Invisopinions are always reliable...)

Me calling it 19 minutes into the premiere:


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I'd leave Kellee out because I doubt she'd ever want to come back after everything that happened.

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Two men and two women from each of the last five seasons, no winners or veterans?

HHH: Chrissy, Devon, Lauren, Joe
GI: Domenick, Kellyn, Chris, Stephanie J
DvG: Angelina, Davie, Christian, Gabby
EoE: Rick*, Aurora, Wardog, Reem
IoI: Dean*, Noura, Elaine, Jamal

*big disclaimer that I don't actually want to see either of these fuckers again but do believe they'd be locks under the parameters listed

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you are going to be severely disappointed if you never want to see rick devens again lol

(i would pick ron clark as a potential returnee from eoe over pretty much any other guy though)

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Naye745 posted...

(i would pick ron clark as a potential returnee from eoe over pretty much any other guy though)

I actually tossed-up between Ron and Wardog as my second EoE male.

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Ron over Wardog 100% if Joe Mena is there. We don't need them both and Joe is the better one.

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Off-season topic title should be something like "Praying for TAR32 to be good." I'll likely be asleep or at work when it gets made.

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okay we're officially on, everybody dump them, it'll get the taste of IoI out of our mouths. Then if enough people do we can tabulate and see if there's a (relative) consensus.

HHH: Devon, Joe, Chrissy, Lauren
GI: Domenick, Chris, Chelsea, Kellyn
DvG: Christian, John, Angelina, Gabby
EoE: Rick, Ron, Victoria, Lauren
IoI: Dean, Jamal, Elaine, Kellee (....assuming she'd accept it)

Yeah, uh, I'd take a 3rd woman over a 2nd guy for each of the past two seasons (and legit all 4 spots for IoI). And Victoria #1 female returnee, damn it, she's gotta come back!

HHH: Chrissy, Devon, Dr. Mike, Lauren
GI: Domenick, Kellyn, Desiree, Chris
DvG: Angelina, Davie, Christian, Gabby
EoE: Rick, Ron, Wendy, Reem
IoI: Dean, Noura, Elaine, Jamal

I really wish I could drop the second woman from GI and give Janet an at large. Probably the same with the second man in EoE and put in John.
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During Cambodia we did a group ranking for favourites and for predictions. Does anyone plan to run that for this upcoming season? If not, I could volunteer for it.

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Underleveled posted...

Which is odd because in general the attitude going into all-returnee seasons has been "this is a woman's to lose."

This is why all the women need to be voted out! It's as dangerous as a women's alliance!

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I would love to see three laurens in this hypothetical season, they're all great

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GTM posted...

I would love to see three laurens in this hypothetical season, they're all great

Lauren Rimmer is the only one worth bringing back.

But I'm calling it now - a Lauren will win a season in the 40s. We went 34 seasons without one, then we had three in five seasons, each with increasing placement.

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Yeah, I don't get the hype behind the Laurens from the last two seasons either.
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due to its pre-merge, IOI is definitely not worse than the thoroughly unwatchable South Pacific or Ghost Island k thx

but fuck Feely Dan
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I don't get the hype with Lauren OConnell besides the fact that she's hot.

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BlueCrystalTear posted...

due to its pre-merge, IOI is definitely not worse than the thoroughly unwatchable South Pacific or Ghost Island k thx

but fuck Feely Dan

South Pacific, I get. I disagree, but I GET it. Ghost Island though, is one of the flattest and most uninspiring seasons ever. It definitely doesnt warrant outright HATRED. Not when there are actively offensive seasons out there.

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Seasons I have below IoI just cause the highs were high enough to out weight the lows. I think the only one I'll get major grief about here is Nicaragua, I believe there are some Nicaragua fans her but it just wasn't for me.

33. Island of the Idols (Season 39)
34. Survivor: Edge of Extinction (Season 38)
35. Survivor: All-Stars (Season 8)
36. Survivor: One World (Season 24)
37. Survivor: Nicaragua (Season 21)
38. Survivor: Thailand (Season 5)
39. Survivor: Redemption Island (Season 22)

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I think I have IOI in the low-20's (so like 28th~) out of the 39.

Not 100% sure though. It's been 24 hours since the finale and everything is super fresh, for better and for worse. I'll see where I'm after S40 with it.

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Centurion posted...

I don't get the hype with Lauren OConnell besides the fact that she's hot.

Well, yeah. But Lauren also had some great energy, we need bubbly personalities out there.

Island Lauren is hilarious and a great character.

Lauren O had some moments but was just too involved with the awfulness of Lesu for me to ever want her to come back, plus I'm adamant in my assertion that Aurora should be the young female returnee from that season over Lauren and Victoria.

Lauren B is in a similar boat. Some moments that basically put her in the same category as 200 other moderately entertaining players. She did have that "I'd like to play again" quote in her final words though, so that may bode well for her chances.

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Honestly, I'm fine with Reem being the only returnee from EoE.
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Cambodia is a top 5 season.

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