It’s now February, and you all know what that means! Another season of SURVIVOR is just around the corner!
SURVIVOR: PALAU will premiere two weeks from today, on Thursday, February 17th, 2005. Unfortunately, we will only get an hour, which is rather surprising, considering that all twenty people will start off in one big tribe (I will talk more about this next week) and three people will be eliminated. Oh, well, we’ll deal. All I know is that I can’t wait, and it should be a fun season.
Counting this one you’re reading right now, I have three columns before the big premiere. Over the next two weeks, I will be doing my preliminary analysis of the cast. I will be splitting my analysis into two columns (men in one and women in another) because it is my opinion that doing all 20 people at once would just be far too complicated. So, that will begin next week, in addition to my thoughts on the big twist of the season….starting with the merge.
So that leaves this week. I thought about what to do, and decided we’d just have a little fun this week and get our feet wet and back into the SURVIVOR universe. I’m basically going to list and comment on some memorable moments from the first nine seasons; this is NOT a countdown of any kind, and these are not ranked in any preference or order of importance. We’re going to go in order of the seasons and I’m going to list at least one moment from each season that I feel are the most memorable and/or significant to the show.
This will just give us a quick chance to look back at SURVIVOR’s impressive nine- season history before we dive into preliminary stuff on the tenth season.
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BORNEO
1. JENNA DOES NOT RECEIVE HER TAPE: Clearly one of the most emotional moments of any season of SURVIVOR, I think all of us watching this truly felt a personal connection with her. How often do we identify with someone on television? Not often on reality shows, that’s for sure, and here we have a moment where some of us may have easily sobbed along with Jenna when she realized she would not get to see her twin girls.
2. SUE’S RATS AND SNAKES: Who hasn’t heard of this? Probably even people who don’t like or even watch SURVIVOR are familiar with this. Easily one of (not the most, but one of the) most shocking, jaw-dropping moments in Survivor history, and quite possibly television history, it made all of us inch forward on our couches. Not only that, it was clever. The analogy of the rats and snakes was fitting, and was a great way to end the show’s successful freshmen season with a bang.
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AUSTRALIA
1. MIKE SKUPIN FALLS IN THE FIRE: Another regularly-talked about Survivor moment. Mike became the first and only person ever seriously injured on the show, and also became the first person to leave the show without being officially voted off. While many people debate whether or not he should have been included in the All-Star edition, everyone agrees that this was a tragic, and also therefore memorable, Survivor moment.
2. BARRAMUNDI GETS FLOODED: For the first time, television viewers were given true witness to the power of nature over the contestants of this show. Moments like this show the vulnerability of the castaways to the elements of the locations they are living and playing in.
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AFRICA
1. THE TRIBAL SWITCH: I still remember when I saw this episode for the first time. Obviously, Survivor was still very new, and until this moment, during the first two seasons, the format had stayed the same: two tribes compete against each other (with the same members) until 10 remain and they merge. While the merge still materialized at 10 per usual, the switch was definitely something different and shocking. Now, of course, it is not a foreign concept at all. But back then, the moment when Jeff told the six tribal ambassadors they would be switching tribes with the other three was absolutely priceless.
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MARQUESAS
1. THE COCONUT CHOPPING CHALLENGE AND DEATH OF AN ALLIANCE: Survivor fans everywhere STILL talk about this. We all remember the infamous coconut challenge that they held at the Final Nine. The infamous Rotu 4 of John, Zoe, Tammy, and Robert chopped all their enemies out of the game and let the pecking order be known. This prompted Kathy, Sean, Vee, Neleh, and Paschal to join forces and take them out one at a time in one of the biggest power shake-ups in Survivor history. For the first time, after the merge people from different original tribes worked together to take out the dominant power.
2. THE PURPLE ROCK OF DEATH: This not only shocked us when we saw it for the first time, it also had strong repercussions for the rest of the series thus far. Up until now, the results of tiebreakers had been determined by previous votes racked up by the contestants. Now, however, it would be based on pure random luck. In this case, it sent home the one person who had never received a single vote against him, Paschal. Since then, there has never been another tiebreaker, simply for fear of the purple rock. This has resulted in some interesting new alliances and people jumping ship just to avoid this situation in a tiebreaker.
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THAILAND
1. JAKE AND JAN SELECT THEIR TRIBES: When the cast of SURVIVOR: THAILAND was first announced, CBS made us all think that the “big twist” they were promoting for this season was that it would be divided into men vs. women. We were under that assumption, along with the cast, right through the very beginning when that is how they were divided on the boats going out to the island and that is how they were seated before this all took place. But then, in another unique twist, the two eldest members, Jake and Jan, became tribe selectors and chose their own tribes, and this resulted in a battle of the old vs. the young, rather than men vs. women. While many consider Thailand a lackluster season, this unique beginning had huge consequences on the season and allowed us as viewers to see a battle of age with a result that surprised many.
2. THE FAKE MERGE: Up until this point, the tribes had always merged at 10. While the switches in both Africa and Marquesas shook up the tribes competing before that, once it got down to 10, the tribes merged. This time, the group assumed this would happen again, especially when Mark Burnett in all his evil had the tribes live together in the same camp. This was especially good news for Shii-Ann, who was not happy with Sook-Jai and more than willing to go hook up with Chuay-Gahn. Unfortunately for Shii-Ann, the merge was not meant to be the same in Thailand, and in a memorable episode all around, she was sent home for her betrayal and false assumptions.
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AMAZON
1. THE WOMEN BEAT THE MEN IN THE FIRST CHALLENGE: Well, after we were fooled in Thailand, Amazon provided us with the TRUE test that pitted the men against the women. It instantly gave the audience someone to root for, and set the stage for a very exciting for memorable season of Survivor. When the underdog women beat the arrogant males in the first Immunity Challenge, all bets were off, and it was anybody’s game.
2. JENNA WINS 6-1: A memorable beginning and a memorable ending. When it got down to the Final Two, everyone (including myself) thought for sure that Matt had it in the bag. Jenna had acted on numerous occasions like a selfish, spoiled child, and for the viewing audience, this one seemed like a no-brainer. Not so for the Jury, who not only shocked television audiences everywhere by awarding Jenna the million, but gave it to her in an extremely decisive 6-1 vote, the first landslide of that nature to ever make the stage at the final Tribal Council. While I realize now it was very well-deserved, back then, it definitely served as quite the shocker.
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PEARL ISLANDS
1. THE OUTCASTS RETURN: The biggest and most controversial twist in Survivor history gave booted players a chance to return and a second chance at the million dollars. A threat to the show’s premise and basic principles? Quite possibly. Compelling television? Oh, you bet. The two-part episode was compelling from start to finish.
2. THE DEAD GRANDMOTHER LIE: Who will ever forget Johnny Fairplay? The little turd made Survivor history when he completely shattered any moral premise by lying to his fellow tribe members about his grandmother’s death in order to excite sympathy and regain trust. While he didn’t win the million (thank God) he certainly gave us all a moment to remember.
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ALL-STARS
1. LEX KEEPS AMBER/GETS SCREWED BY ROB: Okay, nothing shocking about this. We all saw this coming as soon as bonehead Lex agreed to keep Amber around. Well, all except poor Lex, of course. So maybe we knew he’d get screwed, but that doesn’t change the fact that the two episodes where all this storyline plays out, who will deny that they weren’t intrigued? This was storytelling at its finest, and even though we knew the outcome of the decision because it was STUPID, we enjoyed it, and it is most definitely memorable.
2. MARRIAGE PROPOSAL: Okay, we all knew that Rob and Amber would be the Final Two. But did any of us expect Rob to get down on one knee live in the studio before the final vote was revealed and pop the question? Not by a long shot.
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VANUATU
1. LEANN VOTED OFF/FEMALE ALLIANCE CRUMBLES: And here I actually thought the finals would be all women. I truly thought they would pull it off, but then a new alliance is born thanks to eventual Final Two member Twila, and any notion of an all-female final round was completely thrown out the window. (Especially considering a guy won.) This moment was made especially sweet by Leann saying just minutes before her torch is snuffed that she didn’t feel she needed Immunity.
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Well, that does it for this week! I’ll return next week with the beginnings of preliminary analysis for the cast of SURVIVOR: PALAU! What memorable moments and storylines will emerge from this new season?
I guess we’ll have to wait and see.
“See” you next week!
