Alright. This is the first time the Season and the Winner will not be ranked at the same position, so everything is about to get flubbed up. XD Let's jump right in hoes!!!
First of all, let's jump into the area first. As far as the locations go, Thailand was beautiful, but not overly enjoyable. They boasted in the premiere about poisonous snakes like cobras and giant horrible monsters like the pythons, but unlike in Africa, none of those animals really made an appearance. AGAIN Food was relatively easy to find on both camps, water was a major issue for one tribe while shelter was an issue for the other. Honestly, it was well-rounded but not as much fun. Also despite being in the middle of the monsoon season, not a lot of weather-related issues to be honest.
Let's tackle pre-merge. It was amazing. I absolutely loved the old farts, Jake and Jan. Honestly I was happy they made it past the merge. Jan was the EPITOME of social gaming, whereas Jake tried his hardest to pick a good tribe. Making them choose their own tribes was a bit of a let-down because of that.
Jan (Chuay Ghan) chose second-stringers and people you wouldn't want, which I think automatically made their tribe more coherent because everybody had low expectations of them. Jake (Sook Jai) had young assholes like Robb, Jed, and Stephanie who weren't really doing anything besides fighting over who did the least work. Then there was the whole sexual harassment thing between Ted and Ghandia. Kinda nerfed their pre-merge fun for me.
The fake merge I hated so much. It screwed Shii Ann over so bad. If that merge had been legit, I really think it would've been like Marquesas in the end, with members of both tribes surviving till the finale. Instead, when they finally merged at final 8, we had Chuay Ghan taking the 3 remaining Sook Jai out one by one. All in all, it was a good idea, but not well executed.
Then we get to the final 5... they were a total cluster. Ted going 5th, IDK it just didn't sit right with me. Then Helen. Helen Helen Helen. I honestly thought she was going to win. She was SO FUCKING SMART and good in the challenges. And then she gets voted out because Jan misunderstood what she saw Helen and Ted doing in the sand (complaining about Clay's laziness) and got her tribemate taken out. Helen should have won the whole thing. Just saying.
The finale was one-sided in my opinion, but not the Jury's. People were mad at Brian for playing the game, which I get. And I will FOREVER love Helen's angry rant at him calling him the typical car salesman. But he did deserve the win SO SO SO MUCH MORE than Clay. Clay was a lazy, bitter, angry old man who couldn't take the truth when people pointed out his laziness. He was basically Jed 30 years into the future. Brian may have lost against Helen, we'll never know, but because of his smart moves and being so informed in his tribe, he was able to manipulate information and keep himself in the game. Definitely one of my favorite winners so far, even if he's from a rather bad season.
Seasons:
=== Best ===
Australian Outback (S2)
Borneo (S1)
Marquesas (S4)
Thailand (S5)
Africa (S3)
=== Worst ===
Winners:
=== Best ===
Tina Wesson (S2)
Brian Heidik (S5)
Richard Hatch (S1)
Vecepia Towery (S4)
Ethan Zohn (S3)
=== Worst ===
