NOTE: This is NOT a ranking of the CBS Survivor seasons it is a ranking of the 1st Generation Suitman's Survivor seasons, a groupgame which began in August 2011 and ended in November 2012.
#3: China- Second Chances II (Season 23, September-October 2012)
Winner: NorthCarolinaDogwood (8-1)
Wiki page: http://bit.ly/Ls3mlU
We are finally at the top three! Just missing out on the top two is a season that had a great cast, a great pre-merge, one of the most complicated and dramatic post-merges and a very good winner - just like Thailand at #4. The difference with this though is that the four tribe format and the subsequent merge led to the rise of an alliance who didn't even have the numbers, but who, by sticking together, still managed to pull of one of the best secret alliances for the first half of the merge, until it's existance was recognised later down the line, by the time it was too late. They were codenamed the Fierce Five of China.
The tribes merged into the Hae Da Fung tribe on Day 9. Prozach made what some consider one of the most annoyinh moves ever and chose to quit the game at this point, which angered many due to the fact that twelve people voted out before him all wanted to get to this point in the game but couldn't. This quit converted the planned Final 3 with a Jury of 9 into a Final 2 with a Jury of 9 as the vote still went ahead. Flamelord had his game planned out. He was going to stick with his original tribe Taihang, which was the only original tribe with four members left, the others having three or two. But Skillz wasn’t having any of it. A new alliance cross-tribe alliance was created named the Fierce Five of China, consisting of Skillz, RoboZoe, NorthCarolina, Jamz and Smiley. They knew they weren’t majority, but they got Bingo on their side for the vote. Smiley won Immunity and with the new Secret Immunity Partners twist, Skillz was Immune too. Danielvk, Jamz and Mittens (along with Cubsguy who was now out) brought Immunity with Tesoro Tickets pre-merge. Flamelord got a few people on board to try and vote out RoboZoe, but they had their links with the Fierce Five, and when the alliance caught wind of it, RoboZoe played her idol, and Flamelord was blindsided, becoming the first member of the China Jury. With 10 remaining, the Fierce Five weren’t quite in control yet, as everyone else was willing to go against them. Bowling4fun won the next Immunity Challenge, and his immunity partner turned out to be Camdizzils, who was subsequently also immune. The Fierce Five knew all they had to do was get one of the five to vote someone else – and it worked. Bowling4fun voted for Mittens, while the other four not in the main alliance voted RoboZoe. The entire Fierce Five voted Bingo, and he was blindsided unexpectedly with an idol in his pocket. The Fierce Five of China now had majority. At the Auction the next day, things got complicated as votes changed and people’s votes got voided, and they realised they had to cause a tie to avoid the idols. Mittens won Immunity with Jamz also safe as her Immunity partner. They split the votes between Bowling and Camdizzils, and when Bowling pulled out and played an idol, Skillz and Camdizzils were tied on two votes each. The Fierce Five then saved their alliance member Skillz and Camdizzils was voted out. Things again got tricky at the next Tribal. North won Immunity alongside partner RoboZoe. On Tesoro Isla, which was brought back for the Auction, outsider Danielvk voided three votes of his choice, being Mittens, North and Smiley. However they did this to vote Mittens who they thought was in the main alliance, but she wasn’t. There was a tie between Bowling and Mittens because of the voided votes, and in the re-vote, there was a shocking move by members of the Fierce Five as they decided to vote out Mittens instead of big threat Bowling, and Mittens was surprisingly voted off. All four of the original Taihang Four planned alliance were the first four voted out at the merge, instead of the Final Four they had planned, because of the Fierce Five of China. But the Fierce Five was starting to crumble. The Secret Immunity Partners twist ended, and Jamz won Immunity. RoboZoe and North wanted to keep Bowling in the game, as they thought that at Final Five, Skillz, Jamz and Smiley were going to band together to vote them out, plus Smiley and Skillz were both original Guangxi. North and RoboZoe were original Yuezhi, and they jumped with Danielvk and Bowling4fun. Both of these people were outside the original FFOC alliance. Their plan was to make a major move and blindside Smiley20, who was still dangerous as he had a hidden idol. It worked. Smiley20 was the first of the Fierce Five to be booted, blindsided by the flippers. Skillz and Jamz had no idea what had just happened. Zoe won next Immunity, and Danielvk and Bowling4fun were now hopeful that North and Zoe would stay with them to the end. But that wasn’t the plan. They went back with their original alliance, now knowing they had a better chance to win, and the now Fierce Four voted out Danielvk, who was furious he had gotten played. North won her second Immunity the next day, and all that was left to do was vote out the last person outside the main alliance, Bowling4fun. And it worked. The last outsider got booted from the game. But Skillz of the Fierce Four, thinking he was gone, surprisingly voted Jamz, who had played the NAR idol, and it got reflected onto Bowling. But that no longer mattered, because 4/5 of the alliance which set themselves up at the merge were in the Final Four. They now had to turn on each other. North and Zoe's plans of getting to the F2 were foiled, when Skillz and Jamz BOTH won Immunity at Final Four, and a vote tied to vote one of then out. They then competed in a tiebreaker, which Zoe lost, making her the eighth Jury member. At Final Immunity, which was Endurance, Skillz chose not to participate, and in a two-way game between Jamz and North, North convinced Jamz to step down, saying she would last longer than him, and if he didn't step down, he would be voted off. Jamz knew he wouldn't be able to beat North, and accpeted the offer, which came back to haunt him when North backstabbed again and still voted Jamz off, who was the ninth anf final member of the Jury. At Final Tribal Council, the Jury praised North for making good moves to get here, but scolded her for her backstabbing and lies. Skillz was praised on forming the Fierce Five of China alliance and controlling some good votes, but was torn down when Skillz admitted he was just trolling everyone and never aimed to win in the first place. Skillz's attitude got what he aimed for, and he lost to North who was crowned the Sole Survivor in a landslide 8-1 Jury Vote.
Just READING this season makes me squeal. It was honestly such a joy to watch such a complicated and complex season with some great moves and blindsides. The castaways were effectively divided into three different alliances at the merge, which rarely happens ever. NorthCarloina was a great winner too, staying on the right side of the numbers and keeping up a strategic and social game for the whole merge while letting people like Skillz and Jamz take all the heat.
Fave Castaway on Season = XJamzX, because this is the season where we see him come into his own and fight in this game.
NOTE: This is NOT a ranking of the CBS Survivor seasons it is a ranking of the 1st Generation Suitman's Survivor seasons, a groupgame which began in August 2011 and ended in November 2012.
I love China, its like the best group game I ever played in, the FFOC was soooooo good< 3