#20- Fiji (14): Fiji is a season with some reasonably high highs and some VERY low lows. The cast of Fiji is largely unmemorable and mildly edited, but no where near to the extent of the last few seasons in this ranking. In fact, I'd say it has an average cast, with some likable, entertaining and hatable (in the best way possible) characters.
The season starts off pretty badly, with possibly the worst twist ever, Have vs. Have Nots, the unfairness of this twist ends up tainting all of the pre-switch episodes, which are pretty damn bad other than the last two which have some good build up with the Four Horsemen. After the switch, the season clearly gets better, with the better part of the cast taking over, but then comes the second complete bullshit twist in the season. Under the ruse of a merge (it was never really a fake merge either, they count that episode as the merge episode), the two tribes are essentially switched again. This is completely unfair. If it had some enjoyable or dramatic effects on the season I wouldn't mind t but it instead delayed the climatic showdown between the two major alliances for the next episode. The next episode is one of my personal favorites, with the fall of the Four horsemen, and that storyline ALONE may have bumped this season up a few spots. The next episodes after these are average with some good scenes, but aren't enough to make up for the lousy pre-merge. The car deal however, is one of the most interesting and complex moments in Survivor history from multiple stand points, and it is disheartening to see Dreamz be labeled as a villain and to see the storyline be reduced to 'Bad Guy betrayed Fan Favorite and ruined the season', the FTC is one of the worst, with the completely random (from what we now) hating on Cassandra, to two of the worst Jury Questions with Lisi (who I generally like, but her jury speech is just ugh.)
However, Earl is a badass, and he and Yau Man are enjoyable and charismatic, which make the predictable parts of the season at least a bit more interesting, but the lousy twists, average cast and shitty pre-switch/pre-merge are enough, in my opinion, to qualify for this spot.
~highlight~ Fall of the 4 horsemen
19th: Alex Angarita (Clearly the most douchy of the four)
18th: Erica Durousseau
17th: Jessica DeBen (LOL at Probst randomly loving her)
16th: Mookie Lee
15th: Gary Stritesky
14th: Anthony Robinson
13th: Edgardo Rivera
12th: Lilliana Gomex
11th: Rita Verreos
10th: Stacy Kimball
9th: Michelle Yi
8th: Sylvia Kwan
7th: James 'Rocky' Reid (Had his atrocious moments, but I enjoyed him at times)
6th: Kenward 'Boo' Bernis (Of course he is the reason Hantz was brought upon us, and that is an unforgivable sin, but he's likable, and his recurring storyline of getting hurt all the time was entertaining)
5th: Lisi Linares (meh probably should be lower)
4th: Cassandra Franklin
3rd: Dre 'Dreamz' Herd (Sue me, I like Dreamz)
2nd: Earl Cole
1st: Yau-Man Chan
Ugh ranking the cast is my least favorite part of this tbh, because there are so many UTR borewhores and mixed bags in the bottom few seasons. #survivorcjuddyjackyboyMrPokeguy901GohanKantuskikorus_JB_DatBlackGuyMasterchefsurvivor233lyseckititanium162
Comments
what was the name of that racist juror who critisized cassandras shoes or something like that.... as if it had anything to do with her actually playing the game lmao. It was a female
yerg I basically agree with everything you've said here - stupid twists, Yau-Man and Earl rule, the car deal was fun, and Lisi's jury speech was stupid.
