#19- Samoa (19): This season, is in my opinion, the one with the most wasted potential in terms of the edit. The cast is really fantastic, the story lines are there and just waiting to be edited, and the outcome is an enjoyable finish. But instead, the editors decided to make the season into a preview for Heroes vs. Villain and all about Russell. I'm not going to get into his gameplay, because first of all this ranking is barely about that, and arguing about it is pointless, because the people that still support him at this point, will never stop supporting him and the argument is worn out and tiring. Even though I hate Russell, I really feel that if his edit was more toned down, and less overbearing, he could've been an entertaining villain with a good downfall, but instead the season is turned to be all about him (the confessional count for this season is unbelievable, Russell is at first with 108, and sec on place Shambo, only has 38 or so, meaning there's a gap of 70 confessionals between the top two. That's ridiculous.) which pretty much ruins the season.
But if you look underneath the piles of Russell they lay upon us, there is some good stuff here that is worth it, Galu for example, is one of my favorite tribes, and if they had edited them correctly and shown them to be the dysfunctional clusterfuck that all signs point to them being, they could've easily been one of the best tribes ever. The Foa Foa 4 are for the most part routable, if not mildly boring, and Brett becoming an underdog at the end after being in the majority the whole game while the Foa Foa 4 finally reigned control, was a nice switch and fit perfectly with the general underdog theme of the season. There's a bunch of underrated and under edited characters in here, that if had been on another season, could've been fantastic, and it really makes it worth it, there's also a couple of really good blindsides and confrontations from essentially the start, and there's never really a boring patch in the season.
~highlight~ Erik's vote off and the string of blindsides afterwards, Galu in general, Natalie winning, Ben vs. Yasmin. There's tons of other good stuff in here, you just kind of have to look for them.
Cast Ranking:
20th: Russell Hantz
19th: John Fincher
18th: Mike Borassi
17th: Ashley Trainer
16th: Russell Swan
15th: Shambo Waters (She really did have some hilarious moments though)
14th: Liz Kim
13th: Marisa Calihan
12th: Betsy Bolan
11th: Mick Trimming
10th: Kelly Sharbaugh
9th: Natalie White
These eight are all essentially tied in my eyes, but for the sake of ranking, here they are in a completely randomized order!
8th: Laura Morrett
7th: Brett Clouser
6th: Yasmin Giles
5th: Jaison Robinson (Has some underrated moments, like him owning Ben, but they're not always clear, so I get not liking him)
4th: Monica Padilla (The pre-HvV Courtney with her Russell impersonations < 3)
3rd: Erik Cardona
2nd: Ben Browning (Only Shannon challenges him as the most hilariously offensive pre-merge villain ever, and even then, Ben delivers more consistently)
1st: Dave Ball
