I decided to return for a little just to write a blog about who I think should be locks in this vote, strong contenders, people on the bubble and then people who don't deserve to come back at all. Keep in mind this is MY opinion and NOT what I necessarily think will happen.
Locks:
1. Mike- he has done a great job this season and has proven to have a little bit of everything you want in a player. Personally I think he's one of the best overall players on the board so for the quality of gameplay, he deserves to come back.
2. Spencer- some people around here and Sucks don't like him, but you can't deny he's one of the better male players on the board. If not for Kass flipping, he actually had a great shot of winning, can assess people well socially (Beauties) and knows how to play in the minority.
3. Stephen- he is arguably the best runner-up that has ever played the game and failed to take out the person that beat him despite multiple attempts. He proved he can be a great sidekick that actually has a brain to win, JT just kept winning immunity. He's the perfect representation of a Survivor beta-male.
Strong Contenders:
1. Joe- maybe it's recent season bias, but he's the perfect example of the Golden Boy edit. The merge threat people are scared of and think can do no wrong. He won the first two immunities and proved he can be a subtle strategic/social player as well. He would be interesting to see play again imo.
2. Jeremy- I personally think he's a little overrated and thought he got a more generous edit than he perhaps deserved, but I am well aware he'll be a lock in a fan vote to come back. Nevertheless, I don't object a Jeremy return as he's definitely not a stupid player, he's just not the first guy I would get behind in this type of vote. At the same time, he's far from the worst.
3. Vytas- I was impressed with Vytas' strategic and social play this season. He knew Brad was a great shield for his alliance and maneuvered his way to the merge on an all-girls tribe after a tribe swap. I actually think his brother held him back in his season. Vytas is a player that's better than where he finished and someone I really believe can win if he's centered with the right people.
4. Terry- he's a big reason why I got into Survivor and I actually think he's better for tv than people give him credit for. He went on one of the most epic immunity runs ever seen and had one of the best rivalries with Aras. He also found a HII back when it was hard to do so. He's been just barely cut so many times, I really hope he finds a way to get over the hump this time. Him and Joe in immunity challenges would be epic.
Bubble Players:
1. Troyzan- he's a player that is known for his mouth and rants. He admittedly had a bad social game but made for great tv when it was him against the girls and he wasn't a stupid strategic player. He was the only one that saw just how big of a threat Kim was when nobody else did. Jay actually cost him his only realistic chance at making some people aware. Bottom line he's not the best player on the board but I personally gave him the nod to return over some other options.
2. Shane- probably one of the more crazy players you'll ever see on the island. I don't usually support player returns solely for character purposes too often but Shane is my exception. You just never know what you're going to get from him and he's someone that will keep everybody on their feet, especially in a more strategical season.
3. Savage- he's one of the early examples of having a great leader on your tribe. He's not higher though because I never saw enough from him to warrant him being above other 10th placers as my first guy to choose. However, I do think he would be intriguing to watch play a second time and see if he would have a more laid back role.
4. Jeff- I would say he's on here as a not bad player that had some unfortunate things go against him. One thing that benefits him in my vote is that he's an old school player looking for redemption when I actually think he had a good shot at going far in Outback had he not gotten voted out in the tiebreaker. You can never have enough old school players in a season honestly.
Players Just Short:
1. Jim- he's someone I considered voting for but I think I would personally leave him just short because while he had an active strategic brain, he made some questionable moves. He ended up keeping Cochran to the merge where that backfired immensely and cost his whole tribe the game. He also allowed Cochran to become a face of Survivor so that hurts him for me too lol.
2. Brad- he's not a guy I ruled out on my first look of knocking pretenders out, but then when I started to narrow it down I realized he didn't do enough to warrant a return appearance. He was loud and took the shots. About the only move he made was voting John out with an idol which I thought was kind of stupid honestly.
Players That Shouldn't Return:
1. Max- about the only thing that benefits him is that he's a superfan on a recent season. Personally, I don't want everybody from the same season coming back so he's not getting my vote. Plus, he really didn't make any big moves and was alienated by a lot of people.
2. Keith- I know he's a strong candidate to come back by casual fans but I'm really rooting against it. He just has no business being out there gameplay wise. He exposed what could've been a game-saving move by Reed and also was so bad strategically, nobody even wanted to use his vote near the end.
3. Woo- don't get me wrong, I love Woo as a person. But as a player, he definitely shouldn't be back. He cost himself the win against Tony and never really showed us a lot of strategic ability on his end. Maybe him giving away a win is an argument for him to get another chance but to me, he just doesn't have enough of a case to have a deserving vote for me.
Tell me what you guys think about my assessment! I'll have the girls up later for #survivor.
Comments
Great Assessment, especially about Max, I was dead-set on voting for him because I really thought he had so much potential pre-game. Then I look at his campaign video and I really feel he hadn't learn his lesson when he was on Worlds Apart. He just did not impress me as I really hope for. So it went between him and Terry, and I ended up with Terry. Mike is a great choice, no question. However, with him still in the game and could still have a shot to win, I didn't vote for him because I don't want to waste my vote. I can't wait to see your assessment on the girls
