Austin
Prediction Writer
Posts: 139
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Post by Austin on Apr 27, 2015 20:04:29 GMT
156: Monica Culpepper (BvW) Monica was someone I was looking forward to come Blood vs. Water, because she was someone I vaguely liked in pre-merge One World, and I felt like she got a raw deal there, given Kim’s tight control of everything. I thought she had potential - and to an extent, she had some interesting aspects to her in BvW.
First of all, Monica was an unexpected challenge beast in BvW - her streak of immunity wins was interesting, albeit minor, part of the post-merge. First of all, the fact that she consistently beat big guys like Hayden, Tyson, and Gervase in challenges is just humorous. More importantly, I liked how the editors played with that, with segments of her talking about how she was playing for the kids, and how her personality is so tied to A. being Brad’s wife, B. being a mother, and C. being a nice person, to the exclusion of everything else. “Haven't you ever met a neat lady?” And in a vacuum, with this being focused on, that could be interesting.
But she just whined. SO. MUCH. And I get it, your on a deserted island, your starving, your husband’s been eliminated and you never got to play with him - I get it. But she just seemed so miserable at times, she cried so much, she was just a downer a lot of the time - it bugged me. Her high variance in emotions made for drama, but after a while, it felt so played out - I freel like we were shown the “high points” of her emotional faituge, but without better ways to contexualize it, it just seemed whiney, as opposed to well crafted.
But the biggest reason I’m cutting her here is because of her post-merge game. Monica had zero reason to flip. Having said that, the episodes were:
F5: WILL MONICA FLIP? F5 2.0: OK, HOW ABOUT THIS TIME? F4: FORCE THE TIE AGAINST GERVASE
Like, c’mon editors. I get that you want suspense, but give us SOMETHING besides that. IT just tired me. Can’t blame Monica the person for that, but I absolutely can blame her character -so buh-bye, Monica.
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Post by lexvandenberghe on Apr 28, 2015 0:21:07 GMT
155. Shawn Cohen (Pearl Islands) - He was lazy, argumentative, and ate for two people. He was also the target of the greatest voting comment in Survivor history. Other than that, it's his time.
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Post by Host Brian on Apr 28, 2015 2:59:48 GMT
154. Christy Smith (Amazon) Write-up coming later.
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Post by Jonny "FIGGA" Fairplay on Apr 28, 2015 4:10:34 GMT
153: J'Tia Taylor (Cagayan): Got J'Tia sucked at Survivor. I have a write up in mind but I don't feel like writing now, so I'll write it later tomorrow.
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kass
Prediction Writer
Posts: 105
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Post by kass on Apr 28, 2015 13:25:58 GMT
152. Hunter Ellis (Marquesas): One of the first ~major~ pre-merge power shifts (I count Stacey getting rigged out and Tina brutally shanking Mitchell and co. too) and definitely set the tone for the craziness that was Marquesas. Admittedly, Hunter was a good guy. A prototype for all of the Jeff faves. I definitely enjoy his ouster though because of its significance. Aside from that, he was funny in the Maraamu radio show (but so was everyone) and had a cute friendship with Gina. I definitely think 152 is a respectable place for him to go out at
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tbird
Prediction Writer
Posts: 165
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Post by tbird on Apr 29, 2015 1:25:53 GMT
151. Corinne Kaplan (Gabon): I've been putting this off too long. Corinne is basically a second rate Jerri who is impossible to root for because she's putting on such a weird facade all the time. She clearly wants to come off as "The Bitch" but she always seems like she's really reaching for things to be annoyed by, and even then her commentary is never particularly poignant or clever; it's just kinda there. The one time she does actually have something worthwhile to bitch about, during her FTC rant to Sugar, she spoils it by taking a shot at her dead dad, which inevitably feeds into Sugar's forced victim edit, which leads to Sugar being in HvV. Whatever. I don't like Corinne. I respect that some people do, but I think she's an unfunny tryhard, a harbinger of future annoying tryhards like J'Tia and Cochran, and I'm not letting her into the top 150.
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Austin
Prediction Writer
Posts: 139
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Post by Austin on Apr 29, 2015 3:06:28 GMT
150. Gretchen Cordy (Borneo): Well Don, you said Gretchen was Top 150, and other targets presented themselves, but here we are, and it’s time for her to head out. I’m really not in the mood for a longer write-up, gonna break the streak, but here's my cliff notes of Gretchen.
- Cool, outdoorsy woman, who became the leader of Pagong
- Was pretty nice, but overshadowed by her kookier counterparts
- Got blindsided in one of the singularly most awesome moments in Survivor history
And...there’s not much else to her. She’s kinda unique in Survivor, archytype wise, but ultimately her character is enhanced mostly by her unwillingness to work in alliances, which helped doom Pagong, and her memorable ouster.
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Post by lexvandenberghe on Apr 29, 2015 12:33:12 GMT
149. Gabriel Cade (Marquesas) - I thought it fitting that Gretchen and Gabriel be paired up in the rankings. They were both beloved members of their tribes, and their blindsides were the catalysts for the remainder of the season. With Gabriel, it was the formation of the Rotu 4, still to this day the best rise and fall arc in Survivor history. But beyond that, Gabriel was a bit bland. Fascinating, but bland. His importance was less as a character and more how he impacted other characters. I think it apropos he lie in state next to Gretchen, the two Survivors whose votes made production cry.
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Post by Host Brian on Apr 29, 2015 21:48:58 GMT
148. Peih-Gee Law (China) Kinda busy, so I'll keep this brief. Shii Ann 2.0 - annoying, condescending, self-righteous, but in the best way possible.
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Post by Jonny "FIGGA" Fairplay on Apr 30, 2015 2:12:50 GMT
147: Kimmi Kappenberg (Australia): I'm very sadly running out of people to cut and it's annoying the everlasting shit out of me. I want to see this thing to the end, so fuck it. Kimmi is the second to last prejuror from Australia, and while I personally like her, it's her time.
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tbird
Prediction Writer
Posts: 165
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Post by tbird on Apr 30, 2015 3:00:38 GMT
The fact that this writeup doesn't include the word "masturbate" is borderline criminal
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kass
Prediction Writer
Posts: 105
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Post by kass on Apr 30, 2015 3:52:58 GMT
146. Stephen Fishbach (Tocantins): Same name god <3. So when Tocantins aired initially, Stephen was hands down my all time favorite for some reason. I related to him, being an anxious nerd with the same name and somehow thriving out there. Then I realized...he's easily the least compelling member of the Jalapao 3 (#JusticeForTaj) and didn't really show too much personality. He also completely shat the bed at FTC so some of my love for him drops. 146 is a good spot for him though. Also thank god he spells his name the right way.
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tbird
Prediction Writer
Posts: 165
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Post by tbird on Apr 30, 2015 8:08:36 GMT
145. Danielle DiLorenzo (Panama): Danielle was the architect of the clusterfuck that was Casaya, drafting "the cool guy with the Boston tattoo" Shane in the schoolyard pick for tribes. From there she is kind of a supporting character on Casaya. She's never really shown to be in conflict with Courtney, and her conflicts with Shane are never particularly noteworthy. In fact, Danielle kind of fades into the background (save for gratuitous TnA shots of her in her bikini all season) until Terry takes her under his wing just in time to start blindsiding the most interesting Casayas consecutively. Then she beats Terry and Aras in a rousing challenge of "Who weighs the least?" and sends Terry packing because Terry would have beat her so bad she would have had to pay him a million dollars personally. This has the added effect of providing the flimsiest excuse to bring back a huge set of tits for HvV so fuck that.
Then at FTC, she is unable to provide a satisfactory answer to the question "Aren't you just Darrah with a Boston accent?" so Aras gets da money. Overall, Danielle's stories, while fun, are always just parts of other people's stories, whether they be Shane's or Terry's. She did good though. 145 is good. Good job Danielle.
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Austin
Prediction Writer
Posts: 139
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Post by Austin on Apr 30, 2015 16:59:24 GMT
144. Erik Cardona (Samoa): Erik was fun, but he wasn't great. Throughout the pre-merge, Erik was the most consistant and reliable narrator on Galu - he has a talent for narrative confessional, and it showed. He also managed to find a HII - surprising, I know. Someone not named Russell found a HII on Samoa - whould've thunk it? Anyway, he was funnish, kinda bland, but probably one of the more interesting Galu's pre-merge.
Then the merge hits, and Natalie manages to spin him into this massive threat among the Galu women, which leads to a pretty awesome blindside, and Russell wasting one of his seemingly infinite idols. Meanwhile the guy who needed an idol AND had one goes out, first member of the jury - a lot of fun, memorable boot. But that's not what carried him to this spot.
Erik's speech for Natalie is amazing, and while I don't think ti won her the game (her unaired recitation of facts about the others probably won her it) it most certainly helped, and it made for awesome TV. Having said that, it doesn't make him the best character in Samoa, but a solid 2nd place ain't half bad. Fun, not great, 144 seems right.
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Post by lexvandenberghe on Apr 30, 2015 17:12:29 GMT
143. Gina Crews (Marquesas) - Gina was one of the two competent members of the Maraamu tribe, which of course meant she wasn't long for this world. Her partner Hunter got blindsided in one of the goofiest uprisings in Survivor history. She tried and tried and tried to get rid of Boston Rob's side piece Sarah, but couldn't do it until the tribal swap when she and Sarah were left on Maraamu and joined by Kathy, Neleh, and Paschal. She finally won a challenge and felt like she found a home. So it was darkly comic that the old Rotu members banded together to get rid of her instead of Kathy. Gina was a solid player stuck in shitty circumstances, and in another season she probably would have done much better. Instead, she was like a substitute teacher trying to run herd over the Sweathogs. She made top 150, but she's gotten about as far as she should.
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