Survivor #32 Feb. 2016 (heroes, on tv, show, happened)
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I have a radical view, and that is that the best player always wins, as evidenced by the final votes. I am never moved by 'who made big moves.' I am unmoved by who dominated challenges. I believe that any strategy that gets you there with enough votes to win is automatically superior by irrefutable evidence. In this case, that is hard for me, because it means that I must own up to Michele having played better than Aubry. Fair's fair.
That said, let me make the case for Aubry: she was as dangerous as a cornered puff adder, as hard to catch as an eel, and as difficult to kill as a cockroach. She slipped out of serious jeopardy on a weekly basis for what felt like two months. Honestly, she reminded me of my own amateur athletic career. I was hamstrung by social awkwardness combined with a general lack of natural ability. I had absolutely no business being there. And yet, I made friends and was popular to have on teams, mainly because I refused to quit, refused to stop competing, played with a mean streak, went full tilt. In the end, when I finally hung up the mitt, I had probably outlasted 99% of those who had ever taken the field with me in life, going back to T-ball. I got hurt, I came back. I embarrassed myself, I kept standing in. It's a proud time for me.
So when I looked at Aubry's ability to weasel out of getting booted, and her resiliency in dealing with it all, I felt a growing admiration. This kid is one tough gal, I thought. I would have wanted her as a defensive partner at the blue line. If my bulk had come sliding in full tilt, spitting and snarling, and she'd been catching, she'd have blocked the dish and taken the hit, and probably held onto the ball and put me out. And that's why I was very much hoping she'd win it all: she kept coming.
One day there'll be an all-stars season, and I think she's a lock.
Like I said in an earlier post, the only player less deserving would have been Joe, so I guess that puts her a notch above him.
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Had she not dominated the challenges
I think it's a stretch to say she dominated the challenges as a whole. I think some people suffer from something called "recent bias"... She did well in the most recent challenges which leaves people with the impression that she dominated challenges. I don't think anyone really dominated the challenges as a whole.
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She would... make small moves as needed.
Name one move she made that wasn't someone else's plan?
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Originally Posted by Bill the Butcher
Look what happened to Julia, her fellow beauty tribemate. Julia was ridiculed by most on here for being a snake. In reality she was just playing the game.
Perfect example of what I'm talking about. I also saw Julia as a snake, because she was helping an alliance that I didn't like. HOWEVER.... she was making moves and strategizing in a way that would have changed the game if they had worked, but it turns out those moves didn't work out or advance her in the game. If they had, I'd have given her credit for it.
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Michelle on the other hand had the better game play.
I think the issue here is that we disagree on what constitutes good game play. It was precisely because Michelle didn't make any big moves that she made it to the end. She never put her neck on the line. She just went wherever the numbers were.
I don't see it as an attribute when someone stays in the game by just doing whatever the majority is doing.
I have a radical view, and that is that the best player always wins, as evidenced by the final votes. I am never moved by 'who made big moves.' I am unmoved by who dominated challenges. I believe that any strategy that gets you there with enough votes to win is automatically superior by irrefutable evidence..
That's a good philosophical argument, but I still disagree.
That's a good philosophical argument, but I still disagree.
Fair enough. Here's what I would challenge: to separate two questions:
1) What do I find most entertaining to watch?
and
2) What is the most effective way to win the game?
I honestly believe that people conflate the two, very often, and especially the jury. Some things that make great drama to watch, make great suicide from a game standpoint.
Fair enough. Here's what I would challenge: to separate two questions:
1) What do I find most entertaining to watch?
and
2) What is the most effective way to win the game?
I honestly believe that people conflate the two, very often, and especially the jury. Some things that make great drama to watch, make great suicide from a game standpoint.
I look at the game like this...
Did the player make big moves that paid off for them and changed the direction and ultimate outcome of the game....
Did the player strategize and put plans in to action vs. going along with someone else's plans...
Did the player do well at challenges.....
How well did the player get other players to work with them to their advantage...
What kind of odds did the player have to overcome to make it to the end...
Things that do not factor in to my opinions are how well the player was liked by their competitors, or how loyal they were to their alliances.
Of course that's just my criteria, and I'm not on the jury. I guess each season, jury members can base their votes on whatever they want and every season will be different, but if I were ever on the show, these are the things I'd be looking at.
The part about voting out a jury member was stupid. We should have seen that coming. There has never been a jury of 8. It's always 7 to avoid a tie. Survivor is scrambling to invent "new twists", but this one was foolish.
The jury didn't vote for Michelle. Like little children who pout, they voted against Tai and Aubrey for beating them. What a waste of a season. Michelle didn't deserve that win.
The best part of this season was seeing them all cleaned up during the final vote.
The part about voting out a jury member was stupid. We should have seen that coming. There has never been a jury of 8. It's always 7 to avoid a tie. Survivor is scrambling to invent "new twists", but this one was foolish.
The jury didn't vote for Michelle. Like little children who pout, they voted against Tai and Aubrey for beating them. What a waste of a season. Michelle didn't deserve that win.
The best part of this season was seeing them all cleaned up during the final vote.
I look at it this way. Tai and Aubry made their own bed and had to lie in it. What I mean by that is each had big moves that they left on the table that very well could have but them over the top. What if Tai votes out Aubry and keeps Cyd? Or if Tai stays with Jason and Scott one more tribal before booting Scott? Aubry, why not make Tai play his idol when he asks you what to do? I also think her alliance with Joe ultimately hurt her. It makes it harder to respect her gameplay with another ayer in the bag And if course both could have won more challenges. I think Michelle won more than the both combined.
Have you watched other survivors? Almost every winner, EVER, has had another player right with them, 'in the bag' -as you say. That kinda is the goal, get someone to follow your lead, or, even better, get 2! WAKE UP!!!
the part about voting out a jury member was stupid. We should have seen that coming. There has never been a jury of 8. It's always 7 to avoid a tie. Survivor is scrambling to invent "new twists", but this one was foolish.
The jury didn't vote for michelle. Like little children who pout, they voted against tai and aubrey for beating them. What a waste of a season. Michelle didn't deserve that win.
The best part of this season was seeing them all cleaned up during the final vote.
I have no problem with Michelle winning. We must recall that they are out there playing for up to 39 days (for the final three, at least).
We view 13 to 16 episodes during a season, each episode lasting some 45 minutes. So, if a season consists of 15 episodes, we see 11.25 hours of the 936 hours they spent on the island (or wherever).
As Jeff likes to say, the social game is a huge part of the game. When I look back at some of the winners, I think of how some were simply more social, more pleasant to be around, for that long period of time.
If I were on a jury, and spent hundreds of pleasant hours in company with a person (hours not aired on television), while the other two finalists were less pleasant, I would, all things being equal, go with the person I enjoyed being with.
I think the jury appreciated Michelle's personality more. They were also probably persuaded by her strong finish.
I agree that Audrey would have been an acceptable winner. At least according to the edit, and some of the comments during the jury session, she 'grew' the most, from a 'fish out of water' to a strong, canny player. Yet she may have been rather unpleasant to be around for hours on end.
I thought it a particularly good jury session. Good questions, good answers, and no one tried to be a Susan Hawk.
I will say one thing about Mark the Chicken: it showed that, if a chicken is not killed pretty quickly after being obtained (on Survivor, their lifespan appears to be hours), they will eventually form bonds with people, as well as realize that 'this is where I live and get food'. At first they wish to run away, as we have seen many a time. If kept around, they will eventually bond and not try to leave.
It was sad that Mark could not be brought back to the US of A. However, given the prevalence of 'bird flues' that exist in the world, particularly in China and Southeast Asia, they simply would not have been allowed to bring Mark back. Since there are plenty of wild chickens in Thailand, Mark may well be alive and doing well.
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