Survivor - Brain, Beauty, Brawn II

[Udaman]

Was never a thread on this season.

Ultimately I found it entertaining. I liked Tai. I liked Aubry. I thought for once the Final Tribal Council had everyone doing and saying what they should have (with one small exception). But man oh man was I disappointed in the final vote. Aubry should have won. Period. And Tai should have come in 2nd. Period. Michelle really did nothing except win at the very end, and become really good friends with 2 members of the jury. She then got the vote of the two bullies in Scott and Jason, mainly because she was attractive and they didn't like that a brain had beaten them.

I was disappointed that Tai didn't explain his flip better. He should have said..."I knew that you two would turn on me after we had taken out the brains. You weren't going to take me to the Final 3, and I thought that with the others I could. And I was right. For the rest of you...I would ask you to consider that when making your votes." Probably wouldn't have mattered.

And I have to admit, I kind of like the last reward challenge. Removing a member of the jury is HUGE. You get to take out someone who definitely would have voted for someone else. Maybe it's even too huge. But I still liked it.

In the end, Aubry lost her two biggest allies to medical evacuations, and still made the final 3. Michelle only got lucky at the very end, or she would have been voted out over Sydney. She never once made a strategic move, other than her final speech at Tribal (which clearly helped her win).

I've always been mad when great players don't win because they make everyone upset at them (see Russell, twice). But when a player who hasn't seemed to annoy everyone plays a great strategic game...that player should win. This is really the first time I can remember where that didn't happen.

[Mabdul Doobakus]

Yeah, you pretty much hit the nail on the head as far as the problem with this season.

I thought it was an OK season, kind of middle-of-the-pack, but the final vote was so deflating that for me it instantly became a bottom ten season.

You always have to beware of the bitter jury. We haven't really seen one in a while, as Survivor has kind of evolved. Most people nowadays respect the game. Not this season. And I totally get the bitter jury when you have someone like Russell, who didn't understand that Survivor was a social game, and who deserved to lose. Aubry didn't seem to make any enemies. The jury seemed to just resent being outplayed, so they went with the one player who stumbled to the end through no great effort of her own.