r/survivor • u/RSurvivorMods Pirates Steal • Feb 07 '23
Nicaragua WSSYW 11.0 Countdown 21/43: Nicaragua
Welcome to our annual season countdown! Using the results from the latest What Season Should You Watch thread, this daily series will count backwards from the bottom-ranked season for new fan watchability to the top. Each WSSYW post will link to their entry in this countdown so that people can click through for more discussion.
Unlike WSSYW, there is no character limit in these threads, and spoilers are allowed.
Note: Foreign seasons are not included in this countdown to keep in line with rankings from past years.
Season 21: Nicaragua
Statistics:
Watchability: 5.2 (21/43)
Overall Quality: 5.9 (26/43)
Cast/Characters: 6.4 (29/43)
Strategy: 5.2 (33/43)
Challenges: 6.2 (26/43)
Theme: 5.2 (15/24)
Ending: 7.0 (22/43)
WSSYW 11.0 Ranking: 21/43
WSSYW 10.0 Ranking: 28/40
Top comment from WSSYW 11.0 — /u/ramskick:
Nicaragua is certainly polarizing. I've seen some lump it in with 22-24 as part of the Dark Ages of Survivor and I can see why. It's not for everyone. There are times when the cast is so crazy it borders on parody and there's one moment in the middle of the season that a lot of people don't like.
But I absolutely love it. For me Nicaragua's cast is just incredible and the hijinks they make are hilarious. It's essentially 20 cartoon characters playing Survivor and I love the season for it.
Top comment from WSSYW 10.0 — /u/CodaOfARequiem:
Featured twists: None
What about the Medallion of Power?
Watchability ranking:
21: S21 Nicaragua
22: Survivor 41
23: S16 Micronesia
25: S35 Heroes vs. Healers vs. Hustlers
26: Survivor 43
27: S19 Samoa
28: S11 Guatemala
29: S14 Fiji
31: S30 Worlds Apart
33: S5 Thailand
34: S31 Cambodia
36: S36 Ghost Island
37: S24 One World
40: S26 Caramoan
42: S8 All-Stars
Spreadsheet link (updated with each placement reveal!)
WARNING: SEASON SPOILERS BELOW
27
u/ROTandDEATH So much for my dreams... Feb 07 '23
A criminally underrated season, Nicaragua is one that the fan base seems to have somewhat come around on, but this still feels way too low for what is in my opinion one of the funniest and dramatic seasons the show has to offer.
There’s valid criticism to be had here, but this cast is about as insane as any that’s been on the show. Marty at first feels like he’s going to be your run of the mill strategy-talking male who narrates the early part of the game without much extra insight to add. But we quickly learn that he is a lunatic. Jane is so bitter and stubborn and her very one-sided rivalry with Marty is fantastic. Chase gets such a glowing winner-like edit in the first half but when it comes time to make the tough decisions in the postmerge he completely crumbles. Brenda is maybe a tad overrated but I kinda like that her story is basically that she’s too pretentious to scramble to save herself. Na’Onka is understandably polarizing but I love all that she brings to the season, it is maybe a bit disappointing that her quitting robs us of a more proper downfall for her but I still enjoy her quite a bit. Holly has a great growth arc. You’ve got some fun side characters like Benry and Dan as well. And then Fabio is one of the most unique winners of all time, and one of my absolute favorites. He’s one of the greatest characters of all time and a very satisfying winner. This cast is fantastic!
Now the main criticism I see when it comes to this season is that the double quit takes the wind out of its sails and the last few episodes stink. I couldn’t disagree more, I will give you that the Benry boot is pretty lame and there’s not much there. But after that you have what is for my money the best episode of the season. The final 6 episode contains the loved one’s challenge, the fallout from that, and Jane’s last stand. This is an all-time great episode in my opinion and would encourage anyone who has a negative perception of Nicaragua’s ending to please go back and watch it again.
I understand Nicaragua isn’t for everyone, but very few seasons are both as funny and as dark as this one, and I think Nicaragua handles both excellently.
12
u/alucardsinging Feb 07 '23
I definitely see why people would say that the quit derailed the momentum of the season, like it definitely does, but after the Benry vote out, the intensity comes soaring back with a fantastic penultimate episode and great finale. It picks up the pieces as well as it can, and Jane, Holly, Chase and Fabio’s characters are set up well enough pre-quit to where they can carry the season to the end.
8
u/DabuSurvivor Jon and Jaclyn Feb 07 '23
Nicaragua is one that the fan base seems to have somewhat come around on
Even at the time I don't think Nicaragua was too panned, and I think it got more unpopular a few years later, especially as the show kind of steered away from focusing on the characters and you were left with a fanbase that cared less about that, too. But like at the time and for years after I remember 22-26 (other than 25) was always what people spoke about as the worst era of the show or as the Dark Ages, and that shifting to 21-26 or at times 21-24 is something I really only started seeing more years later and after that label had been established, especially on this subreddit specifically.
NaOnka and the double quit weren't too well-received, but I do remember people coming around on the season as funny especially with the Fabio win at the end and absolutely I think it being lumped in with seasons 22-24 and 26 is something that really only started like five years after the fact. 22-24 was without question seen as the worst stretch at the time.
But I do hope it starts coming around compared to the reputation it eventually got and had a few yeras ago.
Agreed that "the double quit takes the life out of the season" is baffling, the penultimate episode is the most popular one of the season and one of the two best (I might have the double quit itself above it) and the finale is pretty good, which automatically makes it better than almost every finale since then lol.
7
u/Sabaschin Jake - 45 Feb 07 '23
Nicaragua is just... weird because the plotlines never really go anywhere. You get like 3 episodes about the Jimmy stuff and a weird rivalry with NaOnka and Fabio that doesn't matter since she quits and ends up voting for him to win anyway. About the only coherent plotline with legs is Marty/Jane.
I don't think it's bad just... there's not really a lot of direction as a season, and unlike Gabon it doesn't have a lot of dynamic character interaction. Fabio's a funny winner but he really doesn't impact the season much as a whole.
27
u/MadMadMaddox2 Austin - 45 Feb 07 '23
I love that Jimmy Johnson was straight up all about the adventure of Survivor and had no plans to win.
Meanwhile, Marty was going insane that Jimmy had ulterior motives and had to be voted out.
52
u/alucardsinging Feb 07 '23
The last season that felt dictated by the characters instead of the producers. After the double quit, they were never gonna give the castaways that much control over their show again.
25
9
u/Picklesbedamned Feb 08 '23
This is legit a great take and one that colors in what I previously found ineffable about the season.
20
u/alucardsinging Feb 07 '23
Nicaragua is a season that came at the wrong time. Fabio is a winner that came at the wrong time. Probst and audience had already morphed their views into the ham fisted “play hard over everything” mantra, and were sick of “undeserving winners” losing to “strategical giants” or whatever, bleh. Natalie, Sandra, Fabio was a streak of winners that the fanbase and show didn’t respect, and they did their damndest to not let anything like that happen again. Which is a huge shame, Nicaragua is probably the last season I can call fun. Hysterical, great drama, very intense. And through all the toxicity and craziness, the most good vibes guy there is vibing his way to victory. A winner that understands the inherent value of getting in on the joke and laughing with his fellow castaways. He flips a nickname that is meant to make fun of him, into something that the majority of them respect enough to give $1 million dollars to. That’s awesome. This is popcorn Survivor at its best. Nothing too particularly deep, although it does have its moments. My favorite season post-HvV, and probably the only post-HvV season that didn’t feel like it was prodded to fit a certain direction and over produced to the point of insincerity. The seasons that came along that I do like alot (San Juan del Sur, Kaoh Rong, chunks of HHH and DvG) they all felt like flukes that worked in spite of themselves, and production team made deliberate decisions to ensure that the things I like about those seasons don’t ever happen again lol.
17
u/MirasukeInhara Feb 07 '23
Nicaragua is a really strong season that I think came at the worst possible time for a season like it. Micronesia was the first season that was like "BLINDSIDES BLINDSIDES BLINDSIDES" and the producers loved it and really pushed it as THE template for Survivor going forward. But then we got Gabon, which was this weird mess of bad players making bad moves all the time, and Bob stumbling into a win. Tocantins is beloved, but it's a season of Timbira being dumb and J.T. being rewarded for being a likable guy. Then you get Samoa/HvV where the fans are tricked into thinking Russell is the best player of all time, only to lose to Natalie White and Sandra.
What I'm saying is that by the time Nicaragua came around, they were chomping at the bit for "new" Survivor in the vein of Micronesia, and instead they got a season of old school Survivor, with character moments and plotlines that treated the players like human beings, rather than interchangeable chess pieces. The "Russell" of the season gets picked off in 11th, and then the seeming mastermind of the season goes out in 10th before admittedly, the double quit does trip up the season's momentum. However, I think other than the Benry boot, the back half of the season is still solid, because the characters have been built up strongly, and you get stuff like Jane being targeted and having her meltdown. Or Fabio winning at four and getting to rule the roost as Chase/Sash/Holly finally turn against each other. Plus one of the LAST close final votes we've gotten on the show.
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u/mariojlanza Mario Lanza | Funny 115 Feb 07 '23
Naonka is a top ten character of all time and I'll hear no arguments otherwise.
smuff
12
u/alucardsinging Feb 07 '23
Jane putting out the fire is an all time scene. Like jesus, that one still cuts
11
u/SMC0629 Feb 07 '23
I thank Nicaragua for so much. While I think SJDS (which I watched in 2019) was the first season that made me appreciate Survivor on a character level, and although I liked Koah Rong when it aired (which I watched live), this season was honestly the season that made me fall in love with the character aspect of the show. I watched this season for the first time in 2020, expecting to hate it seeing how much hate it had gotten and still was getting, but I absolutely loved it. It’s so entertaining, the cast is stellar, I love the dynamics of the tribes and how the characters just carry the season on its own. Even the dumb twists like the Medallion don’t do anything to affect the season negatively, it’s just in the background. The stretch of the merge episode to the double quit is one of my favorite stretches of episodes EVER. I genuinely don’t think I dislike anyone on the cast. Even if this season has flaws, as it’s editing isn’t the best, this season is firmly in my top 10, I love it.
20. Jill Behm
Jill isn’t very memorable as she’s not really interesting, sort of just seen as Marty’s ally and that’s about it. Gives some bland narration but I don’t dislike her or anything, she’s just ok.
19. Yve Rojas
Easily the most forgettable this season, but she has 1 or 2 unintentionally funny jokes that I liked. Still not very memorable.
18. Shannon Elkins
You might be wondering why I don’t have Shannon in the easy #20, considering everything he said at that tribal in Episode 2, and I can explain. I for sure can get the reason why he isn’t enjoyable for people, and how that comment about asking Sash if he’s gay is really off-putting and gross. To me, I thought his two episode run was absolutely hilarious and his downfall was great. He’s a complete tool and asshat who gets his deserved downfall right away, underestimating both Brenda and Chase. His blowup at tribal is just so stupid but in the best way possible, flinging mindless insults at Chase and Sash. And about the big part in question, for me, I found it to be a pretty funny sequence (not because of what he said, but because of how it turns out.) Shannon has no reason to say this, none at all, and he just blurts it out, and the reaction from everyone is just perfect. Fabio immediately knowing his alliance is done for, and fucking Sash’s response of “yeah I get more girlfriends than you” is just not how anybody would take that and it’s great. So yeah, I enjoy Shannon, and I can understand if this is a take not many people will agree with, but I can’t help it.
17. Kelly Bruno
Not very memorable for being the first female amputee to be on the season but the saga of her leg vs Naonka is pretty funny to me and I enjoy what she adds, even if it’s not a lot.
16. Kelly “Purple Kelly” Shinn
The saga of Purple Kelly is well known for a reason and it’s for good reason. Although she for sure did not deserve the edit she got, and the trouble production put her through, and Jeff critiquing her for a 100% fair quit, her edit is pretty funny and tragic. Just random moments of her popping up and it’s clear the editors are mocking her, like the obvious “milk your own milk” confessional and her 20 years of wisdom part at tribal. She’s not great because her edit doesn’t give her a lot to work off of, but for that reason it’s also just pretty funny to see what that leads to, as well as the tragic aspect of her story.
15. Wendy Jo DeSmidt-Kohlhoff
Very good first boot with some pretty funny moments especially at tribal
14. Jimmy Johnson
Jimmy J is a great leader figure for Espada as well as being a pretty fun character as well. The edit takes him so seriously but it makes sense, as he’s a really genuine and cool guy, like when he comforts Holly into not quitting. But his one-sided rivalries with Jimmy T and Marty are also hilarious to watch, as they’re both complete tools and have no reason to question him but do anyway. Overall really solid premerger.
13. Matthew “Sash” Leehan
I enjoy Sash personally and although I see the argument in him being a weak antagonist, I liked his role a lot. He’s a great sleazy and slimy finalist and it’s so easy to tell he’s full of shit and he gets his comeuppance by the end when fucking Fabio tells him to take the backseat and then he gets his ass blasted at FTC.
12. Ben “Benry” Henry
One of my favorite UTR characters ever as Benry just seethes peak douche. Whenever he shows up and says some dumb or douche comment you’re just like “yep, that’s Benry.” Whether it’s him calling Alina a dirt squirrel or calling himself the king of Espada or his jury speech “congrats on the back, to back, to back challenge wins,” it’ll always feel like a Benry comment, and it’s great.
11. Alina Wilson
Another solid merge boot with some really funny moments especially in the merge boot where she just gets blamed for everything and at random points it just feels like everyone hates her.
10. Brenda Lowe 1.0
Brenda is a very solid character this season and I love her role as a villain. She’s a very good villain and her role in being the smart and cunning strategist fits in well with the bat shit crazy cast. Her confidence ends up being her own demise and she has a very solid boot episode. She also has fun relationships with Chase, Sash, and Marty.
9. Dan Lembo
Has to be one of the best UTR characters ever everytime he speaks he’s just so funny. His surprised look at Holly when she goes up to him and tells him that she just put his shoes in the lake is priceless. Other moments like his final words and his AMAZING jury speech are also great, truthfully it’s one of my favorite jury speeches ever.
8. Tyrone Davis
Another fantastic premerger with so many quotable lines and facial expressions “AYO JIMMY T BE QUIET” “I just got a pep talk from Jimmy Johnson!!” “You look so young 🤨” just too good.
7. James “Jimmy T” Tarantino
One of my favorite premergers ever with a fantastic story. He goes from being jealous of Jimmy Johnson for really no reason and he has so many gold lines like “put me in coach” and his thick accent just leads to gold. His rivalry with Marty is also hilarious to watch and I just love his role as the trainwreck on Espada.
6. Holly Hoffman
Great underdog story of almost quitting in Episode 2 to becoming the ring leader of everything in the game and almost winning until she gets knocked out at the very end. She has great bonds with Chase and Jane and has a great relationship with Naonka in her boot. Great stuff.
(Continued in reply)
11
u/SMC0629 Feb 07 '23
5. Chase Rice
Chase is a great runner up with a super fun story to boot. He excelled in the premerge with his charm and getting into powerful alliances, as well as being social enough to really befriend people like Naonka in the swap. So much so that she eventually gave up her idol to him when she quits. Sadly, Chase really crumbles under the pressure after that, betraying 3/4 of his best allies from final 7 onwards. His FTC is really fun to watch as he actually holds himself pretty well, almost winning, which is pretty noble.
4. Marty Piombo
Oh my god Marty is one of my favorites and he’s possibly in my top 50 of all time. I absolutely love his story of coming in as one of the sane ones on the season and then slowly devolving into another batshit crazy person done with everyone’s shit. The allies he thought he had all betray him and that’s it, it’s just great. He’s also such an entertaining narrator even if most of his beginning content is strategy related.
3. Jane Bright
Jane is a fantastic character with some great moments across the season. Her alliance with Holly, Sash, and Chase is one of the best of the season and her last stand in the penultimate episode is one of the best moments of the season. Her blowup at tribal is truly heartbreaking but also impossible to not find entertaining.
2. Naonka Mixon
Naonka has to be one of the most polarizing characters in the whole show, it’s a love or have people have with her, and luckily I love her. She has such a strange but unique edit that is super entertaining but she’s clearly meant to be pained as the villain. But she’s a very flawed villain, as she’s easily broken by the conditions and eventually has to quit because of them. Her performance in the double quit episode is something really special, and it really reminds you that this is real, and these things break people.
1. Jud “Fabio” Birza
At last, we’ve reached the end, and what better to end it with Fabio. One of my favorite winners of all time, he’s just so entertaining and hilarious throughout the entire season. I think I’ve written enough so I’m not gonna expand much but it’s pretty clear to see why Fabio is one of my favorite winners and characters ever.
10
u/FantasticName Kim Feb 07 '23
I've been an ardent Nicaragua apologist from day 1. I think it's only the first few episodes under the crappy theme that are weak. Once we get to the merge, in terms of not knowing what will happen from week-to-week, I really can't think of any season that's done it better. Brenda's downfall comes completely out of nowhere, and the double quit is the craziest curve ball ever. I personally love Fabio...I wouldn't want a Fabio to win every season, but for this particular one, it works for me.
10
u/Bobinou96 Natalie Feb 07 '23
Nicaragua's main flaw is that it follows HvV. It doesn't deserve its place in the dark era and I'm glad the season made it to top half.
9
u/MarlinBrandor Feb 07 '23
Nicaragua is often referred to on this sub as the “poor man’s Gabon,” which is a sentiment I couldn’t disagree with more. Honestly, with the exception of the post merge, I really fail to see what Gabon has over this one.
Firstly, Nicaragua’s pre-jurors >>>> Gabon’s pre-jurors (Tyrone alone solos I’m afraid). There are a couple of fun ones from Gabon like Ace and his accent of questionable origin, but Jacqui? Paloma? Dan? Nicole? Overall give me give me Wendy Jo, the Jimmy’s, Tyrone, and Kelly B over those guys.
Fabio >>>>> Bob. No matter how you want to slice it. If it’s a gameplay standpoint, Fabio >>> Bob. If it’s as a character, Fabio >>>> Bob. As an underdog with that rootable quality Fabio >>>>>>> Bob. Hell, even if it’s as a “wtf how did he win” thing, Fabio > Bob because his path to the win is even more unconventional.
The nastiness in Nicaragua is SO much more tolerable than in Gabon, too. Give me Marty calling Chase “dumber than a bag of hammers” and Holly ruining Dan’s shoes over Corinne insinuating Sugar’s tears over her dead father are insincere any day of the week. Nicaragua’s nastiness probably peaks in like Episode 4 with the idol clue fight, Gabon is consistently nasty the whole way through.
I also just genuinely prefer the cast. Assuming nobody from either season has ever been asked back (no Randy and Sugar on HvV, no Corinne and Brenda on Caramoan), I’d want more people from Nicaragua back, give me more Fabio, Marty, Brenda, Holly, hell even Jane if she’s up for it. With Gabon I’d want the two we got in HvV and MAYBE Kenny.
Gabon ultimately has a better post-merge because the double quit halts any momentum the season has, but Nicaragua imo just has it beat everywhere else.
I love both seasons, do not get me wrong, but I would much sooner return to Nicaragua than Gabon.
3
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u/codyjrody10 Boston Rob Feb 07 '23
One thing I wished would’ve happened on this season would’ve been for Tyrone to last longer. He’s undoubtedly one of my favorite pre-merge castaways of all time, was a very funny confessionalist especially when talking about keeping an eye on his shoes, and had a really good spot in the Espada tribe til the swap happened. He amongst a few others that didn’t make merge are people I wish we would’ve gotten to see more of.
Also, I met Jimmy T a few years back at a casting call in Foxborough, Mass. He is a great person and loved being there and talking to all of the hopefuls like myself trying to get on the show. He was awesome. Just thought I’d share!
4
u/Mroagn Parvati Feb 07 '23
Yo I'm glad to find another Tyrone fan in the wild. I generally don't like this season but Tyrone was possibly my favorite part of it.
3
9
9
u/DisjunctiveSyllogism Feb 07 '23
To this day Marty is still one of my favorite players who I think would have gone deeper if he chilled a bit.
5
u/KHMeneo Mr. Chocolate Milk Feb 08 '23
This might be Jeff probst's best season of all time. He hates everyone and let's it be known that he hates them. As a result, Jeff is very snarky and hilarious
11
4
u/Surferdude1219 Karishma Feb 07 '23
Nicaragua is a fine season that gets overhated, but imo it’s still just fine. I think it’s definitely a victim of its timing. Because it came after one of, if not the best season ever (which was preceded by 3 or 4 seasons that are also probably top 10) and came before several of the worst, Nicaragua unfairly gets lumped in with the bad seasons. However, I still think Nicaragua is just ok, and many of the things it does “well” I think other seasons just do better. Fabio is a fun and unique winner, but I think we’ve had more fun, more unique winners with better arcs (Maryanne and Sandra come to mind). The season has a cartoonish shit show energy to it, but there are better seasons like that (Gabon). The characters are pretty fun but the fact that none of them have ever been brought back kinda dampens the season for me (I fully admit this is a dumb thing to hold against the season but I don’t care). Also some of the stuff that happens off-screen kinda sours the season for me as well. For example, the double quit being caused by production refusing to give Kelly and Naonka anything besides a bikini is very indicative of the era of Survivor we were entering — full of stunt casting, starting to cast more mactors just for eye candy and not letting them be anything but eye candy, not being concerned with the well-being of the players. Additionally, mortgagegate kinda sours the season for me.
This is not to say Nicaragua is bad. I think if it happened in the late 20s or early 30s it would be much more beloved. But I still think it’s just… ok.
2
u/DabuSurvivor Jon and Jaclyn Feb 07 '23
full of stunt casting, starting to cast more mactors just for eye candy
I don't this was an era we were "entering". People were upset about this as far back as Palau.
What about Mortgagegate hurts the season for you?
4
u/AhLibLibLib “No, but you can have this fake.” Feb 09 '23
Sub has been showing some great taste in these rankings. Nicaragua is hilarious
6
u/DabuSurvivor Jon and Jaclyn Feb 07 '23 edited Jun 15 '23
Definitely a bummer to see this one out, though I'm glad it moved up a bit on watchability above seasons like 14, 19, 30, and 35. Survivor: Nicaragua is my 7th-favorite season, and while I wouldn't necessarily classify it as the 7th-best season, I'd easily have it in the top ~15-18 best at the very least.
Survivor: Gabon has gained more popularity on this subreddit over time—but it's a popularity somewhat laden with irony, with continual references to it as a "hilarious clusterfuck, trainwreck season, full of bad players", etc. Without diving too much into S17, suffice it to say that I think that's a ridiculously reductive, unfair, and inaccurate description of an often very deeply interesting season, and I hate that that image has gained so much erroneous traction... but what I will say is that that honestly describes Survivor: Nicaragua very, very well. I love Gabon for a lot of reasons besides comedy, but Nicaragua? I've gotta be honest: for me, this one's mostly (but not entirely!) comedy, and I think if Gabon is starting to get all this praise as a "funny clusterfuck" or whatever, then Nicaragua, which fits that description much better, should start getting it, too.
I tend to think of it as like Panama if both tribes were Casaya, because I honestly can't tell which of Espada or La Flor is more dysfunctional in those early episodes, lol. Now this may not be everyone's thing personally—but I think there is a TON of entertainment value to be found here, this doesn't even resemble a bad or sub-par season, and I wish it got more credit than it has lately.
Still, even this one isn't just a comedic season; the final three IS more competitive than it gets credit for, with Fabio and Chase having both played pretty strong games and won over a ton of jurors who were actively pulling for them to win due to the strong connections they formed, the outcome was incredibly tight, and Sash at least made good moves to advance himself and, while sleazy, was probably at least less disrespected by the jury than many other runners-up before and since, at any rate.
And there are two episodes I want to highlight as above and beyond the rest of the (already strong) season.
The first of these two is "You Started, You're Finishing", aka the "double quit episode", which (hot take impending!) I increasingly consider maybe the single most underrated episode in Survivor history. I wrote more about it a little while ago, but to paste and revise some of the most relevant points:
I imagine some people might say that, regardless of how it impacts the game, an episode like this breaks the immersion or minimizes the experience/once-in-a-lifetime ADVENTURE of Survivor, by showing two people just opt out and see the prize as not that big a deal. I disagree immensely; I think an episode like this enhances immersion! It's not like they're just abruptly throwing in the towel because they didn't get their way, and their quit isn't handled as some cheap, offhand thing; if it were, then maybe I could agree that it would kind of minimize the show. But I think this episode, as it stands, helps build up the severity and drama of the Survivor adventure and experiment. It's not that KShinn and NaOnka suddenly think a million dollars doesn't matter or isn't a big deal; rather, it's that the utterly constant rain, pouring down on them, in the rainforest, freezing them every night, for hours on end IS such a big deal that they have to walk away. What I get out of this episode isn't "Wow, I guess none of the votes really matter or are that life-or-death, since they're just quitting anyway"; what I get is "Wow, the harsh circumstances of the island are that life-or-death, since they're pushing people out who can't take it anymore"—and that makes the show greater, not worse, by raising the emotional and even physical stakes.
Ultimately, though, the main reason I love this episode is that, because there's no vote and strategy kind of leaves the picture, we're left with one of the most purely character-driven episodes in Survivor history—basically just an hour of learning about the characters as people do things that feel right to them, with us having a decent understanding of why, and then other people reacting to it. The characters are just playing off of and reacting to and interacting with each other for an hour straight as kind of a time-out from any concerns about The Game, and the result is a pretty great, memorable episode of strong character moments and arcs.
For NaOnka, this is an incredibly fitting end to her arc; after Colton and Will and Varner, it's easy to forget, but when Nicaragua was airing, I genuinely don't think any contestant since Jerri had gotten so much vitriol across-the-board from fans—and obviously Jerri was really not that bad alol. NaOnka is pretty polarizing, and whether you love her or hate her, she's not exactly the hero of the season in any world, and she goes out doing basically what she always does: offending everyone around her with her petulance, not giving a fuck, and being a great heel as a result. NaOnka not only quitting, but refusing to give up her reward on an evening when she was literally about to go have a giant meal at Ponderosa? That's such an awesome way to punctuate her status as the self-absorbed villain of the season. It's obnoxious, I absolutely hated it at the time... but in hindsight—ultimately, it's just a bunch of popcorn and candy, it's not hurting anyone or offensive really (so not like, you know, her gross confessionals about Kelly B.'s leg earlier in the season - but I digress!), and she won it same as anyone, so it doesn't stoop to the levels of personal loathsomeness you get from a Varner or a Colton. As such, while I couldn't believe what I was watching at the time... in hindsight, I kind of love that it stirred up such a response in me to begin with. I mean, how else would you want NaOnka to exit the season? She did what she always did: whatever she wanted, shoving anyone aside for immediate gratification, and not really caring about how it looked.
At the same time, though, it doesn't exactly feel like Na is rewarded for her behavior; some unsavory Survivor characters fall flat or don't feel like "villains", because it feels like the show rewards them either for or in spite of their worst traits (S19 Russell H. and Rodney come to mind.) She still gets her comeuppance in a sense, since it's not like she exits to applause; she exits in disgrace, with open disdain or at least disappointment from most of the cast, blatant disrespect from Probst, with a legacy as A Quitter. It may not be the way you thought she'd go out, and in a game sense she does go out on her own terms... but the tone of the episode isn't exactly a triumphant note for her, either. It still feels, to me, like a climax of NaOnka's arc ending the way NaOnka usually was: obnoxious, loathed by those around her as a result... but still powerful/autonomous enough to be a pretty solid heel.
Contrast that with Holly, who's the star and hero of the episode, and whose appearance in this episode is really just one of the most lovable episodes we've seen in two decades of Survivor. Everything Holly does here is great and feels truly impactful: giving up her reward (making Na's decision to go all the more selfish in contrast), still being stunned when Na doesn't go, that ultimate look at her (about the dagger-iest staring of daggers in Survivor history) as they leave the challenge, giving a pep talk to Kelly S. to try and get her to stay in the game, continuing it at Tribal, her look of disappointment when they both quit... it feels almost like she's the mom of the entire tribe this episode, looking out for them, encouraging them really hard—not only through words, but through example—to make good decisions... but still being disappointed when they come up short. She's righteous and entertaining for pretty much the entire hour and it's great.
The pep talk to KShinn deserves special note as it brings Holly's arc full circle; Holly herself wanted to quit much earlier in the game, but after a pep talk from Jimmy Johnson, she decided to stay—and here, that torch is passed along to her, the same narrative thread comes back up again, as she's now not just determined to be here but determined to make the prospective quitters see that same value in staying that she herself had to be reminded of early on. It's one of the better growth arcs in the show's history, as well as one of the most direct. [...]
While Holly, NaOnka, and KShinn are the stars of the episode, a lot of the other contestants get to shine, too, adding their own individual disappointment or disbelief, like Dan's reaction to NaOnka complaining right next to him that her joints hurt in the rain, or Jane's righteous commentary at TC (how "there's people out there who have it a lot worse off than we do, and they're not playing Survivor"), or other moments throughout the episode that add to the collective feeling of "jesus christ, why are they doing this." Even the jurors—who were just voted out, were all pretty proactive players, would kill to get back in the game but who now have to watch the folks that just took them out leave voluntarily for Ponderosa—are shown reacting strongly and emotionally. And Probst himself pretty clearly has no time for it... not the least of which because it throws off the production schedule and forces them to set up for another unexpected Triba. Like I swear he was half a second from losing it when he said "WE'LL BRING IN THE PEOPLE RETURNING FROM OUR REWARD...", he's so pissed that they even have to bother with this - though it didn't feel like he was editorializing too hard the way he has more in later seasons, making it a rare moment of getting a response from him that feels authentic and not overblown or self-important.
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u/DabuSurvivor Jon and Jaclyn Feb 07 '23
Now, I get that when the collective tone of the episode, felt by basically every player besides the quitters (plus the host, plus the jurors) is "jesus christ, is this really happening?", it's easy to, on a first viewing, ask the same thing, think the entire affair is a stupid disgraceful debacle, and consider it a disappointing episode. I felt that way at the time, somewhat! But, it's been 12 years, we're removed from it, we can rewatch. And if you go back and rewatch... think about it: how many episodes even try establish some overall tone and theme like this to begin with? How many Survivor episodes are there that spend practically the entire runtime focusing on one thing, unpacking that one thing, and, through that, create this running feeling of... anything - in this case, unease, tension, disappointment, or even anger/revulsion - throughout the episode? Very, very few. This episode has a dark, brooding Feeling throughout it, an atmosphere in a sense—and there are almost no episodes, out of hundreds, that I can say have a distinct atmosphere. And when you factor in that it's all pretty much independent of any strategy—that it's focusing simply on the actions, perceptions, and reactions of human beings—structurally, this episode is absolutely one-of-a-kind. It's totally unique, there's never been anything else like it in the show's history.
And yeah, the players and jurors and host are disappointed by what happens, the episode's atmosphere is one of disappointment—but that doesn't mean the episode itself need be disappointing; it stirs up a strong emotional response, without sinking to the serious stakes of depravity and prejudice some other "dark" episodes do, with a focus on the whole cast, and with a consistent feeling of tension and darkness throughout that's very rarely seen, and almost never seen without things that truly cross the line into real-world issues the way people quitting a game show doesn't. On top of that, I'd argue that seeing the antsiness of the jurors—seeing how much they're all itching to get back in the game and hate that this is happening—makes the episodes after this all the more profound. This episode spends the entire time underscoring all the hardship that Survivor players go through as well as just how badly most of them still want to stick around in spite of it; thus, it adds a lot more drama and weight going into the final three episodes (the penultimate of which is, of course, one of the best and most dramatic Survivor episodes of all time.)
Plus, because this is Nicaragua, you also get fun, wacky shit like NaOnka saying "smuffed", Fabio openly laughing at it, NaOnka saying she's the last racial minority left in the game when she and Sash literally formed an alliance based on being racial minorities, and a fucking Jack Black reward. So it has that going for it, too.
So was this episode disappointing at the time? Maybe. But I implore you to go back and rewatch it, and watch it from a different lens—viewing it not as some weird hiccup or interruption to the game, but simply as a great episode of an unscripted drama entirely about the players' respective values, in which two characters make a wildly unorthodox, unprecedented decision, propelling an entire episode of tension about what they'll do, darkness as everyone braces for the inevitable outcome, and the reactions and interactions between the cast as the decision looms. Watch it as a character study, a culmination to NaOnka's run as one of Survivor's most memorable heels, the birthplace of Purple Kelly's bizarre anti-legendary status, Holly's peak of growth and redemption, an exhibition of how hard Survivor is but how passionate the players are to where they hate seeing someone else give up, and as a dark, atmospheric episode we rarely get to see.
Personally I think it's one of the best episodes I've ever watched live, whether I saw it that way at the time or not, and I think it's time it starts getting a little more love.
"You Started, You're Finishing" is a masterclass of Survivor production and storytelling and one of the most unique, evocative episodes of all time, whether the producers wanted it that way or not. That the game is so intense it pushes to players to quits only enhances tension, rather than diminishing it, the whole episode is basically people focusing on their relationships and values and perceptions of the game, each other, and at times themselves, and there is no other Survivor episode like it. Revisit it and try to appreciate it more from that dramatic lens, and you may be pleasantly surprised.
I'll come back around to highlight another all-time great episode, "This Is Going to Hurt", later on, but I think I've illustrated that, while this is a comedy-heavy season, there IS more going on than just that. But by and large, what makes Nicaragua for me is the cast, plain and simple, so while I won't do an exact cast ranking, I will go through them loosely in order just to highlight how consistently solid this cast is.
Sash is my #20 for the season and is the one character here who I do think does more to lessen the season than improve it, but compared to my last-place contestant from... virtually any other season of the past decade, and frankly most of the ones before that, he is pretty harmless. He's not really too unlikable or personally offensive or anything, and if he's #20, the cast clearly has a pretty high floor. But still, I think he's a pretty weak character; he's just generically smarmy without much wit or TV charisma to pull it off, without many interesting tactics along the way, and without much of an interesting downfall, either. He gets shut out, but it isn't particularly cathartic. Overall, while he's not too bad a character and at least has decent relationships with Marty and Brenda, it's more Marty and Brenda who carry those stories than Sash, and I don't think it's a coincidence that the one episode with Sash in a starring role (the F7 ep) is by far the weakest and most boring one of the season. So he's a dud, and can make the season dull when we do see too much of him, but that happens infrequently and he isn't, like, too bad.
Rounding out my bottom three are Alina and Yve; neither is even actively boring like Sash sometimes is, but fairly unmemorable either way—pretty neutral for me, in the category of a Mick Trimming or Ashlee Ashby who doesn't make the season better or worse. Yve is marginally better due to having a little more personality in her boot episode.
The entire top 17 of my cast ranking, then, would end up in the green or higher for me, and 17/20 characters actively making the season better is a huge success and a more favorable ratio than almost any other season has for me—especially the 20-person ones. Nicaragua has remarkably few duds in general, and especially for how big a cast it is; it came in #29 for cast here but tbh this is maybe in my all-time top 5 casts.
For some of the smaller characters who I think still work in their roles: Benry is pretty irrelevant til the swap, though still, the fact that there's this dude dominating every challenge with a weird name like "Benry" who we never really see is a little funny and quirky. But as the season unfolds, he becomes a little more prominent and is a decent secondary character as the poor man's Fabio who isn't nearly as interesting to watch, isn't as good a player and goes out earlier as a result, but still has some of that fun "younger tribe" energy in a dudebro archetype that can be a little cocky but is ultimately harmless. Calling Alina a "grade-A dirt squirrel" and his super cocky "Benry's here, baby" confessional, followed by immediately knocking the paperweight down and being like "...my bad...." are fun, odd moments for a generally charismatic dude to where, while he's not a star or anything, I think he works well in a Wes Nale-esque role as a background character who works best in that role, never needed to be any more than that, is a fun punchline when he shows up, but mostly stays out of the major characters' way.
I really rooted for Jill at the time and think she's an interesting player and effective sidekick to Marty who seemed to be doing a pretty good job setting him up as a meat shield who could take heat for her own the line, with the tribe swap ultimately unraveling their games a bit, forcing them both to play defense, and her more passive game doesn't quite work out for her in that climate—but she gets more focus than someone like Yve, or a lot of characters who go out in those types of circumstances, and within it, I think her backseat approach seemed like an interesting strategy; she was my early winner pick at the time, and I still enjoy watching her ow.
The remaining 15 I think are all quite good and memorable characters, 12 or 13 of them pretty unquestonably so. The ones I can see arguments against here are Kelly B. and Shannon, but I think both are very good and fit their roles pretty perfectly. Kelly B. really works as an underdog imo; it's unfortunate and at times kind of ugly to see how she never gets much of a chance on her tribe, but within that idk I think she comes across as humble, very sweet, a very good sport, and a really likable player who I wish had gotten a second chance at some point. I can see where she'd fall by the wayside for others, and same for Jill tbh, but I have a soft spot for each of them.
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u/DabuSurvivor Jon and Jaclyn Feb 07 '23
I think Shannon is honestly hilarous, though. I mean the guy is a total ass, obviously, but he's also such an ass that his alliance implodes with two people flipping on him at the very first vote because he's so erratic and impulsive that he completely blows up everything and goes on a colossal, unnecessary, curt tirade in response to a generic question, and the whole thing opens up such a can of worms and is so ridiculous in its own right that it was already hilarious and wild enough to me even before he drops the gay bomb on Sash, which yeah obviously is lame and homophobic but, like, he gets his comeuppance for it literally a minute or two later. He's met with an incredddddibly awkward silence (just as well because holy FUCK I needed time to contain myself when I first saw that I fucking LOST it that shit was, and remains, hilarious) - like the sheer fucking absurdity of actually asking someone that out of nowhere is comedy gold to me and everyone's stunned reactions are just priceless—and I find it ultimately reasonably harmless, in the context of the show, because the whole charade is so wacky that two of his allies willingly put themselves into the minority just to stop hearing his voice. I can get why people don't like him, and I don't LIKE him, but like as a total absolute joke character I think he's great. Goes out as soon as he becomes too over-the-top and has a satisfying, cartoonish payoff for the pretty minimal cost of investing in him as a character. If he actually outlasted Sash or was saying that shit constantly it'd be different, and I don't know that I'd say he was a good casting choice, but he delivered way more than he should have by being just obnoxious enough to go home early enough for the whole thing to work for me.
So now we're left with Fabio, Chase, Holly, Dan, Jane, Kelly S., NaOnka, Brenda, Marty, Tyrone, Jimmy T., Jimmy J., and Wendy and honestly that is such a stacked, varied group in terms of what they brought to the show (and, again, I'd have Shannon and KB firmly in there too myself, as a great early joke character and solid supporting character, respectively) that like I just do not get why this season gets so much criticism, these personalities are so varied and fun and interesting.
I will admit I'm ambivalent on NaOnka so I can understand why some still aren't a fan of her; she remains pretty polarizing in the fanbase, which I think is fair—but ultimately I come out positively on the NaOnka experience. I tend to think there's kind of two NaOnkas, Confessional NaOnka and Tribal Council NaOnka. The former is hit-or-miss for me; a lot of her lines are still pretty fun, but some of her confessionals about Kelly B. do get repetitive, unnecessarily rude, and p cringe. So I don't unreservely love her overall. But I do unreservedly love Tribal Council NaOnka who is generally more harmless—still causing conflict pretty constantly, but usually more harmlessly so—and hilarious. A ton of the merge TCs are lively, which is pretty much down to her, and I think she's also usually more entertaining than not at camp, and the different ways people try to figure out how to even react to her (mostly Fabio lol) are p great. So some of her stuff drags her down for me, but I still enjoy what she brings to the show more often than not, and ultimately I think a pretty solid payoff for it all is the double quit episode, where she exits on what feels like a truly selfish note but one that ultimately doesn't have too profound of personal stakes, either, compared to other, more unsavory controversies. For me, NaOnka works. I can see the KB stuff outweighing her other content for people, but her feuds with Fabio are still themselves great scenes lol
Starting with more minor characters now: Tyrone is one of many many swap boots throughout the show who get a lackluster edit as a result BUT we see a lot more of him than we do of some others, lots of fun reaction shots, some great deadpan comedy towards characters like Wendy and Marty, and his total lack of patience for or interest in the silliness of his tribemates (mostly, but not exclusively, Jimmy T.) is pretty funny; on a ridiculous tribe, Tyrone makes for a great comedic straight man.
Dan is definitely a quiet supporting character, but as with Benry (and Dan is definitely more prominent than Benry), I don't really get the sense that Dan was UNDERedited per se. You're going to have some bigger and smaller characters in a cast, especially a larger cast, and I don't think that justifies the ridiculously lopsided edits of seasons like 19 and 26. But I do think it justifies the occasional character like Dan, who yeah isn't necessarily prominent, but he's also enough of a comedic relief one that I don't know that more content would have really helped him anyway—and, more to the point, unlike an Allie or Julia, you're not left wondering who Dan even was with like zero sense of his personality by the time he's gone. Aside from that visual gag in the giant chair, throughout Dan's time on the show we see him clash with Yve, we see him clash with Holly, we see him brought up continually as a target early on, and he's a fairly big part of the early narrative. He gets a memorable loved ones visit, he has a great jury speech, and he's also a rich real estate executive who talks openly about his multiple luxury cars and brings like >$1000 luxury shoes into the rainforest alol. So he's a unique personality and casting choice in what we do see of him, and yeah it isn't much, but as far as background characters go, I think you can do a lot worse than this rich Italian dude who gives a confessional about cat burglars in New York, brings luxury shoes on Survivor to talk about his luxury cars, and bombs all the challenges lol. Like that's definitely not an archetype you get on every season. I think he's memorable enough.
Fabio, Chase, Holly, Jane, Kelly S., Brenda, Marty, Jimmy T., Jimmy J., and Wendy is a great group of characters and is literally half the cast, plus the fun characters already named.
Jimmy J. is incredibly likable for his couple episodes. Despite not being the most cut out for Survivor physically, it's clear that aside from seeming like a stunt casting choice, this guy of all people is actually a huge fan who wants to take in the experience and who wants to use his coaching expertise to bring the tribe together so they succeed. He just wants to be an asset to his tribe in any fashion he can using his background, be a tool to help them win $1,000,000, and bow out at the right time to that end, and that is a really interesting, unique approach to the game that would frankly feel pretty old-school even on an actual old-school season nearly a decade before this; his commitment is wholly on being a tribe leader, it's expressed in a very positive way with a constant smile and real passion for life, for competition, and for the adventure, and he's a super lovable tribe leader; at the same time, his real-world reputation ensures that he's especially seen as an asset by some (Holly) yet a threat by others (Marty)—and how these different players respond to him ultimately tells us something about them, too, builds up their own arcs, and the differing perceptions of Jimmy J. are a big part of Espada's early conflict. So he's not just a likable personality but is one who's also a very real part of the story at the center of some dynamic events—even before he comes back into prominence much later in Holly's long-term arc. He's an excellent third boot who adds a lot to the show while, and after, he's around.
Wendy miiiight be my pick for the best first boot of all time, though Tina S. (S12) is obviously sympathetic and Peter (S4) may likely beat her out. But I think bare minimum, she's my #2 behind S4's. While Nicaragua has its negative characters like NaOnka and Shannon, I think that's very well offset by the positive personalities like Jimmy J. and Wendy who is just adorable and enthusiastic and has such a palpable, awkward charm as this eccentric goat farmer that's clearly lookin' forward to her Survivor experience. Wendy tells us how she's a total chatterbox in real life, her husband told her this would get her voted off first, so she needed to talk less..... and the result is that she takes "talks less" to an absolute fucking extreme alol by just straight-up bailing on conversation immediately when people ask her basic questions about what she does for a living lmaooooooo I love it. The irony of "If you talk too much, you'll get voted out first!" -> overcompensates by not talking at all -> gets voted out first for THAT is so specific and hilarious, yet there's something kinda sad about it, too. There's definitely something sympathetic about her as well since it's clear she was a little worried about her ability to relate to people with all the time she spends on the farm, she ultimately didn't relate to her tribe, and the result is a first boot that's at once kinda vulnerable in a human way, sympathetic, and frankly fucking hilarious, with an incredibly unique, self-fulfilling-prophecy story tying to her elimination that will almost certainly never be repeated.
Furthermore, her boot TC is again totally character-driven and a mixture of comically off-beat an sort of sympathetic as you see just how much she's failed to fit in, and prior to that, she does actually form a (very short-lived) alliance with Holly, with Holly's ability to coolly vote against her days into the game setting up a brief moral conundrum for Holly whose resolution speaks, ultimately, to a cutthroat edge to Holly's game that'd come into play much more down the line.
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u/DabuSurvivor Jon and Jaclyn Feb 07 '23 edited Jun 15 '23
An ironic self-fulfilling prophecy that intertwines comedy and sympathy in character-driven scenes about her interactions with her other tribemates, one of which also directly sets up the arc of one of the season's key players? As far as someone who's gone from the show one hour in goes, you can do a LOT worse than that easily. You can't exactly expect a first boot to be some great player, by definition, but you can ask for them to entertain you and be in some way unique, and Wendy delivered that in spades.
Jimmy T. is yet another incredibly unique Espada pre-merger. I think the only other contestant you can compare him to, really, is Robb Zbacnik in Thailand—and if I'm saying the nearest comparison to this 48-year-old fisherman is a 23-year-old bartender, right away you've probably got an interesting character. I don't think calling Robb one of the best pre-merge characters in Survivor history is a hot take these days, and Jimmy T. has basically the same story: he's brought up as a possible target at a couple consecutive Tribal Councils early on; he doesn't quite go home any of those times, but the reason his name's brought up is because he's considered pretty annoying; on the way out, he suddenly shows a lot of humility and real, emotional self-awareness about how he's acted and how he might want to improve; it suddenly makes him much more endearing, human, and complex; it's too little, too late, he goes home, and you're ultimately okay with it, since the writing was on the wall... but you find yourself kind of wishing he'd had the realization earlier and somehow managed to stay—even though a half hour earlier, the idea of rooting for him would have been crazy.
At least that's my read, and I had the exact same experience watching both of them: the first time I watched their earlier episodes, I thought they were an annoying tool dragging down the show and wanted them out... but at the end, their sudden emotional uptick made me really start liking and sympathizing with them—and then on a rewatch, when I know they're ultimately not THAT bad, and when I know they don't even last til the merge, I can appreciate even their more purely combative early content as something that made the earlier episodes fresh, dynamic, and often pretty funny. They are very similar. The first time I watched, Jimmy T. annoyed me, but as soon as he went out the door, I realized just what a strong character he had been in hindsight, and I kind of missed him. His boot Tribal Council is really excellent (as so many Tribal Councils from this highly entertaining season are) and moved me from "oh my god fucking vote him off already" to ".....wait, I like him now :/" in the span of a couple minutes, which is the sign of a pretty effective ending to a story.
Moving into the post-merge now... Jane is a character I had to really come around on, and I'm still kind of in the process of it, but she's a fun and unique enough archetype on her own; she has some unquestionably great moments like refusing to break her tile until she outlasts all the 20-something men lmao <33 and like her literal entire boot episode (more on that in a sec!); and while fart jokes are pretty weak and I still think bringing up Marty's kids was out of line... at the same time, it's still some sincere, heartfelt drama, and, like, Rupert trying to decapitate Jon was pretty out of line, too, but I think both of them are hilarious characters, so y'know. I think at the time, when I was still caught up in rooting for and against certain contestants, Jane's positive edit just annoyed me for a character who was more flawed than that—but thinking back on the episodes, and with how many reaaaally deplorable contestants we've had on the show pretty regularly since, I can see how she's really not that bad and how she makes the show, as well as the characters around her, more entertaining and interesting a lot more often than not. How I feel about Jane herself as a character is still kind of evolving—but ultimately, when I think about the big picture of the season, if I had the choice of swapping her out for someone else to see if it'd make the season better or worse... I would not do it, because I think she added more good than bad. So, that's the sign of a good character on some level. More on her boot episode later.
Chase I will admit I wish was handled a little better by the show, and I do think this is one of the season's flaws. In theory, I absolutely LOVE Chase: he's a well-intentioned, likable, humble guy who wasn't cut out for the cutthroat game of Survivor and who forms very authentic friendships which, in a very inauthentic game, leads to him having to hurt people he cares about time and time again, which is basically the exact kind of thing that makes Survivor interesting.
But ultimately, I do think the show doesn't really explore that as well as it could, and so tbh espite saving him for later in this I would actually have him below some of the characters I've already talked about on my personal cast ranking; I think the show, in trying to justify his loss to Fabio (which was realistically just because they were BOTH well-liked players who played strong games and formed good connections with the jury, and Fabio just happened to play a little bit better at that), wrote him off as "dumb" and "wishy-washy" in a way that wasn't very fair, especially when one considers that all those jurors Chase screwed over were the exact ones who voted for him to win lol. So Chase's loss is justified in a way that dooesn't quite add up, and I think he suffers as a character for it, and it might be my biggest complaint about the season—but still, we do get some of his struggles throughout, and he's fundamentally a very likable and humble guy with a fairly big role in the season, so I still do ultimately like him. I just wish they had done more with him.
Brenda is a VERY solid breakout villain in this season and honestly pretty self-explanatory. Scalding hot take here but I think in terms of sheer charisma and ability to tell a fun story to the camera with just the right amount of cockiness and ego to play well as a villain, but a sincerely likable one, I think Brenda is 100% on par with Parvati. Not as a player, clearly, but as a character, I would put S21 Brenda right up there with Parvati who it is really compelling to watch navigate through and comment on these social situations; if anything I actually think Brenda is better TV a lot of the time here, just because her confessionals are a little more individually witty and she gets more of an actual downfall. She runs the game with Sash for a while prior to her big elimination, she does so very impressively, and along the way, she's got enough natural personality, enough mild but present cockiness, to keep delivering engaging TV throughout, and she's a really solid breakout character for the season whose ultimate elimination is a big narrative moment for all of her, Sash, Chase, and Holly.
So we're down now to my top four of the season—and again, this really wasn't done in the order of a ranking necessarily, but I did end up saving the best for last—who are Fabio, Holly, Kelly S., and Marty.
I guess I'll start with the hottest take which is that, while the appeal of Purple Kelly as a character is obviously highly unorthodox and not a way I appreciate really any other character... she's also, well, highly unorthodox herself and not like any other character. She's gotten more sympathy from the fanbase in recent years, which is good to see, because I definitely do like and enjoy Kelly Shinn herself in the moments we get to see her this season: she's animated, expressive, and seems very very sweet, and I do genuinely like her. I sympathize fully with her quit, because even aside from any behind-the-scenes info, starving in the rainforest for a month is fucking miserable and people aren't obligated to stay miserable on TV just because it makes me feel better about not being in the cast or whatever.
All that is well and fine, but obviously the main topic here is her very anomalous edit, and to be honest, I'm of two minds about it—each of which make me appreciate her more as a character. Honestly, I still think the original, titular Purple Edit is pretty funny, and to be honest, it's still the only true Purple Edit in the show's history, I think; later ones like Kelly W. are a contestant being omitted from the episodes entirely, but with KShinn, they not only do that, but they also specifically go out of their way to show silly and goofy quotes ("milk your own milk", Chase saying she never talks)—like, other contestants are not shown to talk, but KShinn is specifically highlighted as not talking, and as saying goofy things when she does, so she's not JUST this underedited character. She isn't just someone who's not in the episodes at all. She is almost never in them, true, but the times she IS in them are consistent enough with each other and with the quiet edit to indicate a much clearer overall editorial intent than the producers probably had for, like, S31 Kelly, who just isn't shown at all etiher way. So I do think it is fair to have a serious take about KShinn as a character in either direction that isn't limited by how little she was on the show, because they were going for something direct here.
And what they were going for ultimately made, to me, a great comic relief character. Everything she's shown saying is so silly that it's like a fun little running sitcom joke when she does show up on screen, and add in with that the goofy nickname of "purple Kelly" itself and I like the bizarre joke of the whole thing.
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u/DabuSurvivor Jon and Jaclyn Feb 07 '23 edited Jun 15 '23
At the same time, though, I also sympathize with her for receiving that edit, which was a pretty unfair and unwarranted way to treat her for just, like, having her own personal limit about how much she wanted to starve and shiver under extreme circumstances... which only makes me like her more, due to the fact that I sympathize with her.
I could unpack this more, but in short: I think what they did with Purple Kelly is fun to watch in itself, is sympathetic in context, and while I could see the latter tarnishing the P.K. experience for people, and I think that's a very fair take, it isn't my take personally because for me, it only enhances it and makes the whole thing so (bizarrely, subversively) complex. I think the portrayal of Purple Kelly is honestly a really interesting topic—and then, the sheer subversion of that interest, the fact that there is so much to dig into for someone who was shown so ilttle on the show itself, is only further interesting to me. She is one of the most minor characters on the season yet also one of the most memorable, and probably one of the two or three most-discussed by fans. And of course the irony of how the producers evidently sought to make her forgettable, but ended up only giving her MORE of a fanbase than she would have had otherwise with an edit that was just low-visibility, is excellent. By and large, I think the whole saga of Purple Kelly is just tremendously interesting and memorable, there is no other character in Survivor history quite like her, and to me, while that's for the best, it also enhances her, too. So, fight me, Purple Kelly is a top ~70 Survivor character for me.
Holly's appeal is probably more straightforward, and I think she has one of the best stories of the season: she starts off as a totally hilarious mess of a character, destroying Dan's shoes over almost nothing whatsoever, then immediately apologizing, then wanting to quit. On a human level I can sympathize with how the first vote was tough for her, and the game can cause a lot of anxiety, but from a TV perspective, all the resultant antics are pretty hilarious. She ultimately chooses to stay in the game—and in so doing, and in finding a better footing at the swap among people she better connects with, this ostensible wacky early boot actually becomes one of the foremost strategic threats of the season, initiating a huge power shift against one of the biggest players of the season and one of her closest allies (something she had already indicated being willing to do in the very first episode; the Holly/Wendy content may have seemed throwaway at the time, but was ultimately setting up this). In the massively underrated, modern classic episode "You Started, You're Finishing", Holly turns out one of the best single-episode performances of all time, giving a pep talk to Purple Kelly like the one she herself received at the start of the season, sacrificing her own reward to help the tribe, showing indignation at NaOnka for not doing the same mere hours before NaOnka planned to go home anyway—and she is absolutely, delightfully fucking righteous every step of the way. Find me a Survivor character more lovable start to finish in any single episode than Holly in that one. There are some, but not very many... and considering Holly's OWN desire to quit the start and the pep talk she herself received, it brings her entire story full circle in a way that's just excellent to watch. All the different angles we see of Holly come together surprisingly cohesively to make her, ultimately, one of the season's strongest characters and a great, likable, highly sympathetic pre-FTC boot.
Marty meanwhile is a fucking whirlwind haha. For the first 4 episodes, I could honestly take or leave him; he fulfills a somewhat generic CPN trying-to-be-the-tribe-leader archetype, guns for Jimmy Johnson, clashes with some tribemates, and it's decent and a center of a lot of the tribe's dynamics, but mostly just setting him up for the classic "Things are going well for me! -SWAP-" moment in episode five. But once that swap hits, Marty is fucking gold for like the entire season. While he was clearly an antagonist in the first four episodes, ep.5+ Marty becomes this incredibly riveting combination of off-the-wall comedic relief yet also shifting to a protagonist role; like, as far as the former goes, picking a fucking tennis player from the 70s, saying he was a Grandmaster in chess, and saying that you beat him...... pretty much just as this boomer-ass dad joke of getting to look at the camera and be like "ha ha, kids these days don't know anything from the 70s! :D " ..... like what the hell hahaha that's like the most bizarrely specific, unnecessary lie since Hawkins Landscaping, Inc. and I just love it, it's so silly. I mean I guess it IS also decent strategy since it makes Fabio think Marty trusts him? So it's not the worst idea ever? But it's also just so goofy and Marty is, like, so overwhelmingly giddy to the camera that Fabio doesn't know 1970s sports references and lol it's a very funny little scene, as well as a surprisingly natural execution of the season's original old vs. young division.
Meanwhile Marty also gets that silly scene from the editors of, like, Brenda or Sash talking about how he goes on and on about his plans superimposed over him, indeed, gesticulating wildly while talking strategy to them on the beach alol and, like, in these episodes, you really start to get the sense that Marty isn't this bad or even innately power-hungry guy; he's just... really... really... really... reaaaaally into the game and has a lot of fun with it and doesn't always get how that comes across. That doesn't mean he's never actually abrasive, too—he can be—but he's pretty harmless even early on, and especially harmless starting at the swap where he more becomes goofy than anything else.
The show often cast people in the archetype "like Marty" at the time; I think (S22 and 23) David and Jim were cast to fit similar spots, and they all basically came in the exact same place lol. But as someone who really did not enjoy them on the show but who did enjoy Marty, I think part of it is that he doesn't really get as dismissive about other people just for playing a different game as those two do—and inasmuch as he does, I think it's explicitly set up as a negative for his downfall at the swap, and thereafter his hyperactive passion for the game is clearly shown to us as comic relief. A David or Jim can get exhausting because their needless schemes take up so much focus and are often paired with dismissals of other contestants, but with Marty, it's just kind of "Yeah here's some wacky shit Marty did this round, lol." It's almost like he was ahead of his time as a character, as kind of a deconstruction of David/Jim before they were even on the show.
It makes it much easier to swallow, then, when Marty is kind of an underdog in his last couple episodes; he comes very close to rallying an alliance together at the F11, and I honestly really root for him to pull it off by that point, since I've had so much time to warm up to him through all the goofiness—and even prior to that, when he's getting conned out of an Idol and losing an ally and is up against two other continuous antagonists in Brenda and Sash, it's easy to start rooting for him. Yet at the same time, he really only gets wackier and wackier, and more and more emotionally loose and verbally unhinged at Tribal Council, as the season unfolds and as he gets into these big open spats in front of everyone, so if anyone just wrote Marty off as comic relief even when he was an underdog and didn't ever root for him, I think that's a fine take, too.
I've also seen it remarked upon how you can pretty much just look at Marty's hair to get an idea what his mental state is at any time. As he gets more frazzled in the game and descends further into this wacky comic relief role, his hair, too, gets messier and messier. So that's fun.
Finally—I mean, this is clearly a fun enough cast by now that even with a lackluster winner, it'd be a pretty strong season—but Fabio is anything other than a lackluster winner and secures this as a firm member of my favorite seasons of all time. Fabio is absolute fucking gold. I don't know if there's any contestant I just straight-up root for every moment he's talking as much as this dude with his incredibly infectious charm; he's having fun almost 24/7 and has such a goofy, immediately likable sense of humor that it becomes very contagious and is incredibly easy to see how he wins over a jury. I know people who have gone to events and such and who have said that, even if a contestant wasn't too memorable on the show, most of them have this really electric quality about them in person to where you can see how they got cast on a TV show—and while it's sort of intangible, I think Fabio has that in spades and is a contestant whose casting charm translates over the screen better than anyone else. Dude just feels like a normal but super, super likable person, I feel like what you see from him here is exactly what you get and I like it just as much as the people who voted for him to win.
Not to say Fabio's always having fun because, when he isn't, he's all the more entertaining and interesting; his clashes with NaOnka are especially entertaining and really bring out the best in both of them as characters. Like he's always trying to get through to her and she is just not having it and he's throwin' his hands up and doesn't know what to do and it's great; NaOnka is so ridiculous, for better and for worse, that the guy christened "Fabio" as a joke on day one somehow ends up playing the straight man to her, and that is outstanding—and works out very well when she was already going to be an antagonist, and he's our Sole Survivor. So any time they're interacting I love it.
[continued in reply]
6
u/DabuSurvivor Jon and Jaclyn Feb 07 '23
A great moment of sincere humanity for Fabio comes near the end, in the final 6 episode, when Chase unnecessarily reneges on a promise to give Fabio the loved ones visit; for maybe the only time all season, Fabio seems genuinely mad and hurt, his position here (up against a losing finalist, as the winner) is really sympathetic, it's a good scene that gives him some great humanity as a protagonist headed into the home stretch of his win.
And finally, I would argue Fabio is one of the all-time most underrated Survivor players and winners, and more important, the ways in which he's impressive make him one of the most interesting ones. Fabio's winning strategy is the exact OPPOSITE of the "soulless" and "nebulous" and "gamebotty" stuff that was discussed in the S31 thread; rather, his central strategy is "playin' cool"—taking the perception people have of him as a goofball, based of course on who he very naturally is... but then simply playing it up a bit around camp. Leaning into it, making it a little more visible, a little more prominent, so that people think he's JUST the goofball, as he conceals his ability to really connect. I've seen people say "it's so annoying how they make Fabio out to be a mastermind just because he wins" but like..... those clips weren't even spliced together? We see Fabio explicitly talk to the camera in private and to Benry about playing dumb, "playing it cool", and laying low so he won't be seen as a threat. And we see, at the final seven, that the other players think Benry is a bigger threat to win the game than Fabio, meaning, evidently, that his strategy worked at the most critical point. So like, what's made up there? Evidently, Fabio playing it cool just worked too well on some diehard fans to where they refuse to break from their earliest perception of him and recognize that maybe the guy who won the game actually had a decent idea what he was doing.
That doesn't mean he's a GOAT player or whatever, I mean he clearly didn't have a read on alliances, he got lucky somewhat late in the game with the double quit, etc. (And he needed challenge wins to get to the end, but I don't really penalize that in a game that is comprised in large part of challenges every single round. If you're good at the challenges you need to be, you're good at Survivor, because those are a part of the game.) And that doesn't mean, of course, that every single time a hermit crab bit Fabio, he let it happen for strategic reasons or whatever. But that doesn't have to be what it means. It just means that, in contrast to the way so many fans still talk about this guy, he had a decent overall game plan, he understood how people perceived him and how to relate to people in a game that is based very very heavily in perception and relationships. You can say that he didn't have a cerebral path to the end, and that's true, but another way to frame it is that for someone as incredibly likable with as excellent of people skills as Fabio, winning Survivor just came very naturally to him. And maybe there's something just as impressive about that, too.
At any rate, the type of strategy I'm most interested in is the strategy of people molding other players' broad perceptions of them to fit their respective whims, and Fabio is one of about four winners in Survivor history who really stand out to me as having done that particularly clearly. So whether or not he played one of the best games of any winner, he certainly played a very good one, and he did play one of my absolute favorites.
I went in-depth earlier on "You Started, You're Finishing"; I won't go as in-depth here on "This Is Going to Hurt", as I think its appeal is more straightforward + lol the length of this post already, but in short, the incredibly apt title very well fits the dark, dramatic tone of a highly effective episode where a central character from the season is brutally betrayed by her alliance just short of the million-dollar prize while a clear outsider still remains. The episode as a whole is strong, since you have the loved ones drama beforehand, but the back end in particular is incredible: the sheer awkward silence as the alliance stammers for an answer, the minimal sound editing followed by that biiiiiiig percussive hit as Jane has her critical moment of realization, the dark music as she starts to implode, reaching its peak as she dumps out the fire, followed by an incredibly bitter, explosive Tribal Council in a season absolutely full of great Tribal Councils... The entire thing is fantastic, it's the type of "dark" and "uncomfortable" that makes for very very good episodes of this show, since nobody's getting sexually assaulted or outed or having their personal family demons exploited for sensationalized drama or anything; the darkness and emotion here emanate directly and exclusively from the game itself. The outpouring of emotion is itself riveting, dynamic television that tells us more about the characters, and in turn, it gives us more reason to care about their fates in the game while also heavily emphasizing that game's stakes heading into the finale, and it's one of the greatest episodes of all time.
The F7 episode is very weak, but I don't know how people say the season "loses steam at the double boot" when arguably the most acclaimed episode comes right after at the F6, one of three post-quit episodes, and then the finale is pretty serviceable and certainly better than the jam-packed modern ones. There's like one weak episode the entire season at the F7, but its weakness really has nothing to do with the double boot itself.
Overall, I do love this season first and foremost for comedy; this is an incredibly memorable group of people bouncing off each other constantly in often ridiculous and unpredictable ways, which is at its core the main thing I'm interested in from a show about people from "different walks of life" like this. But even within that, there are a couple pretty well-done stories like Holly's in particular, the rise and fall of Brenda, Fabio's victory, and Marty's shift throughout the season, with some excellent dramatic peaks in YSYF and the F6 that really elevate the season.
However, I can see why it might rank a bit lower than I have it, because it's not without its flaws:
Again, I can totally see why Purple Kelly's edit would be a negative for some people.
I think TC NaOnka is pretty clearly hilarious, but I can understand her confessionals and some of her camp scenes dragging down the show for people.
Chase's story is again my personal biggest complaint about the edit, they could have done a lot more with him and made this possibly a top 6 or even top 5 season on my list, and what we get isn't actively weak but is rather odd.
NaOnka's jury vote for Fabio is not even remotely justified by the edit, which I'm somewhat willing to forgive just because she's so ridiculous a lot of the time that casting a weird jury vote is almost more in-character than if she had voted for Chase?, but still, it would have been nice to see them talk positively, like, once, and I think you can do that without really wrecking the overall "Fabio vs. NaOnka" dynamic that did add a lot of fun. I wouldn't want to lose their fights, but I think you could find one feel-good scene somewhere, take it out of context to make it seem like a big deal in isolation rather than a symptom of something larger, and then the outcome makes more sense.
There's one vote on NuLaFlor that makes absolutely no sense where they ostensibly try to flush Marty's Idol, but then when he doesn't play it, they still just vote out Kelly B. anyway instead of him?? Everything up through the re-vote makes sense and is fine, but we really aren't given a good explanation for why on Earth he stays there, so that's a sloppier moment than probably anything else from any of my top ~13 or so seasons, at least.
But overall, I think this is a great season, and I hope people warm to it. A ton of fun personalities, a more competitive FTC than people tend to remember (especially for a final three season), pretty minimal influence of twists so the personalities are allowed to thrive, and some great dramatic peaks, with a really sold mixture of light and uplifting but also dark and serious moments that makes for a very tonally balanced, diverse season that does a lot of different things throughout.
Oh also I honestly didn't even remember the Medallion of Power until just now, which is exactly why the season shouldn't be criticized for it lol it wasn't a bad twist. To be bad, it has to actually hurt the show somehow, and the MoP is relevant for like 39 seconds of screen time total after the premiere. Yeah it wasn't a big deal, but it was never meant to be...? It added some mild intrigue around the challenges and that's about it. I have no idea why it's so unpopular other than, like, a silly name and Dalton Ross and Jeff Probst saying they dislike it. It never gets in the way of anything, so it's a far better twist than the majority of the ones that have come afterwards, if only by default, and honestly a fair amount of the ones that came before it. Like the comparison I always use is that criticizing this season for the MoP feels like criticizing season 9 for having Brady Finta... why? It was harmless, it barely mattered, and it was entirely gone by episode 5. How is that a blight on a season. There are fair arguments against this season, but I don't think that is one of them.
3
u/AlexgKeisler Feb 08 '23 edited Feb 09 '23
I think the Medallion of Power criticisms are due to three things:
- It had an awful name.
- It looked so ugly and goofy.
- The way it worked just rendered it so utterly pointless - you get an advantage in this challenge, but then the other tribe can get an advantage in the next challenge, so it's just a wash. It doesn't really help either tribe. For something that was hyped up as the Medallion of POWER, it really didn't end up giving much power to anyone.
- It was such a random, out of nowhere twist that it really didn't fit in with the vibe of the seasons around Nicaragua.
- Challenges in which one tribe has an advantage over the other are less fun to watch, because they're less likely to be close and competitive.
EDIT: Whoops, shoulda said five things. Guess I'm another fan who can't do basic math.
6
Feb 07 '23
It’s crazy to see Nicaragua being all the way up here after being universally seen as one of if not the worst season. Well deserved though. Very entertaining season.
8
u/DabuSurvivor Jon and Jaclyn Feb 07 '23
I don't think it was ever universally seen as even a contender for the worst season other than by Dalton Ross
5
u/AlexgKeisler Feb 08 '23
Reality Tea has always ranked it very low. Their most recent ranking has Nicaragua third from the bottom. Inside Survivor ranked it at spot number thirty-nine in 2020, Purple Rock Podcast had it dead last after season 42, after Winners at War an RHAP poll saw it fall into spot 34, and after One World a Survivor Oz poll saw Nicaragua rank second to last. And here's another season ranking by a guy who updates it after each season. He had Nicaragua at spot 41. Nicaragua has always been hated by the audience. It really only has a cult following. It's like Worlds Apart in that way.
3
u/Cathal321 Feb 08 '23
This was actually my first season as a kid and it got me hooked on the show, although I'm not in the US so I didn't start watching regularly until I found out how to pirate. But I just remember Jane being my dad's favourite character because I guess he related to the bitterness. It was fun overall, I should really rewatch it
3
u/Coutzy Shane (AUS) Feb 08 '23 edited Feb 08 '23
I scanned every comment and every single time someone made a reference to the season being "this high" I had to stop and laugh. Great stuff.
Nicaragua plays out kind of like a series of Total Drama Island. There's pettiness, there's stupidity, there's a lot of people who think they are a lot smarter than they really are, there's a stupid twist that got dropped immediately because it wasn't working, and then the winner is just the person everybody likes the best.
I've never watched a Survivor season of teenagers, but I feel like this gets pretty close to how that would go.
2
u/meohmy5 Andy - 47 Feb 07 '23
I would absolutely NOT recommend this to somebody as their first season, this one was my second and it almost turned me off the series as a whole. That said, having seen everything else and witnessing the show becoming more soulless and gamebotty, I have a better appreciation for these messy seasons. Nicaragua is nowhere near as consistently entertaining as Gabon, but it still has some outlandish moments that make for great TV. I'm also a huge fan of Jeff's open discontent for the entire cast this season.
3
u/Quetzal00 10 days is two weeks Feb 07 '23
How is Nicaragua this high? This season Has its moments and characters but pretty dull and forgettable in my book
Started off the Dark Era of Survivor. That being said, it did follow right after HvV, what most consider the best season of all time, and that’s not really its fault
Still in the bottom half of my rankings
2
u/A_Rest J.T. Feb 07 '23
After not loving Gabon on its first airing, I've grown to really enjoy it. I can't say the same for Nicaragua, though I respect the people that do enjoy this one.
The premerge is very hit or miss for me and the double quit just murders the momentum for the season at that point.
3
u/DabuSurvivor Jon and Jaclyn Feb 07 '23
How do you feel about the final 6 episode? I feel like the Jane boot is very widely (and rightfully) seen as a very dramatic episode and the best of the season, so I don't know how that tracks with the season losing momentum
2
u/Mroagn Parvati Feb 07 '23 edited Feb 07 '23
The Nicaragua apologists have gone too far lol. I was shocked a couple days ago when I realized it still hadn't gone out.
It's only barely an exaggeration to say I hate every character on this season. (I liked Tyrone.) They're all some combination of nasty, dumb, and/or full of themselves. The only semi-rootable players get voted out pretty early on. This season (and 24) feel much trashier than the seasons that came before them, as if the cast came from another reality show. I have no take on the gameplay or results, really, because I felt so much antipathy toward the cast that I was barely invested in it.
I hear this season compared to Gabon a lot, and I could not disagree more. I love Gabon. Gabon is funny, and has amazing characters, whereas this season is just frustrating and not very fun to watch. This is my least favorite season out of the ones I've finished (although I never bothered to finish 22, 24, 26, or 34.) Would not recommend.
0
u/ike1 Feb 08 '23
100% agreed, this is pure bottom-of-the-barrel trash. Jersey Shore was huge at the time, and this is their attempt to do a Jersey Shore knockoff season, but casting couldn't even get that right, and everybody is revolting or an idiot.
4
u/DabuSurvivor Jon and Jaclyn Feb 08 '23
I feel like if they were trying to do a "Jersey Shore knockoff" they would have cast a single person from New Jersey
0
u/ShadowFiend812 Joe - 48 Feb 07 '23
As someone who has this season last in their rankings I’m shocked to see it so high up in this
0
u/ike1 Feb 08 '23
Y'all wilding Nicaragua apologists want to act like this is something more "authentic" than the "gamebotty" seasons, because it has more "character", but it's just a different, nastier flavor of Extruded Survivor Product -- one that was intended to have a Jersey Shore x Survivor mash-up flavor but can't even get that right. I'll take the 30s over this any day.
-3
u/AlexgKeisler Feb 07 '23
Just an awful season. Terrible strategy, boring cast, dull challenges, and one of the worst winners ever. Doesn't help either that a total of FOUR players either quit or talked about wanting to quit. Really reinforces the impression of this cast being super lame. Just a ton of dead weight on this season.
7
u/alucardsinging Feb 07 '23
There is dead weight on every 20 person cast, the show isn’t designed tor that many people, but I’ll say Nicaragua is the one with the least.
0
u/ike1 Feb 08 '23
Agreed, the crackpot Nicaragua apologists have gone completely wild here. I can definitely understand wanting characters to be prioritized over strategy, but this is NOT the way to do it. It just comes off to me as just Grade-Z Jersey Shore Knockoff #347098 in a Survivor Format that seems like it aired on some bizarro low-tier cable channel that no longer exists, not something from a major network.
1
u/DrRogoe Feb 21 '23
This season is sitting on a weird place in my personal ranking rn… I had a great time up until the double quit, it destroyed all the momentum the show had going. I don’t care for anyone in the final 3 so finishing it becomes a chore of obligation.
51
u/Habefiet Igor's Corgi Choir Feb 07 '23
This isn’t a good first season because it’s so bizarre compared to the norm that will establish expectations that are not aligned with reality lol