Superlatives/Cast Reveal

[Mia Galeotalanza]

Are we doing these like you guys did in Costa Rica? For the cast reveal, obv. And if we have time, some sort of writeup for each player?

Go for it. I'll add to it later. I'm gonna update ORGY & the Aussie board right now.

[Mia Galeotalanza]

<snip>

Okay I'm done almsot all of the superlatives. Opinions?

Blackest? wtf, the racism is catching.

HOSTS. Do this. Fill in with a blurb or something for each player so it'll be done for the cast reveal.

hmm, idk about recycling Helen's same comments from last year, especially since some of these were there :P

I will do a comment for each now, and heads up, no way I'll be here for reveal, I've a silly early start for work tomorrow.

Okay so I guess I'll do that if Jeff doesn't want to? I'll also post the fan favorite stuff and player of the season, but it will probably be just one post because it wasn't that exciting.

And I was really hard pressed to think up some of the superlatives, so I recycled some of Helen's. Some of them are a perfect fit (like Holly's Valedictorian one) so I just went with it. If you have any suggestions, feel free!

I'd nearly take em out altogether maybe? idk - some of them do work, but a lot of them don't or are kinda insulting even. Like, light-hearted poking fun is cool, but they don't sit well with me. Up to you, I think the write-ups will stand on their own. Last Season they were only kinda stopgap from Helen cos she didn't have time to do full ones.

Last Season they were only kinda stopgap from Helen cos she didn't have time to do full ones.

Yeah, this. Superlatives aren't a tradition of any sort here. They were just convenient since a lot of people last season were caricatures and I decided I'd rather sit around thinking than sit around typing. They're non-essential for sure.

Okay, I'll scratch them.

[Brenda Lowe]

Jimmy T - 20th Place
(Played by Gumshoe - SurvivorSucks)

Mia says: Nope.

Brenda says: lol, you'll never read this. I'm not disappointed you let JimmyT go to waste, since even when you stumbled online for the first challenge, you showed a little of the zaniness we were hoping for. Even not managing to find the tribe board is a little slice of epic character. But I [i]am disappointed you volunteered to be the boot and let the first TC be just a procedure. Not that you had much hope of surviving, but I woulda liked to see how you'd approach the fight.[/i]

Jane - 19th Place
(Played by Bitch Pudding/AlwaysAwesomeAdam - SurvivorSucks/ORGY)

Mia says: You were by far one of the funniest players in the game. I really wish you could have held out longer so we could have seen you really wreak some havoc later in the game, because you sure ripped everyone a new one in the Loser's Lounge. Long live Jane-à-Trois!

Brenda says: My first recruit to fall by the wayside I said pre-game you would need the right luck to get past the first few rounds, but if you could manage that you'd be a hilarious force to be reckoned with. You didn't manage to get over that hump but you were still a hilarious force in the LL Even in your two short rounds in the game you had the best confessional to shoot the shit in and your struggle with having to portray "this mess of a woman" was guaranteed entertainment every log-in. Yours & Russell's brief dysfunctional partnership was hilarious too, not gonna lie.

Russell- Why does yer neck look like a vagina?
Jane - As if you've seen a vagina to know what it looks like?
Jane - What's up with the fedora? Fan of Freddy Kruger much?

Brook - 18th Place
(Played by TheDoctor - AusStranded/ORGY)

Mia says: I guess you were just too busy or your head wasn't in it, but I really wish things had gone different for you. Maybe if you would have ended up on Palena instead, things might have been better. I was really hoping to see some great stuff, especially regarding John. It looked like you were going to deliver at the start of game, and you had a great alliance going, but things fall apart sometimes I guess.

Brenda says: Oh Brook Such high hopes for you to at the very least improve on your first go-round but it just didn't happen for whatever reason. I'd blame timezone but there are a plethora of Aussie yet to come here and they all managed to set themselves up better & outlast you. You seemed to have good connections made before and after the initial shake-up too. I guess you know yourself what went wrong here, because I know you are a better gamer than your Stranded stats would lead us to believe.

Jimmy J - Co-16th Place
(Played by Draylen - ORGY)

Mia says: Some loved you, but I didn't. I just didn't get what the fuck you were doing, and clearly it didn't work. Better luck next time, I guess.

Brenda says: I have to wonder if you'll ever read this?
You seemed so excited to play this Season and then when you got here it was just .. I still don't know what that was meant to be. Pre-Season we even had a little pep-talk in the hopes of boosting you off dead last in the overall rankings - things like the importance of PMing everyone all the time. But then you came in here and just did the absolute opposite of everything.
And even though at the time I kinda felt you were playing into being as awful as possible as a jab at me, I was still your only staunch supporter in the host blogs that not to worry, this is some sort of crazy tactic and he's going somewhere with this, but you just went nowhere in no time flat :/ I see your thread over on ORGY and I genuinely "get" not playing to win. But there's no way in hell I can back someone playing to lose. If you are here to meet new people and enjoy the experience you just can't come in like you did. Sorry if this is harsh Jimmy but I feel like this spot was wasted on you.

It's not all bad, positive number one is you confused the players just as much as the hosts and watching them trying to get their heads round wtf you were playing at was entertaining. The othe big highlight is of course that beautiful bitchfest of a partnership with Erica. While all the other partnerships that gelled always had a layer of tentativeness and some trust issues and maybe a little fakeness, Erica/Jimmy was a match-up built on realness and mutual hate of the rest of the cast, and it came across as all-the-more genuine for it. Now if only you would have tried actually PMing a few people with that same level of commitment. Sorry Jimmy, you sucked here and well you know it

Erica - Co-16th Place
(Played by Fawa - SurvivorSucks)

Mia says: By far the biggest star right out of the gate. Your fall from glory was so disappointing... You and Jimmy J were a great pair, and whenever I had some positivity in my real life that I needed to kill off, I was able to head right to your confessional and everything was nice and gloomy again. You had some great plans at the start, but the swap did you no favors. Apparently having to get to know people twice killed your momentum. Really wish we could have seen more.

Brenda says: OMW glorious. The difference between you & JJ, is that you were trying so hard to stay. You very obviously cared not just for your own place in the game, but for the game itself, going out of your way to try keep it entertaining and fun (even if it was a morbid kinda fun :P )
10/10 would cast again.

Fabio - 15th Place
(Played by jedijun - ORGY)

Mia says: You kind of got lost in the mix for me, so I didn't really get much of an opinion on you. Sorry.

Brenda says: Oh Fabio, you were so well set up here, and so loved by so many players. I missed the few days around your boot, but I think it was your own laid-back UTR strategy that did you in. Such a pity and the most surprising pre-Jury boot ;__;

John - 14th Place
(Played by xgjio - AusStranded)

Sneakiest
Best At 10x10 Puzzles

Mia says: Augh, so frustrating to see you go out so early. It was interesting to see you tone down the sneakiness from last season, but it still caught up with you, which I guess is only to be expected. You certainly were a shadow of the John we saw last season, but you were still consistent all the same, so good for you!

Brenda says: John, you know I love you, but you're nuts. Hand-picking a tribe who lost near every challenge, & then promptly booted you a round or two later two Seasons in a row must be some kind of record :D Hey, you beat Brook though amIrite?

Marty - 13th Place
(Played by phant0m - SurvivorSucks)

Mia says: Frustrating to watch. I don't really think you were ever in control, and you kind of just ended up being collateral damage of the larger scheme. Your highlighting moment was BY FAR the picture posting challenge. I was laughing so hard in real life at all of your continued failures.

Brenda says: Most of this cast (noob tribe included) have some ORG experience - even if it's only one game. But two players had never done anything like this before. One (JimmyT) couldn't find the tribe board, and ended up first boot. The other (Marty) made a name for himself in challenges, and was *this* close to making the merge and re-uniting with the noob tribe. With just one more tribe win, things coulda worked out very differently with a Ken or Tyrone boot instead of Marty's that round. For a first-timer you quite impressed me with not just the challenges, but with your grasp of survival strategy too.
Protip: The one area you can step it up for next game is focusing on PMs more. And you will play again derp.

~Merge~

Wendy Jo - 12th Place
(Played by Blueberry - ORGY/SurvivorSucks)

Mia says: I guess there was no hiding my intense hatred for you. You were seriously my MOST hated player. My guess is that a lot of that had to do with your telling people that you knew them outside of the game. Whether that was an intentional way to solicit an alliance or just an honest mistake, it still pissed me the fuck off, and I'd be lying if I said I didn't campaign HARD for your removal from the game. I guess I just expected someone with so much experience to know better. That being said, you did play one hell of a game, and you control shit for almost the entire pre-merge, so props for that. And you also have the honor of being the boot in probably one of the most insane tribals in Stranded history!

Brenda says: I said this in confessional to you already, but you were one of the stars of the Season here. Your only real fault was being on the winning tribe so much we never got to see how Palena would have shaken out ( I guess what Mia mentioned too *re-raps on knuckles*) It is thanks to you that Jolanda got shaken out of her shell for starters. Add in you working every player you could get your hands on socially and even the one player who wanted to "make a move" on you in Ken, you had do a complete 180 to the point where he owned up to targeting you, then actively wanted to work with you. That is some ~social skills~ right there. And of course the 4-4-4 tie round was pretty much all your fault too with your shenaigans in the lead-up. You somehow got half the cast to suddenly have a ~mind of their own~. I hope the irony of it then being yourself to pull the fateful rock wasn't lost on you :/

Still, knowing you left the game without ever logging a single vote against makes it a little more bearable I hope. You were exciting to watch, and were my first stop in Palena each log-in to find out what was going down today, and you have nothing to be ashamed of in your gameplay. Wendy-Jo for next second-chancers y/y?

Ted - 11th Place
(Played by Virtuanno - AusStranded)

Mia says: I didn't get that much from you, to be honest. There was a lot of Ted hype, and I don't quite think you lived up to it. But I ultimately think it boiled down to luck, and you fought hard to stay alive, so I can respect that.

Brenda says: Nono, I disagree. Ted was here, and playing hard. But this was most definitely Ted 2.0. Yes we lost the single-minded selfish drive that was so entertaining in Greece, but we gained this new & improved Ted. Far more stable, better at PMing, well thought-out plans thoroughly explained in detailed journals. I would say most improved, only that Ken was so godawful in his first game

You played very well here Ted, and I think with more even merge numbers were maybe the best positioned of any Vet to take advantage of it? My favourite part of Ted this Season might seem odd since it didn't actually result in much, but I loved you & Jill in your partner forum before the merge. And even though you were both being a little cagey, I genuinely believe she would have been booted without your sage advice at the right moments. There's no shame in being flagged the biggest threat of the minority and getting taken out for it.

Chase - 10th Place
(Played by AveryC - AusStranded)

Brenda says: My winner pick </3 Not just in the Fantasy leagues but in my pre-game picks too. Another one with an astoundingly solid game, successfully navigating a losing tribe only to be up against the wall come merge. And of course the threats are the first to be targeted. I think the only mistake I can point to is not letting Yve use her idol on you, not even pushing her to it when you were pretty spot on about you being the target. How that would have changed the game is impossible to know, but you would have had another round and another number to work some angles. That might have been enough to get Russell or Jill or Ken or.. or.. or.. onto your side and maybe now it's you in the F3 instead of your allies. To keep the Ted comparison running, I think he in your shoes would have made it happen for sure. Jake talked about fearing he lacks the killer instinct at FTC and I see some truth in that for you too Chase. That's only a bad thing in Survivor games though, in the ruthless way I mean it's generally a good thing to not have as a person Also, that's like one little thing in a full game of ~werking~ every opportunity available.

Holly - 9th Place
(Played by Duck - ORGY)

Brenda says: lololol I knew you had to be casted here and now this Season with this format and so many open-ID Aussies in the mix. Even Jill got vented at in private once you discovered her homeland I am glad you managed to keep it separate from the game for the most part - yet also a little disappointed it didn't spill out? What can you do, I'm a glutton for a bit of drama Gamewise what can I say, you were dominant here, challenges and strategically. Your biggest fault was being too dominant. I don't think anyone was ever seriously considering allowing you anywhere near the F3 - you will see later most had plans to cut you around 6 or 5 at the latest.

However, even though it's a stupidly dangerous and obviously painting-yourself-as-a-massive target way to play, I still love that style - to just go full throttle and not GAF. And if you had have gotten to six, who knows? Three immunities on the trot at that point would have been well within your grasp.

Jill - 8th Place
(Played by coolcoolcool - AusStranded/SurvivorSucks)


Brenda says: Jill came into this game fresh out of her very first game ever playing in our Australian sister series (as Bill for those who are wondering) and she was impressive here. Not yet the finished article as a player by any means but definitely one to watch. Surviving through, and then rebounding from, an early period of kinda inactiveness is very hard to do in these cut-throat games, yet she made just the right moves when she was *this* close to being the boot at least twice that I remember offhand. Come the merge there was some nice groundwork laid and I think if it wasn't for that idolling, you were very nearly a cert for the end. Now if you could have won is another story as several players were beginning to view you as a goat.

Having been privy to your inner workings in your confessional though, I can safely say it was never going to be the walkover people were planning - your head was most certainly in this game even if they didn't know it.

Russell - 7th Place
(Played by TooManyNachos - ORGY)

Brenda says: Ugh, I was very hot and cold over you here Russell. There were times when I was just fanning (I don't use that word lightly) over your positional play and how easily your multiple paths to the end were set, but then other times where I was just screaming at you to actually do something! You had Yve flagged as *the* threat to win about ten rounds before everyone else (except Jane, Jane called that shit back in round 2 bitches) yet couldn't or wouldn't do anything about it. Yusyus ik ik, stupid players wouldn't listen, but I think part of it also has to be you not wanting to put yourself in danger by sticking your neck out with a big move or a commitment to anyone. I don't know how many times players went from "Yay Russell is with us" to " idk, I don't think Russell is with us..". And then just as you were finally stepping your game up out of the shadows bam, too little too late and you were on the Jury. :/

Fun Fact: That this Season has returning players at all is all thanks to Russell. After Poody & TMN & I all played in FML's Phillippines together, Poody wanted "Katie" to play in Stranded so bad. After Cast Reveal he found out Katie was actually Russell here, who'd played before but had obviously improved as a player since. And so the format was built around him :D You will get that win sooner or later Russell. You are more than good enough.

Jolanda - 6th Place
(Played by ChuckietheDuckie - ORGY/SurvivorSucks)

¡Hottest Tamale!

Mia says: #Jolandomination! Where do I even start, girl? As I'm sure you're aware by now, you were easily the biggest trainwreck right ouf of the gate. If the tribes stayed the same, you would have been toast. I can definitely appreciate the fact that you tried to tone yourself down to come off as less threatening, but seriously, what were you thinking? You'll probably have fun reading the host blogs and seing how frustrating it was for us to watch you. And then a miracle happened. Suddenly Jolanda kicks it into high gear! I'm not sure, but I think I was the first one to predict that your strategy of being a woman of so few words might actually pay off and put you in a much better position, and that's exactly what happened when Wendy Jo approached you. After that, you clawed your way back and ended up being in the middle between both sides of the Palena alliance where you could safely call the shots. Your plan to let Holly take all the heat was BRILLIANT, and it would have paid off if it weren't for Jake's idol/Dan missing the double tribal. You were amazing, girl!

Brenda says: Read the blogs. #Jolandomination all over it. @2 episodes in, #18 in the rankings (yes behind both Jimmies :o ), @4 episodes in, #1 (these rankings may or may not exist only in my head). And from there she just went from strength to strength. The catalyst was WendyJo and Jake's info, and her partnership with HoHo just cemented her as the best player for large portions of the game. I think her best run is right around the merge where she was in a great position of power and even though she didn't want to, seemed to be the driving force and the sane player keeping that NuPalena mess together as one cohesive bloc. She rightfully wanted Holly kept in as the 'bigger target" and it worked out perfectly when the flip finally happened, she survived. I think I'm just parroting Mia now Jolanda was a star and ten times the player she was in CR.

Dan - 5th Place
(Played by Savaii - SurvivorSucks/ORGY)

Mia says: Hell of an UTR game, but everything fell apart for you (and Jolanda) when you missed. And that idol wasting... So unfortunate.

Brenda says: You played really well early in the game. I got a particular kick out of how you were intent on not being the HBIC and allowing Holly or someone else fill that role, yet who was the one organising and co-ercing and coordinating group PMs it set you up well as you got a bit of a reputation as the one running the noobs show along with Holly, and everyone was always apprehensive about even considering making a move.. Your purposeful step back a t merge though :/ That's where it started to unravel. I have to ask how much you thought that was legitimately the best strategy for your position and how much it was on account of you double-dipping.Then you bow that idol. Then you miss the double. Then you are so far up shit creek there's really nothing you can do. Sorry to say Dan, these things were all your fault and all were presentable if you'd paid a little more time & attention here. From the Holly Blindside round you were soooo set to go to the end and win too. Ugh. Damnit Dan. Your allies suffered for it too which is worse :/

Lesson learned; unless your name is Maj, you should never ever double-dip on games - you will end up sucking in one or both because of it. Stranded especially, this shit is intense and requires your full concentration.

Tyrone - 4th Place
(Played by DarkPunxysaur - DeviantArt/ORGY)

Mia says: You were frustrating to watch, but hey, you owned it, and you got 4th place, so congrats! I knew early on that if you weren't a pre-merge boot, you'd go pretty far. There was a time when Palena wanted to throw to possibly get rid of you, but lucky for you that didn't happen. And you've been SO much better post-game. <3

Brenda says: I loved you in this Tyrone. But I didn't always, and it certainly wasn't for the reasons I expected. For those familiar Punxy is better known as the volatile Nikki Wong from a recent other game, and I wanted him in this cast with the hope of explosive arguments and call-outs. Think male Erica (lol they hated each other here too :D ) But instead we got this quiet & loyal footsoldier. Not gonna lie, he kinda lucked into an early alliance with Dan, Holly and Jill even though the girls weren't sold on him, he would at least be a solid number. And for a long time that was it. He would be doggedly loyal to the first people he met and that would be that. Noobs > Vets and there was no changing his mind. But that changed once he got chatty with Jolanda. The irony here is that WendyJo flipped Jolanda to the noobs, and Wendy hated Tyrone, but Jol & Ty became pretty damn inseparable

As the game went on he became less and less quiet and I gotta say kept me chuckling, with witty one-liners all over the game in challenges and on camp, to the point of him being the most entertaining player here and almost effortlessly (When confessionals open first stop for y'all should be his FCs )

And of course there is his arc through the game. He was constantly a target on Palena, even though he didn't know it. Then the merge kicks in and targeting him seems to be the get out clause for the minority. But crazy Wendy after pushing that plan also splits the other vote and we get this 4-4-4 tie. Somehow survives the revote too, and I think that is the point he got pegged as a goat and everyone wanted Tyrone at the end with them.

And the talismans, oh god I cracking up here all over again. Ken sees them as his salvation and wants Tyrone to chase them too. This would work with 9 players out of ten but Tyrone is the tenth - runs it back to Ho & Jo since he wants nothing to do with them damned talismans. Then Hoho gets blindsided without him and who ends up with the talisman? Only Tyrone

His slow meltdowns as all his allies are taken out one at a time from here to the end are a delight to read, but with this many allies on the Jury - eventually he gets rightly unpegged as a goat, and repegged as the Jury threat he truly is and gets chopped for it.

Hates to the left, Tyrone was the unexpected star of the show

Ken - ???
(Played by Gojira - SurvivorSucks/ORGY)

Most Excitable
Most Likely to Bring Home to Mom and Dad

Brenda says:

Jake - ???
(Played by SimonLOTF - SurvivorSucks)

Most Caring
Most Likely to Get Seconds (In the Lunch Line)

Brenda says:

Yve - ???
(Played by Jeremy - ORGY)

Nicest Ass
Most Likely to Win This Award

Brenda says:

I am actually falling asleep here.. *must*keep*eyes*open*

I've got some work to do. I'll finish mine up after the Survivor Premier.

Jimmy T - 20th Place
(Played by Gumshoe - SurvivorSucks)

Mia says: Nope.

Brenda says: lol, you'll never read this. I'm not disappointed you let JimmyT go to waste, since even when you stumbled online for the first challenge, you showed a little of the zaniness we were hoping for. Even not managing to find the tribe board is a little slice of epic character. But I am disappointed you volunteered to be the boot and let the first TC be just a procedure. Not that you had much hope of surviving, but I woulda liked to see how you'd approach the fight.

Jane - 19th Place
(Played by Bitch Pudding/AlwaysAwesomeAdam - SurvivorSucks/ORGY)

Mia says: You were by far one of the funniest players in the game. I really wish you could have held out longer so we could have seen you really wreak some havoc later in the game, because you sure ripped everyone a new one in the Loser's Lounge. Long live Jane-à-Trois!

Brenda says: My first recruit to fall by the wayside I said pre-game you would need the right luck to get past the first few rounds, but if you could manage that you'd be a hilarious force to be reckoned with. You didn't manage to get over that hump but you were still a hilarious force in the LL Even in your two short rounds in the game you had the best confessional to shoot the shit in and your struggle with having to portray "this mess of a woman" was guaranteed entertainment every log-in. Yours & Russell's brief dysfunctional partnership was hilarious too, not gonna lie.

Russell- Why does yer neck look like a vagina?
Jane - As if you've seen a vagina to know what it looks like?
Jane - What's up with the fedora? Fan of Freddy Kruger much?

Brook - 18th Place
(Played by TheDoctor - AusStranded/ORGY)

Mia says: I guess you were just too busy or your head wasn't in it, but I really wish things had gone different for you. Maybe if you would have ended up on Palena instead, things might have been better. I was really hoping to see some great stuff, especially regarding John. It looked like you were going to deliver at the start of game, and you had a great alliance going, but things fall apart sometimes I guess.

Brenda says: Oh Brook Such high hopes for you to at the very least improve on your first go-round but it just didn't happen for whatever reason. I'd blame timezone but there are a plethora of Aussie yet to come here and they all managed to set themselves up better & outlast you. You seemed to have good connections made before and after the initial shake-up too. I guess you know yourself what went wrong here, because I know you are a better gamer than your Stranded stats would lead us to believe.

Jimmy J - Co-16th Place
(Played by Draylen - ORGY)

Mia says: Some loved you, but I didn't. I just didn't get what the fuck you were doing, and clearly it didn't work. Better luck next time, I guess.

Brenda says: I have to wonder if you'll ever read this?
You seemed so excited to play this Season and then when you got here it was just .. I still don't know what that was meant to be. Pre-Season we even had a little pep-talk in the hopes of boosting you off dead last in the overall rankings - things like the importance of PMing everyone all the time. But then you came in here and just did the absolute opposite of everything.
And even though at the time I kinda felt you were playing into being as awful as possible as a jab at me, I was still your only staunch supporter in the host blogs that not to worry, this is some sort of crazy tactic and he's going somewhere with this, but you just went nowhere in no time flat :/ I see your thread over on ORGY and I genuinely "get" not playing to win. But there's no way in hell I can back someone playing to lose. If you are here to meet new people and enjoy the experience you just can't come in like you did. Sorry if this is harsh Jimmy but I feel like this spot was wasted on you.

It's not all bad, positive number one is you confused the players just as much as the hosts and watching them trying to get their heads round wtf you were playing at was entertaining. The othe big highlight is of course that beautiful bitchfest of a partnership with Erica. While all the other partnerships that gelled always had a layer of tentativeness and some trust issues and maybe a little fakeness, Erica/Jimmy was a match-up built on realness and mutual hate of the rest of the cast, and it came across as all-the-more genuine for it. Now if only you would have tried actually PMing a few people with that same level of commitment. Sorry Jimmy, you sucked here and well you know it

Erica - Co-16th Place
(Played by Fawa - SurvivorSucks)

Mia says: By far the biggest star right out of the gate. Your fall from glory was so disappointing... You and Jimmy J were a great pair, and whenever I had some positivity in my real life that I needed to kill off, I was able to head right to your confessional and everything was nice and gloomy again. You had some great plans at the start, but the swap did you no favors. Apparently having to get to know people twice killed your momentum. Really wish we could have seen more.

Brenda says: OMW glorious. The difference between you & JJ, is that you were trying so hard to stay. You very obviously cared not just for your own place in the game, but for the game itself, going out of your way to try keep it entertaining and fun (even if it was a morbid kinda fun :P )
10/10 would cast again.

Fabio - 15th Place
(Played by jedijun - ORGY)

Mia says: You kind of got lost in the mix for me, so I didn't really get much of an opinion on you. Sorry.

Brenda says: Oh Fabio, you were so well set up here, and so loved by so many players. I missed the few days around your boot, but I think it was your own laid-back UTR strategy that did you in. Such a pity and the most surprising pre-Jury boot ;__;

John - 14th Place
(Played by xgjio - AusStranded)

Mia says: Augh, so frustrating to see you go out so early. It was interesting to see you tone down the sneakiness from last season, but it still caught up with you, which I guess is only to be expected. You certainly were a shadow of the John we saw last season, but you were still consistent all the same, so good for you!

Brenda says: John, you know I love you, but you're nuts. Hand-picking a tribe who lost near every challenge, & then promptly booted you a round or two later two Seasons in a row must be some kind of record :D Hey, you beat Brook though amIrite?

Marty - 13th Place
(Played by phant0m - SurvivorSucks)

Mia says: Frustrating to watch. I don't really think you were ever in control, and you kind of just ended up being collateral damage of the larger scheme. Your highlighting moment was BY FAR the picture posting challenge. I was laughing so hard in real life at all of your continued failures. Anyways, very well done for a first time player!

Brenda says: Most of this cast (noob tribe included) have some ORG experience - even if it's only one game. But two players had never done anything like this before. One (JimmyT) couldn't find the tribe board, and ended up first boot. The other (Marty) made a name for himself in challenges, and was *this* close to making the merge and re-uniting with the noob tribe. With just one more tribe win, things coulda worked out very differently with a Ken or Tyrone boot instead of Marty's that round. For a first-timer you quite impressed me with not just the challenges, but with your grasp of survival strategy too.
Protip: The one area you can step it up for next game is focusing on PMs more. And you will play again derp.

Wendy Jo - 12th Place
(Played by Blueberry - ORGY/SurvivorSucks)

Mia says: I guess there was no hiding my intense hatred for you. You were seriously my MOST hated player. My guess is that a lot of that had to do with your telling people that you knew them outside of the game. Whether that was an intentional way to solicit an alliance or just an honest mistake, it still pissed me the fuck off, and I'd be lying if I said I didn't campaign HARD for your removal from the game. I guess I just expected someone with so much experience to know better. That being said, you did play one hell of a game, and you control shit for almost the entire pre-merge, so props for that. And you also have the honor of being the boot in probably one of the most insane tribals in Stranded history!

Brenda says: I said this in confessional to you already, but you were one of the stars of the Season here. Your only real fault was being on the winning tribe so much we never got to see how Palena would have shaken out ( I guess what Mia mentioned too *re-raps on knuckles*) It is thanks to you that Jolanda got shaken out of her shell for starters. Add in you working every player you could get your hands on socially and even the one player who wanted to "make a move" on you in Ken, you had do a complete 180 to the point where he owned up to targeting you, then actively wanted to work with you. That is some ~social skills~ right there. And of course the 4-4-4 tie round was pretty much all your fault too with your shenaigans in the lead-up. You somehow got half the cast to suddenly have a ~mind of their own~. I hope the irony of it then being yourself to pull the fateful rock wasn't lost on you :/

Still, knowing you left the game without ever logging a single vote against makes it a little more bearable I hope. You were exciting to watch, and were my first stop in Palena each log-in to find out what was going down today, and you have nothing to be ashamed of in your gameplay. Wendy-Jo for next second-chancers y/y?

Ted - 11th Place
(Played by Virtuanno - AusStranded)

Mia says: I didn't get that much from you, to be honest. There was a lot of Ted hype, and I don't quite think you lived up to it. But I ultimately think it boiled down to luck, and you fought hard to stay alive, so I can respect that.

Brenda says: Nono, I disagree. Ted was here, and playing hard. But this was most definitely Ted 2.0. Yes we lost the single-minded selfish drive that was so entertaining in Greece, but we gained this new & improved Ted. Far more stable, better at PMing, well thought-out plans thoroughly explained in detailed journals. I would say most improved, only that Ken was so godawful in his first game

You played very well here Ted, and I think with more even merge numbers were maybe the best positioned of any Vet to take advantage of it? My favourite part of Ted this Season might seem odd since it didn't actually result in much, but I loved you & Jill in your partner forum before the merge. And even though you were both being a little cagey, I genuinely believe she would have been booted without your sage advice at the right moments. There's no shame in being flagged the biggest threat of the minority and getting taken out for it.

Chase - 10th Place
(Played by AveryC - AusStranded)

Mia says: Man, I kind of suck because you were just another player that lost in the swing of things in all of my rankings and stuff early on. I definitely do think that you nicely pulled off surviving the sinking Atacama ship, and then you just got on the wrong side of the numbers at the merge. I think all of the hosts were hoping you'd get Yve to play that idol on you, but it just didn't happen, so... On the plus side, I do think that your boot changed the course of the game. Voting you out was the straw that broke the camel's back and it made Palena finally want to start turning on each other, so maybe if it had been Jake go instead of you, it might have been a different story.

Brenda says: My winner pick </3 Not just in the Fantasy leagues but in my pre-game picks too. Another one with an astoundingly solid game, successfully navigating a losing tribe only to be up against the wall come merge. And of course the threats are the first to be targeted. I think the only mistake I can point to is not letting Yve use her idol on you, not even pushing her to it when you were pretty spot on about you being the target. How that would have changed the game is impossible to know, but you would have had another round and another number to work some angles. That might have been enough to get Russell or Jill or Ken or.. or.. or.. onto your side and maybe now it's you in the F3 instead of your allies. To keep the Ted comparison running, I think he in your shoes would have made it happen for sure. Jake talked about fearing he lacks the killer instinct at FTC and I see some truth in that for you too Chase. That's only a bad thing in Survivor games though, in the ruthless way I mean it's generally a good thing to not have as a person Also, that's like one little thing in a full game of ~werking~ every opportunity available.

Holly - 9th Place
(Played by Duck - ORGY)

Mia says: Amazing to watch. I still can't tell if you really expected to go far by playing as Head Mama HoHo and were legitimately surprised by people turning on you, or if you expected it all along, but hey, it was great to have someone who didn't pussyfoot around the game and who just came out with guns blazing. You sure do make a hell of a bitter juror, too.

Brenda says: lololol I knew you had to be casted here and now this Season with this format and so many open-ID Aussies in the mix. Even Jill got vented at in private once you discovered her homeland I am glad you managed to keep it separate from the game for the most part - yet also a little disappointed it didn't spill out? What can you do, I'm a glutton for a bit of drama Gamewise what can I say, you were dominant here, challenges and strategically. Your biggest fault was being too dominant. I don't think anyone was ever seriously considering allowing you anywhere near the F3 - you will see later most had plans to cut you around 6 or 5 at the latest.

However, even though it's a stupidly dangerous and obviously painting-yourself-as-a-massive target way to play, I still love that style - to just go full throttle and not GAF. And if you had have gotten to six, who knows? Three immunities on the trot at that point would have been well within your grasp.

Jill - 8th Place
(Played by coolcoolcool - AusStranded/SurvivorSucks)

Mia says: When we first saw the cast bios and you said that you were currently playing in Aussie Stranded with me, I just KNEW from your bio that you were Bill. I couldn't decide if I was excited to see you play here or not, and while you didn't do anything quite as exciting as you did in AusStranded, you showed the same amount of skill and managed to maneuver your way through a few tight spots and put yourself in a solid majority. I'll be honest, I don't think you cold have pulled off a win, but I think that if you would have put more into the social aspect (like I saw in AusStranded), it would have been a MUCH different story.

Brenda says: Jill came into this game fresh out of her very first game ever playing in our Australian sister series (as Bill for those who are wondering) and she was impressive here. Not yet the finished article as a player by any means but definitely one to watch. Surviving through, and then rebounding from, an early period of kinda inactiveness is very hard to do in these cut-throat games, yet she made just the right moves when she was *this* close to being the boot at least twice that I remember offhand. Come the merge there was some nice groundwork laid and I think if it wasn't for that idolling, you were very nearly a cert for the end. Now if you could have won is another story as several players were beginning to view you as a goat.

Having been privy to your inner workings in your confessional though, I can safely say it was never going to be the walkover people were planning - your head was most certainly in this game even if they didn't know it.

Russell - 7th Place
(Played by TooManyNachos - ORGY)

Mia says: There's no hiding it. I'm a known schtick hater. And I definitely wasn't a fan of yours. But EVENTUALLY I got over that, and you were pretty great. I think right in round one of Palena you were able to pull together the most promising majority and you likely would have run that tribe from behind the scenes. You still managed that after the swap(s), but you kind of turned into the biggest "will he/won't he" of the season. You ALWAYS had a plan, and then just nothing ever happened. Until Holly, of course. The other unfortunate part for you was that Jolanda was supposed to go at the Final 7, but when she won immunity, you were toast. BA-LINDSIDE.

Brenda says: Ugh, I was very hot and cold over you here Russell. There were times when I was just fanning (I don't use that word lightly) over your positional play and how easily your multiple paths to the end were set, but then other times where I was just screaming at you to actually do something! You had Yve flagged as *the* threat to win about ten rounds before everyone else (except Jane, Jane called that shit back in round 2 bitches) yet couldn't or wouldn't do anything about it. Yusyus ik ik, stupid players wouldn't listen, but I think part of it also has to be you not wanting to put yourself in danger by sticking your neck out with a big move or a commitment to anyone. I don't know how many times players went from "Yay Russell is with us" to " idk, I don't think Russell is with us..". And then just as you were finally stepping your game up out of the shadows bam, too little too late and you were on the Jury. :/

Fun Fact: That this Season has returning players at all is all thanks to Russell. After Poody & TMN & I all played in FML's Phillippines together, Poody wanted "Katie" to play in Stranded so bad. After Cast Reveal he found out Katie was actually Russell here, who'd played before but had obviously improved as a player since. And so the format was built around him :D You will get that win sooner or later Russell. You are more than good enough.

Jolanda - 6th Place
(Played by ChuckietheDuckie - ORGY/SurvivorSucks)

¡Hot Tamale!

Mia says: #Jolandomination! Where do I even start, girl? As I'm sure you're aware by now, you were easily the biggest trainwreck right ouf of the gate. If the tribes stayed the same, you would have been toast. I can definitely appreciate the fact that you tried to tone yourself down to come off as less threatening, but seriously, what were you thinking? You'll probably have fun reading the host blogs and seing how frustrating it was for us to watch you. And then a miracle happened. Suddenly Jolanda kicks it into high gear! I'm not sure, but I think I was the first one to predict that your strategy of being a woman of so few words might actually pay off and put you in a much better position, and that's exactly what happened when Wendy Jo approached you. After that, you clawed your way back and ended up being in the middle between both sides of the Palena alliance where you could safely call the shots. Your plan to let Holly take all the heat was BRILLIANT, and it would have paid off if it weren't for Jake's idol/Dan missing the double tribal. You were amazing, girl!

Brenda says: Read the blogs. #Jolandomination all over it. @2 episodes in, #18 in the rankings (yes behind both Jimmies :o ), @4 episodes in, #1 (these rankings may or may not exist only in my head). And from there she just went from strength to strength. The catalyst was WendyJo and Jake's info, and her partnership with HoHo just cemented her as the best player for large portions of the game. I think her best run is right around the merge where she was in a great position of power and even though she didn't want to, seemed to be the driving force and the sane player keeping that NuPalena mess together as one cohesive bloc. She rightfully wanted Holly kept in as the 'bigger target" and it worked out perfectly when the flip finally happened, she survived. I think I'm just parroting Mia now Jolanda was a star and ten times the player she was in CR.

Dan - 5th Place
(Played by Savaii - SurvivorSucks/ORGY)

Mia says: Hell of an UTR game, but everything fell apart for you (and Jolanda) when you missed. And that idol wasting... So unfortunate. However, it WAS nice to see you go far after your unlucky stint as my ally in RRR. But double dipping is just ugh, especially when you have the chance to play stranded. (and this is coming from a one-time triple dipper so yeah).

Brenda says: You played really well early in the game. I got a particular kick out of how you were intent on not being the HBIC and allowing Holly or someone else fill that role, yet who was the one organising and co-ercing and coordinating group PMs it set you up well as you got a bit of a reputation as the one running the noobs show along with Holly, and everyone was always apprehensive about even considering making a move.. Your purposeful step back a t merge though :/ That's where it started to unravel. I have to ask how much you thought that was legitimately the best strategy for your position and how much it was on account of you double-dipping.Then you bow that idol. Then you miss the double. Then you are so far up shit creek there's really nothing you can do. Sorry to say Dan, these things were all your fault and all were presentable if you'd paid a little more time & attention here. From the Holly Blindside round you were soooo set to go to the end and win too. Ugh. Damnit Dan. Your allies suffered for it too which is worse :/

Lesson learned; unless your name is Maj, you should never ever double-dip on games - you will end up sucking in one or both because of it. Stranded especially, this shit is intense and requires your full concentration.

Tyrone - 4th Place
(Played by DarkPunxysaur - DeviantArt/ORGY)

Mia says: You were frustrating to watch, but hey, you owned it, and you got 4th place, so congrats! I knew early on that if you weren't a pre-merge boot, you'd go pretty far. There was a time when Palena wanted to throw to possibly get rid of you, but lucky for you that didn't happen. And you've been SO much better post-game. <3

(oh & Brenda is going to talk you up but I don't really buy it. You got kind of lucky and then just turned into a much more glorious goat than anyone expected. You really could have won this, too.)

Brenda says: I loved you in this Tyrone. But I didn't always, and it certainly wasn't for the reasons I expected. For those familiar Punxy is better known as the volatile Nikki Wong from a recent other game, and I wanted him in this cast with the hope of explosive arguments and call-outs. Think male Erica (lol they hated each other here too :D ) But instead we got this quiet & loyal footsoldier. Not gonna lie, he kinda lucked into an early alliance with Dan, Holly and Jill even though the girls weren't sold on him, he would at least be a solid number. And for a long time that was it. He would be doggedly loyal to the first people he met and that would be that. Noobs > Vets and there was no changing his mind. But that changed once he got chatty with Jolanda. The irony here is that WendyJo flipped Jolanda to the noobs, and Wendy hated Tyrone, but Jol & Ty became pretty damn inseparable

As the game went on he became less and less quiet and I gotta say kept me chuckling, with witty one-liners all over the game in challenges and on camp, to the point of him being the most entertaining player here and almost effortlessly (When confessionals open first stop for y'all should be his FCs )

And of course there is his arc through the game. He was constantly a target on Palena, even though he didn't know it. Then the merge kicks in and targeting him seems to be the get out clause for the minority. But crazy Wendy after pushing that plan also splits the other vote and we get this 4-4-4 tie. Somehow survives the revote too, and I think that is the point he got pegged as a goat and everyone wanted Tyrone at the end with them.

And the talismans, oh god I cracking up here all over again. Ken sees them as his salvation and wants Tyrone to chase them too. This would work with 9 players out of ten but Tyrone is the tenth - runs it back to Ho & Jo since he wants nothing to do with them damned talismans. Then Hoho gets blindsided without him and who ends up with the talisman? Only Tyrone

His slow meltdowns as all his allies are taken out one at a time from here to the end are a delight to read, but with this many allies on the Jury - eventually he gets rightly unpegged as a goat, and repegged as the Jury threat he truly is and gets chopped for it.

Hates to the left, Tyrone was the unexpected star of the show

Jake - Second Runner-Up
(Played by SimonLOTF - SurvivorSucks)

Mia Says:

Brenda says:

Ken - Runner-Up
(Played by Gojira - SurvivorSucks/ORGY)

Mia says:

Brenda says:

Yve - Winner
(Played by Jeremy - ORGY)



Brenda says: