Brian Smith wrote:

> I thought tonight’s episode was pretty good except for one
> segment which, IMHO, will go down as the biggest WTF moment
> in Survivor history.

Can you explain, what segment was that?

> We saw a fair number of emotional breakdowns tonight, some
> of which seemed to come out of nowhere.

Survivor is a cruel, cruel game. If you play it, you have to
have the mindset from the beginning it will make you do things
you otherwise wouldn't, like lie, cheat, and manipulate.
Even tho you understand that from the beginning, understanding
it intellectually and then actually do it, and have others do
the same to you - under the very hard conditions at that -
yeah, that's another thing completely.

We used to think PTSD is something you get when you return
from a war. After that, when there is a pop in the fire, you
associate that with gunfire and feel terribly discomfort.
Fine, but now we have learned that it is much more complex
like that and even pretty normal situations in everyday life
can hurt you for years to come if you cannot deal with them
and move on.

So I think emotional breakdowns in Survivor, it is something
that probably happens in every single season and sometimes
multiple times for several players.

My favorite season ever, S30, "Survivor: Worlds Apart — White
Collar vs Blue Collar vs No Collar" [1] was a complete
emotional all-out meltdown on so many levels, and that season
is one of very few when the theme of the season carried thru
the entire game. It was very painful to see how it got so
personal for so many of that season's participants.

[1] https://survivor.fandom.com/wiki/Survivor:_Worlds_Apart

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Other than that, I think it was the best episode so far this
season and I think it will only get better, Survivor works
like that but in particular US Survivor is epidemic for it,
the first couple of episodes always being really poor.
This has been a tendency that has increased in recent years.
The show is like - okay? - even at the merge, which seems to
come really fast nowadays. But a couple of more episodes, it
gets really good, it always does. I was sorry to see Bruce
leave as I thought he was the most charismatic person up
until now.

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Brian Smith wrote:

>>> I thought tonight’s episode was pretty good except for one
>>> segment which, IMHO, will go down as the biggest WTF
>>> moment in Survivor history.
>>
>> Can you explain, what segment was that?
>
> The segment with the guys at camp while the girls are at the
> Sanctuary. The music part of the segment was horrible.

Aha, I didn't had any feelings with regard to the music but
I think that clip was humorous. With the longer episodes, one
can do that kind of stuff. Sometimes just showing two players
talking about some random stuff in an interesting way,
sometimes a little music video like that, or just whatever one
can think of. One can go outside of the standard Survivor box
a little bit.

>> My favorite season ever, S30, "Survivor: Worlds Apart —
>> White Collar vs Blue Collar vs No Collar" [1] was
>> a complete emotional all-out meltdown on so many levels,
>> and that season is one of very few when the theme of the
>> season carried thru the entire game. It was very painful to
>> see how it got so personal for so many of that
>> season's participants.
>>
>> [1] https://survivor.fandom.com/wiki/Survivor:_Worlds_Apart
>
> Jeff hates that season. Maybe he had an emotional melt down
> as well during its filming. ;--)

What, he does? Did he say so? How do you know?

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On Saturday, December 2, 2023 at 2:27:38 PM UTC-8, Brian Smith wrote:

> The fact no one from that season has been asked to play again is a huge tell that Jeff didn't like the cast/season.

Did I misunderstand this comment? The following SWA alumni were invited to play again:

Hali Ford (S34)
Joe Anglim (S31, S38)
Shirin Oskooi (S31)
Sierra Thomas (S34)

Brian Smith wrote:

> He might not have said "hate" but that season gave him a lot
> of grief dealing with the controversies over offensive
> comments made by some players. Apparently, we didn't see the
> worst of what happened. Here's an article from back then
> that talks about this stuff.
>
> https://cartermatt.com/163666/survivor-worlds-apart-jeff-probst-promises-to-address-controversy-at-reunion/

Ah, I remember those incidents!

I think that player, Shirin, who was traumatized even before
Survivor, was a very polarizing and antagonizing person -
probably she didn't mean to be, but still - and the overall
heated atmosphere that season - which I believe the theme
contributed to - just made it much worse. While it isn't OK to
say what these people did and said, one should remember they
are just humans like everyone else.

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On Saturday, December 2, 2023 at 6:38:59 PM UTC-8, Brian Smith wrote:

> Big screw up on my part! The seasons around that time are a blur to me. Now that you mention it, I do recall Shirin playing again and being a total flop the second time. IIRC, she was the victim of some nasty >comments during S30. It's the shit Jeff had to address when that season aired that makes him not like it. I don't think Jeff's a believer in any press is good press.

There was a lot of nasty bullying behavior during SWA, but, despite all of that, it was a really good game (although I would not want to sit through the fire making competition again).:-)

>Was Hali asked to play Game Changers or was she voted in by the fans?

Both Hali and Sierra were selected by Survivor Casting. None of the players in Game Changers were voted in to the game by fans.

zeppo wrote:

> There was a lot of nasty bullying behavior during SWA, but,
> despite all of that, it was a really good game (although
> I would not want to sit through the fire making competition
> again).:-)

Maybe I'm an arrogant macho and that's why, but I am very,
very seldom impressed by guys. I am much more often impressed
by women, and I see that in Survivor as well, just as I do
with in life. I was impressed by Andrea, Kim, Aubz, Hali and
many more.

But with SWA, I was very, very impressed by Mike! Maybe that's
why I love that season the most - awesome season, and Mike,
who I rooted for the whole game, and understood his approach
and attitude, he won!

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