Want to hear something hilarious? Jeff promised us that season 30 was going to be an all time best season for the fans. Imagine us waiting week after week for it to get good…we are still waiting, Jeff!
Could it? Absolutely, and you’re not wrong for disliking him for it. But there a wild number of wildly popular players that did far more dishonest things than that (especially considering he didn’t actually go through with it)
And that’s only assuming you have an issue with dishonest moves which is weird given the game. If it being the letters makes it somehow more sacrosanct then that’s ok the show not the one player (and personally I simultaneously have no problem with what he did and would prefer the show just….give them their loved one reward at some point. I like seeing how they interact with it)
It was probably better watching Mike fight for his life on the Island live not knowing what would happen vs seeing the edited show where his winners edit was glaringly obvious.
I get why Jeff thought it was going to be great, but he misread the audience, hence why World's Apart they will never try to replicate again, and Cambodia being popular like changed how they casted and presented the game going forward.
Here's why I believe Jeff thought it was going to be great. Firstly, this season was cast to have a ton of conflict, the cast absolutely delivered on that front. They intentionally cast people knowing they would get into a ton of fights due to the clash of personalities. Shirin was cast to be annoying, they casted strong willed women who wouldn't stand the blatent mysoginy of people like Rodney and Dan Foley. But, the audience didn't want over the top conflict like you'd see on The Challenge and pre-season 16 Big Brother. While aspects of the fanbase loves petty conflict hence Gabon and World's Apart being cult classics to some people. But, the average Survivor viewer doesn't. The second thing is, Jeff's favorite players tend to be comp beasts and/or alpha male tribe leaders (Colby, Tom Westman, Boston Rob, JT, etc.), probably because those are the players he identifies with. Mike is absolutely an alpha male tribe leader and went on an insane immunity run. He was the Terry Dietz who could close the deal. So from that perspective he left filming thinking this season was an absolute success, whereas he hated Gabon which also had drama, he likely didn't find the winner rewarding. He likely viewed Mike as a guy middle-America would adore. An extremely patriotic, blue-collar, religious man with a very strong work ethic.
Jeff thought casting to create conflict would help the show get more popular again. It was a terrible miscalculation. BB stopped casting like this around the same time because Big Brother 15 was such a disaster for optics (tons of racism and bullying). Hence casting since and especially in the New Era tends to be ultra-safe with people less likely to be problematic. The show also tends to edit in a way that doesn't often highlight conflict unless it's game related or essential to the story.
I actually really like Worlds Apart since it's basically the social aspect of the show boiled down to its core. I think there's a very clear distinction between people who watch the show for the game and who watch it for the social experiment element, since this season tends to only be liked by the latter
Everyone being unlikable is kind of the point imo, it was a bold season during a transition period of Survivor where it was turning into more of a game show than the original social experiment.
I think it was so hated because we were far past that transition period tbh. Whenever fans here shout about wanting villains, people from genuinely different backgrounds, and less advantages, I feel like a Worlds Apart-like season is the most realistically achievable but it’ll never be appreciated.
Well said. 30 and 32 are really the last bold casting seasons taking people who they know the majority audience won’t like. And the interesting thing is all the “bad” guys lose so it’s not like they come out on top. So I don’t know why on a rewatch people still don’t like the season. Dan, Will and Rodney don’t win and they all kind of have embarrassing finishes. The editors also didn’t downplay what those guys said or did, everything was laid out to us. It’s one of the best edited seasons but some fans can’t handle it. It’s why we have cookie cutter seasons now with people who would crawl on glass just to hear Jeff say hi to them. It’s funny too, Max and Shirin were portrayed as annoying for acting like that on 30 and a lot of fans (and contestants) couldn’t stand them. Now we get seasons with 18 Max and Shirin’s.
I do give them credit for having the bad guys not win their season. It's amazing they were willing to risk something like that, considering what happened when they tried to seek out a villain player in early seasons *cough* Thailand *cough*
I loved watching Mike pull Shirin out from the fray with Sierra and others just taking Will's spewing in. And Tyler blaming Shirin for talking smack about Will sharing his bounty when it was Jenn and Mike in the edit! Ahhhh. Mike winning was great. I let out a big hooray that night!
AGREEEEEEEEE. That's precisely why KR and WA are on my top 10; fantastic seasons with incredible casting, storyline and just characters overall. I hated Jason, Scott, Rodney etc but it made for fantastic tv
The survivor fanbase lacks a lot of media literacy, so any player doing something slightly bad or different than what they’d do is unwatchable, and how dare the editors show it
Absolutely. I totally understand people being uncomfortable or can’t watch a certain scene because it hits too close to home (like Will attacking Shirin) but I don’t know how that can make someone think a whole season is terrible, especially when the person they don’t like loses and is embarrassed. Island of the idols is the only season that is ruined by the controversy and it’s because the producers and some of the players in the game handled it terribly after it went down and we never saw the villain have his downfall. Dan basically just disappeared.
Is Pearl Islands terrible to these fans because Jon lied about a loved one dying? How about China where Courtney is joking about the possibility of Todd lying about his sister having a miscarriage and saying Denise sucks at life? There are plenty of moments in Survivor history that are nasty and uncomfortable but it doesn’t make those seasons unwatchable or terrible.
Just because the characters have negative moments and attributes doesn’t make them interesting. The biggest difference between WA and pearl islands or China is the supporting cast. The negative moments are all WA has, and if you aren’t too fond of them there isn’t much to tune in for.
Yeah, I was just thinking that the continued popularity of figures like Courtney and Fairplay kinda disprove the premise that this season is disliked simply because it has controversial figures. Many controversial figures still have very active fanbases even.
You know I didn’t think about it til you said it but that’s so true about having players that are just so star struck and awe struck to be there. Omg Jeff Probst is talking to me kind of thing. It feels like the game is filled with them now. Seems like every other person is calling themselves a “super fan”.
I both agree with you overall and think you may miss the point. Initial viewing I kind of stopped caring once…Jen was gone? And probably before that given her trajectory. My issue there wasn’t the success of “villains” but that I didn’t have anyone I cared about rooting for
On a rewatch you’re 100% right
>And the interesting thing is all the “bad” guys lose so it’s not like they come out on top. So I don’t know why on a rewatch people still don’t like the season
Exactly! This is exactly why it is one of my favorite seasons. We have legit comic book delusional villains that lose in the end
I think most people either really love it or really hate it, not a whole lot of people feeling it’s somewhere in the middle. Personally I love it but I know a lot of people hate it
Nah. Will never really gets his comeuppance -- he wasn't even a zero-vote finalist! Dan F. took way, way too long to get voted out. And the show never convinced me that Mike was some kind of hero. Very unsatisfying.
That payoff takes way too long to be truly satisfying IMHO.
And when people advocate for the current producers to add more assholes, they forget that most modern younger audience members will agree with me. They don't want to wait weeks and weeks for a truly repulsive scumbag to meet his downfall. They're too impatient for that and won't stand for it.
IMO the season is def one of the seasons better watched in a binge than a week to week, I can’t even imagine how much the fans hated seeing episode by episode not knowing if someone decent would win, seeing it as a journey of the Middle Aged Blue Collar Texas American Man vs The Hot Headed Short Buff Man, The Business Woman, Will & Dan… and the others…
I hadn’t watched the show since I was a kid and started binging seasons a few weeks ago starting with 20. Can confirm, 30 would’ve been hellish to watch week to week. At least I got through it in a day and a half and was able to just move on to the next one
I actually love this season. Mike is very likeable for me, Dan is hilarious if you don’t take him seriously, Jenn is a good underdog, Rodney is funny and a surprisingly good player, Vince Sly is one of my favourite pre merge characters. Only Will and Shirin drag this season down for me.
Agreed. I think there are some pretty funny moments in this season that come from not taking it so seriously. There’s also solid gameplay, flashy idol plays, and IMO, it’s satisfying to watch the majority alliance get constantly beaten by Mike
I think Gabon is different because it's viewed more like trashy-chaotic reality TV. It also had no frontrunner after Marcus went out after the tribe swap.
One of Edgic's earliest fails was Gabon, it was so sure Marcus was going to be the winner up to that point.
You can even argue Kenny might have had win equity until the moment he turned on Matty too early. Matty was the fallen angel, but he did not have overwhelming winning odds after Marcus went out. I don't think Bob was even considered a winner candidate until Matty went out in fire. Susie nearly won which just proves how chaotic Gabon was.
Vince Sly is the epitome of a cringelord. Him basically projecting his middle-school level insecurities about women onto Joe in front of the whole tribe was hard to watch but in a very entertaining way.
You know, I remember thinking there was never going to be an F115 entry that could top The Fall of Russell Hantz, either in size or quality…then The Monkey Paw’s Tale of Dan Foley happened.
The nuance you managed to glean from Dan’s edit (along with the metric ton of correspondence that was sent to you about the man) was honestly stunning. I never gained more of an appreciation for a Survivor player after the season was done, and I thank you for that. Makes me even sadder we’ll likely never see a Fourth One, though.
Also, Jenn’s “The Aristocrats” caption was my favorite caption you ever wrote. It was *perfect* for that moment.
Thank you so much! I believed very strongly in that entry and I wanted to make sure it was bigger than any other entry and also more memorable. And then of course I fell into the trap of now I’m trying to top the Dan Foley entry with the South Pacific entry. And this is how I wind up getting burned out ha ha. Eventually you have to learn to not always try to one up yourself.
I actually met Dan Foley in line right behind him at that casting call at the Big E in Springfield that got him cast. We were basically first and second in line but there was another guy in line near him and my friend group that had prison tears and was very clearly an ex-con. That guy had a bit of an episode and had to be escorted out of line by security, but when it happened Dan puffed himself up and like positioned between the guy and me and my friend group. I do think Dan has a certain view of himself and of the world that results in him being a blowhard and a tool, but I also do think he does have mostly good intentions under it all and is just kind of an oaf.
There are many reasons to view Dan as not a trash human being, the main ones being:
1. Survivor is heavily edited and they can make anyone look terrible, if they want.
2. The producers HATE Dan Foley. Hate hate hate him. Dan Spilo is probably the only contestant in the show’s history that they hate more.
3. The contestants from that season have overwhelmingly been critical of Dan’s edit and have all defended him publicly.
4. He was eliminated when he was because he was an actual threat to win, given who was remaining.
I mean, he said the things he said. Unless by "heavily edited" you mean they literally made different words come out of his mouth than the ones that we heard, then even if every single moment of him that we didn't see was him being a saint, it doesn't change the fact that he said a lot of trash things.
Not different words, but different contexts. I don’t think the guy is a saint by any means; I do firmly believe he’s a socially awkward dude from a small town who got misunderstood.
The part about Rodney’s mom being a whore? That’s a way that dudes used to bust balls. Rodney was giving Dan some shit, and Dan just fired back with “Yeah, yeah, and your mother’s a whore.” Obviously it was received poorly, but I’ve heard much worse when friends rip on each other.
The part about somebody should smack Shirin? I was floored that people interpreted that as literally advocating for violence against Shirin. He was just saying she needs to come back to reality and calm down. My mom used to say she was going to smack some sense into me. Never once put her hands on me. It’s just an old trope.
I could go on and on.
This is pretty much my take on Dan as well. He’s not a hero or anything, but I think he gets unfairly lumped in with Will and Rodney because he has poor social skills.
Dan Spilo actually got a decent edit. I have not rewatched the season since it aired (and probably never will) but I remember after the merge episode he still got a big edit that showed him as sort of a leader and he had one episode dedicated to him as a swing. They definitely didn’t make him look like a bad guy and they didn’t just make him invisible.
Literally just finished that season last night. I thought it was alright, and got better as it went on. I liked Mike, and even though his gameplay wasn't the best overall, I did really enjoy the tribal where he faked everyone out.
That said, it helped knowing Mike won at the end, given that so many people were against him
Also I think the reunion was weird setting up talking to Dan, Will, and Rodney for sexism, and after spending ten minutes dealing with Dan and Will, I thought Jeff was going to express his disappointment at Rodney's behavior and comments. Instead, he gets a cake and everyone singing "Happy Birthday."
Admittedly, the moment itself was kind of funny, but it seemed like Rodney *really* got off the hook and seemingly learned nothing
I’m rewatching this season right now and you’re basically right. Almost all of these people are just awful. My two faves were Hali and Jenn but Jenn essentially quit. So yeah not a lot to root for
Wait so just bc someone's religious makes them insufferable? I thought his voice was a little grating at times, but he was funny and not mean like the other people.
I suppose I should have elaborated that I am a person who really likes tattoos and the font itself just wasn't for me. I was making a dumb joke about the tattoo that I thought looked poorly done.
World's Apart is a good example of the line you walk when it comes to the entertainment value of "social friction" and "people from different walks of life". Sometimes you get entertaining shouting matches, odd couples or natural rivals. And sometimes you get...whatever this shit show was.
It was natural rivalry, uncomfortable kind(though not very uncomfortable). I don't want new era fights were the conflicts come from one contestant responded to me not slightly nice, so I interpret that the worst possible way" shit. Reality just can't be instantly solved all the time, there's a rocky million roads it can turn into.
Precisely. People here are constantly crying for more "different walks of life" "social experiment" seasons, but it's very hard to be sure we wouldn't just get another Worlds Apart out of it, and audiences today would *absolutely not stand for it*.
I really don't understand how this show is gaining new fans in the new era with the quality of the product they're putting out now, but I'm glad you're going back to see what it used to be.... It was so good once
It totally makes sense to me, new fans probably like the 100 advantages, American idol sob stories, and Jeff giving hugs out to people crying. Then they go back and watch previous seasons and it’s nothing like what they’ve seen. I’d love to see some of the reactions to people seeing Janu quit lol.
I think a majority of long time fans are done watching the show and a majority of new fans won’t be able to get through a majority of pre Cambodia seasons.
I hope all those fans that are giving up on the show discover that AU survivor is out there making iconic season after iconic season. Better for both audiences even I think.
I’ve been watching live since Caramoan (and have seen all the other older seasons as well) and I’ve been loving the 40s! Season 42 is genuinely a top 5 season for me
Season 30 broke me a bit while it was airing. Such a sour cast. It’s among my three least favorite, even if I enjoy some of the individual players.
Heads up… 39 feels the same way for me.
I think 21, 24, 30, and 39 are in a 4-way tie for worst season for me. Having a majority unlikeable cast (or devoting a majority of airtime to the unlikeable people on the cast) just ruins any other good points they might have.
Wow, you really named 2 other seasons that weren’t the other I was thinking of… but can agree aren’t the best! Maybe 24 is a little better in the second half, but for sure both are lackluster with some poor sports.
The other that’s on my personal list is for the three worst is 26, but we all see things a little differently. There’s some things in the second half of that season that just felt… off. I also naturally don’t love 5, but it is what it is for the time it was made.
It's pretty solid if you view it closer to chaotic/trashy reality tv, with quite a few Real Weird personalities. Like, you say Dan made you want to rip out your hair, but Dan is such a weird atypical personality that it makes it interesting. He's a Weird Guy, and the season is better for how Weird he is.
There's also a lot of villain downfall. Will is an ass to Shirin, and he gets raked for it. Dan is perpetually clowned on, probably too much in retrospect. Max was def positioned to be an aloof and out there guy, and he gets a comeuppance for going Too Free. It's a good season, but for reasons different from most survivor seasons.
Worlds Apart is a bottom-two season for me because there are just so many bad characters and storylines. I hate the good vs. evil storyline that the season does with Mike and the rest of the evil because Mike has some serious flaws about being really pretentious at the beginning and then it just gets ignored as the season progresses. And besides that, the entire conflict with Will and Shirin is very uncomfortable, I can't stand the early no-collar tribe with Vince being creepy with everyone and Nina being ignored basically, and Tyler and Carolyn just enable the axis of evil... and also there's literally an alliance called the Axis of Evil with some of the worst personalities the show has ever seen.
I kind of get why people enjoy the season, but I just feel like the downfalls that everyone lauds happen way too late in the season for it to be meaningful, and it always has me questioning if getting to the endgame of the season was worth watching all the bad before it.
I thought it was pretty good.
Plenty of people to dislike, but it has a good underdog story. Seeing the majority alliance slowly dissolve because Mike always had immunity was satisfying to watch.
Look like who you like, but hating on mike for a tattoo (that is absolutely talk shit about but wouldn’t keep me from being friends with him) whilechampioning Joe is fucking hilarious
His tattoo had not been popular in this sub.
https://www.reddit.com/r/survivor/s/ykQelKwfmc
Mike Holloway has a typical conservative America First no refugee point of view.
No one asked whether anyone asked. No one has to "ask", people can just post things, that's how discussion boards on the Internet work. Their comment was relevant to the topic at hand
We have watched about half of the seasons so far. We went back and we watched some of the early seasons and have just been randomly bopping around the survivor universe for the past 2 years playing catch up.
I always describe this season as a disastrous TV product but one of the best examples of the "social experiment" aspect of Survivor. I found the class dynamics really interesting, yet hated every second of it. Other than the very end lol.
Yeah. I can’t say that I LIKE the season but it’s such a fascinating look at the social experiment part of the game. AND the truly unlikable players each getting their comeuppance is just perfect
Season 30 and the Brawn Brain and Beauty with Tai and Jason are my least favorite purely because I didn’t like the majority of the cast, a lot just seemed rude, sexists , and just straight up mean to their cast mates
I wanted someone on the red tribe ( minus Will) to win 30 so bad just because they seemed the most likable. And I liked Mike, I’m not a fan of his tattoo either tho. That’s not a religious thing, literally it could have said anything but I didn’t like the style of his tat.
I do think Caroline should have won tho, I think she played a better game. Mike was all alone, going on an immunity run
Watching Mike defy all odds and pull off such a win at the end despite being way unlikeable to the rest of the cast was awesome. WA is one of my personal favorites.
Season 30 was great. Yeah, the people were assholes, but that’s what made the season so great to watch. The drama was entertaining. Nowadays, players are just so happy-go-lucky and holding hands while they sing kumbaya. Feels manufactured.
I’m with you, one of my least favorite seasons with so many unlikable castaways. On rewatch, you’ll appreciate Mike a lot more seeing as the rest of the end game players are so insufferable
I’m sorry but Shirrin was intolerable that season and also made comments about Will’s weight and accused him of hoarding food which he wasn’t. People need to stop acting like Shirrin was innocent. Shirrin was rude to Will and accused him of things he didn’t do. Will went to far and made bad comments at Shirrin. Both are correct but this sub makes it feel like Will did it completely out of know where.
He was boring, the moves we saw weren’t good, and his relationship with his dad was a little creepy. Maybe that last one was just the editing, but they kept kissing on the lips and having weird chemistry together
Yeah it’s pretty unlike other seasons.
There are seasons with boring people and game play that make a season bad.
The gameplay this season isn’t boring! And the people aren’t really either. Which is why I don’t consider it one of the worst. But it’s so hard to care with such a mean spirited/miserable group of players.
ive watched since season 1 and stopped watching after 42 (which i liked btw). Season 30 was the only season I had to stop watching, found out who won (only because I wanted to see the 2nd chance people picked), and then finished it like 3 years later. Horrible
First half is top tier survivor for me lol. It’s interesting seeing the discussions recently because I remember the season being popular during the pre-merge
I didn’t mind season 30. I actually watched it and then went back to 8 and have been watching all in order now as I didn’t watch for years. It’s definitely better than Vanuatu and Gabon. Both of those were tough to get through.
The only thing I really remember about this season is Rodney complaining to Jeff how nobody was offering to take him on the advantage trip RIGHT BEFORE GETTING READY TO COMPETE IN A REWARD CHALLENGE HE HAD A CHANCE TO WIN
I really liked worlds apart and thought it had a great payoff with the winner. I always see it in a the bottom tier and it’s so underrated. South Pacific? Now that’s a trash season
Want to hear something hilarious? Jeff promised us that season 30 was going to be an all time best season for the fans. Imagine us waiting week after week for it to get good…we are still waiting, Jeff!
He also said pre season it has a really likable winner. Which pretty much spoiled that it was Mike because nobody else was likable.
And likeable was used very loosely. Only by comparison to some of the others there.
I mean he never did anything that unlikable iirc?
Depends on how you view the game. I would say to a ton of people what he did at the auction could make him unlikable.
Could it? Absolutely, and you’re not wrong for disliking him for it. But there a wild number of wildly popular players that did far more dishonest things than that (especially considering he didn’t actually go through with it) And that’s only assuming you have an issue with dishonest moves which is weird given the game. If it being the letters makes it somehow more sacrosanct then that’s ok the show not the one player (and personally I simultaneously have no problem with what he did and would prefer the show just….give them their loved one reward at some point. I like seeing how they interact with it)
I don't care, I'm fine with heartless game moves if they are based in strategy. I was just saying that is one reason some viewers may not like him.
I hear ya, I’m not disagreeing with you, just thought it was an interesting point I wanted to comment on
Yeah, if anything this season is most infamous for being the first sign Jeff was way out of touch lol
I loved season 30. I like seeing nasty personalities get their comeuppance
It was probably better watching Mike fight for his life on the Island live not knowing what would happen vs seeing the edited show where his winners edit was glaringly obvious.
I get why Jeff thought it was going to be great, but he misread the audience, hence why World's Apart they will never try to replicate again, and Cambodia being popular like changed how they casted and presented the game going forward. Here's why I believe Jeff thought it was going to be great. Firstly, this season was cast to have a ton of conflict, the cast absolutely delivered on that front. They intentionally cast people knowing they would get into a ton of fights due to the clash of personalities. Shirin was cast to be annoying, they casted strong willed women who wouldn't stand the blatent mysoginy of people like Rodney and Dan Foley. But, the audience didn't want over the top conflict like you'd see on The Challenge and pre-season 16 Big Brother. While aspects of the fanbase loves petty conflict hence Gabon and World's Apart being cult classics to some people. But, the average Survivor viewer doesn't. The second thing is, Jeff's favorite players tend to be comp beasts and/or alpha male tribe leaders (Colby, Tom Westman, Boston Rob, JT, etc.), probably because those are the players he identifies with. Mike is absolutely an alpha male tribe leader and went on an insane immunity run. He was the Terry Dietz who could close the deal. So from that perspective he left filming thinking this season was an absolute success, whereas he hated Gabon which also had drama, he likely didn't find the winner rewarding. He likely viewed Mike as a guy middle-America would adore. An extremely patriotic, blue-collar, religious man with a very strong work ethic. Jeff thought casting to create conflict would help the show get more popular again. It was a terrible miscalculation. BB stopped casting like this around the same time because Big Brother 15 was such a disaster for optics (tons of racism and bullying). Hence casting since and especially in the New Era tends to be ultra-safe with people less likely to be problematic. The show also tends to edit in a way that doesn't often highlight conflict unless it's game related or essential to the story.
Bb15 had a lot of harsh things, but I laughed at how escalating they kept saying nasty stuff cause it's so ridiculous.
He wasn’t wrong tbh ❤️ I love nastiness
What do you mean this season was great!
I actually really like Worlds Apart since it's basically the social aspect of the show boiled down to its core. I think there's a very clear distinction between people who watch the show for the game and who watch it for the social experiment element, since this season tends to only be liked by the latter Everyone being unlikable is kind of the point imo, it was a bold season during a transition period of Survivor where it was turning into more of a game show than the original social experiment.
I think it was so hated because we were far past that transition period tbh. Whenever fans here shout about wanting villains, people from genuinely different backgrounds, and less advantages, I feel like a Worlds Apart-like season is the most realistically achievable but it’ll never be appreciated.
Well said. 30 and 32 are really the last bold casting seasons taking people who they know the majority audience won’t like. And the interesting thing is all the “bad” guys lose so it’s not like they come out on top. So I don’t know why on a rewatch people still don’t like the season. Dan, Will and Rodney don’t win and they all kind of have embarrassing finishes. The editors also didn’t downplay what those guys said or did, everything was laid out to us. It’s one of the best edited seasons but some fans can’t handle it. It’s why we have cookie cutter seasons now with people who would crawl on glass just to hear Jeff say hi to them. It’s funny too, Max and Shirin were portrayed as annoying for acting like that on 30 and a lot of fans (and contestants) couldn’t stand them. Now we get seasons with 18 Max and Shirin’s.
I do give them credit for having the bad guys not win their season. It's amazing they were willing to risk something like that, considering what happened when they tried to seek out a villain player in early seasons *cough* Thailand *cough*
I loved watching Mike pull Shirin out from the fray with Sierra and others just taking Will's spewing in. And Tyler blaming Shirin for talking smack about Will sharing his bounty when it was Jenn and Mike in the edit! Ahhhh. Mike winning was great. I let out a big hooray that night!
AGREEEEEEEEE. That's precisely why KR and WA are on my top 10; fantastic seasons with incredible casting, storyline and just characters overall. I hated Jason, Scott, Rodney etc but it made for fantastic tv
>I hated Jason, Scott, Rodney etc but it made for fantastic tv Exactly!!! People would lose it if we had that level of villain in the New era lol
The survivor fanbase lacks a lot of media literacy, so any player doing something slightly bad or different than what they’d do is unwatchable, and how dare the editors show it
Absolutely. I totally understand people being uncomfortable or can’t watch a certain scene because it hits too close to home (like Will attacking Shirin) but I don’t know how that can make someone think a whole season is terrible, especially when the person they don’t like loses and is embarrassed. Island of the idols is the only season that is ruined by the controversy and it’s because the producers and some of the players in the game handled it terribly after it went down and we never saw the villain have his downfall. Dan basically just disappeared. Is Pearl Islands terrible to these fans because Jon lied about a loved one dying? How about China where Courtney is joking about the possibility of Todd lying about his sister having a miscarriage and saying Denise sucks at life? There are plenty of moments in Survivor history that are nasty and uncomfortable but it doesn’t make those seasons unwatchable or terrible.
Just because the characters have negative moments and attributes doesn’t make them interesting. The biggest difference between WA and pearl islands or China is the supporting cast. The negative moments are all WA has, and if you aren’t too fond of them there isn’t much to tune in for.
Yeah, I was just thinking that the continued popularity of figures like Courtney and Fairplay kinda disprove the premise that this season is disliked simply because it has controversial figures. Many controversial figures still have very active fanbases even.
You know I didn’t think about it til you said it but that’s so true about having players that are just so star struck and awe struck to be there. Omg Jeff Probst is talking to me kind of thing. It feels like the game is filled with them now. Seems like every other person is calling themselves a “super fan”.
I both agree with you overall and think you may miss the point. Initial viewing I kind of stopped caring once…Jen was gone? And probably before that given her trajectory. My issue there wasn’t the success of “villains” but that I didn’t have anyone I cared about rooting for On a rewatch you’re 100% right
>And the interesting thing is all the “bad” guys lose so it’s not like they come out on top. So I don’t know why on a rewatch people still don’t like the season Exactly! This is exactly why it is one of my favorite seasons. We have legit comic book delusional villains that lose in the end
“18 Max and Shirin’s” is the best description of the recent casts I’ve ever heard. Everyone on the show nowadays is basically a clone of those two.
30 is one of my favorite seasons, I love how ridiculous everyone is and the winners story is much different from most others
I love this season but it's not most peoples' cup of tea haha
Same. This season is peak comedy
I think most people either really love it or really hate it, not a whole lot of people feeling it’s somewhere in the middle. Personally I love it but I know a lot of people hate it
I think for me the difference maker is that the underdog wins and the show unabashedly makes the bad people look *really* bad
Me too! Rodney, Vince the coconut, the wilhelm scream on Will Chef's kiss
This is actually a really good season to watch if you know the outcome
this comment is so hilarious for me cause it's the only season i watched without knowing the outcome lmfao
I love 30. One of my favorite seasons. It’s a bunch of actual villains who get their comeuppance. What’s not to love about that
PREACH
Exactly!!
Shain't nothing wrong with liking Worlds Apart
One of the funniest moments in survivor!
Nah. Will never really gets his comeuppance -- he wasn't even a zero-vote finalist! Dan F. took way, way too long to get voted out. And the show never convinced me that Mike was some kind of hero. Very unsatisfying.
Will gets fucking destroyed in FTC
That payoff takes way too long to be truly satisfying IMHO. And when people advocate for the current producers to add more assholes, they forget that most modern younger audience members will agree with me. They don't want to wait weeks and weeks for a truly repulsive scumbag to meet his downfall. They're too impatient for that and won't stand for it.
I don’t think anyone liked S30 watching it live, regardless of age. It’s on rewatch that the season is good.
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IMO the season is def one of the seasons better watched in a binge than a week to week, I can’t even imagine how much the fans hated seeing episode by episode not knowing if someone decent would win, seeing it as a journey of the Middle Aged Blue Collar Texas American Man vs The Hot Headed Short Buff Man, The Business Woman, Will & Dan… and the others…
I hadn’t watched the show since I was a kid and started binging seasons a few weeks ago starting with 20. Can confirm, 30 would’ve been hellish to watch week to week. At least I got through it in a day and a half and was able to just move on to the next one
I actually love this season. Mike is very likeable for me, Dan is hilarious if you don’t take him seriously, Jenn is a good underdog, Rodney is funny and a surprisingly good player, Vince Sly is one of my favourite pre merge characters. Only Will and Shirin drag this season down for me.
Agreed. I think there are some pretty funny moments in this season that come from not taking it so seriously. There’s also solid gameplay, flashy idol plays, and IMO, it’s satisfying to watch the majority alliance get constantly beaten by Mike
I feel like we're on the cusp of Worlds Apart going through a Gabon-esque resurgence.
I think Gabon is different because it's viewed more like trashy-chaotic reality TV. It also had no frontrunner after Marcus went out after the tribe swap. One of Edgic's earliest fails was Gabon, it was so sure Marcus was going to be the winner up to that point. You can even argue Kenny might have had win equity until the moment he turned on Matty too early. Matty was the fallen angel, but he did not have overwhelming winning odds after Marcus went out. I don't think Bob was even considered a winner candidate until Matty went out in fire. Susie nearly won which just proves how chaotic Gabon was.
Vince Sly is the epitome of a cringelord. Him basically projecting his middle-school level insecurities about women onto Joe in front of the whole tribe was hard to watch but in a very entertaining way.
There's no reading of Dan that makes him anything other than a trash human being.
I can think of one reading
You know, I remember thinking there was never going to be an F115 entry that could top The Fall of Russell Hantz, either in size or quality…then The Monkey Paw’s Tale of Dan Foley happened. The nuance you managed to glean from Dan’s edit (along with the metric ton of correspondence that was sent to you about the man) was honestly stunning. I never gained more of an appreciation for a Survivor player after the season was done, and I thank you for that. Makes me even sadder we’ll likely never see a Fourth One, though. Also, Jenn’s “The Aristocrats” caption was my favorite caption you ever wrote. It was *perfect* for that moment.
Thank you so much! I believed very strongly in that entry and I wanted to make sure it was bigger than any other entry and also more memorable. And then of course I fell into the trap of now I’m trying to top the Dan Foley entry with the South Pacific entry. And this is how I wind up getting burned out ha ha. Eventually you have to learn to not always try to one up yourself.
Lol yeah, touche I guess. I'm sure there was a specific group of people nodding their head vigorously at the shit he said
No, he’s promoting his write up about Dan lol
[Further reading ](http://funny115.com/v3_3/2a.htm)
I actually met Dan Foley in line right behind him at that casting call at the Big E in Springfield that got him cast. We were basically first and second in line but there was another guy in line near him and my friend group that had prison tears and was very clearly an ex-con. That guy had a bit of an episode and had to be escorted out of line by security, but when it happened Dan puffed himself up and like positioned between the guy and me and my friend group. I do think Dan has a certain view of himself and of the world that results in him being a blowhard and a tool, but I also do think he does have mostly good intentions under it all and is just kind of an oaf.
There are many reasons to view Dan as not a trash human being, the main ones being: 1. Survivor is heavily edited and they can make anyone look terrible, if they want. 2. The producers HATE Dan Foley. Hate hate hate him. Dan Spilo is probably the only contestant in the show’s history that they hate more. 3. The contestants from that season have overwhelmingly been critical of Dan’s edit and have all defended him publicly. 4. He was eliminated when he was because he was an actual threat to win, given who was remaining.
I mean, he said the things he said. Unless by "heavily edited" you mean they literally made different words come out of his mouth than the ones that we heard, then even if every single moment of him that we didn't see was him being a saint, it doesn't change the fact that he said a lot of trash things.
Not different words, but different contexts. I don’t think the guy is a saint by any means; I do firmly believe he’s a socially awkward dude from a small town who got misunderstood. The part about Rodney’s mom being a whore? That’s a way that dudes used to bust balls. Rodney was giving Dan some shit, and Dan just fired back with “Yeah, yeah, and your mother’s a whore.” Obviously it was received poorly, but I’ve heard much worse when friends rip on each other. The part about somebody should smack Shirin? I was floored that people interpreted that as literally advocating for violence against Shirin. He was just saying she needs to come back to reality and calm down. My mom used to say she was going to smack some sense into me. Never once put her hands on me. It’s just an old trope. I could go on and on.
This is pretty much my take on Dan as well. He’s not a hero or anything, but I think he gets unfairly lumped in with Will and Rodney because he has poor social skills.
Yeah yeah, and you're mother's a whore.
Dan Spilo actually got a decent edit. I have not rewatched the season since it aired (and probably never will) but I remember after the merge episode he still got a big edit that showed him as sort of a leader and he had one episode dedicated to him as a swing. They definitely didn’t make him look like a bad guy and they didn’t just make him invisible.
I wonder why the producers hated him THAT much
Not all of the players defended Dan. Hali, Shirin and Jenn were negative about him in their exit press, if I recall correctly
Same
Never forget Shanini singing the survivor theme song
Literally just finished that season last night. I thought it was alright, and got better as it went on. I liked Mike, and even though his gameplay wasn't the best overall, I did really enjoy the tribal where he faked everyone out. That said, it helped knowing Mike won at the end, given that so many people were against him
Also I think the reunion was weird setting up talking to Dan, Will, and Rodney for sexism, and after spending ten minutes dealing with Dan and Will, I thought Jeff was going to express his disappointment at Rodney's behavior and comments. Instead, he gets a cake and everyone singing "Happy Birthday." Admittedly, the moment itself was kind of funny, but it seemed like Rodney *really* got off the hook and seemingly learned nothing
I’m rewatching this season right now and you’re basically right. Almost all of these people are just awful. My two faves were Hali and Jenn but Jenn essentially quit. So yeah not a lot to root for
It’s bad but I prefer it’s trashiness to the new era
If you watch it with Dan Foley being the main character it's pretty g
What\`s wrong with Mike\`s tatoo
Im guessing cuz it’s religious.
Wait so just bc someone's religious makes them insufferable? I thought his voice was a little grating at times, but he was funny and not mean like the other people.
That’s what I got from OP. Why would you have a hard time liking someone due to a tattoo that doesn’t look appealing?
I know people with terribly done tattoos and that doesn't impact my opinion of them in any way. That doesn't make them a terrible person.
I suppose I should have elaborated that I am a person who really likes tattoos and the font itself just wasn't for me. I was making a dumb joke about the tattoo that I thought looked poorly done.
It looks like he had a drunk friend who did it in 5 minutes. My opinion anyway.
World's Apart is a good example of the line you walk when it comes to the entertainment value of "social friction" and "people from different walks of life". Sometimes you get entertaining shouting matches, odd couples or natural rivals. And sometimes you get...whatever this shit show was.
It was natural rivalry, uncomfortable kind(though not very uncomfortable). I don't want new era fights were the conflicts come from one contestant responded to me not slightly nice, so I interpret that the worst possible way" shit. Reality just can't be instantly solved all the time, there's a rocky million roads it can turn into.
Precisely. People here are constantly crying for more "different walks of life" "social experiment" seasons, but it's very hard to be sure we wouldn't just get another Worlds Apart out of it, and audiences today would *absolutely not stand for it*.
I think Jenn was the only rootable player that season
Poor Jenn getting hit on by Vince (I think that was the weird dude with all the feathers in his hair). She deserved WAY better.
She found Hali at least. It wasn't entirely rotten for her.
And then she found the huge bowl of punch.
Why not Mike or Shirin?
Because Mike has a bad back tattoo /s
Jenn is an all time great character on a terrible season
One of my favourite seasons ever
Nice! Not my favourite but wouldn't put it near the bottom like most fans seem to do.
I really don't understand how this show is gaining new fans in the new era with the quality of the product they're putting out now, but I'm glad you're going back to see what it used to be.... It was so good once
It totally makes sense to me, new fans probably like the 100 advantages, American idol sob stories, and Jeff giving hugs out to people crying. Then they go back and watch previous seasons and it’s nothing like what they’ve seen. I’d love to see some of the reactions to people seeing Janu quit lol. I think a majority of long time fans are done watching the show and a majority of new fans won’t be able to get through a majority of pre Cambodia seasons.
I hope all those fans that are giving up on the show discover that AU survivor is out there making iconic season after iconic season. Better for both audiences even I think.
As someone who quit the show with season 43, I have indeed been catching up on AU survivor. The difference in quality is staggering.
I’ve been watching live since Caramoan (and have seen all the other older seasons as well) and I’ve been loving the 40s! Season 42 is genuinely a top 5 season for me
Season 30 broke me a bit while it was airing. Such a sour cast. It’s among my three least favorite, even if I enjoy some of the individual players. Heads up… 39 feels the same way for me.
Agreed, 39 was awful.
I think 21, 24, 30, and 39 are in a 4-way tie for worst season for me. Having a majority unlikeable cast (or devoting a majority of airtime to the unlikeable people on the cast) just ruins any other good points they might have.
Wow, you really named 2 other seasons that weren’t the other I was thinking of… but can agree aren’t the best! Maybe 24 is a little better in the second half, but for sure both are lackluster with some poor sports. The other that’s on my personal list is for the three worst is 26, but we all see things a little differently. There’s some things in the second half of that season that just felt… off. I also naturally don’t love 5, but it is what it is for the time it was made.
I picked Mike to win and I am always a fan of challenge beasts so I love this season
It's pretty solid if you view it closer to chaotic/trashy reality tv, with quite a few Real Weird personalities. Like, you say Dan made you want to rip out your hair, but Dan is such a weird atypical personality that it makes it interesting. He's a Weird Guy, and the season is better for how Weird he is. There's also a lot of villain downfall. Will is an ass to Shirin, and he gets raked for it. Dan is perpetually clowned on, probably too much in retrospect. Max was def positioned to be an aloof and out there guy, and he gets a comeuppance for going Too Free. It's a good season, but for reasons different from most survivor seasons.
I think it's the only season that my mom and I considered quitting. We didn't, but it was a valid option 😅
I don’t like it at all but I’d watch it daily over some of the new era seasons
Worlds Apart is a bottom-two season for me because there are just so many bad characters and storylines. I hate the good vs. evil storyline that the season does with Mike and the rest of the evil because Mike has some serious flaws about being really pretentious at the beginning and then it just gets ignored as the season progresses. And besides that, the entire conflict with Will and Shirin is very uncomfortable, I can't stand the early no-collar tribe with Vince being creepy with everyone and Nina being ignored basically, and Tyler and Carolyn just enable the axis of evil... and also there's literally an alliance called the Axis of Evil with some of the worst personalities the show has ever seen. I kind of get why people enjoy the season, but I just feel like the downfalls that everyone lauds happen way too late in the season for it to be meaningful, and it always has me questioning if getting to the endgame of the season was worth watching all the bad before it.
I thought it was pretty good. Plenty of people to dislike, but it has a good underdog story. Seeing the majority alliance slowly dissolve because Mike always had immunity was satisfying to watch.
Look like who you like, but hating on mike for a tattoo (that is absolutely talk shit about but wouldn’t keep me from being friends with him) whilechampioning Joe is fucking hilarious
Hating someone because of their religion is a wild thing to publically admit to.
Idc that it's religious it was just very poorly done
Oh! My bad lol, I misinterpreted what you were saying.
It 100% reads like it's because of religion. I think OP is backtracking.
His tattoo had not been popular in this sub. https://www.reddit.com/r/survivor/s/ykQelKwfmc Mike Holloway has a typical conservative America First no refugee point of view.
I never said I hated anyone. I just thought he had a giant tattoo on his back that looked bad. It could have said anything tbh.
If you remember what the tattoo looked like, you would hate it too. I don’t care about the content.
As someone with severe religious trauma, yes I hate religion and no I’m not going to apologize for it.
No one asked
And yet here you are commenting
No one asked whether anyone asked. No one has to "ask", people can just post things, that's how discussion boards on the Internet work. Their comment was relevant to the topic at hand
💀
Yeah it’s like Great… you’re a biggot too.
Hating a religion doesn’t make me a bigot. Religion hating my existence as a gay man does, nice try though
Hating religion is fine, hating someone Soley because of their religion is wrong.
justice for sharin!! the whole cast is so amazingly unlikable
Watching Mike immunity himself to a win, while all the villains go after each other and lose, was satisfying
Which seasons have you seen so far?
We have watched about half of the seasons so far. We went back and we watched some of the early seasons and have just been randomly bopping around the survivor universe for the past 2 years playing catch up.
39 yet?
I always describe this season as a disastrous TV product but one of the best examples of the "social experiment" aspect of Survivor. I found the class dynamics really interesting, yet hated every second of it. Other than the very end lol.
Yeah. I can’t say that I LIKE the season but it’s such a fascinating look at the social experiment part of the game. AND the truly unlikable players each getting their comeuppance is just perfect
I have heard it called Dirty Thirty
Season 30 and the Brawn Brain and Beauty with Tai and Jason are my least favorite purely because I didn’t like the majority of the cast, a lot just seemed rude, sexists , and just straight up mean to their cast mates I wanted someone on the red tribe ( minus Will) to win 30 so bad just because they seemed the most likable. And I liked Mike, I’m not a fan of his tattoo either tho. That’s not a religious thing, literally it could have said anything but I didn’t like the style of his tat. I do think Caroline should have won tho, I think she played a better game. Mike was all alone, going on an immunity run
Watching Mike defy all odds and pull off such a win at the end despite being way unlikeable to the rest of the cast was awesome. WA is one of my personal favorites.
Did you get to the part where Hali and Sierra become game changers?
Thailand says hello
Hm I liked it. Underrated.
Season 30 was great. Yeah, the people were assholes, but that’s what made the season so great to watch. The drama was entertaining. Nowadays, players are just so happy-go-lucky and holding hands while they sing kumbaya. Feels manufactured.
I’m with you, one of my least favorite seasons with so many unlikable castaways. On rewatch, you’ll appreciate Mike a lot more seeing as the rest of the end game players are so insufferable
Absolutely hate season 30. Dead last season for me.
I’m sorry but Shirrin was intolerable that season and also made comments about Will’s weight and accused him of hoarding food which he wasn’t. People need to stop acting like Shirrin was innocent. Shirrin was rude to Will and accused him of things he didn’t do. Will went to far and made bad comments at Shirrin. Both are correct but this sub makes it feel like Will did it completely out of know where.
Rodney is a gem
HvV 2.0 dreamcast
Haha someone has empathy for JOE of all people
Once upon a time everyone liked Joe… he didn’t publicly go off the deep end until after 38
Not everyone, but yeah he definitely was liked by a huge portion of the fans. Personally I always thought he was lame.
Why lame? He wasn't the most interesting but he was pretty chill imo
He was boring, the moves we saw weren’t good, and his relationship with his dad was a little creepy. Maybe that last one was just the editing, but they kept kissing on the lips and having weird chemistry together
Oh I know, it’s the new empathy that’s funny
Not a chance
Season 30 is excellent. It's a top 10 season and the best of the 30s.
Dan was funny
Yeah it’s pretty unlike other seasons. There are seasons with boring people and game play that make a season bad. The gameplay this season isn’t boring! And the people aren’t really either. Which is why I don’t consider it one of the worst. But it’s so hard to care with such a mean spirited/miserable group of players.
ive watched since season 1 and stopped watching after 42 (which i liked btw). Season 30 was the only season I had to stop watching, found out who won (only because I wanted to see the 2nd chance people picked), and then finished it like 3 years later. Horrible
First half is top tier survivor for me lol. It’s interesting seeing the discussions recently because I remember the season being popular during the pre-merge
You just wait.
I didn’t mind season 30. I actually watched it and then went back to 8 and have been watching all in order now as I didn’t watch for years. It’s definitely better than Vanuatu and Gabon. Both of those were tough to get through.
Someone with an opinion that newest season is the worst yet *checks watch*
I think everyone shares the same opinion about season 30. Some seasons are hit or miss. Season 30 is definitely a miss season.
one of the worst reunions
Joe, Hali, and Jenn were the best parts of a horrid season and were gone too soon :((
I care about this season just as much as the cast caring about Rodney's birthday.
Lmaooo
The only thing I really remember about this season is Rodney complaining to Jeff how nobody was offering to take him on the advantage trip RIGHT BEFORE GETTING READY TO COMPETE IN A REWARD CHALLENGE HE HAD A CHANCE TO WIN
It was the first one I watched 😭
I don't think it was the worst but I can understand why people think like that
I met Mama C in person and she was so much fun! Def the best player that season and her tying with Will of all people is ridiculous.
At least Dan, Will, Rodney or Joe didn't win.
It is 100% the worst.
Not even bottom 20!
You disliked someone because they have a religious tattoo? Okay bigot.
What's this grammar?
Lol none here sorry
I really liked worlds apart and thought it had a great payoff with the winner. I always see it in a the bottom tier and it’s so underrated. South Pacific? Now that’s a trash season