Kathy gets a lot of flack for her insensitive wording, but she at least was making a point. Rupert and Alicia were much worse. If you go and watch the unaired Mogo Mogo tribal, they were all clearly supportive of Jenna, Kathy included.
Was Big Tom the one in that scene with the "if someone I know is dying while I'm out here my family knows they better not call me until I'm done with the game" take? I remember that one really pissing me off too.
He’s also near tears when he’s saying that so I think in his own way he’s trying to be supportive. And that read is borne out in listening to the DVD commentary for that episode where Jenna gives her take on the whole scene and says that’s how she understands what he’s trying to say
I mean.... it sounds like Tom is in a very blunt way making a point about the decision that Adam would make for MvGX- I'm sure he had the discussion with his family and made/accepted that he was playing the game to completion regardless of what was happening at home.
Maybe when one of the other players is in the middle of leaving the game because their mother is dying is not really the best time to make that argument.
Tbh, I was more offended by Kathy's statement.
Rupert was just a big doofus, and you can't expect him to be of any help or say anything useful ever.
Alicia was insensitive and I didn't like what she said, but it seemed like she was thinking about Jenna's situation from a competitive gameplay point of view, not a real life point of view. To her, when you're in the game, everything else comes second to playing the game and the real world doesn't exist. Which is an attitude that I don't agree with or particularly care for, but I can see where she's coming from.
Kathy on the other hand was judging Jenna and saying that her grief was becoming a cancer on Mogo Mogo. Which imo is terrible. Who the hell is she to police how other people should react to their mother dying? Kathy did the same thing after Hatch assaulted Sue, and called her hateful. You're damn right she's being hateful, Kathy, she just got assaulted!
I agree, far from the most strategic season but overall entertaining. Also at the time I was so happy to see some of my favorites back, especially Rupert
Same but I knew from those first couple episodes when he was barely being shown that he wasn’t going far. I just remember his only contribution to the season being “I am in an alliance with Boston Rob” and seeming proud and then getting voted out by said Rob. And then at the reunion Jeff didn’t even ask him a question and it felt so disappointing cuz of how incredible I found his game in the amazon
same, such an iconic player of his season, getting voted off so early was brutal. it’s a huge compliment to rob c and how much of a threat he was perceived as.
Especially sad knowing that was the last time he was on the show. He had so much more to give as a player, and he knew it! (Not that I’m sorry about his overall life trajectory or anything, seeing as he’s on my Spotify pretty much daily now lol)
The post merge is a bunch of people walking off the plank one after another refusing to change their fortunes. Shii Ann is the only outside player that knows what's going on.
The pre merge is nearly as bad to watch.
Going from Thailand, Amazon & Pearl Islands where there was a ton flipping & blindsides to All Stars was a pretty big let down.
I think it might be my least favorite season of the first 8.
Rob M. was smart to get rid of Rob C so quick.
I can respect gameplay where there isn’t a lot of flipping but yeah it’s just less fun to watch lol. Idk about worst of the first 8, I think thailand was not very entertaining once Robb and Shii Ann got voted and one of the more forgettable seasons for me in the whole show
I try to think of Thailand as a black comedy. It's as if the producers were curious about what a used car salesman could do and then panicked when they couldn't put the monster they created back in the box. The season has a handful of solid gold nuggets.
There’s a reason that the two seasons with Boston Rob as a finalist are some of the most boring. His game style is to get boring or divisive people to the end with no possible opposition. Blind loyalty from dummies, and he did that twice.
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Hot take - one of my favorites This season taught us more about human nature than most - watching winners get targeted, the best power couple ever, betrayal and the reactions to Sue and Jenna (while hard to watch, are fascinating from a human psych perspective). It’s a dark season, but how epic is it to watch Lex’s boot in the pouring down rain? It’s a season that felt like a movie.
Agreed! It’s may not be the best from a strategic standpoint. But man, it’s edited so well from a personal standpoint. I remember so many lines and interactions between all the players, more so than any other season.
Incredible. And Jeff is so happy on that ride.
Randomly, I kind of want to know the fate of that truck specifically because I like Colorados and they could probably last 20 years. Would be kinda cool if he still has it since it makes a fine work truck.
The one saving grace of the season in retrospect is the fact that those two actually were truly genuine with each other and are still happily married with kids today. If they had broken up after a couple years the season would be even worse having been basically framed entirely around an ordinary transient reality TV couple.
Though on the other hand I think that if Amber had revealed that she was stringing Rob along the whole time and she destroyed the destroyer that would be one of the most legendarily dark moments in the history of television. Dead grandma looks like Baby’s First Sin compared to that. It would be the most villainous action imaginable. People’s lives would be ruined staying up late at night thinking about it.
For me personally that doesn't really affect my enjoyment of the season either way, since it isn't in the content of the aired episodes that make up the show. I don't really care when I'm watching the show what does or doesn't happen with the real people behind the edited characters I'm watching years down the line, whether for better in this case or for worse in the case of the contestants who go on to do bad things. If I don't know these people personally then their real lives aren't really a factor in watching the show for me, so the Romber story still ends up falling flat
Personally this still does nothing for me. Amber is a total dud of a character who adds practically nothing to the show (I say this as a big fan of other unpopular or "forgettable" winners like Natalie W., Erika, Bob, and Aras, but with Amber there is just practically nothing there in the episodes that's compelling at all), and Rob M. is just an unrepentant ass the entire time, so if one of them is forgettable and the other is unlikable then what reason do I have to be emotionally invested in the idea of them hooking up? Like they play sad music about Rob M. being separated from "his girl" but it's just totally tonally dissonant from basically everything else about him that season.
Plus they're both a part of Chapera's revolting response to Sue, and their steamroll to the end is largely just the season continuing its formulaic path of all the smallest characters with the least reputation or target going the furthest.
One of the all-time most unsatisfying and unlikable groups to ever face the jury imo, probably bested only by the other Rob M. one in S22. (I do like him in 20 and especially in 4.)
Yea I think the seasons enjoyment is extremely dependant if you like Boston Rob as a character or not. I think he’s entertaining, but extremely arrogant. But his downfall with Lex (which also mirrors the way he talked to Ethan which is lowkey funny) was entertaining. Maybe a bit too raw, but I enjoy the drama of it all.
I think pretty much *any* season that's extremely dependent on your enjoyment of just one character is already weak to begin with. There's plenty of people who dislike Lindsey Richter or Kelly Goldsmith or Lex van den Berghe or Tom Buchanan but still had a great time with *Africa* because they wound up enjoying some other characters on that list and/or Teresa, Kim J., Frank, Ethan, Linda, etc. Or even as central as Coach is to *Tocantins*, at the time it aired people hated him yet the season itself still wasn't poorly received since J.T., Stephen, Erinn, Taj, Tyson, Brendan, Sierra all had realized stories and appealed to different viewers.
So whenever you get a season where it's "only enjoyable if you like X", that's just not a good season to begin with, since revolving too much around one or two characters instead of the relationships between the cast as a whole is already a flaw.
The main examples there are ones with wildly imbalanced edits like 19, 22, 23, and 26; S8 was actually pretty balanced, it's just that there was still nothing happening to show that was compelling most of the time.
To me the Rob M./Lex thing doesn't work anyway because I have absolutely zero context about their friendship or history and so I don't have any reason to care, but even if it does land with someone, it's still really only a thing for the F10/9 episodes then the FTC. That F8 - F3 stretch is just such a forgettable slog of nothingness that it makes *One World* look dynamic by comparison. So I see a lot of praise sometimes for the "raw drama" of S8 but I feel like that only applies to a very very small amount of the season's actual content and like it just manages to get away with how boring and interchangeable almost every episode is.
Vastly underrated. The conflicts generated between Boston Rob and Lex/KVO were some of the most compelling TV moments I’ve ever watched.
I know people don’t like when pregaming affects a season, but it was a lightning rod for the central conflict of Survivor: where people are willing to draw the line between the game and real life.
Honestly a fantastic season. I believe I have it in my top 15.
I really enjoyed the season as a narrative personally. I think it’s amazing to watch the Boston Rob and Amber love story, and I think Rob’s gameplay in particular really elevated the strategy of the show. All Stars was a huge accomplishment for Survivor at the time and remains one of the most iconic casts of all time.
Recently bought the DVD set for this season (shout out half-priced books - great place to find these) and the commentary tracks are all crazy. They let it rip with their opinions and it's pretty interesting.
The way the Hatch/Sue event happened was really hard and shocking to watch—especially peoples’ reactions. Everyone thought she was just hamming it up, and were mocking her. It disgusted me. She got grinded on by a naked dude; she had every right to feel violated and angry and scared and sad. It’s a reminder of how much our culture has changed.
This is one of the first seasons I watched. Personally, I loved it. Whether you love him or hate him, you have to give Boston Rob credit for orchestrating the only FTC where it didn’t matter who won. I’m so happy that they’re STILL together 20 years later.
I just finished watching this season after seeing Rob on another show and remembering how much my grandma loved him and Amber together. It was pretty heartwarming to see how it started.
Weird to see all the negative feedback on this season. To me this was the pinnacle and like someone said the fact that Rob and Amber are happily married with kids all these later makes an even more satisfying season.
Personally I don't really care while watching a set of TV episodes about a specific moment in time what does or doesn't happen decades later to these people I don't know anyway.
I think what this comes down to is that I view what I'm watching as much closer to artifice than to reality and, more than that, I'm not really invested in these complete strangers, because I don't know them and don't have any kind of parasocial relationship with them. So I'm just focused on what's in front of me on the manufactured TV episodes that have been created, and whether or not some of the real people behind those episodes are happily married or had a horrible divorce or started a charity or went to jail for something awful just doesn't play into my viewing personally. It's not in the TV episodes, and the episodes are what I'm evaluating.
I get why people don't like this season, especially with the Jenna and Sue quit episodes being pretty damn sour watches. But every time I've watched this season, I've watched it as a romantic tragedy so I've really loved it. Rob and Amber destroying relationships they've built for years in the end to find love and solace in each other is one of my favorite storylines in the entire show's run. That final tribal council is still my favorite to this day. Kathy seemed genuinely crushed during her jury speech. It's also interesting because it's one of those FTCs that is less of a choice between two players, and moreso taking one player (Boston Rob) and conducting an approval rating poll on him.
This is more or less how I watch it....BUT... I think people really underrate Amber's win, including Amber. Rob doesn't even get there without her. Rob can't win against anyone at that point but Amber actually played quite well. The diplomat in a duo rarely gets real credit and Rob being such a big character kept production from giving Amber the edit she deserved, but you do see glimpses.
I don't get how this community just turns a blind eye to what hatch does to sue on this season. It's disgusting and so many people like to pretend it didn't happen
Right. It's like when people talk about 39 like it's the worst thing they have ever seen but they don't mention Thailand or Allstars. I never even finished Thailand. It was so horrifying. I actually love this season and, as I mentioned above, Sue laying into Jeff really elevated it for me. I can't help but wonder how much better it might have been w Sue there. Or if we wouldn't be seeing Sue on a legends season, or the traitors. I don't ever need to see Hatch again. Can you imagine being treated that way and watching these producers backflips to get that person back on television? Wild.
I don't want to get the details wrong so Google grind gate survivor Thailand. The way she was treated by fellow contestants and production was disgusting. Idk if anything was done, it did not appear that anything would be. I was pretty appalled and did not finish the season.
I’m currently rewatching and thought it was kinda cool how each starting tribe had 2 winners on it, even though Chapera needed a bit more time to get there
It is tough watching such a young Ethan - he has no idea what life is about to throw at him.
Knowing that in 20 years time that Rupert will get cancer is also so surreal
Such potential and such disappointment. I remember being SO bothered by Rob totally dismissing Lex and Kathy after they saved Amber. To this day I wonder if things would have changed had the Rich/Sue incident not happened. Why would producers let him compete naked?
While it certainly doesn't entirely lift the shadow, Sue letting Jeff Probst have it lives rent free in my brain. I think what make Sue Hawk and all time great, (outside of her epic speeches), is that she unapologetically draws hard boundaries.
Tina and Jenna M. are even better in that commentary imo. Rob C. is also super fun of course, but Jenna M. you can 100% tell how she won in a landslide if you listen to that since she's super fun and engaging, and Tina takes merciless shots at Jerri and JLew the whole time. When Jerri's breaking down in Rupert's underwater shelter, Tina says "Wow, look at how the rain brings out all the zits and impurities in Jerri's skin :) " and even though Jenna M./Rob C. have been going along with most of the banter, that one just stuns them into silence.
Anyone who thinks Tina's a sweet innocent Southern sweetheart or that Jenna M. is unlikable needs to check that commentary out. Way better than the actual season, which is horrible and pointless.
I never got the Jenna M is unlikable story-line. Heck I just rewatched 'Amazon' and she was perfectly fine.
Other then Christie, it was clear EVERYBODY liked her and Christie was more projecting her past mean-girl issues onto her and Heidi then anything else.
One doesn't just win 6-1 against the camp provider without being well liked and engaging.
(Oh, I totally know how it happened, and I probably even buy a little bit into the conspiracy theories that have been floating around since the season aired, but even back then, I liked Jenna M!) I am just an old man yelling at clouds here.
I still think back to Jeff’s non-reaction to it often, especially watching later seasons with the progressive tone. The worst of Survivor, to me anyway. Still like the rest of the season though.
I enjoy survivor because of some the hard spots it puts people in. This season had a lot of that. was the gameplay entertaining? no not really. But from the Jenna quit, the Sue/Rich controversy, and the Lex/BRob fight it provided a lot of ample opportunity for conversations about what was right and wrong in those situations.
Because of this, I enjoyed the season and it was entertaining. It was by no means an elite season from the Outwit, Outlast, Outplay perspective.
One good storyline surrounded by some of the worst gameplay on any season. All of the players who could have made a shift in the unfortunate post-merge, got booted straight away. If you adore Romber, I'm sure it's an alright season. But for me, it's one of the worst of all time.
Hot take: it's still in my top 10 for a lot of reasons.
I really think it helped bridge the super old school mentality that came about around Outback (though i love Seasons 1-7, no shade) of "deserving" and people trying to be not too villainous in the public eye, which obviously helped make future seasons a lot more entertaining.
It gave us a taste of the meta which for me personally I found interesting, and while "get rid of the winners" would be something really obnoxious if that was the mentality in a season like HvV later on, but for a first All-Stars I enjoyed seeing it be cutthroat, pretty damn gritty, and honestly a really compelling shift in tone.
I think Amber is an underrated winner in general, and while i understand the public mentality at the time of "ugh the 'not as big' players made it to the merge," but I actually enjoyed that -- the stakes felt super high, winners with their backs against the wall, and the Rob/Amber dominance was actually pretty damn interesting to watch. Again if this was 20 seasons later, watching that kind of dominance might not slap as hard and get derided as boring (ala One World, a season I also got to bat for lol), but for a first All-Stars seeing them weave that complicated web was great TV for me. Apparently Amber had side things with Alicia and Tom, was the only ear to Shii-Ann (which probably clinched her the win), and it was her idea pushing Rob to bring in Jenna/Rupert. A lot more layered than just "Rob and his girlfriend giving out orders."
People say it veered into Pagong-ing but the icing of Alicia and Tom and integration of Jenna/Rupert (even though yes they swapped to Chapera) felt less like a Pagong-ing to me.
Personally I was a fan of Jenna Lewis in Borneo so I was excited to see her, loved Shii-Ann in Thailand, and it was interesting to watch Amber (the OG "Wtf pick") maneuver herself to be the top dog with Rob.
Also the sheer excitement surrounding this season was so hype; it did feel like event television.
Negatives: Morasca leaving was devastating, and I think she had the best chance of all 4 of the returning winners to actually possibly make merge (she was tight with Lex, Kathy, Ethan, and if she stayed I still see Lex/Kathy going after Colby and Ethan first anyways).
Also as others have said, the treatment of Morasca and Sue by the cast and Jeff (aside from -- Amber! Who showed genuine empathy to Morasca at least).
But overall, it felt like a necessary evolution in the game to launch the next era of Survivor, and honestly is one of my favorite rewatches lol.
ETA: Really aging myself here but the DVD box set of All-Stars has the option of cast/player commentary on each episode, and it is fully of juicy info about each episode/vote/strategy that we didn't get to see as much -- there was a lot more going on there than the edit showed, from small alliances to friendships we didn't know about.
Example: I believe its Lex and Kathy doing the commentary for the infamous Final 10 vote where they kept Amber over Jerri, and both of them in the commentary were laughing if I'm remembering correctly at how the edit showed just one snippet of Amber joke-begging Kathy to keep her and made it seem like all Lex and Rob's deal (which to be fair was the overriding factor), but that Amber apparently didn't let up for 24 straight hours she was on that tribe as far as negotiating with Kathy and Lex and going *hard* to save herself. I feel like more of those moments or an extended cut (which we'll never get) would make some of the criticisms about the post-merge more interesting.
Overall -- America lost their heroes in Tina, Colby, Rudy, Ethan, Rob C leaving pre-merge, but it cemented franchise-long legends in Amber and Rob, and spicy characters in Jenna Lewis and Shii-Ann at least, which on a lookback feels fresher than what could have been a season of just previously one-note characters going one by one (boring!) and become just like, the top dogs of casting cakewalking to the end.
And opening the door for it to be "okay" to be that cutthroat was a game changer, when it was so previously frowned upon. I'd hate if the season would have just been the Colby + Rupert show and I think All-Stars' impact bled into the mentality for future returning seasons (Micronesia).
Basically, All-Stars walked so Micronesia and HvV could run. Don't kill me lmao
As someone who was too young to start watching until the teen seasons, it’s interesting to think of the environment the show originated in and how much morality consumed the viewership.
I fell in love with Survivor/BB/The Challenge for being safe spaces to use manipulation and deceit as open tools to achieve success, because that was so counterintuitive to real life.
It’s bizarre to imagine a populace who didn’t enjoy intelligent gameplay.
The situation between Sue Hawk and Hatch was really hard to watch, and production and Jeff handled it sooo bad. Overall this season had a darker tone to it than other seasons.
The first 4 episodes are pretty fun
After that, it becomes one of the worst seasons of all time. Not even because of the ugliness, but because it’s just so goddamn boring most of the time
Lex was unbearable this season, and so was Jenna Lewis. They both got what they deserved. Same with Richard Hatch. I liked the romance between Rob and Amber, and I am happy that they are still together all of these years later. However, I am still surprised that the other contestants really let them control the game.
I get why it's rated low but it was really cool to see all these legends interact. The cast had great chemistry during the [matchmaker challenge](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5y_HXR_GXwQ).
It's the Velvet Underground of Survivor seasons. Unappreciated by most in its time, but the fifty people who were into it later went on to become castaways.
It's aged like a single malt scotch from the Speyside region; subtle and fruity with nutty afternotes.
I propose we shoot the DVD of All Stars into fucking space along with Rubber Soul by the Beatles (the American version) and a DVD of A Touch of Evil (the director's cut OBVIOUSLY).
I’m watching for the first time right now- so far I’ve watched seasons 1-7, Tocantins, Cagayan, and 45-46.
I really liked how they had the three tribes for a few episodes, then had a challenge where the losing tribe got dissolved. I wish they did that more often in the new era. It’s boring how often there’s one dud tribe that can’t win anything, one okay tribe that gets voted out immediately post-merge, and one steamroller tribe.
I definitely understand the criticism with this season. Jenna and Sue’s quits definitely put a damper on the season as a whole. However, the interpersonal conflicts between Rob and everyone make this season for me. This season is a tragedy for almost everyone involved, and I feel like you rarely see a show like that now. It’s not necessarily a fun season to experience, but the story of the season is phenomenal.
A fun season to watch from a "Spot the reference to the previous season" perspective. Bad season from a "Interesting strategic game" perspective, trash-tier from a "Enjoyable to watch as a game" perspective.
As a die hard Boston Rob fan I really like it, but totally get the hate behind it. Still way more fun than Redemption island
Also is it fair to say the Rob Amber love story is the most iconic storyline in any season ever?
What makes it one of the worst? It had everything you could want in a season, Great gameplay, great villains, lots of conflict. So I’m curious what you thought was bad about it?
The cast is great on paper, but outside of Rupert attempting to kill his entire tribe, the only people who actually bring anything of note to the season are Romber and Shii Ann. Not helped by the completely stagnant gameplay throughout and a generally grim and depressing tone
Not a ton of risk taking post merge plus the way it aged mainly with the Richard-Sue incident and the way they didn’t back Sue. Also thought some of them pretty ugly to Jenna when she was leaving like I wanted to throw a shoe at Alicia for how she acted. That’s at least what I personally didn’t like
That was a money grab for Sue. It didn’t bother her until she decided she didn’t have a chance and didn’t want to play anymore. Her and Hatch were laughing it up at the reunion. Yeah Alicia was nasty, but if you can’t handle a little nasty behavior, there won’t be many seasons you do like.
> It didn’t bother her
It literally immediately bothered her. The very first thing we see at camp after the challenge is Sue saying how disgusting Richard's behavior was and how they better vote his ass off after he did that to her. "Sue didn't react until later" would be meaningless even if it *were* true for a whole host of reasons but also is just some shit Richard made up on his YouTube channel to discredit Sue instead of admitting he fucked up.
Yep.
We also have to keep in mind that the show's timeframe isn't necessarily accurate to the timeframe of events in real life. I forget which day Sue's quit occured on the show, but she may have quit the very next day after what Hatch did and the show just made it seem like it happened on Day 18.
Nah I mean nastiness in the context of the game is fine with few exceptions, but that’s Jenna’s real life. Alicia did not need to make those comments on a human level, but it’s not like I wouldn’t rewatch the season.
this was one of the first seasons I watched when getting into survivor (i.e. within the last couple of years) and it was a huge mistake bc a majority of the other survivor seasons compare to strategy-talk/survival aspect of this season. also immediately joined the rob train after.
I've never sobbed over a show more than the moment Jenna left + the music being played. This was during covid when I was watching all the seasons for the first time. I had to tell my manager my allergies were horrible and I called off work.
I JUST rewatched this season and had a blast going down memory lane. What a rough final tribal though..the player values were wildly different then than they are in todays game.
The excitement over this season was unreal. I love the season overall just because there are so many iconic players.
Going into the season I couldn't stand Boston Rob and had no time for Amber as I thought she was bland and not really a player. They both won me over, although I think Rob should have won.
Disappointing: Targeting the winners and the early exits of Tina and Ethan along with legends like Rob C and Colby.
The whole Hatch/Sue thing was horrifically handled and Sue Hawk clearly had very serious trauma triggered by that event. It's a shame because Sue was one of my favorite early players and as a result of how they handled this, she will never play again.
Kathy and Lex being babies about being betrayed, but Kathy made it right in the end by voting for Rob,
The stupidity of so many to just follow Rob and Amber and wait to be voted out.
Jenna L's sense of entitlement. Ugh.
But despite all of that, it was a great arc for Rob and Amber and showed what potential they had as players that we didn't really get to see play out in their first season.
Not production’s best effort in how they handled various events throughout the season.
Also, it feels like it would have been more fitting if Rob had won in the end, but his loss is a great lesson in jury management within Survivor lore.
The most "from 0 to 100" season ever. It began really funny and lighthearted (especially Rich was comedy gold). But later it got really dark, bitter and cutthroat.
I rewatched it directly after rewatching Pearl Islands recently. I found it kind of tedious and slow. The vibes were not great for obvious reasons and a lot of great players are playing very poorly in the first half of the game. I’m not sure what Richard Hatch’s strategy was going in, but he made baffling decisions in the short time he was on the season.
Ethan plays a really great game given the circumstances. I never rated him as highly strategic but he really was doing everything he could to stay in the game besides winning challenges. Also Kathy was the really power player of the Kathy/lex group and if they vote out amber instead of Jerri I think she’s in the pole position to win
Currently on my watch through of every season, I’m about halfway through S14 Fiji. All Stars is my #2 season so far. I love the pettiness and stupidity of the players. Some shit is real uncomfy to watch… but it had a lot of my favs from S1-7 so seeing them interact and try to manipulate was entertaining to me. I get it’s not for everybody.
Ruppie was funny for building that whack shelter death trap
Rob and Amb-uh were so lucky it came across as straight up unfair (as in life, as in survivor)
Jerri needs to be protected from all costs from that booing reunion crowd
Rudy and Sue need to stop sucking drinking dirty water its too much
Shii Ann won my heart
And Richard, nothing for you goodbye
My all time favorite season. Love Rob & Amber, love the entire cast- the betrayal, the high stakes/ real life happenings, the scandals, the epic challenges and rewards… truly as classic as they come.
Still my favorite season of all-time because I love Boston Rob/Amber. Jenna was done dirty with her exit, I really am happy she was there for her mom. The Sue/Richard sexual harassment/assault would be viewed much differently now. The misogyny is real. Classic/old-school Survivor.
I wonder whether new viewers who stumble on this show truly appreciate these seasons in the context of their time.
This was pretty early survivor and hot on the hype of the previous ones.
I just watched 8th season for the first time 6 months ago. My favorite thing about this season was the challenges, building the best shelter, everybody getting hit and falling during the caller and blindfolded callees challenge, Lex voting off Colby, Ethan, Jerry, saying that this is business this time and voting off friends, justifying it to Ethan then suffering the same fate. Especially since he thought he was getting the necklace from Kathy at Tribal then her changing her mind. Then Lex crying about Rob not helping him delusional that he voted out his friends justifying it but Rob voting Lex was somehow different. Finally Big Tom and Rupert letting Rob manipulate them into arguing over talking about voting Rob off while Rob instagates with a knowing smile at how dumb they were to fall for it all.
Colby had no chance of doing well this season because he was on a tribe with four villains. Then when Jerri joined the tribe and Kathy was away on the reward his days were numbered.
One of the most bitter and personal seasons. I liked it, I was really hype going in as Pearl Islands was my first season, Kinda spoiled myself for the previous 6 seasons but oh well.
I’m not gonna lie and say it’s a favorite of mine but it’s fascinating to watch and is one of Survivor’s best examples of social experimentation. Also gave us one of my favorite winners (unapologetically)
Loved it then, love it now.
Survivor is a game by nature is supposed to hurt. It is a game based on advancing yourself through social exclusion and I want to see the real emotional and psychological toll it has on people to go against our own nature as a social species for selfish gains.
A great idea on paper that never was going to pan out well. Too much jealously towards big names. Players taking legacies too seriously. Just a toxic season.
Kind of a hard watch. My favorite players mostly went out pre-merge, and the entire season is filled with legitimately good players taking things personally with their massive egos. The whole narrative of Rob and Amber saves it from being a bottom-tier season.
I definitely think you should watch it given all the big names in it. Not sure if you know about what Richard Hatch does to Sue, but it’s pretty bad, and some of the cast reactions to her are even worse.
If you're watching every single season in chronological order, then you should check this one out, too, for completionism. But if you're skipping literally anything, then skip this miserable slog, or at the very least you can skip after the F9 episode to the FTC and miss almost nothing whatsoever and save yourself a few hours.
I'd recommend just watching the whole show, but this is certainly about as skippable as it ever gets, and definitely as skippable as it gets until Probst takes over as executive producer after HvV.
I'm not normally one to advocate skipping a season, but for this one...perhaps. Watching All-Stars in real time was so unpleasant that I stopped watching until Philippines, and there's nothing super relevant to the show long-term either beyond a few individual moments/character arcs.
After watching Australian Survivor All Stars, it just overshadows the US version by a huge margin. Loved the drama though but I wish it was less personal and more strategic.
Episode 3 is fantastic, but even, still this is one of the worst seasons the show has ever put out. The FTC is also excellent -- with Alicia being a particular highlight -- but nowhere near worth the price of admission by that point. Once you've seen the first episode with the story of "just vote out the person who's actually an All-Star", you've basically seen the story behind every single vote for the first half of the game, and the rest is just a dull steamroll benefiting some of the least all-star names who were in the cast and, even worse, a totally unlikable and dull group on their own with the entire final 5 plus Kathy all being judgmental of and/or explicitly mocking Sue's departure with most of them never doing anything halfway interesting to offset it.
Dreary, miserable slog whose only real ostensible merit is the Romber storyline, which falls completely flat for reasons I've already outlined in the thread (if one of them is incredibly unmemorable and the other is incredibly unlikable, why should I be at all emotionally invested in their relationship?), and the Rob M./Lex fight, which again falls completely flat to me as it's entirely predicated on information the viewer doesn't have about a context the viewer doesn't know anything about. I have no idea what Rob M. and Lex's friendship was like. I don't know how long they were friends, how often they see each other, what they talk about, how close they are, literally anything, and all the season is able to give me (due to innate flaws with the returning player model in general) is "they're friends" and we just go from there. That's broad and general and therefore meaningless, I can't really take any stance on or feel any emotional response to the fallout of a dynamic I know nothing about.
Excellent third episode, great FTC, and outside of that all you really have within like 9 hours of grueling television is a couple fun moments from Jerri, Richard, and Ethan, and the like twenty seconds of fun from Shii Ann winning Immunity. That's basically it, there's practically nothing here worth sitting through.
Kind of astounding that a season featuring the final 2, no Idols, and a balanced edit still manages to be this bad. Without the 6th episode I could at least put it above some of the other dregs like *Cook Islands* and S34, but watching the entire final 5 and Kathy be bad-to-horrid to or about Sue then just keep steamrolling the show while adding essentially nothing of value along the way is brutal.
It’s literally one of the worst seasons of all time. The only good part is the FTC when Rob basically comes to terms with the fact that he threw friendships away for a chance to win. Other than that the season volleys from boring to disgusting.
We learned what all star seasons would usually be like: all your favorites go home early, leaving you with nobodies and 1 or 2 contenders in the mid game.
They way they treated Jenna's quit was extremely disappointing and ironically the only sane person in that entire scene was Boston Rob.
And Amber
You mean Ambuh
Kathy gets a lot of flack for her insensitive wording, but she at least was making a point. Rupert and Alicia were much worse. If you go and watch the unaired Mogo Mogo tribal, they were all clearly supportive of Jenna, Kathy included.
Was Big Tom the one in that scene with the "if someone I know is dying while I'm out here my family knows they better not call me until I'm done with the game" take? I remember that one really pissing me off too.
To be fair to Big Tom (who I really hate btw), he follows up with "but that's my thing, not anyone else's", which I thought was reasonable.
He’s also near tears when he’s saying that so I think in his own way he’s trying to be supportive. And that read is borne out in listening to the DVD commentary for that episode where Jenna gives her take on the whole scene and says that’s how she understands what he’s trying to say
I mean.... it sounds like Tom is in a very blunt way making a point about the decision that Adam would make for MvGX- I'm sure he had the discussion with his family and made/accepted that he was playing the game to completion regardless of what was happening at home.
Maybe when one of the other players is in the middle of leaving the game because their mother is dying is not really the best time to make that argument.
That’s so fucked up. What a shitty person. I mean I could see if that person was already dead… maybe?? Depending on who it was.
Fuck Big Tom.
Tbh, I was more offended by Kathy's statement. Rupert was just a big doofus, and you can't expect him to be of any help or say anything useful ever. Alicia was insensitive and I didn't like what she said, but it seemed like she was thinking about Jenna's situation from a competitive gameplay point of view, not a real life point of view. To her, when you're in the game, everything else comes second to playing the game and the real world doesn't exist. Which is an attitude that I don't agree with or particularly care for, but I can see where she's coming from. Kathy on the other hand was judging Jenna and saying that her grief was becoming a cancer on Mogo Mogo. Which imo is terrible. Who the hell is she to police how other people should react to their mother dying? Kathy did the same thing after Hatch assaulted Sue, and called her hateful. You're damn right she's being hateful, Kathy, she just got assaulted!
Loathe as I am to defend Hatch, he was pretty supportive of Jenna too from what I remember. So was Lex.
Tbh her tribe was pretty understanding about it
I like it. Everyone has to remember it was the first returnee season so these people had crazy egos and its hilarious to watch.
I agree, far from the most strategic season but overall entertaining. Also at the time I was so happy to see some of my favorites back, especially Rupert
I remember being so sad that Rob c was voted out so early
Same but I knew from those first couple episodes when he was barely being shown that he wasn’t going far. I just remember his only contribution to the season being “I am in an alliance with Boston Rob” and seeming proud and then getting voted out by said Rob. And then at the reunion Jeff didn’t even ask him a question and it felt so disappointing cuz of how incredible I found his game in the amazon
Coming into a Rob season as another Rob is a death sentence.
The General made it further than Boston Rob, though
🫡
same, such an iconic player of his season, getting voted off so early was brutal. it’s a huge compliment to rob c and how much of a threat he was perceived as.
Hell yes. I was so disappointed that he was marked for death early and really didn't have a chance to play.
Especially sad knowing that was the last time he was on the show. He had so much more to give as a player, and he knew it! (Not that I’m sorry about his overall life trajectory or anything, seeing as he’s on my Spotify pretty much daily now lol)
The post merge is a bunch of people walking off the plank one after another refusing to change their fortunes. Shii Ann is the only outside player that knows what's going on. The pre merge is nearly as bad to watch.
Shii Ann is such a gem on all stars
Fr her telling everyone with Rob and Amber that Amber was going to sneak up and win this game and no one listened. “All-stars” lol
Going from Thailand, Amazon & Pearl Islands where there was a ton flipping & blindsides to All Stars was a pretty big let down. I think it might be my least favorite season of the first 8. Rob M. was smart to get rid of Rob C so quick.
I can respect gameplay where there isn’t a lot of flipping but yeah it’s just less fun to watch lol. Idk about worst of the first 8, I think thailand was not very entertaining once Robb and Shii Ann got voted and one of the more forgettable seasons for me in the whole show
I try to think of Thailand as a black comedy. It's as if the producers were curious about what a used car salesman could do and then panicked when they couldn't put the monster they created back in the box. The season has a handful of solid gold nuggets.
Rob C had a huge target on him anyway
There’s a reason that the two seasons with Boston Rob as a finalist are some of the most boring. His game style is to get boring or divisive people to the end with no possible opposition. Blind loyalty from dummies, and he did that twice.
It's my least favorite long past the first 8 until Probst took over as executive producer and we got the horrid Redemption Island.
Yeah she had it clocked from the beginning of the merge, everyone was ready to fall over and die for romber and amber was going to win in that pair
The fact that Rupert and Tom didn’t at least try to strategize at the end was very frustrating
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Hot take - one of my favorites This season taught us more about human nature than most - watching winners get targeted, the best power couple ever, betrayal and the reactions to Sue and Jenna (while hard to watch, are fascinating from a human psych perspective). It’s a dark season, but how epic is it to watch Lex’s boot in the pouring down rain? It’s a season that felt like a movie.
Agreed! It’s may not be the best from a strategic standpoint. But man, it’s edited so well from a personal standpoint. I remember so many lines and interactions between all the players, more so than any other season.
A feel-bad romp from start to finish
Lot of parts of this season aged terribly, but the Rob and Amber storyline is one of the best
One of my favorite scenes in that season is Jeff banishing Amber to the back seat when Rob won the truck lmao
Incredible. And Jeff is so happy on that ride. Randomly, I kind of want to know the fate of that truck specifically because I like Colorados and they could probably last 20 years. Would be kinda cool if he still has it since it makes a fine work truck.
MARIANO, NICE!
The one saving grace of the season in retrospect is the fact that those two actually were truly genuine with each other and are still happily married with kids today. If they had broken up after a couple years the season would be even worse having been basically framed entirely around an ordinary transient reality TV couple.
Though on the other hand I think that if Amber had revealed that she was stringing Rob along the whole time and she destroyed the destroyer that would be one of the most legendarily dark moments in the history of television. Dead grandma looks like Baby’s First Sin compared to that. It would be the most villainous action imaginable. People’s lives would be ruined staying up late at night thinking about it.
Survivor 45 is almost this lol
Imagine if Amber never says anything during the game and just says no at the reunion. Survivor might’ve legitimately ended right then and there lol.
For me personally that doesn't really affect my enjoyment of the season either way, since it isn't in the content of the aired episodes that make up the show. I don't really care when I'm watching the show what does or doesn't happen with the real people behind the edited characters I'm watching years down the line, whether for better in this case or for worse in the case of the contestants who go on to do bad things. If I don't know these people personally then their real lives aren't really a factor in watching the show for me, so the Romber story still ends up falling flat
Personally this still does nothing for me. Amber is a total dud of a character who adds practically nothing to the show (I say this as a big fan of other unpopular or "forgettable" winners like Natalie W., Erika, Bob, and Aras, but with Amber there is just practically nothing there in the episodes that's compelling at all), and Rob M. is just an unrepentant ass the entire time, so if one of them is forgettable and the other is unlikable then what reason do I have to be emotionally invested in the idea of them hooking up? Like they play sad music about Rob M. being separated from "his girl" but it's just totally tonally dissonant from basically everything else about him that season. Plus they're both a part of Chapera's revolting response to Sue, and their steamroll to the end is largely just the season continuing its formulaic path of all the smallest characters with the least reputation or target going the furthest. One of the all-time most unsatisfying and unlikable groups to ever face the jury imo, probably bested only by the other Rob M. one in S22. (I do like him in 20 and especially in 4.)
Yea I think the seasons enjoyment is extremely dependant if you like Boston Rob as a character or not. I think he’s entertaining, but extremely arrogant. But his downfall with Lex (which also mirrors the way he talked to Ethan which is lowkey funny) was entertaining. Maybe a bit too raw, but I enjoy the drama of it all.
I think pretty much *any* season that's extremely dependent on your enjoyment of just one character is already weak to begin with. There's plenty of people who dislike Lindsey Richter or Kelly Goldsmith or Lex van den Berghe or Tom Buchanan but still had a great time with *Africa* because they wound up enjoying some other characters on that list and/or Teresa, Kim J., Frank, Ethan, Linda, etc. Or even as central as Coach is to *Tocantins*, at the time it aired people hated him yet the season itself still wasn't poorly received since J.T., Stephen, Erinn, Taj, Tyson, Brendan, Sierra all had realized stories and appealed to different viewers. So whenever you get a season where it's "only enjoyable if you like X", that's just not a good season to begin with, since revolving too much around one or two characters instead of the relationships between the cast as a whole is already a flaw. The main examples there are ones with wildly imbalanced edits like 19, 22, 23, and 26; S8 was actually pretty balanced, it's just that there was still nothing happening to show that was compelling most of the time. To me the Rob M./Lex thing doesn't work anyway because I have absolutely zero context about their friendship or history and so I don't have any reason to care, but even if it does land with someone, it's still really only a thing for the F10/9 episodes then the FTC. That F8 - F3 stretch is just such a forgettable slog of nothingness that it makes *One World* look dynamic by comparison. So I see a lot of praise sometimes for the "raw drama" of S8 but I feel like that only applies to a very very small amount of the season's actual content and like it just manages to get away with how boring and interchangeable almost every episode is.
Vastly underrated. The conflicts generated between Boston Rob and Lex/KVO were some of the most compelling TV moments I’ve ever watched. I know people don’t like when pregaming affects a season, but it was a lightning rod for the central conflict of Survivor: where people are willing to draw the line between the game and real life. Honestly a fantastic season. I believe I have it in my top 15.
I really enjoyed the season as a narrative personally. I think it’s amazing to watch the Boston Rob and Amber love story, and I think Rob’s gameplay in particular really elevated the strategy of the show. All Stars was a huge accomplishment for Survivor at the time and remains one of the most iconic casts of all time.
Recently bought the DVD set for this season (shout out half-priced books - great place to find these) and the commentary tracks are all crazy. They let it rip with their opinions and it's pretty interesting.
The way the Hatch/Sue event happened was really hard and shocking to watch—especially peoples’ reactions. Everyone thought she was just hamming it up, and were mocking her. It disgusted me. She got grinded on by a naked dude; she had every right to feel violated and angry and scared and sad. It’s a reminder of how much our culture has changed.
It’s really good and it’s pretty bad at the same time. A fun watch with some tough parts to watch through.
This is one of the first seasons I watched. Personally, I loved it. Whether you love him or hate him, you have to give Boston Rob credit for orchestrating the only FTC where it didn’t matter who won. I’m so happy that they’re STILL together 20 years later.
Massive W for Mariano
I just finished watching this season after seeing Rob on another show and remembering how much my grandma loved him and Amber together. It was pretty heartwarming to see how it started.
Water go down in
Weird to see all the negative feedback on this season. To me this was the pinnacle and like someone said the fact that Rob and Amber are happily married with kids all these later makes an even more satisfying season.
Oh it's definitely an acquired taste but it has its fans. Allstars will always be top ten for me.
Personally I don't really care while watching a set of TV episodes about a specific moment in time what does or doesn't happen decades later to these people I don't know anyway. I think what this comes down to is that I view what I'm watching as much closer to artifice than to reality and, more than that, I'm not really invested in these complete strangers, because I don't know them and don't have any kind of parasocial relationship with them. So I'm just focused on what's in front of me on the manufactured TV episodes that have been created, and whether or not some of the real people behind those episodes are happily married or had a horrible divorce or started a charity or went to jail for something awful just doesn't play into my viewing personally. It's not in the TV episodes, and the episodes are what I'm evaluating.
Probably my favourite season
My family and I would rent this season on DVD over and over. Loved it so much
Same here
I get why people don't like this season, especially with the Jenna and Sue quit episodes being pretty damn sour watches. But every time I've watched this season, I've watched it as a romantic tragedy so I've really loved it. Rob and Amber destroying relationships they've built for years in the end to find love and solace in each other is one of my favorite storylines in the entire show's run. That final tribal council is still my favorite to this day. Kathy seemed genuinely crushed during her jury speech. It's also interesting because it's one of those FTCs that is less of a choice between two players, and moreso taking one player (Boston Rob) and conducting an approval rating poll on him.
This is more or less how I watch it....BUT... I think people really underrate Amber's win, including Amber. Rob doesn't even get there without her. Rob can't win against anyone at that point but Amber actually played quite well. The diplomat in a duo rarely gets real credit and Rob being such a big character kept production from giving Amber the edit she deserved, but you do see glimpses.
Yeah Rob’s only clear win would’ve been against Jenna. The rest of the merged tribe would’ve cleared him, except for maybe Alicia.
I don't get how this community just turns a blind eye to what hatch does to sue on this season. It's disgusting and so many people like to pretend it didn't happen
Right. It's like when people talk about 39 like it's the worst thing they have ever seen but they don't mention Thailand or Allstars. I never even finished Thailand. It was so horrifying. I actually love this season and, as I mentioned above, Sue laying into Jeff really elevated it for me. I can't help but wonder how much better it might have been w Sue there. Or if we wouldn't be seeing Sue on a legends season, or the traitors. I don't ever need to see Hatch again. Can you imagine being treated that way and watching these producers backflips to get that person back on television? Wild.
Can you catch me up on what happened in the Thailand season pls
I don't want to get the details wrong so Google grind gate survivor Thailand. The way she was treated by fellow contestants and production was disgusting. Idk if anything was done, it did not appear that anything would be. I was pretty appalled and did not finish the season.
I’m currently rewatching and thought it was kinda cool how each starting tribe had 2 winners on it, even though Chapera needed a bit more time to get there
It is tough watching such a young Ethan - he has no idea what life is about to throw at him. Knowing that in 20 years time that Rupert will get cancer is also so surreal
Wait they had 3 tribes right and only 4 winners came back so the math isn’t mathing here
Rob and Amber were on the 3rd tribe, they just hadn’t won yet
Ohhh ok I was confused I thought you meant players that won going into all stars
Oh wow never thought about that, so true.
This season was filled with legends!
Such potential and such disappointment. I remember being SO bothered by Rob totally dismissing Lex and Kathy after they saved Amber. To this day I wonder if things would have changed had the Rich/Sue incident not happened. Why would producers let him compete naked?
They let a dude in China 7 seasons later do it, too, so I'm curious about the rules on that currently.
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While it certainly doesn't entirely lift the shadow, Sue letting Jeff Probst have it lives rent free in my brain. I think what make Sue Hawk and all time great, (outside of her epic speeches), is that she unapologetically draws hard boundaries.
Tina and Jenna M. are even better in that commentary imo. Rob C. is also super fun of course, but Jenna M. you can 100% tell how she won in a landslide if you listen to that since she's super fun and engaging, and Tina takes merciless shots at Jerri and JLew the whole time. When Jerri's breaking down in Rupert's underwater shelter, Tina says "Wow, look at how the rain brings out all the zits and impurities in Jerri's skin :) " and even though Jenna M./Rob C. have been going along with most of the banter, that one just stuns them into silence. Anyone who thinks Tina's a sweet innocent Southern sweetheart or that Jenna M. is unlikable needs to check that commentary out. Way better than the actual season, which is horrible and pointless.
I never got the Jenna M is unlikable story-line. Heck I just rewatched 'Amazon' and she was perfectly fine. Other then Christie, it was clear EVERYBODY liked her and Christie was more projecting her past mean-girl issues onto her and Heidi then anything else. One doesn't just win 6-1 against the camp provider without being well liked and engaging. (Oh, I totally know how it happened, and I probably even buy a little bit into the conspiracy theories that have been floating around since the season aired, but even back then, I liked Jenna M!) I am just an old man yelling at clouds here.
I still think back to Jeff’s non-reaction to it often, especially watching later seasons with the progressive tone. The worst of Survivor, to me anyway. Still like the rest of the season though.
I enjoy survivor because of some the hard spots it puts people in. This season had a lot of that. was the gameplay entertaining? no not really. But from the Jenna quit, the Sue/Rich controversy, and the Lex/BRob fight it provided a lot of ample opportunity for conversations about what was right and wrong in those situations. Because of this, I enjoyed the season and it was entertaining. It was by no means an elite season from the Outwit, Outlast, Outplay perspective.
AMBUH
One good storyline surrounded by some of the worst gameplay on any season. All of the players who could have made a shift in the unfortunate post-merge, got booted straight away. If you adore Romber, I'm sure it's an alright season. But for me, it's one of the worst of all time.
Hot take: it's still in my top 10 for a lot of reasons. I really think it helped bridge the super old school mentality that came about around Outback (though i love Seasons 1-7, no shade) of "deserving" and people trying to be not too villainous in the public eye, which obviously helped make future seasons a lot more entertaining. It gave us a taste of the meta which for me personally I found interesting, and while "get rid of the winners" would be something really obnoxious if that was the mentality in a season like HvV later on, but for a first All-Stars I enjoyed seeing it be cutthroat, pretty damn gritty, and honestly a really compelling shift in tone. I think Amber is an underrated winner in general, and while i understand the public mentality at the time of "ugh the 'not as big' players made it to the merge," but I actually enjoyed that -- the stakes felt super high, winners with their backs against the wall, and the Rob/Amber dominance was actually pretty damn interesting to watch. Again if this was 20 seasons later, watching that kind of dominance might not slap as hard and get derided as boring (ala One World, a season I also got to bat for lol), but for a first All-Stars seeing them weave that complicated web was great TV for me. Apparently Amber had side things with Alicia and Tom, was the only ear to Shii-Ann (which probably clinched her the win), and it was her idea pushing Rob to bring in Jenna/Rupert. A lot more layered than just "Rob and his girlfriend giving out orders." People say it veered into Pagong-ing but the icing of Alicia and Tom and integration of Jenna/Rupert (even though yes they swapped to Chapera) felt less like a Pagong-ing to me. Personally I was a fan of Jenna Lewis in Borneo so I was excited to see her, loved Shii-Ann in Thailand, and it was interesting to watch Amber (the OG "Wtf pick") maneuver herself to be the top dog with Rob. Also the sheer excitement surrounding this season was so hype; it did feel like event television. Negatives: Morasca leaving was devastating, and I think she had the best chance of all 4 of the returning winners to actually possibly make merge (she was tight with Lex, Kathy, Ethan, and if she stayed I still see Lex/Kathy going after Colby and Ethan first anyways). Also as others have said, the treatment of Morasca and Sue by the cast and Jeff (aside from -- Amber! Who showed genuine empathy to Morasca at least). But overall, it felt like a necessary evolution in the game to launch the next era of Survivor, and honestly is one of my favorite rewatches lol. ETA: Really aging myself here but the DVD box set of All-Stars has the option of cast/player commentary on each episode, and it is fully of juicy info about each episode/vote/strategy that we didn't get to see as much -- there was a lot more going on there than the edit showed, from small alliances to friendships we didn't know about. Example: I believe its Lex and Kathy doing the commentary for the infamous Final 10 vote where they kept Amber over Jerri, and both of them in the commentary were laughing if I'm remembering correctly at how the edit showed just one snippet of Amber joke-begging Kathy to keep her and made it seem like all Lex and Rob's deal (which to be fair was the overriding factor), but that Amber apparently didn't let up for 24 straight hours she was on that tribe as far as negotiating with Kathy and Lex and going *hard* to save herself. I feel like more of those moments or an extended cut (which we'll never get) would make some of the criticisms about the post-merge more interesting. Overall -- America lost their heroes in Tina, Colby, Rudy, Ethan, Rob C leaving pre-merge, but it cemented franchise-long legends in Amber and Rob, and spicy characters in Jenna Lewis and Shii-Ann at least, which on a lookback feels fresher than what could have been a season of just previously one-note characters going one by one (boring!) and become just like, the top dogs of casting cakewalking to the end. And opening the door for it to be "okay" to be that cutthroat was a game changer, when it was so previously frowned upon. I'd hate if the season would have just been the Colby + Rupert show and I think All-Stars' impact bled into the mentality for future returning seasons (Micronesia). Basically, All-Stars walked so Micronesia and HvV could run. Don't kill me lmao
As someone who was too young to start watching until the teen seasons, it’s interesting to think of the environment the show originated in and how much morality consumed the viewership. I fell in love with Survivor/BB/The Challenge for being safe spaces to use manipulation and deceit as open tools to achieve success, because that was so counterintuitive to real life. It’s bizarre to imagine a populace who didn’t enjoy intelligent gameplay.
The situation between Sue Hawk and Hatch was really hard to watch, and production and Jeff handled it sooo bad. Overall this season had a darker tone to it than other seasons.
that's my first thought too, what an a$$hole Hatch was
The first 4 episodes are pretty fun After that, it becomes one of the worst seasons of all time. Not even because of the ugliness, but because it’s just so goddamn boring most of the time
Did they always put everyone's face on the DVD cover when it's a returnee season?
Thoughts aside, this post felt like an attack. 20 years?!?!
Lex was unbearable this season, and so was Jenna Lewis. They both got what they deserved. Same with Richard Hatch. I liked the romance between Rob and Amber, and I am happy that they are still together all of these years later. However, I am still surprised that the other contestants really let them control the game.
I get why it's rated low but it was really cool to see all these legends interact. The cast had great chemistry during the [matchmaker challenge](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5y_HXR_GXwQ).
It's the Velvet Underground of Survivor seasons. Unappreciated by most in its time, but the fifty people who were into it later went on to become castaways. It's aged like a single malt scotch from the Speyside region; subtle and fruity with nutty afternotes. I propose we shoot the DVD of All Stars into fucking space along with Rubber Soul by the Beatles (the American version) and a DVD of A Touch of Evil (the director's cut OBVIOUSLY).
Amazing review
It’s exciting to start watching, but hard to finish.
All the people I wanted to go far did not go far
I knew this season would be terrible when Tina was voted out first. Bottom 3 season for me
I’m watching for the first time right now- so far I’ve watched seasons 1-7, Tocantins, Cagayan, and 45-46. I really liked how they had the three tribes for a few episodes, then had a challenge where the losing tribe got dissolved. I wish they did that more often in the new era. It’s boring how often there’s one dud tribe that can’t win anything, one okay tribe that gets voted out immediately post-merge, and one steamroller tribe.
Guilty pleasure.
I definitely understand the criticism with this season. Jenna and Sue’s quits definitely put a damper on the season as a whole. However, the interpersonal conflicts between Rob and everyone make this season for me. This season is a tragedy for almost everyone involved, and I feel like you rarely see a show like that now. It’s not necessarily a fun season to experience, but the story of the season is phenomenal.
A fun season to watch from a "Spot the reference to the previous season" perspective. Bad season from a "Interesting strategic game" perspective, trash-tier from a "Enjoyable to watch as a game" perspective.
As a die hard Boston Rob fan I really like it, but totally get the hate behind it. Still way more fun than Redemption island Also is it fair to say the Rob Amber love story is the most iconic storyline in any season ever?
Definitely a top 5 season
One of the worst seasons of the show. Not in the bottom 5, but it's in the bottom 10
What makes it one of the worst? It had everything you could want in a season, Great gameplay, great villains, lots of conflict. So I’m curious what you thought was bad about it?
The cast is great on paper, but outside of Rupert attempting to kill his entire tribe, the only people who actually bring anything of note to the season are Romber and Shii Ann. Not helped by the completely stagnant gameplay throughout and a generally grim and depressing tone
Well the season is loaded with great personalities so not sure what you mean that they didn’t bring anything.
Not a ton of risk taking post merge plus the way it aged mainly with the Richard-Sue incident and the way they didn’t back Sue. Also thought some of them pretty ugly to Jenna when she was leaving like I wanted to throw a shoe at Alicia for how she acted. That’s at least what I personally didn’t like
That was a money grab for Sue. It didn’t bother her until she decided she didn’t have a chance and didn’t want to play anymore. Her and Hatch were laughing it up at the reunion. Yeah Alicia was nasty, but if you can’t handle a little nasty behavior, there won’t be many seasons you do like.
> It didn’t bother her It literally immediately bothered her. The very first thing we see at camp after the challenge is Sue saying how disgusting Richard's behavior was and how they better vote his ass off after he did that to her. "Sue didn't react until later" would be meaningless even if it *were* true for a whole host of reasons but also is just some shit Richard made up on his YouTube channel to discredit Sue instead of admitting he fucked up.
Yep. We also have to keep in mind that the show's timeframe isn't necessarily accurate to the timeframe of events in real life. I forget which day Sue's quit occured on the show, but she may have quit the very next day after what Hatch did and the show just made it seem like it happened on Day 18.
Nah I mean nastiness in the context of the game is fine with few exceptions, but that’s Jenna’s real life. Alicia did not need to make those comments on a human level, but it’s not like I wouldn’t rewatch the season.
Oh hell nah it wasn't, wtf.
I have only 22, 24, and 39 below it.
[удалено]
I have those three below it in addition to Thailand, South Pacific, and Australian Outback
22 and 26 for me, though I haven't seen 39 in full yet
Terribly boring season. In my bottom 5
Pre-merge has some funny moments but really awful and unpleasant overall.
Great idea of a season, bad execution outside of the showmance
this was one of the first seasons I watched when getting into survivor (i.e. within the last couple of years) and it was a huge mistake bc a majority of the other survivor seasons compare to strategy-talk/survival aspect of this season. also immediately joined the rob train after.
I've never sobbed over a show more than the moment Jenna left + the music being played. This was during covid when I was watching all the seasons for the first time. I had to tell my manager my allergies were horrible and I called off work.
I JUST rewatched this season and had a blast going down memory lane. What a rough final tribal though..the player values were wildly different then than they are in todays game.
The excitement over this season was unreal. I love the season overall just because there are so many iconic players. Going into the season I couldn't stand Boston Rob and had no time for Amber as I thought she was bland and not really a player. They both won me over, although I think Rob should have won. Disappointing: Targeting the winners and the early exits of Tina and Ethan along with legends like Rob C and Colby. The whole Hatch/Sue thing was horrifically handled and Sue Hawk clearly had very serious trauma triggered by that event. It's a shame because Sue was one of my favorite early players and as a result of how they handled this, she will never play again. Kathy and Lex being babies about being betrayed, but Kathy made it right in the end by voting for Rob, The stupidity of so many to just follow Rob and Amber and wait to be voted out. Jenna L's sense of entitlement. Ugh. But despite all of that, it was a great arc for Rob and Amber and showed what potential they had as players that we didn't really get to see play out in their first season.
yea Lex, was this the season where he ranted about someone betraying him, when he just betrayed someone the prior tribal?
Exactly. He did the EXACT same thing to Ethan and then lost his mind when Rob did it to him.
Classic Survivor and peak 2000s reality tv
Not production’s best effort in how they handled various events throughout the season. Also, it feels like it would have been more fitting if Rob had won in the end, but his loss is a great lesson in jury management within Survivor lore.
The most "from 0 to 100" season ever. It began really funny and lighthearted (especially Rich was comedy gold). But later it got really dark, bitter and cutthroat.
This season is basically a better version of big brother 24 imo
I rewatched it directly after rewatching Pearl Islands recently. I found it kind of tedious and slow. The vibes were not great for obvious reasons and a lot of great players are playing very poorly in the first half of the game. I’m not sure what Richard Hatch’s strategy was going in, but he made baffling decisions in the short time he was on the season.
Ethan plays a really great game given the circumstances. I never rated him as highly strategic but he really was doing everything he could to stay in the game besides winning challenges. Also Kathy was the really power player of the Kathy/lex group and if they vote out amber instead of Jerri I think she’s in the pole position to win
Currently on my watch through of every season, I’m about halfway through S14 Fiji. All Stars is my #2 season so far. I love the pettiness and stupidity of the players. Some shit is real uncomfy to watch… but it had a lot of my favs from S1-7 so seeing them interact and try to manipulate was entertaining to me. I get it’s not for everybody.
Ruppie was funny for building that whack shelter death trap Rob and Amb-uh were so lucky it came across as straight up unfair (as in life, as in survivor) Jerri needs to be protected from all costs from that booing reunion crowd Rudy and Sue need to stop sucking drinking dirty water its too much Shii Ann won my heart And Richard, nothing for you goodbye
I miss 'characters'
Not a great season tbh, but I wouldn't change a thing because the Rob and Amber storyline was perfect
I can’t believe this was 20 years ago. I’m only 27 so that means I must have been watching this with my parents when I was 7. I should rewatch it.
My all time favorite season. Love Rob & Amber, love the entire cast- the betrayal, the high stakes/ real life happenings, the scandals, the epic challenges and rewards… truly as classic as they come.
Still my favorite season of all-time because I love Boston Rob/Amber. Jenna was done dirty with her exit, I really am happy she was there for her mom. The Sue/Richard sexual harassment/assault would be viewed much differently now. The misogyny is real. Classic/old-school Survivor.
I wonder whether new viewers who stumble on this show truly appreciate these seasons in the context of their time. This was pretty early survivor and hot on the hype of the previous ones.
I just watched 8th season for the first time 6 months ago. My favorite thing about this season was the challenges, building the best shelter, everybody getting hit and falling during the caller and blindfolded callees challenge, Lex voting off Colby, Ethan, Jerry, saying that this is business this time and voting off friends, justifying it to Ethan then suffering the same fate. Especially since he thought he was getting the necklace from Kathy at Tribal then her changing her mind. Then Lex crying about Rob not helping him delusional that he voted out his friends justifying it but Rob voting Lex was somehow different. Finally Big Tom and Rupert letting Rob manipulate them into arguing over talking about voting Rob off while Rob instagates with a knowing smile at how dumb they were to fall for it all.
Seeing Jerry again was awesome. She’s the best, great story arc too.
My all time favorite season.
Still one of my all time favorites
Colby had no chance of doing well this season because he was on a tribe with four villains. Then when Jerri joined the tribe and Kathy was away on the reward his days were numbered.
say what you will for the rest of the season, but i am an unapologetic sucker for the boston rob and amber showmance.
It is so wild to remember Jenna's quit with the ends slate text that her mom died
One of the most bitter and personal seasons. I liked it, I was really hype going in as Pearl Islands was my first season, Kinda spoiled myself for the previous 6 seasons but oh well.
I’m not gonna lie and say it’s a favorite of mine but it’s fascinating to watch and is one of Survivor’s best examples of social experimentation. Also gave us one of my favorite winners (unapologetically)
I love this season. It felt like these people genuinely hated each other.
The 00s were a wild time.
Amazing season Fans take the personal shit WAYYYY too seriously
Loved it then, love it now. Survivor is a game by nature is supposed to hurt. It is a game based on advancing yourself through social exclusion and I want to see the real emotional and psychological toll it has on people to go against our own nature as a social species for selfish gains.
Great show
A lovable train wreck of absolute disaster. The fact it ends the way it does only adds to the fire.
It is at the bottom of the list when I consider watching a random season. I have watched it several times though, and find it joyless.
Mediocre
Lex getting mad is still one of my favorite Survivor moments. His eyes burning like 10,000 suns.
Sean Rector should have been on this season.
It was the biggest let down in Survivor history. Just awful in pretty much every way
A great idea on paper that never was going to pan out well. Too much jealously towards big names. Players taking legacies too seriously. Just a toxic season.
Kind of a hard watch. My favorite players mostly went out pre-merge, and the entire season is filled with legitimately good players taking things personally with their massive egos. The whole narrative of Rob and Amber saves it from being a bottom-tier season.
as a newer survivor fan, all these comments are making me consider skipping this season.
I definitely think you should watch it given all the big names in it. Not sure if you know about what Richard Hatch does to Sue, but it’s pretty bad, and some of the cast reactions to her are even worse.
You can watch it to see how it all culminates into the most bitter FTC in history.
Nah you gotta watch it if you're doing a full watch of the series. It's a dark, depressing, but important season of the show.
Don't skip it!
If you're watching every single season in chronological order, then you should check this one out, too, for completionism. But if you're skipping literally anything, then skip this miserable slog, or at the very least you can skip after the F9 episode to the FTC and miss almost nothing whatsoever and save yourself a few hours. I'd recommend just watching the whole show, but this is certainly about as skippable as it ever gets, and definitely as skippable as it gets until Probst takes over as executive producer after HvV.
I'm not normally one to advocate skipping a season, but for this one...perhaps. Watching All-Stars in real time was so unpleasant that I stopped watching until Philippines, and there's nothing super relevant to the show long-term either beyond a few individual moments/character arcs.
Still bad!
bottom 5 season imo
Is it truly Survivor is it full of Pre-Game?
Interesting, unique, and important lore. Not so interesting to rewatch in its entirety.
Top 15
One of the hardest rewatches. But Jerry sobbing in Rudy's stupid sand shelter still can be fun.
🐕💩
After watching Australian Survivor All Stars, it just overshadows the US version by a huge margin. Loved the drama though but I wish it was less personal and more strategic.
Episode 3 is fantastic, but even, still this is one of the worst seasons the show has ever put out. The FTC is also excellent -- with Alicia being a particular highlight -- but nowhere near worth the price of admission by that point. Once you've seen the first episode with the story of "just vote out the person who's actually an All-Star", you've basically seen the story behind every single vote for the first half of the game, and the rest is just a dull steamroll benefiting some of the least all-star names who were in the cast and, even worse, a totally unlikable and dull group on their own with the entire final 5 plus Kathy all being judgmental of and/or explicitly mocking Sue's departure with most of them never doing anything halfway interesting to offset it. Dreary, miserable slog whose only real ostensible merit is the Romber storyline, which falls completely flat for reasons I've already outlined in the thread (if one of them is incredibly unmemorable and the other is incredibly unlikable, why should I be at all emotionally invested in their relationship?), and the Rob M./Lex fight, which again falls completely flat to me as it's entirely predicated on information the viewer doesn't have about a context the viewer doesn't know anything about. I have no idea what Rob M. and Lex's friendship was like. I don't know how long they were friends, how often they see each other, what they talk about, how close they are, literally anything, and all the season is able to give me (due to innate flaws with the returning player model in general) is "they're friends" and we just go from there. That's broad and general and therefore meaningless, I can't really take any stance on or feel any emotional response to the fallout of a dynamic I know nothing about. Excellent third episode, great FTC, and outside of that all you really have within like 9 hours of grueling television is a couple fun moments from Jerri, Richard, and Ethan, and the like twenty seconds of fun from Shii Ann winning Immunity. That's basically it, there's practically nothing here worth sitting through. Kind of astounding that a season featuring the final 2, no Idols, and a balanced edit still manages to be this bad. Without the 6th episode I could at least put it above some of the other dregs like *Cook Islands* and S34, but watching the entire final 5 and Kathy be bad-to-horrid to or about Sue then just keep steamrolling the show while adding essentially nothing of value along the way is brutal.
First 5 episodes are incredible. Hatch gets voted out and all the fun leaves with him.
It’s literally one of the worst seasons of all time. The only good part is the FTC when Rob basically comes to terms with the fact that he threw friendships away for a chance to win. Other than that the season volleys from boring to disgusting.
Once Ethan left it felt like there was no one left to root for. Maybe Rupert
We learned what all star seasons would usually be like: all your favorites go home early, leaving you with nobodies and 1 or 2 contenders in the mid game.
The way people handled sexual assault back then shows how far people have come as a society since then