Board Thread:Virtual Tribal Council/@comment-27638357-20160519221405/@comment-26047483-20160524035251

There are a lot of long passages I could quote but I'd rather just make a blanket statement than reply to several thousand combined words.

-First and foremost, I was disappointed by the finale. Though the fire-making challenge was enjoyable, the episode as a whole seemed to have way too much filler (Perhaps the five-person finale is a better format). Also I would really, really love to see the finalists go through another "Honoring the Fallen" scene, but it seems that, like full intros, those are a thing of the past. A shame, really. I'd much rather see that than the mirror scene.

-Secondly, I was disappointed and confused by the winner. Despite examining the evidence of BJS and Michele's social game, it still shocks me that Aubry did not win the season. While I don't think Michele is in the bottom five worst winners of the now 31 winners we've had, she is a long way from the top of the list and the season is the seventh season where I was disappointed in the FTC results and the sixth season I believe someone else deserved the win more (I was disappointed that Spencer didn't win Second Chances but Jeremy certainly deserved it more).

-Thirdly, I found the "remove a jury member" twist abhorrent. You don't screw with the sanctity of the jury. They earned their spot there and to remove one after he believed he would have a voice in the final vote doesn't sit well with me at all. I'm torn with whether Neal was the best option for this, from personal perspective (it undoubtedly was from Michele's strategic perspective). Part of me is glad that is ushered out someone who was already medivaced, and the first jury member...in a way that seems better than taking out, say, Cydney, or really anyone who lasted longer. On the other hand I feel awful for Neal, who I viewed as one of the two most devoted fans on the season along with Aubry. To see someone who so badly wanted to get on and play get medivaced was rough, to have him medivaced with and idol and while playing a fairly solid game was even more so, and then to take his consolation prize of being a jury member away was devastating. Regardless, I hope this twist is buried with the Outcasts and Racial Divisions of tribes as a "Never again" sort of thing.

-I, for one, am very excited for the upcoming season. I have a good feeling for the season based on the leaked cast. A feeling that I have not had from a newbie cast since Cagayan (Although that was based on preseason interviews, as I had not seen the cast beforehand).

-I am not excited for the theme. I'd honestly rather just have an unthemed season than this, which will feature entirely too much rhetoric like-"Johnny is so lazy, it must be because he's a millennial." But I know Survivor doesn't do unthemed seasons anymore, and certainly not at a previous location...not like they can call it "Survivor Fiji," unfortunately. But hopefully the contestants will eschew those divisions after the first several episodes, and hopefully Jeff will bring it up again as sparingly as possible after that.

-I don't like the logo, but it doesn't matter that much to me. I'm confident that the video and photos we'll see from the environment, animals, etc. will be stellar as usual, and that's much more important than the logo artwork as far as I'm concerned.