Board Thread:Virtual Tribal Council/@comment-33554905-20171221065515/@comment-27082203-20171221151219

I was a Ben fan anyways, so maybe I'm a little biased here, but I think he's a good winner. Up until the Final 7, his strategic gameplay was impeccable, which a lot of people tend to forget.

I don't get why people are upset that me found so many idols, because...

A. From the Final 6 onwards, he was the only one actually looking for them.

B. Ben worked harder than possibly any other past castaway has at finding idols. He was up at 2 a.m. finding idols! You've got to give him credit for that, at least.

C. In a group of five people, not a single one of them bothered to follow him and make sure he couldn't find another. They brought that #BenBomb upon themselves.

D. Production did an absolute crapshoot job at hiding them. I like having the clues on trees and rocks in concept, but it makes it way too easy to find the idols.

I don't think that production was feeding Ben idols. Other players like Russell Hantz and Tai Trang have found three idols, the former was even able to do it without clues! History has shown that if you are looking for the idol 24/7, chances are that you'll eventually find the idol. Ben just worked his ass off to find them, and had just a little help from that broken clue system.

I think they would have held that fire-making twist regardless of whether or not Ben was in danger, especially considering that it's becoming a staple in the format. I will concede that Ben got batshit lucky that this was the season they implemented it. He would've gone home for sure if they hadn't, so I understand why people are pissed about that, but every winner has needed a bit of luck. Yul Kwon, debatably one of Survivor's best winners ever, would not have made it to the Final Tribal Council had the season ended in the traditional Final Two. I think that overall, Ben played a great game, and fought harder than everyone left out there. His game had flaws, sure, but there have been more flawed winners in the past, and I think it's silly to include Ben with the likes of Bob Crowley. Calling him the worst winner ever is just silly. After everyone has some time to cool down, I'm sure that people will start to appreciate Ben's game, and he'll pull out of the "low-tier" of winners.

I wasn't a Chrissy fan myself, but good on her for winning four immunities. Out of all the people on this season, she was the one that I least expected to go on a run, especially after her performance in that House of the Holy challenge. She played a near unprecedented physical end-game, but I do feel that she was lacking in strategy, which ultimately cost her the win. It's awful that she lost her job because she wanted to live out her dream, and I hope that Burnett pays her some extra consolation money like they did with Denise in China. I can feel for all of the Chrissy fans out there, but looking on the bright side, at least she didn't get 2nd runner-up.

The reunion show itself was an absolute joke. That segment with Ben reuniting with his marine pals was absolutely touching, no doubt. It wasn't enough to make up for the fact that only four out of eighteen people got to speak. That's just stupid. It seems that they made the final episode run long on purpose, just so they would have as little time as possible for the reunion, and an out as to why they couldn't get to everyone. For fuck's sake, they played the entire intro again for the first time since Cambodia; why else would they do that? The reunion show over the years has just been brushed to the side, and basically an afterthought, and it's sad to watch it happen season after season. I remember when I used to be actually excited for it, and to catch up with all of the castaways. Not anymore. It's a shame really, but that's the way it is now, I guess.

I don't think that this season is the next Cagayan or anything, but the people saying that's it's barely a step above Redemption Island or One World I think are taking it too far. I can understand why people don't like this season, and this would probably be a low-mid tier season on my own list. But saying that it's the worst ever has got to be the overstatement of the century. Aside from the pagonging in the middle, the strategy was there, and while there were one bajillion advantages, none of them actually did anything: The Super Idol never came into play, Jessica's vote block was wasted by Joe's idol, and Lauren went home without using her vote steal OR half idol. I think given a few seasons, once everyone's cooled down, people will see this season in a more positive light. As for right now, I hope you enjoyed my mini-rant while I tried to defend it.

Can't wait for Ghost Island!