Board Thread:Virtual Tribal Council/@comment-1294345-20160922075848/@comment-5870534-20161014212603

LincolnAloisio wrote: People being invisible was never only a thing of 20-people seasons. Zoe only had 5 confessionals in 9 episodes.

And you can't say that this show has not been great after having seasons like Philippines, Blood vs Water, Cagayan, San Juan del Sur and Kaoh Rong recently. Yes, you can be more like a old school person, but this is nowhere near the dark age of Redemption Island through One World.

Having only 16 people in a season is not guarantee of a good season, see: Thailand. And again you can't say that the casting is not good after having Philippines, the newbies of Blood vs Water, most of Cagayan, San Juan del Sur and Kaoh Rong. As long as this seasons cast go, yeah, it hasn't been the most interesting so far, but it's not one of the worst when you have Thailand's, Redemption Island's, South Pacific's, One World's and Fiji's. And it's not like people like Nick Brown, Gabriel Cade, Zoe Zanidakis, Jeanne Herbert, Shawna Mitchell, almost everyone from Thailand and others are interesting people with interesting personalities. First of all, Kaoh Rong was not great at all. It is one of the worst season of all time, IMHO. If it wasn't for Mark the Chicken, there would be no reason to watch this horrible season.

Now, on topic: You are right that having only 16 people does not guarantee a good season, but it does guarantee more screen time for everybody. Yes, Zoe may have had only 5 confessionals, but she is still a character I remember very well because she was an integral part of the show, and not just someone who sat there quietly, and did nothing, she was there, she was not invisible. All the players you have mentioned had personalities, and were not there just to make up the numbers. How can you say Gabriel Cade was not interesting? The dude was one of the weirdest contestants of the first seasons, his ousting was a major factor towards the fall of the Rotu Four. Nick Brown was not as memorable, but he was there, we remember him for being lazy, and for making Alicia Calaway laugh. Jeanne Hebert and Shawna Mitchell are not memorable? You seriously have to rewatch "Amazon". And "Thailand", while being pretty dull, cannot be compared to the modern seasons with the amount of funny moments on it. So even though it was a let down, it was still way better than "One World", "Kaoh Rong", and maybe even "Worlds Apart" and "San Juan del Sur".

I am not saying the show is not great anymore, all I am saying that the show has become a cliche, the emphasis is made entirely on strategy, while there is little left in terms of getting the viewer to know the contestants better, and also the survival aspect. I mean, take a look at the recent episode. The Millennials were off to try and hunt some goats, but what did we see? Endless footage of Adam looking for an idol, and then a two-hour long confessional about how big a fan of the game he is, and how much it means to him. I mean, this is great and all, but you can show this in half the time. I am also interested in how the hunt went.