Ryan Rollo

Senior, Aiyana Sanborn, holding up a Survivor blanket.

Survivor – Best Show Of All Time?

By Ryan Rollo

The best show EVER!? Big question right? There are many great shows out there, but when asked that question, I can respond right away with no thought. Survivor! Forty-five seasons, six-hundred seventy-five contestants, what other show could match that? 

What I love about Survivor most are the aspects of social politics and strategy. Survivor isn’t just about an island where people try to survive. Survivor’s about the societal outcomes that happen during this experiment. Those outcomes make the game fascinating and always keep me on the edge of my seat. I love everything about it: blindsides, idol plays, arguments, bitter juries, even the super obnoxious players that you root against.

Favorite Player/Season?

This is a tricky question to answer. There are many legends of Survivor, such as Parvati Shallow, Tony Vlachos, Sandra Diaz-Twine, and Cirie Fields. But you can’t think of Survivor without thinking about Boston Rob Mariano and his snakey gameplay, witty personality, and comical Boston accent. His story arc with his wife, Amber Mariano, in Survivor All-Stars was very poetic, and the way he managed to dominate two different seasons from start to end is mind-blowing.

My favorite season of Survivor would have to be Season 37: Survivor David vs Goliath. Unpopular opinion I’d say, but there was not a single episode/vote-off that was boring. We had some of the best blindsides of all time, wonderful and notable characters, and a great central theme. Some of the characters I loved this season were Angelina Keeley and her chaotic actions, Gabby Pascuzzi and her emotional moments, and Mike White (Director of School Of Rock, White Lotus, and other popular films). This season was full of great blindsides, such as the John blindside, the Dan blindside, and the Carl blindside. David vs Goliath was also the first season I watched live, so it adds a sentimental factor to my opinion. 

Unpopular Opinions? 

Ooh. . . this is a good one! I am a person with many hot takes and unpopular opinions. Survivor is a show full of two-sided debates, and a very strong fanbase who will take bullets for their favorite players, so I’m used to having hot takes. 

One fiery hot take is that Sandra deserved to win over Parvati in Season 20: Survivor Heroes vs Villains. Sandra played a great underdog game and had great jury management skills. However, Parvati did play a more domineering game, but lacked relationships with the Heroes alliance, and didn’t even try to socialize with them. I also have some biases, as Sandra is a close second to Boston Rob for my favorite Survivor player of all time. 

The new era of Survivor is good. Now, I agree that the abundance of advantages is wild, but this current season of Survivor has taken a simpler route, with fewer advantages, and is possibly the best season of the new era! The new era is full of great winners, like Erika Casupanan, Maryanne Oketech, Yamyam Arocho, and Dee Valladares. The new era is full of great blindsides, like the Shantel blindside, the Jenny blindside, the Omar blindside, the Cody blindside, the Kellie blindside, and the Drew blindside. My favorite seasons of the new era are Season 41, Season 42, and Season 45. Though I love all seasons, Season 43 would have to be the worst out of them all, but it still was enjoyable in some aspects. 

Survivor 45 Review: 

As I’m writing this, the Survivor 45 finale was yesterday. The outcome was Julie Alley finishing in fifth place, Katurah Topps finishing in fourth place after losing the fire-making challenge to Jake O’Kane, who ended up getting third place. The vote for the winner came down to Dee Valladares and Austin Li Coon. In a vote of 5-3, Dee Valladares became the sole survivor of Survivor 45. 

I think Dee has played the best game in a while. She was masterful in all three aspects of the game, social, strategic, and physical. She won three immunities and master-minded some blindsides such as the Drew blindside, the Kendra blindside, and the Emily blindside. She was the leader of her alliance, The Reba 4, and knew when to cut off her allies. She also developed a showmance over the season with the runner-up of the season, Austin. They both played very great games, side by side, letting each other make their own moves while protecting each other. But at the end of the day, Dee outplayed Austin, especially at the Emily vote-off, in which she revealed her flashy move to the jury at the Final Tribal Council. Dee was a very deserving winner, and completely satisfied with the result. 

There were lots of great castaways in this recent season, such as Julie Alley, Jake O’Kane, and Katurah Topps. But my favorite castaway would easily be Emily Flippen. Emily had a great storyline, going from a pessimist who was hated by her tribe and NEARLY was the first voted out of the season, to a strong gameplayer who was loved by her castmates. Her strong gameplay mixed with her witty one-liners also made her easy to root for. From the moment she entered the marooning and made Bruce double-think his claims, I instantly knew she was the one I’d be rooting for. 

Wrap Up:

To put things to a close, Survivor has been a big influence on my life, and fifth grade me, who found out Survivor from ROBLOX, has been obsessed. Every Wednesday night at 8 pm Eastern Time, my friends and family know what my plans are. It has been my dream to go on Survivor (or Big Brother), so in future years when I’m in my interview with CBS, just know I will give it my all!