I have it #1 just because of the historical significance of it. I don’t even think the boot order is really that bad. It cements that the New School players are superior, and TONY wins a second time. Hard to be upset with that.
@@jacksonhart5961 L take my guy Ben was literally a new era player and he was easily the worst player in this season. Literally the old school players got screwed cuz the production had the amazing idea of having it uneven af. If production was smart, they would recognize that bringing older players and simplifying the game would attract audiences but instead they pride themselves on Dungeons and Dragons era 30s garbage and the season is disappointing af. I must reiterate, L take
Hali acknowledging that she isn't a game changer and wondering why she is there will forever be my favourite moment from the season. And I would say the fact that the fan favourite in Cirie is being taken out by something that stupid makes the boot order even worse.
I will never forgive Jeff for the second swap in Game Changers or the swap into 3 tribes in WaW. Like, seriously, we could have Parvati/Rob vs Sandra/Tony and maybe Yul but noooooo, lets divide into 3 tribes, reduce possible interactions and expose the big targets.
I want to defend the choice of Hali on Game Changers by using the fact she was self-aware enough to know she was a wtf choice as the reason she is truly a Game Changer. In an era of self-indulgent players with the little to no self-awareness or down to earth attitude a player who is just candidly honest about being a questionable choice is truly game changing. 😂
The day that the pandemic was “officially” declared was the same day that Parvati’s/Sandra’s boot episode aired The two worst things of 2020 happened on the same day
i'm just thankful that the cousin fucker himself didn't win like some of the initial spoilers said (and which could've easily happened had ben been down to turn on tony)
I actually didn't know so many people hated the boot order in Winners at War. With a cast that stacked, almost every boot was destined to eliminate a big-name player, so I knew I was going to see a lot of my favorite players get voted out. Also, given that Rob had already played four times and Sandra and Tyson had played three, I was OK with them going early to give other players the spotlight.
Rob played 5 times and got booted 3 times before the 7th vote off 😅😅😅 and people put him on parvati or Sandra's level for what reason ??? In my opinion I thought Andrea in fans.v.s favorites 2 honstly was great I thought she was gonna winn till her eventual boot but made great TV
@@adrianpadilla35 You really have to understand the situations about those vote offs. Marquesas's merge was split 7-3 with Rob, Sean, and V down and at that time coming back from that was unheard of. Though it would take only 2 episodes afterwards for the 4 "on top" of that 7 person group to tumble. His boot in HvV is largely not his fault and more so Tyson's given what transpired. Though bringing the Buddy System back in WaW might have been his worst mistake in his entire Survivor Career. As for Andrea, she a solid player that looks better than she most likely is given her 1st two seasons on RI and FvF2 had like 1 player dominate the whole season with barely anyone who challenged them. Andrea's play wasn't bad in Game Changers, but it did show she was a bit overhyped when more than 1 person plays to win.
Phillip being final 3 in Redemption Island was beautiful. That man was a constant source of laughter for me, I’m so glad he went deep and he’s the best goat in Survivor history.
I'm glad 41 was there in footage as an honorable mention of sorts. If more of Ua made the merge in tact, we would have a top 20 season, even with all the twists in place
@@aronpuma5962 legit Luvu was one of the blandest tribes of all time and they’re the ONLY ONES to not lose anyone pre-merge, seriously Naseer?, Deshawn?, Heather? all duds except Sydney, with Danny and Erika just kinda being average I will die on the hill that 41 isn’t that bad of a season, but god the casting is really weak, I don’t know who okayed someone like Abraham, Naseer, Sara, or Genie
@@XanderMatthews-nv9zfnaseer and sydney were great but deshawn was kind of grating in high doses and erika / heather / danny were all pretty weak characters (the former two def got bad edits but esp in the case of erika, i couldn't tell you a single one of her surprisingly plentiful confessionals besides her canned "lamb to lion" analogy and i have to believe that factored into production underediting her early) it's interesting bc the double boot in the premiere takes out two of the less interesting seeming characters, making the season seem like it was on the right track -- only for every boot from voce to shan to take out an interesting character and the final 7 to be the most underdeveloped final 7 since survivor nicaragua
Glad to see the Mario Lanzas of the world didn’t influence you! Worlds Apart is definitively a horrible boot order. Will Sims might be one of the worst villains ever - he’s both incredibly toxic, -and- absolutely uninteresting. It’s rouuuugh.
@@cameronsayers1375 Jerri and Parvati are definite locks for that list, because HvV Jerri really upped her stock compared to her 2 pervious seasons, and Parvati went from just a mid player in Cook Islands to the legend we all know and love in Micronesia
5 - Fully agree. Losing all the big names and likable players early just destroyed the season entirely. No qualms here. 4. Eh...maybe because I actually love Worlds Apart, I don't fully agree with this one. Yes, losing Vince, Max, and Nina pre-merge sucked. But I honestly found Dan hilarious, and even my mother did, so his 'toxic comments' were heavily overblown. Carolyn was fun, Mike was great to root for and see win, and honestly Rodney's downfall was well worth the wait. Also, I've said this for many years, and I'll say it again: the No Collar tribe were NOT the heroes or the 'likable' tribe. They were cocky, arrogant, entitled, and obnoxious as hell. They treated Nina and Vince badly, and even Will at first, and then acted like they were in control and were so hilarious and 'likable' after getting Kelly out at the merge vote. Seeing them get their comeuppance when Hali was blindsided and actually sent out over Dan was glorious. So, I don't know, I love this season and think it works just fine. 3. Again, HOW is Chris the 'villain' of the season? The dude literally never did anything wrong! Domenick and Wendell are easily more villainous than him! But, yeah, this season sucks. It's so dry and dull. Literally the only ones worth rooting for at the merge were Donathan and...Chris? That's kinda it. So, yeah, that says enough. Bad season and boot order. 2. Yeah, fair enough. A final 3 that has both Tony and Natalie was still pretty good, but...yeah, can't really argue with this. 1. We could've had a Tai, Aubry, and Cirie final 3...but instead we got Troyzan, Brad, and Sarah. I do love Troyzan, but...yeah, this final 3 sucks. Like, this merge isn't the WORST...the only real duds would likely be Hali, Sierra, Brad, Sarah, and Andrea...but I guess all of them making it so far to begin with and a lot of the bigger names going early DID bring it down a lot. So, I get it.
One could argue that Caleb was the reason Survivor permanently stays in Fiji. Sure, that’s certainly not as impressive as anything Tony, Sandra, JT and Ciera did, but still. Also I called this exact top 5 before I even saw the video. I didn’t know the exact order, but these were the five I figured would be chosen for this countdown.
I think Caleb was cast more for his time on Big Brother than anything else. They thought he was an interesting Big Brother player who would translate over well to Survivor then he got medivaced early and they wanted to give him another shot.
Allstars is why Lex is one of my most hated players ever. I mean, I hated him back in Africa too, especially with everything that happened in Kelly's boot episode, but he single handedly destroyed Allstars with his stupid strategy, only to call the kettle black in the end.
I think so. Even if it was good, it was almost impossible for no player from the pre-20's would be booted too early, and they wanted to give some of those older players a chance to still have impact in the game. I will say it was a good use of the edge of extinction (unlike the season named after it)
Great video, Luke! This video made me realize that waiting til survivor 50 for another returnee season isn't as annoying as I was thinking. I hope you have an amazing day!
It really is for the best. Doing an all star season once every ten seasons or so gives time for a new crop of legitimate stars to rise and minimizes casting choices that make us say either “Oh God, not him again” or “What? She’s not an all star!” (favorite/game changer/hero/villain/legend/idol/etc) It also makes it feel like a special occasion and gets the fans excited for it. All Stars, HvV, Second Chance and WaW all stuck pretty closely to the every-tenth-season rule. All were hotly anticipated by viewers ahead of time and, even if what unfolded didn’t live up to the hype, are generally still seen as well cast if nothing else. GC broke that rule, and neither of those things are true of it.
@aperson22222 I see. That makes a lot of sense. Honestly, I'm not a huge survivor fan. It's decent, but I mostly just watch these videos because Luke is entertaining and funny. I hope you have a nice day
I wish that T Bird and Serena had been in Game Changers instead of Troyzan and Culpepper if they were going to go with people who didn’t make the vote for second chance. Heck Shane Powers could have been fun on Game Changers. Makayla from South Pacific deserved a second chance after getting screwed of by Brandon’s insecurity and Coach’s hubris because she had the audacity to be an attractive woman who wasn’t a lock stepper.
mikayla didn't actually get taken out bc of brandon (i thought that was the case too until i rewatched south pacific) but big agree with everything else
Shane was officially done with production after the Second Chance vote, because they had already invited him multiple times only to cut him off last second. Mikayla was booted for not being a team player. Has nothing to do with Brandon. She let her ego get in the way, so she has nobody to blame but herself.
@@Ori_Kohav Then what about Brandon's constant comments about Mikayla being a temptation for him, and Coach calling her another Parvati who will screw them over? You can't exactly blame her for their biases/preconceived notions
The only thing that elevates Game Changers was Sarah Winning. I wouldn’t have categorized her a Game Changer in Cagayan. But she became a game changer in how she maneuvered post merge.
I think I may go watch Game Changers again but imma start at the merge. I think it was actually a fascinating post-merge dampened by the pre-merge boot order. Sarah, Zeke, Cirie, Aubry, Brad, and Andrea actually played a decent game.
Another thing I'll give the Winners at War boot order was that Michelle's underdog run at the end, along with her also rewriting her legacy, was also a fun little mini arc to watch. She still deserved to at least get SOME votes at Final Tribal
She was just the victim of Natalie having enough enemies on the jury that some people who initially wanted to vote for Michele didn't out of a fear that their drawing votes away from Tony would cause Natalie to win
I’m a defender of Winners at War and I think that the final 4 was actually really good, but the post-swap still haunts me. The season would be S tier if just one of Denise, Ben, or Nick was replaced by any of the four post swap boots
If my legacy in this world is one thing, let it be defending Brad Culpepper’s casting on game changers. The dude genuinely did change the game by figuring out how to work the redemption island twist to minimize social blowback. Also, imo, the only real robberies on WaW were Yul, Ethan, Danni, and Amber. I genuinely don’t think we needed a third ‘main character’ season from people like Sandra or Rob or Parvati. Even Tyson had basically a season and a half of main character status already. I may be in the minority, but I didn’t, and still don’t, feel like more of those players was needed.
I would agree if the season weren’t meant to serve as a retrospective on the show’s long history. Since it was, seeing the people who wrote that history shouldered aside was rough.
The thing I will never get about complaining of bad boot orders is...any one of us would do exactly what happened on all stars, ghost island, or winners at war. Get out the winners/popular players, strategic threats, or nostalgic players early and put ourselves in the best position to win the endgame,
Island of the Idols was a pretty good season until merge when Dan happened...take him out of the season, and it improves, because it had a decent cast, and Noura did provide some good post merge entertainment
Also special mention to Australian Survivor All Stars which is very similar to USA All Stars. A lot of the winners and big names went early, and we ended up with 1 big name in David plus a group of randoms in Moana, Jacqui, Tarzan, Brooke, Zach, AK, as well as Sharn who wasn’t great this season
@@emilia732 she, as well as Shonee and AK, got blatant production favoritism. Nothing impressive about those 3 at all. They wouldn’t advance an inch without production constantly saving them.
@Ori_Kohav Agree to disagree on the Shonee, AK, and Brooke trio lol but idk what Mo, Tarzan and Sharn were thinking going to the end with the golden god! Did they actually think they wete going to beat him? 😂
@@emilia732 they probably prefer going to the end with him than with blatantly obvious production favorites, especially ones as obnoxious as Shonee and Brooke. P. S. I normally play along with “agree to disagree”, but the favoritism for the Shonee-Brooke-AK trio is *extremely obvious.* Just like with Rachel Reilly and her alliance in BB13, as well as Frank in BB14. You can’t deny that obvious rigging without signaling to everyone that you’re biased.
It is funny because Michele on her season was overshadowed by bigger characters. However on Winners at War with Nick, Denise, Ben and Sarah it made Michele seem like the main character.
Winners at War boot order still hurts so soo much. As a superfan, seeing so many of my favorites go home so early week after week was like really depressing. I still loved the season but man the pre merge was hard to accept.
I've been watching Survivor with my parents for a few months now and we're at the point where we're going in order from the beginning (currently on Amazon after skipping Thailand), and I have told them point blank, "We're watching All Stars because we have to."
I don't think it was that horrible of a boot order if you take Dan out of the equation. Noura, Dean and Karishma were entertaining, most of the premergers weren't memorable, some of the most disgusting contestants (Missy, Elisabeth or Aaron) didn't make it far into the merge and there was still somebody to root for at the final episode (Janet). Still Kellee's and Jamal's departures were hurtful.
I will beat this drum again when I say that I love Game Changers. Again, the casting is weird in that they really could have easily gone for a much better theme like legends vs second chancers, but I enjoyed seeing players who did not do so well get another shot. I always like returning player seasons to be ones where I want to see players who did not do too well their first time come back and prove they have greatness or have unfinished arcs. This is why I have no interest in seeing players like Chrissy or Dom for 50 because they've already given the best they possibly could and the best they could possibly play, their return will always be a disappointment. This is why I significantly dislike Heroes vs. Villains and think Game Changers is a far superior season since everytime I watch it, I just feel like I have ALREADY seen this. I have seen Parvati's ascension to legend, I have seen the Colby and Jerri arc, I have seen Coach be Coach, I have seen Russell dominate, I don't need to see these players play again atleast this soon because most of them have nothing too new to bring in the first place. Players like Sugar, Randy and James were always going to be fodder. I do agree that the Game Changers moniker is too interpretative and random in hindsight but I will always defend its casting for giing other players a chance to cement their legacy. Having said that, Toryzan and Jeff Varner are still the worst picks of all time. Really could not get like a Haydone, Erik, Jon Misch or even Reed for those slots. Troyzan is probably the worst returning player choice in survivor history, I forgot he had even played and had to google his name to remember he played...Survivor.
Sarah made a great WTF pick for Game Changers and she salvaged the season for me. It's just a shame that she's spending her post merge with Brad and Troyzan.
I was watching your video and the clip of 41 had me asking a question based on the two videos. What plaques 3 tribes is there is no where to hide. I saw something interesting only 1 didn't have 2 tribes through most of the premerge. Where has this video had 2 starting with 3, and 2 having 2 then going to three. So I wonder if 2 starting tribes or 3 makes the boot order better or worse
So, what's going on with 50, eh? Russell Hantz speculates it's a Legends season? And he said that, if that's the case, he'll play, but they have to pay him pretty steep. Not to mention, I'M SORRY, he would STILL be first out, or at the very least, out pre-merge.
I mean we're all speculating what it is. Personally I'm predicting a "New All Stars" season that's going to draw from the 30s and 40s. Russell would hope it's a legends season so he'd be eligible, but even then I'm not sure he gets cast. The question for production is does his name recognition give enough upside when he probably will get voted out pre-merge, and demand a pretty good fee for his appearance. We already have two seasons of pre-merge Russell, and he really doesn't do much for the entertainment quality of either. Plus he has been bad mouthing the show for a while, including many of its current contestants. I don't think that keeps him out of consideration entirely, bad mouthing the show, but casting him may make it harder to secure other people they would want.
If he did come back I really don't think he'd go out AS early as he did the last two times he's a little older now and I hope he'd learn playing the same game the third and fourth time was a mistake
The very concept of a Legends season is a non-starter I think. Even if you assume that everyone is able and willing to play and available at the specific time when CBS wants to film (which won’t be the case), there aren’t twenty players who are indisputably legendary. So you’ll have fans complaining that so-and-so doesn’t belong, then complaining even more when the dubious legends outlast the real ones. You’ve noticed that sixty percent of all star seasons are included in this week’s list? Call them Legends and the pill will become even more bitter.
Facts...Australian Survivor proved that even with a cast that doesn't necessarily know who Russell Hantz is, he's still going to be an early boot just because he somehow expects to win using the same tactics that failed for him 3 times already
@@caidenmagill1006 We are talking about the same person who said that he'd still take Natalie to F3 if he could do Samoa all over again, because she didn't do anything, never mind that Survivor is ultimately a social game, so we can all agree that it's not smart strategy to take the people who are more liked than you are to the F3
WAW is still super entertaining, but but loosing all the old school players so early was such a bummer as it was their interactions with the newer winners that made things so fun. I loved how Ben felt Rob was trying to tear through his lies when rob was simply asking him to be honest. We could have had Rob, Parv, Kim, and Ethan vs Tony, Sandra, Jeremy, and Yul. The only saving graces are EOE and Tony getting the win.
Mike won Worlds Apart, and the way that he won it made it a great season in my book. He achieved what Terry(Exile Island) and Ozzy(South Pacific) unfortunately could not.
i remember seeing a spoiler for the boot order in game changers and just being so disappointed. Pre season, the final 3 looked so pitiful, considering the final 5 eliminations all would have been so much better in the final 3.
I dont love the WaW boot order but damn do I love the season, it’s my favorite. It’s the only season I can think of that really tells a story because it was 20 years in the making and I love the payoffs. Even just seeing Ethan use his time at the Edge of Extinction to work through his life struggles was emotionally moving. Glorious season.
Ben and Denise making it so far just to throw in the towel during WaW was so disappointing. I expected 20 strong performances, but they and Amber could've stayed home for Vecepia, Earl, and Tina. But agree with the assessment of Adam. I'm so happy he went for that podium "idol". Would've been crazy had it been one, so I don't blame him at all for trying. Just shows how observant he is.
Thailand for me is an honorable mention. I always enjoyed Sook Jai more than Chuy Ghan. Sure Erin didn't do much at all, but Jake and Ken were rootable figures. Moreso than Brian and Clay.
This may be an unpopular opinion, but I would have Marquesas on the list over Worlds Apart. Seeing some of the seemingly bigger players go out early does boon the pre-merge and the first two post-merge episodes of Marquesas, but after the John Carroll boot that season falls off a cliff. Sean Rector is a great character who should have returned by now, but his presence alone doesn't salvage the rest of that season. Also, I agree that the Game Changers boot order is bad, but I think that you still undersell how good a seaosn it is. Every cast should be as "weak" as the group that makes the post-merge of that season. And thanks again for a great video!
Saying Worlds Apart has a terrible boot order is wild. Sure a lot of unlikable people make it deep into the game, but they all get super satisfying boots and the hero of the season wins
Worlds Apart deserved a mention: So, Nina, Lindsay, and Joaquin all gone pre-merge, and in the late game we have… Sierra, Rodney, Will, Shirin, Jenn who was actively trying to quit
@@PokeInspired I still feel like it should have been higher, Gamechangers is majorly overhated Debbie, Zeke, and Brad are very well developed and I feel like the only real WTF picks were Hali and Sierra
As a child, All Stars was the first season I remember watching. I was 8 and while I did love Lex and Kathy (yay Vermont), I still sided with Rob. To this day, him grabbing Lex and asking him to protect Amber shaped my understanding of what love looked like. Survivor was my window into how adults thought, talked, and fell in love. I'm sure adults had a different perspective as you shared in the video, but it's fun to remember that kids also watched that season air. All I wanted was the Rob and Amber happy ending and I didn't really understand the emotions of the other grownups on the season. Team Rob and Amber then and always .
I will say, this list is biased toward returnee seasons simply *because* we know the players' potential. I haven't watched most of survivor in a decade but I'm sure a lot of these are covering up bad boot orders that we don't know are bad because we never got to meet the interesting players
Boston Rob and Sandra out pre merge is a BEST case scenario. Those 2 are annoyingly overrated. Both were irritating to no end on each of their 5 seasons.
For me, Worlds Apart is a season that has most/all of the elements of a great Survivor season but the end result falls way short of the sum of its parts. I will challenge you though that, even with other mean people to play off of, Rodney was still a highly-entertaining villain.
A mention for Nicaragua as the interesting characters in Brenda, Marty, and NaOnka get out back to back to back. And Sash made it to the final 3, and Dan weirdly made it to the final 5😂😂😂
Fabio somehow stumbling into the F3 despite being out of the loop on practically every vote does make the endgame stretch slightly more palatable to watch
The thing about IOI in terms of this list, for me, is that part of a bad boot order is that you need to lose amazing characters in the pre-merge, and I'm not sure anyone shined quite that bright. Like at least Janet gets to the final five, and at least Karishma gets a great idol play, and at least Tommy is boring. I'm not sure if I can point to one person in the pre-merge and say that they specifically would have made the rest of the game much better than it was, well, unless Dan was voted out instead of them.
All-Stars and Game Changers were such an easy 1 and 2 for me. Just absolute garbage boot orders. Winners at War is third for sure, but I usually forget how bad the boot order was just because I mainly remember the great winner. All-Stars was so bad it was mostly responsable for me not watching the show again for nine seasons.
I thought this was gonna be a boring video but I watched it anyway because I've already watched all the good stuff. Well, today I learned that Rodney Lavoie Jr. is a piss drinker. Good for him.
Winners At War having the worst boot order possible and still managing to be a decent 7/10 is impressive if nothing else.
Nah WaW is bottom 10
If it weren't all winners then people wouldn't meat ride it as much
WaW isn't even close to worst boot order imaginable. If it was, Tony wouldn't have won.
I have it #1 just because of the historical significance of it. I don’t even think the boot order is really that bad. It cements that the New School players are superior, and TONY wins a second time. Hard to be upset with that.
@@jacksonhart5961 L take my guy
Ben was literally a new era player and he was easily the worst player in this season.
Literally the old school players got screwed cuz the production had the amazing idea of having it uneven af.
If production was smart, they would recognize that bringing older players and simplifying the game would attract audiences but instead they pride themselves on Dungeons and Dragons era 30s garbage and the season is disappointing af.
I must reiterate, L take
@@jacksonhart5961quite litteraly it just shows that new players are better n ppl are sentimental about the favorite old Players getting voted out.
Hali acknowledging that she isn't a game changer and wondering why she is there will forever be my favourite moment from the season. And I would say the fact that the fan favourite in Cirie is being taken out by something that stupid makes the boot order even worse.
Game changers is like having you cool dad leave you and your stuck with your weird uncle
LOL!
I will never forgive Jeff for the second swap in Game Changers or the swap into 3 tribes in WaW. Like, seriously, we could have Parvati/Rob vs Sandra/Tony and maybe Yul but noooooo, lets divide into 3 tribes, reduce possible interactions and expose the big targets.
I want to defend the choice of Hali on Game Changers by using the fact she was self-aware enough to know she was a wtf choice as the reason she is truly a Game Changer. In an era of self-indulgent players with the little to no self-awareness or down to earth attitude a player who is just candidly honest about being a questionable choice is truly game changing. 😂
WaWs boot order was one of the worst things to happen in human history
The only thing that saves that boot order is Tony winning. Anybody else from the final 6 (7 including natalie) would have made it so much worse
The day that the pandemic was “officially” declared was the same day that Parvati’s/Sandra’s boot episode aired
The two worst things of 2020 happened on the same day
Game Changers too bc it made the season boring
i'm just thankful that the cousin fucker himself didn't win like some of the initial spoilers said (and which could've easily happened had ben been down to turn on tony)
You mean 5. Nick would have been a great winner. Unless you're a woke though but for everyone else, Nick would be a great winner.
At least Tyson going early in Winners at War gave us the legendary jar of peanut butter
It really is the most beautiful jar of peanut butter I've ever seen
‘sir, another winner has been voted out of survivor’ 💀
I actually didn't know so many people hated the boot order in Winners at War. With a cast that stacked, almost every boot was destined to eliminate a big-name player, so I knew I was going to see a lot of my favorite players get voted out. Also, given that Rob had already played four times and Sandra and Tyson had played three, I was OK with them going early to give other players the spotlight.
U can’t blame Rodney. He had to do dishes on his birthday
Haven’t watched yet, but Game Changers has to be on here
GC is the definition of terrible boot order.
And a horrible final 3
Parv and Sandra being taking out back to back in waw was heartbreaking 💔
Worlds Apart Defender here. I ain't writing a youtube essay, so i'll summarize it as "we have a fetish for mailmen just screaming at us"
I don't think anyone could or should deny you that. I respect it
this is unironically a way more convincing arguement for the merit of that season then anything mario lanza has ever written
It’s crazy how Andrea played survivor 3 times and still is like, a mid tier returning player.
I ont think she’s mid tier, plus a lot of people played thrice and aren’t top tier
Rob played 5 times and got booted 3 times before the 7th vote off 😅😅😅 and people put him on parvati or Sandra's level for what reason ??? In my opinion I thought Andrea in fans.v.s favorites 2 honstly was great I thought she was gonna winn till her eventual boot but made great TV
Same with Candice (from Raro)
@@adrianpadilla35he was booted 7th which was at the merge, 8th in heroes vs villains which is solid, then winners at war was 6th
@@adrianpadilla35 You really have to understand the situations about those vote offs. Marquesas's merge was split 7-3 with Rob, Sean, and V down and at that time coming back from that was unheard of. Though it would take only 2 episodes afterwards for the 4 "on top" of that 7 person group to tumble. His boot in HvV is largely not his fault and more so Tyson's given what transpired. Though bringing the Buddy System back in WaW might have been his worst mistake in his entire Survivor Career. As for Andrea, she a solid player that looks better than she most likely is given her 1st two seasons on RI and FvF2 had like 1 player dominate the whole season with barely anyone who challenged them. Andrea's play wasn't bad in Game Changers, but it did show she was a bit overhyped when more than 1 person plays to win.
Phillip being final 3 in Redemption Island was beautiful. That man was a constant source of laughter for me, I’m so glad he went deep and he’s the best goat in Survivor history.
I'm glad 41 was there in footage as an honorable mention of sorts. If more of Ua made the merge in tact, we would have a top 20 season, even with all the twists in place
@@aronpuma5962 legit Luvu was one of the blandest tribes of all time and they’re the ONLY ONES to not lose anyone pre-merge, seriously Naseer?, Deshawn?, Heather?
all duds except Sydney, with Danny and Erika just kinda being average
I will die on the hill that 41 isn’t that bad of a season, but god the casting is really weak, I don’t know who okayed someone like Abraham, Naseer, Sara, or Genie
@@XanderMatthews-nv9zfNaseer is king
@@emguag HARD disagree, I found him irritating and he was nothing but a typical “loyal alliance member” who had no intention of playing a winning game
@@XanderMatthews-nv9zfyeah, woah. Naseer was an amazing wrench in Deshawn and Danny’s plan
@@XanderMatthews-nv9zfnaseer and sydney were great but deshawn was kind of grating in high doses and erika / heather / danny were all pretty weak characters (the former two def got bad edits but esp in the case of erika, i couldn't tell you a single one of her surprisingly plentiful confessionals besides her canned "lamb to lion" analogy and i have to believe that factored into production underediting her early)
it's interesting bc the double boot in the premiere takes out two of the less interesting seeming characters, making the season seem like it was on the right track -- only for every boot from voce to shan to take out an interesting character and the final 7 to be the most underdeveloped final 7 since survivor nicaragua
Glad to see the Mario Lanzas of the world didn’t influence you! Worlds Apart is definitively a horrible boot order. Will Sims might be one of the worst villains ever - he’s both incredibly toxic, -and- absolutely uninteresting. It’s rouuuugh.
Who else thinks he should do a “most disappointing returning players” and “most surprising returning players video”
He's already done the former.
@@dinohall2595 Your right but I still think a video about players who upped their status would be interesting
yea a players who improved their legacy the most on a return (but phrased in a more concise way) is a great video idea
@@cameronsayers1375 Jerri and Parvati are definite locks for that list, because HvV Jerri really upped her stock compared to her 2 pervious seasons, and Parvati went from just a mid player in Cook Islands to the legend we all know and love in Micronesia
5 - Fully agree. Losing all the big names and likable players early just destroyed the season entirely. No qualms here.
4. Eh...maybe because I actually love Worlds Apart, I don't fully agree with this one. Yes, losing Vince, Max, and Nina pre-merge sucked. But I honestly found Dan hilarious, and even my mother did, so his 'toxic comments' were heavily overblown. Carolyn was fun, Mike was great to root for and see win, and honestly Rodney's downfall was well worth the wait. Also, I've said this for many years, and I'll say it again: the No Collar tribe were NOT the heroes or the 'likable' tribe. They were cocky, arrogant, entitled, and obnoxious as hell. They treated Nina and Vince badly, and even Will at first, and then acted like they were in control and were so hilarious and 'likable' after getting Kelly out at the merge vote. Seeing them get their comeuppance when Hali was blindsided and actually sent out over Dan was glorious. So, I don't know, I love this season and think it works just fine.
3. Again, HOW is Chris the 'villain' of the season? The dude literally never did anything wrong! Domenick and Wendell are easily more villainous than him! But, yeah, this season sucks. It's so dry and dull. Literally the only ones worth rooting for at the merge were Donathan and...Chris? That's kinda it. So, yeah, that says enough. Bad season and boot order.
2. Yeah, fair enough. A final 3 that has both Tony and Natalie was still pretty good, but...yeah, can't really argue with this.
1. We could've had a Tai, Aubry, and Cirie final 3...but instead we got Troyzan, Brad, and Sarah. I do love Troyzan, but...yeah, this final 3 sucks. Like, this merge isn't the WORST...the only real duds would likely be Hali, Sierra, Brad, Sarah, and Andrea...but I guess all of them making it so far to begin with and a lot of the bigger names going early DID bring it down a lot. So, I get it.
9:15 saying "on a high note" with that face (Seb? Don't remember the name) is why I love your vids hahaha
I'm just here for all the Rodney urine jokes
One could argue that Caleb was the reason Survivor permanently stays in Fiji. Sure, that’s certainly not as impressive as anything Tony, Sandra, JT and Ciera did, but still.
Also I called this exact top 5 before I even saw the video. I didn’t know the exact order, but these were the five I figured would be chosen for this countdown.
I think Caleb was cast more for his time on Big Brother than anything else. They thought he was an interesting Big Brother player who would translate over well to Survivor then he got medivaced early and they wanted to give him another shot.
Allstars is why Lex is one of my most hated players ever. I mean, I hated him back in Africa too, especially with everything that happened in Kelly's boot episode, but he single handedly destroyed Allstars with his stupid strategy, only to call the kettle black in the end.
Didn’t they just put the EOE in WAW because they knew the boots was gonna be awful?
I think so. Even if it was good, it was almost impossible for no player from the pre-20's would be booted too early, and they wanted to give some of those older players a chance to still have impact in the game.
I will say it was a good use of the edge of extinction (unlike the season named after it)
Great video, Luke!
This video made me realize that waiting til survivor 50 for another returnee season isn't as annoying as I was thinking.
I hope you have an amazing day!
It really is for the best. Doing an all star season once every ten seasons or so gives time for a new crop of legitimate stars to rise and minimizes casting choices that make us say either “Oh God, not him again” or “What? She’s not an all star!” (favorite/game changer/hero/villain/legend/idol/etc) It also makes it feel like a special occasion and gets the fans excited for it. All Stars, HvV, Second Chance and WaW all stuck pretty closely to the every-tenth-season rule. All were hotly anticipated by viewers ahead of time and, even if what unfolded didn’t live up to the hype, are generally still seen as well cast if nothing else. GC broke that rule, and neither of those things are true of it.
@aperson22222 I see. That makes a lot of sense.
Honestly, I'm not a huge survivor fan. It's decent, but I mostly just watch these videos because Luke is entertaining and funny.
I hope you have a nice day
If Boston Rob had tried to play the Talisman on the Podium as an Idol, it would have been an Idol. You will never, ever, ever, convince me i'm wrong.
I wish that T Bird and Serena had been in Game Changers instead of Troyzan and Culpepper if they were going to go with people who didn’t make the vote for second chance. Heck Shane Powers could have been fun on Game Changers. Makayla from South Pacific deserved a second chance after getting screwed of by Brandon’s insecurity and Coach’s hubris because she had the audacity to be an attractive woman who wasn’t a lock stepper.
mikayla didn't actually get taken out bc of brandon (i thought that was the case too until i rewatched south pacific) but big agree with everything else
Shane was officially done with production after the Second Chance vote, because they had already invited him multiple times only to cut him off last second.
Mikayla was booted for not being a team player. Has nothing to do with Brandon. She let her ego get in the way, so she has nobody to blame but herself.
Ik I'm late but who's Serena
@@entertainer_ev2747 I think they meant Sabrina
@@Ori_Kohav Then what about Brandon's constant comments about Mikayla being a temptation for him, and Coach calling her another Parvati who will screw them over? You can't exactly blame her for their biases/preconceived notions
The only thing that elevates Game Changers was Sarah Winning. I wouldn’t have categorized her a Game Changer in Cagayan. But she became a game changer in how she maneuvered post merge.
I think I may go watch Game Changers again but imma start at the merge.
I think it was actually a fascinating post-merge dampened by the pre-merge boot order. Sarah, Zeke, Cirie, Aubry, Brad, and Andrea actually played a decent game.
Another thing I'll give the Winners at War boot order was that Michelle's underdog run at the end, along with her also rewriting her legacy, was also a fun little mini arc to watch. She still deserved to at least get SOME votes at Final Tribal
She was just the victim of Natalie having enough enemies on the jury that some people who initially wanted to vote for Michele didn't out of a fear that their drawing votes away from Tony would cause Natalie to win
I have no issue with the WaW boot order personally. I was happy just to have the old schoolers back at all
"But hey, if you love a bitter taste in your mouth, you're in(urine) luck" was poetic 6:34
I’m a defender of Winners at War and I think that the final 4 was actually really good, but the post-swap still haunts me. The season would be S tier if just one of Denise, Ben, or Nick was replaced by any of the four post swap boots
Like if Rob or Parvarti made it one more day they probably last way longer.
6:34 "if you love a bitter taste in your mouth, yer in luck" was too good of a pun
So was the "Rodney was full of piss" comment
Seeing Tony's torch get snuffed is so weird.
You are an amazing storyteller 😂 Awesome video, sooo many LOL moments! Thank you! 👏 🙏
Ghost Island was such a frustrating boot order that could have been fixed if James didn’t convince everyone to vote for Morgan instead of Wendell.
Or even throughout the merge, if Donathan, Angela, Sea Bass, and Laurel would literally make a move against Dom and Wendell.
@@TheLoserface45Angela ruined any chance at an interesting finale
@@TheLoserface45 Donathan and Sea Bass tried, but Angela and Laurel always spoiled those plans
If my legacy in this world is one thing, let it be defending Brad Culpepper’s casting on game changers. The dude genuinely did change the game by figuring out how to work the redemption island twist to minimize social blowback.
Also, imo, the only real robberies on WaW were Yul, Ethan, Danni, and Amber. I genuinely don’t think we needed a third ‘main character’ season from people like Sandra or Rob or Parvati. Even Tyson had basically a season and a half of main character status already. I may be in the minority, but I didn’t, and still don’t, feel like more of those players was needed.
I would agree if the season weren’t meant to serve as a retrospective on the show’s long history. Since it was, seeing the people who wrote that history shouldered aside was rough.
4:28 Lex is horrible! I hope that even at the time people could see that he was hypocrite for voting out Ethan and Colby but get mad at Rob!
Game Changers and Winners at War are just painful
worlds apart defender until I die.
Same I relate so much to my man Mike Holloway
The thing I will never get about complaining of bad boot orders is...any one of us would do exactly what happened on all stars, ghost island, or winners at war. Get out the winners/popular players, strategic threats, or nostalgic players early and put ourselves in the best position to win the endgame,
I already know the list has all stars, game changers, winners at war, and island of the idols.
Three out of four
@@Quetzal00358 I’ll take it lol
Island of the Idols was a pretty good season until merge when Dan happened...take him out of the season, and it improves, because it had a decent cast, and Noura did provide some good post merge entertainment
Also special mention to Australian Survivor All Stars which is very similar to USA All Stars. A lot of the winners and big names went early, and we ended up with 1 big name in David plus a group of randoms in Moana, Jacqui, Tarzan, Brooke, Zach, AK, as well as Sharn who wasn’t great this season
Did you just call THE challenge beast and social queen Brooke... a random?! There's still time to edit this 😅
@@emilia732 she, as well as Shonee and AK, got blatant production favoritism. Nothing impressive about those 3 at all. They wouldn’t advance an inch without production constantly saving them.
Moana and Tarzan were actually really good, especially Moana.
I also feel like Lee would deliver big time if he didn’t have to leave.
@Ori_Kohav Agree to disagree on the Shonee, AK, and Brooke trio lol but idk what Mo, Tarzan and Sharn were thinking going to the end with the golden god! Did they actually think they wete going to beat him? 😂
@@emilia732 they probably prefer going to the end with him than with blatantly obvious production favorites, especially ones as obnoxious as Shonee and Brooke.
P. S.
I normally play along with “agree to disagree”, but the favoritism for the Shonee-Brooke-AK trio is *extremely obvious.* Just like with Rachel Reilly and her alliance in BB13, as well as Frank in BB14. You can’t deny that obvious rigging without signaling to everyone that you’re biased.
It is funny because Michele on her season was overshadowed by bigger characters. However on Winners at War with Nick, Denise, Ben and Sarah it made Michele seem like the main character.
Winners at War boot order still hurts so soo much. As a superfan, seeing so many of my favorites go home so early week after week was like really depressing. I still loved the season but man the pre merge was hard to accept.
I've been watching Survivor with my parents for a few months now and we're at the point where we're going in order from the beginning (currently on Amazon after skipping Thailand), and I have told them point blank, "We're watching All Stars because we have to."
ngl Jenna was the worst player in all stars , she was racist to ShiAnn
What she do
I'm surprised Island Of The Idols want here
Same.
I was so surprised to not see it even mentioned. It's the only boot order that makes me physically ill. 😬
I don't think it was that horrible of a boot order if you take Dan out of the equation. Noura, Dean and Karishma were entertaining, most of the premergers weren't memorable, some of the most disgusting contestants (Missy, Elisabeth or Aaron) didn't make it far into the merge and there was still somebody to root for at the final episode (Janet). Still Kellee's and Jamal's departures were hurtful.
Ciera "she voted out her mom" as a big name? Is he being sarcastic on that one?
I will beat this drum again when I say that I love Game Changers. Again, the casting is weird in that they really could have easily gone for a much better theme like legends vs second chancers, but I enjoyed seeing players who did not do so well get another shot. I always like returning player seasons to be ones where I want to see players who did not do too well their first time come back and prove they have greatness or have unfinished arcs. This is why I have no interest in seeing players like Chrissy or Dom for 50 because they've already given the best they possibly could and the best they could possibly play, their return will always be a disappointment. This is why I significantly dislike Heroes vs. Villains and think Game Changers is a far superior season since everytime I watch it, I just feel like I have ALREADY seen this. I have seen Parvati's ascension to legend, I have seen the Colby and Jerri arc, I have seen Coach be Coach, I have seen Russell dominate, I don't need to see these players play again atleast this soon because most of them have nothing too new to bring in the first place. Players like Sugar, Randy and James were always going to be fodder. I do agree that the Game Changers moniker is too interpretative and random in hindsight but I will always defend its casting for giing other players a chance to cement their legacy. Having said that, Toryzan and Jeff Varner are still the worst picks of all time. Really could not get like a Haydone, Erik, Jon Misch or even Reed for those slots. Troyzan is probably the worst returning player choice in survivor history, I forgot he had even played and had to google his name to remember he played...Survivor.
Sarah made a great WTF pick for Game Changers and she salvaged the season for me. It's just a shame that she's spending her post merge with Brad and Troyzan.
Game changers, and Winners at War have to be 1 and 2
I was watching your video and the clip of 41 had me asking a question based on the two videos. What plaques 3 tribes is there is no where to hide. I saw something interesting only 1 didn't have 2 tribes through most of the premerge. Where has this video had 2 starting with 3, and 2 having 2 then going to three. So I wonder if 2 starting tribes or 3 makes the boot order better or worse
Big names are targets in returnee seasons. Saying it’s a curse is like saying Rupert is cursed to not win. Pretty logical reasons at play.
So, what's going on with 50, eh? Russell Hantz speculates it's a Legends season? And he said that, if that's the case, he'll play, but they have to pay him pretty steep. Not to mention, I'M SORRY, he would STILL be first out, or at the very least, out pre-merge.
I mean we're all speculating what it is. Personally I'm predicting a "New All Stars" season that's going to draw from the 30s and 40s. Russell would hope it's a legends season so he'd be eligible, but even then I'm not sure he gets cast. The question for production is does his name recognition give enough upside when he probably will get voted out pre-merge, and demand a pretty good fee for his appearance. We already have two seasons of pre-merge Russell, and he really doesn't do much for the entertainment quality of either. Plus he has been bad mouthing the show for a while, including many of its current contestants. I don't think that keeps him out of consideration entirely, bad mouthing the show, but casting him may make it harder to secure other people they would want.
If he did come back I really don't think he'd go out AS early as he did the last two times he's a little older now and I hope he'd learn playing the same game the third and fourth time was a mistake
The very concept of a Legends season is a non-starter I think. Even if you assume that everyone is able and willing to play and available at the specific time when CBS wants to film (which won’t be the case), there aren’t twenty players who are indisputably legendary. So you’ll have fans complaining that so-and-so doesn’t belong, then complaining even more when the dubious legends outlast the real ones. You’ve noticed that sixty percent of all star seasons are included in this week’s list? Call them Legends and the pill will become even more bitter.
Facts...Australian Survivor proved that even with a cast that doesn't necessarily know who Russell Hantz is, he's still going to be an early boot just because he somehow expects to win using the same tactics that failed for him 3 times already
@@caidenmagill1006 We are talking about the same person who said that he'd still take Natalie to F3 if he could do Samoa all over again, because she didn't do anything, never mind that Survivor is ultimately a social game, so we can all agree that it's not smart strategy to take the people who are more liked than you are to the F3
WAW is still super entertaining, but but loosing all the old school players so early was such a bummer as it was their interactions with the newer winners that made things so fun. I loved how Ben felt Rob was trying to tear through his lies when rob was simply asking him to be honest.
We could have had Rob, Parv, Kim, and Ethan vs Tony, Sandra, Jeremy, and Yul. The only saving graces are EOE and Tony getting the win.
Game Changers boot order is so frustrating
Mike won Worlds Apart, and the way that he won it made it a great season in my book. He achieved what Terry(Exile Island) and Ozzy(South Pacific) unfortunately could not.
Anytime Sandra leaves early is a good boot season. I want her less on my screen
when there are so many bad boot orders in Survivor that this list should have had more than 5 lol
Ghost Island in my mom opinion! If a bunch of people didn’t play Survivor! Their play Dom and Wendell game! Both we both loved the tie at the end!
The Game Changers is like if you made a crossover fighting game and half the cast were joke characters, and not even good ones like Dr. Mario or Dan.
Games Changes Boot Orders where all stars go to die!
i remember seeing a spoiler for the boot order in game changers and just being so disappointed. Pre season, the final 3 looked so pitiful, considering the final 5 eliminations all would have been so much better in the final 3.
My pre video top 5 are:
- Game Changers
- Winners at War
- Ghost Island
- All Stars
- Nicaragua
GC would be a much better season if the boot order was reversed. Probably the best season to reverse the boot order imo.
I would have loved if Nicaragua had Wendy Jo, Jimmy Johnson, Jimmy T, Tyrone, Shannon, Kelly B and Jill at the end.
Shannon going out early was one thing I was perfectly okay with, so we can just replace him with Marty, who I actually enjoyed
I dont love the WaW boot order but damn do I love the season, it’s my favorite. It’s the only season I can think of that really tells a story because it was 20 years in the making and I love the payoffs. Even just seeing Ethan use his time at the Edge of Extinction to work through his life struggles was emotionally moving.
Glorious season.
W@W. Almost like they shouldn’t have packed the season with newer winners outnumbering the old school winners. What are the odds?
Ben and Denise making it so far just to throw in the towel during WaW was so disappointing. I expected 20 strong performances, but they and Amber could've stayed home for Vecepia, Earl, and Tina. But agree with the assessment of Adam. I'm so happy he went for that podium "idol". Would've been crazy had it been one, so I don't blame him at all for trying. Just shows how observant he is.
Bradley from Ghost Island is in my top 5 of worst personalities on Survivor. Someone I’d never want to see again. Literally cannot stand the guy.
Thailand for me is an honorable mention. I always enjoyed Sook Jai more than Chuy Ghan. Sure Erin didn't do much at all, but Jake and Ken were rootable figures. Moreso than Brian and Clay.
I want Rodney to come back so he can convince his tribe to drink their pee and dominate every challenge, then have the new meta pee strategy
10 or so actual game changers is beyond generous. I count 5 maybe 6 actual game changers.
This may be an unpopular opinion, but I would have Marquesas on the list over Worlds Apart. Seeing some of the seemingly bigger players go out early does boon the pre-merge and the first two post-merge episodes of Marquesas, but after the John Carroll boot that season falls off a cliff. Sean Rector is a great character who should have returned by now, but his presence alone doesn't salvage the rest of that season.
Also, I agree that the Game Changers boot order is bad, but I think that you still undersell how good a seaosn it is. Every cast should be as "weak" as the group that makes the post-merge of that season.
And thanks again for a great video!
Saying Worlds Apart has a terrible boot order is wild. Sure a lot of unlikable people make it deep into the game, but they all get super satisfying boots and the hero of the season wins
Calling it Gamer Changes, One World, or All Stars.
I can't think of worst boot orders.
Also Shii Ann is so real, and a get survivor legend.
Worlds Apart deserved a mention: So, Nina, Lindsay, and Joaquin all gone pre-merge, and in the late game we have… Sierra, Rodney, Will, Shirin, Jenn who was actively trying to quit
4:30
@@PokeInspired I still feel like it should have been higher, Gamechangers is majorly overhated
Debbie, Zeke, and Brad are very well developed and I feel like the only real WTF picks were Hali and Sierra
You should do a video. A fact about every player from every season. Start with borneo and go up from there.
I swear, I think they just picked names out of a hat for game changers
As a child, All Stars was the first season I remember watching. I was 8 and while I did love Lex and Kathy (yay Vermont), I still sided with Rob. To this day, him grabbing Lex and asking him to protect Amber shaped my understanding of what love looked like. Survivor was my window into how adults thought, talked, and fell in love. I'm sure adults had a different perspective as you shared in the video, but it's fun to remember that kids also watched that season air. All I wanted was the Rob and Amber happy ending and I didn't really understand the emotions of the other grownups on the season. Team Rob and Amber then and always .
I will say, this list is biased toward returnee seasons simply *because* we know the players' potential. I haven't watched most of survivor in a decade but I'm sure a lot of these are covering up bad boot orders that we don't know are bad because we never got to meet the interesting players
I was sure 39 would be here. To me it'll always be great cast but almost all the the people you'd root for got voted out early
Boston Rob and Sandra out pre merge is a BEST case scenario. Those 2 are annoyingly overrated. Both were irritating to no end on each of their 5 seasons.
How is 43 not on there?
Weren't you the one sayin that Worlds Apart was a dark comedy? Why u backtracking now?
For me, Worlds Apart is a season that has most/all of the elements of a great Survivor season but the end result falls way short of the sum of its parts. I will challenge you though that, even with other mean people to play off of, Rodney was still a highly-entertaining villain.
WaW has a good winner, but bad boot order
A mention for Nicaragua as the interesting characters in Brenda, Marty, and NaOnka get out back to back to back. And Sash made it to the final 3, and Dan weirdly made it to the final 5😂😂😂
Fabio somehow stumbling into the F3 despite being out of the loop on practically every vote does make the endgame stretch slightly more palatable to watch
So we really do not talk about IOI. That was bad by principle has to get not only the worst boot order but underwhealming winner.
The thing about IOI in terms of this list, for me, is that part of a bad boot order is that you need to lose amazing characters in the pre-merge, and I'm not sure anyone shined quite that bright. Like at least Janet gets to the final five, and at least Karishma gets a great idol play, and at least Tommy is boring. I'm not sure if I can point to one person in the pre-merge and say that they specifically would have made the rest of the game much better than it was, well, unless Dan was voted out instead of them.
I’d put Caramoan there as well, most of the fans got voted out pre-merge
I just realised my dad looks like Jeff V*rner omgg
what is that rodney post man
In disappointed no one wrote 'Boston Rod' when voting for Rodney
I doubt anyone thought of it before Corinne called him that on RHAP
You could've flipped the Game Changers boot order turned upside down and it would've been better
Game Changers at one?!? But she voted out her mom… :(
Your WaW take is spot on
All-Stars and Game Changers were such an easy 1 and 2 for me. Just absolute garbage boot orders. Winners at War is third for sure, but I usually forget how bad the boot order was just because I mainly remember the great winner.
All-Stars was so bad it was mostly responsable for me not watching the show again for nine seasons.
I thought this was gonna be a boring video but I watched it anyway because I've already watched all the good stuff. Well, today I learned that Rodney Lavoie Jr. is a piss drinker. Good for him.