RHAP Cast Wishlist for Survivor 50: Heroes vs. Villains, Nicaragua, Redemption Island
A short week this week, given it's the Fourth of July holiday. Mike and company recap one of the biggest returnee seasons for Survivor and then get a start at dissecting the Survivor Dark Ages.
Here are the links to previous summaries:
Borneo, The Australian Outback, Africa
The Amazon, Parl Island, All-Stars, Vanuatu and Palau
Guatemala, Panama, Cook Islands, Fiji
China, Micronesia, Gabon, Tocantins, Samoa
Episode 20: Survivor Heros vs. Villians
Summary: Mike and Stephen Fishbach recap some of the picks from the previous episodes and discuss some of the thoughts of Production and the contestants who went into Heros vs. Villains. Stephen was dating Courtney Yates then, so he saw a little of the inside baseball happening then.
An extensive discussion was about what makes someone a hero or a villain on Survivor and how folks were placed on their tribes for the season. Several cast members for the seasons were somewhat confused about why they might have been villains, especially the women in the season, since for women to be villains was almost a case where women who were noticeably outspoken in early seasons tended to get villain monikers, with Mike joking and asking what Jerri did to be considered villainous.
The Micronesia returnees comprised almost one-quarter of the castaways for Heros vs. Villains, and since Production didn't want all four of them to be on the same tribe off the get-go, that also contributed to a little of the suffering around who was a hero and who was a villain.
Stephen says that the edit for Heros vs Villians captured Coach's quirks better than Tocanchin's. In the latter, he is portrayed as a jerk, whereas Stephen says he's friendly and fun to be around. This led to another discussion about how characters and people who are "delusional" in the show tend to also get villain edits.
Sierra Reed from Tocanchins was reportedly considered for Heros vs. Villains before she got engaged to a producer on Survivor. Stephen and Mike talked about how the idea of a rivals season was partially achieved in Heros vs. Villians since if Sierra were on the show, one of her rivals, Tyson, would have been on. Since the season also had other rival pairs cast (Jerri and Colby, Randy and Sugar, for example), some of that dynamic might have been at play.
In a recent interview, Coach reportedly said he would not want to play again, so Mike was prepared to strike him off the vote, but Stephen said that as someone who knows the Coach a little better, he's calling B.S. on Coach, never wanting to play again.
Considerations taken away for 50:
Production may be looking for pairs who had business with one another, likely with more of a recency bias, and will probably weigh heavily for the most recent seasons, especially since three whole seasons are on the docket before 50. At the end of the day, though, Production will pick the personalities and characters they want and find a way to get them in regardless of the theme.
Episode 21: Survivor Nicaragua
Summary: The season with the double quit. Nicaragua is the start of what some consider the "Dark Age" of Survivor, with a run of mediocre to bad seasons. The season had a hard start since it was the act to follow Heros vs. Villains, so picking up a fresh season would always take a lot of work. Nicaragua started with a tribe split between "old" and "young."
"Fabio" Birza: The young winner of Nicaragua, Fabio took advantage of people underestimating him based on his appearance and fought to the end. Mike and Sarah pointed out that he articulated how he wanted to play in an early confessional and executed that. In particular, he managed his threat level well, famously waiting until the last three challenges to turn on his challenge beast mode. Like many of the other younger players who are on the fan vote, Fabio now has a family, and if he could play as strongly as he did before, would he have to change his play style? Fun fact: according to the Survivor Wiki, he appeared on the cover of one of the Mortal Instrument books.
Holly Hoffman: Holly fell just short of FTC; Holly was the last of the "old" tribe standing and had initially almost tried to quit on day 5 of the season, having a minor breakdown before rallying and making it far into the season.
NaOnka Mixon: The famous/infamous quitter of the season. NaOnka was a big personality and chaotic player who managed to stay higher up in the tribune dynamics before she quit. She had several interesting moments in the season (such as wrestling with amputee Kelly Bruno and threatening to throw her artificial leg into the ocean). While the edit did show her in a villainous light, considering she was integral to other players' stories, she couldn't be edited out like Purple Kelly was, so there is some thought that her more negative edit was Production getting back at her for quitting.
Marty Piombo: A big wheeler and dealer and personality of the early season, he was on the older tribe but then got swap screwed and wasn't able to forge new alliances. While he made it to the merge, the swap took the win out of his sails.
Considered but not selected:
Jane Bright: Mike considers her to be the older woman version of Rupert. She was a big personality of the season and a fit, outdoors person. However, she probably would be out of contention between her age, personality, and some allegations that Sash tried to bribe her to get her vote.
Purple Kelly: While NaOnka also quit, her personality was such that she still stood out on the show. Kelly, however, was wiped from the record, so she didn't leave much, though she said in a questionnaire that she would want to play again and wants to not be seen as a quitter.
Brenda Lowe: The only returnee for Nicaragua, she returned to Caramoan. She was a dominant personality in Nicaragua before being booted in the early merge. In Caramoan, she played more under the radar and came in 6th. Mike and Sarah passed on her since she played a couple of different styles, and others have yet to play.
Would not return:
Chase Rice: He now has a career in country music, and while he seems happy to get some money to jump-start his new career, he did not enjoy his time on the show.
Episode 22: Survivor: Redemption Island
Summary: The season where Boston Rob finally won. Mike finally rips the bandage off and puts Boston Rob on the ballot (spoiler). However, he and Christain note that in this era and time for casting, Production was trying to cast more for personality and less for fan/game knowledge. However, as Rob showed this season, this kind of skill and knowledge disparity in the game creates an unfair disadvantage for new players. Christian Hubicki said he might go back and play if he got the call.
Mike and Christian discussed Russell Hantz again since this is his last appearance on American Survivor. The two opted not to put him on the ballot, but Christian said that he might get on if some producers wanted to bring Russell back on. However, his big takeaway from Redemption Island and Russell's season on Australian Survivor was that he plays the same game. He must change his play style if he gets a call since everyone knows him and what he does.
Boston Rob: Mike admits that a character like Rob is someone folks either would want to see or not want to see on a fan vote, but since it theme agnostic, and considering how big of a personality Rob is to the Survivor community, not putting him on the ballot, especially when others like Sandra and Rupert are on would be odd. Boston Rob has said, in all fairness, that it would take an exceptional theme or hook for Survivor to get him to play again since, like Parvati mentioned, him going on with his history with the show paints a big target on his back and would make him someone folks might go for in the pre-merge.
Andrea Boehlke: Returned two more times for Survivor Caramoan and Game Changers. Andrea has made the jury in all three appearances but hasn't been able to seal the deal for an actual victory. However, she has a mix of physical, social, and strategic strengths, so she usually puts on a good show for her seasons.
Stephanie Valencia: A wildcard pick. She was in Russell's alliance and was very vocal towards her tribe about what she saw as their flaws. She was on the ballot for potential returnees for Cambodia but was not selected.
Would not return:
Special Agent Phillip Sheppard has unambiguously stated in interviews that he would not want to ever play again on Survivor. He feels the show was too negative towards him and other black contestants.
Matt Elrod: Also known as Wyatt Nash, he's since gone on to have a career on TV and has said he would not play Survivor again.
Francesca Hogi: The only two-time first boot, she has said in several interviews that she does not want to play again, partially because she doesn't want to go on the island again and partially because she knows there is a good chance she'd be the first boot again.
The spreadsheet once again for folks.
See you all next week as Mike and Company continue to plumb the depths of the Survivor Dark Ages! Mike and Roc C are doing a halftime show of Wishlist today, I'll provide the summary for that next week.
Posted Jul 5, 2024, 1:35 PM UTC