RHAP Cast Wishlist for Survivor 50: Cagayan, San Juan del Sur, Worlds Apart, Cambodia, Kaôh Rōng
Summary:
Buckle in, folks, we have a busy week. There's a lot to cover with multiple Brains vs. Bawn vs. Beauty seasons, a fan-casted returnee season, and a season known for some caustic personalities!
Here are the links to previous summaries:
Borneo, The Australian Outback, Africa
The Amazon, Pearl Island, All-Stars, Vanuatu and Palau
Guatemala, Panama, Cook Islands, Fiji
China, Micronesia, Gabon, Tocantins, Samoa
Heroes vs. Villians, Nicaragua, Redemption Island
South Pacific, One World, Philippines, Caramoan, Blood vs. Water
Summary: One of the most well-regarded seasons of Survivor, Cagayan's initial conceit was Brains vs. Brawn vs. Beauty for its initial tribal splits. Featuring an entire newbie cast, the season is well known for its prominent personalities, exciting gameplay, and more than a few unique moments in Survivor history, producing multiple returnees and several winners in various games of Survivor, including the season's winner and the champion in Winners at War, Tony Vlachos. Mike repeatedly emphasized that while he and Dwight would just be picking four cast members for their initial foray into the Wishlist, he's also reasonably confident multiple other cast members from this season will likely receive enough support to be put in on the next wildcard session he does. Dwight Moore also said he would play again if asked but is somewhat skeptical of his chances of getting called again.
Tony Vlachos: The winner of the season and the winner of Winners at War, Tony was famous for his over-the-top antics on Cagayan, from flip-flopping between his alliances mates to making spy shacks to making some very…enthusiastic sounds when he found his first immunity idol. On Game Changers, he was voted out early but rebounded to Winners at War, beating out all the other returning winners to take the prize in season 40. As Mike noted, since they are casting the net wide since we don't know the theme for Season 50, if it is a Legends season, then it would be remiss to not include the winner among winners.
"Khaos" Kass McQuillen: The chaos queen of Cagayan who was known for flipping on tribemates. Kass returned with multiple Cagayan players three seasons later for Second Chances, where she initially tried to be less chaotic. She was the first eliminated in the jury phase of the game. Post-Survivor, she's been busy, including undergoing a needless procedure where she got a pacemaker and then subsequently suing the doctor for malpractice.
Trish Hegarty: The rough Boston pilates instructor, Trish was Tony's close ally during the season and was never afraid to speak her mind. As Mike pointed out, Trish was essential to Tony being able to go on the run he did, as despite her brash personality, she was good with talking things over with folks to smooth out any ripples from Tony's chaotic plays. She also was instrumental in flipping Kass to the dominant alliance in the merge, starting with Sarah's boot.
Brice Izyah: The third boot for the season, Brice was a strong social player in his tribe before being eliminated in a rare 2-2-2 vote split that rebounded on him being voted out unanimously on his tribe. Post-Survvior, he's become a member of the RHAP community, producing the Purple Pants Podcast, and was an important lead in the Black Survivor Alliance, a group of past players who met with CBS and ultimately got the diversity initiative implemented for the show, which Dwight credited as something which he felt helped to give him his own opportunity to play.
Considered but not selected:
Woo Hwang: He made the fatal mistake of taking Tony to FTC instead of Kass, resulting in his loss. Woo returned for Second Chances and several other Cagayan players but was the last player voted out at the merge. While he was definitely a big personality in Cagayan, Miek, and Dwight thought that his archetype of the younger athletic dude had a lot of other players already for consideration, and with his worse performance in Second Chances, they weren't sure if he had enough to justify a third time playing.
LJ McKanas: One of the surprise boots of the season, LJ was eliminated after Tony schemed to vote him out shortly after the pair played immunity idols on each other to stay safe. LJ was one of the main POV characters for the beauty tribe and was considered for Game Changers but not selected. Mike and Dwight agreed that he wasn't on their scope initially, but out of the four beauty tribe members in the jury phase, he had the most potential and game, but he was cut short. However, considering the other more prominent personalities and players, they opted not to include him on the Wishlist.
Tasha Fox: Like Spencer and Kass, Tasha was a refugee from the Brains disaster tribe premerge who managed to run deep into the merge. Thanks to a mix of charisma, strategy, and being a low-key challenge beast, she took home three individual immunities. Tasha returned for Second Chances, where she tied with Spencer to be zero-vote finalists at FTC.
Sarah Lacina: The first merge boot, Sarah this season was known for her early alliance with Tony before becoming a center player at the merge, but she was then outmaneuvered and voted out early. She returned and won Game Changers and took fourth in Winners at War. Mike and Dwight agreed that the Game Changer episode would be a better venue to discuss her for the Wishlist, so they deferred.
J'Tia Taylor: The other prominent first boot, J'Tia, the nuclear engineer, was the embodiment of the disaster tribe time of the Brains tribe. She struggled on several challenges, including losing a puzzle challenge. When convinced she was going to be eliminated, J'Tia dumped the tribe's supply of rice into the fire before the tribal council, where she ended up not being eliminated. While her luck in the game eventually ran out early, Post-survivor, she has started a family and, according to Mike, fairly recently beat breast cancer. She just slightly missed out on Dwight and Mike's vote, and Mike is pretty sure she'll end up being put on during the wildcard round, assuming she gets support.
Would not return:
Spencer Reiman Bledsoe: Spencer (or Reiman as he goes by) returned for Cambodia, where he tied for second with Tasha at the FTC. Spencer was the young, boastful gamebot who was undercut multiple times only to fight his way back, and while he tried to play more emotionally in Second Chances, he still finished with no votes. While he said he would be up for playing again a few years back, in more recent interviews, he stated that with what he's doing in his life now, he would not want to play again.
Episode 29: Survivor: San Juan del Sur
Summary: Blood vs. Water 2: Electric Boogaloo. According to Mike, San Juan del Sur was initially not as well received at the outset but has gained deeper appreciation from the fan base over the years. Much like Cagayan and Cook Islands before it, San Juan del Sur acted as a feeder season for multiple other contestants to return for later seasons of Survivor.
Natalie Anderson: A two-time Amazing Race alum and the winner of the season, Natalie swore revenge after her twin Nadyia was the first boot of the season and went on to win the whole season. She then returned for Winners at War, where she spent more than thirty days on the Edge of Extinction before returning to finish second behind Tony Vlachos.
Jon Misch: Then-boyfriend (now husband) of the season's runner-up Jaclyn Schultz, Jon was a character who started off looking like more of a bro-stereotype before finding his footing as one of the merge's wildcard votes. He also was a surprising goofball for the season despite his first appearances. He was voted out with an idol in his pocket and reportedly was on the shortlist for Cambodia, but he didn't answer CBS's voicemail in time, so he was left off. As Mike and Sasha point out, he shares Jaclyn's story of struggling to start a family before finally being able to start one.
Reed Kelly: The then-boyfriend of Josh Canfield. Sasha said Reed is, in many ways, the encapsulation of the San Juan del Sur season. He was a loud, messy player with big swings that were still entertaining. Reed was a schemer throughout the season, though only some of his plans yielded success.
Josh Canfield: The then-boyfriend of Reed Kelly, Josh was more of a strategic player compared to Reed, with far fewer wild swings and more calculated gameplay. He was also considered for Cambodia but could not play due to contractual obligations on Broadway.
Preemptively added to a later season:
Kelley Wentworth: An early boot from this season, Kelley returned for Cambodia and Edge of Extinction, where her performance in Cambodia especially is well-lauded and remembered. Mike elected to preemptively slot Kelley into one of the Edge of Extinction spots for the vote to open a spot for Josh in San Juan del Sur. This was because, as Sasha pointed out, Kelley became more of a legend in Cambodia, an all-returnee season that normally doesn't have spots, and since Edge isn't as well regarded, there might be more space to put her in there.
Would not return:
Jeremy Collins: He would not return and is happy with his three times playing. As Mike speculates, since he came back for Winners at War, he might be less inclined to come back for season 50, even if the theme is legends.
Kimberly Baylor Wilson: Said in interviews a few years back that she would not want to play Survivor again and that it was incompatible with her religious way of life.
Episode 30: Survivor: Worlds Apart
Summary: One of the seasons of all time, Worlds Apart, was the White Collar vs. Blue Collar vs. No Collar theme for casting people by their general profession. As Jess noted, the season seemed to be primarily cast for prominent personalities who would not get along with each other and then let them loose on the island, and that, in hindsight, this kind of cast would have fit more in the early 2000s era of Survivor rather than at the time it was premiered. Not helping, too, was the concurrent fan vote occurring to cast for Cambodia, which featured several contestants on the ballot from Worlds Apart, who at the time were still playing the game with no indication of who the winner might be, since by production rules, if someone who won Worlds Apart was voted for on the Cambodia ballot, they would not be cast for the second chance season.
Mike Holloway: The winner of the season, Mike was the guy who, after he pissed off his tribe at the auction, which caused them to want to vote him out, went on a long run of immunity wins and rode that to the end of the game. He also made several strong strategic moves while holding immunity, including another idol play and working alliances in the game. He wasn't cast for Winners at War. Jess theorized that it was because his playstyle was seen by Production as being too similar to Ben Driebergen's style. However, as Mike Bloom and Jess noted, Ben relied more on finding advantages and some social manipulation. In contrast, Mike Holloway had to survive based on challenge performance and did more strategically while winning immunities.
Carolyn Rivera: "Mama C" Carolyn tied for second at FTC; she had a combination of being proficient at challenges (including winning the final 4 fire making), social manipulation, and strategy, including, with some hints from Holloway, playing her idol to get Dan Foley eliminated. While a little older, she is still eager to play but never gets the chance. As mentioned in the summary, she was one of the contestants on the ballot for Cambodia, but since she was in the final five, some folks might not have voted for her since there was a strong possibility of her winning the season.
Shirin Oskooi: The slightly eccentric Yahoo executive, Shirin, was on the receiving end of a lot of abuse from some of her tribemates during the season before going out in the merge. Jess pointed out that Shirin might have been better suited for a more traditional Survivor season as opposed to one cast more for the caustic personalities of Worlds Apart. Shrin made it to Cambodia on the Second Chances ballot but was the second person voted out in the pre-merge. She has since left tech to become a professional poker player.
Jenn Brown: The sailing instructor, Jenn, was the contestant who decided to spend a good chunk of her time on the island trolling the other tribemates she didn't like and wanting to make them as miserable as possible after her friend Hali was voted out. Jess described her as an ORG-style player who ended up playing the actual game but brought that attitude.
Considered but not selected:
Tyler Fredrickson: The talent agent, Tyler, was a more straightforward strategic player who might have done better in a different season. While he has gone through several interesting life events and visits Fiji frequently (including visiting the areas the show plays in), Mike and Jess felt that while he had a lot of potential, what was shown on the screen wasn't as much compared to their picks for this season. Still, they wouldn't be upset if he ever got a chance to play again.
Production would likely not have back:
Dan Foley: Since Dan called out Production in exit press interviews claiming that Production was manipulating his edit, which resulted in Production airing unedited, very unflattering cuts of Dan's time on the island, Jess and Mike felt confident that CBS won't be giving him a call anytime soon.
Joe Anglim "Joey Amazing": Between the allegations he dropped the N-word multiple times on Edge of Extinction and his more recent involvement with extremist groups and borderline QAnon-esque social media posts, Jess and Mike feel pretty confident CBS would not want to platform him.
Would not return:
Rodney Lavoie: Rodney was a big personality this season, with Mike describing him as a walking meme with all his random phrases and his annoyance at not getting taken on a reward on his birthday being remembered. He has stated in multiple interviews that he is done with Survivor.
Sierra Dawn Thomas: She has stated in multiple interviews that she would not want to play again as she is busy with her family. However, as Mike and Jess noted, since she's married to Joe Anglim, Production not wanting anything to do with him means that even if she wanted to play, Production probably wouldn't want her back.
Max Dawson: The college professor who taught classes on reality TV has stated unequivocally that he would not play again in multiple interviews.
Episode 31: Survivor: Cambodia
Summary: The Second Chances season was where Production released a list of 32 contestants and asked fans to vote, with the top ten men and the top ten women from the ballot returning to play again. Peridiam noted this season tends to poll well among fans of Survivor but thinks that on a rewatch. In contrast, the season and players focus heavily on strategy and gameplay. It doesn't carry as many fun or emotional beats as other seasons, but that being said, it still is a very solid season. Like the other returnee seasons, this episode focuses less on the actual game and more on the story behind the casting, the theories behind why certain people were cast over others, and what this might reveal about Production's mindset for a future season.
Mike and Peridiam agreed that out of the themes for the show, Second Chances was one, if not the strongest, theme Survivor has produced for a season. From a fan perspective, they noted that the build-up to the season constantly kept the fan community engaged and saw players interfacing with the community to try and rally support to get them on the ballot. Compared to a traditional season, which sees the cast reveal pop up a couple weeks before the season starts, this fan vote emotionally engaged the community and got folks talking months in advance, creating a unique groundswell of enthusiasm for people to turn in for the season in a way other returnee seasons maybe didn't have. Additionally, the Second Chance theme was fairly agnostic, so players from any season who went out at any time could be placed on the ballot.
Mike and Peridiam noted that based on how Cambodia was cast, it drew fairly heavily from players who recently played in the game. All four Cagayan players up for the ballot were picked, along with three San Juan del Sur players and three Worlds Apart players (only two were cast; Mike Halloway broke into the top ten, but since he won the previous season, he was disqualified on the ballot). This means of the Cambodia cast, almost half came from the three seasons prior, which Mike and Peridiam noted, this means there is a decent chance if Season 50 ends up being a second chance season, there's a strong chance that a good chunk of the cast will come from seasons that haven't aired yet. This trend of more recent seasons getting the lion's share of casting is also fairly common in the other returnee seasons, except All-Stars.
Mike broke the casting discussion down into different seasonal time blocks to see who was available to be voted on and who was chosen.:
* = was cast for the season
Pre-All Stars (Season 1-7):
* Kimmi Kappenberg
* Andrew Savage
Teressa “T-Bird” Cooper
* Jeff Varner
* Kelly Wiglesworth
It was noted that from this pull, Kelly, Kimmi, and Varner made sense since Kelly was seen as the person who best embodied the theme of the season, especially considering how close her loss in season 1 was. Kimmi and Varner came from the most watched season of Survivor and were fairly memorable from their season. Savage was noted to have been fairly popular with Production and still had some strong pull from his season there's apparently an Andrew Savage action figure). T-Bird was the only one not cast, which, according to Mike, was fairly surprising among the superfan community, who thought she had a great chance of getting in.
Post-All Stars / Pre-Heroes vs. Villains (Season 9-19):
* Terry Deitz:
* Stephen Fishbach
* Peih-Gee Law
* Monica Padilla
Shane Powers
Like the previous group, four of the five up for the vote made it into the vote, with the notable exception of Shane Powers. Mike hypothesized that Shane and a few other men who weren't picked on the ballot had the same issues of being villains from their season, which caused people to not want to vote for them. Monica was picked, which surprised Miek and Peridiam, but on reflection, they noted she pulled a solid social media campaign to advocate her return. Peih-Gee was a Survivor China returnee, which the two stated they were excited about when she was cast since the other returnees from the season had been strongly represented in multiple other seasons. For Terry, Peridiam noted that he would probably be his number 1 pick to return from this season for another Second Chance season, noting that his removal from this season was due to a family emergency, which denied him the chance to play and denied the fans who voted for him the chance to see how far he could go.
Dark Ages (Season 21-25):
* Abi-Maria Gomes
Jim Rice
Troyzan Robertson
Sabrina Thompson
Natalie Tenerelli
Stephanie Valencia
Mikayla Wingle
Of the cast selections of the Dark Ages, only Abi-Maria was selected. Miek and Peridiam discussed how Mikayla, Natalie, and Stephanie shared a similarly young, attractive woman archetype, along with a couple of others, such as Kelly Wentworth and Monica, which resulted in a bit of voting dilution among them, added to the fact that in Stephanie and Mikayla'sc case they were pre-merge boots which might have also diminished their recognition. While Sabrina wasn't on the ballot, she didn't campaign like the others because she did not want to play on Survivor again. As mentioned earlier, Jim and Troyzan also fell into the male villain archetype who struggled to make it on this ballot.
Blood vs. Water and Cagayan: (Season 27-28)
* Vytas Baskauskas
Brad Culpepper
* Ciera Eastin
* Spencer Bledsoe
* Tasha Fox
* Woo Hwang
* “Khaos” Kass McQuillen
Except for Brad Culpepper (who played three seasons later on Game Changers), everyone on this list made the vote. All the selectees had strong stories from their season and were memorable presences from them, so their inclusion both on the ballot and then on the cast was fairly straightforward.
San Juan del Sur and Worlds Apart (Season 29-30)
* Jeremy Collins
* Keith Nale
* Kelley Wentworth
* Joe Anglim
Max Dawson
** Mike Holloway
* Shirin Oskooi
Carolyn Rivera
Summary: All three San Juan del Sur players up for the vote were selected, while, likely reflective of the view of the season at the time, World Apart only had two returnees. Mike Holloway got enough votes where he would have been cast if he hadn't won his season. As mentioned in the World's Apart episode, Mike theorized that since the Cambodia vote occurred while the later parts of Worlds Apart were airing, Carolyn and Mike might have split their votes since people thought one or both had strong win equity. Carolyn's big move of idling our Dan Foley happened close to when the vote was closing.
Mike and Peridiem also reviewed several players who had been in consideration for Cambodia's vote but were, for one reason or another, cut from the selection:
Cut from the vote:
Angie Layton
Chelsea Meissner
Hayden Moss
John Cody
John Misch
J'Tia Taylor
Turned down being on the ballot:
Greg Buis
Ian Rosenberger
Jeff Kent
Josh Canfield
Natalie Bolton
R.C Saint-Amour
Shambo Waters
Peridiam has a list of players for his fan cast for a returnee season. He didn't include any players from before season 31 (Kaoh Rong being his cutoff), believing that Survivor needs to develop a newer crop of legends and multi-time players. He can't keep returning to the older seasons to mine the classic favorites, as much as folks might like the players from this time.
Episode 32: Survivor: Kaoh Rong
Summary: A tough season that featured the most medical evacuations in Survivor history, Kaoh Rong started off with the brains, brawn, and beauty tribe division as Cagayan before developing into a season of interesting strategic moves, big personalities, and a dynamic post-merge. Much like Cagayan and San Juan del Sur, this season has also acted as a feeder season for multiple returnees. Kristen did note with this season sitting in the early thirties, Production has definitely mined it for returnees, so she wonders if some folks haven't gotten a call to return yet and if they would ever get one.
Michele Fitzgerald: The winner of the season, Michele played more of a social game, staying somewhat under the radar early to hide her threat level before emerging in the merge to show she was a force on the show. She subsequently played on Winners at War, coming in third behind Natalie, and post-Survivor, she has played multiple times on The Challenge.
Tai Trang: The first recipient of the (now defunct) Sia Award, Tai played with his heart on his sleeve and tried to keep his morals as he played this cutthroat game. He returned for Game Changers and also finished fairly well. While he is a little older, with his playstyle being a little more unique among Survivor players and his own personal story, Mike and Kristen thought it would be interesting to add him to the list.
Cydney Gillon: The Ivy-League bodybuilder Cydney lost out at fire making (back when it was for ties) and only missed the final three. Beforehand, she guided the post-merge with her strategic alliances and had a fun personality to watch on screen. Mike and Kristen did note that since she is a bodybuilder, she might not want to come back and play until she retires from that industry since the muscle loss on the show can be pretty significant for individuals, and since her job depends on that, it could cause concern.
Julia Sokolowski: One of the youngest players to play on the show, Julia was 19 years old during Kaoh Rong, and despite her young age, she managed to make it deep into the game with her social and strategic play. Mike and Kristen think that given how much people's lives change in ten years, having someone so young when they played return would be interesting to see, not only from a personal growth aspect but in how their playstyle might change.
Considered but not selected:
Aubry Bracco: A strategic player from the season, Aubry took second this season and, at the time, was seen as a robbed player by some in the fan community. She returned to play in two more seasons, Game Changers and Edge of Extinction, and since then, she has started a family. Mike and Kristen wondered if, since she only recently started a family, she would return or not, but noted that being a big player in Survivor lore, she might get another invite at some point. Given the strength of the cast, Kristen opted not to select Aubry for her Wishlist since, otherwise, it would have just been the top four of the season; Mike is pretty confident that Aubry will be added to the wildcard ballot or even the Edge of Extinction ballot.
Debbie Wanner: One of the most prominent personalities of the season, Debbie was the woman of many careers and was memorable for all her antics and outbursts on the island. She returned for Game Changers and also made the jury phase, but ultimately was not added to the list due to some wondering if her kooky personality archetype might be better filled by someone else.
Kyle Jason: The bounty-hunting villain of the season, Jason tried to emulate Russel Hantz's playstyle and went pretty deep into the game, but was ultimately. He was known on the show for some of his problems with a couple contestants, in particular Alecia, between his verbal abuse and doing things like putting his skin in her drinking water. He was left off the vote between his actions and the fact that more overt villainous players like him aren't high on Productions radar.
Would not return:
Mark the Chicken: Despite going deep into the game, Mark could not be reached to confirm if they would play again.
Production would not want to return:
Scott Pollard: One of the season's villains alongside Jason, Scott very recently underwent a heart transplant. Between his recovery and having had to be on immunosuppressing medication, even if he wanted to play, Mike and Kristen feel confident that Production would not want to underwrite that risk.
The link to the spread sheet once again.
See you next week!
Posted Jul 19, 2024, 8:07 PM UTC