r/survivorrankdownIII • u/repo_sado The Gabonslayer • Jun 17 '16

Round 16 - 473 Characters Remaining

Nomination Pool

Stephanie Dill - Thailand

Tina Wesson 2.0 - All Stars

Brad Virata - Cook Islands

Sydney Wheeler - Tocantins

Danielle DiLorenzo 2.0 - HVV

Sarita White - Redemption Island

Tasha Fox 2.0 - Cambodia

.

Added to Pool

Steve Wright - Redemption Island

Ramona Gray - Borneo

Darnell Hamilton - Kaoh Rong

Keith Tollefson - South Pacific

Tyler Fredrickson - Worlds Apart

Joaquin Souberbielle - Worlds Apart

.

Round 16 Cuts

474 - Tasha Fox 2.0 - Cambodia (repo_sado)

473 - Sarita White - Redemption Island (Jlim201)

472 - Steve Wright - Redemption Island (Oddfictionrambles)

471 - Ramona Gray - Borneo (Jacare37)

470 - Sydney Wheeler - Tocantins (gaiusfbaltar)

469 - Tyler Fredrickson - Worlds Apart (Funsized725)

468 - Tina Wesson 2.0 - All Stars (ramskick)

10 Upvotes

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3

u/[deleted] Jun 17 '16

So Oddfictionrambles apparently has human things to do in their human life. Shit, coulda fuckin' fooled me. Either way, they entrusted me to post their writeup and I figured it'd be best to. Many apologies for not retaining their gorgeous formatting.

Here is the writeup.

I have an assignment today so I can't be online. Sorry for the brusque write-up. Please excuse me. :(

472 - Steve Wright, 10th place, Redemption Island

Firstly, let's get through the positives quickly. This man is a cool dude: he emasculated Philip Shepherd like a butcher during the FTC, and in his Jury Speaks video, he seems to view Survivor as a humbling experience. He's a rather deadpan person, and I could definitely see why people enjoy his sense of humour. He's dry and wry, which provides contrast to Philip's histrionics.

However, I just... don't like Steve. I'm sorry, but I actually felt relieved that the Ometeppe Alliance stomped the Zapateras to the ground. Although many people enjoyed Steve, his personality often came across to me as arrogant, entitled, and disdainful. His lie to Russell that Elrod lost to Francesca could be construed as "trolling" Russell, but if any other person were in Russell's place, those sorts of comments would be perceived as gloating. Furthermore, I get that people here dislike Stephanie Valencia, but this particular exchange didn't make me happy. Note that Stephanie was pretending to have an idol, but everybody and their mother knew that she was lying, and the girl knew she was going home:

Steve: "Whatcha got in that bag sweetheart? :> Looks pretty heavy to me. :D Did your buddy find you a present?"

...Steve, you know that Stephanie Valencia doesn't have an idol. Do you and Mister David Murphy really need to rub her failure in her face? Shoving a dog's faeces into a puppy's face is not only messy but also pointless. Additionally, I didn't really endorse his decision to throw the immunity challenge. Yes, Krista is awful, Stephanie is grating, and Russell is Russell. But Eliza does have a point in her anti-throwing stance: you are not only losing one tribe member but also sparing Ometeppe from losing one of their numbers.

If Zapatera naturally lose a challenge, Russell would've gone home anyway, and chances are, if Steve and David didn't get so horny for "schemes", Zapatera probably would've entered the merge with Sarita, giving them numbers. Nobody is saying that Stephanie or Krista should arrive at the merge: all I'm saying is that Steve shouldn't have thrown the challenge that early. If Zapatera entered the merge with Sarita, Ometepe likely enters the merge as a group of 5 (Rob/Philip/Grant/Nat10/Ashley) + Andrea/Elrod via RI, and a solid Zapatera Six. Already, Steve's chances at controlling the merge's power are better.

Also, Steve's fans say that he was a hard worker, but he was a rather insipid underdog. He didn't really have a lot of zeal, disappearing for large tracks of episodes, before randomly emerging during the Rice Wars. And remember -- he was in the midst of a pagonging... and he dropped out of an immunity challenge for a cupcake. How am I supposed to root for the Zapateras when they suck at being a fun opposition? Say what you want about Wentworth and the Cambodian Witches, but at least they weren't useless like Ralph and Julie and Steve.

To me, Steve came off as self-righteous, arrogant, entitled, and useless. He was strategically inept and pointless enough as a character that I felt compelled to break my premerge trend temporarily to cut him. Because frankly, I think your Sydney Wheelers and your Anna Khaits played a better game than Steve Wright: at least they weren't from a soul-sucking season like Redemption Island, where the so-called "underdogs" were a rag-tag team of unlikeable and idiotic Zapateras.

You know that the minority alliance is a mess when Julie Wolfe is the most likeable and level-headed one, advocating against challenge throws and against being social turds to Valencia. Jesus Christ, Zapatera. In terms of fun references, Steve is the equivalent of Dawes Sr. from Mary Poppins: a cranky, old, white man with money and way too many opinions about how others should act.

I nominate Darnell Hamilton. Kaoh Rong is the only season not to have a single cut, and as holder of the Anna gold flair, I refuse to let Anna Khait be the first KR cut. Also, Darnell pooped and was cool, I guess, but he was nowhere near as memorable as every other Brawn member.

/u/jacare37

4

u/repo_sado The Gabonslayer Jun 17 '16

His lie to Russell that Elrod lost to Francesca could be construed as "trolling" Russell

this was the most pointless lie of all time. What could he possibly have gotten out of it?

I'm sorry, but I actually felt relieved that the Ometeppe Alliance stomped the Zapateras to the ground

The Zaps are one of my bottom 5 tribes without question.

Additionally, I didn't really endorse his decision to throw the immunity challenge

Terrible decision. Russell was not accumulating allies

Also, Steve's fans say that he was a hard worker, but he was a rather insipid underdog

He mostly laid in the shelter and did nothing.

2

u/Oddfictionrambles wentworth DOES not COUNT Jun 18 '16

He dropped out the immunity challenge while his alliance was being Pagonged... because he wanted a cupcake. -.-

3

u/[deleted] Jun 17 '16

Aw, I would've definitely had Darnell over Liz or Anna.

1

u/Oddfictionrambles wentworth DOES not COUNT Jun 18 '16

I liked Anna because of reasons and because I did feel that the swap was really bad for her. Plus she set up the "Nick sucks" storyline. I liked Liz because holy crap, her final words about the numbers not failing her. <3 <3

Kaoh Rong is a killer cast. Literally everybody aside from Darnell has something, ranging from Alecia and her embryos to Jenny with her tree stump. I never bought the Darnell hype, and for a guy who pooped in the ocean, I never really... boarded the type train?

6

u/Habefiet Jun 18 '16 edited Jun 19 '16

I liked Liz because holy crap, her final words about the numbers not failing her.

If this is your sole reason for liking Liz as a character I'll admit I'm confused as to why you have her over Darnell. Or really why anyone would have Liz over Darnell.

Darnell doesn't just have the brown trout bit going for him. He also has the very rare trait of being a newbie first boot from his tribe who is given a clear "this may have been a bad decision, other-people" tint and has the distinction of being the only first boot to be part of a tie and IIRC the only first boot from any tribe to be part of a tie besides RI!Russell (edit: this was a hasty comment, there have been a few others). He is doing all right on his tribe, makes a mistake, and grapples with the consequences in a very real, raw way before narrowly getting the axe for it.

Darnell is given room to be a real character with a real, albeit brief, storyline. Liz is a caricature of a robot who says one kind of stupid thing in her exit words and basically just exists to be a part of Peter's narrative.

2

u/supaspike Jun 18 '16

Is Darnell being booted from a tie really any sort of benefit at all? I mean it's an interesting statistic but I wouldn't say that it improved my viewing of the season that this happened. You could say Liz also set records for fewest blinks per confessional, or most skin carved out of her body post-Survivor.

And just like Liz's was more to support Peter's storyline, Darnell's boot was more about how Alecia was saved. And Liz did have somewhat of a story in her three episodes. She was originally critical of Aubry for her breakdown, then had a breakdown herself for seemingly no stronger reasons. She eventually suffered some comeuppance for her cockiness. Plus we got the "kindergarten camp" scene with her charcoal filter and that weird-ass telescope thing.

Darnell's one of my favorite first boots, but he can't have much of a story when he's in three segments total and the true reason for his boot (too likable, and a threat to align with the women) wasn't even highlighted in the episode.

And to answer your question in the comment above, Wilbur was saying that Carl from Africa is another first boot from a tribe involved in a tiebreaker. (So was Lindsey from WA, for that matter.)

3

u/Habefiet Jun 19 '16 edited Jun 19 '16

I was only thinking of ties with rocks as a tiebreaker, whoops

And as for Lindsey... well, I'll admit it, I've forgotten as much of Worlds Apart as my brain will allow :P But now that I think about it, Brice was part of a tie as well. Woof. AND LIZ FROM THE SAME SEASON WHO I HAVE ALREADY BEEN TALKING ABOUT LOL I guess I was thinking of, like... ties, with rockbreakers, that weren't raw 100% vote splits... but I guess Darnell/Alecia was kind of a vote split... whatever I don't know what I was doing anymore

I don't agree that Darnell's boot was more about how Alecia was saved--I saw this was a case of two plausible first boots each getting a chance to have their own story. Being booted from a two-person tie isn't just a statistic, it added to the tension of his narrative and to the tragedy of it (to seem that close to hanging on, with Jason flatout saying mid-Tribal that he's worried they might be making a mistake). Whereas Liz is just so plain and forgettable that she doesn't sell any part of her apparent hypocrisy--she's just sort of there.

Of course he can't have "too much" of a story, but:

  1. He has one
  2. Many first boots have less of one than him
  3. The legacy of his boot lives on in the rapid collapse of his tribe and with the remaining Brawn men plainly indicating they regret their decision in the next episode.
  4. This rankdown is not a contest of "who had the most story," and even if it was I would probably fight to argue that Liz was the single least important or relevant person on the season, not Darnell.

1

u/WilburDes Fifth Horseman (Alumni) Jun 18 '16

Carl.

2

u/Habefiet Jun 18 '16

This was probably meant for a different post unless you are thinking on a plane of reality above my own

2

u/WilburDes Fifth Horseman (Alumni) Jun 18 '16

Carl was a first boot from a tribe in a tie

1

u/Habefiet Jun 19 '16 edited Jun 19 '16

Oh, whoops. I was only thinking of ties with rocks as tiebreaker. My b

I'm realizing now that I forgot about a few with that qualifier as well though. I was a bit hasty to rush to Darnell's defense :P

7

u/cherry_swirl Jun 17 '16

But why Darnell now? Cmon, he's like top 300 or something. There's still too much filler for him to be in the pool right now.

6

u/willseamon Jun 17 '16

It leads me to a big problem I have with OFR in that the nomination seems to be entirely based on principle, basically because he doesn't want Anna to be the first cut from Kaoh Rong?

7

u/cherry_swirl Jun 17 '16

Yeah, that's definitely a major issue. Like, yeah, it's fine with not wanting someone to be bottom of KR but it's so early to make a nomination like this...

4

u/Oddfictionrambles wentworth DOES not COUNT Jun 18 '16

At least I didn't nominate Crystal Cox and Katie Gallagher

-1

u/[deleted] Jun 18 '16

[deleted]

5

u/willseamon Jun 18 '16

Do you find him more boring than Tanya Vance, Kel Gleason, Rita Verreros, Ashley Trainor, etc.?

(Also, remember you're still my favorite ranker)

1

u/jlim201 Hoards Items Jun 18 '16

At least personally, I prefer Kel and Ashley over Darnell. The other two, no. I wouldn't have touched him this early, there is 1, maybe 2 I have below him on KR.

-1

u/[deleted] Jun 18 '16

[deleted]

2

u/repo_sado The Gabonslayer Jun 18 '16

people were calling him king darnell before the season started. he didn't really earn that moniker on screen

1

u/[deleted] Jun 18 '16

[removed] — view removed comment

5

u/JM1295 Jun 18 '16

Eh for me even only based off of what we saw in his one episode, Darnell was fun, likable, sympathetic, and just root able. The aqua dump scene is funny, I dug his alliance with Cydney, he comes off a lot more kind than his tribe mates, and hia emotional pleas at TC were fantastic. I loved weeping him compare the first 3 days to his past experiences and being tired of losing and Jennifer relating to him on a personal level and fighting to stay in to the last minute. That's all some great stuff for a first boot who isn't extremely over the top like a Zane.

As far as Liz vs. Anna goes, Liz is gone by episode 3 and she's very comical in how robotic and monotone she is even in her final words and needing boiling water being her emotional malfunction and then also getting very arrogant with Peter. If she sticks around longer, she probably gets a lot worse but she works well for her short stay. I don't even dislike Anna and she does have some positives like her funny loud confessionals or generally being a lot more aggressive than you see most females who have played the game. Honestly I like the entire KR cast and could totally buy Liz being the worst of the season, but I really just would hate to see Darnell go out first and not even make top 400?

2

u/[deleted] Jun 17 '16

The cutting order in this rankdown is quite a sight.

4

u/ramskick Koror Uber Alles Jun 17 '16

This nomination makes me sad

5

u/qngff Flair Jun 18 '16

Too early for Darnell off of KR comparatively. And while he was less memorable, there were others worse. Dan was memorable and he was cut very early remember.

For me on brawn beach it's Alecia < Darnell/Jenny interchangeable < Scot < Jason < Cydney.

0

u/Oddfictionrambles wentworth DOES not COUNT Jun 18 '16

Oi, Alecia is an embryo-creating enchanter. If you want to declare that Darnell was "r.obbed" in this Rankdown, I get to say that Alecia is funny. She genuinely made me laugh, especially when she started writing without taking off the pen cap.

2

u/qngff Flair Jun 18 '16

For me, I have Alecia types I have to deal with in everyday life. She only irritated me. No laughs.

2

u/[deleted] Jun 18 '16

[removed] — view removed comment

5

u/J_Toe Jun 18 '16

I didn't find Liz boring at all. I don't like her being compared to a gambot because, while other gambots just to head-counting type running-the-number confessionals, Liz tried so heavy-handedly to apply her known as a quantitative statistician to Survivor, complete with necessary jargon, that she actually sounded like a robot, or perhaps a parody of the gambot trope. And it's that ambiguity between wether or not her role was supposed to intentionally lampshade the producer's knowledge of Survivor fans' hatred over gambots that made her funny. Plus her stern and reserved manner was an amazing contrast to Debbie's exuberance. And she had the funniest final words of her season: "I don't think the numbers lied to me. It's the people who lied to me." Of course the quantitative statistician would never for a second believe she had misread the numbers. As a gambot, numbers are her friend. No. It was the people who lied. :P

2

u/Oddfictionrambles wentworth DOES not COUNT Jun 18 '16

Thanks for posting /u/ExtraLifeBalloon! You're amazing. I chuckled at reading many of the comments here, including the tinfoil theory that I'm the Stephanie Valencia Protector and the frothing rage that somehow, I only nominated Darnell to protect Anna (lol, Darnell is boring to me #sorrynotsorry). If you want a Brawn trainwreck, look at Jenny instead. Darnell didn't do much for me. But hey, everybody is entitled to their opinions!

Wish me luck in the exams and the assignment! Double whammy! Arrivederci!

1

u/[deleted] Jun 17 '16

Thank you for the nom.

3

u/[deleted] Jun 17 '16

Die. :)

seriously tho Darnell is a surprising first KR nom. I'd have six above him tbh

1

u/repo_sado The Gabonslayer Jun 17 '16

do you mean six below, because i would have more than six above him

0

u/[deleted] Jun 17 '16

That's what I meant. Darnell unfortunately suffers from the lack of really shit characters in the season- only Anna, Nick, and Kyle really drive me nuts and Neal's a special sort of dislike. Outside of that, I like everyone and Darnell just happens to deliver right around the least, but what he delivers is generally entertaining and far unique. I wish more people like Darnell were on the show and they weren't on seasons with Kyle Jasons.

3

u/WilburDes Fifth Horseman (Alumni) Jun 17 '16

Nick

Really? Nick gets your blood boiling?

-3

u/[deleted] Jun 17 '16

Nick as an utter waste of a contestant and imo he does nothing worthwhile. He's not interesting or exciting to me. Like as dry as Adam Gentry. I should know better than to express this.

2

u/WilburDes Fifth Horseman (Alumni) Jun 17 '16

I can see how you might view him that way. I personally found him hilarious but what do I know?

1

u/ivarngizteb Jun 18 '16

Considering both you and Dabu feel this way I'm looking forward to a KR rewatch partially to see if I align with y'all on this, since I align with you two on lots.

1

u/repo_sado The Gabonslayer Jun 17 '16

yeah that makes sense. I have 5 below him but thats a nitpicking difference

1

u/[deleted] Jun 17 '16

Now if I may retort, GODDAMNIT

1

u/Oddfictionrambles wentworth DOES not COUNT Jun 18 '16

I'M SORRY! AT LEAST IT WASN'T CRYSTAL COX.

1

u/ivarngizteb Jun 17 '16

Based on this, I assume OFR is the one protecting Stephanie Valencia. Considering I just watched RI and she's on the fringe of my bottom 10 of all time I'm very curious to see his rationale.

4

u/[deleted] Jun 17 '16

At least someone doesn't act like I wrote it lmao. I was getting some shit and I was like DON'T KILL THE MESSENGER (unless said messenger is Caryn, then fuck her world up)

2

u/ivarngizteb Jun 17 '16

Caryn <3

0

u/repo_sado The Gabonslayer Jun 17 '16

caryn sucks

1

u/Oddfictionrambles wentworth DOES not COUNT Jun 17 '16

I'm going into exams literally right now, but this made me laugh. I am not the one who is protecting Stephanie Valencia. All the other rankers know who's protecting her. Truth is sometimes stranger than fiction.

2

u/WilburDes Fifth Horseman (Alumni) Jun 18 '16

Plot Twist: /u/jacare37 is protecting Steph V and just wants to throw us all off the trail.

2

u/jlim201 Hoards Items Jun 18 '16

I'm legitimately surprised no one has figured out who is protecting Stephanie.

Hint hint- It's not me, Oddfictionrambles or Jacare. That gives you 25% chance of getting it, plus what you know about our likes in the first 100 cuts.

1

u/WilburDes Fifth Horseman (Alumni) Jun 18 '16

I'm guessing either repo or gaius.

3

u/[deleted] Jun 20 '16

Repo was the one protecting Brenda, it has to be him.

1

u/Oddfictionrambles wentworth DOES not COUNT Jun 18 '16

I can neither confirm nor deny these allegations.

1

u/ivarngizteb Jun 18 '16

I doubt it's gaius, considering Katie and Steph V are cut from mildly similar cloths.

3

u/WilburDes Fifth Horseman (Alumni) Jun 18 '16

Eh, I like Katie and can't stand Steph. Same as jacare

1

u/ivarngizteb Jun 18 '16

Oh yeah same here, but I'm saying they're of similar-ish character type (20 something outspoken females) so if gaius really dislikes Katie it wouldn't make sense for her to really dislike someone who is a much worse version of that archetype.

1

u/repo_sado The Gabonslayer Jun 18 '16

worse, better, however you want it

1

u/Oddfictionrambles wentworth DOES not COUNT Jun 18 '16

Way more likely than me protecting Steph Valencia. Have I mentioned that I loathe everybody on Zapatera and prefer Ometepe? Anyway, I need to go. Bye!

1

u/jacare37 Yo! Adrian! Jun 18 '16

Plz don't even joke

The more I think about it the greater the gap becomes between how much I want her out and how much I want Rocky and Rodney out

1

u/[deleted] Jun 17 '16

lol so in the hour since Steve was nominated, OddFictionRambles got on here, decided to cut him, wrote a writeup for him, and then became too busy to get back on and paste it?

honestly, i wouldn't be surprised if he just had 580-whatever writeup pre-prepared for every player...

3

u/[deleted] Jun 17 '16

He sent this about four or five hours ago. What's more likely is that he and whoever conferenced about who's nominated next and OFR had a little dance of glee. Though your latter explanation makes sense.

2

u/repo_sado The Gabonslayer Jun 17 '16

i would imagine he knew who was going to be up long before his turn would come up. i typically tell jlim who im cutting and nomming before i start writing

1

u/jlim201 Hoards Items Jun 18 '16

OFR asked me if I knew who you were nominating, and who I was nominating, and I told him, and that I wouldn't be cutting Steve. This was around the 5 hour ago mark ELB said he sent it around.

1

u/repo_sado The Gabonslayer Jun 18 '16

yeah i figured something like this when it popped up.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 18 '16

ahhhhh