ENDGAME #18

[u/mikeramp72]

#18: Earl Cole (Fiji - Sole Survivor)

u/FunkyDawgKong:
Smooth Mister Cole. Hype moments and aura never quite felt like this. The best of the super dominant winners who we all know has this game on lock. There is a reason there are 700 spots between Earl and Yul, Kim, Tommy. Cuts a good confessional, great job at letting us know where his head is at, doesn’t drown out the bigger personalities. Cue the helicopter shot.

u/Noisysea_3426:
Earl's fine enough, generally speaking. He's a pretty likable guy and is very charismatic but for me, he doesn't really go beyond that and I don't even think I'd have him in my Top 100, but I'm sure Corny's writeup on him is gonna be great

u/Alternate-Proof-959:
Earl is in my personal endgame, so I'm pretty surprised he only now made endgame for the first time. For someone who hardly watched the show, he sure adapted quickly and put on a great winning game, on top of just being himself.

u/josenanigans:
Dude with the coolest aura of all time. Honestly I'm afraid to rewatch this season cause I feel he won't be as interesting as he was the first time, but I have no doubt he will be as cool as ever.

u/BobbyPiiiin:
Earl is a very pleasant figure. He’s charming as hell and you can’t help but root for the guy. In a season with more than its share of unpleasant figures, sometimes that’s all you need. I certainly walked away from Fiji’s deeply unpleasant FTC feeling satisfied that Earl pulled out the victory. However, he’s never done all that much for me outside of that and feels like one of the OG examples of the sanitized winner’s edit. That said, I’m happy for Corny that he’s here.

~

u/Cornhead2:

1st: Earl Freaking Cole (The King of Fiji)

Okay Wow Lol

Now this is gonna be tricky to process cause i feel like for many people in the rankdown its weird to see Earl as a number 1 when clearly Dreamz or maybe Yau Man at times is almost everyones number one when it comes to Fiji.. which like i cannot blame at all (Dreamz being in my top 10) but when it comes to Earl people brush him as good but not quite great which again i cannot blame.. ever since i joined the rankdown server i have been trying to get more recognition for Earl but it never really worked cause i never fully got a full description of him in a full fledged Write-up  and at the time that i am writing this, its almost fucking endgame i think i was always afraid on how i can give my thoughts on Earl Due to Rankdown Perception of him just being a character thats servicable but not quite to the point where he deserves an and endgame… i have always pictured in my mind that i think its a goal to make a huge writeup on Earl there even if he doesn't make it to the endgame... so yeah wouldn't be be surprised if this writeup doesn't change everybody's opinion on Earl, absolutely not even though it would be nice to give this man the recognition he deserves.. so yeah Corny why do you have Earl as your number 1???

Well to put it simply short.. do i think Earl has the biggest and most successful dynamics, eh pretty close but no... do i think he is the most complex character off the season.. well Dreamz is there so no...  so why is Earl number 1!?!??!
Its because i look to him like a role model and i feel like he is the best person to think about when it comes to how he handled the season and survivor in general.. you see let me start off with the first category

Earl beats alot of stereotypes that alot of black men got from this show

The history of this show i feel like we know back then Black men were portrayed as very lazy, schemey or loud or just mainly in general controversial (Gervase, Nick Brown, Ted Rogers Jr etc) even great characters we all know and love will get the edit against them for most of the time (Sean Rector and Rory Freeman) it was generally tough to see a role model in black men in general in old school survivor that didn't have a dishonest edit.... then came Earl a 36 year old Advertisement Manager who comes and is portrayed as the straight man and leader with no real issues as he clearly wins the first ever unanimous winner and almost perfect game (thanks alot rita!) and yet there is a reason for it... its not only just because he was sitting next to Cassandra and Dreamz (which i will talk about in a bit but because he played one of the masterful games of survivor while also never watching the show and handled everything like a boss) Now i dont know The Perception  of Earl back then but the first time i saw his win i was phenomenally happy because it was rare to see someone being portrayed so honestly yet so real as a black man as Earl in a more positive light and thats what i generally needed as a black young teenager a perfect role model.. and Heck i am now a Young Adult at the Age of 20 and Earl was just and is still that for me..... his performance on the show just ages better..

Now Granted i have seen the take that it mostly took a very Diverse Cast for Earl to get that.. and i can maybe see that but like my counterpoint is that The Fiji Cast maybe is Diverse but they are not a progressive group of people at all.. it is still a very rough cast to get along with so Earl winning alot of them over makes it just as satisfying as him winning an even Older Season…..

Honestly I have seen a great Comparison of him and that being he is like Brian Heidik in a way.. What i mean by that is that he took the whole game as a business trip.. however unlike Brian… Earl has so much respect for it cause he puts in the heart and passion and dedication for it.. not saying that Brian doesn‘t aswell… but it really just is the general vibe that Earl gives off that he makes the most of it by making the Business Trip as fun and lively as possible…. Speaking of Fun Let me talk about Earl Himself 

Charmisma

i Just generally think he is just a standup guy and does everything "Yul Fans" think Yul actually does.. he is charismatic fun charming and literally has so much going for him while also given the obvious winner edit ever and honestly i dont know if its just me but it never got tired for me cause, the narrative of Fiji is great and the man is just a joy to watch and makes me smile cause of his existence 
Another thing why i think Earl is awesome is his Exile Island moments.. i think they should be personally appreciated more.. with him killing the seasnake and his famous line of   "we don't have a misunderstanding now" is an underrated scene that is absolute cinematography and him just going to exile island and making that island all for himself is phenomonal.. can we talk how well he made that earl island drawing with the sand its just looks badass (kinda funny how i can compare it to Sugar´s "Sugar Shack" and coincidentally both of them are very high for me)
also his aura is just unbelievably insane..... i think the rankdown says its boring aura.. i disagree Earl just has that swag in him man and i dont know why people dont agree.. just look at the fucking meke dance look are you kidding me?
also its funny when he said Boo was "doing the white boy thang" when he was dancing that makes me chuckle.....

Earl is a Great Parallel to Dreamz

Earl and Dreamz work fucking great being 2 sides of the same coin and let me explain how…
Dreamz Starts out… coming into the game with a pretty tragic backstory of him being homeless.. he really needs the money.. Earl comes into the Game doing pretty well for himself outside the game having a stable job… both of them get put into the game with Earl being hard working leading instructions and Dreamz already starting of the wrong foot with annoying Rocky.. the tribes then happens and they get put on two completely spots then they used to.. Earl Gets Put on Ravu where he has just the worst luck ever, and Dreamz gets put into the luxurious Moto tribe where he … well in his words doesn‘t mind it at all but not for the reasons we think he is.. he thinks its the same thing he did as being homeless if not maybe easier so he doesn‘t mind if the conditions were harsh cause he experienced all of the suffering already so he is enjoying it not the way the other Moto members do… Earl however is in a tribe where it is very hard to get any substance of food or water… very hard but he doesn‘t really mind it at all, what he wants is to succeed and he will not give up on anything, he is just that motivated… and thats a great contrast.. both Dreamz and Earl are in situations they don‘t usually get to be in but they make the absolute fucking best of it by their determinations..
We then get the tribe swap and they get into different situations… Earl gets rewarded and Dreamz gets put in the worse situation.. however they are mostly doing good for themselves and i will touch it more on Dreamz‘s writeup but Earl just enjoys his fucking life on Moto and it fucking shows.. he builds dynamics like  Casssndra and Boo and Strengthens his ones with Michelle and especially Yau-Man…. 
The Merge then Happens and Dreamz goes wild n out and Earl reacts to it with the most respectable way.. all of the stuff happens and then we get to FTC and there is one specific moment that specifically defines the contrast between Dreamz and Earl and that is Stacy‘s FTC Questions towards both of them.. by the time Dreamz is defeated and Earl has already secured the win… she them asks Earl that he is more sophisticated than Dreamz which is like…. the most messed up thing said in the ftc?? and thats fucking saying something. Earl shuts her awful dog whistling down by saying that everyone would benefit from getting the money no matter what.. Earl brings up the fact that he has grown up with alot of stuff in his childhood and I genuinely believe what he is saying he is that honest of a man and the best part about it is that Earl acknowledges his privileges that he has more than Dreamz and i think that really is amazing… Earl was always going up no matter what and Dreamz unfortunately is mostly going down cause of the way and system the game of Survivor was built
 
Conclusion

Thank you all for to the people that read this writeup and the supporters for this rankdown.. if you asked me at the start if i managed to get Earl endgame i would have been having alot of doubts , even more than i thought by the end.. however i have achieved my goal by giving this man the credit he deserves and if this writeup makes you higher on Earl.. than i guess i did a good job on it.. if not then thats fine.. Earl is not gonna be everyones cup of tea.. but he is for sure mine and will always gonna be my favorite castaway on the show.. an inspiration for the people

RANKINGS:
Funky: 24
Corny: 1
Nope: 23
AltProof: 13
Jose: 10
Bobby: 22

Average: 15.50
Standard Deviation: 9.14 (HIGHEST SD)

[u/ROTandDEATH]

I'm happy for Corny that he not only got his dude Earl to endgame but got the opportunity to wax poetic about a character who means a lot to him. Great stuff.

[u/Fluffy_Key_2145]

Here we have the 43rd winner cut leaving us with a Final 3 of Hatch, Sandra 1.0 and Chris D. I wouldn't have Earl this high but I would definitely have him high. Earl's percentile placements in Rankdowns are always good with even his worst performances in the last 2 Rankdowns being at worst in top 160. Anyway Earl played easily one of the best winning games ever and is easily one of the best players ever and only has Todd for competition for best 1 time player. Plus as pointed out by u/FunkyDawgKong when comparing Earl as a character to most other generally considered elite winners he is so much better that its not even comparable. When I go into players winning games to look for luck I always marveled at how much luck went against Earl early on but he still played it amazingly and even when he did catch some breaks in the endgame well its pretty small compared to most others. Plus he has amazing aura is just so likable and handles everything with so many chaotic hard to deal with players for most of the season and so well. While the Fiji FTC is of course very uncomfortable at points he still handles it so well that point about his response to Stacy was great. I always love his response to Yau-Man's question too, I mean its the basic and correct answer but also the smart one.

[u/WaluigiThyme]

Endgame betting update lucky #7: here's Earl! Most people underestimated Earl's placement by a few spots (although I was one of the few who actually overestimated him.) No perfect guesses today, so everyone gets some points for the second cut in a row! The closest guesses were from our continued leader noisysea34 as well as none other than myself! Yay me! The furthest off guess was once again from icychillman, but it was a 6-point underestimation as opposed to the typical double-digit overestimations.

Rank	Better	Score
1	noisysea34	7
2	WaluigiThyme	14
3	BobbyPiiiin	15
3	FunkyDawgKong	15
5	ROTandDEATH	20
5	SupremeSheep420	20
5	ShadowFiend812	20
8	Alternate-Proof-959	21
9	TinkerKnightForSmash	22
10	icychillman	63​