Day 17: Favorite Survivor Season
Survivor 39-Day Challenge
Heroes vs. Villains (2010) is my favorite season of Survivor.
One of, if not at all, the things that would make for a great Survivor season is the casting, and I think Survivor took it to heart when selecting their returnees for this tenth anniversary entry. The cast, comprising of past castaways who showcased either heroic or villainous characteristics, is gold. From there, the memorable moments came by naturally, with all the relationship dynamics plus some dumb, crazy, big moves.
It’s interesting that while the whole cast was selected by being a “hero” or a “villain” in the Survivor scheme of things, they also played up their part to this whole theme. In some ways, this season started the thematic casting based on the persona the castaways had or would exude during their time in the game. It paved the way for Brains vs. Brawn vs. Beauty, and David vs. Goliath among many other themes after Season 20.
In the end, however, regardless of whatever tag they put in a castaway in the beginning of each season, one thing remains: Survivor is the most complicated yet the best social game on television. And Heroes vs. Villains encapsulates that.
The first 20 minutes of Heroes vs. Villains was pure fire. The helicopter ride carrying the cast and panning from legend after legend would give you goosebumps as a super fan. The challenge, minutes into the game, was the highlight of them all, and every single matchup gave us memorable moments (Sandra undoing Sugar’s top, Stephenie dislocating her shoulder, Colby getting owned by Coach, Rupert getting a toe injury) which just gave this season a classic feeling from the very start.
Along the way, we’ve seen some of the fiercest rivalries form, the highlight of which was the Rob vs. Russell on the Villains camp. The power struggle between the two was great television until Rob was voted out by Russell. After that, Russell’s narrative, although he got most of the airtime, was all about how he lost the season. Too bad because prior to that, Russell made one of the greatest idol moves ever seen on the show; if only he had a decent social game.
On the Heroes side, we’ve seen a dysfunctional tribe unraveled by losing most of the earlier tribal challenges. The Cirie vs. Tom rivalry ended up with them getting voted out back to back, which took any sense of strategy out from the remaining ones. Voting out Tom over an injured James? I mean, it’s not really a surprise that JT made one of the dumbest moves in Survivor history, and everybody agreed upon that (although there were some skepticism, but still). Voting out Cirie/Tom was the Heroes demise, a dumb move in retrospect, and they didn’t realize that.
At the merge, the Yin Yang tribe fell out of balance right away. Yes, they merged with five people in each tribe, but the strategic asset leaned more towards the Villains, which culminated with Parvati making a big move by playing two idols at tribal council. Once the Villains gained the numbers, there was no turning back. Although the merge part of the season was basically a pagonging of the Heroes, the storytelling was still impeccable, thanks to the people left in the game who were amazing narrators.
The most interesting rivalry this season has produced was that between Sandra and Parvati. In the end, it was a two-horse race between the two and Sandra edged out Parvati with an amazing fourth quarter surge coupled with a flawless final tribal council performance. Russell’s social game was so bad that it took down with it Parvati’s game as well. Despite their big moves throughout the series, Sandra prevailed and proved that Survivor is first and foremost a social game.
After 40 seasons, Heroes vs. Villains now becomes an old-school season. And rightfully so as it’s the culmination of the old-school era of Survivor. This season had no crazy twists that even the super duper fan would’ve gone “huh?” (Idol nullifier, vote blocker, anyone?) No edge of extinction, so seeing favorites and legends get voted out early was more emotional. It only had hidden immunity idols and that’s it. It didn’t even have the tribal swaps which now became a staple of modern Survivor.
Heroes vs. Villains is a classic Survivor with the old school vibe to it, but at the same time gave birth to a lot of modern Survivor strategies we’re seeing today. The only thing is this is an All Stars season, so I won’t recommend this for people who are just starting to watch the show (start from Season 1, okay).
The simplicity of the season, plus the goldmine that is the cast, made this season the most beautiful of them all.
Runner-up: Survivor: Winners at War
