A Journey Through “New School” Survivor — Season 36, Survivor: Ghost Island

While there is no “official” start to the New School era, I consider its beginning to be after Heroes vs. Villains, the twentieth season of Survivor; often considered one of the best, if not the best season in Survivor history. This season has always seemed to be the “opening of the gates” to how everyone could play things strategically, even when odds are against you and numbers aren’t on your side. Nobody was simply “happy to be here” or “just wanted the experience”, everyone wanted to win and do it in a way that could put them in the pantheon of Survivor legend status. And with that, the old school survival and social experiences of the show took a back seat to hardcore and fast paced strategy that defines the new school era.

And with that, I continue my journey with Survivor: Ghost Island. Since I took a break from watching Survivor when it aired pretty much after HvV, I’m coming into most of the seasons completely fresh without knowledge of what happens (with a few exceptions of one or two seasons I have watched before and a couple more seasons where I have knowledge of who the winner is already). I will start each article with a spoiler-free review of the season for people who stumble upon my little write-up here and haven’t seen the season yet and want to watch still. After that, I will go into an in-depth analysis of the season’s strategy and entertainment through the vessel of awards and superlatives.

Survivor: Ghost Island — The Spoiler Free Review

The 36th iteration of Survivor is a season built for the superfan. 20 castaways come out to Fiji to compete for a million dollars with the mysterious Ghost Island looming in the distance, looking for people to “reverse the curse”. As the season loves to remind you, castaways go to Ghost Island and are presented with advantages that are the relics from seasons past, from people who couldn’t use them correctly, to be used again. It’s cool as a fan of the show to see things like the idol from China that James left with in his pocket, or the immunity necklace that Erik gave away in Fans vs. Favorites. Unfortunately the season leaves a lot to be desired not because of idols or advantages, but because we don’t really see them used that much.

With such a large cast, it’s a bit disappointing that Survivor: Ghost Island lacked big plays. Because of how the game was stacking up after the first few episodes, it became really easy for players to sit back and ride the numbers. It’s not that players weren’t trying: it was just safer to sit back and let things follow their path. While it means we lose a lot of promising castaways simply due to being in the minority, it also let a few good players shine. If there’s something good to come out of a low-blindside season, its that you end with the players who really were the best throughout the season still standing during crunch time.

RATING: 2 OUT OF 5 STARS

A fairly boring season with few moments that will exist in the greater Survivor universe.

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AWARDS AND SUPERLATIVES

(Here on out it’s spoilers)

Ten Best Moments from the Season

10. Michael Tries His Best with James’s Idol from China

When a tribe swap left all original Malolo members in a minority on their new tribes and original Naviti content to stay aligned together, it was looking like promising Malolo players like Michael, Stephanie, Brenden, and Jenna would be picked off one by one. The one lifeline the four had before tribal council was the idol Michael found just a few days earlier. Michael pulled it out at tribal council to make the cocky Naviti alliance leader Bradley sweat. While Brenden still ended up going home as Michael played his idol on Stephanie, it was a valiant effort to shake up the game and Michael earned his due respect.

9. Chris and Dom’s Rivalry

The original Naviti was one tight knit group, expect for the two big dogs from the tribe: Chris and Dom. From day one the two were threatened by each other’s aggressive gameplay and blinded by their own big egos, and gunned for each other relentlessly.

8. Wendell Loses Immunity Because He Doesn’t Call for Jeff

When you win the challenge but you don’t tell anyone you win… Wendell beats out Laurel in the immunity challenge puzzle, but instead of screaming for Jeff to check he steps back and admires his work first. If you snooze you lose.

7. Bradley is Blindsided

Early on in the season, Bradley had built quite the reputation around camp for being a whiny little dick. Maloloans hated him. Navitians were annoyed but didn’t want to shake the numbers. Because of that Bradley felt very comfortable in his alliance, thinking he was playing an “A+ game” despite the self-awareness that he could be “a little impatient”. It all went south for him after the second tribe swap, where his awful personality led Domenick to cut him loose before the merge, much to Bradley’s surprise.

6. Wendell and Dom Talk Smack to Each Other in an Immunity Challenge

It’s all love at the “torture device” endurance immunity challenge between allies Dominick and Wendell as they battle it out for immunity together after a twist splits the merge tribe into two groups for tribal. The playful banter encapsulates the bromance the two had throughout the season as they ran the show from start to finish.

5. Chis Noble is Voted Out

The first part of the season is very much dominated by the enormous ego of Chris, the male model and self-professed mastermind of the game. From day one he targeted Domenick, and it all came to a head at the merge when the two could finally take a shot at each other. While Chris thought he was setting up to get his rival out, nobody really wanted to work with him and in the end Dom got his way.

4. Desiree’s Blindside is Thwarted by Laurel

Of the “Naviti Strong” alliance that dominated the game, the only one to really try to make a move to break it up was Desiree, who approached the Malolo minority with a plan to pull off a big blindside on “glue girl” Kellyn. What she didn’t know is that Laurel had been stealthily aligned herself with Dom and Wendell, and after deliberation she chose to leak the traitorous plan to her two main guys. While Desiree tried to clean up the mess, it was too much to overcome and she was voted out by her own alliance. It was the only true threat of a momentum flip that kept Naviti on their toes.

3. Wendell and Dom Pull out all their “Bling”, Bamboozle Sebastian

Fearing that he would have to use his idol in the final six, which would leave him vulnerable in the final five, Domenick pulled out the fake idol he had gained to pull a bluff with gusto, as he did his best to intimidate the other players, especially Sebastian and his extra vote, from putting the votes on him in a crucial time. Wendell joined Dom in the power play, and their combined jewelry was enough to rattle the surfer bro Sebastian into backing out of his plan and instead be voted out himself.

2. Angela Swallowing a Sea Slug Whole at the Eating Challenge

Very few things in Survivor have impressed me more than Angela taking an incredibly gross looking sea slug, about the size of a hot dog, and swallowing it whole in an eating immunity challenge that she would go on to win. I simply don’t know how that could fit in a person’s throat. I don’t really know how to talk about this any further. It felt like I was watching something scandalously inhuman and I mean that as a compliment. Angela wasn’t a hall-of-fame level player, but this specific challenge is a hall-of-fame performance.

1. The Final Tribal Council and the First Ever Tied Jury Vote

Because of how dominant the Naviti tribe was and how late the Naviti players waited to take a shot at the perceived strongest players of the season, we end up at the final tribal council in a rare position where the three best players sitting at the end really are the three best players of the season. The sheer sameness of Dom and Wendell’s well-played games treats us to a legitimate fight for the million between the two for the jury’s vote, and ends in the first ever tie, leaving Laurel to make the deciding vote. The suspense of that is adequate payoff for the lack of big moves from others who let them get to that position.

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All-Survivor Teams: Outwit and Outplay

Similar to the All-NBA teams, the section awards five contestants who did the best in the season, separated by Outwit (for best strategic play) and Outplay (most entertaining to watch)

2 men, 2 women, and a wildcard spot for each team

All-Outwit Team

Dom — From start to finish, Domenick proved that he worked the hardest to secure his future in the game. He made connections with people that allowed him to dictate the vote and he found immunity idols to give him security in case of a blindside. He made fake idols to throw people off his scent, and used a “real” fake idol to great success in the final six. His only flaw was that he was too “game-focused” and his overboard intensity compared to Wendell’s level-headedness in the eyes of his allies may have lost him the million.

Wendell — Actively wanting to be his true self, Wendell looked to play the social game just as much, if not more, than the strategic. He tried to build bonds with people in the camp life, and his alliance with Domenick, Laurel, and Donathan held strong from the tribe swap when it formed to the end of the game. While from an outsider perspective it looked like Dom was calling all the shots Wendell had just as much say in votes, and he carried himself in a calm and collected manner.

Laurel — She excelled at playing the middle between the Malolo minority and her alliance with Dom and Wendell, highlighted by blowing up what could have been a game-changing blindside when Desiree decided to flip sides. She reached the end with her true alliance and carefully thought out every move she was going to (or more importantly, NOT going to) make. The obvious flaw to her season is while she did make the end, everyone saw her as third to Dom and Wendell and were confused as to why she continually backed up two people who were front-running the whole game.

Kellyn — The gut-truster of Ghost Island, Kellyn was a key piece of the Naviti alliance that held so much power in the season. She had Chelsea, Angela, and Desiree as her numbers for the first two-thirds of the game and held the most say in the vote-outs behind Dom and Wendell. She simply trusted her gut for too long and let Dom and Wendell use their alliance with Donathan and Laurel to swing the votes against her.

Michael — Of the Malolo tribe members who did not have a secret cross-tribe alliance, Michael did the most with limited cards. He found two idols and successfully played one, and the threat of him having a third idol was so high for Kellyn in the split tribal council that she used her extra vote advantage to hedge her bets and vote Laurel twice. He played hard and got respect for it.

All-Outplay Team

Dom — He was a performer as a Survivor player, albeit sometimes a corny one. And in a season with a low amount of performance plays it gave plenty of room for Dom to dominate (no pun intended) the screen as this season’s mastermind.

Wendell — He just gives off the vibes that he could be your best friend. An incredibly likable guy who brought spice to the camp life and had a top-tier voting booth confessional complaining about Chris’s rapping.

Laurel — Her intelligence made her fun to watch, despite the fact that she backed off of trying a blindside of Dom and Wendell despite continually saying that she should.

Stephanie — She gets the Malolan participation trophy for people on the Malolo tribe who did not have a secret alliance with Navitians. She was off to a great start as the castaway moving the chess pieces on her tribe from the shadows, for the sake of showing her kids how strong she could be. Then the tribe swap hit and everything was ruined.

Chris — The aura of Chris Noble brought plenty of juice to the pre-merge. It’s always funny seeing someone who thinks himself a superstar at Survivor while everyone else is just waiting for their chance to vote him out. But he has his redeeming qualities: he was great in the challenges, he’s vain but he is definitely being himself, and he overcame adversity in his past with the death of his mother. His rivalry with Dominick was the big storyline of the season (other than Malolo getting destroyed) until he was “blindsided” by the whole tribe at the merge. Let us not forget the audacity of starting the pre-tribal scramble by grabbing EVERYONE ON THE TRIBE except Dom and Wendell for a meeting at the well to plan Dom’s demise.

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The Wallflower Award for Most Forgettable Player: Chelsea

A casualty of being the least interesting member of a large, dominant alliance is never getting screen time or confessionals. As a consolation prize she won a couple immunity challenges, so good for her.

Foulest Move: Smashing an Urn at Ghost Island to Learn That You Will Get Nothing

By far the least satisfying part of the twist this season was seeing people going to Ghost Island desperate for a lifeline, and the urn they smash has a note telling you that you get nothing (and a condescending one at that!). What a letdown that must be.

The Idiot Award: Bradley

The worst thing that can happen to you in Survivor is getting voted out by your own alliance over someone they have no plans to work with. It happened to Patrick last season: this season it happened to Bradley. While Bradley was in a good position holding the “Naviti strong” mantra, he was a whiny little bitch that annoyed people so much that his own allies were completely OK voting him out just to make their lives more pleasant around camp.

The Reverse the Curse Award (Biggest Curse Reversed): The Stick I Guess

Because of the Ghost Island theme, Jeff and the castaways were forced at gunpoint to work the phrase “Reverse the Curse” into their vernacular as much as possible. It was mainly used in reference to the failed idol/vote relics that reentered play for the season. Funnily enough most of these relics did not get used or were used incorrectly, but Michael did make a good move playing the “Stick Idol” that Ozzy made in Fans vs. Favorites at the tribal council where he was going to be voted out. So I guess at least one curse was reversed.

The Kellyn’s Gut Award (Gutsiest Gut): Kellyn

I’ve never seen a player more adamantly declare that she would play not with her head, not with her heart, but with her gut all season. While listening to your gut seemed to work out well for Kellyn when making monumental life decisions like getting a divorce or going to grad school, her gut did not tell her to blindside Wendell or Dom until it was impossible to do so. So for Survivor, I’d recommend using your head sometimes, or maybe listening to your liver or pancreas instead of something as anatomically vague as a gut.

Most “Extra” Strategic Move: Domenick Making a Fake Idol to Fool Chris into Thinking He Has an Idol, But He Really Does Have an Idol, and Telling People He Told Chris He Had an Idol But It’s a Fake Idol

I’m still confused as to why Domenick opted to make it complicated… Chris is against Dom and he suspects he has an idol, so Dom makes a fake one to show him and “build trust”, and tells others that he showed Chris a fake idol to put heat on Chris? But he has a real idol at this point so Chris is right? And I thought we saw a shot of Dom showing Chris the idol note as a way of confirming the idol he is showing Chris was real? And why would anyone just assume a man who makes a fake idol to fool someone could never have found the real idol already? What’s the point of all this from Dom? Just hold strong in saying you don’t have an idol instead of doing some complex strategic move to reinforce that you are playing hard to people.

The Brandon Hantz Memorial “She’s a Parvati” Award: Libby

Just goes to show that life is harder when you are attractive. And how much of a Survivor icon Parvati is when players 16 seasons later use your name as a player archetype for attractive women with a strong manipulative social game. Or in the case of Libby, attractive women who show the capacity for average human intelligence. The Navitians saw Libby as a big threat, much to Libby’s surprise who didn’t understand why she was getting all these votes at tribal councils.

Most Confusing Celebration of Personal Achievement: Donathan Diving Down Eight Feet in the Water to Pull the Lever after Resting for 15 Minutes and Watching James Struggle

I just found it odd how it was so celebrated that Donathan went back into the water to pull a lever that was eight feet underwater after just assuming he could not do it and letting his tribemate James flounder in the water for a while. Was it playing into the stereotype that the scrawny gay kid would be bad at challenges? Even Donathan said in the confessional after the challenge that he was a competent swimmer. I just found it to be weird lorebuilding from Survivor here.

Untapped Potential Award: Stephanie (and Malolo in General)

Yes, I am once again asking for justice for Malolo. The entire tribe was doomed by an unlucky random tribe swap. I found Stephanie to be the player that was most screwed over by the direction of the season. Jenna and Michael also got screwed. Even Donathan and Laurel got screwed, because they played themselves into a corner where the only way forward was succumbing to Naviti pressure. Laurel chose to lean into it while Donathan tried and failed to cause chaos at the end once he realized how there was no way for him to get to the final three.

On a scale of one to ten, how much did the winner deserve the win?

7/10

The question is not if Wendell deserved to win (he did), but if he deserved to win over Domenick. If we look from a purely strategic perspective, Domenick led the strategy of the two. Wendell told the jury that he let Dom be the vocal leader of the duo as a strategy to let Dom make the enemies, but the downside of that is that from the outside Domenick gets the credit for the gameplay moves. That’s why I found it so interesting how the jury votes ended up split: the five votes for Dom were the three minority Malolans, Chris who actively played against Dom, and Desiree who chose to flip sides. The five votes for Wendell were the Naviti numbers Kellyn, Chelsea, Sebastian, Angela, and Malolo transplant Donathan. What it points to is the sway that Wendell had within the majority, and in a way also points to the weaknesses of Dom who couldn’t get a single vote from the people he played the whole game with. The social game truly mattered here as Dom’s game-bot heavy style didn’t play as well to his allies as Wendell’s more laid-back social based game.

Who should be back for a….

Heroes vs Villains Season

Heroes: Laurel — The one Malolo player left standing who played her heart out to reach the end.

Villains: Chris — As a player his ego made him the obvious villain of the season

All-Stars/Fans v Favorites Season

Domenick — He had the best strategy of the season, but his social game was lacking. Can he learn from his mistakes in a second season?