S39 was like, “hey, it’s the peak of the Me Too movement, let’s cast this Dan Schneider type LA creep and not do anything when female cast members complain. We’re a social experiment!”
To be fair, this is the way they normally operated. They'd cast 2 opposite people and watch the drama unfold. They knew and expected Dan to be very touchy. They expected Kellee to be annoyed and off put by it. 15 years ago, it would have been played for laughs or edited out completely like with Bob. I'm thinking Kellee or someone in production brought up the metoo movement and they realized they messed up by not stepping in sooner. Quite a few players have stated production was very misleading in the edit to make it seem like they were more competent than they were. Players claim they didn't get a talk like the one described by the show. The Dan incident that got him ejected was viewed as BS to get rid of Dan and eliminate any chance he wins the season. Oh and supposedly the whole confessional of a producer asking Kellee if she wanted them to say something was filmed after she was voted out. Production was even more incompetent than people already believed.
I think they felt that if someone was a massive problem they would just be voted out. Extremely naive on their end and you can tell they freaked the fuck out when it looked like he might win
I saw Ciries elimination coming a 100 miles away. It made me sick knowing she was going home by default. She was the last person left in the game I cared about. After that I was apathetic about the finale and it was already clear to me that Sarah was winning based on her edit.
The only Survivor Game Changers that I watch these days are the Survivor based episodes of a game show called Game Changer. (they did it twice, a two parter with 7 people, only 3 of whom had ever seen survivor, and in a later season a 4 part special called Battle Royale where they had 10 people competing with a little more knowledge of what the heck was going on, and invited a bunch of guests to help commentate challenges, including Rick Devens)
Game Changers was fine outside of the Zeke incident. Its weird to me that people wanna watch Ozzie and Malcolm puff their chest for 39 days. I was so glad they went early. You can hate Sarah all you want, but she pulled so many entertaining moves.
I still dont get why she was ever a villain. She literally did nothing except crush on colby in Autralian Outback (which half of the people watching were also doing at the time!)
It was so depressing seeing Kellee getting voted out, Jamal getting screwed by a stupid twist and Janet being treated horribly to almost the point of quitting. At least Karishma got a victorious idol play after being bullied.
S39 was handled so poorly I can’t believe the show survived. Putting the responsibility on Kellee to ask to remove someone from a million dollar game while she’s starving and also concerned about player reactions when they already have camera evidence of her asking for it to stop and it continuing, then she gets voted out with him cheering, he eventually gets removed without the players knowing why, and they give her 0 warning that any of it will air and she’s suddenly thrust into a national spotlight she didn’t ask for. Horribly managed at all levels
I genuinely believe the show might've gotten cancelled by now if not for WAW being the very next season with the hype already flowing at the time of s39's merge episode. That followed by the pandemic introducing a ton of new people to the show is probably what saved it.
I totally don’t condone Dan and 100% support Kellee. But I feel like producers have to also be careful to not remove players too quickly, or else some people might use it as a loophole to eliminate others. Imagine if someone said “this guy just flashed his ass at me, I want him removed”. Producers have to obviously set some threshold for removing a player. Keep in mind the show had a long history of tolerating things that would be considered sexual harassment today. Producers thought it was funny for Hatch to walk around naked, but you’d be arrested for doing that in real life
I really think redemption Island was set up for Rob to finally get his first win. They put him on a tribe with some of the dumbest people I have ever seen on Survivor in my life, and it was almost as if they go as a group was to make sure he won.
I've always wondered what if Russell and Rob drew opposite buffs than they did with Rob being on Zapatera and Russell being on Omoetepe, what would have happened differently? I think they way the Zapatera tribe reacted to seeing Rob come off the helicopter as opposed to Russell, I don't think they would have thrown a challenge to get rid of Rob like they did with Russell. Even though Omoetepe had Grant and Matt and Andrea was pretty strong in challenges, Zapatera had more strength when it came to challenges and if they had Rob instead of Russell, they would have dominated. I just don't know if Omoetepe would have thrown a challenge to get rid of Russell. I also wonder what it would have been like if Russell and Philip were on the same tribe. He definitely would have alligned with Natalie and Ashley and Francessca and Christine would have seen right through him right away, but Philip would have probably still done the same thing he did in the first episode and Francessca would have still been the first boot
My personal choice for the most depressing season would be Survivor: South Pacific (S23). The whole cult thing left a sour taste in my mouth and nothing about that season played out as satisfying
I felt bad for Bhanu, but he is not meant for Survivor. Not only is the man completely unable to lie, he always offers 100% of the truth, even when it's not asked for. It's one thing to not have a poker face, but you don't have to spill your guts and offer every tidbit of information you have stored in your brain at every opportunity!
I think the best contrast is episode 1 Bhanu, when he's actually not a target and in on the plan. He's moderately composed and has some sense of the game. Nobody bullied Bhanu on the tribe or outcasted him, and he was higher on the pecking order than two other castmates. Bhanu's problem is that the moment he thought he was in danger, he fell entirely apart. He seems like a great guy, I just can't imagine him being good at social strategy without someone else making all the plans and telling him what to do
@@alexhirsch5738bhanu does not seem like a great guy. he seems like his heart is in the right place, but he has zero control over his emotions. He is far too intense for me to want to be around
I feel like Survivor (and most reality shows) try to let the players self police. They have the logic of "if some one is problematic than everyone will just vote them off" and while that may have worked 10 years ago when the game was more "honest" but the "meta" and player knowledge levels have advanced so far that any degree of advantage will be sized. In today's reality everyone is willing to "cheat" so cheaters have to be kept out rather than hoping they are the outliers. Dan and to a lesser degree Colton showed that players will not police themselves and predators will take advantage
What gets me about season 39 is that it was actually going pretty well. The pre merge was solid and things were ramping up go be pretty exciting. Then the merge episode hit us all like a truck and the season fell off a cliff into hell. Even throughout the episode you think everyone's gonna do the right thing and vote out Dan, but then they don't and it just keeps getting worse. Never have I gotten such whiplash from a season of Survivor!
Just as any large pizza is better than the personal small one, I prefer all of the seasons before and including 40 over the short ones. The short ones added "twists" that turn the game into one that is more chance than skill. Due to inflation, the top reward of the season will be twelve decent size fish instead of ten.
@@mariosin3256 Yeah that matches up exactly lol I didn’t think of it like that right away. Only difference is Paul did bad jury management/and had a very salty jury who didn’t want to give him the win.
Idk who has the worst luck at being on Mediocre seasons. Shii-Ann (Thailand and All-Stars) or Andrea (Redemption Island Caramoan and Game Changers). And both are two of my favorite players in the series
Samoa would've been so much better if it wasn't edited to seem like a 39 day long promo for Russell's upcoming HvV appearance, because we had the people like Dave Ball and Shambo, who had potential to be great characters, Russell Swan as this hero who gave so much in the game that it took him out, Brett being the comp beast that falls just short of what would've been a winning season for him, and ending the story with Russell, who was so confident he was going to win, having his epic downfall at the hands of the sweet Southern belle in Natalie
I'm so glad I got through that one early on. I'm at the beginning of nicaragua, and despite all the crazy things I've heard about it, so far everything has been uphill from Thailand.
Hot take: Winners at War is in my top 5 of seasons. The theme of this season naturally causes problem. Theoretically, it should be great, but I'll explain what I witnessed, and why I have this opinion. There are "good" winners, and "great" winners. Sometimes this difference is subjective. In S40 nearly all of the "great" winners were voted out early/pre-merge. This left post-merge with 1 "great" winner to outplay all others, only to dominate the rest of the game. The winner of this season was ultimately, annoyingly predictable. This is a natural result and formula to an all winners season, imo. At the very least, I wanted 1 winner and his/her alliance to face up against another winner and his/her alliance, with some back-to-back rivalry. I'm not sure that could happen in a season like this.
Really was not a very strategic season, Sarah and Ben were Tony’s minions straight up, EOE was worse than it was originally and the amateur gameplay from Nick specifically really dragged the endgame strategy
39 was the first season where I spoiled myself with who won because I hated the Final 3 so much. I'd add Game Changers as a dishonorable mention (even though I think it had a deserving winner and some good parts) because: 1) The Zeke and Varner situation 2) Advantageddon screwing Cirie 3) The Malcolm tribal. Freaking JT.
Yes to this top 3. 👏 Honestly when I clicked to watch, my first thought was Thailand as #1 and then I thought "I'm sure there are worse." but... not really, for exactly what you said! 😂 I totally agree with the top 3 and why on all counts - I love the *cast* of All Stars and MOMENTS in All Stars, but I remember how deeply depressing it was to watch the first time, and even on rewatches, it still feels depressingly dark and bitter, and I think you articulated why. It should've been way more fun but instead it was just angry and uncomfortable. 😅 And I absolutely hate how ugly/bitter so many of them got, and how Jerri was booed on the Reunion. The only time I have genuinely wanted to quit watching Survivor forever was the moment Kellee was voted out instead of Dan (with his snide comments as she was voted out). I was sick to my stomach, so emotional, and lost so much faith in the show, Jeff, and the producers as a whole. At least it was ultimately handled better(ish?) than Ted/Ghandia and Sue/Richard, but still incredibly grossly disappointing. Absolutely the top 3 most depressing seasons. 👍 I won't even rewatch Thailand because it's just so awful. 😅
Yeah. Love them or hate them, players like Hatch, Lex, Big Tom, and Boston Rob were big personalities that were, if nothing else, fun to watch. And then on All-Stars they all turned into a bunch of toxic fools. And players like Tina and Rudy and Colby and Rob C. kind of go out like chumps which was just sad and depressing. And Sue was made out to look like a bitter whiner when she quit. And though her personality kind of lent itself to that, she was absolutely done wrong, so her exit felt really icky. So glad Heroes vs. Villains came along and redeemed the concept of an All-Stars style season.
41 depressed me because I realized the show no longer felt like Survivor…and this is after a recent binge because I had not seen the majority of the show until this year. I really really don’t like season 41 and by the time my wife and I got to 44 we lost our taste for the show.
I felt the same way, after Winners at War and then a year of no Survivor, I felt let down by 41, but I wanted to keep watching and I'm so glad I did! It definitely got better with 45 being my favorite of the new era!
A different time hardcore Boomers and Gen X who were pull up your bootstraps and we want NASTY back then. The change millennials gave the United States is subtle but profound.
Rob was entertaining to watch on season 22, especially when he faked a bum tum to look for the idol. I just personally prefer seasons that are competitive and there are multiple genuine contenders for the title of sole survivor; seasons like MvG or DvG.
Thailand is truly just like watching the villain be HANDED a victory on a silver platter. So unpleasant to watch.... Also, if I was Rob or Sandra I certainly wouldn't want to be associated with season 39.... if anyone asked I would just lie!
Funny that season 22 was the first one listed it's actually one of my favorite seasons because it's the Boston Rob show, also have find myself saying I love that all stars define that two of my literal favorites are on your most depressing is interesting
The first All-Stars for me was more disappointing than depressing, which is why I rank it lower than Island of the Idols. With what happened with Sue, Ghandia, and Courtney, CBS should have anticipated the worst when it comes to harassment. Yet, they didn't and provided half-hearted excuses for their severe oversight. Thailand is still number one. Brian, for me, is the worst winner of Survivor. The audience's reaction to Jerri during the reunion was horrific to watch then and now. Survivor has yet to edit the female competitors with the same thought and care as the male competitors. Producers framed her as some femme fatale when really she was a woman who didn't take crap and stood up for herself (and had one instance of googly eyes for overrated Colby). Your video even noted that the women on Survivor: Redemption Idol were practically invisible. Nonetheless, I'm glad Jerri received a version of a redemption arc in Heroes vs. Villains. 2000s era survivor really leaves something to be desired in many regards.
As bad as the whole Brandon vs Phillip was... I have to give some props to Brandon and production for that not to devolve into a full on fist fight that ended up in Phillip getting medevacked that he probably deserved.
Put Game Changers on here over RI and this is a perfect list. You have the horrific Varner situation, along with the frustrating Cirie and Sarah non-transferable debacle. Plus the fact that the entire second half is like a new season with how invisible all of them were in the premerge. Just one of the least satisfying seasons overall.
This whole season is filled with people who shouldn’t be there. Everyone from Jalensky to Banu and now Q who wanted to quit. These people should just stick to watching it
How everyone treated Jenna while she was trying to quit was disgusting. I lost all respect for most of that cast right there. Funny how Boston Rob of all people was the voice of reason there.
Philip said verbatim on Survivor POC round table that RHAP posted that Redemption Island was rigged for Rob to win and when he brought that up to the producers they told him "well what are YOU going to do about it". And that's when he began gunning for runner up for that $100k.
My top 5: 5. Edge of extinction- The season overall wasnt too bad, but the finale made me sad. Chris comes back and wins making the whole season feel pointless. The way the jury treated Gavin was unfair. They either were bitter he outlasted them or didnt even get to play with him and voted for someone the knew. I just felt empty afterwards. I view it as the worst season. 4. Thailand- Yea it was just unlikable people. I didnt mind a Brian win cuz he deserved it, but it wasnt exactly a happy ending either. 3. Game Changers- I was so much more disappointed with this than All Stars. All the people we wanted to see win (aside from Cirie) were gone by the merge. The way she went out was also disappointing. The Varner and Zeke moment also put a damper on the season. 2. Island of the idols- You covered it well. 1. South Pacific- Ive come around to liking this season than I did when it aired, but its still depressing. Coachran is bullied by his tribe. Coach essentially starts a cult and they control the game by using religion in a very uncomfortable way. People were nasty to each other. Also it featured Jack and Jill.
i only made it to all stars in my “rewatching all the old seasons” binge and hearing you call it depressing just made it click in my brain why i stopped. def need to just skip and go to the next one lol
Finished RI just yesterday and... personally I don't think that it's THAT bad (the biggest minus is basically zapatera messing up entire tribe game for their wishes). But I totally understand why a lot of fans hate it...
I think it had a lot to do with people watching it as it came out, nowadays you can binge watch it but we had like 13 weeks of predictable eliminations where the people on top were unlikable and the people on the bottom had 0 power and 0 success in flipping
I actually have All Stars as my number one all time favorite season. A hot take as well you could say, but I loved how much Rob and Amber completely changed the dynamic of the game forever onward. It really set the tone for how committed one's gameplay has to be in order to avoid getting voted off. It sucks though that Lex was the main victim of it. I also loved how real it felt when it came to the consequences of Rob's actions striking back at final tribal, especially with Kathy's wonderful jury speech (and I love that she still voted for him after all that).
Rob was like an attack helicopter. Loud and guns blazing. Amber was the stealth bomber. Attacking but being able to stay off the radar. Only Shii Ann spotted her.
Hard disagree, Rob C got a completely underwhelming edit, Big Tom, Rupert and Jenna were bordering on allergic to strategy. We had Sue’s quit after being sexually groped during a challenge and the entire Chapera tribe insulting her decision to quit.
If a big brother version is made, I would have bb24 at number 1. The Paloma situation sucks all the fun out of that season really quickly and despite the good outcome that is Taylor hale winning, it is so clear that nobody on that season is having fun, which makes it so that the path to that outcome makes for such a dreadful miserable viewing experience. Big Brother 24 is the most depressing big brother season imo
uses racism to get everyone to hate a guy in the house even if slightly justified but it was depressing for me. It did feel like the 'backlash' season where some people got paranoid about a racial alliance it made things cringe.
@@Ruddline Uh what? Paloma was the one who started the hate train by convincing everyone to shun Taylor for reasons I still don't fully understand, and Daniel and Nicole had no problem falling right in line and continuing that, although to Nicole's credit, she's since admitted she was in the wrong and apologized to Taylor
Before I clicked on this video, I said "so Thailand's on here." Glad I'm not the only one who can't stomach this season. But I also have a hard time rewatching One World and Worlds Apart.
I would have to put One World in there. Probably my most hated season of all time. Nearly made me stop watching, it was boring the whole way through and the only thing used to be "entertainment" was Colton and Alicia being the absolute worst people in the world. They were so excruciatingly horrible.i almost turned it off mid episode.
Ngl, when I first saw All Stars, I was just bored most of the time, and I had already been spoiled about the Shian immunity win, so I stayed bored or annoyed during the whole thing. How did Rob control two whole seasons of survivor?
I would add one world in the mix. I have only just made it through watching it. I tried watching it years ago, probably around the time it aired. It was so bad it was the season that put me off watching survivor until season 40 was announced and then i had to catch up the missing years.
In New Zealand, not sure why but randomly both Thailand and Amazon aired at the same time on different channels (I think the networks had rights to different seasons). I unfortunately backed the wrong horse and watched Thailand over Amazon.
Your list is great and it kind of highlights something I have felt for a while, IMO it is not a surprise to me that 2 of the 5 seasons you listed feature Andrea Boehlke (and she also did her best to ruin Game Changers), she is the best example of the worst kind of Survivor player; the player 100% clued in to the social games of everyone and 100% TERRIFIED of being voted off. Players like Andrea attach themselves to the tribe's dominant player, feed that player 100% accurate intel about the tribe's other good players, and one-be-one the handful of good players are systematically eliminated, leaving behind one good player and a bunch of empty husks playing scared. Zeke is another good example of this type of player. Survivor doesn't need to mess with the format too much, they just need to figure out how to identify the Andreas/Zekes and not cast them. Also, I 100% agree with you on All-Stars, when I recently did a re-watch of all the old seasons the only season I skipped was All-Stars, for all the reasons you mentioned (and a few others) that season is just terrible, brutal to watch, and I will probably never watch it again.
If someone from the future showed us Season 46 ten years ago, we would've thought we were watching skits from SNL. This iteration of Survivor is not progress, it's parody, poorly applied.
For me all-stars is the most depressing season. Jenna's quit is sad to watch as is, but everyone except Rob and Amber being rude to her about it is what really makes it awful. Combine that with the scenes of Sue processing everything while everyone except Alicia makes fun of her and then the eventual quit, its incredibly melancholy. And if that wasn't enough, seeing how Amber is treated for her win still just makes it a hard watch.
I was under the impression Sue was a professional reality tv actor? she was also on the Cannonball Run reality tv/competition show which, iirc, was heavily scripted. So when I saw her blow up on Survivor, I assumed it was the producers and her trying to boost ratings.
Ima say something … AND DONT GET MAD AT ME … but Season 40 Winners at War. One of the most hyped seasons of reality television ever and it was just so disappointing, abysmal boot order, unfun twists, Sandra and Ben quitting, another season of people mindlessly refusing to vote Tony out, just a mess
To be fair, Sandra wasn't really a quit, because she did get voted out, and apparently her haters have a better opinion of her challenge skills than she does, because she knew there was absolutely no way she would win any sort of challenge to get back in, and she never liked the EoE twist in the first place
I wouldn’t put all stars at depressing let alone top 3 yes shit happened but i was entertained no disrespect to anyone the episodes are entertaining not depress at all, all the ego the drama ( excluding Sue) actually made the show entertaining. It was chaotic, it was a shitshow but it was super fun.
To me, 39, 41,42,43,44 are really bad. I finally had enough and decided to quit watching. I'm not watching current season, I decided to watch Australian survivor and ohh boy it was so good..
How is S30 Worlds Apart not on this list? Cast does not gel, some really unlikeable characters like Dan, those that are likeable are actually boring/forgettable in retrospect, some awful moments (eg. involving Shirin), and a dull endgame where the winner wins out. I can never rewatch this, ever.
Im not survived at all that thailand is 1. I watched up until Shii Ann (spelling?) got screwed. After she left i didnt care about ANY of the other people afterwards. Only season i skipped so far.
Still haven't hit play in the vid, but I bet All-Stars is here. Or at least I hope it is, it's such a miserable season imo. No one's having fun (with the exception of Rob and Amber, but only with each other) and the mood after every boot is very dark. Not a fun season imo.
Great list. I'm with you on four of the five. I wouldn't include Caramoan because I put it in that same "entertaining disaster" category as say, a Gabon. I could see replacing it with South Pacific since the religious manipulation was so gross but I'd put Edge of Extinction on the list. Not just because Devens lost or because someone on the edge won but because it feels like 90% of the season is utterly pointless. You can't be invested in players. You can't even read the edit. It's just here's a bunch of stuff that happened but who cares because this dude you barely even saw won. EoE isn't a great season but it still feels like better editing could have made it palatable.
S39 was like, “hey, it’s the peak of the Me Too movement, let’s cast this Dan Schneider type LA creep and not do anything when female cast members complain. We’re a social experiment!”
To be fair, this is the way they normally operated. They'd cast 2 opposite people and watch the drama unfold. They knew and expected Dan to be very touchy. They expected Kellee to be annoyed and off put by it. 15 years ago, it would have been played for laughs or edited out completely like with Bob. I'm thinking Kellee or someone in production brought up the metoo movement and they realized they messed up by not stepping in sooner. Quite a few players have stated production was very misleading in the edit to make it seem like they were more competent than they were. Players claim they didn't get a talk like the one described by the show. The Dan incident that got him ejected was viewed as BS to get rid of Dan and eliminate any chance he wins the season. Oh and supposedly the whole confessional of a producer asking Kellee if she wanted them to say something was filmed after she was voted out. Production was even more incompetent than people already believed.
It was obviously an exploitive move 100%
I think they felt that if someone was a massive problem they would just be voted out. Extremely naive on their end and you can tell they freaked the fuck out when it looked like he might win
Now, y’all gonna use Schneider as a catch -all? 😭
So gross how Jeri was treated at that all stars reunion. I would hope today in 2024 that wouldn’t happen
Game Changers was very depressing to me ; the actual game changers being voted off early, the Zeke Varner situation + Cirie’s elimination
Agreed
I refuse to acknowledge game changers existed as a season. Felt like an AI generated version of survivor
I saw Ciries elimination coming a 100 miles away. It made me sick knowing she was going home by default. She was the last person left in the game I cared about. After that I was apathetic about the finale and it was already clear to me that Sarah was winning based on her edit.
The only Survivor Game Changers that I watch these days are the Survivor based episodes of a game show called Game Changer.
(they did it twice, a two parter with 7 people, only 3 of whom had ever seen survivor, and in a later season a 4 part special called Battle Royale where they had 10 people competing with a little more knowledge of what the heck was going on, and invited a bunch of guests to help commentate challenges, including Rick Devens)
Game Changers was fine outside of the Zeke incident. Its weird to me that people wanna watch Ozzie and Malcolm puff their chest for 39 days. I was so glad they went early. You can hate Sarah all you want, but she pulled so many entertaining moves.
Finding out Bhanu is a professional actor who worked with Rick Astley once was wild
Who is Rick Astley?
@@teamsteed1he gave u up didn't he
@@teamsteed1 you really gave up on him didn’t you?
@@teamsteed1 He's the one who gave up on you
my mother said bhanu is like a bad actor, i can see it now
Jerri is an icon, history has proved that leaving that Reunion show was the best thing she could've done. ❤
A little fast and loose with the word "icon" aren't you?
I still dont get why she was ever a villain. She literally did nothing except crush on colby in Autralian Outback (which half of the people watching were also doing at the time!)
@@LivTheSlayer probably because she's a whiner.
Definitely my favorite player from that era of survivor
@@chrissalem3747 i mean maybe, but if that were why most people saw her a villain, I think at least half of the players would be seen as villains
It was so depressing seeing Kellee getting voted out, Jamal getting screwed by a stupid twist and Janet being treated horribly to almost the point of quitting.
At least Karishma got a victorious idol play after being bullied.
it's even more depressing knowing that janet and jamal are still friends with dan after the game and not kellee :/
@@uglyaniimals they’re friends with that creep? That sucks.
I got run over when I was 16, paralyzed the waist down, I’d personally like to thank Yanu for being so frustrating I got up to scream at them.
That’s incredible…I think
I was the driver skrrrrt
S39 was handled so poorly I can’t believe the show survived. Putting the responsibility on Kellee to ask to remove someone from a million dollar game while she’s starving and also concerned about player reactions when they already have camera evidence of her asking for it to stop and it continuing, then she gets voted out with him cheering, he eventually gets removed without the players knowing why, and they give her 0 warning that any of it will air and she’s suddenly thrust into a national spotlight she didn’t ask for. Horribly managed at all levels
I genuinely believe the show might've gotten cancelled by now if not for WAW being the very next season with the hype already flowing at the time of s39's merge episode. That followed by the pandemic introducing a ton of new people to the show is probably what saved it.
@@noahs5636 It would have been on my TiVo at least. I have still not watched the last third of IOI and don't plan to.
I totally don’t condone Dan and 100% support Kellee. But I feel like producers have to also be careful to not remove players too quickly, or else some people might use it as a loophole to eliminate others. Imagine if someone said “this guy just flashed his ass at me, I want him removed”. Producers have to obviously set some threshold for removing a player. Keep in mind the show had a long history of tolerating things that would be considered sexual harassment today. Producers thought it was funny for Hatch to walk around naked, but you’d be arrested for doing that in real life
@@freddytang2128a line should be drawn.
The one I would suggest is One World. The stuff with Colton and Alicia really sours the season. Kim winning is the only saving grace for it.
After finishing Thailand again recently, I can see why a lot of people hate it. I think the only standout highlight was The Attack Zone challenge. 😅😂
And Helen as a whole, but the cast deserved a second chance... outside of Ted and Brian.
@@queenzoroark yaa Helen was great. She deserves another chance
Robb was by far my favorite part of the season. After he was voted out, it wasn't as funny.
Jeff getting flustered at Sook Jai, if there's one highlight on Thailand I can give, is that Jeff started to get sassy.
'We lost to a bunch of frigging rules' is still one of my favorite lines in the whole show
I really think redemption Island was set up for Rob to finally get his first win. They put him on a tribe with some of the dumbest people I have ever seen on Survivor in my life, and it was almost as if they go as a group was to make sure he won.
Of course it was. He's Jeff's favorite, by an almost embarssing amount.
I've always wondered what if Russell and Rob drew opposite buffs than they did with Rob being on Zapatera and Russell being on Omoetepe, what would have happened differently? I think they way the Zapatera tribe reacted to seeing Rob come off the helicopter as opposed to Russell, I don't think they would have thrown a challenge to get rid of Rob like they did with Russell. Even though Omoetepe had Grant and Matt and Andrea was pretty strong in challenges, Zapatera had more strength when it came to challenges and if they had Rob instead of Russell, they would have dominated. I just don't know if Omoetepe would have thrown a challenge to get rid of Russell. I also wonder what it would have been like if Russell and Philip were on the same tribe. He definitely would have alligned with Natalie and Ashley and Francessca and Christine would have seen right through him right away, but Philip would have probably still done the same thing he did in the first episode and Francessca would have still been the first boot
Yeah the casting was SUS. Then again if Jeff ever retires… Rob is my choice to take over as host (Sorry.)
@@ericgrimes341 I never thought about Jeff’s replacement! That would be amazing!
If you want to put Thailand ahead of S39, you need to also lock in that Ghandia-Ted is the precursor for Kellee-Dan
Rob, was not robbed. Amber did a ton of work to make sure she did not get voted time after time, Hell even Shi-Ann noticed this.
My personal choice for the most depressing season would be Survivor: South Pacific (S23). The whole cult thing left a sour taste in my mouth and nothing about that season played out as satisfying
The Upolu alliance gave off cult vibes
That ending with kazoo Jurassic Park theme and [insert footage of Island of the Idols intro] caught me off guard.
It was amazing 😂
I felt bad for Bhanu, but he is not meant for Survivor. Not only is the man completely unable to lie, he always offers 100% of the truth, even when it's not asked for. It's one thing to not have a poker face, but you don't have to spill your guts and offer every tidbit of information you have stored in your brain at every opportunity!
I think the best contrast is episode 1 Bhanu, when he's actually not a target and in on the plan. He's moderately composed and has some sense of the game. Nobody bullied Bhanu on the tribe or outcasted him, and he was higher on the pecking order than two other castmates. Bhanu's problem is that the moment he thought he was in danger, he fell entirely apart. He seems like a great guy, I just can't imagine him being good at social strategy without someone else making all the plans and telling him what to do
Feels like a VERY slippery slope probst is going down casting for personal journey potential over gameplay potential
hes trash./..1 million hearts my butt....hes a chump...at best a punk...
@@alexhirsch5738bhanu does not seem like a great guy. he seems like his heart is in the right place, but he has zero control over his emotions. He is far too intense for me to want to be around
Bhanu wasn't mentally fit to play "Survivor."
Now on the flip side we need a top 5 funniest seasons or players
Gabon will be on that list no doubt lol
@@GamingFanactic911probably Panama too cause of post swap casaya
If you are unfamiliar with the funny 115, do yourself a favor and look it up.
Courtney and Tyson should be on the list.
@person9305 yes indeed. Haha
I feel like Survivor (and most reality shows) try to let the players self police. They have the logic of "if some one is problematic than everyone will just vote them off" and while that may have worked 10 years ago when the game was more "honest" but the "meta" and player knowledge levels have advanced so far that any degree of advantage will be sized. In today's reality everyone is willing to "cheat" so cheaters have to be kept out rather than hoping they are the outliers. Dan and to a lesser degree Colton showed that players will not police themselves and predators will take advantage
"There's just no hope here" very good stuff.
I still can’t believe Bhanu made it past a psych eval. Seems like a major misstep on the producers’ part.
Somehow Brandon and Hannah made it through last season? The psych evaluations need to be overhauled
why wouldnt he pass it?? he just cried a couple times and when ur starving and sleep deprived, its very easy to get overly emotional
for real. i think he's definitely in the top 3 of the most mentally unstable people on survivor
@dancegregorydance6933 I mean, Brandon was alright mentally, man didn't give up...but yeah physically not the same story.
@@auslynrynerson1798 the grand holy Survivor fans are great at making neurodivergent people feel like monsters
What gets me about season 39 is that it was actually going pretty well. The pre merge was solid and things were ramping up go be pretty exciting. Then the merge episode hit us all like a truck and the season fell off a cliff into hell. Even throughout the episode you think everyone's gonna do the right thing and vote out Dan, but then they don't and it just keeps getting worse. Never have I gotten such whiplash from a season of Survivor!
I like how the fans self destruct in both fans vs favorites seasons, completely handing both seasons to the favorites
I think caramoan is a bit underrated. There is some really entertaining strategy in that season. It’s one of my favorites from the 20s
SPOILERS FOR S30
If one of Rodney, Dan or Will had won S30 it absolutely would have been on this list. Fortunately that didn't happen
Jeff being turned off by returning players' egos feels kind of inconsistent with his worship of Boston Rob
Just as any large pizza is better than the personal small one, I prefer all of the seasons before and including 40 over the short ones. The short ones added "twists" that turn the game into one that is more chance than skill. Due to inflation, the top reward of the season will be twelve decent size fish instead of ten.
Thumbnail is chef’s kiss
So… Survivor 22 is basically the Survivor version of BB19
How so?
@@tuckerstrack Dominated by a single returning player with no real opposition
@@mariosin3256 Yeah that matches up exactly lol I didn’t think of it like that right away. Only difference is Paul did bad jury management/and had a very salty jury who didn’t want to give him the win.
I realized the same thing watching this video. Funny how it didn’t work out for BB19
Idk who has the worst luck at being on Mediocre seasons. Shii-Ann (Thailand and All-Stars) or Andrea (Redemption Island Caramoan and Game Changers). And both are two of my favorite players in the series
Your numbers 5-3 are literally 3 of the first 4 full seasons I ever watched. It's a miracle I'm still watching the show today 😂
I hate Samoa and One World. Russell’s antics get my blood pressure skyrocketing and Colton makes me miserable
Samoa would've been so much better if it wasn't edited to seem like a 39 day long promo for Russell's upcoming HvV appearance, because we had the people like Dave Ball and Shambo, who had potential to be great characters, Russell Swan as this hero who gave so much in the game that it took him out, Brett being the comp beast that falls just short of what would've been a winning season for him, and ending the story with Russell, who was so confident he was going to win, having his epic downfall at the hands of the sweet Southern belle in Natalie
Top 5 Most Depressing Survivor Seasons -- Thailand, Thailand, Thailand, Thailand, and Thailand
I'm so glad I got through that one early on. I'm at the beginning of nicaragua, and despite all the crazy things I've heard about it, so far everything has been uphill from Thailand.
Hot take: Winners at War is in my top 5 of seasons. The theme of this season naturally causes problem. Theoretically, it should be great, but I'll explain what I witnessed, and why I have this opinion. There are "good" winners, and "great" winners. Sometimes this difference is subjective. In S40 nearly all of the "great" winners were voted out early/pre-merge. This left post-merge with 1 "great" winner to outplay all others, only to dominate the rest of the game. The winner of this season was ultimately, annoyingly predictable. This is a natural result and formula to an all winners season, imo. At the very least, I wanted 1 winner and his/her alliance to face up against another winner and his/her alliance, with some back-to-back rivalry. I'm not sure that could happen in a season like this.
I love WAW, but you make a good point. Looking back, it wasn't as strategic as we'd expect it to be.
Really was not a very strategic season, Sarah and Ben were Tony’s minions straight up, EOE was worse than it was originally and the amateur gameplay from Nick specifically really dragged the endgame strategy
Might be implied, but I meant to say WAW is one of my top 5 disappointing seasons.
39 was the first season where I spoiled myself with who won because I hated the Final 3 so much.
I'd add Game Changers as a dishonorable mention (even though I think it had a deserving winner and some good parts) because:
1) The Zeke and Varner situation
2) Advantageddon screwing Cirie
3) The Malcolm tribal. Freaking JT.
Can you also do a top 5 funniest Survivor Seasons. There are some that just stick out lol
Yes to this top 3. 👏
Honestly when I clicked to watch, my first thought was Thailand as #1 and then I thought "I'm sure there are worse." but... not really, for exactly what you said! 😂 I totally agree with the top 3 and why on all counts - I love the *cast* of All Stars and MOMENTS in All Stars, but I remember how deeply depressing it was to watch the first time, and even on rewatches, it still feels depressingly dark and bitter, and I think you articulated why. It should've been way more fun but instead it was just angry and uncomfortable. 😅 And I absolutely hate how ugly/bitter so many of them got, and how Jerri was booed on the Reunion.
The only time I have genuinely wanted to quit watching Survivor forever was the moment Kellee was voted out instead of Dan (with his snide comments as she was voted out). I was sick to my stomach, so emotional, and lost so much faith in the show, Jeff, and the producers as a whole. At least it was ultimately handled better(ish?) than Ted/Ghandia and Sue/Richard, but still incredibly grossly disappointing.
Absolutely the top 3 most depressing seasons. 👍 I won't even rewatch Thailand because it's just so awful. 😅
Yeah. Love them or hate them, players like Hatch, Lex, Big Tom, and Boston Rob were big personalities that were, if nothing else, fun to watch. And then on All-Stars they all turned into a bunch of toxic fools. And players like Tina and Rudy and Colby and Rob C. kind of go out like chumps which was just sad and depressing. And Sue was made out to look like a bitter whiner when she quit. And though her personality kind of lent itself to that, she was absolutely done wrong, so her exit felt really icky.
So glad Heroes vs. Villains came along and redeemed the concept of an All-Stars style season.
41 depressed me because I realized the show no longer felt like Survivor…and this is after a recent binge because I had not seen the majority of the show until this year. I really really don’t like season 41 and by the time my wife and I got to 44 we lost our taste for the show.
I felt the same way, after Winners at War and then a year of no Survivor, I felt let down by 41, but I wanted to keep watching and I'm so glad I did! It definitely got better with 45 being my favorite of the new era!
Huh, what I'm taking away here is that seeing Rob on screen depresses you. Three of the five seasons involved him.
Makes my day when I can spend my time at work watching a Peridiam video 😂
Redemption Island is pineapple-sardine pizza for sure.
We need a pallet cleanser after this video. Maybe the bright sides of generally panned seasons?
The audience reaction to Jerri's rant was just awful.
A different time hardcore Boomers and Gen X who were pull up your bootstraps and we want NASTY back then. The change millennials gave the United States is subtle but profound.
I was a bit surprised s30 and one world weren't on the list
Rob was entertaining to watch on season 22, especially when he faked a bum tum to look for the idol.
I just personally prefer seasons that are competitive and there are multiple genuine contenders for the title of sole survivor; seasons like MvG or DvG.
also rob threw a friggin idol clue into a volcano!
@@tdarkhorse4 yep, that moment was awesome.
“There’s no hope there!” I see what you did there! 😂😂😂
Matt on Redemption Island was painful
you should make a video about all the women who have been compared to parvati on survivor
Thailand is truly just like watching the villain be HANDED a victory on a silver platter. So unpleasant to watch.... Also, if I was Rob or Sandra I certainly wouldn't want to be associated with season 39.... if anyone asked I would just lie!
Remember when Probst stated in interviews that S22 Redemption Island was such a good season….
It just goes to show that everyone enjoys different things from this amazing show since your picks were some of my favorite seasons
Funny that season 22 was the first one listed it's actually one of my favorite seasons because it's the Boston Rob show, also have find myself saying I love that all stars define that two of my literal favorites are on your most depressing is interesting
The first All-Stars for me was more disappointing than depressing, which is why I rank it lower than Island of the Idols. With what happened with Sue, Ghandia, and Courtney, CBS should have anticipated the worst when it comes to harassment. Yet, they didn't and provided half-hearted excuses for their severe oversight. Thailand is still number one. Brian, for me, is the worst winner of Survivor.
The audience's reaction to Jerri during the reunion was horrific to watch then and now. Survivor has yet to edit the female competitors with the same thought and care as the male competitors. Producers framed her as some femme fatale when really she was a woman who didn't take crap and stood up for herself (and had one instance of googly eyes for overrated Colby). Your video even noted that the women on Survivor: Redemption Idol were practically invisible. Nonetheless, I'm glad Jerri received a version of a redemption arc in Heroes vs. Villains. 2000s era survivor really leaves something to be desired in many regards.
As bad as the whole Brandon vs Phillip was... I have to give some props to Brandon and production for that not to devolve into a full on fist fight that ended up in Phillip getting medevacked that he probably deserved.
Put Game Changers on here over RI and this is a perfect list. You have the horrific Varner situation, along with the frustrating Cirie and Sarah non-transferable debacle. Plus the fact that the entire second half is like a new season with how invisible all of them were in the premerge. Just one of the least satisfying seasons overall.
This whole season is filled with people who shouldn’t be there. Everyone from Jalensky to Banu and now Q who wanted to quit. These people should just stick to watching it
Season 30 is up there for me
For sure
The only redeeming thing about S30 was Mike winning. Had he been voted out the rest of the season would've been unwatchable.
Jerri was RIGHT!
How everyone treated Jenna while she was trying to quit was disgusting. I lost all respect for most of that cast right there.
Funny how Boston Rob of all people was the voice of reason there.
I loved when he even told off Jeff for how he was acting towards Jenna
Philip said verbatim on Survivor POC round table that RHAP posted that Redemption Island was rigged for Rob to win and when he brought that up to the producers they told him "well what are YOU going to do about it". And that's when he began gunning for runner up for that $100k.
If the current season continues as it has been (which I think it won't, the king of depression is gone), then it would easily be my most depressing.
Chill. The melodramatic Bahnu arc is over. It can only get better from here.
...Unless yall find something else to complain about.
My top 5:
5. Edge of extinction- The season overall wasnt too bad, but the finale made me sad. Chris comes back and wins making the whole season feel pointless. The way the jury treated Gavin was unfair. They either were bitter he outlasted them or didnt even get to play with him and voted for someone the knew. I just felt empty afterwards. I view it as the worst season.
4. Thailand- Yea it was just unlikable people. I didnt mind a Brian win cuz he deserved it, but it wasnt exactly a happy ending either.
3. Game Changers- I was so much more disappointed with this than All Stars. All the people we wanted to see win (aside from Cirie) were gone by the merge. The way she went out was also disappointing. The Varner and Zeke moment also put a damper on the season.
2. Island of the idols- You covered it well.
1. South Pacific- Ive come around to liking this season than I did when it aired, but its still depressing. Coachran is bullied by his tribe. Coach essentially starts a cult and they control the game by using religion in a very uncomfortable way. People were nasty to each other. Also it featured Jack and Jill.
i only made it to all stars in my “rewatching all the old seasons” binge and hearing you call it depressing just made it click in my brain why i stopped. def need to just skip and go to the next one lol
That's where I stopped last time too
Game Changers deserved a spot on this list, in my opinion
Finished RI just yesterday and... personally I don't think that it's THAT bad (the biggest minus is basically zapatera messing up entire tribe game for their wishes). But I totally understand why a lot of fans hate it...
If you love Rob you’ll like it. Phillip was the major reason I don’t like RI, though. He’s a like a joke that goes on way too long.
I think it had a lot to do with people watching it as it came out, nowadays you can binge watch it but we had like 13 weeks of predictable eliminations where the people on top were unlikable and the people on the bottom had 0 power and 0 success in flipping
@@XanderMatthews-nv9zf that's also pretty much reason why Samoa is one of my fav seasons, despite usually ending somewhere in the middle of rankings
It was my first season!
I actually have All Stars as my number one all time favorite season. A hot take as well you could say, but I loved how much Rob and Amber completely changed the dynamic of the game forever onward. It really set the tone for how committed one's gameplay has to be in order to avoid getting voted off. It sucks though that Lex was the main victim of it. I also loved how real it felt when it came to the consequences of Rob's actions striking back at final tribal, especially with Kathy's wonderful jury speech (and I love that she still voted for him after all that).
Rob was like an attack helicopter. Loud and guns blazing.
Amber was the stealth bomber. Attacking but being able to stay off the radar. Only Shii Ann spotted her.
Hard disagree, Rob C got a completely underwhelming edit, Big Tom, Rupert and Jenna were bordering on allergic to strategy.
We had Sue’s quit after being sexually groped during a challenge and the entire Chapera tribe insulting her decision to quit.
If a big brother version is made, I would have bb24 at number 1. The Paloma situation sucks all the fun out of that season really quickly and despite the good outcome that is Taylor hale winning, it is so clear that nobody on that season is having fun, which makes it so that the path to that outcome makes for such a dreadful miserable viewing experience. Big Brother 24 is the most depressing big brother season imo
They overcorrected from 23
BB19 was pretty disgusting and depressing too
uses racism to get everyone to hate a guy in the house even if slightly justified but it was depressing for me.
It did feel like the 'backlash' season where some people got paranoid about a racial alliance it made things cringe.
@@Ruddline Uh what? Paloma was the one who started the hate train by convincing everyone to shun Taylor for reasons I still don't fully understand, and Daniel and Nicole had no problem falling right in line and continuing that, although to Nicole's credit, she's since admitted she was in the wrong and apologized to Taylor
41. The first 26 days season and learning we were getting an hourglass twist for at least 1 more season because of production schedule was sad.
China is depressong for the serting. Watched it again last year and found it difficult to get through. The sun never shined and Amanda always pouted.
Island of the Idols is definitely the darkest season
I refuse to watch it due to what happens
Before I clicked on this video, I said "so Thailand's on here." Glad I'm not the only one who can't stomach this season. But I also have a hard time rewatching One World and Worlds Apart.
I think 39 is the one season I could never re-watch
I would have to put One World in there. Probably my most hated season of all time. Nearly made me stop watching, it was boring the whole way through and the only thing used to be "entertainment" was Colton and Alicia being the absolute worst people in the world. They were so excruciatingly horrible.i almost turned it off mid episode.
Ngl, when I first saw All Stars, I was just bored most of the time, and I had already been spoiled about the Shian immunity win, so I stayed bored or annoyed during the whole thing. How did Rob control two whole seasons of survivor?
I love that David puts down the 2 biggest goats of all time.
Man I really hope tonight’s episode picks up the vibes of season 46
I would add one world in the mix. I have only just made it through watching it. I tried watching it years ago, probably around the time it aired. It was so bad it was the season that put me off watching survivor until season 40 was announced and then i had to catch up the missing years.
For me the most depressing season was Survivor: South Pacific... when Coach manipulated people via their religious beliefs.
In New Zealand, not sure why but randomly both Thailand and Amazon aired at the same time on different channels (I think the networks had rights to different seasons). I unfortunately backed the wrong horse and watched Thailand over Amazon.
Your list is great and it kind of highlights something I have felt for a while, IMO it is not a surprise to me that 2 of the 5 seasons you listed feature Andrea Boehlke (and she also did her best to ruin Game Changers), she is the best example of the worst kind of Survivor player; the player 100% clued in to the social games of everyone and 100% TERRIFIED of being voted off. Players like Andrea attach themselves to the tribe's dominant player, feed that player 100% accurate intel about the tribe's other good players, and one-be-one the handful of good players are systematically eliminated, leaving behind one good player and a bunch of empty husks playing scared. Zeke is another good example of this type of player. Survivor doesn't need to mess with the format too much, they just need to figure out how to identify the Andreas/Zekes and not cast them.
Also, I 100% agree with you on All-Stars, when I recently did a re-watch of all the old seasons the only season I skipped was All-Stars, for all the reasons you mentioned (and a few others) that season is just terrible, brutal to watch, and I will probably never watch it again.
If someone from the future showed us Season 46 ten years ago, we would've thought we were watching skits from SNL. This iteration of Survivor is not progress, it's parody, poorly applied.
Tell me why I literally didn’t remember Tommy and he won. Must not have been memorable
For me all-stars is the most depressing season. Jenna's quit is sad to watch as is, but everyone except Rob and Amber being rude to her about it is what really makes it awful. Combine that with the scenes of Sue processing everything while everyone except Alicia makes fun of her and then the eventual quit, its incredibly melancholy. And if that wasn't enough, seeing how Amber is treated for her win still just makes it a hard watch.
You left out Ethan as the only other person who was very understanding of Jenna's quit
WHERE IS ONE WORLD?! The introduction of Colton made me stop watching the show altogether so that’s pretty depressing, yes?
“Just no Hope here…” followed by the mention of a bad joke.
🧐
Season 46 is gonna be up here
I was under the impression Sue was a professional reality tv actor? she was also on the Cannonball Run reality tv/competition show which, iirc, was heavily scripted. So when I saw her blow up on Survivor, I assumed it was the producers and her trying to boost ratings.
Ima say something … AND DONT GET MAD AT ME … but Season 40 Winners at War. One of the most hyped seasons of reality television ever and it was just so disappointing, abysmal boot order, unfun twists, Sandra and Ben quitting, another season of people mindlessly refusing to vote Tony out, just a mess
To be fair, Sandra wasn't really a quit, because she did get voted out, and apparently her haters have a better opinion of her challenge skills than she does, because she knew there was absolutely no way she would win any sort of challenge to get back in, and she never liked the EoE twist in the first place
I wouldn’t put all stars at depressing let alone top 3 yes shit happened but i was entertained no disrespect to anyone the episodes are entertaining not depress at all, all the ego the drama ( excluding Sue) actually made the show entertaining. It was chaotic, it was a shitshow but it was super fun.
Season 41-46 are not sad but they are awful
Wait is Peridiam a Boston Rob hater?
To me, 39, 41,42,43,44 are really bad. I finally had enough and decided to quit watching. I'm not watching current season, I decided to watch Australian survivor and ohh boy it was so good..
4:23 There had a woman name Hope! Nice One!
I know it's too soon to include the current season but I'm not having fun with it so far.
How is S30 Worlds Apart not on this list?
Cast does not gel, some really unlikeable characters like Dan, those that are likeable are actually boring/forgettable in retrospect, some awful moments (eg. involving Shirin), and a dull endgame where the winner wins out.
I can never rewatch this, ever.
For Me : 1. Thailand 2. Redemption Island 3. Island of the Idols (I actually enjoy this season besides the Dan stuff) 4. Fiji 5. Caramoan
Im not survived at all that thailand is 1. I watched up until Shii Ann (spelling?) got screwed. After she left i didnt care about ANY of the other people afterwards. Only season i skipped so far.
Your spelling is fine
Wait nvm you put survived instead of surprised
You’ll have to redo this video and add this current season on there. The first 4 episodes highlighting someone crying so 4 episodes is crazy lol
Season 45 had many crying men and quitters. If they bring back themes, then we have two seasons of that.
Still haven't hit play in the vid, but I bet All-Stars is here. Or at least I hope it is, it's such a miserable season imo. No one's having fun (with the exception of Rob and Amber, but only with each other) and the mood after every boot is very dark. Not a fun season imo.
Great list. I'm with you on four of the five. I wouldn't include Caramoan because I put it in that same "entertaining disaster" category as say, a Gabon. I could see replacing it with South Pacific since the religious manipulation was so gross but I'd put Edge of Extinction on the list. Not just because Devens lost or because someone on the edge won but because it feels like 90% of the season is utterly pointless. You can't be invested in players. You can't even read the edit. It's just here's a bunch of stuff that happened but who cares because this dude you barely even saw won. EoE isn't a great season but it still feels like better editing could have made it palatable.
Those early seasons had psych evaluations??
Rich. Looks.... LIVID! when people started cheering about Jerri leaving