towards Survivor: All-Stars 2 part 2

As always, some tens of days after I wrote this piece, I found the time the will the urge all other the the I need to continue the series.

But to be honest with you, I am actually a bit panicking since Survivor: China has been aired for like three weeks and that means, Survivor: 16 is already being shot. That means, there is already an All-Star cast if the 16th installment is an All-Star.

Ow. Kay. Memorable castaways from every season. Let's start again from season 9.

Survivor: Vanuatu

Survivor: Vanuatu is the second season after Survivor: Amazon where the castaways were divided into two tribes based on gender. Men vs women. Funnily, the same early conflict occurred in both seasons. Within the tribe, division occurred based on age. Another memorable event is a strong female alliance pagonging the guys one by one, leaving a guy named Chris be the only guy in the final seven. Female alliance crumbled when they decided to give Chris a room and let Eliza go first. She was soon recruited by Chris who revealed the vote plot. The rest is history.

Survivor: Vanuatu

Ami Cusack

Ami might be remembered as was one of first two open lesbian castaways on the show. But more to that, Amy managed to subtly command a ship laden with a risky team called female alliance. Viewers might remember her as the one who hates all the guys. I remember her as one of Survivor's best players to be dethroned from power with an inconspicuous lie.

Twila Tanner

Twila is Ami's nemesis. She swore (on her only son) that she will be with Ami and the alliance until the end. Somewhere along the way, despite of being promised a place in final two by two most powerful people in the female alliance, she broke her vows by jumping ship just because she listened to her closest ally. Her change of game plan brought Twila to final two. Her less strategic final tribal council made sure that she didn't go further.

Brook Geraghty

Wait. Who's Brook? He's the first to be voted of in the season. What makes him All-Star worthy, then? Here's the deal. Brook is a HUGE fan of the series. He loves the game, wants to play the game, was ready to pull some strings only to be blindsided being conceived as cocky. His post-interview was full of regrets that he didn't wiggle much during the first tribal. He sounded really generous on that. Producers should really give him another chance. Besides, he has the best abs in the season.

Survivor: Palau

There are two initial tribes in Survivor: Palau. Ulong and Koror. After season 1 has "pagong" inducted to the Survivor dictionary as a verb, we owe it to this season for the word "ulong". To ulong means to demolished another tribe by winning unbreakable streaks of immunity challenges. Because Koror was successful ulonging its competition, there was no merge in this season. The last member of Ulong tribe was told that she should then join Koror tribe. That was a Survivor first, and in addition, there are still a lot of firsts occured. For my money, this is Survivor with the best production design, eventhough the game element is really boring.

Memorable Castaways.

Ian Rosenberger.

Ian, who was the first winner of the first immunity challenge 10 minutes or so into the game, should have been the ultimate winner. He picked Koror tribe who successfully ulongs their competition. He was about to win the final immunity challenge had he not given it up. Ian's word was that he picked friendship over 1 million dollars. My word was what a perfect boring closure for this already boring season. But by saying his words, Ian stays in my mind as a castaway with the biggest heart.

Stephenie LaGrossa.

She was dubbed as the strongest female contender on Survivor. I concur. In one of the most grueling challenges ever on Survivor, she managed to be the only female contestant left competing. Amazing. Steph was then invited to compete again in the next season, with a big target on her back, and made it to final two. Why give her yet another chance, though? Just so that we see whether she's really a bad luck or not. This doesn't change the fact that I can't stand her.

Survivor: Guatemala

In the beginning of the season, two important factors of the show were revealed. The return of two castaways from the season prior: Stephenie LaGrossa and Bobby Jon Drinkard is one. The second is the 11-mile hike through the Guatemalan jungle as the first reward challenge. It lasted close to 24 hours and were concluded only by mere minutes difference between the two tribes. Nothing is really memorable in this season except for Gary Hogeboom, an ex-NFL quarterback, who tried to hide his true identity by saying that his name was Gary Hawkins, only being outed 5 minutes into the game.

Memorable Castaways.

Gary Hogeboom.

At least he had a strategy into the game: masking his true identity. He was the first person ever on Survivor who found an individual Immunity Idol, a later recurring game element of the game. I kinda suspect that he was actually in a tight alliance with Danni. Whether the alliance was based on starstruck, one never knows.

Rafe Judkins.

As the first openly gay Mormon on Survivor, Rafe has all the gay viewers' eyes on him. Funnily, one of the first impressions on Rafe his inability to climb a rope ladder in a challenge, that subsequently cost his team the challenge. But then, Rafe proved that he was actually one of the best strategic player on Survivor. Not having any clear physical asset, he managed to puppeteer the ouster of his fellow tribe mates. He was the best contender to win in final four, until he sort of giving up his position in final three.

Continued to: part 3