So as you can expect, this was like TOP of my bucket list of things, short of being on the show itself. Been watching since episode one, day one, so it was pretty amazing. They do this great thing at finales, it seems somewhat new, where if you show up a couple hours before the show starts, you can play five actual challenges from the show. OBVIOUSLY I was going to do this. I'm one of those idiots who always watching the show from my couch saying "I totally could do that!!!!" so putting everything to the test finally was pretty great... and I was actually pretty good at all of them except the Malcom killer, where you hold the marble up between the two holder things. What was even cooler, is that almost half the entire cast came out to play these challenges with the fans! I saw Rick, Keith, Reem, Ron, Aurora, Chris, Victoria, Julie, Julia and Gavin out playing games. Ironically we talked to Chris a little and I didn't even remember his name (whoops), little did I know he was in the final 3 and little did he know he was about to win. Rick was far and away our favorite of the cast members that came out so we only really wanted to chat with him and took that picture. Oh, and Cochran was kinda wandering around like he was lost so we talked to him, and I gotta say he is an extremely awkward human in real life. Then the show taping happens and there really is something amazing about watching a finale with a few hundred mega fans, live. Everyone cheers at the fun things, laughs at Devens, etc etc. Watching challenges live are that much more exciting. Seeing Jeff in real life is just a dream come true haha. Anyway, I would totally go every season if I could, and I hope some of you someday get to go as well someday!
As far as the ending of the season goes, I think I have less issues with how things went than a lot of other people do. It might be because I have watched Top Chef which has Last Chance Kitchen, Big Brother has a Battle Back, etc. So seeing someone come back to the show isn't as crazy overall. Chris came back with a lot of advantages, that is 100% fact. But everyone left in the game had just as many, in different ways. I don't think Gavin was deserving just because he didn't get votes against him, that's one cool thing about his game, but the rest didn't match up. Chris did exactly what he needed to with the time that he had to do it. He had to win the challenge to get back, he convinced Lauren to use her idol for him, he won immunity when he needed to and actually gave it up, which is unreal. He sat there and beat the biggest competitor in fire, he did it. When Chris and Devens sat next to each other for fire, it was obvious that whoever made fire first would win the entire season, no question. The irony to me of the jury kinda talking shit on Chris coming back into the game is that EVERY SINGLE player who was on jury would have been very happy to be sitting where Chris was, and if it was them they wouldn't have disliked that they got to come back ha. Some of it was just jealousy that it wasn't them sitting there. PLUS if it was Devens that won fire, he also came back from Extinction, which some people seemed to forget. Anyway, Chris played Edge of Extinction exactly the way that he was supposed to, and he won Edge of Extinction. It's irrelevant to talk about that aspect of the season because he wasn't playing 10 years ago, he was playing this season now.
OK and last thing. Boston Rob and Sandra coming back as coaches is pretty worthless, and the super sized statues of their faces is the funniest thing I have ever seen in my life. That being said, we get an entirely new cast so the season is going to be up to them, as usual. We'll get some cheesy ass visits to Idol Island where they get "tips" but the fun is really just going to come from the actual cast like usual, hope they are good. If the rumors of Season 40 being spoiler spoiler spoiler ALL WINNERS spoiler spoiler spoiler then we're really just going to be biding time until then with 39 haha
I think what hurts the season a lot from a viewer standpoint - those on the edge were clearly still engaged in a massive social game, and the jury clearly believed and valued that - but we saw none of it.
Totally. The simple fact that the jury was on extinction for the majority of the game with Chris just adds so many different layers to the whole thing
Man, Devens came SO CLOSE!!! I do think Chris did what he had to do, and deserves the win more than Julie or Gavin. Really enjoyable season honestly. I loved that even if we didn’t see a lot of extinction, the fact that we saw ANY of it meant we got to spend a lot more time with the jury than usual.
Sia also gave Aurora 15K "for making it through foster care" and then gave Joe 15k for cutting his hair off, which he then gave to charity
There's a bunch of Ponderosa videos up on YouTube now. I love how they hoarded croissants on the boat ride because they were still paranoid about not knowing when they'd eat again. I think it was Eric that said he was keeping stale ones in his room just in case, shows just how bad they were starving on Extinction.
They even had to do a little bit of revisionist history on what the award is to justify not giving it to Wendy
I think I've figured out why so many hardcore fans grew really tired of Devens (and to a similar extent, Christian last season) In recent years, the show has really ramped up the number of superfans they cast (which is great for a lot of reasons!). However, when you're a hardcore survivor fan you're constantly engulfed in discussion over "the edit" and production. You watch enough survivor and you know exactly what Probst and Co want in the show. So you have superfans like Devens and Christian who may be genuinely interesting dudes, they can come off as really just yukking it to production because they know exactly the kind of commentary and entertainment they're looking for. Phony may not be the right word, but it can become pretty eye rolling. You almost have to wonder is the show is better off upping the number of bizarre characters on the show to up the social entertainment (the Abi Marie Gomes or Wendy's of the world) or also you have is a bunch of gamebots and camera yukkers.
How bizarre that the winner of the show may have got the less airtime than a usual non jury member. Good season. And him winning justifys Extinction concept Next season is interesting and odd Wonder what Rob and Sandra get paid, cause I know Rob said he was done with going on, so I’m sure this non playing role would be a good pay packet