What did you think about the Fans vs Faves concept to begin with?
What did you expect, hope, or fear from it?
Are you happy with how it has played out so far?
I wanted an ASS season, and accepted Fans vs Faves as a new twist for an ASS. I was happy with the Faves cast (only Fairplay and Amanda were iffy for me), and not sorry that Twila, Shane, and other "entertaining" players with no shot at winning were cast.
1) My main fear was that the Fans would become the New Chapera, and pagong the Faves after the stars started playing the postmerge game too soon (like Mogo Mogo). The first fake spoiler bootlist exemplified this - Faves win first two ICs, Ozzy booted 3rd, Eliza and Jonathan get control of a dwindling Fave tribe and are respectively the last to be pagonged. That seemed very plausible and depressing.
Kudos to MB for knowing that such a scenario would ruin the season, and casting to ptrevent it.
The Fans were cast to be the Washington Generals to the Fave Globetrotters. The key to this was Joel aka Truckwaffle. If they'd found a Yul or Earl to run the Fans they'd be a seriosu threat. Instead they found a guy domineering enough he'd be the inevitable leader but dumb enough he'd run the tribe into the ground. Kathy and Chet are typical casting choices, and normally would have been booted well before they quit. Their casting wasn't key to the Fans' demise. It was too many musclehead males with bad strategic and social skills.
2) The main probblem with the first ASS was great players targeted early with no chance, and pregame conspiracies that give some an unfair advantage (Lex\Tom\Kathy\RobM) or get ugly when they collapse. The FvF concept has helped prevent this. Many possibilites for such alliances (such as Coby) were cut at the last minute. With the Fans there, you can't just target Ozzy assuming you'll link up with your pregame buddies at the merge.
Nobody was a sitting duck because they won or almost won. Fairplay and Yao had plenty of people wanting to ally with them. Cirie, ignored in ep.1, found herself some friends. The underdsogs going in - #1 threat Ozzy, Jonathan's target Parvati, the S15 people with no connections - manged to forge a majority alliance against the odds. Parvati and Cirie are full value for their good positioning midway through the game.
Even if some Faves went early, there are plenty of others of similar quality to keep the season going. Not like the first ASS, were you lose the winners and near winners and are left with jokers like Alicia, and Big Tom.
You might be disappointed that so many players got hurt or quit, but that has to do with tough challenges in slick rainy conditions. It isn't because they cast returning players whose heart wasn't in it (except Fairplay, but who needs him?). Jonathan Chet, and even Ami all required surgery after the game.
What did you expect, hope, or fear from it?
Are you happy with how it has played out so far?
I wanted an ASS season, and accepted Fans vs Faves as a new twist for an ASS. I was happy with the Faves cast (only Fairplay and Amanda were iffy for me), and not sorry that Twila, Shane, and other "entertaining" players with no shot at winning were cast.
1) My main fear was that the Fans would become the New Chapera, and pagong the Faves after the stars started playing the postmerge game too soon (like Mogo Mogo). The first fake spoiler bootlist exemplified this - Faves win first two ICs, Ozzy booted 3rd, Eliza and Jonathan get control of a dwindling Fave tribe and are respectively the last to be pagonged. That seemed very plausible and depressing.
Kudos to MB for knowing that such a scenario would ruin the season, and casting to ptrevent it.
The Fans were cast to be the Washington Generals to the Fave Globetrotters. The key to this was Joel aka Truckwaffle. If they'd found a Yul or Earl to run the Fans they'd be a seriosu threat. Instead they found a guy domineering enough he'd be the inevitable leader but dumb enough he'd run the tribe into the ground. Kathy and Chet are typical casting choices, and normally would have been booted well before they quit. Their casting wasn't key to the Fans' demise. It was too many musclehead males with bad strategic and social skills.
2) The main probblem with the first ASS was great players targeted early with no chance, and pregame conspiracies that give some an unfair advantage (Lex\Tom\Kathy\RobM) or get ugly when they collapse. The FvF concept has helped prevent this. Many possibilites for such alliances (such as Coby) were cut at the last minute. With the Fans there, you can't just target Ozzy assuming you'll link up with your pregame buddies at the merge.
Nobody was a sitting duck because they won or almost won. Fairplay and Yao had plenty of people wanting to ally with them. Cirie, ignored in ep.1, found herself some friends. The underdsogs going in - #1 threat Ozzy, Jonathan's target Parvati, the S15 people with no connections - manged to forge a majority alliance against the odds. Parvati and Cirie are full value for their good positioning midway through the game.
Even if some Faves went early, there are plenty of others of similar quality to keep the season going. Not like the first ASS, were you lose the winners and near winners and are left with jokers like Alicia, and Big Tom.
You might be disappointed that so many players got hurt or quit, but that has to do with tough challenges in slick rainy conditions. It isn't because they cast returning players whose heart wasn't in it (except Fairplay, but who needs him?). Jonathan Chet, and even Ami all required surgery after the game.
Well, yes, if you're a fan of the pretty female contestants, this season has been a HUGE success.
