It's pretty obvious that there are many scapegoats from the past 16 seasons, especially here on Sucks (i.e. Lex, Romber, Sue Hawk, mactors, etc.) that many Sucksters here may feel are responsible for the downward spiral in the quality of the Survivor program. However, there are 5 people who stand out as being MOST responsible for this self-destruction of what once was a great TV show.
5.) Dreamz
Lying and backstabbing and struggling with decisions and commitments are Survivor staples. But never has it been to the point where it's outright
excruciating to even watch the TV show due to the amount of outright stupidity. No fans cheered when he constantly told the other side what secret idol plans
certain players had in store, or going back on his word to even give Yauman a necklace. The truck/necklace conspiracy generated a buzz and hoopla of a
"controversial" decision that would have all of America talking, only to result in a bland, boring, and disappointing "No, I'm not giving up
the necklace" statement that generated no positive (or even negative) media attention for that matter. Never have we seen such an ignorant, foolish,
naive player in the history of Survivor... and allowing Earl to win so handily made it an option for many of us fans to even consider continuing to watch the
show ever again. It's not totally Dreamz's fault - he just should have never been cast on the show in the first place. Period.
You can also mini-thank Dreamz for generating an era of Survivor players known by their nicknames instead of their real names (Boo, Chikkenz, Frostay, Rocky,
Bullwinkle, etc...). What happened to all the Michaels, Matthews, and Davids?
4.) Rupert
Awwwww, but we wurrrve woopert! No seriously, cut the crap. Someone please tell me, did this guy actually even play the game even just one iota, or was he
just a tourist on both of his seasons? You can't blame Rupert for being Rupert (even if that alone is repulsive enough...), but what you can blame him for
is starting the whole trend of "I got made fun of in high school 30 years ago... WAAAAAAAH" storylines to get everyone in America to feel sorry for
them. This trend gave us the likes of many other wimps with decades of emotional baggage on the show, to complain about anything that doesn't work in
their favor to "oh, it's because no one likes me, POOR MEEEEE." Editors tweak this into a likeability saga and shove it into the viewer's
faces, asking us to accept the fact that a 9th/8th/7th/6th/etc. place-finisher can still be considered the "winner" of the season and of the game...
seriously WTF... last I checked, the point of this game was to place in FIRST. If you didn't win, then tough shit, you didn't win.
3.) Stephenie
This is not to outright blame Stephenie for being Stephenie... but the Stephenie story of Seasons 10 and 11 blatantly exposed a MAJOR hole in the Survivor
franchise and lost lots of viewership for the show from season 12 onward (check the stats). The contrast from America's sweetheart in Palau to
America's Next Top Snothole in Guatemala, and only because she lost in the F2 by a landslide, exposed the editors' secret weapon of editing major
heroes and villains. How on earth would the average viewer be able to comprehend the transformation? Of course they were going to be mad. To top it all off,
Steph's legacy of "I deserve this because I tried hard" changed the viewer's impression of the show, forever. Now the people that deserve to
win, according to America, are the ones who can complain a lot and rationalize their mistakes with "oh but I just wanted to keep on fighting hard"...
um yeah. Ulong self-destruction? Remember who started that? America's fascination with seeing 1 player all by herself on an island... oh yeah, where did
that take us? Exile island / Time waster / Survivor destroyer anyone?
And let's not forget the lasting message of "being a role model for young girls"... that that's the only purpose of the show anymore...
brings us Alexis, Danielle, Amanda, etc... who feel as though this alone should justify their reasons for wanting to win.... um ok.
2.) Cesternino
This one makes me LIVID. This began the trend of attention whoredom that has destroyed the show, and I'm most of all angry at the editors for taking the
bait. This was our first prime example of someone completely playing up to the cameras, scripting their lines and confessionals days in advance, all for sake
of saying or doing something memorable in the hopes of garnering more airtime... it's true. It was evident that there is no way this dork would say or
come up with half those things in real life conversation. This led to the idea that creating 2 or 3 outfront/prominent characters per season for the audience
would entice them... can someone check the ratings for me again? This gave us people like Fairplay, Coby, Shane, Caoboi, Rocky, Todd who now come onto the
show solely to intentionally be "colorful" characters and hog the airtime. This hasn't been all that bad, except for it coming at the HEAVY
HEAVY price of the editors neglecting and ignoring nearly 1/2 the cast each season.
Why did this loser and his magic 8 ball persona deserve twice as many confessionals as the 2nd highest in his season? Why?
1.) Terry
This one's easy, so I'll keep it brief. 1) Makes America think that the only point of this game is to excel in challenges. 2) Failing to use the idol
makes Burnett & Co. think of bringing back the hidden idol and exile island again in the hopes that it will get used in the next season. 3) His stupidity
in strategy is justified?? How?? I don't get it. 4) Most of all, him losing in the F3 forced the show to switch to a Final 3 faces the
jury format, which has (and we'll all agree) sunk this show down the shitter.
@ Sylvia
