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Coattail Rider wrote:

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ilovekelly752 wrote:

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Coattail Rider wrote:

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Uh, Rick was extremely popular among the cast and if he was against any of Upolu (except maybe Coach) he would've won. Watch his Ponderosa videos. He played the Natalie White strategy, and unfortunately was one round short of making it.

It's not a maybe against Coach. He would've been destroyed, almost unanimously according to the jury, which means Sophie would've beaten him too. There were enough Sophie votes at the reunion who said they would've voted for Coach over Rick to prove that Sophie would've also beaten Rick. Even if he could've beat Sophie, which he couldn't, he tried to get there with Coach, which means, even if he reached his goal, which he couldn't even do despite being the better choice for Coach, he still would've gotten destroyed. Natalie White actually could've beaten the people she planned to go with.
  

But there were votes that weren't for Sophie, they were against Coach. The only time Rick ever had any negative SPV was when Whitney said he's a do-nothing, but that doesn't mean his social game wasn't strong. Rick was booted for a reason. Potentially either because he was the weakest physically to beat Ozzy in the final challenge, or because he was a jury threat. Or both.

This was my main point. I'd see Rick consolidating any anti-Coach votes, the same way Natalie consolidated the Anti-Russell votes. Whether it would be enough to beat Coach is certainly debatable.

I may be in the minority on this, but whenever Jeff asks on-the-spot hypothetical jury votes during the reunion, I don't take the answers as fact. They've had months of viewing the show/confessionals/twitter feuds to alter their perceptions. Also Savaii has a propensity for revisionism, as we saw when only they claimed Cochran was guaranteed F3 AFTER he blindsided them. So I suspect a couple of the "Coach hands" were raised just to piss him off.

Also at F5, it was clear to me that Albert was going home if Brandon didn't pass him Immunity. Albert was also looking to blindside Sophie at that time. So it's clear that Albert/Sophie/Coach was not a set F3, and that Rick had a shot of riding into the FTC.

14. Margaret Bobonich (Guatemala)

 

So many promising players have fallen into the “Screwed by a Twist” category. These savvy survivors positioned themselves securely within their tribes, only to have it all come crashing down. The twist usually comes in the form of a tribe switch of some sort. What sets Margaret Bobonich apart from the rest? Well, a few things. Let’s start big picture and work our way down.

 

First of all, she was part of the most underrated cast of all time. Guatemala delivered a likable underdog winner (Danni), triumphing over a bumbling motley crew of opponents. It also featured the downfall of one of most popular “All-Stars” of all time. It had just the right amount of crazy. Within the background, a wide array of unheralded players and characters made it one of the deepest casts in memory. There were many Guatemala players considered when assembling this list. And it’s a travesty that none of the OG’s have been brought back to return. 

 

Margaret was on the Nakum tribe, where she positioned herself well after an Epic Season Opening performance. “Led” by a returning Bobby Jon, Nakum proceeded to win 5 of the first 6 challenges, proving beyond a doubt who Ulong’s strongest player was. Bobby Jon Redemption was sweet, but it could not have happened without the Nakum women, who were the backbone of the tribe. Margaret, Brooke, Danni, and Cindy each had solid all-around games. Unlike Jim, they weren’t physical liabilities. Unlike Judd, they were all emotionally stable and easy to get along with. And unlike Blake, they weren’t soft prima donnas that bragged about their desperately empty hookups. While Amazon, Vanuatu and Micronesia featured female alliances, a Margaret-Danni-Brooke-Cindy team would’ve been the strongest one to date. That’s because instead of saying “Let’s vote off the strong men because we don’t stand a chance otherwise”, they could’ve fulfilled the traditional Alpha Male mantra of “Let’s vote off the weak to keep the strongest. . . Oh hey look, that’s us!”

 

However, fate stepped in the way, in the form of a tribal switch. Margaret, Brooke, and Cindy were betrayed by Judd. Brooke was the first to go after an IC loss. Margaret was next when the producers pulled the “Fuck it, you’re both going to TC” twist. In the end, she was done in by Judd, who was upset because she correctly pointed out that he was a bully with A.D.D. The truth sometimes hurts, and Judd’s juvenille tantrum at the TC proved that he was indeed a bad sportsmanship man.

 

The reason Margaret gets the nod over Brooke is the aforementioned Season Opening performance, when after a grueling 11-mile jungle hike, she prevented half her tribe from dying(!) So uh, there’s that. Now this might not resonate to fans and viewers, but recognize: If we’re in that jungle, hurt, heart pounding, throwing up and slipping out of consciousness, I’ll take the nurse that can actually use her nursing powers to help me heal. You can have the one that’ll just giggle and hate on leaves.

 

Unfortunately, Margaret faded into the background, as the season became “The Stephenie Show V2.0”. We witnessed the lovable loser from Palau turn into the bratty bitch from Guatemala. Her complete lack of self-awareness and strategic gameplay came out post-merge, when she unnecessarily betrayed an FTC goat (Judd), an IC goat (Lydia) and her most loyal fan/ally (Cindy).  Guatemala showed that sometimes the players we feel sorry for don’t deserve all our sympathy. After all, just because bad stuff happens to you, doesn’t make you a good person. So it’s possible that the condescending way Margaret treated Judd would’ve come out even more if she had stayed longer. But given the way she stood by her tribe mates in their time of need, I’d still take my chances with Margaret Bobonich: An underrated player on an underrated cast during an underrated season.

 

 

 

 

13. Aaron Reisberger (China)

 

And now let us pay homage to the Patron Saint of “Screwed by a Twist” victims. I don’t think there is anyone that can say they were screwed worse than Aaron Reisberger. There are two things that separate Aaron from everyone else:

1) There was absolute no element of randomness in his tribe switch.

2) His new tribe blatantly threw an IC to remove him because he was strong.

The poor guy never stood a chance. In a way, the China twist was the opposite of the RI twist. It was designed to punish strong players and redeeem the weak. For those that don’t remember, Fei Long was led by Aaron and jumped out to a 7-5 tribe lead over the weaker Zhan Hu tribe. Then came the switch: Each tribe could pick the two strongest members of the other to bring over. So the end result was that the three weakest players on the weaker tribe had power over the two strongest players of the stronger tribe(!) That means while Denise, Courtney and Jean-Robert could bicker and lounge around Fei Long camp, the guys that put them it that position had to fight and scramble just to stay in the game.

 

But fighting and scrambling wouldn’t matter for Aaron. After P-G found out from James that Aaron was at the center of Fei Long’s dominant alliance, they threw the next IC to get rid of him first. James was supposed to go next, but he was somehow able to Forrest Gump his way into the merge with two HII’s. (They wound up doing more harm than good however, as he was blindsided for becoming too big of a threat. After he overcame the most unfair tribe switch in Survivor history, James became a fan favorite. He was granted two return trips, the second of which tarnished his previously wholesome image. The belligerent demeanor he displayed in small doses during China came out on full force during Heroes Vs. Villains. It goes to show you: just because bad stuff happens to you, doesn’t make you a good person.)

 

Here’s something to think about: What if Zhan Hu kept Aaron instead of James? With two HII’s, Aaron would’ve been a heavy favorite to make it to FTC. He was in an Onion-esque clique with three people that all wanted to get inside his pants. So it’s unlikely that they would’ve tried to blindside him. They may never have gotten the chance, as Aaron’s strong physical game made him capable of going on an IC run. And even if they did try it, he would’ve been socially savvy enough to pick up on it and play the HII. His only FTC threat would’ve come from Todd, but his plastic Mormonism and weasely personality would’ve been no match for Aaron’s understated charm.

 

So in this hypothetical scenario, Aaron wins in a predictable fashion. The post-merge becomes dull, with little tension or drama. Fans, critics and Jeff Probst all call China one of the most underwhelming seasons. Aaron replaces James as a fan favorite, and viewers never get to see the roid-raged blowups of HvV or the Nickelodeon references of Micronesia. So from an entertainment standpoint, screwing Aaron may have been for the best. But in terms of fair gameplay, it wasn’t.

Hint for next 2: Tracy and Trish fans, take note.

Slicer37 wrote:

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How is Margret underrated strategy-wise? She had a terrible social game. Cindy was able to survive because she didn't go around insulting the majority. Yeah, it was the truth, but it killed Margret's game.

I wouldn't call telling the volatile tribal buffoon he has A.D.D. pre-merge a terrible social game. A misstep yes, but not indicative of her overall game. Remember, premerge, she was in much better standing than he was. He was a likely next boot, but the flip turned it upside down. After Brooke was booted, Margaret knew it'd come down to her and Judd, because he had it in for her.  So she went after him in a passive-aggressive way that middle-aged women are so adept at. After she was voted off, the rest of the tribe got a full taste of Judd and was making the same complaints that she was. They were so fed up and that it led to the unneeded blindside of an FTC goat.