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Survivor Season Rankings - Survivor: San Juan Del Sur (#37/41)

 

01-06-22 10:38 PM
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Another recent season on the list. San Juan Del Sur is a season that on paper looks really good. I just for the life of me could not get into it. It was one of the hardest seasons to sit and watch and I’m not quite sure why. Which is surprising because I like both the cast and the format for the most part. Maybe airing out my thoughts will help me clear my mind.

Survivor S29: San Juan Del Sur

San Juan Del Sur was filmed in Nicaragua. It’s the third time this location was used, although it had been since season 22, Survivor: Redemption Island (which ironically is the season I have ranked right below this one). The scenery looked just as nice as it did then and I overall have no real problems with it. This season was the second to feature the Blood vs. Water twist (the first being Survivor: Blood vs. Water, duh). It’s quite a change from your regular season as players now enter the game with a loved one as a fellow contestant. They spend a night together on a beach before all the loved ones pairings are split into two tribes. Half go to the blue Hunahpu tribe, with the other half going to the orange Coyopa tribe. An additional twist were the Hero Duels. Every episode, instead of a full tribal reward challenge, an individual would take on their loved one in a one-on-one challenge. The winner wins reward for their tribe, whilst the loser gets sent to Exile Island, making its first full return since Survivor: Tocantins. I like this idea, it creates a lot of drama between loved ones.

It’s worth noting that this season did not have an equal split between men and women, the second season, after Survivor: Fiji, to have this distinction. Of the 18 players, 10 were men whilst only 8 were women. Some behind the scenes info tells us that this is due to a woman/woman pairing being dropped from the cast right before the season started. Usually they have potential replacements on scene for events like this, but I get that it becomes harder when you have to cast a pair. If it means anything, one of the women who didn’t make this cast did return the very next season. I imagine they were likely promised a spot.

I like the Blood vs. Water twist a lot. It adds a new dynamic to the game while not messing with the original format of the show. There are still tribes, you only have one vote still, and there is only one winner still. You just happen to know someone on the cast very well, with this being public information. Last time this twist was introduced, the cast was made up of one tribe of returning players with a new loved one each on a different tribe. This season every castaway is a new player. As for the pairings, some of them are absolutely iconic.

Our first pair is John Rocker the football player with his then-girlfriend Julie. This pairing was a little toxic. I’m not familiar with the football scene but I imagine I won’t surprise anyone when I say that John Rocker was an a**h***. He was aggressive and verbally berated some people during his stint on the show, most notably Natalie during a challenge. He seemed to have pretty misogynistic views as well. Julie was basically just an enabler. When she was by herself on the other tribe she was actually quite capable as a player, finding herself in a solid alliance. However she was too concerned with John and what he was up to, and when John got blindsided early on she kind of stopped caring. Julie ended up quitting the game right after the tribes merged into one, joining the infamous quitters club.

Our second pair is Jeremy and his wife Val. A firefighter outside of the show, Jeremy was quickly seen as a leader figure, a role which he took on very well until he was ultimately betrayed by some of his allies. Val on the other hand was not so adept at the game of Survivor. She quickly found herself on the outs of her tribe after she was the first person sent to Exile Island. In an attempt to save herself she made up a lie that she was the holder of not one, but two hidden immunity idols. I suppose she was trying to scare them away from voting for her, but all this did was make the majority alliance want to flush one of those idols out. This was especially hilarious as Jeremy had made a deal with John Rocker, asking him to protect his wife. John does this very well by informing Val she should play her idol. And that’s it. Val predictably goes home at that tribal council. Sadly this had an impact on Jeremy as well, as his head was only in the game half the time afterwards. Some say this caused him to not notice his allies were turning on him early into the merge phase of the game. Luckily he went on to redeem himself in later seasons. They were clearly a loving couple, though sadly the contrast in their ability to play the game of Survivor was so big that Val hurt Jeremy more than she helped him. Funny characters though!

Our third pair consists of Drew and Alec. Two brothers who clearly were not the brightest tools in the shed. Drew had probably one of the funniest short stints on Survivor, claiming to be an absolute badass and manipulator of the game and deciding he needed to throw the challenge to get rid of Kelley Wentworth for some reason. Only, his tribe didn’t think he was half as cool as he imagined himself to be. Drew was thus swiftly blindsided after he threw the challenge for his tribe. It was just so hilarious to see the editors s*** on Drew all episode. This was one of those rare occurrences in Survivor where they don’t even try to hide who’s going home that episode. The whole episode centered around the rise (?) and fall of Drew Christy, and it was wonderful to watch. His brother Alec had more success in the game, making it fairly deep into the merge, though he was an absolute follower and never really had any impact, making him more forgettable than his brother who went home in episode 4. Also, I swear Alec had this drooly, dumbfounded face he constantly had on. Like the human representation of 3 brain cells. It was actually quite funny to look for Alec in the background of shots, looking like he absolutely had no clue what was going on. These two didn’t do much to impact the game but they were great side characters in their own right.

Up fourth we have Josh and Reed, a gay couple. These two were very game savvy, both joining alliances early on and later merging into one big super alliance (pretty much only consisting of men, go figure). Josh was the more rational thinker of the two, while Reed was a little more erratic. This went on to bite Josh in the ass more than Reed could, as he was voted out by the opposition alliance at the merge. I do feel bad for him as the two people who were the swing votes in that round, Jon and Jaclyn, would have been on his side the prior round, but due to Julie quitting the tribal council was canceled. Reed makes it a few rounds further, winning a clutch immunity challenge along the way. In fact, he would have gone even further had it not been for a Freudian Slip from his, uh, less than reliable alliance members. I believe they have since broken up, but they were okay characters. Not big stars, and I don’t particularly care to see them on the show again, but they added something to the season.

Next is Missy and Baylor, a mother-daughter pair. Baylor was in trouble initially, being on the outs of her men-dominated tribe, however later found her footing in the game. Missy was actually fairly underrated as a player, being able to form close bonds with multiple people and setting herself up in a good swing vote position to take out a huge threat in Jeremy during the early-merge phase. Only she was as annoying as can be. She constantly favored and spoiled Baylor, giving her larger rations of food and getting angry anytime someone had something negative to say about her. Baylor was a little more fun, and was the victim of one of the nastiest and most exciting blindsides in Survivor history. Still, they were the last full pair standing so you have to give them props for that.

Then you have Kelley and Dale, a daughter-father pair. I’m not going to lie, their impact on this season was very small. They had some funny moments here or there but were both taken out right before the merge. Kelley went on to become one of the most iconic players in Survivor history in later seasons, while Dale has the Twitter handle ‘farmguy69’, so they are both winners in their own right.

Our seventh pair is Keith and Wes, a father-son pair. This is one of the funniest duos I’ve ever seen on Survivor. Wes was hilarious in his own right, having some great moments sprinkled throughout the season, but he was completely overshadowed by his dad Keith. This man was the definition of a cartoon character. First of all, Keith lives on Keith Road in a town called Keithville, which automatically makes him a legend. He has some of the absolute funniest one liners in Survivor history, and was shockingly competent at the game as well. At least the challenges and the social game, he mostly left the decision making to others. Keith wins some immunity challenges, successfully idols out his own son Wes (more people need to talk about this), and has the funniest facial expressions. Stick to the plan is one of the all time funniest moments. I can’t believe they found this man but the casting department struck gold here. Keith was super close to winning the season as well, being eliminated at the final four, right before final tribal council. His social game was so good and he had a lot of allies on the jury, so if he makes it there over the eventual winner he has a good chance of winning. Keith was so beloved by fans that he made it back two seasons later, where he went on to prove that it wasn’t a fluke, coming dangerously close to winning that season as well. I hope we see him or Wes again in the future!

Our second to last pair is Jon and Jaclyn, a couple. These two end up being the main characters of this season, constantly in a position of power and narrating throughout the show. They’re clearly competent players, stepping in and leading a big alliance after figureheads Josh and Jeremy were voted out back-to-back. Jon got a little cocky sometimes, which eventually causes his downfall as well, so I’d actually say Jaclyn is the more competent out of the two of them. This is all great and all, but I just found these two so boring and annoying. Jon more so than Jaclyn. He is set up as the main focus point of the season, especially during the second half, and I was just wishing for him to go away the entire time. I will say, that made his blindside all the more sweeter. Jaclyn goes on to finish as the runner up, a very respectable run, although she was saved by the eventual winner at the final five. If these two were a little more likeable and rootable this season would have probably shot up in my rankings. Don’t particularly care to see them again, but they seem like a lovely couple outside the show.

And last but not least we have Nadiya and Natalie. AKA the Twinnies! These two previously appeared on The Amazing Race, where they didn’t quite perform very well, though they were iconic in their own right. Things didn’t start out so hot for them as Nadiya was swiftly voted out during the first tribal council of the season. Natalie, who had never been separated from her twin longer than like 4 minutes to pee, was now by herself from the beginning. She quickly formed a close bond with Jeremy, who lost his wife Val the very next tribal council. These two ran the game during the tribal phase of the game, further taking control at the merge by voting out Josh. Only to have their allies, Missy & Baylor and Jon & Jaclyn, turn on them right after, blindsiding Jeremy. This left Natalie infuriated and on the outs, but instead of blowing her game up she kept a low profile and snuck her way back into the game by gaining favor with Jon & Jaclyn. Only to then intentionally go against their plan by voting out their ally Alec. The best part is that she plays this off as a mistake through miscommunication, and Jon & Jaclyn (moreso Jon) eat this excuse up. She then goes on to blindside the both of them, creating a split vote between them and sending Jon home with an idol in his pocket. I can’t tell you how excited I was by this chain of events. Natalie then pulls a badass move by using her own idol to betray her new allies Missy & Baylor, splitting up the final pair standing, and guaranteeing herself a spot in the final after Keith lost the final immunity challenge, where she won the game by a good margin. Natalie was an absolute badass who played a perfect revenge game. Both from losing Nadiya first, to then losing her closest ally Jeremy. She waited for her moment and completely flipped the game on its head right at the end.

So with all this praise for the cast and how the season went, why am I so down on it? I honestly can’t tell you still. I should like it. I like almost everything about it. But there’s something about it that makes me hate the thought of rewatching it. I’ll say it’s due to Josh, Reed, Jon, and Jaclyn being such focal points of the season. I didn’t like them for the most part. Especially Jon. But that’s why I don’t get my own feelings, as the narrative of the season should make me love it. Maybe someday I’ll change my opinion on this season.
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