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* [[Alternate Character Interpretation]]: Everyone. It's been stated time and time again that what the camera shows is not indicative of what each castaway is really like, so opinions on each character are going to vary wildly.
** The show itself. Is it a semi-voyeuristic slice of life about people stranded in the wild, a social experiment that tests peoples morality, an adventure show that just happened to evolve into a game, a cutthroat strategy game that just happens to take place outdoors, or [[Take a Third Option|some]] combination of the above?
* [[And There Was Much Rejoicing]]: When the season's ''villain'' gets voted out. Jerri Manthey's elimination had fellow castaways singing "Ding Dong, The Witch is Dead" after that.
* [[Anvilicious]]: The editing style of choice for the show, especially during the more recent seasons. When the show wants you to feel something about a player or a situation, they hammer their point down HARD. Sometimes it's subverted, such as the subtly sweet relationship between Rodger and Elisabeth during ''Australian Outback'' or the friendship between Tom and Ian during ''Palau'', but examples like those are more the exception that proves the rule.
* [[Artistic License Statistics]]: Invoked - Probst regularly says that, when the numbers of players dwindle, the players have a one-in-''x'' shot at winning a million. Except that it's actually not determined by luck of the draw - [[Justified Trope|He actually says this to help motivate players to make it further]].
* [[Awesome but Impractical]]: Trying to play a ''VERY'' strong physical game in the early parts of the game. Unfortunately this winds up depleting your body (and possibly causes your body to consume muscle if you're male and don't have as much fat) and either causes you to slow down, get sick and either lead to you being [[Voted Off the Island]] or even worse, a [[Non Gameplay Elimination]]. And unless you can carry yourself with immunity wins; you'll be seen as a threat around the merge.
* [[Base Breaker]]:
** Rupert Boneham was one of the first, who either comes around as one of the few people who play the game with integrity and ''not'' wanting to anger everyone, or a doof who needs to learn that he can't just drift through the game on people's shoulders. Either way, he won a million dollars for America's Favourite Survivor, so the viewers obviously like him.
** Russell Hantz, who in ''Samoa'' comes across as either a brilliant player (to viewers who have only been exposed to the strategic side of the game) or a terrible sport who needs to learn that people don't ''just'' win by playing ''his'' way (to viewers who know that ''Survivor'' is as much a social game as a strategic game, and pissing off jurors is no way to win). This base has mostly repaired itself since then, as while his antics might have been tolerable in ''Samoa'' they wore thin by ''Heroes Vs Villains'' (especially thanks to [[Spotlight-Stealing Squad|overexposure]]), so most people enjoyed seeing him finally get ejected in ''Redemption Island''.
** How people play the game can be a [[Base Breaker]] in itself. It's caused a few fame wars on fan sites - expect "[[What Measure Is a Non-Badass?]]" pulled frequently to any winner deemed "undeserving".
** The Final Three. Jeff Probst likes that rule better because normally people would intentionally bring someone with them to the final two who was [[The Load]] and dislikable so they could say almost ''anything'' to the jury or just play the lesser of two evils card, and that way they'd have to at least take a competitor or [[Worthy Opponent]]. However plenty of the fans hate it partly ''because'' someone bringing [[The Load]] to the final two was more traditional. Not to mention; only once have all three contestants actually received at least one vote in the final three. (''China'', where the votes were 1-2-4.) The other times, it was really in between two contestants anyways. There's also a ''slight'' chance that, with a Jury of nine and final three that there can be a three way tie but the Jury's often united enough to give someone a majority.
** Rob Mariano in ''Redemption Island''. You either loved watching him play a perfect game and smirk his way through it, or you hated how predictable it made the season. Or you shut it off because you realized it was another repeat of ''All Stars'' with screentime. Or you thought that the producers slanted the show.
*** Huge flame wars on fan sites have erupted over whether or not Lex was a hypocrite for not voting for Rob to win ''All Stars'' (since according to those who argue against Lex, his game play was [[Not So Different]] from Rob's), and severing his friendship with Rob over a game.
** Phillip Sheppard in ''Redemption Island'' - most fans can't agree on what degree Philip's [[Cloudcuckoolander]] personality was genuine and hilarious, genuine and annoying, a masterful play of the metagame, a terrible play of the metagame, or any combination thereof.
** There's a relatively large group of die hard fans who only love the original seven seasons of the show and lambaste everything that came afterward. While most of these people are respectful towards those who like the more recent seasons, there's a lot of name calling that goes on between them and [[Troll
** Cochran flipping on the Savaii tribe in ''South Pacific'' is either the newest contender for the dumbest move in ''Survivor'' history, or a move that was perfectly legitimate given the circumstances.
* [[
* [[Boring Invincible Hero]]: Or Villain, it doesn't matter. When one alliance [[Curb Stomp Battle|Pagongs]] another, all the suspense drains out of Tribal Council unless the larger alliance falls to infighting. If someone controls the game - such as Rob in ''Redemption Island'' or Kim in ''One World'' - then they become boring to watch, and if someone keeps losing control of the game, then it becomes more interesting...even though they're probably grinding their teeth.
* [[Boring but Practical]]: Pagonging. Essentially, if you control a majority and remove all the other alliances and the floaters, you can waltz to a game milestone almost completely unopposed. Editors wouldn't like this strategy as [[Boring Invincible Hero|it can make a season quite boring]]. Thankfully, it's only happened in its entirety in ''Borneo'', ''Thailand'', ''Cook Islands'', ''Redemption Island'', and ''South Pacific''. And YMMV on ''Cook Islands'' since the tribe doing the pagonging was actually an underdog.
** [[Obfuscating Stupidity]] / [[The Quiet One]] as a strategy. The editors don't like it unless you're doing something amusing like Fabio (Look how little screentime Vecepia, Brett, and Natalie got!) but when the other players think you're stupid/easy to beat, then if you play your cards right you'll be dragged along and possibly the last man out of your alliance.
* [[Complacent Gaming Syndrome]]: Most players seem to have settled on the following strategy: When you hit the beach, you start making alliances of about three to five other people. Then you start sticking your hand in holes, digging up areas under suspicious looking logs or rocks, or looking in suspicious trees to find the idol. Then you start voting out people who are weak or sick, sometimes voting out physically stronger players because they're not as loyal. Around merge, especially if it's the last tribe-tribal council, you target the people who carried your tribe in the tribal phase and then target the other team's stronger players to reduce them to just one person. Then the person in charge of the alliance starts picking off the loads or the people in second or third, while the people at the bottom (or loads) start plotting to get the people on top voted out.
** Extra emphasis on "complacent" in recent years (meaning ''Samoa'' to ''One World'' at least), as the prevailing strategy in several seasons has been "don't upset the apple cart". You have entire casts content to let the status quo be, allowing alliance ringleaders to waltz to the finals unopposed (such as Russell in ''Samoa'', Rob in ''Redemption Island'', and Colton until his medical evacuation in ''One World'').
* [[Complaining About Shows You Don't Watch]]: ''Survivor'' gets a lot of crap thrown its way by people who resent it for ushering in the rise of [[Reality TV]]. But most of these people who complain about it have never watched the ''Survivor'' in the first place, or even care that it's production values, entertainment value (and according to some, value as a sociological experiment) and viewer interactivity (via analyzing strategy, trying to spoil the winner ahead of time, etc) is orders of magnitude above the likes of ''[[Jersey Shore]]'' or any of the umpteenth dating reality shows you can find.
* [[Creator's Pet]]: As you might have noticed from other tropes listed here, production plays favorites when it comes to screen time, due to their ability to effectively carry the season. More often than not, they fail.
** Ben "Coach" Wade. Before ''Tocantins'' began, Jeff Probst claimed that he would be the most popular contestant since Rupert. He then became the focus of the entire season, often getting more screentime than the entire rest of the cast combined. To say there was a backlash would be putting it mildly.
** Russell Hantz, if only for the fact that the viewers had to put up with him for ''three nearly-consecutive'' seasons: ''Samoa''/''[[Spotlight-Stealing Squad|The Russell Hantz Show]]'' and ''Heroes Vs Villains''/''[[Spotlight-Stealing Squad|Heroes vs. Russell]]''; viewers then got a one-season break before he returned again for ''Redemption Island'' (but not for long, thankfully).
** While Boston Rob was never too unpopular in ''All-Stars'' and ''Heroes vs. Villains'', he hit this point after a large amount of shilling from the producers. Returning with other previous players in reunion seasons is one thing - coming back again for a showdown with Russell is another.
** Philip on ''Redemption Island'' became this due to overexposure.
** Ozzy on ''South Pacific''. He was given a disproportionate amount of time in the reunion show, even including a question from a child in the audience basically asking how he was so awesome, at the expense of the other players including that season's winner. This for someone who was voted out ''three'' times, alternated between non-existent and disastrous strategy (his "Get himself voted out" gambit arguably cost his tribe the game, as it's intended target Christine had repeatedly expressed to them her hatred of Coach and would likely have been more loyal to him than eventual turncoat Cochran), frequently frustrated his alliance-mates with his fixation on Semhar and Elyse, and only got as far as he did because of the Redemption Island twist and his strength at the individual challenges.
* [[Designated Hero]] / [[Designated Villain]]: Many seasons have at least one through [[Manipulative Editing|editing]]. ''Heroes vs. Villains'' used this as its gimmick.
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** As of ''One World'', viewers have also identified the problem of overly complacent, conservative players who are not willing to take risks. This attitude led to Russell running ''Samoa'', Rob running ''Redemption Island'', and Colton running his tribe in the first half of ''One World''. This last one was especially frustrating, because Colton was a petty racist bully and almost nobody was shown to even speak up in defense of his targets.
* [[Draco in Leather Pants]]: Anyone that gets a villainous edit - be it [[Designated Villain|designated]] or [[Card-Carrying Villain|card-carrying]] - can get this treatment from part of the fanbase.
* [[Dude, Not Funny]]: Oftentimes; seeing people fall down, getting thrown around, etc is pretty funny...until they're ''really'' hurt and sometimes have a game breaking injury.
* [[Elimination Houdini]]: Several examples; read the article. It's actually a common strategy to take the worst player (meaning, in most cases, the most unlikable person out there) and protect them on the grounds that if it's you vs. them in the Finals, it's an easy win. This is called a "Goat". The concept is brutally subverted in ''Samoa'', when Russell Hantz's goat actually ends up pulverising him in the Final Vote, which repeats itself in ''Heroes vs. Villains'' when both Russell ''and'' Parvati's intended goat wins over both of them.
** There's a difference between flying under the radar and staying out of harm's way (like how Sandra managed to win both her seasons), and simply riding coattails (like Natalie in ''Redemption Island'' or Becky in ''Cook Islands''). Getting to the finals by stealth is rewarded. Getting there by being a total non-factor isn't.
** More people who kept houdini-ing their way out of elimination include:
*** Eliza. Almost every tribal council she was in, she was in trouble. Yet despite this she made her way to the final four, thanks in part to her alliance screwing up. Interestingly, Chris became an Elimination Houdini too (and the eventual winner) for that exact same reason: he ''should'' have been a goner when he became the last man remaining on the tribe and even sadly accepted that he was going home after he failed to win immunity, but thanks to Ami and Leann suddenly deciding that Eliza, who had always faithfully voted with them, was so annoying that she ''needed'' to go before obvious target Chris, he was able to split up the women's alliance with help from Twila and Scout.
*** Danni managed to escape because Stephenie's alliance decided she wasn't a threat and even thought it'd be a better idea to vote out the more easily-beaten ''Lydia'' over her.
*** Jonny Fairplay. Outnumbered 3-1 at the final four tribal council, had Sandra telling others not to trust him from early on, and everybody was fair game. He managed to talk Lillian and Sandra into voting out Darrah because she could win the final immunity challenge and that was probably their chance.
*** Chet. Just about every tribal council he was in, people were saying that he was weak. Survived about three tribal councils with people trying to get him out for weakness before finally being voted out, after more fit people like Mary, Mikey B, and Joel were eliminated.
*** Rocky, disliked by his tribe but was kept around because they ''needed'' to win challenges, picking him over the more easily-swayed Anthony. Finally with the merge around the corner, Ravu decides they had enough and sent him out.
*** Sarita managed to avoid elimination because Stephenie and Krista were less loyal to the Zapateras despite both being physically stronger.
*** Susie who was being voted for as a challenge liability several times; but due to her loyalties and lucky immunity win made the final three and even finished in ''second''.
*** Sierra, managed to avoid elimination numerous times and was initially targeted for weakness. (having been on Antibiotics prior to the show due to Strep throat)
*** Cochran appears to be set up as this in ''South Pacific''.
*** Gervase managed to charm his tribe mates enough to not get voted out of Pagong in the early stages of ''Borneo'' despite being bar none the laziest one there and causing Pagong to lose at least two challenges due to various [[Weaksauce Weakness|weaknessess]] of his (such as his fear of bugs in the "Bugging Out" challenge and his inability to swim during "In From The Deep").
* [[Ensemble Darkhorse]]: Every so often, characters who only make it a short way or fall short of winning tend to become fan favourites. This usually results in them being called back for an All-Star season:
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** Although he has not yet been brought back, Bobby "Bob Dawg" Mason from ''Panama'' has a sizable online fandom thanks to his performances in challenges, his unique personality, and his razor sharp quips and put downs.
** Troy "Troyzan" Robertson from ''One World'' has a pretty large fanbase, most likely a combination of his [[Large Ham|over-the-top]] personality during the game, and the fact that [[Ascended Fanboy|he's been a fan of the show since its first season.]]
* [[Epileptic Trees]]: Some of the theories in [https://web.archive.org/web/20140822173357/http://survivorsucks.com/topic/1113/The-History-of-Survivor-Spoilers#.Tv0LqNQ7UTY this] thread (which documents the history of online Survivor spoilers) can get pretty creative and outlandish, especially the ''Follow The Star'' theory by a Survivor Sucks poster called "Tapewatcher" which claimed that Ethan would win ''Africa'' because the editing symbolized him as Jesus.
* [[Evil Is Sexy]]: Female examples are Parvati, Jerri, Ami, Danielle, Courtney. Male examples are Brian, "Boston" Rob, and Tyson.
** [[Beauty Equals Goodness]]: On the other hand, the "Good" characters can boast Ozzy, Colby, J.T., Stephenie and Amanda.
== F-J ==
* [[Fan Dumb]]: Probably the most interesting theme of ''Survivor'' is how differently everyone views the show. To some, it's [[So Bad It's Good]]. To other viewers, it may be absolutely terrible or [[So Cool Its Awesome]], and there's rarely any middle ground opinions about the "quality" of the show. The [[Fan Dumb]] for ''Survivor'' claim that the show used to be good, but dropped off in quality somewhere between ''Australian Outback'' and ''All Stars''. [[Your Mileage May Vary]], and it probably will.
** Some viewers (mostly viewers whose introduction to Survivor was ''Samoa'' or ''Tocantins'') actually agree with Russell, and ignore that it's also a ''social'' game, or ignore the "Outlast" bit of the show's slogan, meaning you can't win ''Survivor'' if the jury doesn't want you to win.
** [http://www.funny115.com/archives/trollfight.htm This] shows a good example of [[Fan Dumb]]. The author, an acclaimed Survivor columnist and possibly the foremost expert on the show Mario Lanza, also mentions that the Boston Rob cult can be pretty vicious too. The keyword is mentioning how the fans reacted, since the author ''does'' admit he has his own [[Bias Steamroller|biases]].
** Despite ''Fiji'' being a [[Seasonal Rot|scrappy season]] [[Your Mileage May Vary|for most]], the unofficial car deal between Yauman and Dreamz sparked off one of the most volatile post-season discussions in the show's history. To recap, if Dreamz won the final immunity challenge, he had to give Yauman the immunity necklace in exchange for an SUV Yauman won during a reward challenge. The anger towards Dreamz [[Moral Event Horizon|for not following through on his side of the deal]] is understandable. The [[Fan Dumb]] comes in with the viewers threatening to boycott the show, because Dreamz was allowed to take the car with zero repercussions. This is in spite of Jeff Proust explaining that the deal can't be enforced by the game's producers, so if Dreamz does not follow through, they can't do a thing about it. Even more jarring, some of these fans even attacked Earl for not voting off Cassandra to keep Yauman in the game, since it's the honorable thing to do. [[Completely Missing the Point|Yes, after a dozen or so seasons of backstabbing and politics, now fans demand honor above]]. This is in spite of the jury admitting that they would have voted Yauman over Earl 6-3 if they both reached the top three. (And you just know people would be saying [[Too Dumb to Live]] if Dreamz ''had'' given up Immunity)
** A lot of threads around how the "current winner" was the "Worst winner of Survivor yet". This happens with a much greater frequency whenever a woman wins than when a man wins - [[Unfortunate Implications]] and [[Hypocritical Fandom]], anyone?
** ''Survivor Sucks'', a board for fans of ''Survivor'' is often full of [[Fan Dumb]] and can lead to some...quite vicious threads.
*** On the other hand, ''Sucks'' is more or less the most popular online community for Survivor fans. While there are a lot of idiots and trolls on the boards, there are also a lot of reasonable and very well spoken posters; amongst the Flame-Wars and comments made in poor-taste, there are actually a lot of people with genuine insight, as well as the "Edgic" around one forum, which has often been used to predict winners. (Editing + Logic)
* [[Fan Nickname]]: "Pagonging" is when, after tribes merge, the one with the majority systematically eliminates the other (named for the Pagong tribe of ''Borneo'', the first victim of this). As many of the players don't feel a need to ''immediately'' break the original tribal alliances upon merging, pagonging is attempted rather often. (It often leads to a [[Boring but Practical]] strategy if one thinks about it; because removing the opposing alliances at merge means you can waltz undefeated to the finals.)
** "Ulonging" is similar; only the tribe gets utterly destroyed ''before'' the merge by losing challenges. Named for the Ulong tribe in ''Palau'', who lost ''every single Immunity challenge''. They went down in history as the only tribe to be completely eliminated before the merge (except for Stephenie). In fact, there was no official merge in that season because of this.
** "Idoled" is when a contestant is eliminated only because another player who has the same or higher total of votes against them uses the Hidden Immunity Idol to save themselves from elimination. So far, this has happened in ''Fiji, Micronesia, Samoa'' and ''Heroes vs. Villains''.
** "Loser Lodge" is a popular term for the Ponderosa, the nearby complex at which Jury members are sequestered before the final Tribal Council.
** "Mactor" is a [[Portmanteau]] of "model" and "actor", [[Exactly What It Says
** "Gamebot" is a player whose entire focus is on winning the game and maximizing their success at winning the game at the expense of everything else (such as, you know, maybe enjoying the experience, or [[I'm Not Here to Make Friends|remembering that this is a social game too]]). They are differentiated from most players (who also want to win) by their total disinterest in anything that doesn't advance them further in the game. A good example of this is Amanda and Danielle during ''Heroes vs Villains'' when they went along with Colby to the home of [[
** Here's a few other popular(or once popular) fan nicknames for alliances featured on the show:
*** "Boran Boys Club" (Lex, Big Tom, and Ethan during ''Africa'')
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*** ''The Onions'' (Marcus, Charlie, Corinne, Jacquie, and Bob during ''Gabon'')
*** "The Ometepe five/six" (Andrea, Natalie, Grant, Phillip, Ashley, Rob when it's six.)
*** [[Fun
** "CG-I", to refer to a player with an [[Out of Focus]] edit and seems almost digitally inserted into the show halfway through the season.
* [[Foe Yay]]: Some contestants can be a little-too-obsessed with a fellow castaway they claim they don't like.
** [[Fiery Redhead|Jerri]] and [[Honor Before Reason|Colby]]. ''[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8NY0zJftBjI Enough]'' ''[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJGaA7FCl-o Said]''. Bonus: watch [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTrTSmLCd1A this], from 1:58 - 2:16.
** [[The Strategist|Richard Hatch]] and [[Ice Queen|Sue Hawk]] had a rather unfortunate encounter in ''All-Stars'' that led to the latter quitting the game.
** [https://web.archive.org/web/20100409111256/http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,299527,00.html Jeff Probst and Johnny Fairplay.]
** [[Smug Snake|Russell Hantz]] was fixated on [[Manipulative Bastard|Boston Rob]] during ''Heroes Vs Villains'', while everyone else in turn became fixated on Russell.
** Kelly Wigglesworth and Sue Hawk from ''Borneo'' is a pretty sad example, given that they seemed to be good friends at one point.
* [[Follow the Leader]]: Started an entire wave of reality shows.
** Jeff Probst's first speech to the players in ''Heroes Vs Villains'' called his beloved show "the '''greatest''' adventure game in the history of television".
* [[Funny Aneurysm Moment]]: In ''Fiji'', Boo's Blunders are ''hilarious'' until the final episode when he tears his ACL. Nobody was laughing then.
* [[Genius Bonus]]: In ''South Pacific'', Christine angrily calls Coach "King Farouk" after she's voted out. Anyone familiar with the history of this king<ref>An Egyptian pharaoh that was popular at first, but the internal rivalries of his administration and his alienation of the military - along with his increasing excesses and ''eccentricities'' - eventually caused his downfall</ref> could catch this as [[Foreshadowing]] on behalf of the editors that Coach was going to lose.
** In one episode of ''Marquesas'', Zoe compares the raft that her tribe is making for the upcoming reward challenge to Kon-Tiki, the famous raft used by Thor Heyerdahl in the 1940's to demonstrate that indigenous people from South America may have settled in Polynesia at one point. Heyerdahl first envisioned this hypothesis (which would later be largely discredited) while living in the Marquesas Islands.
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* [[Hilarious in Hindsight]]: Amber mentioned in her audition tape for ''Australia'' that the host visited her in a dream and told her she would win. Which she did...the ''second'' time she played.
** In an early episode of ''Pearl Islands'', after arguing with Sandra, Jonny Fairplay declared in a confessional that "I got a million that says she won't be the final one!" Guess who ended being the first (and so far only) two-time winner?
** IN the "Meet the Cast" videos for ''Samoa'', Jeff mentions that Russell apparently doesn't realize it's a social game - guess what comes back and bites him in the ass ''HARD''?
* [[Holy Shit Quotient]]
* [[Ho Yay]]: Some contestants are prone to this.
** [[Bi the Way|Bisexual]] Ami from ''Vanuatu'' generated more than a little [[Les Yay]] with some of her female tribemates.
** Parvati Shallow (from ''Cook Islands'', ''Micronesia'' and ''Heroes vs. Villains''), is prone to this, as she uses her good looks to manipulate everyone around her. During ''Heroes vs. Villains'', Danielle's [[Fatal Flaw]] was defensively revealing her alliance with Parvati to Russell.
{{quote|
'''Russell''': [[Tranquil Fury|...oh, really?]] }}
** There's a running joke among hard core Survivor fans that Colby and Jeff Probst are gay lovers. It didn't help to diffuse the rumor when Colby said during the ''Heroes vs Villains'' pre-show special, and I quote, "Probst, snuffing the torch. Man, I'd like to snuff that guy's torch." Seriously, he said this with a straight face... because he meant that he'd like to dismiss Probst from the game. [[Fan Dumb|Sometimes the fans]] [[Yaoi Fangirl|see what they want to see.]]
*** And then there's the running joke amongst some fans where they try guessing which of the men Probst will crush on every new season, as he seems to hold favoritism towards the "manliest men" each season.
** On the "Greatest and Most Outrageous Moments" DVD for ''Borneo'', there's an extended scene of something orignally shown during Jenna Lewis' boot episode. The scene featured Gervase, Sean and Rudy discussing Richard's fishing ability and whether it was worth the value of him not doing any other work around camp. The conversation then turns to Dr Sean discussing Rich being a "fat naked fag", and how he would buy a calandar of other FNF's scuba diving and rock climbing. Ironically, Rudy said that such a calandar would sell "To the queers, anyway".
* [[Hypocrite]]: in-game, people often criticize others for lying, making deals, or backstabbing them...when they themselves would do the same to get in their shoes.
* [[Hypocritical Fandom]]: If a male lies, cheats, backstabs, and manipulates his way into the final two or three and wins, the fandom praises his gameplay. If a woman does the same, she's considered dislikable and is the "Worst winner yet".
** Heck, one person even said this about responses to Amber from the U.S. "All Stars" season, who was considered one of those "Worst winners yet".
{{quote|
* [[Idiot Ball]]: The Ometepe tribe held one for the ''entire'' season.
** Sash grabbed it twice in ''Nicaragua'': first when he chose to vote out [[Handicapped Badass|Kelly B]] even though Marty was clearly the bigger threat, and then again at the end, when he was duped by Fabio into blindsiding Jane, and then proceeded to tell her ''right to her face'' that she was the next to go. (of course Chase had it too in that case.)
** Lex giving up a 6-4 lead for his tribe and almost getting voted out during the merge in a close vote due to his rampant paranoia. And the only reason he was saved was because Brandon was carrying an even bigger idiot ball than him.
** Tom in ''All-Stars'' just barely touched the idiot ball when he called himself the swing vote between the Rob-Amber alliance and the Rupert-Jenna alliance. Normally not a bad thing to say to the [[Confession Cam]], but instead, he [[Too Dumb to Live|did it right to Rob's face. At the final five.]] That was all an already wary Rob needed to turn the vote against Tom and send him packing.
* [[Iron Woobie]]: Stephenie LaGrossa is seen as this first in ''Palau'' when she was alone on the Ulong tribe, and then ''again'' after ''Heroes vs. Villains'' - some unconfirmed rumours state that she was eliminated because she was still hurting from having her ''shoulder dislocated'' in the ''first challenge in the game''. (Would explain why she was voted out over that Candice girl nobody really knew.)
* [[
** It's also been speculated that they always have to film it on an island away from civilization or in the event of a mainland one like Gabon, China, or Amazon, in a ''very'' secluded area due to speculations of people trying to fly or drive into the filming area(s) and spoil or disrupt the game. It's speculated that's why they won't film it in Australia again, or try Alaska.
* [[Jerkass Woobie]]: [[Grey and Gray Morality|Many]]
== K-O ==
* [[Love It or Hate It]]: The very early seasons (''Borneo'', ''The Australian Outback'', and ''Africa''). Some people love them for their emphasis on the wildness survival aspect, adventure, and superior character development(compared to the later seasons, everyone on the early seasons got a fair share of the camera time), while others hate them for their lack of sophisticated game play, pagongings, and the more neutral, impartial attitude of Jeff Probst compared to later seasons.
** The later seasons also apply (Post-Season 12), albeit to a lesser degree. While some people love the sophisticated plotting compared to the earlier seasons and the various additions to the show (most notably the Hidden Immunity Idol), other viewers find the heavy emphasis on strategy at the expense of everything else(including things like character development), as well as host Jeff Probst's interventionist approach to player politics, to have ruined the show from it's "[[They Changed It, Now It Sucks|former glory]]".
* [[Love to Hate]]: Richard Hatch and "Boston" Rob; both play hard and talk big but ultimately treat the game with as much seriousness as reality TV deserves (that is, little to none). Sandra could be added to this list, too - she's abrasive, but her "cut the crap" attitude can be very refreshing.
* [[Magnificent Bastard]]: Richard Hatch from ''Borneo'', Brian Heidik from ''Thailand'', Chris Daugherty from ''Vanuatu'', Yul Kwon from ''Cook Islands'', Todd Herzog from ''China'', Parvati Shallow from ''Micronesia'', and Kim Spradlin from ''One World''. Sandra Diaz-Twine was less outright manipulative, but she was able to win ''twice'' (''Pearl Islands'' and ''Heroes Vs. Villains'').
** Honorable mention goes to "Boston" Rob Mariano, who dominated ''All-Stars'' and came within one vote of winning the million dollars, but still got away with far more than any second-placer can even dream of, starting with ''marrying'' the winner. (He would eventually win himself in ''Redemption Island'', but fans attribute that more to the simple-mindedness of Rob's allies than Rob's own abilities.)
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* [[Memetic Badass]]: ''Samoa'' contestant Dave Ball, aka "Danger Dave."
* [[Memetic Mutation]]: [http://survivorsucks.yuku.com/topic/379 Silas Screws] : A [[Unfortunate Implications|picture]] of Silas Gaither at an awards show inspires countless [[Black Comedy Rape]] jokes.
** [https://web.archive.org/web/20130524051905/http://survivorsucks.yuku.com/topic/30903 I'M LIVID!] : An offhand comment by Amanda Kimmel leads to one of the funniest [[Affectionate Parody|parodies]] of Survivor ever.
** "I'm a 150-200% happy with the wife that I have!"
** "It's just a fucking stick!"
** After having the cameras turned towards Russell for the entire season before suddenly showing this "Brett" person in ''Samoa''; It became a bit of a meme around some boards to refer to Brett as "CG-I Brett", or jokingly say that he was an extra actor hired to be artificially put into the season near the end, as well as photoshopping Brett into other shots of past seasons. (It's a [[Running Gag]] on the new 115)
** "I will ''always'' wave my finger in your face!"
** "Who is this ''jackass?!''"
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** It could be said that Richard's memetic outfit is his [[Naked People Are Funny|birthday suit]].
* [[Moe]]: Colleen Haskell from ''Borneo'', Amber Brkich and Elisabeth Filarski from ''Australian Outback'', Kim Powers from ''Africa'', Eliza Orlins from ''Vanuatu'' and ''Micronesia'', Michelle Yi from ''Fiji'', Courtney Yates from ''China'' and ''Heroes vs Villains'', Sugar Kiper from ''Gabon'' and ''Heroes vs Villains''.
* [[
** No, Redemption Island wasn't entirely Jeff's idea; other versions of the show have done it ''long'' before.
*** For that matter, Jeff has no say in the editing - with the exception of challenges and Tribal Council, he sees everything at the same time we do.
* [[Nausea Fuel]]: People ''do'' get hurt in ''Survivor''. Heck, it's an inherent risk, especially in the more recent season in which they have fighting challenges. However, one particular moment following a rather ''vicious'' looking challenge in ''Fans vs. Favourites'' had many viewers looking away from the TV screaming, "EW EW EW EW EW!!!" or feeling like they were about to lose their lunch. Jonathan Penner received a puncture wound to the knee and had to be evacuated from the game due to an infection that could potentially have taken out his leg. They actually showed the medic ''irrigating the puncture wound'' on TV to show how bad it was.
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** The accusations by ''Borneo'' contestant Stacey Stillman that the producer's persuaded Sean and Dirk into voting her off so they could save the more colorful Rudy, and Dirk's eventual admittance in court that this was true, has cast a shadow over the show for years and made many viewers question whether any other game influencing [[Executive Meddling]] has taken place.
* [[Nostalgia Filter]]: Some viewers ''really'' prefer the older seasons to the more recent ones.
* [[Not So Different]]: Quite a bit.
** Some of the arguments against the Final Three have actually been [[Not So Different]] about complaints that happened when the show did a Final two format. Probst has pointed out that, yes, he ''has'' received complaints about "Blowout" Final twos where "Oh, nobody was going to vote for ''*Insert second place winner here*''," just like how he has received complaints of "Oh, nobody was going to vote for ''*insert third place winner here*''."
* [[Offscreen Moment of Awesome]]: Tom's famous shark-hunt in ''Palau''.
** Pagong all voting for Jeff Probst at their first Tribal Council, and Greg's rebelliousness against the producers in general.
* [[Older Than They Think]]: Actually not American from the beginning - the concept originated in Sweden as ''Expedition Robinson'' back in 1997. It was picked up by [[CBS]] in 2000, and the rest is history.
** Certain twists meanwhile. Tribal switches had happened before ''Africa'', and the concept of ''Redemption Island'' was actually used in previous versions of ''[[Survivor]]'', often called "Island of the Dead" or "island of purgatory".
* [[Old Guard Versus New Blood]]: As the strategy of Survivor has become more complex over the years, less emphasis has been placed on certain aspects that brought older fans into the show in the first place (such as the adventure element, which has sadly been more or less ignored in recent years) . As more and more twists became commonplace on the show (the hidden immunity idol, for example), there was also less time for character development. Old Guard fans complained about all the time being spent on strategy and twists, which lead to generic and dull seasons such as fan unfavorite Fiji and Redemption Island. These complaints consequently lead to the producers casting [[Spotlight-Stealing Squad]] contestants like Coach, Rob, and Russell, and editing the show in the over the top style that we see in the most recent seasons. Of course, Old Guard fans ''still'' haven't gotten what they wanted, and they complain that the lack of adventure and character development in these newer seasons is even ''worse'' than they were in Cook Islands or Fiji, while on the other side of the equation, the New Blood fans complain about the older seasons for being boring and lacking in strategy.
== P-T ==
* [[Plot Tumor]]: The Hidden Immunity Idol. In some seasons, the influence of the idol becomes so important that it's hard to imagine the boot order occurring even remotely like it actually did if the idol wasn't in place. It must be slightly jarring for modern viewers to imagine that once upon a time, ''there were no idols''.
* [[Portmanteau Couple Name]]: "Romber" was one for Rob & Amber.
* [[Rescued
** Boston Rob's gotten a variation; he was never anybody's Scrappy, but he's certainly been rescued from the ''villain'' heap. He came into Heroes vs. Villains as the arch-manipulator untrustworthy bad guy, but was arguably more heroic than most of the hero tribe, especially when put with other non-villain Villains such as Sandra and Courtney. Not to mention having actual villains such as Randy, Tyson, and Russell around to contrast with suddenly made Rob look like a pretty nice, easygoing guy (marriage and fatherhood probably helped too). By ''Redemption Island'', his tribe immediately expressed relief that they got the "good" veteran.
** Clarence Black from the ''Africa'' season. After being ostracized by his tribe for most of the game because he ate a can of beans from said tribe's food rations while the others were away searching for a water source , he later on shapes up, works hard at camp and in the challenges, and eventually earns back their respect.
* [[Rewatch Bonus]]: There's actually ''quite a lot'' - the "Funny 115" site actually points out how easy it is to miss these, but if you rewatch a season, you can spot a lot of [[Foreshadowing]].
* [[Rooting for
* [[Ruined FOREVER]]: In tandem with [[They Changed It, Now It Sucks]], the many changes the show has made over the years has incurred the wrath of some of the shows [[Fan Dumb]]. Here's a partial list:
** Replacing the Final 2 format with the Final 3 in the majority of recent seasons.
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** Certain [[Base Breaker]] contestants like Rupert or Russell getting [[Spotlight-Stealing Squad|the lions share of the airtime]].
** Both of the twists that allow voted out players to re-enter the game (The Outcast Tribe in ''Pearl Islands'' and Redemption Island in Season 22 and afterwards).
* [[Scenery Porn]]: Especially in the seasons from ''Gabon'' onward, which were shot in HD.
* [[Scrappy Mechanic]]:
** The Hidden Immunity Idols. In their earlier seasons, they were not easy to find. Players had to receive and follow clues, walk great distances, search in very specific areas, sometimes even dig for them, making it a true treasure hunt. Ever since ''Samoa'', the idols are now hidden in the near vicinity of the camp, in very easy to find places, namely inside holes on trees, under bushes and other easy places where one just has to stick their hand in and find it. This has lead to players finding them easily (at least those savvy enough to look for them) and being able to use several of them throughout the season, with Russell Hantz being the most well known example at how he'd find and use so many of them. Fans have grown tired of this ease to find the idols, as they feel it can interfere with the strategic portions of the game if the players are more focused on running around the island to find the idols than on anything else.
** Neither of ''Redemption Island'''s twists, used again in ''South Pacific'', worked out well:
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** ''Fiji'' also was hit with this and [[They Changed It, Now It Sucks]]; because only one person on the show actually applied. Everyone else was recruited. One other reason for this was the general [[Jerkass]]-ness of the cast combined with a dull predictable pre-merge game consisting of Ravu losing every single tribe with only tribal switches to make things interesting. The producers also admit that it's a failed experiment. (A "heaven" tribe and a "hell" tribe. Needless to say every challenge was more or less a [[Curb Stomp Battle]].)
** ''Redemption Island'' with the [[Ratings Stunt|unnecessary return]] of infamous [[Spotlight-Stealing Squad|spotlight members]] Boston Rob and Russell. While Russell was voted off third, it became clear that only one of the tribes had the power to carry the season, and once they were [[Fan Nickname|Pagonged]], with absolutely no opposition to Boston Rob, it was clear that Boston Rob had zero chance of losing. Add in the amount of [[Creator's Pet|shilling]] worked into every single episode, as well as a Finale that can be completely summed up as "isn't Rob awesome?", and you got what's universally considered the worst season of ''Survivor''. People were actually applauding not that Rob finally won, but that the season ended, with plenty of long-time fans having shut off the season mid-way. Even those who sat through the previous "worst seasons ever".
* [[Seinfeld Is Unfunny]]: Some of the earlier seasons, mainly ''Borneo, The Australian Outback,'' and ''Africa'', can be a little hard to watch nowadays because many people had played the strategy game so well (Boston Rob, Brian, Rob Cesternino, Jonny Fairplay, Rafe, Cirie, Yul, Parvati, Earl, Yau-Man, Todd, Amanda and Sugar come to mind) some of the early players seem like utter fools in comparison. Even predesignated roles - Jerri proudly wears the title of ''Survivor'''s original Villain, but seeing her in ''Australian Outback'' after the likes of Jonny Fairplay, Boston Rob, Ami, Randy and Russell Hantz can make her look like just a rude girl in comparison. (She admits as much in the premiere of ''Heroes Vs Villains'', and she wasn't ''that'' villainous thereafter. See also [[Rescued
** However, the earlier seasons had a different mindset than what was used today. Richard Hatch was HATED by the audience not just for being arrogant, but for daring to play the game at all, because at the time most people (including most of the earlier contestants) expected votes to be based on merit instead of politics and considered alliances and shrewd gameplay to be unethical.
** The challenges also fall into this category. They were far less elaborate in the earlier seasons than they were in the more recent seasons, unless they were one of the [[Final Exam Boss]] type challenges.
** Plays that were at the time novel and brilliant are now seen as commonplace - alliances (first appeared in ''Borneo''), finding idols without clues, (''Guatemala''), Splitting votes to flush out the idol aka "Plan Voodoo" (First envisioned in ''Cook Islands'', first implemented in ''Redemption Island''), throwing challenges following a tribal switch (''Africa''), bait-and-switch voting (''Fiji''), idoling (''Fiji'' again), and fake idols (''Fiji'' '''again''') are all a part of the game so much that their use in later seasons has a lesser impact.
*** certain twists, too. Tribal switches, hidden immunity idols, etc are so commonplace.
** From a recent discussion on a fan board, some people have said that "Borneo" was the worst season of Survivor specifically ''because'' it was so boring and predictable with the players making no strategy to speak of.
*** ''Borneo'' is arguably a case of [[Values Dissonance]]. It's not that the players on the first season weren't aware of strategy, they were, but they felt that it took away from the spirit and fun of the show. To paraphrase Greg Buis, alliances were thought of as boring and a dick move(as opposed to just voting your conscious and maybe the best player would naturally come forth from that). Many fans on Survivor Sucks like to rank the seasons, and when they do, a lot of them don't include Borneo in their rankings for this very reason(that it is incompatible with later seasons). And for what Borneo lacks in strategy, it makes up for in character development. Compare it to any other season, recent seasons especially, and you ''will'' notice a greater depth in the confessionals and story arcs. No one is a "Brett" in the first season.
** Part of why "Australian Survivor" didn't do so well was that it looked almost like a knock-off of the first season of Survivor. Not as much character development and most of the early episodes looked a bit like filming a camping trip.
*** Not to mention, some poorly-designed challenges. The first immunity challenge had to be ''redone'' because they had to light fires and the fires all went out. In another challenge, the team who won thought the other team lost due to poor luck and gave them the reward.
* [[Spotlight-Stealing Squad]]: Some say Survivor's entering a [[Dork Age]] due to how ''sickenly common'' this trope is getting in the recent years. The first real example of this that worked was Rupert in ''Pearl Islands'', who really was one of the more unique people that had been cast on the show at that point; however, the producers have been trying to recreate that success with Coach in ''Tocantins'', which arguably pushed the show's quality down when the camera was kept off of most of the other contestants and kept on him and his antics; Russell in ''Samoa'' repeated this trend, which robbed the eventual winner Natalie of any real screen time. Sadly, this was repeated again in ''Redemption Isand'', where Boston Rob and Russell both returned and hogged all the screen time, but it should be noted that when one tribe consists of boring [[Living Prop|props]] and the only other interesting characters are [[Cloudcuckoolander|Phillip]], [[Religious Bruiser|Matt]], and the soon-to-be-gone Zapatera tribe, the producers are forced to give the screen time to the most well-known personality of Survivor.
* [["Stop Having Fun!" Guys]]: Many of the contestants on ''Survivor'' take the show far too seriously, often veering into [[Serious Business]].
** James gave vibes of this in ''Heroes vs. Villains''. He was a lot more aggressive in his gameplay, and all he earned from that was a potential boot before the jury (at least that's what would've happened if his injury didn't keep him from playing).
* [[Straw Man Has a Point]]: There are a couple nice moves performed by players who may even be idiots at worst - Russell deducing Immunity Idol locations with only one (or no) clues, Fairplay getting into the final three with two weaker players, Phillip seeing through Ralph's "lie" about having the hidden Immunity Idol, or NaOnka actually trying to play the game to pull Fabio on board with a blindside - when it was known that she ''hated'' him. If you can see through lies and get your ''enemies'' to help you, you've done something right.
* [[Super Couple]]: "Boston Rob" and Amber; from ''Marquesas'' and ''Australian Outback'' respectively but they courted while playing ''All-Stars''. The fame from this parlayed into ''two'' stints on ''[[The Amazing Race]]'' (one regular, one in ''their'' All-Star season) and their own reality show.
** Rob and Amber's utter domination of ''All-Stars'' resulted in future castaways becoming extremely leery of similar hook-ups in later seasons. If it even appears that a young male and a young female are starting to bond, one of the two will almost certainly get voted out at the next opportunity.
* [[Surprise Difficulty]]: A lot of people who really know the game from watching it for years (like those in Micronesia) often wind up running into this when they actually play. Mario Lanza and others have pointed out that playing the game is much different than actually watching it on TV. When you watch it on TV, you see all the confessionals, the tribal councils, etc, and are often well-rested and well fed while watching it. When you're playing the game, you do ''not'' see the Tribal Councils, the confessionals, and are always hungry and sleep-deprived. If you think about it, some plans that involved guessing at what people on the other tribe were thinking may have seen stupid to ''the viewers'' because ''we'' knew what happened on the other side, ''they'' didn't.
** It was discussed at the end of ''Micronesia'', also stating why fans vs favourite seasons don't always work out in favour of the fans. The fans have only known it from online-role-playing games, watching the show, discussing it, etc. The favourites meanwhile know what it's like to actually be ''in'' the game when you're hungry and sleep-deprived, and aren't within reach of a nice dinner or a comfortable bed whenever you are hungry or tired. That and the fans were a little too star-struck and were more likely to fall into traps and be easily-manipulated...or start knocking potential allies out trying to impress and find their way into nearly-unbreakable alliances.
* [[They Changed It, Now It Sucks]]: The many additions/changes to the show have created a [[Broken Base]] over the past seasons.
** If you watch all of the seasons back to back, there is an unmistakable shift in tone that occurs during the more recent seasons starting with ''Vanuatu'', emphasizing strategy and shocking twists over everything else. Whether or not this "sucks" is up to you.
** The Final Three format gets hit with this a lot. Probst actually says he prefers the final three because people would bring someone to the finals for perverse incentives, whereas others argue that this is part of the game, Others also point out that it's still in between two people in the end, since there has only been one season in which all three members in the final three received at least one vote (China: Amanda received one vote, Courtney received two, Todd received four) It was likely inspired by ''Exile Islands''; where people were planning on taking Courtney to the finals simply because everyone ''hated'' her, and arguably when Terry, the only person who really fought to stay in the game through one of the most memorable immunity runs since Colby's, was kicked at the Final 3.
*** Not to mention, before the final three was even considered, there were seasons where the final vote was basically a "Blowout" because the winner was basically decided at the final immunity challenge; making the final tribal council nothing but [[Padding]]. The producers have even said they might go back to a final two at some point, nothing is set in stone.
** The iconic Ancient Voices theme that used to play at the end of every episode has in recent seasons been replaced by a rather more generic and bland score.
* [[They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character]]: Generically, whenever a contestant is put through a [[Shocking Elimination]] or whenever legitimately interesting or [[Badass]]-looking contestants are early-mid game boots. Especially early-mid game because we barely get to know them. See also [[I Coulda Been a Contender]]. A couple big examples include:
** Dolly in ''Vanuatu''.
** Steve "Chicken" Morris in ''China''.
** Jacqui in ''Gabon''. At the time, it looked like there was a near-unbreakable alliance with Charlie, Marcus, and Corrine. However; she wound up [[Diabolus Ex Machina|screwed by a twist]].
** Kristina Kell and a lot of the Zapateras on ''Redemption Island''. Other than Rob and Phillip, most of the Ometepe players were just dull [[Living Prop|living props]], whereas on the Zapatera side, we have some legitimately interesting people and a couple players who the host says is badass, as well as one of the most [[Dangerously Genre Savvy]] players in the series.
** Kelly B, Yve, Tyrone, and Jill. It's pretty obvious that all four are physically capable (Jill even wins the first individual immunity of the game); but they wind up evicted in a ''very'' awkward part of the game: Right before the merge. Probst doesn't even acknowledge them that much (Kelly excluded); and there have even been speculations that Jill didn't even ''attend'' the reunion.
** Sugar, Randy, Tom, and Stephenie in ''Heroes vs. Villains''.
** Richard, Rudy, Tina, Jenna, Jerri, and Sue in ''All-stars''.
** Jonathan Penner in ''Fans vs. Favourites''. In ''Cook Islands'', he was a bit of an annoyance. But in ''Fans vs. Favourites'', he starts to [[Rescued
** Russell Swan had what was one of the most memorable [[Sugar Wiki/Crowning Moment Of Heartwaming|Crowning Moment Of Heartwaming]] in the series. Sadly he doesn't even make it mid-way.
** Wanda and Jonathan of ''Palau'' were evicted in episode one. We really didn't get to know them.
** Bobby Mason from the ''Panama'' season, if you believe his theory that certain contestants who are voted out early are either ignored or edited negatively in order not to upset viewers who would otherwise be outraged at a "good" contestant leaving early.
** Rick from ''South Pacific'', oh so much. Before appearing on the show, he had applied ''14 times'', and his confessionals posted online showed what an interesting character he was. However, he got almost no screen time, and was completely ignored during the reunion show despite placing 5th.
** Kourtney in ''One World'' was shown early on as being the [[Only Sane Man|Only Sane Woman]] of the Salani tribe, only to be medevaced on ''day three''.
* [[They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot|They Wasted A Perfectly Good Twist]]: ''One World'' was obviously set up to get the two tribes mingling and think of themselves more as one group than two. Unfortunately, an act of sabotage by the men right at the beginning, before they knew they'd be sharing a camp, still cemented the usual "us vs. them" mentality. (To be fair, this wasn't really the ''producers''' fault)
** Redemption Island is often seen as this simply because it turned out to mostly be a chance to focus both seasons' footage almost ''exclusively'' on the [[Creator's Pet]] that returned.
** Cook Islands and Panama, which started with a ''four'' tribe game, only to be bumped down to two within the first couple episodes. To be fair, these were four tribes of five (and four) and things would have quickly snowballed for a tribe that was down one or more, requiring half the contestants to sit out.
== U-Z ==
* [[Uncanny Valley]]: In the ''Heroes Vs Villains'' reunion show, CBS made a "prototype" survivor out of parts of all 19 winners at that point. The result was rather hideous
** Jane's (
* [[Unfortunate Implications]]: On ''Cook Islands'', the original tribes were segregated according to race. ''Cook Islands'' was a response to the criticism that the ethnicity of Survivor contestants became racially homogeneous overtime. Jeff Probst even admitted that when ''Entertainment Weekly'' brought up how "the cast has never been whiter" when describing the ''Guatemala'' contestants, that tipped the producers off. The producers also promised to balance the ethnic variety with its cast in future seasons. In ''Cook Islands'' itself, the ethnic segregation hardly affected the game in any fashion, given how the tribes mixed up so quickly. The more noticeable [[Unfortunate Implications]] came from two things. One, the Survivor producers more or less recanted their promise to make the game more racially balanced (stating the difficulty of doing that, compared to the ease of finding a mostly white cast and some token minorities), and two, during the ''Cook Islands'' and especially ''Fiji'' seasons, some fans complained about the lack of white contestants when their numbers dwindled with deadpan seriousness, obviously not seeing the irony of their complaints.
** Some people have said some...unfortunate things. [[Rule of Cautious Editing Judgment|Best not repeat them]]. They often get called out on this in the jury, sometimes.
* [[Vindicated
** And from the same season, Joel Klug. He was voted out of Pagong mainly because he thought this whole "alliance" thing might be a good idea to advance himself and his friends further in the game, and was promptly voted out for being ''arrogant'' to even bring up the idea and not just going with the flow and voting out whoever you feel like. Many viewers today may feel sorry for him for ending up on a tribe like Pagong, and wonder how he would fare on a season with modern players.
** Stephen Fishbach from ''Tocantins''. Post show, he's been very active in explaining his side of the story, and despite not winning, many praised his strategies (a few of the jurors even admitted that they'd have switched their votes if they'd known that he was as strong of a strategist as he was). J.T.'s blunder in ''Heroes vs. Villains'' certainly helped with this, too.
* [[Wangst]]: Too many examples to list, but applies to several characters each season.
* [[What an Idiot!]]: Guaranteed to happen at least once in glorious fashion during each season
* [[What Measure Is a Non-Badass?]]: Any winner who most fans deemed as "undeserving" solely for not being both physically and/or strategically dominating and aggressive compared to their [[The Runner Up Takes It All|runners-up]]. Notable cases are Tina Wesson from ''Australia'', Amber Brkich from ''All-Stars'', Natalie White from ''Samoa'', and Sophie Clarke from ''South Pacific''.
▲* [[What Measure Is a Non-Badass?]]: Any winner who most fans deemed as "undeserving" solely for not being both physically and/or strategically dominating and aggressive compared to their [[The Runner Up Takes It All|runners-up]]. Notable cases are Tina Wesson from ''Australia'', Amber Brkich from ''All-Stars'', Natalie White from ''Samoa'', and Sophie Clarke from ''South Pacific''.
** Sophie is an interesting case of this because she was both a strategic and a physically capable player. She was just more quiet about it.
** As listed above, Becky Lee in ''Cook Islands'' was [[Overshadowed
** Or any runner-up. There were some people who thought Sugar deserved second because she played more of a strategic game than Susie; who merely did as she was told but won immunity when she needed it.
** Some people who defend the "Undeserving" winners point out that there is in fact a ''third'' "O" in the slogan. "Outwit, Outplay, '''Outlast'''." A lot of people forget about that last bit - this is a game of Survival at all. If you're in the finals, you certainly did ''something'' right.
** It's also most likely not a coincidence that almost all the players listed above [[Double Standard|are female]]. There ''have'' been male winners who get "undeserving/not strategic enough/just got lucky" accusations, like Bob from ''Gabon'' and Jud/Fabio from ''Nicaragua'', but the criticism they receive is still noticeably less vicious than for the "undeserving" female winners.
* [[
** Many fans were also skeptical on casting previous winners in [[Reunion Show|reunion seasons]] because they already won the title and the million bucks.
* [[The Woobie]]: Some contestants can be this at times, especially when they're in the minority or the victims of mean-spirited players. Sometimes, people actually ''are'' pretty woobie-ish, especially people who are having mental breakdowns or are being physically evacuated. A lot of people wanted to just reach through the screen and hug some of the players who were evacuated.
** The first example of this is from the first season, when Jenna was the only person that didn't get a video from her family.
** From ''One World'', Christina. The entire tribe yells at her in the first three days. Then when the tribes are switched around, everyone else is mean to her. Tarzan even says ''to her face'' that he would not be friends with her. Anyone ''not'' want to give her a hug?
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