When did you start becoming disalusioned with the show?
Well there were two things that did it. The first one (and most important) was when someone I actually knew ended up being cast on the show. It was bound to happen eventually, since I used to know so many Survivor fans on here, but when Rafe showed up on Guatemala it sort of ruined the show for me. It wasn't just that I didn't like Rafe, it was more of the fact that the show had seemed to much larger than life to me before that. I kind of saw the Survivors as being these larger than life mythical celebrities. But then all of a sudden this douche nozzle from Survivor Sucks gets cast on the show, and it sort of shattered it all for me. All of a sudden, it wasn't like I was watching SURVIVOR! anymore. From Guatemala on, I was just watching normal people. I was just watching the same people who have the exact same idiotic conversations on Survivor Sucks over and over again. I have never been as big of a fan ever since.
Also, I especially hated All-Stars. It was such a downer of a season (especially the whole undercurrent of Jenna Lewis and Boston Rob playing "Let's trash all the Survivor legends' reputations!") that it sort of ruined the show for me. Before All-Stars there was a very definite and agreed upon Survivor mythology, and there has been nothing even remotely close to that ever since. Starting with season 9 (Vanuatu), I often found myself thinking, "Um, isn't Survivor supposed to be ending one of these seasons?" It didn't help that (in my opinion) I thought that Guatemala, Exile Island and Cook Islands were shit. I have never fully accepted the show once it went to a final 3 format. The reason I liked Micronesia so much because it went back to the final 2. Small cheers for small miracles.
Of course, for purposes of argument, I must add an obligatory disclaimer that Cook Islands was the best season of all time because I'm not a racist.
