6. Kathy, Sean, Neleh, Vecepia, Paschal
Memorable Quote(s):
"If I can get Kathy on my side, maybe she can get Paschal and Neleh on our side." -Sean
"I think Tammy and John are playing the game and they are playing it so hard it's obnoxious." -Kathy
"At the challenge there was a lot of cockiness with Tammy, Zoe, Rob and John." -Vecepia
"I have been nothing but nice to those guys and I would be lying to myself and to my heart if I went up there tonight and voted for Sean. We have been here for too long and worked too hard, and I am not going to go out like that." -Neleh
"You thought you had me, didn't you John? Well let me give you a little advice. If you ever go to Vegas... always bet on black." -Sean
"The only thing I have left to share is this mint that I shoved in my mouth really fast. So if everybody wants to take a little nibble..." -Neleh
"You're offering seven starving adults a piece of candy out of your mouth. Keep your mint candy, man. You know, that's like saying 'Anybody want this piece of doo doo?'" -Sean
"Oh, that feels like purple, Jeff." -Paschal
"If I step off and give you Immunity, would you take me into the finals with you?" -Vecepia (to Neleh)
The first post merge power shift in Survivor history is credited to the five who overthrew the Rotu 4. Without them uniting at the final 9, I would bet on Survivor not being around today. See, in the first three seasons, whoever was in control of the dominant alliance had a fairly easy ride to the final 4. We had one power shift in Australia when Mitchell was sent home due to past votes, but there had been absolutely nothing close to what occurred in Marquesas, something that gave hope to underdogs everywhere and helped catapule strategy into a new dimension. I know strategy didn't truly transform until Amazon, but without the overthrow and the amount of flip flopping during the season, we would be sitting through Pagongings every season until Survivor was cancelled.
I didn't get the chance to watch Marquesas as it was originally airing, but the Rotu 4 were hated as a group by the majority of the viewers. After what they did to Gabe, they didn't deserve any fans. I hated Zoe and John with a passion, but for some reason I really liked the General and Tammy. Since I liked half of the opposing alliance, I probably didn't end up liking the five outsiders joining up together as much as most, but I did enjoy John's boot as much as anyone else did.
Because of Rob and Kathy's ambassadors visit right before the merge, an alliance that will come up later on in this list, Kathy lost a lot of trust in the main group for Rotu, especially her former good friend, Zoe. After Rob was voted out at the first merge tribal council, Kathy knew that she could be in some trouble. Luckily for her, Sean was feeling the exact same way. He knew that with his buddy Rob gone, he was toast unless something happened. Vecepia was on board with whatever would better her position, and they knew that they would just need Paschal and Neleh to make a move. Unforuntately for them, neither of them were willing to risk their integrity by betraying their original tribe, even after their good friend Gabe was betrayed by the same people. That is, until the final 9 immunity challenge. The famous cocunut chop challenge played a huge role in its first season. Nowadays, everyone knows what will happen if they simply knock people down in terms of who they are closest with. People know it is a trap, and it is necessary to hide their true game plan. Well, at least people not trying to hand the win over to Jalapao.
Why was this challenge so important? Well, it gave Sean absolutely no chance to save himself by winning immunity, but it also allowed the cocky Rotu members to show their cards and be arrogant assholes about the whole ordeal. First Sean was knocked out. Then Vecepia. Then Kathy. John had actually recieved enough hits to leave next, and Zoe was out before Neleh, too, but the actions of the Rotu's gave everything away. From John's kiss to Sean to The General asking Tammy if she would like him to leave the machete on Neleh's rope. This led to Neleh actually having a rational thought. She realized back at came that Pappy and her had to play their own game. They had to vote for John, and in a great tribal council, complete with John crying in his final words, a new alliance was in power. While Zoe voted for John in an attempt to fit in, she was bounced next unanimously for being untrustworthy. Tammi and The General both followed leaving a successful uprising together in the final 5. That's not to say this was any boring Pagonging, though. Pretty much every Marquesas episode had something going for it. With Paschal and Sean's magical reward between two unlikely people at the final 8 to Neleh offering her chewed mint to the rest of the tribe, this alliance delivered entertainment wise, and the best part was, I liked them all. In fact, I liked everyone who made the final 7 from Marquesas.
Believe it or not, the incredibly epic boot of John was topped at least two more times during the season in my eyes. Because the 5 person alliance made the final 5 together, there was no more easy boots. Sean and Vecepia were a pair while Neleh and Paschal were just as close. Kathy sat directly in the middle. She was the swing vote, and she had all the power when she won immunity. The newly added twist of being able to give up immunity was the focal point at tribal council as Sean was begging for her to give it up to him. That wasn't the only thing going on, though, because every single member of the game was yelling at one point or another. They all were fighting for Kathy's vote, and she had no clue what to do. It's really hard to explain, but I urge you to go watch the final 5 tribal council during Marquesas if you havn't already. Epic is an understatement. Eventually, Kathy sided against Sean, and he left with a light hearted, "D'oh!"
With Kathy siding with Neleh and Paschal, you would thing that the next tribal council would be predictible as ever. You would be wrong. The next morning, Kathy told Vecepia that she should have sided with Sean and her, and, as luck would have it, Vecepia won immunity in the final fallen comrades challenge because of her poetry book. This led to Kathy and Vecepia discussing who they would vote for in front of everyone. Yes, they were having a strategic conversation about whether Paschal or Neleh should get their votes in front of them and the jury at tribal council. They ended up voting for Neleh, and it was a 2-2 tie. They revoted, and the vote was 1-1. They thought the tie would be determined by a challenge or something of the sort, but Jeff brought out a bag of three rocks. If you picked the purple one, you were gone, and Paschal left the game without recieving a single vote against him the entire game. It was great television, and while some may rule it was completely unfair, Paschal had every chance to vote for Neleh and save himself. He decided against it.
At the final three challenge, Neleh innocently points out to Kathy that her boob has fallen out, and Kathy is knocked out of the challenge by trying to put it back in. This leads to Vecepia and Neleh making a deal in front of Kathy. Vecepia would step down and Neleh would take her to the finals. They agreed, and Kathy was not happy. Unfortunately for her, the game is not fair.
This alliance of 5 helped make Marquesas as entertaining as it was, and I liked every single member of the group. Unfortunately, I wasn't rooting for them as much as I was for the other remaining alliances. I mean I would have been more than happy to see Tammy pull out a win. Still, they were great. I liked Pappy and Neleh's relationship much better than Rodger and Lis's for some reason. Sean was hilarious. Kathy is one of the best underdogs/characters in Survivor history, and Vecepia was a brilliant strategist. Yeah, she didn't have as much air time as everyone else, but she was prominant...unlike say any invisible female from a post ASS season.
5. Rob and Kathy
Memorable Quote(s):
"Jeff sat us down and gave us pizza and Coors Light. I was sitting across from this young buck thinking, I am going to pound beers and eat pizza with this guy!" -Kathy
"Don't stab me in the back." -Kathy
"John Carroll thinks I have an alliance with the team, Kathy thinks I have an alliance with her. I have been lying this whole game." -Rob
"I was aloof to Zoe, I didn't trust her. I didn't trust John. I didn't trust Tammy and I didn't trust The General. I was quiet and hanging on the outer rim." -Kathy
"Didn't you tell me the other day that you were going to vote out Kathy?" -Rob *long awkward pause* "No." -Zoe
Thank you for the ambassadors twist. This is one of those things that makes no sense for the producers to get rid of. I know I've talked about that in my twists' ranking thread, but it did make for some great moments. Or in this case, it made for a great alliance.
Why was Kathy so willing to help form a coup against the Rotu 4? Well, credit for that can go to Rob Mariano. Before he was an arrogant asshole on All Stars, he was a hard playing, hysterical strategist. He hated the position he was in after the swap, and he was looking to change it. He told Kathy about the Rotu 4 forming an alliance with the 3 Maraamu's, and she was going to be the first one to go. Kathy was shocked and appalled, and she started thinking about other plans. The two of them formed an alliance before chowing down on pizza and getting drunk with beer.
When the two tribes merged, Rob went to work. He threw John under the bus countless times as he knew his back was against the wall. My favorite part of him trying to turn things around was asking Zoe in front of Kathy if she had mentioned Kathy's name. She paused for what felt like an enternity before answering with one of the least convincing lies I've ever heard. It was worse than Judd's "The idol is on the ground." Kathy started to distrust Zoe even more, and she even voted for her at the first merge tribal council. Unfortunately for Rob, he didn't have enough people behind him, and he was booted. Vecepia didn't even side with her original tribemate as Sean was the only one who voted with Rob. His lies and fights with John were too much to stage a comeback, but the damage was done. Without Rob talking to Kathy, we would have never had the alliance formed the very next episode, and the Rotu 4 would have most likely been the final 4. (Or the final 3, with Zoe getting dropped off whenever.)
Why does this rank higher than the actual overthrow plus the drama at the final 4 and 5? Well, I really liked Rob during Marquesas, and I really liked Kathy, too. I don't know if they were my two favorites from the season, but Rob stirred up so much shit that it was hard to not find him endearing. He was the reason John was booted, and he was able to get his revenge without even being there. Kathy was great, too, and the final 10 episode, probably the least fairly edited from a pre ASS season, was devoted soley to Rob trying to save himself, and Kathy having internal trouble deciding what to do. It was a great episode, and I loved it. The editors can do that once in a while as long as it is just that, once in a while. We can't have two people taking up all the air time every episode like what has happened in seasons with bloated casts, but the Rob and Kathy alliance is a definite exception for me.
Final Four:
Crystal, Sugar, Ken, Susie, Matty
Any predictions?
Memorable Quote(s):
"If I can get Kathy on my side, maybe she can get Paschal and Neleh on our side." -Sean
"I think Tammy and John are playing the game and they are playing it so hard it's obnoxious." -Kathy
"At the challenge there was a lot of cockiness with Tammy, Zoe, Rob and John." -Vecepia
"I have been nothing but nice to those guys and I would be lying to myself and to my heart if I went up there tonight and voted for Sean. We have been here for too long and worked too hard, and I am not going to go out like that." -Neleh
"You thought you had me, didn't you John? Well let me give you a little advice. If you ever go to Vegas... always bet on black." -Sean
"The only thing I have left to share is this mint that I shoved in my mouth really fast. So if everybody wants to take a little nibble..." -Neleh
"You're offering seven starving adults a piece of candy out of your mouth. Keep your mint candy, man. You know, that's like saying 'Anybody want this piece of doo doo?'" -Sean
"Oh, that feels like purple, Jeff." -Paschal
"If I step off and give you Immunity, would you take me into the finals with you?" -Vecepia (to Neleh)
The first post merge power shift in Survivor history is credited to the five who overthrew the Rotu 4. Without them uniting at the final 9, I would bet on Survivor not being around today. See, in the first three seasons, whoever was in control of the dominant alliance had a fairly easy ride to the final 4. We had one power shift in Australia when Mitchell was sent home due to past votes, but there had been absolutely nothing close to what occurred in Marquesas, something that gave hope to underdogs everywhere and helped catapule strategy into a new dimension. I know strategy didn't truly transform until Amazon, but without the overthrow and the amount of flip flopping during the season, we would be sitting through Pagongings every season until Survivor was cancelled.
I didn't get the chance to watch Marquesas as it was originally airing, but the Rotu 4 were hated as a group by the majority of the viewers. After what they did to Gabe, they didn't deserve any fans. I hated Zoe and John with a passion, but for some reason I really liked the General and Tammy. Since I liked half of the opposing alliance, I probably didn't end up liking the five outsiders joining up together as much as most, but I did enjoy John's boot as much as anyone else did.
Because of Rob and Kathy's ambassadors visit right before the merge, an alliance that will come up later on in this list, Kathy lost a lot of trust in the main group for Rotu, especially her former good friend, Zoe. After Rob was voted out at the first merge tribal council, Kathy knew that she could be in some trouble. Luckily for her, Sean was feeling the exact same way. He knew that with his buddy Rob gone, he was toast unless something happened. Vecepia was on board with whatever would better her position, and they knew that they would just need Paschal and Neleh to make a move. Unforuntately for them, neither of them were willing to risk their integrity by betraying their original tribe, even after their good friend Gabe was betrayed by the same people. That is, until the final 9 immunity challenge. The famous cocunut chop challenge played a huge role in its first season. Nowadays, everyone knows what will happen if they simply knock people down in terms of who they are closest with. People know it is a trap, and it is necessary to hide their true game plan. Well, at least people not trying to hand the win over to Jalapao.
Why was this challenge so important? Well, it gave Sean absolutely no chance to save himself by winning immunity, but it also allowed the cocky Rotu members to show their cards and be arrogant assholes about the whole ordeal. First Sean was knocked out. Then Vecepia. Then Kathy. John had actually recieved enough hits to leave next, and Zoe was out before Neleh, too, but the actions of the Rotu's gave everything away. From John's kiss to Sean to The General asking Tammy if she would like him to leave the machete on Neleh's rope. This led to Neleh actually having a rational thought. She realized back at came that Pappy and her had to play their own game. They had to vote for John, and in a great tribal council, complete with John crying in his final words, a new alliance was in power. While Zoe voted for John in an attempt to fit in, she was bounced next unanimously for being untrustworthy. Tammi and The General both followed leaving a successful uprising together in the final 5. That's not to say this was any boring Pagonging, though. Pretty much every Marquesas episode had something going for it. With Paschal and Sean's magical reward between two unlikely people at the final 8 to Neleh offering her chewed mint to the rest of the tribe, this alliance delivered entertainment wise, and the best part was, I liked them all. In fact, I liked everyone who made the final 7 from Marquesas.
Believe it or not, the incredibly epic boot of John was topped at least two more times during the season in my eyes. Because the 5 person alliance made the final 5 together, there was no more easy boots. Sean and Vecepia were a pair while Neleh and Paschal were just as close. Kathy sat directly in the middle. She was the swing vote, and she had all the power when she won immunity. The newly added twist of being able to give up immunity was the focal point at tribal council as Sean was begging for her to give it up to him. That wasn't the only thing going on, though, because every single member of the game was yelling at one point or another. They all were fighting for Kathy's vote, and she had no clue what to do. It's really hard to explain, but I urge you to go watch the final 5 tribal council during Marquesas if you havn't already. Epic is an understatement. Eventually, Kathy sided against Sean, and he left with a light hearted, "D'oh!"
With Kathy siding with Neleh and Paschal, you would thing that the next tribal council would be predictible as ever. You would be wrong. The next morning, Kathy told Vecepia that she should have sided with Sean and her, and, as luck would have it, Vecepia won immunity in the final fallen comrades challenge because of her poetry book. This led to Kathy and Vecepia discussing who they would vote for in front of everyone. Yes, they were having a strategic conversation about whether Paschal or Neleh should get their votes in front of them and the jury at tribal council. They ended up voting for Neleh, and it was a 2-2 tie. They revoted, and the vote was 1-1. They thought the tie would be determined by a challenge or something of the sort, but Jeff brought out a bag of three rocks. If you picked the purple one, you were gone, and Paschal left the game without recieving a single vote against him the entire game. It was great television, and while some may rule it was completely unfair, Paschal had every chance to vote for Neleh and save himself. He decided against it.
At the final three challenge, Neleh innocently points out to Kathy that her boob has fallen out, and Kathy is knocked out of the challenge by trying to put it back in. This leads to Vecepia and Neleh making a deal in front of Kathy. Vecepia would step down and Neleh would take her to the finals. They agreed, and Kathy was not happy. Unfortunately for her, the game is not fair.
This alliance of 5 helped make Marquesas as entertaining as it was, and I liked every single member of the group. Unfortunately, I wasn't rooting for them as much as I was for the other remaining alliances. I mean I would have been more than happy to see Tammy pull out a win. Still, they were great. I liked Pappy and Neleh's relationship much better than Rodger and Lis's for some reason. Sean was hilarious. Kathy is one of the best underdogs/characters in Survivor history, and Vecepia was a brilliant strategist. Yeah, she didn't have as much air time as everyone else, but she was prominant...unlike say any invisible female from a post ASS season.
5. Rob and Kathy
Memorable Quote(s):
"Jeff sat us down and gave us pizza and Coors Light. I was sitting across from this young buck thinking, I am going to pound beers and eat pizza with this guy!" -Kathy
"Don't stab me in the back." -Kathy
"John Carroll thinks I have an alliance with the team, Kathy thinks I have an alliance with her. I have been lying this whole game." -Rob
"I was aloof to Zoe, I didn't trust her. I didn't trust John. I didn't trust Tammy and I didn't trust The General. I was quiet and hanging on the outer rim." -Kathy
"Didn't you tell me the other day that you were going to vote out Kathy?" -Rob *long awkward pause* "No." -Zoe
Thank you for the ambassadors twist. This is one of those things that makes no sense for the producers to get rid of. I know I've talked about that in my twists' ranking thread, but it did make for some great moments. Or in this case, it made for a great alliance.
Why was Kathy so willing to help form a coup against the Rotu 4? Well, credit for that can go to Rob Mariano. Before he was an arrogant asshole on All Stars, he was a hard playing, hysterical strategist. He hated the position he was in after the swap, and he was looking to change it. He told Kathy about the Rotu 4 forming an alliance with the 3 Maraamu's, and she was going to be the first one to go. Kathy was shocked and appalled, and she started thinking about other plans. The two of them formed an alliance before chowing down on pizza and getting drunk with beer.
When the two tribes merged, Rob went to work. He threw John under the bus countless times as he knew his back was against the wall. My favorite part of him trying to turn things around was asking Zoe in front of Kathy if she had mentioned Kathy's name. She paused for what felt like an enternity before answering with one of the least convincing lies I've ever heard. It was worse than Judd's "The idol is on the ground." Kathy started to distrust Zoe even more, and she even voted for her at the first merge tribal council. Unfortunately for Rob, he didn't have enough people behind him, and he was booted. Vecepia didn't even side with her original tribemate as Sean was the only one who voted with Rob. His lies and fights with John were too much to stage a comeback, but the damage was done. Without Rob talking to Kathy, we would have never had the alliance formed the very next episode, and the Rotu 4 would have most likely been the final 4. (Or the final 3, with Zoe getting dropped off whenever.)
Why does this rank higher than the actual overthrow plus the drama at the final 4 and 5? Well, I really liked Rob during Marquesas, and I really liked Kathy, too. I don't know if they were my two favorites from the season, but Rob stirred up so much shit that it was hard to not find him endearing. He was the reason John was booted, and he was able to get his revenge without even being there. Kathy was great, too, and the final 10 episode, probably the least fairly edited from a pre ASS season, was devoted soley to Rob trying to save himself, and Kathy having internal trouble deciding what to do. It was a great episode, and I loved it. The editors can do that once in a while as long as it is just that, once in a while. We can't have two people taking up all the air time every episode like what has happened in seasons with bloated casts, but the Rob and Kathy alliance is a definite exception for me.
Final Four:
Tagi 4 (Richard, Rudy, Sue, Kelly)
Samburu elders (Carl, Frank, Teresa, Linda)
Crystal, Sugar, Ken, Susie, Matty
Any predictions?
Way too high, imo.
