Wordy post ahead.
With the recent news (spoiler!) that Parvati and Candice will be indeed returning for Season 20, the argument that Cook Islands was rigged has also resurfaced. Fact of matter for fans of these two women: the season wasn't rigged one bit.
Firstly Cook Islands holds the unique distinction as the only season with 20 players to have no medivacs or quitters that reduced numbers. Palau was essentially an eighteen person season as Jonathan and Wanda were removed on Day 3. Fiji had Melissa quit before the game and Gary was evacuated early. Micronesia had 3 contestants who weren't voted out: Jonathan, Kathy and James. In Samoa Mike and Russell S were both evacuated due to injury. Thus these seasons were less twisty than they otherwise would've been.
The 39 Day time period of Survivor only accomodates 13 regular 3 day cycles up to Day 36 with one player each voted out on Days 37 and 38. The remaining Two face the jury. However when the show casts more than 16 contestants it is forced to include twists that allow the extra boots to occur. The usual system for 18 person seasons is a 2 day cycle with a double boot covering 1 day. In Cook Islands this occured by having the third tribal council on Day 8 opposed to Day 9, with the extra day being used for a double boot on Day 15. Normally this would set things like they would be in a 16 person season.
But Cook Islands had FOUR extra people, not Two. More twists needed to occur to boot the extra two people. One of these was solved by three players facing the jury instead of two. But they still needed to boot the 4th extra player. And thus the bottle twist was born. The show is always about "first time ever!" and "shocking twist!", and booting two players in one tribal council? Fits in both in practical terms and dramatic terms. It had to have been planned, otherwise they were screwed by one extra person in the endgame. They are also contractually obligated to use all the challenges and an extra round could not be accomodated with the remaining challenges from the Merge onwards.
This double boot couldn't occur at the Final 12 because the Mutiny was scheduled for that round, and multiple twists like that wouldn't make sense to double up. It had to occur the next round, at the Final 11 and creating the late merge. It can't be argued it was inserted at the Final 11 to screw Raro because it could only feasibly happen at that time. It wouldn't happen earlier because they wouldn't have the double boots back to back at the Final 13 and the Mutiny was at the Final 12.
Looking at Micronesia it's clear that a double boot was supposed to occur on Day 21 due to the reward type and the fact it was a one day episode. The season was also originally a Final Three. The 4th boot is still unaccounted for, and I firmly believe that twist would've probably been used at probably the same round based on the challenge structure of the season.
In any event the fact these things happened were not the key reason Raro lost. They couldn't win challenges, which would've made them golden in the merge. The double boot was as much an oppurtunity for them as it was for the Aitu Four. They also made a poor boot choice in Jenny over Jonathan, and their complete alienating of him was probably the key reason he decided to flip. They also made a dumb move not to even consider Yul having the idol, even with the knowledge that the three Raro's who'd been exiled didn't have it. Their refusal to consider reuniting with Jonathan was also suicidal, as they would've had the advantage in the Purple Rock against the Aitu 4.
Fact of matter is Raro were worse players than the Aitu 4 and it cost them. Not rigging on behalf of the producers.
With the recent news (spoiler!) that Parvati and Candice will be indeed returning for Season 20, the argument that Cook Islands was rigged has also resurfaced. Fact of matter for fans of these two women: the season wasn't rigged one bit.
Firstly Cook Islands holds the unique distinction as the only season with 20 players to have no medivacs or quitters that reduced numbers. Palau was essentially an eighteen person season as Jonathan and Wanda were removed on Day 3. Fiji had Melissa quit before the game and Gary was evacuated early. Micronesia had 3 contestants who weren't voted out: Jonathan, Kathy and James. In Samoa Mike and Russell S were both evacuated due to injury. Thus these seasons were less twisty than they otherwise would've been.
The 39 Day time period of Survivor only accomodates 13 regular 3 day cycles up to Day 36 with one player each voted out on Days 37 and 38. The remaining Two face the jury. However when the show casts more than 16 contestants it is forced to include twists that allow the extra boots to occur. The usual system for 18 person seasons is a 2 day cycle with a double boot covering 1 day. In Cook Islands this occured by having the third tribal council on Day 8 opposed to Day 9, with the extra day being used for a double boot on Day 15. Normally this would set things like they would be in a 16 person season.
But Cook Islands had FOUR extra people, not Two. More twists needed to occur to boot the extra two people. One of these was solved by three players facing the jury instead of two. But they still needed to boot the 4th extra player. And thus the bottle twist was born. The show is always about "first time ever!" and "shocking twist!", and booting two players in one tribal council? Fits in both in practical terms and dramatic terms. It had to have been planned, otherwise they were screwed by one extra person in the endgame. They are also contractually obligated to use all the challenges and an extra round could not be accomodated with the remaining challenges from the Merge onwards.
This double boot couldn't occur at the Final 12 because the Mutiny was scheduled for that round, and multiple twists like that wouldn't make sense to double up. It had to occur the next round, at the Final 11 and creating the late merge. It can't be argued it was inserted at the Final 11 to screw Raro because it could only feasibly happen at that time. It wouldn't happen earlier because they wouldn't have the double boots back to back at the Final 13 and the Mutiny was at the Final 12.
Looking at Micronesia it's clear that a double boot was supposed to occur on Day 21 due to the reward type and the fact it was a one day episode. The season was also originally a Final Three. The 4th boot is still unaccounted for, and I firmly believe that twist would've probably been used at probably the same round based on the challenge structure of the season.
In any event the fact these things happened were not the key reason Raro lost. They couldn't win challenges, which would've made them golden in the merge. The double boot was as much an oppurtunity for them as it was for the Aitu Four. They also made a poor boot choice in Jenny over Jonathan, and their complete alienating of him was probably the key reason he decided to flip. They also made a dumb move not to even consider Yul having the idol, even with the knowledge that the three Raro's who'd been exiled didn't have it. Their refusal to consider reuniting with Jonathan was also suicidal, as they would've had the advantage in the Purple Rock against the Aitu 4.
Fact of matter is Raro were worse players than the Aitu 4 and it cost them. Not rigging on behalf of the producers.
