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The Raro note in the bottle was one of the more fair twists EVER.

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I hate double TCs as much as anyone, but at least the players know in advance before the challenge that they'll both be heading to TC. I hated Raro too, but come on, losing two members because of losing one challenge? That's way more unfair.

My list doesn't really take into account good ideas that happened to play out poorly (like Thailand's fake merge) but the crap that a producer with any sense would've rejected the second it was proposed.

10. America's Tribal Council (S8) - The only reason I put it so low is because it was really outside of the game and so it's not really that big a deal. But still, it's the only time in Survivor history that a million dollars was at stake based on the way the show was edited. Rupert had the win from the second it was announced, and it was effectively a waste of an hour, especially because Rupert-ites voted for him to win all the "Best" categories he was up for...including him stealing shoes being voted the best moment ever.

9. Divided by Gender (S9) - Obviously this was influenced by Vanuatu culture and how men are considered higher in society than women. But what worked in Amazon is what killed Vanuatu, because this was a terrible cast of males. Lea, Chris, and Travis were all similar; the two Johns, Brady, and Brook were interchangeable; Chad was nice but dull and Rory was the only conflict creator. And I can't let the women get off that easily, because they had the exact same dynamic (old vs. young) as the Amazon women. The Vanuatu premiere is a carbon copy of Amazon's.

8. F10 Tribe Swap (S8) - This wasn't really bad as much as it was just useless. It's incredibly obvious that the merge was supposed to be here, but they delayed it to help give Lex and Kathy another chance--the next IC was a trivia contest, the next RC was individual, and then they merged. This reeked of last-minute "Let's try and split Romber up and give Lex and Kathy a free boot!"--too bad Lex didn't even capitalize on it.

7. Hidden Idol (S12/13) - Ok, I'll concede that I actually thought that this was cool when it was first announced how it worked, but it became obvious pretty quickly that there was no benefit to actually keeping the idol hidden. It was by far the biggest advantage anyone ever had in Survivor history, and without it, Terry's fourth place (not a big deal) and Yul's ninth place (pretty big difference).

6. The Bottle (S13) - All of the bottle stuff has been stupid, but the Raro double boot takes the cake. No tribe before or since has been forced to boot two people for losing one challenge, and Jenny had no way to plan for it other than doing the one thing you should never do in Survivor: assuming.

5. Purple Rock (S4) - Probst admits he fucked this one up, but it just doesn't make any sense for someone not involved in a tie to be at risk in the tiebreaker. Yes, Paschal could've avoided it by switching his vote to Neleh, but he would've never won the last challenge and she was the only one who might've taken him to the final two.

4. Steph and BJ Return (S11) - For viewers, Steph hogged all the airtime and lost half her fanbase, but for players like Gary, her "celebrity" status ensured that she'd go far, especially since she and Amy were the only remotely strong women on her initial tribe. Another unfair advantage, although it did lead the way for my favorite moment of the entire season: Gary, knowing that he's about to be a goner, mocks Steph at TC with a hilarious blow to her and the other players: "You can get her autograph after the show."

3. Luxury Twist/Pick'em (S14) - The pick'em not only guaranteed that Sylvia wouldn't be on the luxury tribe, but except for Guatemala, every season since S8 has had some sort of pick'em, it's getting old. The luxury twist was the tribal equivalent to the hidden idol. Hmm, let's give one tribe food, shelter, and comfort items and the other tribe nothing. I wonder who'll win all these physical challenges.

2. Final Three (S13/14) - Biggest format change ever, and after 12 seasons, it's ridiculous to mess with traditional stuff like the final two. It worked for 12 seasons because it made logical sense. Now it actually creates the possibility for a tie for the winner which the producers have yet to explain what the result would be. And don't even get me started on how the players weren't told about it till the last minute, guaranteeing that Yul would make the final three with his hidden idol.

1. Outcasts (S7) - No need to even explain this one. Outwit outplay outlast yadda yadda yadda.