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SurvivorSurvivorSurvivor |
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T-bird's probably the only overlap. She's definitely underrated outside of Sucks so there's that argument. Nobody has ever denied that Greg Buis is
a great character but his season aired over eight years ago, so he'd stand an outside shot at the list.
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notremojo |
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Sean Rector....underrated.
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beatles20147 |
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Bumping this because the Top 40 Most Underrated Characters in Survivor History countdown will begin this week. Get excited! (But not enough that your hopes are
too high, TIA)
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Quiddity |
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Can't wait! Cindy FTW! :P
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FranklinBluth |
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My dream top ten:
Keith Famie Frank Garrison Helen Glover Christa Hastie Lea "Sarge" Masters Twila Tanner Caryn Groedel Amy O'Hara Boo Bernis Jason Siska |
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A Dying Clown |
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A Beatles list is a good list.
Especially if Stacy Stillman, Joel, Crazy Dave, James Miller and John Palyok appear on it somewhere. |
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Dr Will Hatch two point oh |
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Posts: 6748 (12/21/08 6:34 PM) Registered user |
I don't know how Beatles defines "underrated", but I think Frank was one of the biggest characters of his season.
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louie77 |
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Robert "The General" Decanio
ftw |
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Dictatorship |
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Heidi, Darrah, Danielle, and Marcus FTW!!!
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pinoyako |
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Dictatorship wrote:WTF he was overrated |
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Zesty66 |
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Tijuana FTW!
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beatles20147 |
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When you take a look at Sucks, you'll notice that there are two groups of contestants that tend to dominate the discussions. First off, of course, you have the biggest characters of the season--the power players, fan favorites, and just generally amusing (or possibly just camera-hogging) contestants: Richard Hatch, Johnny Fairplay, Cirie Fields…an elite batch of players for sure. Ironically, the other group that you'll be sure to see more than a few topics about are the blandest, most boring players that are completely ignored by the editors. These oh-so-original topics consist of little more than someone making note of a particular player's lack of airtime, followed by "hysterical" responses like, "There's a Rebecca on the show?" Despite not making even the slightest dent on the show itself, more people at Sucks will post about Mary (cue the "Who?" posts) than someone like Nate from Cook Islands, who hardly made for spellbinding television but certainly contributed more than…what's her name again? (Spoiler alert: he doesn't make the list though.) So the purpose of this list is to acknowledge some of the players who may not have been the biggest standouts from their respective seasons entertainment-wise, but made their mark on the show more than…um…that chick that lay down and let Yul win…no, not Sundra…well, yeah, her too. Whatever. You all know who I'm talking about. But here are the folks that you should be remembering… (As an aside, I just want to clarify that the order of this list is more or less completely arbitrary. The contestants were chosen for a combination of reasons; they were entertaining but their reputation doesn't particularly suggest that, if they're even considered at all these days. In other words, the person at #1 is not necessarily a better character than the person at #40, but the person at #1 does deserve more recognition than those who rank lower in comparison to what they receive now.)
Just kidding.
It's always kind of hard to include things from the most recent season on these sort of countdowns, since they're so fresh in your mind and thus tend to inflate themselves. For that reason, GC is the only contestant from Gabon to make this list, although I did consider a handful of others. Even though he left on a sour note, GC was a pretty big part of the first five episodes of the season. Of course, part of his airtime was thanks to a bloated "Fang needs a leader" storyline that crashed and burned almost as much as GC did when he took on the role (with more than a bit of nudging from Jeff Probst). GC seemed more or less just an unpleasant person to live with until his final episode, where he took that to a whole other level. When Crystal jokingly implored him to "Eat yo rice," he sulked and complained. Then, right before the tribe was supposed to leave for the immunity challenge, he vanished on a seemingly pointless rowing excursion. His heart clearly wasn't in it anymore, and he asked to be voted out. He got his wish, becoming the first male to get the boot in Earth's Last Eden.
Jason came into Micronesia with a self-professed hard-on for Ozzy (ok, so he didn't phrase it that way, but he's in denial if he calls it anything else). His fascination with the Cook Islands challenge dominator would hardly be enough to earn Jason a spot on the list if it weren't for the ironic turn of events that resulted from it. Jason was little more than a forgettable yet irritating fan before he took a fateful trip to Exile Island, where he managed to figure out all the clues and find the hidden idol. The only problem: it wasn't the real deal. His idol, Ozzy, had found that days before and created and buried the fake one in an effort to dupe his fellow players. Jason fell for it ("It has a face!"), and refused to believe he'd been had until Jeff Probst tossed it in the fire when Eliza tried to play it. (If it was any consolation, Jason did manage to best Ozzy in the immunity challenge.) Soon enough, Jason got a chance to return the favor when he took part in a blindside that sent Ozzy to the jury after he failed to play the actual idol. The idol was re-hidden, and Natalie opted to send Jason to Exile Island. Initially disappointed, Jason convinced himself that Natalie had done it as a favor to him, and she reassured him that was the case. Of course, you would think that seeing his Survivor hero go down with the idol in his possession (partially due to Natalie, no less) would make Jason at least a little bit wary, but alas, Jason was right when he claimed that he was a lot like Ozzy, as in the very next episode, he suffered the exact same fate. From a physical standpoint, it's a toss-up as to which of them is stronger. But in a battle of wits? They would both lose.
I actually wouldn't consider Sean an underrated character if it weren't for the results of the character ranking survey I did after Survivor: Panama aired (in which he, coincidentally, also came it at #38). He seems to have a relatively sizable following at Sucks and if you believe Mark Burnett, he narrowly missed the cut for All-Stars. And honestly, I don't even think that he's completely forgotten by non-diehard fans either; before Pearl Islands rejuvenated my love for the show and the excitement over All-Stars prompted me to go back and revisit the past seasons, I always remembered Sean thanks to two great quotes in particular. But it's hard to ignore the numbers, so here he is. Sean has received a lot of flack over the years accusing him of being racist, but I think that misses the point. The reason Sean was such a great character was that he never swept things under the rug, including the color of his skin. It just happened that a lot of his comments were based around his being black, whether he was suggesting to always "Bet on black" in Vegas or jokingly threatening to call Johnnie Cochran after he and Vecepia were successively knocked out in the coconut chop challenge. (And while we're on the subject, I've always thought that Sean was pretty underrated as a player. He didn't have the social skills to win unless he was facing Boston Rob, but he and Kathy both seemed to have a better grasp on the long-term game than Neleh and Paschal for sure, but even Vee.) The evolution of his relationship with Paschal proved to be one of the season's most interesting story arcs (and, after the pair's reward win, also proved that Sean is not a fan of horses or the effect sitting on them has on his testicles), but Sean was at his best when he throwing out one-liners. My two favorites? In the first episode, saying that the only thing Sarah offered the Maraamu tribe were two "floatation devices," and best of all, his response to Neleh offering her tribemates a mint straight out of her mouth: "That's like saying, 'Anybody want this piece of doo-doo?'" How can I not include a 30-year-old who still uses the word "doo-doo" on this list?
I've always thought that Shawn sort of got lost in the mix in Pearl Islands. He was on a tribe with Rupert, Jon, and Sandra, and when you're surrounded by characters like that, you're bound to be somewhat ignored. But especially in his final two episodes, Shawn was fairly entertaining. He started out more or less as Burton's sidekick, popping up every now and then to make fun of Rupert's ass and doing little else. However, he ended up blindsiding his ally after Fairplay let him in on the plan at the fourth Tribal Council, and he was never quite able to shake off the "snake" reputation. In his penultimate episode, Rupert found out about plans to give him the axe, so he brokered a deal with Shawn that left Fairplay on the outs. When Drake had to choose between Shawn and Johnny Fairplay the following episode, the two argued their cases, and just plain argued with each other, over Shawn's apparent lack of a work ethic and Jon being "a big fucking baby." Incredibly, despite Fairplay having just attempted to send Rupert home, Drake sided with Jon, giving Shawn the boot and prompting Jon's infamous "Fuck you" vote. While I can't complain about Jon surviving that night--after all, we would have been robbed of the dead grandma hoax, among other classic Fairplay post-merge moments--this is still one of my biggest "What were they thinking?" boots of all time. It just didn't seem to make much sense that Rupert would go from nearly strangling someone to voting for him to stay in the span of one day. But as Ghandia would say, "That's how Rupert do."
Sarah has the unique distinction of being the first person cast for the show purely as eye candy. Seriously, I would tell you to
watch her audition tape, but it's not there anymore. Stupid CBS.com. But it basically served as a reminder that she was put on Survivor: Marquesas
for two reasons and two reasons only. Which is why they lucked out in finding someone so lazy, so slutty, and so detestable in Sarah Jones. Her royal arrival
to the Maraamu camp not only earned her a comparison to Cleopatra from Sean (she was hardly even clutching a paddle, although Boston Rob certainly was holding
onto his), but it even prompted Vecepia to remark that, "Sarah has a very cute body…she paid a lot for it." Vecepia. Vecepia Muthafukin' Towery!
When one of the blandest contestants ever to make the show has a zinger like that, you know you've got a hell of a body, and Sarah had no problems
flaunting it. She also announced her plans to purchase a monkey with whatever winnings she scraped up from Survivor and strip club engagements (she
didn't actually say the latter, but it was inferred). Boston Rob was of course mesmerized, declaring that he too wanted a monkey, although it was kind of
hard to hear over his awkward laughter and the puddles of drool pouring out of his mouth. (And fun fact that always comes up in the trivia thread:
Boston Rob's two Survivor conquests, Sarah and Amber, share a birthday.) Sarah was not the first lazy person on Survivor (hello, Gervase!), but she was the first to dub her laziness as a strategy, citing an increased strength in challenges (it must have really made a difference, considering Sarah's zero for six challenge record). Better yet, in her final episode, thanks to new tribemate Paschal's luxury item, she was able to profess her incompetence against a backdrop of the American flag. Glory, glory, hallelujah! Without Boston Rob to protect her, Sarah found herself in an impossible situation, and she was quickly voted out. |
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Thailandsurvivor |
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Sarah? Really? Agree with the other 3 though (not sure about Shawn). Once again, Helen Glover and Clay Jordan for the win, but all of these guys so far get way
too much flack.
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beatles20147 |
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Ugh at all the elimination threads pushing this to page 2.
Sarah's actually a surprisingly big character in the premiere--not like Peter or Boston Rob were or anything, but I think she actually delivered more on the entertainment than the producers had expected. I won't spoil anything with Helen or Clay but I don't think you'll be too disappointed. ![]() 35. Anthony Robinson Fiji - 13th place Despite being recruited, Anthony is apparently a big Survivor fan, although his skills in the game certainly didn't prove it. The video game nerd was stuck on the have-nots Ravu tribe, and was a consistent decoy boot as the weakest male of the bunch. Rocky seemed to detest him, frequently putting him down, but fortunately for Anthony, Mookie's constant strategy of booting the person who made a mistake in the most recent challenge and Rocky's quest to make the tribe a sausage-fest (hey, that rhymed!) spared him until a tribal swap left him on an all-male Ravu. While the other "big, strong men" took of their shirts and did their studly activities, Anthony was an outcast, comparing himself to Cinderella, staying behind to do various chores around camp. When Ravu lost the next immunity challenge, Anthony knew that his head was on the chopping block, and attempted to reason with his tribemates that the impulsive Rocky was too dangerous to keep around. At Tribal Council, Rocky upped the ante on his barrage of bashing, while Anthony stayed calm. (By the way, does it make any sense that Rocky could compare Anthony to a girl when Rocky had actually shown up to a challenge wearing Rita's bikini top?) Incredibly, Jeff Probst berated Anthony for not standing up for himself, just another piece of evidence for the case file of Jeff Probst being a dick.
I'm well aware that people here absolutely hate Andrew Savage, but I've been a fan ever since Pearl Islands aired back in 2003. Don't get me wrong, I completely understand why people might not be crazy about him; he definitely could be a bit of a dick at times, especially to Lill. Andrew started off as the leader of one of the most hopeless tribes in Survivor history, with Morgan losing all of the first six challenges. When Drake chose to throw the next immunity challenge, it gave Morgan a much-needed morale boost, and Andrew led them in a spectacular comeback, single-handedly winning a challenge after Johnny Fairplay taunted him by admitting that Drake had thrown that earlier challenge. His disdain for Fairplay actually came into play a surprisingly high amount considering that the two only lived together for a single episode. Andrew may not have been the motivator that he saw himself as (at least not with the tribe members outside of his little clique), but I don't know, I just never thought he was nearly as bad as most people seem to. As far as entertainment goes, the Drake tribe most definitely had a leg up on Morgan, but Andrew (and one other member in particular who will be showing up very soon) was a pretty solid contestant and he deserves more credit, even if people still opt to despise him.
Like most people, I wasn't much of a Katie fan during Palau. In fact, I loved it when Gregg tore into her at the final Tribal Council for playing for second place. It was bitter, but every word he said was accurate, and it actually (plug, plug) made it to #8 on my list of Tribal Council moments. She may not have been a huge character (insert your own fat joke here), but in a season that was sorely lacking in female characters that weren't named Stephenie LaGrossa, Katie was actually fairly entertaining--at least more than she's given credit for. She came into the show vowing to be the first funny female cast member, and even though I would argue that Colleen Haskell, Kelly Goldsmith, and Sandra Diaz-Twine fit that bill in earlier seasons (and Jan Gentry for unintentional reasons), it was and still is a relatively rare thing for this show. We didn't really get to see very much of Katie's humor, but her mockery of Janu and Caryn prompted them to blow up at her, and one of my favorite moments of the entire season is the Ulong puppet show she put on in episode six ("My name is Bobby Jon! I look like Jesus Christ!"). I'm still not a Katie fan these days, but with some distance from my original viewing, I can appreciate her a lot more than I used to. Despite what I alluded to above, she won't be the only Palau female to pop up on this list…because Caryn sucks!
Before the twelfth season of Survivor premiered, a lot of people had high hopes for Bruce Kanegai. Pat Morita had just died, and the mourning nation needed a new Mr. Miyagi. So with everybody hyped up, we tuned in to the premiere…and Bruce barely got any airtime. Ratings for the season began to flounder, and they've been dwindling even further ever since. Ok, so it's a bit of a stretch to relate Survivor's declining ratings to Bruce not being featured too much in the premiere of his season, but I think it's fair to say that it is the main reason why Bruce doesn't get enough credit as a character. Bruce made two consecutive trips to Exile Island in the following episodes, but his crowning pre-merge achievement was his wild night in the Casa de Charmin with Bob-Dawg, where the two retreated, pushed out of the group shelter, and proceeded to drink the wine the tribe had won in the most recent reward challenge. He and Aras also clashed over Bruce's spiritual rock garden. Post-merge, it was a pair of medical issues that defined Bruce's character: no sooner had the La Mina tribe entered the camp did Nick accidentally slash Bruce in the face, but Bruce truly shined in his evacuation episode. While the overall episode is far funnier than it should have been, the best part is Bruce's response to the soothing lullaby of comfort Courtney sang to him: an exasperated, "Please stop." I'll admit that Bruce probably didn't live up to expectations but whenever he actually was shown, he was generally entertaining.
Like Sean Rector, Amy was one of those, "Is she really underrated?" question-mark choices for me. I debated for a while whether to include the female cop, but she threatened to, and I quote, "beat me down" if I didn't, so here she is. As everybody already knows, Amy nearly missed the cut for Guatemala, and got her slot at the last minute when Timber Tina's son was killed. (She almost went on Big Brother 6, but the producers were concerned that her accent would have made it difficult to find an acceptable partner for her in the "Summer of Secrets" twist. Can you imagine Amy vs. the Friendship? Imagine it. I'll still be here when you're done.) Amy brought the classic Boston flavor to the show, and proved just how much of a badass she was in the third immunity challenge, where even an injured ankle couldn't stop her from participating and giving it her all. In an unfortunate twist of fate (or should I say "twist of ankle"? Har! But no, it was a sprain), in another challenge, a gigantic boulder rolled over her ankle. Still, she refused to give up. Additionally, she was the one who dubbed Blake "Golden Boy," complete with theme song--how many Survivors can claim to have their own theme song? And it's all thanks to Amy. Personally, I think that Amy was fortunate to have been on the season following Palau. Her "never surrender" attitude would have been admirable on any season, but the previous season had featured fan favorite Jeff Wilson, who had, ironically, hurt his ankle in the third episode ("ironic" in the Alanis Morissette sense, at least). Jeff cried like a baby ("cried" in the nonexistent sense, at least) and asked to be voted out, and a lot of viewers felt sympathetic to this young bodybuilder. When the same thing happened to a middle-aged woman the next season and she toughed it out, it was hard to justify the route Jeff took. Upon seeing the episode and realizing that Amy was more of a man than he would ever be, Jeff probably cried in the shower as he did his daily "shave all the hair off my body" routine.BTW, just for fun--there's one season (and only one season) that isn't represented at all on the countdown. I won't reveal whether you're right or not, but I'd definitely be interested to see a few guesses for what it might be. You already know eight that it's not, so give it a go! |
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Thailandsurvivor |
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BTW, just for fun--there's one season (and only one season) that isn't represented at all on the countdown. I won't reveal whether you're right or not, but I'd definitely be interested to see a few guesses for what it might be. You already know eight that it's not, so give it a go!I wouldn't call anyone in Borneo underrated (except for maybe Jenna? Or Dirk?), so I'll guess that. |
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YemaGrl1988 |
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Here are hopes for Jeanne!
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A Dying Clown |
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BTW, just for fun--there's one season (and only one season) that isn't represented at all on the countdown. I won't reveal whether you're right or not, but I'd definitely be interested to see a few guesses for what it might be. You already know eight that it's not, so give it a go!I'd guess Amazon, since it's the only season where all the pre-merge boots were pretty dull. Unless Butch is on the countdown somewhere. |
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kishuu |
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A Dying Clown wrote:
I'd say Borneo or Australia.
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maldoror122 |
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Anthony and Amy <3
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WylDawg |
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I never understood the Amy love around here. I know strong women are held onto a pedestal here at Sucks, but what the hell did she do other than threaten to
beat. Gary. down?
She was like a failed version of Kathy/Helen. And I think I'm the only person who still hates Sean to this day. The laziness, racism, religious zealotness and shitty attitude in the first couple of days made me loath him. And his all of a sudden golden editing post-merge wasn't enough to make me look past it. And what I don't get is that people here always say that the racist comments about slavery and etc. were merely him poking fun. Really? If you go back and watch those episodes again, he definitely looks pissed whenever he gives one of those comments. Usually when you're pissed, you mean what you say.
Last Edited By: WylDawg
12/26/08 10:14 AM.
Edited 1 times.
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