Survivor Season 35 - 2017

This season has the same problem as Nicaragua: on the heels of an action-packed, star-studded returning players season, we pick up with an all-new cast, none of whom make much of an initial impression. The gimmick this time around is “Heroes vs Healers vs Hustlers”, which is maybe the weakest tribal composition stunt to date. What is the difference between a hero and a healer?

Nothing of consequence happens in the first half, but post-merge this turned into one of my favorite seasons. A dominant alliance of two tribes (again, doesn’t matter which) forms to take out the other, but a sub-alliance forms to flip the game and use the stragglers as a vote to blindside an intra-group threat. Here’s the interesting part, though: PTSD-riddled Marine Ben goes double-agent mode, pretending to be on the wrong side of the vote so he can be grouped in with the rejects and gather intel. The following tribal he is able to blindside them once again by flipping his vote back to his real alliance, who briefly considered getting Ben out instead, due to his fantastic gameplay. They probably should have.

This season oozed with idols and advantages, but Ben kept the idol he found by chance a secret, while everyone else brought their trusted crew in on their finds. This ended up backfiring for the whole crew when mid-game shifts put former allies on the outs with each other, and in a particularly messy tribal, all secrets were flushed, except Ben’s. He played his idol perfectly to save himself at a time when his angry tribunates wanted an easy vote to get rid of what was becoming an insurmountable threat.

THEN, motherfucker finds another idol and plays it at the following tribal. And THEN HE DOES IT AGAIN! This is some real First Blood Part One shit, a haunted veteran realizing that he has no one in his corner, taking on the world. He has Russell’s work ethic and nose for idol hunting, but unlike Survivor’s Joker, he also has a compelling story and a charming affect. Once the idols are up, Ben was saved once again by a change in format that decides the final 3 by fire-making challenge. Former ally Chrissy went on an insane immunity run and would have been a worthy winner, but Ben pulled off what Russell couldn’t: he dared the Jury to deny his superior gameplay, and they couldn’t. I wonder if he’s coming back.