Thailand has a better logo so Thailand

Oh this is brutal

Caramoan
Winner: 6/10 (There's a lot of hate on Cochran's win, but for what happened in this season, I think he deserved it)
Entertainment: 7/10 (Hear me out....they may have not been entertaining in the best way, but there are more memorable moments in this season than you would think)
Cast: 5/10 (Both sides were pretty meh)
Gameplay: 3/10 (That fans tribe was flat out insulting and the favs were surprisingly not that much better)

For Thailand, Brian was a really good winner, but after that, I can't remember much of note after that. The worst pre-All Stars season IMO, you know it is when its returnee is Shii-Ann.

Damn. 2 awful seasons. I guess Thailand.

Caramoan had Phillip, so not caramoan. If the editing wasn't so horrible you could have had a great season. Also the casting was weak tbf.

Thailand is actually really good on a rewatch. One of the "darker" seasons ,but it's really nice to watch something that's not heaviy edited for once. I think the winner of this season is really shown without a filter, which makes it an interesting watch. It has some funny moments (150%-250%). And clay is a delight. I find on a rewatch you can notice some of the smaller funnier moments that you might have missed at first.

I wish it could have been Guatemala vs. and Micronesia vs. these two bad seasons.

I actually liked both. Thailand is one of my favourite earlier seasons. I remember loving Jan. lol

But I went with Caramoan because of so much drama. Plus this:

Spoiler	+

Any season with Brenda and Malcolm wins it for me. No seriously, I think both seasons were bad. At least Caramoan had a lot of entertaining (love to hate) personalities, some good tribals, and a bunch of terrible fans. I think the editing completely ruined any potential the season had. Painfully obvious that Cochran would win, not a fan of him personally.


Thailand was boring, never even bothered to watch the end.

How funny, any season with Malcolm loses it for me (:

(just kidding I liked Philippines).


the funny thing is grindgate could have got Survivor kicked off the air nowadays but back then it wasn't even that big of a deal. And it wasn't even the worse controversy that happened in the first 5 years (see Survivor: All Stars).

Clay Jordan was also the G.O.A.T GOAT.

HOW IS THIS EVEN A CONTEST?

Caramoan:
Rate the season 1-10 on the winner: 3. GUUUUUUUUUUH. I can't stand Cochran. If he had been shown making the moves that he made in order to win, as well as maybe getting some confirmation from him that he intentionally aligned with Dawn because he believed he would have the upper hand at FTC, I would be willing to excuse this some, but instead everyone just kinda lays down for him when the story tells them to, and we're told that Cochran won because he's amazing and won challenges (one of which was eating and two of which he had an advantage for), and Dawn sucks because she cries too much.
Rate the season 1-10 on entertainment: 3. The three stands for the Three Amigos and their idol play. Everything else was off. Shamar was a train wreck. Phillip's joke was tired out. Brandon could have had an interesting storyline but the editors made it into a huge spectacle of "OOOH LOOK AT THE CRAZY PERSON HE'S CRAAAAAAAAZY." Reynold took up gobs of screentime while saying absolutely nothing of interest. And Cochran was unearned smugness from head to toe. EDIT: And fuck Brenda and her self-righteousness about the whole teeth thing. That was so goddamn uncomfortable to watch.
Rate the season 1-10 on the cast overall: 3. What are the fans actually fans of? It couldn't possibly be Survivor. Whose favorites are these? Not mine. Dawn, Malcolm, Corinne, Michael, and Sherri are the only 5 characters who I would say were simultaneously significant enough to make an impact on the season and who didn't earn my enmity. Erik, Eddie, and Matt too if we relax the "made an impact" criterion.
Rate the season 1-10 on gameplay: 5. Lots of sound and fury, signifying absolutely no changes in the pecking order or indeed any doubt in Cochran's march to the million.
BONUS
Rate the season 1-10 on the location: 7. I will give Philippines an 8, but this gets docked a point for the native who comes to visit. Is the editors' portrayal racist? I don't know, but it makes my skin crawl all the same.
Rate the season 1-10 on the challenges: 6. Good use of the big builds, but it was the apex of the carnival game era of Survivor challenges, which I disliked at the time but yearn for now that we're in the endurance-challenge-every-episode era.

Thailand:
Rate the season 1-10 on the winner: 8. Such a bizarre winner for such a bizarre season. It was important for Survivor to learn the lesson that Brian Heidik taught them: if you and your audience can't stomach the thought of one of your cast members winning the show, never cast them in the first place.
Rate the season 1-10 on entertainment: 5. All sorts of the wrong kind of drama abounded, and strategy calcified early, but there were still some funny lines and a lot of nice character moments.
Rate the season 1-10 on the cast overall: 4. I will vouch for everyone in the final 4, Jake, and Robb. Pretty much everyone else was a dud.
Rate the season 1-10 on gameplay: 4. Not that much of it, really. The arc of the first 7 seasons of Survivor was one of gradual increases in strategic complexity (Borneo introduced pagonging, Australia introduced the pre-merge flip and getting rid of troublemakers in your own alliance, Africa gave us the first tribe swap and the first abortive attempt at the full-scale revolution that Marquesas would realize, and Amazon and Pearl Islands showed the game in full chaotic swing). Thailand was a weird aberration in that context, and as such I can see why it got so much hate early on, but COME ON PEOPLE, CARAMOAN SUCKS ASS.
BONUS
Rate the season 1-10 on the location: 5. Gray, grody beaches and caves full of piss.
Rate the season 1-10 on the challenges: 3. Famously the worst season for challenges, as they attempted to break out of doing the same challenges they always did but didn't quite have enough other good new ideas together. The final challenge was excellent though.

Caramoan
Winner: 4/10
Entertainment: 5/10
Cast: 5/10
Gameplay: 4/10

Thailand
Winner: 6/10
Entertainment: 6/10
Cast: 5/10
Gameplay: 5/10

I voted Caramoan but I'm not that decided so Thailand is cool with me. Brian Heidik was a pretty good winner. I liked his "it's business" approach.

havent seen thailand
but I hear its regarded as bad

Caramoan had TERRIBLE editing but the game post merge was chaotic


Rate the season 1-10 on the winner 3
Rate the season 1-10 on entertainment 6
Rate the season 1-10 on the cast overall 5
Rate the season 1-10 on gameplay 7

Thailand was my very first season, I watched that as a little 9 year old boy who wanted to fill the void in me after Endurance was cancelled, and it just stayed special to me. It also stayed close to the cultrual themes and it just has the overal fineness of Old School written all over it. People say it was shitty, but I see it as one of my favorites. The inner-workings of Sook Jai was amazing, and Sook Jai has to be one of my most favorite tribes. Amd the winner, he was the Survivor version of Will from BB. He truly was a mastermind.

And what does Caramoan have going for it besides some modern overused blindside methods? And don't even get me started with Jeff that season. MY GOD, like wtf possessed him?