Tag Archives: Tony Vlachos

Survivor Game Changers Episode 2 Preview

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In case you haven’t heard, I’m a hardcore Survivor fan. Which means All-Star versions of my favorite show are simultaneously the greatest and worst thing I can imagine. Jeff Varner put it best:

On the immunity challenge, “Yeah that challenge was hell. I was in hell.”

Cuts to Varner confessional, “I am in HEAVEN right now.”

That simple back and forth was a great summation of how I was feeling for the two hour premiere last week.

Best fangirl voice, “OMG SANDRA AND TONY WORKING TOGETHER!!!! I’m in heaven right now!”

Best horror girl voice, “NO! WHY ARE YOU TWO FIGHTING? WINNERS DON’T FIGHT! STOP IT! I’m in hell!”

Yeah…I really get into this stuff.

Take a jump with me and I will take you into the Survivor future and I’ll tell you all about goats, meat shields and killing chickens.

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Survivor Game Changers preview

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As I slowly sift through all the amazing (and overwhelming) preseason content for Survivor: Game Changers (the 34th season of the popular reality show) I realize something about my fandom. I’m obsessed with this show. It’s my favorite form of entertainment without a doubt. I listen to podcasts and I follow multiple Survivor writers. Which means when they do an All-Star season (only the 4th All-Star in their history) I like to bathe myself in all of the pregame content. Why? Because it is pure fan service for us hardcore fans. We have obsessed about these people for years and years. We know way too much about them. We have replayed their best moves in our minds like a basketball junkie would replay everything Lebron James does. This is like the NBA All-Star game and the Pro Bowl all in one, except with a major difference, these players care about this game. This game will change some of their lives and legacies.

And to be honest, these All-Star type seasons are best when you know every detail about the players. That’s because there is a high sense of surrealism to the idea that a person from Season 2 is playing with people from Season 33. It doesn’t make sense, it shouldn’t be happening and we should feel absolutely spoiled that it is. But I can’t help to wonder how a “casual” fan will enjoy a season full of people they either don’t remember or never saw play in the first place. And that’s why I am here today.

I want to take new fans, casual fans and any other type of fan into my world of hardcore fanship. I want to set your plate for why you should be excited for this season. I want to help you differentiate between these players so you can decide who you want to root for without feeling left behind. But I will warn you, there are huge spoilers below. This cast has players from 18 of the 34 seasons including three winners. Then again if you are planning to watch this season you will run into these spoilers anyway. But I wanted to give fair warning.

Take a jump with me for a deep dive into who is playing and my predictions for season 34 of Survivor. Continue reading →

Survivor Worlds Apart Episode 8- Captain Merica

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Come on in guys for my Survivor Worlds Apart Episode 8 Review where I use classic Survivor quotes to assess the latest episode.

There are a lot of elements in the production of Survivor that has kept the show relevant. Despite some questionable decisions we all know that Jeff Probst is the best possible host we could ever ask for. Add him to the stunning camera work and the impeccable music and sound teams and we have quite the beautiful product. 30 seasons in and the team behind the castaways are full blown professionals who still work their asses off for every single episode.

But the most important aspect of the show is the edit. The editors have the gargantuan task of boiling down 936 hours of footage into 15 (ish) hours. They have to craft a story that is interesting but not predictable. After 30 full seasons doing the latter has to be extremely difficult.

Some seasons they show greatness and domination like Redemption Island and One World. Other seasons they focus on how quirky and entertaining the cast is like Gabon and Cagayan. And every once in a while they even focus on big issues like race and religion as seen in Cook Islands and South Pacific.

And then there are some seasons that are so full of explosive characters and moments that the editors get to have their most fun. Worlds Apart is becoming that season where I bet everything on the cutting room floor is almost as entertaining as the actual product.

Take a jump with me as I explore the magnificent edit of this episode and I promise I will prove to you that this superfan knows how to count…and spell.

Spoilers Below:

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