Airdate: December 20, 2001
Boot: Frank Garrison
Quote: “I can bid better with a little drink in me.” – Tom Buchanan
Rating: 6 + Tier A (5) = 11

Watching an episode of Survivor from 2001 is a pretty jarring experience 19 years later. You’ll see disturbing things you would never see on TV these days, such as:

• Good ol’ boy Big Tom taking pleasure in bathing the ladies, and everyone laughing it off
• A giddy Big Tom celebrating that he gets an extra share of ham because he pooled money with a “Jew boy”
• Frank lamenting the liberal stranglehold on American media…on CBS
• An extended, poignant solo scene of Frank staring in awe at a beautiful Kenyan sunset

Holy crap, that last one is shocking enough to Continue reading “Africa Episode 11: We Are Family” →

Airdate: January 2, 2002
Boot: Teresa “T-Bird” Cooper
Quote: “It’s completely gone to cutthroat mode. And if I think that Tom, I think that he’s in a situation where he’s about to screw me over and stab me in the back, I’ll cut his throat.” – Lex van den Berghe
Rating: 6 + Tier A (5) = 11

One of the most heart-breaking moments in Survivor history didn’t occur during the 39-day stretch of a season. It was Continue reading “Africa Episode 13: Truth Be Told” →

Airdate: November 15, 2001
Boot: Lindsey Richter
Quote: “I don’t care if I’m voted out tonight because I didn’t vote for a friend of mine, and that makes me the happiest person on the face of the earth.” – Lindsey Richter
Rating: 9 + Tier A (5) = 14

We’re officially in old-school Survivor territory here. Like, super-old-school. Which is worrisome for me. I haven’t rewatched any vintage Survivor episodes in well over five years. Yet I still stubbornly remember this as the “best” era of the show, a simple time when alliances stuck together and players were voted out because they got the most votes, not because they were the only person lacking some sort of trinket that guaranteed them immunity. Ah, those were the days. But what if the content that was so compelling in 2001 proved to be slow and dull in 2018? What if I found these episodes (gasp) boring? Continue reading “Africa Episode 6: I’d Never Do It to You” →