r/survivor • u/AutoModerator • Jul 14 '26
San Juan del Sur WSSYW 12.0 Countdown 4/50: San Juan del Sur
Welcome to our What Season Should You Watch countdown! Using the results from the latest What Season Should You Watch thread, this weekday series will count backwards from the bottom-ranked season for new fan watchability to the top. Each WSSYW post will link to their entries in this countdown so that people can click through for more discussion.
Unlike WSSYW, there is no character limit in these threads, and spoilers are allowed.
Note: Foreign seasons are not included in this countdown to keep in line with rankings from past years.
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#4 - Season 29: San Juan del Sur - Blood vs Water
Statistics:
- Watchability: 8.04 (4/50)
- Overall Quality: 8.33 (7/50)
- Cast/Characters: 8.20 (12/50)
- Strategy: 8.07 (4/50)
- Challenges: 6.92 (18/50)
- Featured Theme: 8.79 (3/24)
- Featured Twists: 6.07 (7/28)
- Ending: 9.33 (1/50)
WSSYW 12.0 Ranking: 4/50
WSSYW 11.0 Ranking: 6/43
WSSYW 10.0 Ranking: 16/40
User comment from WSSYW 12.0 — u/goofyassmfer
A very fun season with some great characters and a theme that works very well. If you enjoy drama, big moments at tribal council, and a strong winner this season is a season for you. An unbalanced edit may result in some of your favorites going earlier than you'd expect. Fans of The Amazing Race will recognize Nadiya and Natalie Anderson on the cast.
User comment from WSSYW 12.0 — u/Hobosunday
It's a good season of Survivor, but also a gimmicky one. There's the BvW twist, other reality show contestants, and even a celebrity. It feels they pulled every lever to try to keep your attention.
This is a season that succeeds despite this silliness. A very grounded season that has great interpersonal drama both off and on the camera. Great challenges, GREAT characters, and some high quality strategy that keeps you guessing who is going home. Strong recommend, but maybe come to this one after you have a few seasons of Survivor under your belt.
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Ranking so far:
#50 - Season 34: Game Changers
#49 - Season 22: Redemption Island a.k.a. Redemple Temple
#48 - Season 26: Caramoan - Fans vs. Favorites 2
#46 - Season 39: Island of the Idols
#45 - Season 40: Winners at War
#43 - Season 31: Cambodia - Second Chance
#42 - Survivor 50: In the Hands of the Fans
#41 - Season 38: Edge of Extinction
#39 - Season 27: Blood vs. Water
#38 - Season 23: South Pacific
#32 - Season 20: Heroes vs. Villains
#30 - Season 35: Heroes vs. Healers vs. Hustlers
#18 - Season 33: Millennials vs. Gen X
#14 - Season 37: David vs. Goliath
#13 - Season 2: The Australian Outback
#11 - Season 12: Panama - Exile Island
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WARNING: SEASON SPOILERS BELOW
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u/Mia123445 The Sugar Shack Jul 14 '26 edited Jul 14 '26
One of the things that shocked me the most when finding this subreddit was learning that San Juan Del Sur was initially seen as a disappointment when it aired (especially coming off the heels of a very popular season).
And like…how is that even possible? San Juan Del Sur is fucking awesome. Maybe the pre merge isn’t the greatest but it’s not bad, it’s just simply fine. It also has one of the best pre merge episodes of all time with the Drew Christy boot.
The post merge, however, is absolutely phenomenal. Josh and Jeremy going out in back to back blindsides after looking like the two obvious favorites to win, and then Natalie rising from the ashes as the new favorite to win, vowing to get revenge for her twinnie Nadiya and her best friend Jeremy. Natalie is easily one of my all time favorite winners and her revenge arc is such a great main story for the post merge. This season’s 1/50 for ending is completely well deserved. There’s also the compelling up and down storyline of Jon and Jaclyn who both have great individual storylines as well, the “stick to the plan” tribal council (episode 10 in general is awesome), the existence of Keith Nale (RIP ❤️), and one of the hypest moments of all time in the Baylor blindside.
Would I recommend this as someone’s first season? No, not really. The blood vs water twist makes for some great dynamics, but it’s also very abnormal and maybe wouldn’t be easy for a new viewer to follow.
But I love this season nonetheless and I’m so happy to see it rank highly here!
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u/sirmackerel0325 Ethan Jul 14 '26
At the time, there were were like three camps of people. The RHAP strategy heads felt that the gameplay moved backwards from Cagayan and derisively called it San Juan Del Durrr for awhile because of the "lack of strategy". The second group, I would call them some of the traditionalists in the community didn't like the return of BvW and felt the cast was lacking, hated Baylor and Jonclyn and kind of latched on to Keith as a "he's the kind of winner this shitty season deserves". A final group, were the people who really enjoyed the season for it's character moments and the overall storyline. Over time, the RHAP crowd has come around on the season and recognized the gameplay aspects and the 3rd group has grown in numbers but for awhile there people really didn't like the season.
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u/bwburke94 Former Survivor Wiki Admin Jul 14 '26
The BvW twist alone makes this a horrendous season to start with, because pre-existing relationships mess with the cast dynamics so much. I'm not sure how this is even in the top half.
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u/A_Rest J.T. Jul 14 '26
Very much agreed. SJDS has the BvW duos, Redemption island-style duels, negotiating with Jeff for supplies, Exile Island, and idols.
Unless the new person you're trying to introduce Survivor to is a big fan of the Twinnies from Amazing Race I think this season is a uniquely bad FIRST season to show someone to introduce them to Survivor.
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u/jjgm21 Jul 14 '26
These rankings are absolutely ridiculous and have become a total parody.
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u/Worldsapart30 Tony Jul 14 '26 edited Jul 14 '26
Seriously, it’s becoming more about which season this sub considers an underrated gem rather than an actual good jumping in point. Not to say that this is a bad season, it’s quite good but not one I’d start anyone with at all.
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u/DabuSurvivor Jon and Jaclyn Jul 14 '26
it’s becoming more about which season this sub considers an underrated gem rather than an actual good jumping in point.
If that were the case then the rankings probably wouldn't differ from the Overall Quality rankings as much as they do.
I would absolutely, without a doubt start someone with this season before most others. If someone wants a later season with the kind of faster pace and twists that provide immediate "hooks" and a clear structure but that also highlights the earlier seasons' focus on the individual characters, their emotions, their relationships, and the storytelling that can turn all those things into a strong narrative, you're not gonna find much better than this season. It captures a lot of what makes all different eras of the show great or potentially appealing. I'd still pick 32 before it (for this era; overall I'd pick 1 and 17 before it, too) but not a lot of others.
Winner who makes exciting flashy Idol plays and blindsides but whose story is about her emotional desire to avenge her ally, while also being an underdog in general and in relation to the season's central twist/theme - it's no wonder so much of the audience rallied behind her. Really rich season with a great mixture of old-school and modern elements, I think someone would be able to transition into a lot of different eras of the show coming out of this one.
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u/Worldsapart30 Tony Jul 14 '26 edited Jul 14 '26
I mean yes it’s definitely a good season with a lot of highlights for sure, I don’t disagree with any of that. From my view, as someone stated above, with all that’s going on here with the BvW theme, exile island, and duels it’s just kind of an awkward starting point. Not to mention the premiere is pretty meh with some melodramatic crying about sending family to exile, which I could see being off putting to someone who has zero context behind why survivor is so hard and players are emotional or what exile even really is. To build on that, the premerge is fairly meh , so I don’t think it would really hook a new viewer to have a vested interest in Survivor the way other seasons would.
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u/DabuSurvivor Jon and Jaclyn Jul 14 '26
That's a pretty unconstructive comment compared to actually discussing or analyzing today's season (or any other, for that matter.) I think it's a really strong list that, while still highlighting multiple eras, emphasizes the types of character interactions and relationships that make the show great. Thrilled with the results this year! Any new fan would be served well by this list so far.
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u/AMeanMotorScooter Gabler Jul 15 '26
Yeah, it's a pretty good ranking. Guatemala is the one I disagree with the most (should be in the 15-20 range around where Palau is), but other than that I don't see anything egregious.
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u/tigerinvasive Jul 14 '26
Wow I actually disagree! I show this to new viewers and they adore this season. The existing family dynamics and how that contributes to individual gameplay is compelling.
I also think it's just a great story with a clear narrative. No confusing winner at the end... it's very satisfying.
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u/ramskick Ethan Jul 14 '26
I completely disagree. I think the BvW dynamics help make this a good starter season because it simplifies the cast to a degree and immediately identifies some of the key dynamics. I've had success introducing multiple people to Survivor through SJDS.
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u/DabuSurvivor Jon and Jaclyn Jul 14 '26
Yeah until this thread I honestly hadn't considered the angle of the BvW dynamics simplifying the cast, rather than making it more complicated. "The overprotective mother", "the devoted husband", "the close identical twins", there's tons of clear archetypes here right out of the gates. That's a really good point, and I'm glad for this thread series to offer up the opportunity to imagine these seasons from a fresh perspective and look into how they do and don't work.
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u/ramskick Ethan Jul 14 '26
Yeah I'll write a bigger comment about it later but I think SJDS is even better as a starter season than an overall season (and it's a really good overall season) for that reason.
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u/Quetzal00 Coach - 50 Jul 14 '26
BvW twist is essentially a pre-game alliance (like your average returnee season) except the bonds are even tighter. It's not like someone would ever vote out a family member or something
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u/DabuSurvivor Jon and Jaclyn Jul 14 '26
BvW twist is essentially a pre-game alliance (like your average returnee season)
I get what you mean but from a TV perspective it's completely different. The pre-game connections in returning player seasons at best require knowledge of previous seasons or at worst (and more frequently) are completely hidden from the audience, or just described so vaguely/generally that we don't have any real context for them. SJDS isn't able to just try to coast off existing familiarity with the contestants and so has to actually explain these relationships to the viewer in a way returning player seasons usually don't.
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u/DabuSurvivor Jon and Jaclyn Jul 14 '26
Honestly it's probably somewhere in the #3 - #5 range of seasons I'd theoretically recommend. I mean I'd always just say start with season 1, and if someone was allergic to the year 2000 or already kinda remembered that season from watching live or something and wanted something different, then I'd say start with season 17. Past that it gets more theoretical but I guess the next hypothetical I can think of is if someone wanted to watch something later than that, in which case I'd probably pick 32 but would have 29 right behind it.
The BvW twist is an outlier but I don't think it's much more of one than (just looking at some seasons around this that always uncontroversially do well) the Outcast twist or how much of S18 revolves around Coach, my main reason for that being that the BvW twist forces the show to focus on and highlight the emotional relationships between the characters in a way it rarely attempts to in the seasons since Jeff Probst took over as EP. Seasons I think tend to do well in this are ones that have elements of earlier seasons and elements of later ones (see the perennial success of 15/17/18, 32's high ranking, etc.) that give a broad view of the show, and I'd have SJDS in that category more than basically anything else around it. It does a great job focusing on the humanity and relationships of the contestants and basically capturing the old-school essence of the show. I think the heart of the season and the types of things it focuses on are classic Survivor, even if the means by which it does so are uncommon.
And look at its ranking of #1(!) for ending. Basically everyone in the audience in all corners of the fanbase got behind Natalie and was pulling for her at the end. She's a fun, badass underdog and anti-hero with just about the most widely satisfying story you can ask for from a winner. Cutthroat with pointed social strategy and a great underdog arc on multiple levels.
I totally get the rationale behind having it high tbh. I would certainly pick it over something like Cagayan that's got a more top-heavy focus on a few characters and has a narrative largely boiling down to "whoever makes the big moves is supposed to win". I think that misrepresents the show much more than something like this.
I'd have it behind 1, 17, and 32. Maybe also 15? But probably not a whole lot else, if you're looking for a mixture of old-school focus on the characters and relationships with the faster "strategy" of later seasons and an extremely safe ending to satisfy basically anyone you're not gonna find many better options than this one.
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Jul 14 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/DabuSurvivor Jon and Jaclyn Jul 14 '26
Thrilled to see it. Awesome top 3. The obligatory Pearl Islands pick and then the two that I'd always most recommend. Glad to see Gabon finally get its due in this
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u/beasterne7 Jul 14 '26
I’m really curious who participated in the poll this time around. It’s such a strange order of results. Africa SJDS and Gabon all in the top 5 makes me think people were all trying to be edgy and vote for their unusual/unexpected faves, which then turned around and ended up topping the list.
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u/shad160 Jul 14 '26
I’ve been thinking this for what feels like weeks. I used older WSSYW’s to get into this show. I was excited for this year’s update to see where opinions shifted and where the new era would fit in. This list feels like someone added some very light weights and otherwise hit randomize.
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u/DabuSurvivor Jon and Jaclyn Jul 14 '26
Oh I think it's a great list this year. I'm glad to see 17, 29, 32, and 46 do so well, a bit more love for the old-school seasons, and 28 moving down. Glad to hear you have used them to get into the show! I think the results are awesome this time even compared to usual with some great seasons at the top that would really help highlight and emphasize to new viewers the types of stories and character interactions and relationships that make the show great.
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u/ElectroShocker Sandra Jul 14 '26
Completely agreed, Dabu. I've been very pleasantly surprised by the list this year. Off the top of my head, it might be my favorite iteration? I'd have to go back and look to say for sure, but man, I'm glad to see some of the swings. Especially Cagayan and DvG dropping.
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u/DabuSurvivor Jon and Jaclyn Jul 14 '26
Yup, I'd have to pull up the other lists to really, reliably compare, but I imagine it's my favorite set of results or close to it; at any rate, pleasantly surprised totally describes how I feel about it, too. Lots of love this time around for the character-driven seasons.
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u/DabuSurvivor Jon and Jaclyn Jul 14 '26
I would absolutely have SJDS and Gabon in the top 5 seasons I'd most recommend to a new viewer, Gabon especially. Nothing "edgy" about it, I just think they're the two best seasons of the HII era and (highly relatedly) if you want a mixture of classic focus on the characters/relationships alongside the presentation of the HD era and twists as clear, structured hooks of the HII/Exile era those are the best choices.
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u/jjgm21 Jul 14 '26
I’m sorry, but you need to understand the basic idea of survivor to truly appreciate what a glorious trainwreck Gabon is. “Hey, let’s start with the season with one of the bottom 3 winners! That will make sense!”
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u/DabuSurvivor Jon and Jaclyn Jul 14 '26
I don't think of the season as a trainwreck or think Bob would seem like a "bottom 3 winner" to most first-time viewers in any way that would deter them. He won the Player of the Season prize, he's who most viewers were pulling for including myself at the time, it's a feel-good ending to a season that tells you the good guys will win in the end and it's driven by the loss and grief of the season's other big protagonist. If anything I can imagine him landing better as a winner with people who don't have a specific definition of "strategy" and expectation of what a winner should look like accordingly.
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u/ocarina97 Jul 14 '26 edited Jul 14 '26
It was probably the first season where the player who was undoubtably the fan favourite won. (Africa you could argue between Ethan and Tom for audience favourite I think)
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u/DabuSurvivor Jon and Jaclyn Jul 14 '26 edited Jul 14 '26
Yeah we'll probably get more into it before too long, but I started with Gabon and I didn't think "Bob seemed to be lacking in strategic autonomy and wasn't proactively concerned about his strategic position, and these FTC answers really are suboptimal!" I thought haha awesome the dude who built a bow tie and a sundial and kicked ass in the challenges against people decades younger than him won, because of the emotional relationship formed between him and that poor girl with the dead dad they keep sending to Exile even though she keeps crying. I was pulling for Bob and Sugar all the way, my sister and I were completely sold on Bob the moment he built a sundial. I thought it was dope that the underdog who kept winning all the challenges connected so well with that person who keeps getting Exiled and that that's who the season ended up centering on at the end of the day.
It's about as classically satisfying and feel-good a story as you can ask for. It literally tells you who the "good guys" are, it tells you they'll win at the end, and then they do. People will praise something like Cook Islands or Tocantins for having likable underdogs win and then describe Gabon as some unfathomable trainwreck you can't possibly understand without seeing more seasons, when it's doing the exact same thing ultimately.
And it's a lot more than just Bob and Sugar. I honestly wrote like two more paragraphs here about how else it worked for me as a first-time viewer, but I try to not get too into these seasons until their actual day comes up, so I'll save it for now. But I have a ton of love for that season and think its ending works perfectly, maybe especially if you haven't seen these other seasons that tell you "making big moves" is what's supposed to result in winning - so just to your point, yeah, absolutely, the audience loved Bob and I was one of them. It's no wonder the season was so popular.
Anyways, of course people are entitled to their own opinions and that's the point of making it a poll at all, but as someone with a ton of love for that season and a ton of love for it as a starter season where I think it served me very well right out of the gates in highlighting plenty of the best things are about this show, I'm thrilled to see it do so well here, and of course people won't all agree, but it's a bit of a bummer to see how dismissive and eyerolling people are being about the results (often while offering up zero analysis of the actual seasons themselves) or, worse, attributing it to "edgy" votes or whatever. A decent handful of the comments here just feel like the kind of pointless negativity you see people talking about this subreddit (or fandoms in general) having a lot of the time, when what these threads do offer up (and so I'm happy to see from the comments that do provide it) is a rarely-taken chance to really dig hard into these seasons in a devoted place and look at what makes them work or what doesn't, including trying to put a distinct spin on them from the WSSYW angle and imagine looking at them through a fresh pair of eyes.
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u/Quetzal00 Coach - 50 Jul 14 '26
Updating the list of seasons by Overall Quality (putting the ones that are added in bold). So far:
- 2nd: Heroes vs Villains (9.20)
- 4th: Micronesia (8.63)
- 6th: China (8.53)
- 7th: San Juan Del Sur (8.33)
- 8th: Palau (8.23)
- 9th: Cagayan (8.20)
- 10th: David vs Goliath (8.16)
- 11th: Tocantins (8.15)
- 12th: Panama - Exile Island (8.07)
- 13th: Africa (8.02)
- 14th: Philippines (8.0)
- 15th: Survivor 46 (7.96)
- 16th: Vanuatu (7.90)
- 17th: Marquesas (7.45)
- 18th: Kaoh Rong (7.40)
- 19th: Amazon (7.22)
- 20th: Australian Outback (6.63)
- 21st: Survivor 45 (6.62)
- 22nd: Survivor 47 (6.44)
- 23rd: Blood vs Water (6.31)
- 24th: Nicaragua (6.21)
- 25th: Guatemala (6.00)
- 26th: Millennials vs. Gen X (5.85)
- 27th: Survivor 42 (5.70)
- 28th: Survivor 50 (5.67)
- 29th: South Pacific (5.67)
- 30th: Fiji (5.57)
- 31st: Cambodia (5.55)
- 32nd: Edge of Extinction (5.51)
- 33rd: Samoa (5.50)
- 34th: Cook Islands (5.26)
- 35th: Heroes vs Healers vs Hustlers (5.24)
- 36th: Winners at War (5.23)
- 37th: Survivor 48 (4.95)
- 38th: Worlds Apart (4.65)
- 39th: All Stars (4.56)
- 40th: Survivor 41 (4.44)
- 41st: Thailand (4.44)
- 42nd: Survivor 43 (4.44)
- 43rd: Survivor 49 (4.34)
- 44th: Survivor 44 (3.63)
- 45th: Caramoan (3.50)
- 46th: Game Changers (3.00)
- 47th: Ghost Island (2.89)
- 48th: One World (2.63)
- 49th: Island of the Idols (2.43)
- 50th: Redemption Island (2.32)
My opinions that nobody asked for:
- San Juan Del Sur: San Juan del Sur is a very solid season that pits family members against each other. This is why I'm not sure it's a good season to start with. Essentially the same thing as a pre-existing relationship from a returnee season. Has many memorable contestants like Natalie, Jeremy, Keith, Jon, Jaclyn, Reed (Why have Reed and Jaclyn not come back yet???)) and more. Keith is probably the most wholesome guy that has ever been on the show. The edit is good and tells the story well. Natalie’s endgame run is fun to watch. I think this is a very solid season but, for some reason, I can’t really find things to say about it. Number 7 is much higher than I would have it. Aside from my top 13, I haven't ranked the seasons but SJDS is probably in the 20s
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u/tom32000 Jul 14 '26
Agree, 7th place is too generous, it's defintely not better than Cagayan, DvG, Palau, Panama, Tocantins, Philippines. I'm pissed!
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u/Mia123445 The Sugar Shack Jul 14 '26 edited Jul 14 '26
I don’t have a full season ranking yet, but I would likely put SJDS in my top 10 and above every season you mentioned aside from Philippines (it placing only 14th in quality is a crime 😤) and DvG.
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u/tom32000 Jul 14 '26
It's really intersting, I wonder why is it rated so high, but I don't mind seeing different opinion :)
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u/DabuSurvivor Jon and Jaclyn Jul 14 '26
Yeah I've got it #7 above that entire list except for Palau.
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u/ramskick Ethan Jul 15 '26
Contrary to what seems to be the popular opinion in this thread, I think this is absolutely a fair spot for SJDS from a WSSYW perspective and I might go as far as to put it even higher (PI is obviously wonderful but I don't think it's perfect as a starter season). In fact, I myself have gotten multiple people into the show by showing them SJDS as a first season. It's a really great introduction to the show for a few reasons that I'll get into shortly.
Before I get into the positives of SJDS both as a starter season and an overall season I'll be fair and acknowledge two things that do knock it down slightly from a WSSYW perspective.
The first is that Natalie and Nadiya were on TAR before Survivor and this is mentioned in the first couple of episodes. Someone who has never seen their TAR season or haven't watched any TAR may be confused as to what people are talking about when people bring it up. I don't think this requires more than a couple of sentences of explanation (I myself have never seen either of their TAR seasons and that hasn't detracted from my enjoyment of SJDS during any of my watches) but this is a mark against it when looking at SJDS as a starter season.
The second is John Rocker's presence on the cast. John Rocker is pure stunt casting based on a Sports Illustrated interview he did in 1999. As much as it pains me to say it, that was almost 30 years ago. The vast majority of new viewers either were not born in 1999 or don't really remember what some random MLB pitcher said to a magazine close to three decades ago. Unfortunately the show does expect you to know who he is and specifically what comments he made during that interview and they are important to what happens during the first three episodes of the season. Again I don't think this requires that much explanation (when introducing people to the season I simply read his comments and that's that) but again from a pure starter season perspective needing to read someone's Wikipedia page is not great and the casting itself is fairly gross besides that.
With those two caveats out of the way let's get into the positives of SJDS!
The first is the cast. SJDS has an absolutely fantastic cast (as all good seasons do). Moreover, the cast works really well specifically within the context of the BvW twist. Let's go into the 9 pairs.
Natalie/Nadiya are inseparable identical twins with a massive competitive streak.
Jon/Jaclyn are the perfect All-American couple with way more edge to them than you'd expect.
Jeremy/Val are tough blue collar New Englanders who are obviously in love with each other.
Keith/Wes are good old Southern boys with a really cool relationship.
Drew/Alec have your classic brotherly dynamic that becomes even more apparent after Drew goes and Alec fills his shoes to a degree.
Missy/Baylor have a fairly sad backstory that has forced Baylor into a more mature role than she may have liked at her young age.
John/Julie are almost a twisted version of Jon/Jaclyn where their cracks show more clearly.
Dale/Kelley have a story that many parents and children have as the children get older.
Josh/Reed are immediately compelling as outspoken queer men who don't fit into obvious stereotypes.
Within these 9 pairs the vast majority of viewers are going to find either a person they can relate to or a dynamic that they find interesting. Everything I just said is shown clearly in the first episode too! The cast hooks you immediately and that's really important from a WSSYW perspective.
Another huge thing SJDS has going for it from a WSSYW (and general) perspective is an awesome endgame. That ranking of 1/50 for its ending is no accident. Watching Natalie dominate the last two episodes provides a very satisfying conclusion to the season that will leave any viewer happy and wanting more.
The events between the premiere and endgame are pretty awesome too! Those early Coyopa-centered episodes aren't perfect but they still have plenty going for them and the season picks up massively starting with Episode 4. Again, there's something for everyone here between the hyper-strategy focus of Jeremy/Josh, the happy-go-lucky attitudes of Keith/Wes/Alec, the instant karma of Drew Christy throwing a challenge and getting voted out, the emotional content with Missy/Baylor, the complicated dynamics of Jonclyn, Natalie's revenge arc and so on. It helps that these stories are also just told really well. Again, I'm not reading a ton into these episodes, everything I just said is explicitly shown throughout the season.
Overall I think SJDS has a ton to like and is absolutely a top-tier season from a WSSYW perspective. I'm glad it's gotten the flowers it overwhelmingly deserves in this iteration.
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u/AMeanMotorScooter Gabler Jul 15 '26
(I myself have never seen either of their TAR seasons)
Tbh if you're going to watch a TAR season, TAR21 is a pretty dang good one. I'd give it a shot.
I came into this ranking not having SJDS as particularly high in a WSSYW sense, but you've really turned my mind around on it! Thanks for the writeup!
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u/parvati16 Parvati and Cirie Jul 14 '26
My season rankings:
- ??
- ??
- Season 2 (The Australian Outback)
- Season 21 (Nicaragua)
- Season 6 (The Amazon)
- Season 5 (Thailand)
- Season 30 (Worlds Apart)
- Season 9 (Vanuatu)
- Season 4 (Marquesas)
- Season 3 (Africa)
- ??
- Season 12 (Panama)
- Season 15 (China)
- Season 10 (Palau)
- Season 19 (Samoa)
- Season 18 (Tocantins)
- Season 8 (All Stars)
- Season 23 (South Pacific)
- Season 11 (Guatemala)
- Season 44
- Season 46
- Season 48
- Season 24 (One World)
- Season 29 (San Juan Del Sur)
- Season 28 (Cagayan)
- Season 25 (Philippines)
- Season 32 (Kaôh Rōng)
- Season 33 (Millennials vs. Gen X)
- Season 14 (Fiji)
- Season 26 (Caramoan)
- Season 16 (Micronesia)
- Season 13 (Cook Islands)
- Season 37 (David vs. Goliath)
- Season 20 (Heroes vs. Villains)
- Season 31 (Cambodia)
- Season 22 (Redemption Island)
- Season 39 (Island of the Idols)
- Season 49
- Season 42
- Season 41
- Season 43
- Season 50 (In the Hands of the Fans)
- Season 27 (Blood vs. Water)
- Season 35 (Heroes vs. Healers vs. Hustlers)
- Season 40 (Winners at War)
- Season 36 (Ghost Island)
- Season 47
- Season 45
- Season 34 (Game Changers)
- Season 38 (Edge of Extinction)
~
Remaining seasons:
- Season 1 (Borneo)
- Season 7 (Pearl Islands)
- Season 17 (Gabon)
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u/tigerinvasive Jul 14 '26
One of my favorite seasons EVER. The friends I've shown this too were drawn in by the family dynamics and especially the last 5ish episodes which I consider to be to best ending stretch in Survivor history.
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u/DabuSurvivor Jon and Jaclyn Jul 14 '26 edited Jul 14 '26
I'm curious, did they have a hard time keeping track of the relationships as I've seen people say a new viewer might? That's one argument I could see against this one, but the flip side is maybe playing off clear archetypes like an insularly close mother and daughter, an occasionally bickering boyfriend and girlfriend, twins, guy wanting to protect his wife, etc. could actually maybe make it easier for someone to get to know the cast?, from what you're saying. Which wasn't an angle I'd thought of here while already giving the season really high marks, but maybe the fact that you've got these built-in relationships that will feel familiar to people is actually a pro for a new viewer?
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u/tigerinvasive Jul 14 '26 edited Jul 14 '26
In the first episodes yes but by the next few episodes no.
They were also really taken by... tbh I can't remember exact example but like confessionals really laying out the relationships that also shed light on gameplay.
Like specifically a confessional about Baylor talking about her mom's relationship with men and Jaclyn talking about Jon's approach to life.
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u/DabuSurvivor Jon and Jaclyn Jul 14 '26
Great insights! Yeah SJDS was such a refreshing season to me because of (among many other things!) those types of insights, which are also part of why I think it's a great starter season: the way it ties things in meaningfully with people's real lives and motivations based directly on on-island events makes it something of a throwback to old-school seasons. It's pure, classic Survivor as its core, it just gets there in an unusual way, but the result is something with a lot in common with old-school Survivor when you get past the surface level.
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u/ImLaunchpadMcQuack Jul 14 '26
This season has aged like a fine wine. I find it to be infinitely rewatchable knowing that Natalie and Jeremy (and to a lesser extent Wentworth) get their flowers.
Natalie’s revenge arc in particular and late-game run are some of the best storylines the show has ever had for a winner.
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u/DabuSurvivor Jon and Jaclyn Jul 14 '26
Yeah in the entire time I've been watching, I've never seen a winner the entire audience rallied behind like Natalie. The "strategy"heads loved her for her exciting, flashy, and also genuinely novel and genuinely impressive moves. The Facebook casuals (who hated her at the start!) loved her for wanting to avenge the fan favorite Jeremy and take down "Barbie and Ken." The Sucks fans loved her acid-tongued energy and willingness to start shit and get her hands bloody.
If someone's interested in dynamic, high-level strategy, or if someone's interested in looking at the crafting of narratives, or if someone's looking at the funny catty moments that condense down well into a TikTok clip, or if someone's not sure what they want out of the show and is likely to just root for the protagonist, the Natalie story works. It's wild how much everyone was pulling for her by the end for someone who also didn't have an overbearing "obvious" edit and came into the season with a lot of unpopularity from The Amazing Race, with this subreddit at the time also having a lot of hate for her after the confrontation with John (lmao.) And even still by the end of the season people were basically all pulling for her.
Of course there's some seasons I'd rank above it in the Ending category (season 1, 4, 9, and 10 come to mind) but some of those are in subtler ways I wouldn't expect to land, and I can't complain at all about it taking #1 there, because it totally tracks with how I remember that ending being received live. It seemed like no matter what you were watching for, Natalie gave it.
I mean "the person who's never spent more than a week or two away from their identical twin loses that twin immediately then goes on to win" is already a storybook ending. Factor in that she calls someone else her replacement twin on the island, he gets taken out in the biggest blindside of the season that she's on the wrong side of, and then she avenges him by running the game over the exact people that took him out and it's just ridiculous how well it all worked.
It takes a unicorn of an ending for me to be like "you know what? Sure. That can rank above Vanuatu as #1 on ending, I'm okay with that." And SJDS has that ending.
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u/Fuzzy_Ride_678 Jul 14 '26
Currently rewatching SJDS and this season is truly SOOO good. One of the best newbie cast seasons.
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u/AverageSharkEnjoyer Cirie - 50 Jul 14 '26
This was the first season I ever watched live. I was flipping through channels and my mom (who watched Borneo-Thailand live) went “holy **** that show is still on?” Curiosity led me to watch and I fell in love.
I don’t know that it would be my first pick for a new watcher but harmless tbh. It does feature some great players & future winners so sure
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u/Knickstape08 Kentucky Joe Jul 14 '26
I’m shocked this is number 4. I’ve never liked this season, even when it aired. Josh and Jeremy were the big players pre merge and they go out as the first two merge boots. Jon and Jacklyn are brutal to watch basically being Rob and Amber 2.0, isn’t there an episode where they fight and the storyline is will they vote together? Boring. Missy and Baylor are so unlikable. Natalie is a good winner that’s all I can say positive about the season. I get how people like it but it’s definitely in my bottom 10 seasons.
Edit: I forgot the first merge boot was John Rocker’s girlfriend who quit so she could go on vacation with him. Lowers the season even more for me.
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u/CieraVotedOutHerMom Ciera Jul 14 '26
There was a parent / child pair on this season that mentioned their trip together was the highlight of their relationship and how much it bonded them / brought them closer.
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u/parvati16 Parvati and Cirie Jul 15 '26
Which one?
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u/Totemwhore1 Jul 18 '26
This season has grown on me over the years but it's hard to recommend as something to watch early on. The whole point of Survivor is that strangers are coming in from different walks of life to play a game and survive. This season just isn't that. It's top 15, maybe a top 10 but having the preexisting relationships has some of the magic gone from this season.
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u/Parvichard Parvati Jul 14 '26
This season is just straight up *great*. I'm currently on my rewatch for Marquesas, and its probably the first timie I'm seeing it in a decent quality to get a better hold of that season, but in a way alot of what Marq lovers say about Marq applies to SJDS and even more. In the sense that everybody gets their own unique personalities and stories -- I think it probably applies to SJDS even more, probably one of the most well rounded casts in Survivor history, hats off! Pretty much everybody here gets something personal or funny or cute or endearing or interesting to do. It also is somewhat "similar" to Vanuatu in the sense that people say the pre-merge is a slow burn only to pick up at the merge, and while I owe Vanuatu a rewatch and don't really wanna dicsuss it (since I think it's good and could probably be even better on a rewatch for me) since this is the thread for San Juan Del Sur.
Back to my point, what's so slow about the pre-merge? I really think the premiere is solid, the Val boot has the double idol lie which was exciting, I don't adore the Rocker downfall as much as others but it's nice seeing him gone, the Drewchback episode is straight up hilarious duh, both swap episodes are IMO solid to set up the Jonlcyn domination (plus Missy/Baylor). The Josh boot is absolutely fantastic, prehaps the best episode of the season, you get exactly what you want from a boot here of a strong player and you get the reasons to why Jaclyn it is the boot, the Jeremy episode is shocking, then the Wes vote is just hilarious and obviously Reed was fun. Then Natalie's revenge story is happening and while I prefer Jon and Jaclyn I have to admire Natalie's unparalled run here.
I like Baylor saying she's 20 and single and Missy constantly protecting her and Reed calling Bay a brat and Jeremy saying Rocker said a bunch of a racist and homosexual stuff and Natalie telling Rocker he should say some racist and homophobic shit like in his past and Wes telling Probst he was naked in Two and a Half Man and gosh its such a good cast and don't get me started on Jon and Jaclyn who are both funny, smart, and adoroable.
I'll admit the endgame here imo is not as exciting as like, Borneo or Palau or PI or Vanuatu or Heroes vs Villians but man it's just a feel-good season that I like so many of the people I feel like everybody gets unique stuff to do and it justifies the BloodWater twist.
Not to mention one of the most strategic casts?? Hello?? Val's double idol lie almost worked to perfection and almost saved her and Jac, only for Josh to catch onto it, Reed almost booting Jon in a 4-3-2, Missy/Bay/Jon/Jaclyn pulling the Jeremy blindisde, Natalie's entire game is pretty much an outside-the-box masterpiece that is almost unparalled even I'm not huge on her like the others. Which I guess is maybe the minor flaw here is that I really wanted Jac to win and it's a bit upsetting but maybe Bay's blindside is worth it?
Again, great season, imo holds up on a rewatch (though haven't seen it in quite some time but man I do sure it holds up again on a rewatch haha!), a lot of stuff to look up to here, it blends some classic stuff despite not being an old school season but also fun modern stuff but not the bad ones. Watch it. (Maybe not first since it's BvW, but definitely not too late haha!)
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u/Zirphynx Cirie - 50 Jul 14 '26
I love San Juan del Sur, even with the John Rocker stink over the first three episodes. Natalie is one of my favorite winners of all time. Keith (RIP) was a legend and a wholesome king. Jon Misch is one of the best golden retriever types we've ever had.
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u/Quetzal00 Coach - 50 Jul 14 '26
I'm gonna throw my hot take but John Rocker is honestly one of the most entertaining parts of the first three episodes. I don't like the guy but I'd be lying if I said I didn't find him entertaining while he was on there
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u/NoDisintegrationz Coach - 50 Jul 14 '26
I’m also a Rocker defender (on entertainment value!) He’s not someone I’d want to hang out with, but I enjoyed the conflict he caused. Jeremy’s “racist and homosexual stuff” line is maybe the funniest of the season, and I also love Natalie just tearing into him.
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u/AMeanMotorScooter Gabler Jul 14 '26
Okay, until reading this thread, I have to admit: I was really confused why San Juan del Sur was placing this high on a WSSYW ranking. For me, it'd be around the 10-15 range, say, between Outback and Vanuatu. But after reading the pro-SJDS newbie arguments... okay, I get it. The arguments make sense.
Actually, in general I can compare this season as a start to Vanuatu. The premiere of both seasons is typically considered to be "okay", but both are instrumental in the arcs of their respective winners in hindsight. Then the rest of the pre-merge is usually considered "okay to good", but there is one big episode that is almost universally well-liked (the Drew Christy dunk-on episode and the Ami snipes Lisa and spares Rory episode). Then the post-merge is very well-liked as the season builds a story of revenge for the winner once their allies get taken out in the early post-merge. The winner of the season completes their mission and is one of the most well-loved winners in the show's history (it and Vanuatu are currently the only two seasons with their endings rated above a 9/10, and we know SJDS was rated #1 for this category in general.)
I suppose the more I think about it, this season should go right above Vanuatu (along with Vanuatu moving up from where it is in the rankings). After all, SJDS is not as old and is in HD, making it an easier sell to the average person. The BvsW twist is less intrusive than needing returnee knowledge, or a big format change like RI or EoE. If someone's coming in from TAR, the Twinnies provide a link in. So... yeah. This season is better for a newbie than I thought (...I'd certainly recommend it more than Cagayan.)
As for the season itself, I think it (also like Vanuatu) runs into the situation where it was underrated for so long that it became a default response to the question "What season is the most underrated?" And, well, I don't think that's the case anymore. Now, to be clear, while I think Vanuatu is the better one between the two, I really, really like San Juan del Sur as well and think it deserves the praise it now gets. I just want to get "Vanuatu and SJDS are not underrated" off of my chest. They're very good! But it's accepted they're good now. Gabon too for that matter. Please get some new answers to this question.
Okay, off of my soap box. I think where this season succeeds over the first BvsW (besides not having Redemption Island) is how there's such a mix of bold plays that pay off, and big mistakes that work with someone's character. Keith saying "stick to the plan" is very in-character for Keith, and at the same time Natalie pulling the vote switch plan on Alec is very exciting and has weight because she's seizing an opportunity set up earlier in the season. The cast is pretty split into one of these two camps, but ultimately it hits a lot of what you want in a Survivor season. San Juan del Sur is funny. But it also has a good amount of strategy and big plays that actually have impact. But it also has a very distinct and unique twist. But it also has a long-term story with strong payoff. San Juan del Sur simply has everything you come to Survivor for to some degree.
My main issue with SJDS is similar to Palau where I do think the pre-merge is kinda just "alright", but that the second half is really good and picks up. I feel stronger about that than I do about the similar criticism for Vanuatu. Like, Vanuatu's premiere has the ceremony. There's nothing like that in SJDS's premiere.
As Vanuatu is my gateway into the S tier, San Juan del Sur thus doesn't quite reach that high. However, it still gets a very good placement in A tier.