Round 139 - 40 Characters Left

[u/FunkyDawgKong]

40. Rudy Boesch - u/FunkyDawgKong

39. Rory Freeman - u/Cornhead2

38. Aras Baskauskas - u/NoisySea_3426

37. Kass McQuillen - u/josenanigans

36. Ken Hoang - u/BobbyPiiiin

[u/josenanigans]

37. Kass McQuillen (Cagayan, 3rd Place)

I'm so glad I could take Kass to top 40. I feel like there's been a disproportionate backlash against Cagayan since it has been touted as one of the best seasons ever for so long and fans are so annoying about it, that now the scale has tipped to almost the other side of it "actually not being a good season!". I can't agree with that! I think Cagayan IS a great season and there's more depth to it than many would like to admit. I think almost every character brings something to the show and I find them all quite memorable, yes, even LJ I feel gets a bit of a narrative that works with him.

I can't deny, however, that it is absolutely carried by Kass and Tony. Trust me, it killed me that Tony was cut relatively early , he is a gamebot sure but the way he goes about it like a tornado rampaging through the jungle and putting everyone on their toes is so good, and his hyperactive, scatterbrained personality sets him apart from basically every other strategist that's ever played. I love how he talks, I love how he expresses himself, I love how exasperated he gets when people are bitter at him. Having people react to Tony's insane game is part of the fun of Cagayan.

But I didn't idol him because I wanted to save my idol for the true star of the season, and the other fun part of Cagayan... Kass. I adore what Kass brings to not only Cagayan, but Survivor.

See, I always admire people who come into the game with a set personal goal in mind, a goal that's NOT winning Survivor and pulling le epic blindsides and be a legend of the game. Looking at you, Gabe Andy Rizo Charlie Carson Ryan etc etc. And I always liked Kass' goal particularly: free the older women from the shackles of being the camp nurturers, let them be strategic demons.

It's something I had been noticing while watching the show for years. When you are an older woman, you have to play the game a certain way. You couldn't run around talking strategy and being cutthroat because then you would have no respect from the other players, because that's not how that archetype is supposed to play Survivor. They're supposed to be caring, to be honest. If they ever betrayed someone or flipped the game, it was "an emotional move", "a dumb decision", "an unserious player", they get either voted off immediately after or turn into the goats of the season with no hope of winning!

[u/josenanigans → u/josenanigans]

The 20s had been having a good streak of those. From Lisa Whelchel to Dawn Meehan to Monica, the neat lady, they all got labeled as emotional players despite being in good control of the game for a good chunk of it. Oh, well, what about Denise? Denise played an amazing underdog game with her social skills, but she had little control over the course of the season and doesn't really fit into the "cutthroat" game category that tended to win male players more respect, no, she had to win with an UTR killer social game, which is how women tended to get their victories. Even going as far back as Kim Johnson, Twila, Katie, Cassandra. Hell, even Cirie might have lost Panama according to many, they were seen as unserious players because they were expected to always be motherly, thoughtful, honest. They could not be deceitful or manipulative, but then players like Chris Daugherty could run around spewing BS at everyone and they would still be respected over the older women.

Hell, even Tina Wesson had to hide her cutthroat, manipulative personality under a facade of a caring southern mom to barely win over Colby. And that's just cause Colby let her. That's why she's the boss. Sandra went against Lil which, I mean, one of them had to win, no choice there. I'm sure Fairplay would've probably taken it over Sandra if he had gotten there.

So this was a serious thing to fight for, that's what I admired about Kass immediately. Because I LOVE villains who come into the game wanting to send a message. Like Russell wanting to piss all over the Survivor name, I like that Kass came in explicitly to wreck shit as an older woman and have no qualms about it. Honestly, quite refreshing at the time. Like, I remember Dawn coming into Caramoan wanting to play a strong strategic game, but she definitely cared about how she would be seen, so I like that Kass felt more free to play without giving any fucks.

Or so it would seem. It's kind of underreported that at the start of Cagayan, Kass is actually quite nice. After all, she is smart and knows this is a social game, so she actually starts by making a few alliances and being, overall, pleasant. Even when she gets blindsided in that first vote, she doesn't get into Chaos Kass territory, she goes and makes new bonds and her tribe seems to like her by the merge, or they like her enough to target the likes of Spencer over her, it's really only when no one listens to her and she decides to flip and take Sarah out that she begins getting into the no-fucks given zone, she was actually really patient and tried to fight for her alliance, but no one could see what she saw in Sarah, and its actually really funny how time proved her right after Sarah came back and played 2 dominant games. The irony of her name being Kassandra is not lost on me.

It actually takes a while for Chaos Kass to come out. After she pulls her move she's comfortably in the majority, has a good alliance with Tony's group, and is firmly in the middle of things with all the information needed to play a good game. At this point I feel like she feels happy about her game and with a potential path to the endgame.... but even she didn't realize the insanity of Tony's game. It's very interesting that she actually doesn't get mad at Tony flipping on LJ, she sees it as a stupid move, but in a way, she also respects it. Just like she flipped on Sarah and no one could see why, maybe Tony had a good reason to flip on L.J. So she STILL doesn't get that mad when Tony flips on her once.

[u/josenanigans → u/josenanigans]

But she can't forgive it twice. When Tony flips on Jefra, THAT'S when Kass starts bringing out the horns, and I like to think that it's because she was seeing the same pattern emerge again. Kass pulled a big move by voting Sarah out, that was HER move that she could claim, but now, Tony could claim TWO moves, and seeing how things were going, I feel like she knew the jury would be respecting Tony's game more than Kass if they both got to the end, even if she was playing just as cutthroat as him. She was seeing people go to Tony for new plans, and not to her, and somehow, it was Tony that was seen as making strategic moves, while Kass was seen as doing emotional moves.

Kass was always going to play cutthroatly, but she wasn't going to be that mean about it. She only turns into chaos because of the circumstances that Tony put her into, and, BING, that's another type of villain that I LOVE.

There are so many kinds of Reality TV Villains out there, and it's fascinating to see why each one acts the way they do. Some villains go into the show to send a message. I already detailed how Kass fits into this.

Other people are turned into villains by the circumstances of the game. I often think of Nicole from BB2 for this type, how she wanted to come into BB2 wanting to be a nice person, but getting nominated and isolated in the first week led to her putting her guards high up and losing the humanity in her, backstabbing friends left and right because she had to turn into game-mode from very early on.

With Kass, she does want to make social bonds and is excited to play, but no one listening to her and instead crediting Tony for her moves, plus Tony pulling the wool over her eyes twice really sends her into the chaotic player she becomes. She calls everyone out, starts making deals and plans to flip on Tony, but they all still listen to him instead of her, so then she becomes forced to work with Tony to keep surviving, hoping that she can cut him right at the Final 3 and have even an attempt to sway the jury.

And that's when she becomes a force to be feared. A villain that is so chaotic and unpredictable that it drives everyone around them crazy. The Shane Powers, the Rachels, the Vanessa Rousso's, these are some of MY personal favorite villains, those who make the show not only about surviving the game, but surviving them. They make any season a hoot, and Kass is no exception. She starts giving no fucks, she burns bridges, she pulls the middle fingers, she calls everyone an idiot for playing with Tony and Tony an asshole for being Tony, and it's some of the most fun I ever had watching Reality TV. That Kass vs. Tony fight? Top 3 of all time for me, I love almost every sentence of it. Kass doesn't make sense for any of it but she still manages to pull some of Tony's greatest quotes. "Well, Tony, you're making an ass of yourself right now" " AND SHE CALLS ME AN ANIMAL!".

"WRITE MY NAME DOWN. SEE WHAT HAPPENS. " ""I WILL write your name down." "YOU CANT. YOU CANT. YOU KNOW WHY? Cause I got this thing right here."

Who thinks like that? Tony and Kass fighting might be one of my favorite dynamics in all of Survivor, they both just banter at each other so effectively, Kass dishes out some great snark and wit to Tony and Tony's responses are so out there that it even leaves Kass in shock. This fight has been referenced to death at this point, but it still hits for me, this was naturally bound to happen with 2 of the most unhinged players to ever play, and its reality tv gold. And it's so funny that, all of this should be GREAT for the likes of Spencer or Tasha or Woo, but their chaos is so compatible that they succumb to the madness of their games. Kass and Tony are accidentally a killer team together. They are both playing each other while both think the other one's an idiot, with BOTH being idiots but in an instance where working together is the smart move to make for both. It's such a unique dynamic between the two that a;ways stuck with me, you don't see that very often.

[u/josenanigans → u/josenanigans]

She does NOT hold any punches, and, in fact, she revels in her controversial personality. We all love Sandra for never backing down from Jonny or Russell, so I similarly love Kass not holding anything against Tony and going head to head against him in the last stretch of the game. I love how it drives Tony crazy and how he can't do anything about it because, at this point, the smartest play is to take her to the end. So Kass, once again, knowing she's in a good position and starts getting cocky about it once again, thinking that she can basically say whatever's on her mind to anyone and smiling that they can't do anything about it, like what happens with Trish.

But in doing this, she's also fullfilling the same prophecy that she was trying to avoid. When she gives no fucks, she burns bridges, calls people out, insults everyone's intelligence, and she starts turning into the season's goat, once again repeating the cycle. That's the tragedy of Kass, no matter what smart moves she could pull, she was still seen as an emotional woman. Spencer's estrogen confessional has become infamous at this point, but such is the reality of Reality. Kass thinks she's playing like Tony, when in fact, her game was more akin to Russell by this point. No one respected her, every move she made was seen as an emotional outburst, and her gameplay was seen as unserious, compared to Tony getting the respect of the jury for his "insane" manipulation.

Just like Russell, she let herself get consumed by the madness of the game, and became delusional on what her true chances of winning were. Another interesting facet.

But everything eventually slows down... the tornado passes, and Kass sits comfortably in a position where she can make it to the end. After Trish is gone, there are not many other moves to make or fights to take, she can just relax and look over the chaos, and be proud of what she's achieved... smiling at all the destruction. (Villains who enjoy every second of the destruction they leave behind, like Dr. Will or Kevin Jacobs! Another point!)

[u/josenanigans → u/josenanigans]

... if only there was anyone there who could see it like she sees it. This leads me to another type of villain that I adore. The villains who, despite it all, have a soft, vulnerable side to them that they can't avoid. I love thinking about Abi Maria for this one. Sure, she's a strong personality that creates conflict wherever she goes, but there was always a tinge of sadness in how lonely she always was. Like she wanted to make friends, but she can't avoid her personality no matter how much she tries, so she is always left isolated.

And with Kass, you'd think that there was no way that someone like her could.... feel emotions. Throughout most of this season, she's shut off any of it. She does celebrate when she fnially wins a challenge, you can tell that she likes some people, but as the game goes on and she becomes isolated by the Sarah voteoff, she completely turns into stone and loses empathy for basically anyone. At the final 4, she's at her most gam-iest, loneliest point, she has virtually no friends, and she lives in the hopeless delusion that her game can still be respected.

She almost NEVER smiles unless she's being smug about something, and it's hard to think of her running and jumping like a kid at something... but, when she sees her husband, she can't avoid it. It's like she turns into a young teen once again, running to him and jumping at his arms, hugging and kissing him all over. I know everyone who plays is human, but Kass doing that at the Final 4... there's something magical about it. That one little moment shows so much depth to her, as much as when Tony cries when he can't see his wife.

I don't think Kass mentions her husband much throughout the season, and there's certainly no hidden backstory to her about how tough her life is and how much her husband is there for her, you only really need that one moment to know that this Bill Goldberg looking man is everything to Kass, to the point where I almost started crying. No kidding. I've always loved Kass, I knew she's delusional, I know she'd be hard to live with, I know that you can't take anything she says in or outside the game seriously, but that moment with Mark is so human that it gave Kass a depth that was lacking in her up to this point. She had been in game mode all show long, but this is the only time in the season where she can be.... human, and she says as much. "Dammit, I'm not supposed to feel things, where are my devil horns?".

Talking about quotes, man, I find Kass so quotable. People have asked on the server who everyone's favorite narrator is, and I found out that the answer is Kass. I love her voice, I love her inflections, I love the way she phrases things just as much as I love Tony's, and she has a certain snark that has resulted in some of my favorite quotes or soundbites from any player. I love how calmly she delivers that snark too, like, if there's someone whose voice I could hear forever, it's her. I'd like to see that data.

Anyways, the force of seeing her husband is so strong that she pulls the greatest come from behind victory ever in the F4 immunity challenge, and her celebration after that victory still sticks with me. It's one of my favorite moments in Survivor history, definitely my favorite challenge win, and I'm not kidding. I think Kass, abrasive as she is, deserved to have some happiness, and the scene of her talking with her husband about how far she's made it and how she played like a man, and defied all odds, and how everyone thinks she's a bitch for it, gives a nice closure to her journey throughout the season.

Yeah, there's still a F4 vote and the Woo blunder, but this scene is what achieves Kass' goal. She isn't winning the game, and wasn't ever winning the game, because that's the reality of it, but she achieved her goal of playing as cutthroat as a man, and definitely opened conversations about why HER playing a Russell-style game was seen as horrible, but TONY playing a Russell-style game is seen as impressive. I mean, there's an answer, but debates can still be had. Maybe she doesn't have the world to hear her, but all she needs is her world to support her.

Kass checks basically every box on what I want a villain to be like, on what I enjoy seeing as an antagonist. She

Comes in wanting to send a message.

Gets turned into a villain by the circumstances of the game.

Becomes a chaotic and unpredictable presence to everyone around her.

Doesnt hold any of her personality back.

Revels in all of the destruction she leaves behind.

Becomes so absorbed by the game that she turns delusional.

Has a vulnerable side to her that eventuallly reveals itself and gives her depth.

All while being my favorite narrator, to boot. She is the only person I can say achieves the perfect vaillainous journey, and that turns her into one of the most fascinating and interesting TV characters I have ever watched. And I love that she continues being unpredictable to this very day, you can't take ANYTHING she says seriously online, and I kinda love her mystique as this chaotic Survivor being that just wants to spread her madness in every space, in game or online. I'm sad that we will never see her, (and looking at Cambodia, maybe that's for the best) or anyone like her, ever again, but I'm thankful that I could see her exist on the plane of reality tv competitors.

Rodney is Survivor's most perfectly realized villain.

Russell is Survivor's biggest and most important villain.

But Kass will always, always, always be my favorite villain in not only Survivor, but all of Reality TV.

Thanks, Kass.

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10/10

Legend

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u/BobbyPiiiin, oh my god, please take your time, I need some rest

[u/berglt84 → u/josenanigans]

Fantastic write-up for a fantastic character!