Here we go again.
Also I saw someone say last night Sandra is one of the most useless people in the history of the show, I don't know if I'd go that far but they aren't totally off base.
One of the most useless people who happens to have won the game twice. Yeh, that makes total sense. Someone who only has 3 votes cast against them in two full seasons and the little bit of what we have seen so far of the third. Two of those votes didn't count so in 2 full seasons, one being an All-Star season and the other being seen universally as a top 3 season ever, Sandra has received ONE actual vote. Nobody in the history of the game can match that. To say she is useless is one of the dumbest things I've ever heard. If she was useless she would've been voted out. You don't make it to the end twice being useless.
She's pretty awful at most challenges
So? Winning challenges is perhaps the least important part of the game. I don't watch the show for the challenges. I watch to see the actual game play and the alliances. Ozzy is perhaps the greatest challenge competitor... how many wins does he have? Zero. Mike from season 30 had to win every challenge to win the game. We all pretty much understand his game was horrible overall and needing to win challenges, while a cool thing to do, exposed him as a poor player. You shouldn't have to win the challenges to win Survivor. Colby won a lot of challenges and never won.
Also, Sandra is one of the best puzzle solvers ever on the show. Her teams put her at the end. She has 15 overall team challenge wins because of this. She solves the puzzle and they win. That's valuable for the team and a reason why when they did go to tribal council that Sandra was never even thought of being voted out.
she doesn't find idols (at least not that I remember I could be off base)
Yeh, she does. Heroes vs. Villains near the end. Russell is trying to find it and Sandra does this spin move away from him and snatches the idol. None of her alliance knows and she stands up at tribal like a gangsta. Russell legit shits himself and asks Parvati if she knew, she didn't. It's that moment when Parvati figures out that if Sandra makes it to the end that none of them can win and that Parv has to vote out Russell otherwise she is done. More on that later.
Idols are overrated anyway. Russell found a bunch and only played two correctly. Some will say one but I count him giving it to Parvati and the vote out of Tyson. That's his move, I'll let him have that. He had a bunch and rarely used them correct other than that and the second time he played it in Samoa. He was usually wrong and wasted them. Finding idols do not make a good player. Malcolm found idols and make stupid moves to save his friends instead of keeping them to himself. If anything, idols weaken a player and Sandra has done well to escape them.
Also, you fail to mention she played her first game in a pre-idol world. How can she find an idol when they don't exist, Matrix?
her first season she skated by to the merge because of being alligned with Rupert
You mean she made an alliance with the biggest physical threat? That's called good play, mate. Sandra and Rupert were running that tribe. You think Rupert had any clue what was going on? Come on, go watch that season again and you'll see Rupert is just as linked to Sandra as she is to Rupert. I will say, it's Sandra who survives out of the two of them and proves she doesn't need him to survive after the merge.
then was one of the weakest players (physical wise) and beat Fairplay and a girl scout troop leader to win the game.
This is where your credibility comes into question, Matrix. I'll give you the physically weak. I don't get your interest in challenges as that's not what Survivor is about and challenge beasts rarely win. Even your favourite Parvati only won 1 individual challenge in her winning season and it was the hold your hand up thing. No very physical honestly compared to what she did in HvV.
You say she beat Fairplay like it's a diss. Fairplay following Pearl Islands was seen as one of the best players ever.
He did things in Survivor nobody had ever thought of. The lie is to this day one of the best moments ever, iconic, and only beaten by a guy falling in the fucking fire. He twisted peoples minds and caused them to turn on each other like nobody we had seen. He was amazing and plays the second best game that season... Sandra plays the best.
So, Sandra beating Fairplay is a huge positive for Sandra. She is the only person who sees him for what he truly is and is able to take him out because of that. She gets in Lil's head and even though Fairplay and Lil had been close, Sandra is a major factor in Fairplay going home. Anybody would have beat Lil but beating Fairplay is huge and not some throwaway thing like you've made it.
Then she skated through Heroes and Villians because she wasn't one of the big players and won via a bitter jury.
Russell Hantz didn't know who she was. Legit, he told her 'we need to take out the winners' and she laughed because she knew this guy was a fucking idiot. Sandra was a winner which made her a target. Russell Hantz just didn't know that. He only knew Boston Rob and a few others. That's why Sandra wasn't seen as a big player. The guy leading the charge in the Villains tribe had no clue who or what she was. Rob, a guy who is much better than Russell, had Sandra in his alliance. Hmm, he knows Sandra and wants her to be with him. That speaks volumes about her game play to me.
She might not have been a target but that's because the guy doing the targeting had no clue what a big threat was standing in his way. If only he knew but he didn't.
Now, the bitter jury argument. You're a smart guy. Russell couldn't win. He was shit. Therefore you must be talking about Parvati. The jury was not bitter. Here we go. First, lets remove the people who were never up for grabs and were always going to vote one way.
Danielle - Parvati
Courtney - Sandra
I'm sure you agree. Alliances formed on day one usually result in votes for that partner at the end of the guy. Courtney was not bitter but rather voting for her friend who remained loyal to her through the fall of their fellow alliance members until the day Courtney was voted out. I hope you would concede that Courtney was not bitter.
Coach - Parvati
Jerri - Parvati
Again, two more people who I'm sure you will argue were not bitter. That means we have 4 people so far who were not bitter about the result. Leaving us with 5 people who all have something in common... they are Heroes. Now, they hated Russell. They wanted him gone. I mentioned early Parvati figures out at the point Sandra plays her idol that she can't beat her. She also knows Russell must go. What works in favour of Sandra is that she is actively working to remove Russell but the Heroes fuck it up. It's never Sandra's doing. If they went with her plan than they'd have sent Russell home post merge. The Heroes are kicking themselves over this and Parvati knows it. She has to get rid of Russell but doesn't. That's huge. She never looks like she is targeting him, she thinks he is a goat but the problem is that Parvati becomes a goat by bringing him to the end. They are so linked that Sandra can say 'I wanted him out and if you guys didn't fuck it up he'd be gone right now and not getting 100k for third place. Good on ya."
The biggest reason I don't view this as a bitter jury is for this reason. The letter. JT wrote Russell a letter remember that came with the idol.
Not only did they keep it but Russell AND Parvati would get it out at camp, read it and laugh in front of the remaining Heroes. Saying how stupid they were and such. You know, the people that all vote for Sandra.
Colby
Rupert
Candice
Amanda
J.T.
It's not on the show but it's confirmed by a bunch of people who were there. Parvati made fun of the stupidity of the Heroes in front of their face. Do that to the camera but it turned off every hero to voting for her. Meanwhile Sandra was trying to work with them but they fucked up so often that her plans kept falling through. The jury wasn't bitter. Parvati fucked up with the letter and caused all the Heroes to go against her. You make a mistake like that you pay the price.
I will never consider her the GOAT for these reasons.
Who is the GOAT, Matrix? If it's Rob I'm going to piss myself laughing and brand you a casual fan for life after you mention strength of competition to discredit Sandra this season.
