Non-US Survivor |OT| Even Maryland Has One

Carthago Delenda Est · Jul 30, 2018

Discussion place for all non-US Survivor seasons. Please spoiler tag anything with extra care. People will often show up late to the party on these seasons and we wouldn't want to turn them away by spoiling the whole thing. The US Survivor thread does not usually spoiler. You should spoiler tag things here, even for older seasons.

Australian Survivor 3: Champions v. Contenders

No. Days: 50 (5 less than previous seasons)
No. Castaways: 24
Location: Savusavu (Fiji)
Theme:

Champions - Public figures who have found success in fields such as sports, business or entertainment. Russell Hantz from US Survivor will be a member of this tribe.
Contenders - Everyday Australians.

Starts: August 1, 2018
Where to watch:

Australians: TenPlay Website
Everyone else: Search on Facebook for the group "The Tribe Has Spoken" and then search for "Australian Survivor" within the group. All episodes have been uploaded. This group does not routinely post spoilers, but be aware that there may be some due to either trolls or the fact that all official videos are posted (which may spoil people voted out). You can hide the group from your Facebook feed and navigate directly to the videos you want once you are used to it.

What are my choices?
Our good friend Crazymoogle has been kind enough to give us a synopsis of what's going down as of August 2018. This should be a good overview if you're looking to get into the non-US series.

Crazymoogle said:
For folks interested, but don't want spoilers...

Survivor Australia (AU) is currently beginning it's season 5, but since it's a reboot on a new channel, years after the original, it's best considered to be Season 3. The past two years were in Samoa, but they have now moved on to Fiji. (Yes, the iconic second season of Survivor USA was in Australia, but I guess the franchise package is just way cheaper for TV networks to pull off in the traditional island locations). The first two seasons surprised with what I would call a return to roots for the franchise - the reboot seasons have each had 26 (!) episodes and 24 survivors, a season length Survivor USA hasn't seen in many, many years. The casting has also been old-school, with players obviously aware of the franchise but not coming in with an airtight gameplan. And the finale...well, it's epic. Enough so to probably break some of today's better known players.

Survivor New Zealand (NZ) just finished season 2, this time in Thailand. Similar to Survivor AU, the host is relatively laid back and the cast are not out to kill each other from the beginning. The blindsides do appear, but overall it feels relatively lightweight compared to the long season of Survivor AU or the meticulous gameplay of Survivor USA. The stakes are lower, the episodes fewer, but it plays out more or less like a regular Survivor US season without Jeff Probst. It's unclear if the series will continue as ratings did not do that well.

Survivor South Africa (SA) is currently ongoing in the Philippines. It's the crudest version of the formula, perhaps - the theme music is a sloppy original track, the cast is prone to meltdowns, crises of character and huge blindsides from almost the beginning. And the idols are not hidden very well. But at least the cast is about as diverse as it's ever been, and the personalities definitely are forced to bend as they weigh what they thought the game was versus their ability to stay another night. And like Survivor AU, it does on occasion bring a new rule or two to challenges that would be welcome additions to the mainline franchise. But it feels like a brutal war of personalities that sacrifices the battle for survival to achieve the battle of ego.

Of the three, I would say

AU is a must-watch and could basically air during the Survivor offseason on CBS, with a few subtitles here and there.

NZ is a nice palette cleanser for folks who want more Survivor after USA and AU.

SA is an interesting twist for fans but probably too crazy for anyone else.

True RHAP die-hards should of course watch all four seasons of The Genius (Korea) first, if they can source it. Youtube has some.

For those who love Survivor and The Genius, the next bet would be Society Game (Korea).

Survivor: Maryland

This is a fan version set on the campus of the University of Maryland. But don't leave yet. RepairmanJack has done his best to tell you why you should watch it:

RepairmanJack said:
Alright I'm making an attempt to get more people interested in Survivor Maryland. Why you shouldn't ignore it just because it's "another fan made survivor"

Survivor Maryland is played out with college kids on the campus of Maryland University. It takes place over a whole semester with the tribal councils being on a weekly basis.

What it lacks in production it more than makes up for with gameplay, character, and huge moments that you will remember. The biggest problem with a lot of the fan made Survivor's is that they're usually just a sped up game people play within a weekend or sometimes even a day. They don't really take it seriously and it's hard to really take it seriously as a viewer. With Maryland these are college students that are doing this over 90 days and seeing each other day in and day out. This show makes friendships and also completely destroys them. You get to know these players you get your favorites and the ones you hate because you get so much more from them than just a sped up version of the game where nothing but gameplay is basically happening. These kids take the game completely seriously, which is a huge difference I've seen from other fan made shows.

Currently there is an All-Stars season being released and is currently on a few week break while the final episode is edited together. This is the last season put together by Austin Trupp, who has been running this game for 5 seasons, and now he's graduated and he's passing the game on to other people.

The seasons:

Maryland Outback: This would probably be the best season outright, but it was still early on for the show and production wasn't the best. Austin hadn't had the complete idea of having the players film themselves whenever talking to other players and didn't have as many helpers to help filming yet. Still a lot of fun and crazy drama, but it's the best presentation.

Terrepin Trials: This season is amazing if you're in it for the characters and the story arcs. One of the most dramatic and emotional final 3 of possibly any Survivor. It'd easily be up there.

Guts & Glory: Probably the best all around season that isn't All-Stars. Production, editing is all great, gameplay and players are all great. This would probably be the best pick for a first watch.

All-Stars: Currently releasing. Amazing season with a ton of drama and gameplay. Only issue with jumping into this right away is there is a lot of interrelationship aspects that you'd kind of miss on. Austin does a decent job of recapping a lot of it, but there's just layers that can't really be conveyed without seeing the other seasons. Largely just Terrepin Trials and Gust & Glory are required watching before this season.

There's also the first season, but I've never seen it and I think at one point the whole season was even taken down just because production wise it's easily the worst. It's supposed to be a decent season, it's just a rough presentation all around and makes the viewing hard to suggest.

I seriously can't recommend Survivor Maryland enough. I tried tons of fan made Survivor's or Big Brothers and they were all bad with no real connection made. For the longest time I just assumed Survivor Maryland was another one of those, until Dom and Colin(then later RHAP) made a podcast about it and it made me finally take a look. This show is great and I'm shocked that some of these people have gone on to try to get on actual Survivor or someone hasn't tried to hire Austin, because the talent is all there. This game just needs some money thrown at it for production value and these season's would stick up there with the real game.

People who can convey why you should watch better than me:
How Survivor Maryland went from an 'epic' campus competition to must-watch Survivor - RealityBlurred
Survivor: Maryland – The Best Survivor You've Never Seen - InsideSurvivor
(podcast) Why you should watch Survivor Maryland - Dom and Colin Podcast
Survivor Maryland: The Online Reality Show That NEEDS To Be Your Next Obsession - TvFanatic

UberTag · Jul 31, 2018

Whoot! Can't wait to partake in the upcoming Australian Survivor Season 5 discussion.

llehuty · Jul 31, 2018

Hyped for AUS Season 5. Do we know if they are sticking to the 2~3 eps per week format?

MJM · Jul 31, 2018

OK great, I'm in. I only watch Survivor AU and Survivor US so "wasn't feeling it" in the S36 thread, but I'm happy this exists :)

Can we make sure we stick to the usual spoiler tagging processes though? I wouldn't mind getting into Survivor NZ and South Africa but would obviously like to stay spoiler-free

llehuty said:
Hyped for AUS Season 5. Do we know if they are sticking to the 2~3 eps per week format?

I just checked the local TV Guide and yes this week it's 2 episodes and next week is 3 episodes. Can't wait!

Carthago Delenda Est · Jul 31, 2018

Updated the OP.

SoleSurvivor · Jul 31, 2018

Season 2 (refuse to call it season 4, those don't count) of Survivor AU is easily a top 5, maybe top 3 season. Looks like he deleted the tweet, but google still has Stephen Fishbach's response to watching it indexed - "Australian Survivor Season 2 is in my top 3 #Survivor seasons ever, with Cagayan and Heroes vs. Villains." Spot on. From the twists, to the challenges, the full intro, more camplife shown, to JLP as a host - the show succeeds on every level.

And for what it's worth, I LOVED season one from 2016 at the time. Nick Iadanza will go down as one of my favorites to ever play, even if his gameplay was sloppy. He was just great TV.

But season 2? Near impossible to beat in terms of casting: Luke, Sarah, AK, Tessa, Henry, Anneliese, Tarzan, Locky, etc. etc. etc. Yeah, Tara sucked. lol.

Eagerly looking forward to this next installment, and hoping the show continues for a long time. Or at least long enough to produce an All Stars season.

UberTag · Jul 31, 2018

Even if this upcoming season of Australian Survivor winds up a disappointment, if it successfully helps bring attention to last year's gem of a season I'll consider this thread a win.

Crazymoogle · Jul 31, 2018

Basically agree. The first reboot season had the most epic finish in Survivor, period. But the second season had some great casting to carry it.

RepairmanJack · Jul 31, 2018

I will stand strongly as the only one who wants to sing the praises of Survivor Maryland!

Luke from Aus season 2 may be my favorite Survivor Casting.

Parch · Jul 31, 2018

Canada needs a Survivor. A shivering crowd huddled on the tundra. The lack of bikinis would probably hurt ratings though.

llehuty · Jul 31, 2018

Yeah AUS Season 2 shined because of the fantastic casting. Most of them were very memorable and likeable. Hope they can keep it up.

Setzer · Jul 31, 2018

SoleSurvivor said:
Eagerly looking forward to this next installment, and hoping the show continues for a long time. Or at least long enough to produce an All Stars season.

I missed out on the first season of the Australia Survivor reboot but I did watch last season and loved it! Easily one of my favorite Survivor seasons I've watched in the past 10 years and I've been watching the US Survivor since S1. Great casting and I'm hoping it's just as good for S3. At some point I'm going to have to go back and watch S1.

I also hope it continues...same for Survivor New Zealand. I love being able to watch Survivor year-round!

Carthago Delenda Est · Jul 31, 2018

I'm watching the AU Survivor reboot season right now and it's really quite decent. The episodes drag some, but it's had some really good moments so far. I just saw the first merge. I hear the finale is great so I'm looking forward to that.

BowieZ · Jul 31, 2018

I highly recommend NZ Survivor Season 2, and I won't say why!

SoleSurvivor · Jul 31, 2018

Carthago Delenda Est said:
I'm watching the AU Survivor reboot season right now and it's really quite decent. The episodes drag some, but it's had some really good moments so far. I just saw the first merge. I hear the finale is great so I'm looking forward to that.

The season is by no means perfect, but has an overall fantastic cast and some elements the US version has been lacking for years like more camp life, full intro, and a more compassionate host lol. And agreed - fantastic finale to S1! Before it got going, didn't think S2 would top the season that came before it. As a result, going in with an open mind this time that anything is possible!

RepairmanJack · Jul 31, 2018

Season 2(4?) of Australia completely lost me once it got down to the final 4-5 or so. They all kind of equally deserved it but were really boring compared to almost anyone in the cast.

HeavenlyOne · Aug 1, 2018

God damn, Russell Hantz is in this.

Grexeno · Aug 1, 2018

Go Australia! Doing what US Survivor don't.

Crazymoogle · Aug 1, 2018

For folks interested, but don't want spoilers...

Survivor Australia (AU) is currently beginning it's season 5, but since it's a reboot on a new channel, years after the original, it's best considered to be Season 3. The past two years were in Samoa, but they have now moved on to Fiji. (Yes, the iconic second season of Survivor USA was in Australia, but I guess the franchise package is just way cheaper for TV networks to pull off in the traditional island locations). The first two seasons surprised with what I would call a return to roots for the franchise - the reboot seasons have each had 26 (!) episodes and 24 survivors, a season length Survivor USA hasn't seen in many, many years. The casting has also been old-school, with players obviously aware of the franchise but not coming in with an airtight gameplan. And the finale...well, it's epic. Enough so to probably break some of today's better known players.

Survivor New Zealand (NZ) just finished season 2, this time in Thailand. Similar to Survivor AU, the host is relatively laid back and the cast are not out to kill each other from the beginning. The blindsides do appear, but overall it feels relatively lightweight compared to the long season of Survivor AU or the meticulous gameplay of Survivor USA. The stakes are lower, the episodes fewer, but it plays out more or less like a regular Survivor US season without Jeff Probst. It's unclear if the series will continue as ratings did not do that well.

Survivor South Africa (SA) is currently ongoing in the Philippines. It's the crudest version of the formula, perhaps - the theme music is a sloppy original track, the cast is prone to meltdowns, crises of character and huge blindsides from almost the beginning. And the idols are not hidden very well. But at least the cast is about as diverse as it's ever been, and the personalities definitely are forced to bend as they weigh what they thought the game was versus their ability to stay another night. And like Survivor AU, it does on occasion bring a new rule or two to challenges that would be welcome additions to the mainline franchise. But it feels like a brutal war of personalities that sacrifices the battle for survival to achieve the battle of ego.

Of the three, I would say

AU is a must-watch and could basically air during the Survivor offseason on CBS, with a few subtitles here and there.
NZ is a nice palette cleanser for folks who want more Survivor after USA and AU.
SA is an interesting twist for fans but probably too crazy for anyone else.
True RHAP die-hards should of course watch all four seasons of The Genius (Korea) first, if they can source it. Youtube has some.
For those who love Survivor and The Genius, the next bet would be Society Game (Korea).

HeavenlyOne · Aug 1, 2018

Survivor AU Episode 1:

Usually at this early point in the game it can be hard to pick the first to go because you don't yet know people well enough so you end up looking for petty issues. And sometimes people just immediately set themselves on fire.

Referring to all the women in the tribe as the "females" is a great way to go out, Matt.

Apparently it's going to be on four nights a week, Monday to Thursday.

Carthago Delenda Est · Aug 1, 2018

Crazymoogle said:
For folks interested, but don't want spoilers...

Survivor Australia (AU) is currently beginning it's season 5, but since it's a reboot on a new channel, years after the original, it's best considered to be Season 3. The past two years were in Samoa, but they have now moved on to Fiji. (Yes, the iconic second season of Survivor USA was in Australia, but I guess the franchise package is just way cheaper for TV networks to pull off in the traditional island locations). The first two seasons surprised with what I would call a return to roots for the franchise - the reboot seasons have each had 26 (!) episodes and 24 survivors, a season length Survivor USA hasn't seen in many, many years. The casting has also been old-school, with players obviously aware of the franchise but not coming in with an airtight gameplan. And the finale...well, it's epic. Enough so to probably break some of today's better known players.

Survivor New Zealand (NZ) just finished season 2, this time in Thailand. Similar to Survivor AU, the host is relatively laid back and the cast are not out to kill each other from the beginning. The blindsides do appear, but overall it feels relatively lightweight compared to the long season of Survivor AU or the meticulous gameplay of Survivor USA. The stakes are lower, the episodes fewer, but it plays out more or less like a regular Survivor US season without Jeff Probst. It's unclear if the series will continue as ratings did not do that well.

Survivor South Africa (SA) is currently ongoing in the Philippines. It's the crudest version of the formula, perhaps - the theme music is a sloppy original track, the cast is prone to meltdowns, crises of character and huge blindsides from almost the beginning. And the idols are not hidden very well. But at least the cast is about as diverse as it's ever been, and the personalities definitely are forced to bend as they weigh what they thought the game was versus their ability to stay another night. And like Survivor AU, it does on occasion bring a new rule or two to challenges that would be welcome additions to the mainline franchise. But it feels like a brutal war of personalities that sacrifices the battle for survival to achieve the battle of ego.

Of the three, I would say

AU is a must-watch and could basically air during the Survivor offseason on CBS, with a few subtitles here and there.

NZ is a nice palette cleanser for folks who want more Survivor after USA and AU.

SA is an interesting twist for fans but probably too crazy for anyone else.

True RHAP die-hards should of course watch all four seasons of The Genius (Korea) first, if they can source it. Youtube has some.

For those who love Survivor and The Genius, the next bet would be Society Game (Korea).

I'm going to put this in the OP.

Setzer · Aug 1, 2018

Crazymoogle said:
The first two seasons surprised with what I would call a return to roots for the franchise - the reboot seasons have each had 26 (!) episodes and 24 survivors, a season length Survivor USA hasn't seen in many, many years

Yeah, I believe the longest a US Survivor has gone is 42 days for season 2. To be fair though, they film 2 seasons a year, each being 39 days w/18 to 20 contestants and usually 13 to 14 episodes in length which is about the equivalent of 1 Survivor AUS season.

Carthago Delenda Est · Aug 1, 2018

Still watching AU season 1, I love Pheobe. She's so vicious.

I just finished episode 12 where there's an idol play. So good. I hope she sticks around. She played it straight the whole time too, which was excellent.

RepairmanJack · Aug 1, 2018

I love that Jonathan instantly goes in on Russel. Might of not been meant that way, but I certainly took it at that.

They've already been toying with hiding idols on the international versions, but you'd think on a season with someone renown for finding them they would maybe attempt to hide them differently...

One of the best thing Australian Survivor has done over the two season's I've watched is show how much people play themselves out of the game. These people get antsy. I'm sure it happens a lot on US Survivor, but the time spent on Aus seems to give them time to really flesh it out and show how far people will throw themselves off of a cliff, game wise.

Grexeno · Aug 1, 2018

Champions vs. Contenders Episode 1

Good god this really is just going to be what if Russell was on Omatepe instead.

Matt is bad at Survivor.

TheBeardedOne · Aug 1, 2018

Good things have been said about Australian Survivor, and I'm always wanting more Survivor. Thanks.

Kirblar · Aug 1, 2018

I really hope the shorter length means no more BS outcast twists for the Aussie version. The need to stretch things out so much proved disastrous in both S1 and S2.

SoleSurvivor · Aug 1, 2018

Carthago Delenda Est said:
Still watching AU season 1, I love Pheobe. She's so vicious.

I just finished episode 12 where there's an idol play. So good. I hope she sticks around. She played it straight the whole time too, which was excellent.

Not spoiling anything, but just wanted to say I met Phoebe (and Flick) at Hearts of Reality last summer, and they were both so nice.

UberTag · Aug 1, 2018

Phoebe was a clear bright spot in that season. Would love to see her back for an All-Star season of Aussie Survivor sometime down the road.

As for Episode 1 of this season, I don't have much to add outside of you would think players who understand this game would appreciate the whole "it's a marathon not a sprint" philosophy but so few seem to truly grasp it in their bid to make "good TV".

MJM · Aug 1, 2018

Champions vs. Contenders Episode 1

I thought it was a really good premiere, they did a good job showing the real champions from that Champions tribe. Triple world record holder Swimmer, 5-time Winter Olympian, triple AFL premiership player, International (dual)Rugby star = legit "Champions" of sport. Military guy who lost both legs, I was impressed. A Poker Player and a Miss Universe VERY loosely defines "Champion" but I won't complain because they might be good players.

I quite enjoyed Russell STILL smarting about Natalie's victory over him. Sidenote: I still think he was robbed of victory in his debut season, but he never changed his gamestyle after that so...

--

HeavenlyOne said:
God damn, Russell Hantz is in this.

I was a bit apprehensive when I first heard the rumour he was gonna be in it, but having seen the first ep I gotta say I've kinda missed seeing him on Survivor!

--

HeavenlyOne said:
Survivor AU Episode 1:Apparently it's going to be on four nights a week, Monday to Thursday.

They did this last year and then suddenly changed how many episodes per week (like it started with 2 per week then suddenly went 3 per week then back to 2). I usually check the TV guides myself so if anything changes I'll mention it too.

--

RepairmanJack said:
I love that Jonathan instantly goes in on Russel. Might of not been meant that way, but I certainly took it at that.

Yep I really like Jonathan as a host and think his handling of the initial Russell appearance was great.

--

HeavenlyOne said:
Survivor AU Episode 1:

Referring to all the women in the tribe as the "females" is a great way to go out, Matt.

Grexeno said:
Good god this really is just going to be what if Russell was on Omatepe instead.

Matt is bad at Survivor.

I was starting to get high hopes for him too, he seemed really on point noticing Steve's dodgy behaviour at the first challenge (I lol'd when Jonathan called him out...) but Matt just went way too far at Tribal. Guess he couldn't handle being an oddball male amongst all the beefcakes.

TheBeardedOne · Aug 1, 2018

I'm watching the first(?) season of Australian Survivor and am only part-way through the first episode. This Des guy is the worst Survivor player I've ever seen.

Carthago Delenda Est · Aug 1, 2018

TheBeardedOne said:
I'm watching the first(?) season of Australian Survivor and am only part-way through the first episode. This Des guy is the worst Survivor player I've ever seen.

I'd agree, but there's another on the yellow tribe who gives him a run for his money in a different way.

TheBeardedOne · Aug 1, 2018

What's better? Aus or NZ?

MJM · Aug 2, 2018

TheBeardedOne said:
I'm watching the first(?) season of Australian Survivor and am only part-way through the first episode. This Des guy is the worst Survivor player I've ever seen.

You can call it the first, but it is technically the 3rd season.

Fun Fact, almost TWO DECADES AGO Channel 9 (The Nine Network, one of our main free-to-air broadcast networks). They were screening Survivor US at the same time it was airing on CBS in America. They (ch9) did a deal with CBS to make an Australian version of Survivor, but somehow the deal was that we would NOT get Survivor Thailand and instead ch9 would screen Australian Survivor. This is the real Season 1 and it was on AT THE SAME TIME as Survivor Thaliand (US Survivor S5!) that's how old Australian Survivor is.

Then, ch9 never did another season of Australian Survivor so the local version died, and we Australians got regular US Survivor starting up again with Survivor Amazon (S6). So we went from S4 to S6, skipped S5 (which interestingly did get screened in New Zealand) and we never actually got S5 screened on Australian TV.

Then about five years later Channel 7 (The Seven Network, another FTA broadcast network) revived it with C- and D-list Aussie celebrities. It was crap, was shortened in number of days/contestants/episodes and Australian Survivor was dead for over a decade.

Until 2 years ago when Channel 10 (The Ten Network, LOL) revived it for real. Got a fantastic host, proper casting, longer format, and it's been great ever since. That is the "Season 1" that you're watching now, and yes Des was crap at Survivor LOL

Crazymoogle · Aug 2, 2018

TheBeardedOne said:
What's better? Aus or NZ?

AU no question. It's old school survivor. NZ is like a lighter version of modern survivor.

RepairmanJack · Aug 2, 2018

Alright I'm making an attempt to get more people interested in Survivor Maryland. Why you shouldn't ignore it just because it's "another fan made survivor"

Survivor Maryland is played out with college kids on the campus of Maryland University. It takes place over a whole semester with the tribal councils being on a weekly basis.

What it lacks in production it more than makes up for with gameplay, character, and huge moments that you will remember. The biggest problem with a lot of the fan made Survivor's is that they're usually just a sped up game people play within a weekend or sometimes even a day. They don't really take it seriously and it's hard to really take it seriously as a viewer. With Maryland these are college students that are doing this over 90 days and seeing each other day in and day out. This show makes friendships and also completely destroys them. You get to know these players you get your favorites and the ones you hate because you get so much more from them than just a sped up version of the game where nothing but gameplay is basically happening. These kids take the game completely seriously, which is a huge difference I've seen from other fan made shows.

Currently there is an All-Stars season being released and is currently on a few week break while the final episode is edited together. This is the last season put together by Austin Trupp, who has been running this game for 5 seasons, and now he's graduated and he's passing the game on to other people.

The seasons:

Maryland Outback: This would probably be the best season outright, but it was still early on for the show and production wasn't the best. Austin hadn't had the complete idea of having the players film themselves whenever talking to other players and didn't have as many helpers to help filming yet. Still a lot of fun and crazy drama, but it's the best presentation.

Terrepin Trials: This season is amazing if you're in it for the characters and the story arcs. One of the most dramatic and emotional final 3 of possibly any Survivor. It'd easily be up there.

Guts & Glory: Probably the best all around season that isn't All-Stars. Production, editing is all great, gameplay and players are all great. This would probably be the best pick for a first watch.

All-Stars: Currently releasing. Amazing season with a ton of drama and gameplay. Only issue with jumping into this right away is there is a lot of interrelationship aspects that you'd kind of miss on. Austin does a decent job of recapping a lot of it, but there's just layers that can't really be conveyed without seeing the other seasons. Largely just Terrepin Trials and Gust & Glory are required watching before this season.

There's also the first season, but I've never seen it and I think at one point the whole season was even taken down just because production wise it's easily the worst. It's supposed to be a decent season, it's just a rough presentation all around and makes the viewing hard to suggest.

I seriously can't recommend Survivor Maryland enough. I tried tons of fan made Survivor's or Big Brothers and they were all bad with no real connection made. For the longest time I just assumed Survivor Maryland was another one of those, until Dom and Colin(then later RHAP) made a podcast about it and it made me finally take a look. This show is great and I'm shocked that some of these people have gone on to try to get on actual Survivor or someone hasn't tried to hire Austin, because the talent is all there. This game just needs some money thrown at it for production value and these season's would stick up there with the real game.

People who can convey why you should watch better than me:
How Survivor Maryland went from an 'epic' campus competition to must-watch Survivor - RealityBlurred
Survivor: Maryland – The Best Survivor You've Never Seen - InsideSurvivor
(podcast) Why you should watch Survivor Maryland - Dom and Colin Podcast
Survivor Maryland: The Online Reality Show That NEEDS To Be Your Next Obsession - TvFanatic

Carthago Delenda Est · Aug 2, 2018

RepairmanJack said:
Alright I'm making an attempt to get more people interested in Survivor Maryland. Why you shouldn't ignore it just because it's "another fan made survivor"

Survivor Maryland is played out with college kids on the campus of Maryland University. It takes place over a whole semester with the tribal councils being on a weekly basis.

What it lacks in production it more than makes up for with gameplay, character, and huge moments that you will remember. The biggest problem with a lot of the fan made Survivor's is that they're usually just a sped up game people play within a weekend or sometimes even a day. They don't really take it seriously and it's hard to really take it seriously as a viewer. With Maryland these are college students that are doing this over 90 days and seeing each other day in and day out. This show makes friendships and also completely destroys them. You get to know these players you get your favorites and the ones you hate because you get so much more from them than just a sped up version of the game where nothing but gameplay is basically happening. These kids take the game completely seriously, which is a huge difference I've seen from other fan made shows.

Currently there is an All-Stars season being released and is currently on a few week break while the final episode is edited together. This is the last season put together by Austin Trupp, who has been running this game for 5 seasons, and now he's graduated and he's passing the game on to other people.

The seasons:

Maryland Outback: This would probably be the best season outright, but it was still early on for the show and production wasn't the best. Austin hadn't had the complete idea of having the players film themselves whenever talking to other players and didn't have as many helpers to help filming yet. Still a lot of fun and crazy drama, but it's the best presentation.

Terrepin Trials: This season is amazing if you're in it for the characters and the story arcs. One of the most dramatic and emotional final 3 of possibly any Survivor. It'd easily be up there.

Guts & Glory: Probably the best all around season that isn't All-Stars. Production, editing is all great, gameplay and players are all great. This would probably be the best pick for a first watch.

All-Stars: Currently releasing. Amazing season with a ton of drama and gameplay. Only issue with jumping into this right away is there is a lot of interrelationship aspects that you'd kind of miss on. Austin does a decent job of recapping a lot of it, but there's just layers that can't really be conveyed without seeing the other seasons. Largely just Terrepin Trials and Gust & Glory are required watching before this season.

There's also the first season, but I've never seen it and I think at one point the whole season was even taken down just because production wise it's easily the worst. It's supposed to be a decent season, it's just a rough presentation all around and makes the viewing hard to suggest.

I seriously can't recommend Survivor Maryland enough. I tried tons of fan made Survivor's or Big Brothers and they were all bad with no real connection made. For the longest time I just assumed Survivor Maryland was another one of those, until Dom and Colin(then later RHAP) made a podcast about it and it made me finally take a look. This show is great and I'm shocked that some of these people have gone on to try to get on actual Survivor or someone hasn't tried to hire Austin, because the talent is all there. This game just needs some money thrown at it for production value and these season's would stick up there with the real game.

People who can convey why you should watch better than me:
How Survivor Maryland went from an 'epic' campus competition to must-watch Survivor - RealityBlurred
Survivor: Maryland – The Best Survivor You've Never Seen - InsideSurvivor
(podcast) Why you should watch Survivor Maryland - Dom and Colin Podcast
Survivor Maryland: The Online Reality Show That NEEDS To Be Your Next Obsession - TvFanatic

Added to OP.

UberTag · Aug 2, 2018

Australian Survivor S5 Episode 2

Russell Hantz's record at tribal council in seasons with players who've had the opportunity to watch him play the game before...

20 votes cast against him
1 unplayed immunity idol
2 snuffed torches
1 shattered legacy

SoleSurvivor · Aug 2, 2018

Damn Uber, I don't even need to see the spoiler I'm guessing. GIF says it all. C'mon man.

RepairmanJack · Aug 2, 2018

Australian Survivor S5 Episode 2

I'm only a half hour in, but I'm already laughing at the same dumb ass mistakes being made. What the fuck good is big dumb ass lies for lies sake if you can't overcome them and recover from them? You wonder why people hate you dude...

Guess now we know why he didn't watch the first episode and immediately seemed bitter.

Setzer · Aug 2, 2018

SoleSurvivor said:
Damn Uber, I don't even need to see the spoiler I'm guessing. GIF says it all. C'mon man.

Yeah, not cool.

Black_Stride · Aug 2, 2018

UberTag said:
Australian Survivor S5 Episode 2

Russell Hantz's record at tribal council in seasons with players who've had the opportunity to watch him play the game before...

20 votes cast against him
1 unplayed immunity idol
2 snuffed torches
1 shattered legacy

RepairmanJack said:
Australian Survivor S5 Episode 2

I'm only a half hour in, but I'm already laughing at the same dumb ass mistakes being made. What the fuck good is big dumb ass lies for lies sake if you can't overcome them and recover from them? You wonder why people hate you dude...

Guess now we know why he didn't watch the first episode and immediately seemed bitter.

This guy should never be allowed to play again.
Everyone knows hes a threat...they immediately want him out, and he plays to that villain role.
I hope this is the last time we see this guy unless Survivor South Africa gets him.

The best case scenario was he plays the Idol, survives this tribal, has to find another or keep the team winning to survive the next.

So it wasnt even a gameplan.
Damn son.
Just Damn.

P.S Am i the only one who things Moana looks like a butch Cara Delevigne(sp)
Everytime shes on screen I keep thinking this must be her long lost cousin or something.

UberTag · Aug 2, 2018

Black_Stride said:
This guy should never be allowed to play again.
Everyone knows hes a threat...they immediately want him out, and he plays to that villain role.
I hope this is the last time we see this guy unless Survivor South Africa gets him.

The best case scenario was he plays the Idol, survives this tribal, has to find another or keep the team winning to survive the next.

So it wasnt even a gameplan.
Damn son.
Just Damn.

The thing with Russell is that he's never truly understood that Survivor is a social game or how to win it. If he did, he would have certainly gone about this attempt differently than Redemption Island. And instead he managed to get ousted in 5 days instead of 10.

Survivor is about a lot more than finding idols, openly treating tribemates like disposable pawns, gaslighting everyone and then expecting them to acknowledge you as King Gaslighter at the final tribal council. You can't play Survivor like Donald Trump and get rewarded for it. You can succeed at a lot of things in life like Donald Trump and even win the presidency. But you can't WIN Survivor simply by working some subtle charm, bullying and throwing your weight around.

When the electoral college gets added to Survivor and people in the audience at home vote for whose torch gets snuffed THEN maybe Russell Hantz can succeed at Survivor... but not before.

Grexeno · Aug 2, 2018

Episode 2

The only winning move was don't get on a plane to Fiji.

MJM · Aug 2, 2018

Episode 2

I'm mildly disappointed. I kinda wanted to see how far he could get, and a part of me thinks he "played well" to even get some of the votes off him. Ultimately, I think his mistake was not convincing Miss Universe to vote Jackie

Setzer · Aug 2, 2018

Episode 2

Russell has played this game 3 times before this season and the dude still doesn't understand the importance of playing the social game. Busting out your idol in front of your whole tribe and declaring you're not going home isn't the way to do it. Disappointed he didn't learn anything from the last time he played. I hope this is the last time he plays because now he's just embarrassing himself

BowieZ · Aug 3, 2018

Only a vote short, though, which I have to say is still fairly impressive.

legend166 · Aug 3, 2018

I'm super worried about this cast. Seems very similar to Season 1 with the whole "can't we all just be mates?" vibe going on.

Grexeno · Aug 3, 2018

legend166 said:
I'm super worried about this cast. Seems very similar to Season 1 with the whole "can't we all just be mates?" vibe going on.

The Champions tribe is definitely all aboard the SS Mateship, but hopefully the Contenders are out for blood.

UberTag · Aug 3, 2018

legend166 said:
I'm super worried about this cast. Seems very similar to Season 1 with the whole "can't we all just be mates?" vibe going on.

I think it's still too early to be "super worried" but I share your initial impression takeaway of this feeling a lot more like Australian Survivor from two years ago rather than last year's all-time great cast.

Non-US Survivor |OT| Even Maryland Has One

Game Developer

Sorry for your ineptitude

Game Developer

Sorry for your ineptitude

Game Developer

Sorry for your ineptitude

Sorry for your ineptitude