Season is a classic. While it is much different from Survivor today, this season was truly about Surviving. Richard Hatch was well ahead of his time and was able to coin the first Survivor "alliance". For where this season lacks "gameplay" it makes up for in originality and characters.
Rating: 9/10
AMAZING AMAZING season ! What a Classic !
Survivor has always been one of my favorite television shows. The impact it had on television is undeniable and it is quite something to watch the iconic first season after years of watching the show in its current state (which is not bad in the slightest, but the show has changed a lot over the years).
While fans of Survivor may be obsessed with the series's strategic elements (which includes Hidden Immunity Idols, blindsides, Exile Island and such), there is a certain beauty in watching the show in its original state. The show always held the motto "Outwit, Outplay, Outlast," yet it is interesting to witness how the two different tribes (Pagong and Tagi) interpreted the purpose of the show itself. While Pagong was interested solely in the survival aspects of the game, a select few members on Tagi (Richard, Kelly, Rudy and Sue) recognized early on that the game mirrors many realities of the corporate world and acted as such.
When the two tribes confront each other, it leads to a conflict of two ideologies: those who want to have fun and those who mean business. As expected, those who mean business win out. But that doesn't go without consequences. As those on Pagong get voted out, the moral aspect of the game begins to wear on some contestants (a perfect example would be the strained relationship of Kelly and Sue, which leads to one of the show's most iconic segments), which leads to the final tribal counsel where the jury must decide who wins one million dollars. In the end, the final two ends up resembling the conflict that occurred throughout the season: Richard, the snake, represents the corporate mindset of Tagi whereas Kelly, the rat, finds herself wanting to represent the morality aspect of the game. The snake wins and thus not only was Survivor born, but so was the genre of competitive reality television that continues to exist to this day (Big Brother, American Idol, America's Next Top Model, Project Runway, RuPaul's Drag Race, The Voice, So You Think You Can Dance, The Amazing Race, etc.).
My cast ranking:
1. Richard Hatch
2. Susan "Sue" Hawk
3. Rudy Boesch
4. Colleen Haskell
5. Greg Buis
6. Kelly Wiglesworth
7. Sean Kenniff
8. Jenna Lewis
9. Gervase Peterson
10. Gretchen Cordy
11. Ramona Gray
12. Sonja Christopher
13. Stacey Stillman
14. B.B. Andersen
15. Joel Klug
16. Dirk Been
Stand-out episodes for me: The Marooning, The Merger, Long Hard Days and The Final Four.
Shout by pntjrBlockedParentSpoilers2016-05-25T02:54:19Z
Had an entertaining pre-merge and invented the pagonging, so I can't really take that away from it. Hatch was great. Not only a good first season, but overall just a great season.