Survivor: LJ Idol Reunion

[clauderainsrm]

 

We are back with something really special - all 19 original contestants have been invited to participate in a Survivor tradition.  It's a reunion special, like they have after every season, combined with the "Deep Dive" podcast element.  

Every one of these people have a story to tell about what happened in the game, and why - and the impact that had on them. 

I hope that this will be an useful, and entertaining, look into the relationships and situations that developed as part of this season. A "group therapy session" if you will... that's certainly how Survivor contestants have viewed it over the years. 

If anyone has any questions - feel free to ask them.  Not just contestants, I'll come down into the audience with the microphone to get questions from any random person.. and not just Probst's favorite "go to" of little kids and celebrities! 

Before we get to that though, congratulations once again to halfshellvenus on her victory!

At what point in this game did you think "I have a shot to win this thing?" 
You've talked about your biggest mistake in the game, and we'll get to that later, but what do you think you did RIGHT to get yourself to the end, and win? 

flipflop_diva  - You came really close to winning this, despite being a bit of an underdog coming in.  Other than "have that coin come down the other way", looking back, is there anything about your game you would have changed that could have gotten you that extra vote?  Anything you could have said at the final tribal council to sway just one more person? 

You've mentioned forming some really tight friendships as a result of this - do you think people's opinions of you have changed over the course of this season as they've gotten to know you better? 
***
For the rest of you - Day 1, moment 1... you find yourself marooned on an island.  One on the things, production wise, that I wanted to get across right away was that this wasn't a season of LJ Idol.  There were a lot of images and terminology thrown in right away to get you in the mood to play Survivor... when you got to that beach, and the "School Yard Pick" was announced, what was running through your head? 

(continuing the conversation in the comment)  

Comments

[swirlsofpurple]

I remember thinking at the beginning, that if I'd known what the season would entail, I probably wouldn't have signed up. (I got the email ahead of time as I'm a patron, and I agreed before the post went up with all of the info). But I'm so, so glad I did sign up, even if this sort of season was never going to be my kind of thing.

[gunwithoutmusic]

I'm so glad you signed up, too! I loved getting to read your stuff. You were someone I didn't recognize from playing on LiveJournal so it was really cool getting to see you in action. :) Even though I did do my best to put a target on your back in your game (and I still feel terrible about that), I really just can't sing your praises enough as far as your writing goes and I'm looking forward to playing Idol with you again!

[halfshellvenus]

I'm really glad you signed up, because I never know what you'll write, and it's always a wonderful surprise to me. Icarus FTW!

[gunwithoutmusic]

Day one... I was excited but also scared! Especially when the schoolyard pick came into play. There were several players that I recognized from the last main season of Idol, but also a good chunk of players that I didn't know at all, and I had no idea how people might put together their pick lists.

I did put halfshellvenus on the top of my pick list, because I figured that she would be fairly popular and might end up a team captain because of that. I also figured that she might have me high on her list coming fresh off of the last season, which would hopefully get me my "day one alliance" pick in impoetry. Thankfully things worked out as I had hoped! I was still a little flabbergasted to be the first pick in Asaga since I wasn't sure what relationships between players over here on Dreamwidth looked like, but it worked out pretty well for me and definitely made me excited to play. :)

But that was also the moment where I think all of us were like, "Oh crap, this is real!" so I was still pretty nervous about what exactly was going to happen.

[halfshellvenus]

You were right on all counts!

Hmmm, it all seems to have worked out to your nefarious plan...

I still remember sending in my list, and then the next notification was that I was a captain and here was my team! And after I got past the shock of the first thing, the second thought was, "Huh... I don't remember doing that. When did that happen?"

[alycewilson]

Flashbacks of grade school gym class, not being picked last, always, but usually near the bottom. Will anyone want me on their team? Then relief to be chosen by bleodswean, whose work never fails to astonish and impress me.

[gunwithoutmusic]

Oh my gosh, I know! I kind of expected him to just put us in tribes at the start the way a lot of seasons of Survivor do it, so when I saw we were picking teams I was like, "Oh crap; I hope I'm not last!"

I was never a super athletic kid so I didn't get picked for teams in school usually. I was super thankful to be up at the top of the picks for this game!

[clauderainsrm]

I was interested in exploring what would happen with the "Captains". The only "power" they had was to make the first pick. After that, they really just had a title.

In Survivor, the appearance of being "in charge" is something people avoid. I wanted to see who would step into that role, and would people naturally treat them as a "leader"? Would there be a backlash against it?

I had originally thought of doing more of a traditional school yard pick, one pick at a time - but then quickly realized that would take FAR too long. When I came up with the idea of everyone making lists, that seemed to be in the spirit of the show while embracing our format.

[bleodswean]

I think the captain aspect was fun until it absolutely was not fun. I felt deeply humbled and honored. I do think there was and still is confusion about how the teams were picked and I think that was a handicap right out the gate for the captains.

I wasn't treated as the leader very long. Two folks were very vocal about what they perceived as my shortcomings and that was frustrating. I didn't seem to be able to communicate to either of them my desire to work as a team. They were both against me from the get-go. One claiming that was strategy and the other just wanting to rock the precarious boat. I really don't care for drama at this stage of my life and once the drama began the game spoiled for me. Like filled with maggots spoiled.

[adoptedwriter]

I actually know very little about the game/ show, (but I am work colleagues w a lady whose son was on (Reynold Toepher, for those of you who are super fans). Roger Bingham is another semi-local from my area. Anyway, I was in it for the writing opps, and the season did not disappoint. I am so glad to have been a part of this "social experiment". Voting someone out was the toughest part. I never liked that and would hope to avoid such things in the future, but somehow, for whatever reason, writing for LJ/DW Idol? Survivor, what have you, always, ALWAYS pulls me into a better place, so I cannot complain about that! Love and best to all in this community! Can't wait for the next season, whatever the format or theme...but I do prefer voting FOR rather than AGAINST writers!

[clauderainsrm]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LzwhLbniQ_8

[bittyjane]

I know I've said it before, but I really had no idea what I was getting myself into. I was ready for something that might get me out of my comfort zone and wanted to support Idol. :)

I knew that I'd be bottom of the list in the "School Yard Pick," just because my participation in Idol never lasts very long (usually because I bye out) so didn't expect that people would know who I was or be confident in my ability to be a contributing member of a team. While I was familiar with the majority of the names of the other contestants, I don't really "know" anyone and didn't know who I would want on my team. So, I just went sort of alphabetically when I sent my own list. First was the first name, second was the last name, third was the second, forth was second-to-last, and so forth and so on. I wasn't really sure what being on a tribe would entail in any case, not having watched Survivor since the first season.

[clauderainsrm]

With a smaller group, I was hoping that some of those who might not have the same "name recognition" would have more of a chance to get extra attention from their tribemates.

I also thought there was a greater than zero chance that people would immediately come "gunning" for those "names" and there would be a sense of "Now it's our turn!!!" :)

Thanks for sharing your School yard selection process. I'm always curious about why people make certain choices.

[clauderainsrm]

One thing that always interested me is the difference between actively voting someone out and passively voting someone out.

When I started Idol, it was a conscious choice that the votes would be IN FAVOR of keeping someone, rather than eliminating them. But over the years it's a conversation that has come up - that when you are not voting for someone, you are saying you are OK with them leaving. It's not the active Survivor "I'm voting to eliminate you", but it still carries some of that weight for the person on the receiving end.

What would happen when that dynamic was switched. I knew the Survivor fans would get into it. But what about the people who were just showing up because of it was an Idol-event? That was a huge question mark for me, and one of the reasons why I hadn't really taken much action on previous requests from people to set up a Survivor game...

[gunwithoutmusic]

It was not nearly as easy as I thought it would be. You're right in that, in a regular Idol game, we have that layer of "the poll" between us and the eliminations. It's a big part of the reason why I started just voting for everyone in the polls last season. I didn't want to be responsible somehow for the elimination.

Coming into this, I was excited about the format but it was pretty hard when we actually got around to Tribal Councils.

[eeyore_grrl]

When teams were to be chosen I got a bit frightened. I've never done well in games that have to choose sides. Never. But I stood my ground and played the best that I could. Thanks.

[clauderainsrm]

It's a group of people who were never chosen first... Where even those "at the cool kids table" within the game still feel like they are the outsiders.

That's always been one of the most fascinating aspects for me, how people see themselves vs how they come to be seen by others over the course of time.

[bleodswean]

CONGRATULATIONS, halfshellvenus/K!!! And congrats to flipflop_diva for her fierce runner-up status. You two girls are scary. I'm serious. But well played and well done!

I remember thinking that maybe Survivor Idol might be too cutthroat for me. I've never seen the show, but from day one we were off to the races and it was intimidating. It certainly wasn't about the writing LOL! And I remember feeling like I was in over my head. Even with all the hard work I put into being "captain" I could sense the behind-the-scenes chatter and backstabbing and it didn't feel too great. I would have liked to have stayed in the battle, though!

[gunwithoutmusic]

I was honestly the most scared of you gameplay-wise! I don't know how much of that was in my head because you always amaze me with your entries, but I was constantly trying to figure out what you were going to do and see if I could be one step ahead, haha. We didn't really talk at all during the game, so who knows, maybe I was totally off-base, but it would have been fun to have seen you go further.

My first tribal impressions

[clauderainsrm]

After the School Yard pick, I thought Asaga looked like the stronger of the two tribes (as far as winning challenges goes) but I thought there was a really big chance that they would end up running into personality conflicts (the whole "clashing egos") and had the higher chance of implosion with too many Survivor fans in one spot if they had all come playing hard out of the gate, that probably would have ended up happening.

Luzon seemed like the "feisty underdogs" who, Bad News Bears style, would end up pulling things out after a few rough patches. I didn't foresee them having as much early conflict... although given the makeup of the tribe it does make sense that there was a conflict over the direction of the team.

I expected both bleodswean and halfshellvenus to have bigger targets on them, especially after openly stating that they wished they could be on the same tribe and work together. Especially when murielle ended up on Luzon, I figured someone would have to take out one of them since they were perceived as unbreakable. (Even if that might not have been reality, in the game, it certainly was the impression a lot of people seemed to have.)

Re: My first tribal impressions

[gunwithoutmusic]

I definitely believed that murielle and bleodswean were the ones to watch out for. I know they are close and figured that they might at the very least be discussing the game with each other, and I know that a strong pair can really take control of the game in Survivor. I also expected them to both not have any issues bringing quality work and not being in danger of elimination. As we got closer to the end, I was more worried about them! I could see many scenarios in which I ended up in the final with either of the two of them and I felt like if that happened, they would easily win.

When murielle won that immunity challenge when five of us were left, I knew there was a strong chance she could end up in the final three and (when I thought final three was it) I knew that she would win. It was scary for a few weeks! :)

As far as the initial tribe makeup, I also thought Asaga looked like we might be a little stronger at challenges, and I was definitely surprised when we lost the first one. Even if you take jenwithapen's 0 out, Luzon still would have beaten us, so that was a big wake-up call for me to not take anything for granted.

I also expected people to be gunning for halfshellvenus in the beginning, but it became obvious to me fairly quickly that most people weren't planning on being Survivor-style cutthroat. And then bsgsix ended up unintentionally putting a target on her back (by writing see damn good entries, I guess), so halfshell was able to avoid looking like a threat.

But I also think that most people would have agreed with keeping the strongest people around pre-merge, so there probably wasn't much halfshell or bleodswean had to be worried about at the start.

[megatronix]

On day 1, I was quite excited and happy about the beginning of it all. It seemed like we would have a lot of fun in the writing challenges. I didn’t expect drama and serious competitiveness. I don’t know why though, lol. We had many warnings that this was Survivor, not Idol. I was just being naive I guess.

[halfshellvenus]

Ditto!

That may be my default state, too, but... better than being automatically agressive and suspicious? \o?

[bsgsix]

Day one, moment one: G, you sent me a DM and told me you were running a Survivor-style Idol game. I hadn't ever seen an episode of Survivor and you know I'll try anything at least once, and so, I was very much IN.

And I was in - I was excited to be writing with friends again, and I don't regret that!

What I DO regret was how cutthroat a few people became, and how a few people then messaged me to tell me I was earning votes "unfairly" (especially after the tiebreaker write-off - how did I earn unfair votes when I won by only 4 or 5 votes? It wasn't a landslide sweep. But certain people took their pissed-off feelings out on me) or that I was told my writing just wasn't as strong "as I thought it was." I would never say anything so self-centered about my writing. The comments were hurtful. I came in to write and have fun, and maybe that's my error. I love strategy, and I had a feeling the final 2-3 would NOT include me because I suddenly was a threat/had a huge target on my back, but I didn't expect people to be outright MEAN.

I will admit I wouldn't play a Survivor-style version of Idol again. While it brought out the best in some writers, it absolutely brought out the worst in others, and I never felt like that should have been the point.

Thank you to Halfshellvenus for having me on her team - I was glad to be a second or third pick (I can't remember which) - and to my original alliance with Gunwithoutmusic, Impoetry, and Halfshell.... and then, eventually, with Flipflop_Diva. I also want to thank Bleodswean for welcoming me as the only member of Asaga who ended up on Luzon. We had some wonderful conversations and I was seemingly welcomed there. My experience on both teams was really pleasant.

So many of you are my friends in "outside of Survivor/Idol" life, so no matter what I did or did not expect, I just wanted those friendships to thrive. And I hope they continue to do so!

My hope is that the next season is a bit low-key. I'm sort of under a strict "no stress" order from my neurologist and oncologist (this type of chemo I'm on for my MS apparently can wreck the heart, and stress makes it even worse, so I can't/won't play anything that sets my already-crappy health back!), so as long as people can write together and not backstab/send nasty DMs, I look forward to what comes next! :) <3

[clauderainsrm]

I learned a very long time ago that people have different ideas of what is "fair"... and it almost always happens to coincide with whatever benefits them the most. ;)

You are in an interesting spot - you haven't been involved in a "modern" Idol seasons, but you came in with a bit of a legendary status among veterans. Of course, part of that reputation, if people were paying attention, was that you weren't going to end up making it all the way to the end.

Of course, anyone COUNTING on that happening, and that you wouldn't be a threat all the way to the end was taking a serious risk, because you are also quite stubborn and will literally go until you fall down. (or end up in the hospital in this case)

It also meant that you might not have had pre-existing relationships with as many people as some of the others on your tribe. How quickly were you able to form them?

[halfshellvenus]

I always think I have a shot at winning in the vaguest sense, especially at the beginning. ;)

Which is probably true for everybody. :D

what do you think you did RIGHT to get yourself to the end, and win?
Write and write some more (sometimes at the cost of sleep and sanity), and try to write the best work I could for every round. And join into alliance with good people and maintain that alliance until the end!

[clauderainsrm]

I'd say there are two big regrets of the season - and one of them was that I didn't immediately make sure that I had access to the private groups that the tribes set up. I completely understand that it would have just made the tribe discussions go to private emails (because there's absolutely no way of stopping people from talking to each other) but then at least I could have seen any misunderstandings that were happening first hand rather than hearing about them later.

The other is coming up in a couple "game weeks" discussion.

[gunwithoutmusic]

I didn't think about it until it was brought up later in the game, but I agree that "production" probably should have been given access to the tribe communities. Obviously, setting up private tribe communities is that best and easiest way to keep any Tribe-wide discussion going and I think that maybe Tribal communities should have been encoded into the rules from the get-go. Obviously Asaga and Luzon were not going to want to discuss the game "in public," and it was good to have a place to talk general strategy (as far as trying to get more votes, discussing Tribal Councils, that sort of thing), but if you could have been privy to what was being said in those communities, I think some drama might have been mitigated.

Obviously people would still go to private messaging or e-mails - I was participating in the Tribe community and private messaging people at the same time, which I see as no different than gathering around the fire with the Tribe and then grabbing someone to "go gather firewood" or something for a private talk.

I don't think that people would have been hesitant to discuss things knowing that you were watching - at least, I don't think anything on Asaga's journal or La Mina's journal would have really been any different - because we all know that you're not going to go spreading around discussions or anything like that. If we were to start this over again, I probably would suggest that you create and moderate Tribe journals as a mechanic of the game.

[clauderainsrm]

How did the decision to have your own tribal discussion area happen for both tribes, and do you think it ended up shaping the tribal dynamic?

I know that early on, Luzon made the decision that they weren't going to answer my questions. Which was frustrating - and part of the reason why Jeff Probst yells at people and doesn't let anything move forward until someone gives him a straight answer. :D

Asaga, in comparison, was much more forthcoming. But that might have been due to the higher concentration of Survivor fans wanting "camera time" and to tell their story.

Looking back, do you think that not saying anything was a better option? Or did that decision, like random voting (more on that later), backfire for individual's games by appearing like you weren't interested in "playing the game"?

[gunwithoutmusic]

I feel like the decision to have Tribal journals was very organic - I think pretty much all of us were thinking, "Okay, well we need to have a place where we can talk without the other tribe seeing what we're talking about," and so they just sort of happened.

Asaga did have quite a few players that were more than happy to answer questions in Tribal Councils, myself included. For me, my answers to Tribal Council questions were just as much a part of my gameplay as anything else. While a bad response in Tribal Council runs the risk of putting a target on your back, a well-crafted and thoughtful response can really help push a target away from you or can get people to think differently about things.

I did feel like the people that would give non-detailed answers in Tribal Council weren't "playing the game" as much, just because of that. But, in retrospect, even just giving "no comment"-type answers at Tribal Council is playing the game. It's not the same way I was playing the game, but it's playing the game nonetheless.

Look at someone like murielle. She played fairly coy at Tribal Councils in the beginning, but I still regarded her as a possibly dangerous player. When you know the other tribe is watching, maybe in some respects it's smarter to stay a little mysterious. Giving me nothing to go on forces my brain to think "worst possible outcome."

[murielle]

"For the rest of you - Day 1, moment 1... you find yourself marooned on an island. One on the things, production wise, that I wanted to get across right away was that this wasn't a season of LJ Idol. There were a lot of images and terminology thrown in right away to get you in the mood to play Survivor... when you got to that beach, and the "School Yard Pick" was announced, what was running through your head?"

Sorry, Gary, totally missed this.

The School Yard Pick completely blindsided me and filled me with joy. Being on the same team with Bleodswean was the best, and being picked so quickly was amazing and an absolute first for me.

I was excited to play Survivor, but I was also wary. I stopped watching "reality TV" when I realized that the productions highlighted the kinds of behavior I abhor. It ceased to be entertaining to me.

I'll be brutally honest and say that much of this season was bad for me. I was stressed out, I was hurting for my bestie, every time we lost a teammate it felt like an amputation. It was an amputation! I felt paranoid and anxious. And I wasn't always proud of my behavior. Apart from a few people, I never knew who I could trust. And my heart broke so many times for people. (I almost said other players, but to me, they were people. Always people.) And my health took a major dive.

But so much of the season was an absolute blessing. So many wonderful people, so much kindness and generosity, and yes, love.

The beginning was trying. I remember creating little morning "walks and thoughts" just to have some space in the game. Believe it or not, as a devout introvert, I was utterly overwhelmed. I needed my space. LOL!

Gary! I need my space!

[halfshellvenus]

Gary! I need my space!
Hahahaha! I totally understand. :D

[clauderainsrm]

Sending someone to Exile Island to start the game wasn't ideal, but I realized that I needed to do something about the uneven numbers - and that was the standard Survivor trope!

Giving whoever went there an idol that had to be given away was something originally used in Redemption Island (with half an idol). The premise being that it might create a bond between the person giving it and the one being saved.

That ended up falling apart with the first vote due to jenwithapen needing to leave for personal reasons. It would have been interesting to see what would have happened if Luzon had lost the first vote.

Would Jen still have felt like she needed to drop at that point? Would she had stuck with it until the first time Asaga lost?

[gunwithoutmusic]

I feel like Jen might have dropped regardless - based on what she told us about the whole situation, I don't think that she would have been in a position to put in an entry for a while if ever. And especially at the start of the game I don't think people really understood that, with this particular format, someone could theoretically have made it to the final two without submitting a single legible entry, and could have for sure made it to the merge without submitting anything at all.

I'm glad that we did this with Idol players vs. Survivor fans because I enjoy the writing and reading aspect of these games the most, but it would also be interesting to see how a group entirely composed of "Survivor fans that happen to enjoy writing" might play this game - I can definitely see people strategically deciding to not submit an entry or to submit just some gobbledygook post-merge to get someone else to drag them up to the end with them. :)

[clauderainsrm]

I was surprised to see wolfden be the one to go to Exile. There were other people without as much "name recognition" that I thought would be the one to go. I also entertained the idea that maybe people would put someone with a bigger target at the bottom of their lists.

[wolfden]

I was not surprised to be the one to go. It still stung a little, but I wasn't surprised. I haven't done a regular season in a long time. I didn't feel like I had many connections coming in.

It's a little more complicated to not put bigger targets on your team from the beginning. Teams need to be strong to be able to stay in as long as possible. I think I would pick differently if I had it to do again (though I honestly don't remember my list).

I have occasionally wondered how much having a user name that starts with W impacts things because it has often resulted in me being listed town the bottom of my tribe and in regular idol in a tribe at the bottom of the list.

First Challenge/Tribal

[clauderainsrm]

Luzon comes out of the gate with a dominant performance. As a tribe, probably their best. It wasn't just Jenwithapen not having an entry - they pulled together a convincing victory that made me reassess my earlier assumption.

Jen volunteered to leave... but she wasn't the only one offering her name up that night.

That was my first "oh no" moment where it looked like there could be a series of sacrifices instead of tribal councils.

What was going through your heads at that tribal council, and those in Luzon who were watching a tribal council play out for the first time?

Re: First Challenge/Tribal

[gunwithoutmusic]

That first Tribal Council was an "easy" vote for us, but we did have at least one team member who was willing to sacrifice herself in order to keep Jen around another week. There was still a chance at that point that Jen might have been able to come back in, and I think the team member that wanted to sacrifice felt like she had let down the team.

I remember us discussing it in the team journal and being a little unsure of what might happen. It seemed that most of us were on board with voting for Jen, but such a big portion of playing the game is figuring out how other people will vote, and even if they say they're going one way, that doesn't mean they will.

I personally felt fairly safe knowing that I had at least a couple of votes with me, so I wasn't too worried, but then a target was put on my back a little in the questioning and that made me nervous for how the game would go forward! I tried to damage control that as much as I could in my answers though. :)

[clauderainsrm]

I think in the sense of "showing how tribal council worked", I think it actually was better to have the tribe with more Survivor fans. They knew the format basics.

[jenwithapen]

Hello, Mamas & the Papas!

As I sit here with a kitty cuddled between my almost or at least somewhat working feet, I am happy to report that I am still alive! Had it not been for Gary's persistence, I'm certain I would still be the captive of the Austin Abductor! Held in chains and forced to listen to country music while I was spoon-fed (delicious) BBQ! I kid, I kid, but that's what happens or what people start to think when you fall off the globe.

After having to leave to take care of a COVID-Y family member (that resulted in taking care of two others!), I was in an accident that left me in traction for... well, a long while. ;P Honestly, I think I might have had more fun in chains and forced to listen to country music while being spoon-fed (even mediocre!) BBQ! That's not what happened tho! And now that my body has new metallic parts, and I'm mostly back to walking again, I'm here to say, "Hellloooooooooo!" (did you hear Mrs. Doubtfire, cuz... that's entirely how that sounded in my head)

I'm sorry I missed the game this season. I wasn't even a TINY bit surprised by our winners and trust me when I say... I'm so proud of you ALL! You guys are some of the best class of writers I've seen come through the doors, and we've had ourselves some amazing writers throughout the years! Some gifts will be flying their way to these winners in the next few days! For everyone who participated and who've continued to throughout the years, watching you guys become more self-assured in your craft has been such a privilege. I really am hoping -- at least on my team -- I didn't make anyone feel let down!

[bsgsix]

Love, it is SO good to hear from you! I was so sad to see you have to go so soon, but we all completely understood the reasons - COVID has wrecked a lot of things for a lot of people since early 2020. I hope your family members are doing better now?

And I'm so sorry to hear about your accident. That is awful. I'm SO glad to hear you're walking again, though. I know how it goes with accidents, injuries, and illnesses (I had to leave the game early due to two myxedema comas and then a diagnosis of Secondary Progressive Multiple Sclerosis, coupled with Narcolepsy with Cataplexy. My docs were not certain I'd make it - but here I am!).

As much as we missed you, don't be sorry for taking the time you needed to care for yourself and your loved ones! No one could be angry about that! Please don't think you let *anyone* down. We were all worried about YOU. *hugs* <3

[kizzy]

Oh hi, GR! :waves:

I'd been sorta/kinda following this season but I confess the more convoluted it became with the tribes and such, the more I lost interest. I think it's very difficult to translate what happens on a TV show to an online writing game. There are some aspects which, as an audience member, just don't translate well. The biggest one IMO is the amount of time it'd take not only to read the entries but also wade through all the GRs AND the Tribal Councils AND everything else. I started all this but the more complex things became, the more my disinterest grew.

I know others felt similar and it was occasionally discussed.

There are many of us who enjoy playing and will continue playing for as long as Gary decides to continue it. And maybe at this juncture that's the point. As long form blogging/journal dwindles, so does everything associated with it. We've discussed that in previous seasons. I think Survivor Idol was an excellent attempt at revival but, as I said, it fell flat on the audience end IMO.

[megatronix]

That doesn’t surprise me. After I was no longer in it, I really didn’t keep up with the going’s-on of this game either. XD So as purely an audience member, yeah it’s be hard to maintain interest!

It is very different, TV vs online writing game, I agree! I think Gary pulled it off as best as was possible to do, but that’s because he’s the Dr Frankenstein of the DW world, a madman piecing together this tv aspect, that blogging aspect... a madman I tell you! ;)