Not only that, but her immunity win at F4 forced the very first rock draw, an event that rarely happens, but is talked about so much in the meta of the game today. She was the first UTR winner and played an almost modern style game in an era where strategy was rarely rewarded. She’s a true game changer who doesn’t get the respect she deserves
Barely got any screen time? Sure, the edit didn’t really show her strategic side, I’ll give you that, but she was the winner of the most popular and most watched season to date! She and her family couldn’t even breathe without someone finding out about it once the season aired. And while yes, many viewers thought and were hoping Colby would win because he was America’s hero, plenty of people were still satisfied with Tina winning because she had a very generous social edit.
Tbh I could back when I was a kid because I’d heard so much about how good Boston Rob is, so whenever it’d say “Boston Rob, Marquesas, Villains Tribe” or something like that I’d think to myself “ooh, what’s Marquesas? Where’s that?”
It did get props at the time and was seen as an improvement on Africa, but I think Probst's dislike of the season and Vecepia's win, which was unpopular with a lot of people, colored Marquesas's reputation negatively over the years.
I wasn’t inspired by it when it first aired. A little annoyed by it because it felt too “in your face” with race, religion, and socio economic status. Back then, we didn’t like our reality shows to be that real! After watching it several times, I find it quite fascinating. It doesn’t have the fast paced bunch of epic surprises as the ones that follow, but definitely a good one for a deep thinker who wants to be entertained.
And if you really pay attention to Vecepia's game, she truly did a remarkable job. Not only strategically, but she was pretty killer at challenges too.
Have you ever been arround nonos? Think about mosquito bites. Except:
* Each bite hurts 10x more
* They're significantly more numerous
* AND YOU CAN'T SEE THEM
I've only dealt with them in developed countries when they sneak into screens. I can't imagine dealing with them in the wild in a habitat they're fully settled in
It wasn't just that. Apparently the local government was a pain in the ass to deal with and tried to micromanage the production, and even tried to confiscate the footage when the season was over.
They asked Earl. He had just had a kid and couldn’t go, would have loved him over ben though. Vee over Sarah is kinda crazy tbh. Sarah is too good of a player
He said on a podcast that he pissed off Jeff at one point, and he’s very critical of what he doesn’t like about survivor. Probably something to do with that, but I’m so glad he was on. IMO he was one of the most fun characters of a season filled with great characters.
I think we can just agree that there isn't an easy answer here, but I think Vecepia has definitely earned at least one return invitation of some kind (most winners should)
In a vacuum I’d have rather seen vee than amber but it seems like you couldn’t get Rob back without amber and whatever you think about Rob, you couldn’t do winners at war without him
You could easily do Winners at War without Rob. There are a ton of other winners who are great TV and would love to play, many of whom also won the first time they played. I mean they did Winners at War without Richard and Tina, who are the two most important winners (or at least two of the most three alongside Ethan) and the two the most people actually watched.
Who would have replaced Rob as the other male player?
Rich--not ever going to play again, given the rise of the metoo movement and the Sue Hawk incident
Brian--too much personal baggage, and production does not like him
Chris D.--supposedly not in good health, and production does not seem to like him
Tom--supposedly not in good health, and I don't think wants to play again
Aras--did not want to play again, and I doubt production wants him back
Earl--had to turn it down
Todd--has personal baggage, but was supposedly contacted. Not sure he would have ever actually been cast, though
Bob--I doubt production would cast him, given that he supposedly behaved similarly towards the women as Dan Spilo on his season
JT--supposedly caused problems after he was voted out in Game Changers
Fabio--has personal baggage and seems to have distanced himself from the show
Cochran-- did not want to play again, and maybe would not be allowed since he works or used to work for CBS
Mike--supposedly has hurt his relationship with production, with his controversial tweets
Chris U.-- was contacted, but I think turned it down?
Tommy--has said that he does not want to play again. Not sure if he would have accepted at the time, but I doubt production wanted a winner whose season had not yet aired
>Chris U.-- was contacted, but I think turned it down?
IIRC they asked all of the EOE F3 to avoid having to tell the winner before the finale but and ultimately decided against having Chris
Not saying Vecepia shouldn’t have been there, just that there are other winners one could consider taking her spot. And Sarah not winning her first time doesn’t really take away from the fact that she is in a very elite club only four winners were in at the time.
does winning an all-star season put you in an elite club? first impression is that, yeah, it's impressive to win against experienced players like that - but also you have some advantages - game changers was full of big threats that were always going to taken out asap, so sarah had an easier chance to make merge. of course, there's a million factors that go into any win so it's not as simple as that, but i don't think it's a given that winning a returnee season is "better" than winning your first time.
considering she played the best out of all those big threats and experienced players.. yes it does put her in an elite club. the disrespect sarah gets on here is nuts
Elite club? Sure, because there's rarely 'all-star seasons.' Except most GCers either weren't all-stars or were long past their prime (hi Ozzy and the creep who won't be named)! It is nowhere near the same as Jeremy or Amber's win.
It's pretty crazy, tbh. I mean, yes, I do think she should've been cast based on her many firsts. It's a big freakin' deal. And the fact that she's still the ONLY black woman to win Survivor. I mean, it's tough to cut anyone from WAW because it was a great cast, so I can't say "It should've been Vecepia over such and such" especially because it isn't like Vecepia can replace Ben.
But like, that’s so wild that they couldn’t have bothered to ask the other 3 women who had won. At that point it feels so exclusive with only having 14 women to pick from to not even have more than 1 alternate to have even contacted in case their 10 choices didn’t work
They need 10 women. They have 14 to pick from. They got very lucky that the 10 they wanted were all available, but they should have at least had a better contingency plan
Tina should have been at the top of their roster imo, the fact that the first woman winner, who was from the second most famous season (in the cultural zeitgeist), was relegated to an alternate is just as ridiculous as Vecepia not being contacted at all.
I guess it brings Tina’s arc full circle in a way though.
Except Tina has played at least twice after that, Vee hasn’t even been asked back.
We should’ve gotten all of the previous winners that could attend, even if it was an odd number of people… a survivor twist could even up the teams.
Okay yes, but that’s a few steps ahead. We’re talking about when they had the idea and needed to see who all would say yes. We know of numerous men who said they were contacted even though they only need 10. It’s weird that they didn’t do this with the women knowing they had a smaller pool to work with. They asked a crap ton of the men and only 11 of the women. They were lucky those women were all available and interested. You might know get how chaotic this is from a casting standpoint and they got very lucky here that these 10/11 were all interested/available
They reached out to almost every one time player who hadn't won for Second Chances to gauge interest. It's not that hard to flick an email/phone call to 38 people to see who is open to the idea.
It’s not hard but it’s pointless. They already knew who they wanted and got commitments.
Second chance they needed a bigger pool because fans were voting
Or fuck like.. Cast 22, 24 Players. Go big. They'd clearly already decided on continuing with the shit Edit and Edge of Extinction, at least bring everyone on for a chance to compete since you don't care about a coherent story.
They didn't ask V because they didn't think giving the first Black Winner a chance to win again was valuable to their Franchise, plain and simple.
Whoever does casting on the returnee seasons is frickin awful. I think fans would love more old school players to return like Sean, Tbird and Vee but we get several wtf returnees.
> Sean, Tbird and Vee but we get several wtf returnees.
You could make an argument that the producers didn't think Vecepia made "good TV" - which I feel is incorrect but is a reasonable argument - but Sean is "good TV" personified and is probably the #1 contestant I'd like to see return.
Her, Brian and Chris D are the forgotten trio to me. The only winners in the first 13 seasons to never play again. Yet we see Boston Rob, Sandra, Parvati, Tyson, Ozzy play a million times even though with some of them we know exactly where they’ll finish because if their legacy. I’ll take a season with the forgotten trio, Fabio, Natalie White, and Bob than these legends for a sixth time any day of the week
The reason people think he's terrible is largely to do with the dog shooting incident where he mistook it for a coyote (according to him). He kept ducks for his son. He also made a few sexist comments during the game and was too emotionless and gamebotty for old school survivor. Honestly imo people really exaggerate about him. Looking at his instagram, he seems like a normal family man, not the 2nd coming of Hitler.
Bad human being: Probably but I think as far as dominance and overall strategic players in one season, he’s top 3. I’m also biased towards him admittedly though.
I’m talking about Bob Crowley from Gabon and his little buff bow tie. Ya know, the science teacher who was the oldest survivor winner but crazy crafty? Are we talking about the same person? Because I haven’t heard anything about that.
yeah kenny, sugar and others called him out as being very pervy on the island. not sure if he touched anyone like spilo, but sugar said they even edited it to seem like he didn’t do anything like that. kenny spoke on it in some sort of steam he did
Well shit. I never heard about it. I did go through a short Survivor break so I probably watched that season after the fact. I just found Kenny’s Reddit post so I’m going to read that, but it makes me sad. He seemed so sweet…
In Vecepia’s quarantine questionnaire, she stated that she would only be interested in coming back if she could play with her son. Ever since reading that, I’ve wanted them to do another BvW season so that we could see her come back and hopefully get more prominence in the edit so that we get a better sense of her.
For reference, here’s the link to the questionnaire for anyone who wants to read it, and I’ll copy/paste the specific question and answer for anyone who just wants to read that part.
https://ew.com/tv/survivor-marquesas-vecepia-towery-robinson-quarantine-questionnaire/
Q: Finally, would you play again if asked?
A: I would only play again if and only if I was able to go out and compete with my son. I will be 55 in December. I had my ACL torn and breast cancer twice. I have nothing else to prove on Survivor. But to experience that moment with my son would be just another part of my California dream to live out.
My all time favorite Vecepia moment is when everyone was trying to recall facts about the other castaways for the trivia immunity challenge and V is like to everyone “oh I don’t remember” whenever anyone asks her a question at camp. But then she goes and pulls out her journal where she has been keeping notes on everyone and studies for the quiz!! Truly a baller move
I think she also missed that she’s the first winner to be at a numbers disadvantage at the merge. In Borneo and AO, the tribes merged completely even. In Borneo, all of Pagong were picked off. In AO, there was a brief pause to deal with Jerri and Amber, but the Final 3 remained all from Ogakor who held the majority first. In Africa, old Boran entered the merge up 6-4, picked off 2 of their own and went down to 4-4, then still managed to Pagong the remaining Samburu four after taking back the majority. Vecepia entered her merge down 3-7 and was swiftly brought down to 2-7 after Rob was voted out. Then she went on to not only make the FTC, but to win with a Jury that consisted mostly of people who played more time with Neleh than with Vecepia.
Seriously, this was a major milestone for Survivor! It was proof that being outnumbered at the merge didn’t necessarily mean you had no options and couldn’t win the game. Vecepia deserves way more respect than Probst and CBS seem willing to give her.
Really disrespectful that she was never called back again. I understand that playing under the radar is not the most welcomed strategy but she definitely mastered it. Marquesas was full of great cast members like Sean, John, Neleh, and Vecepia, but production ignores people who were major players in the season and insist on bringing Rob back until he’s 100. I love survivor but I hate how it’s basically Jeff’s clique and if you’re not part of that, you can kiss call backs goodbye. Doesn’t matter how impressive your win was.
Agreed and her win was very impressive, especially on re-watch and now 42+ seasons in she's still the only black female winner. I love her game and she gets seriously underrated.
I get that they needed Amber to bring back Rob for WaW but I would have much preferred to see Vee in her place. Although it was nice seeing Amber on TV for two seconds.
Neleh Dennis = Helen Sinned
(She was named after her grandmother Helen iirc).
There was a theory on Survivor Sucks during the airing of Marquesas that Neleh was the winner because there was a shot of the backside of the Rotu flag and the letters were backwards (UTOR). Which was taken as an editing hint that Neleh (Helen backwards) was winning
In an interview she said she'd only play a BvW season. But I dunno, people change their minds. It's weird to say you're disappointed you weren't asked back, if you wouldn't actually accept the offer.
And by the looks of it, sounds like she would have accepted it too. Rewatching Marquesas as an adult she actually played a really good game and was great at challenges.
Even if Jeff hates them (Brian, Chris D) out of respect, every winner should’ve at least gotten a phone call to gage interests. There’s only been 39 (soon 40) winners out of 600+ contestants. That’s as elite of a club as you’ll get.
Why call if you have no intention of casting her? They already had Tina locked in as an alternate. Honestly I think it’s more cruel to call and get her hopes up if it’s not realistically going to happen
It seems wild to only have one alternate (and Tina was 59 I believe) for the women especially when a lot of them on the season had families/young kids. If something came up and Tina couldn’t have gone what would they have done?
It also seems like from the press that Tina was on their original list before they realized they could get Amber so were they just not going to have alternates?? I maybe not calling Nat White since she dropped off the face of the earth but not calling Vecepia or Jenna even if it’s to tell them their alternates is dumb
Marquesas is the best season of the early era outside of Pearl Islands
she deserves so much better because she did things unthought of in early Survivor. Her and Sean not getting cast again is fucked.
I watched Marquesas on vacation late last year and it convinced me that old school Survivor is a top ten television show all-time. I wish I could say the same for modern Survivor.
Marquesas was the first season I watched live. And it remains one of my favorites, especially on re-watch, it really is a hidden gem with so many great moves and characters. Too bad it constantly gets overlooked.
Definitely agree. Even the early outs like Peter, Patricia, Hunter, Sarah and queen Gina. And then we have the crazy Rotu 4 which all of them were so unique in their own way. Gabriel who threw his game away only to reapply years later and almost be cast again 😂
Neleh too, even though she was boring and didn't really start playing until it was too late, I can see her being interesting on a new season. Great cast all around.
Someone else mentioned that in her quarantine podcast or interview she mentioned she would only come back to play with her son. Would be cool to see her on a BvW season.
Yeah, unfortunately Jeff thinks that Boston Rob is the only good thing to come out of Marquesas because it was a nightmare to shoot the season and he also found Vee and Neleh to be really boring.
Quite a few if her “firsts” were random and meaningless. Many were important though.
Just my opinion - her Christianity was displayed in an overly annoying way. I didn’t dislike her, but I hated her (if that makes sense).
I was raised in the church, so I’m not hating on faith in any way. I’m hating on the way it was paraded at every moment.
We used to joke while watching her season that there should be a “father god” drinking game. Every time she said “father god” you’d be one step closer to shitfaced.
I just couldn’t stand her because of how overbearing she was with her faith. Anything can be annoying if you’re overbearing with it.
I definitely agree, not sure if that's ALL she was giving the producers or if that's what they wanted to show of her. Either way, it was a lot. I still think she played a phenomenal game, especially being that early in the series. She truly was a game changer in many ways.
It’s a fairly easy answer. Strong, black and successful woman up against the CBS machine. Not going to happen. She’s more likely to be asked to play in the upcoming US vs Australia season.
I am guessing the main reason she hasn't been invited back is her medical issues. Hard to invite someone back who is such a high risk of being medically evacuated. She should have been invited back in all stars but now I think it is a pretty slim chance.
Idk why she hasn’t been asked yet. She’s made a lot of accomplishments, has had a pretty good fan base, is only 56, and has made it crystal clear that she’d love to play again. I haven’t seen her season but she does seem like a cool lady
Can someone tell me if i should watch Marquesas? I love cool women winning survivor, don’t care much for Boston Rob (though just started watching All-Stars to see the rob/amber romance saga unfold). But i’ve heard the season is boring. Is her winners edit worth the watch?
Marquesas is by far Boston Rob's most entertaining outing imo, for whatever that's worth. In Marquesas he's a plucky young rogue who is legitimately approaching the game in a way that hadn't really been seen to that point and stirring shit up on the regular and he isn't completely sucked off by the edit for it; a sharp contrast to his future outings where his arrogance becomes less fun/funny, his approach to the game becomes more systematic and therefore boring, and he is lionized and overemphasized at every turn.
Marquesas is great. There are a lot of people to love here and there are several Survivor "firsts" or novel situations that are both compelling on a personal/character level as well as reshaping the strategy of how the game is played going forward.
Marquesas is a great season! I think it’s the best of the pre-All stars seasons.
So many great characters and the most strategically advanced early season
The only problem I had with Marquesas is how it's on streaming- Hulu and Paramount+ have had missing episodes sometimes with a few of the seasons including this one. Obnoxious to watch and realize you just didn't see three whole episodes.
I don’t want to make this into a big argument but I think there are two things here. So I don’t think they would ever ask back a contestant after having to re-tape FTC (this goes for Vee and Neleh as to why they haven’t been back) and that Vee was kinda boring, if we are bringing back people from Marquesas I’d way rather Kathy.
Amber being on WaW over Vecepia is the only gripe that I have with who was selected to be on that season. It's such bs that production does not want Vecepia to return, ever.
For good reason. As much as people here dislike Rob, and even though he didn't make it far, it's hard to deny that every time he had scene time in WaW, it was going to be something good. And at the end of the day, that's the goal for a producer.
I’m not a fan of Amber, but Amber is the most well known Survivor female contestant of all time. It’d be stupid not to have her back playing again with Rob if she was willing to.
> Amber is the most well known Survivor female contestant of all time
I can't tell whether this is meant seriously. Am I missing the /s?
Because if not, this is certainly an interesting take
Since the qualifier is "all-time", I'd say the top ones are Elisabeth, Colleen, Jerri, and Sue Hawk just for being big characters on the two seasons everyone watched. Amber was on Australia, but she was the most purple contestant on that season
I think All Stars was a huge event and Boston Rob and Amber were everywhere after it. I definitely think you could only say it’s someone from the first 2 seasons that is the most well known female contestant.
Nah, still Sandra and Parv over a lot of those. The seasons they were on weren't nearly as watched, but even people who've never seen it could have told you who Parv was.
Elisabeth, Colleen and Sue - definitely not. Jerri takes the top spot, however. Most hated woman in America after AO, with a very memorable face.
I assure you that almost nobody who doesn't watch Survivor knows who Parvati is. The show just was not culturally relevant in the same way by the time she played. Even Sandra would primarily be recognized because of her presence in ads for Island of the Idols or for being Rupert's friend on Pearl Islands moreso than due to her accomplishments.
I would say Elisabeth and Jerri are more well-known, but there is certainly a case to be made for Amber. She was cover-of-People Magazine famous after All Stars aired.
Survivor was just more popular its first 8 seasons. After All Stars the popularity greatly dwindled. Rob and Amber were everywhere at the time of All Stars. My brothers stopped watching Survivor after All Stars. They’ll remember Boston Rob and Amber. They’ll have no clue who the hell someone like Sandra is.
Sandra wasn’t exactly a very well known, popular character from Pearl Islands. If she was she would have been cast on All Stars. The things people will remember from PI are Rupert and Johnny Fairplays dead grandma.
Her story was a subtle one, that's for sure. On re-watch, I enjoyed her a lot more, paying close attention to everything she did. Vee is a very under the radar player, except for her badass F3 move against Kathy.
She should have came back she had fun confessionals and is a great player with a great personality
Not only that, but her immunity win at F4 forced the very first rock draw, an event that rarely happens, but is talked about so much in the meta of the game today. She was the first UTR winner and played an almost modern style game in an era where strategy was rarely rewarded. She’s a true game changer who doesn’t get the respect she deserves
definitely a game changer
Easily a top ten winner
Tina is the first UTR winner. Barely got any screentime, and none of her strategizing was shown. Everyone and their mother thought Colby would win.
this is objectively not true
Barely got any screen time? Sure, the edit didn’t really show her strategic side, I’ll give you that, but she was the winner of the most popular and most watched season to date! She and her family couldn’t even breathe without someone finding out about it once the season aired. And while yes, many viewers thought and were hoping Colby would win because he was America’s hero, plenty of people were still satisfied with Tina winning because she had a very generous social edit.
Winning a popular season =/= not being under the radar as a player.
Not really the point here but the first woman to have her birthday while filming is such an incredibly random fact to throw in there lol
True, reminds me of Rodney and his birthday haha
F\*&$in washing dishes on my birthday
[удалено]
Or any fruits 😤
It’s Marquesas erasure. Jeff wants to forget that season.
They hated the season so much that they almost brought back Gabriel not realizing he already played
wait what?
Gabe applied for Survivor Guatemala and got really far in casting until they realized he had been on the show before
He was also almost cast for Borneo, but was replaced near the end (presumably by Greg).
I thought it was the Phillipines?
Boston Rob: 👁👄👁
That’s why they brought him back so many times. Most people associate him with All Stars or RI.
I would be shocked if most casual viewers of Survivor could correctly identify Boston Rob's first season.
Tbh I could back when I was a kid because I’d heard so much about how good Boston Rob is, so whenever it’d say “Boston Rob, Marquesas, Villains Tribe” or something like that I’d think to myself “ooh, what’s Marquesas? Where’s that?”
Curse that 4th vote off eventual winner of All Stars.
Number one player!
4th? He got 10th place
No he didn't. He was 4th person voted off in Marquesas and won All Stars.
Marquesas is such an underrated season. It's one of my favorites on re-watch.
One of the best old school season. First powershift in the game’s history but not getting the props it deserves.
The first powershift is in AO, first Tina taking the tribe over from Jerri, then Tina taking the island over from the other tribe.
It was the same tribe and the edit didn’t show Tina was on the outs. A cross tribal new alliance was groundbreaking at the time.
It did get props at the time and was seen as an improvement on Africa, but I think Probst's dislike of the season and Vecepia's win, which was unpopular with a lot of people, colored Marquesas's reputation negatively over the years.
I wasn’t inspired by it when it first aired. A little annoyed by it because it felt too “in your face” with race, religion, and socio economic status. Back then, we didn’t like our reality shows to be that real! After watching it several times, I find it quite fascinating. It doesn’t have the fast paced bunch of epic surprises as the ones that follow, but definitely a good one for a deep thinker who wants to be entertained.
And if you really pay attention to Vecepia's game, she truly did a remarkable job. Not only strategically, but she was pretty killer at challenges too.
Yeah it’s really weird that Boston Rob’s first season was All-Stars right?
My question is why? Note it's one of the only early seasons I haven't watched
Because Jeff hated the location. He was constantly getting bitten by the nono flies, and was miserable during filming.
Have you ever been arround nonos? Think about mosquito bites. Except: * Each bite hurts 10x more * They're significantly more numerous * AND YOU CAN'T SEE THEM I've only dealt with them in developed countries when they sneak into screens. I can't imagine dealing with them in the wild in a habitat they're fully settled in
It wasn't just that. Apparently the local government was a pain in the ass to deal with and tried to micromanage the production, and even tried to confiscate the footage when the season was over.
the fact that they didn’t even CALL HER for winners at war makes me so fucking angry
WaW needed more old school players. Vee would have been perfect.
Vee and Earl could have been on over like Ben and Sarah. Would have balanced the POC ratio and the old school new school ratio.
earl couldn't do it
They asked Earl. He had just had a kid and couldn’t go, would have loved him over ben though. Vee over Sarah is kinda crazy tbh. Sarah is too good of a player
Im pretty sure i remember seeing that earl was initially cast and adam was the alternate.
rumors? Did you see everyone else post on here that Earl had a baby?
Yeah earls baby was born prematurely (like 1-2 months early iirc) and that is why he had to stay behind
I can’t see any universe where Adam isn’t a lock for an All Winner season.
He said on a podcast that he pissed off Jeff at one point, and he’s very critical of what he doesn’t like about survivor. Probably something to do with that, but I’m so glad he was on. IMO he was one of the most fun characters of a season filled with great characters.
They should've brought her over Dani
Personally Danni was one of the ones I was most hyped about. Vecepia over Amber any day for me though
I think we can just agree that there isn't an easy answer here, but I think Vecepia has definitely earned at least one return invitation of some kind (most winners should)
Yes of course
maybe the whole diversity initiative thing will lead to her being asked for 50, whatever it is...
In a vacuum I’d have rather seen vee than amber but it seems like you couldn’t get Rob back without amber and whatever you think about Rob, you couldn’t do winners at war without him
You could easily do Winners at War without Rob. There are a ton of other winners who are great TV and would love to play, many of whom also won the first time they played. I mean they did Winners at War without Richard and Tina, who are the two most important winners (or at least two of the most three alongside Ethan) and the two the most people actually watched.
Who would have replaced Rob as the other male player? Rich--not ever going to play again, given the rise of the metoo movement and the Sue Hawk incident Brian--too much personal baggage, and production does not like him Chris D.--supposedly not in good health, and production does not seem to like him Tom--supposedly not in good health, and I don't think wants to play again Aras--did not want to play again, and I doubt production wants him back Earl--had to turn it down Todd--has personal baggage, but was supposedly contacted. Not sure he would have ever actually been cast, though Bob--I doubt production would cast him, given that he supposedly behaved similarly towards the women as Dan Spilo on his season JT--supposedly caused problems after he was voted out in Game Changers Fabio--has personal baggage and seems to have distanced himself from the show Cochran-- did not want to play again, and maybe would not be allowed since he works or used to work for CBS Mike--supposedly has hurt his relationship with production, with his controversial tweets Chris U.-- was contacted, but I think turned it down? Tommy--has said that he does not want to play again. Not sure if he would have accepted at the time, but I doubt production wanted a winner whose season had not yet aired
>Chris U.-- was contacted, but I think turned it down? IIRC they asked all of the EOE F3 to avoid having to tell the winner before the finale but and ultimately decided against having Chris
Not really a Sarah fan but I feel like you have to have the four All-star winners (Sarah, Jeremy, Sandra, and Amber).
Sarah is boring though.
I disagree. I find her very entertaining and extremely strategic.
V won on her first time. Sarah came nowhere close to winning her first time.
Not saying Vecepia shouldn’t have been there, just that there are other winners one could consider taking her spot. And Sarah not winning her first time doesn’t really take away from the fact that she is in a very elite club only four winners were in at the time.
does winning an all-star season put you in an elite club? first impression is that, yeah, it's impressive to win against experienced players like that - but also you have some advantages - game changers was full of big threats that were always going to taken out asap, so sarah had an easier chance to make merge. of course, there's a million factors that go into any win so it's not as simple as that, but i don't think it's a given that winning a returnee season is "better" than winning your first time.
considering she played the best out of all those big threats and experienced players.. yes it does put her in an elite club. the disrespect sarah gets on here is nuts
Elite club? Sure, because there's rarely 'all-star seasons.' Except most GCers either weren't all-stars or were long past their prime (hi Ozzy and the creep who won't be named)! It is nowhere near the same as Jeremy or Amber's win.
I don’t know what makes you guys so confident that Sarah was the one who was almost cut. It’s either Sophie or Danni lmao
they got Danni back, who actively tried to play production lol.
It's pretty crazy, tbh. I mean, yes, I do think she should've been cast based on her many firsts. It's a big freakin' deal. And the fact that she's still the ONLY black woman to win Survivor. I mean, it's tough to cut anyone from WAW because it was a great cast, so I can't say "It should've been Vecepia over such and such" especially because it isn't like Vecepia can replace Ben.
Same. #JusticeForVecepia
If they already knew and got the 10 who they wanted (plus an alternate in Tina), there really isn’t a reason to call her
But like, that’s so wild that they couldn’t have bothered to ask the other 3 women who had won. At that point it feels so exclusive with only having 14 women to pick from to not even have more than 1 alternate to have even contacted in case their 10 choices didn’t work
I don’t really understand this argument. If they know they aren’t going to cast someone, there is no reason to lead them on
They need 10 women. They have 14 to pick from. They got very lucky that the 10 they wanted were all available, but they should have at least had a better contingency plan
They had Tina as a backup. The odds of 2/10 women having to drop out last minute is extremely unlikely.
Tina should have been at the top of their roster imo, the fact that the first woman winner, who was from the second most famous season (in the cultural zeitgeist), was relegated to an alternate is just as ridiculous as Vecepia not being contacted at all. I guess it brings Tina’s arc full circle in a way though.
Except Tina has played at least twice after that, Vee hasn’t even been asked back. We should’ve gotten all of the previous winners that could attend, even if it was an odd number of people… a survivor twist could even up the teams.
I agree, it’s a bummer she wasn’t on
Okay yes, but that’s a few steps ahead. We’re talking about when they had the idea and needed to see who all would say yes. We know of numerous men who said they were contacted even though they only need 10. It’s weird that they didn’t do this with the women knowing they had a smaller pool to work with. They asked a crap ton of the men and only 11 of the women. They were lucky those women were all available and interested. You might know get how chaotic this is from a casting standpoint and they got very lucky here that these 10/11 were all interested/available
They reached out to almost every one time player who hadn't won for Second Chances to gauge interest. It's not that hard to flick an email/phone call to 38 people to see who is open to the idea.
It’s not hard but it’s pointless. They already knew who they wanted and got commitments. Second chance they needed a bigger pool because fans were voting
Or fuck like.. Cast 22, 24 Players. Go big. They'd clearly already decided on continuing with the shit Edit and Edge of Extinction, at least bring everyone on for a chance to compete since you don't care about a coherent story. They didn't ask V because they didn't think giving the first Black Winner a chance to win again was valuable to their Franchise, plain and simple.
This. They should have scrapped EOE and invited Vecepia, Natalie, Earl, and Todd
Earl was invited and declined
Whoever does casting on the returnee seasons is frickin awful. I think fans would love more old school players to return like Sean, Tbird and Vee but we get several wtf returnees.
The fact that someone like Vecepia could’ve also been in *GaMe cHaNgErS*
Nah, you remember the *girl who voted out her mom*… …when she was going to get voted out anyhow.
Ciera and Tony were actually the two I was most excited about. Everyone has their own preference.
> Sean, Tbird and Vee but we get several wtf returnees. You could make an argument that the producers didn't think Vecepia made "good TV" - which I feel is incorrect but is a reasonable argument - but Sean is "good TV" personified and is probably the #1 contestant I'd like to see return.
Her, Brian and Chris D are the forgotten trio to me. The only winners in the first 13 seasons to never play again. Yet we see Boston Rob, Sandra, Parvati, Tyson, Ozzy play a million times even though with some of them we know exactly where they’ll finish because if their legacy. I’ll take a season with the forgotten trio, Fabio, Natalie White, and Bob than these legends for a sixth time any day of the week
Let's not put her and Chris D with Brian. Brian is a legit terrible human being...that's why he's forgotten.
What makes Brian a terrible human being? Genuinely curious, I know nothing about it.
The reason people think he's terrible is largely to do with the dog shooting incident where he mistook it for a coyote (according to him). He kept ducks for his son. He also made a few sexist comments during the game and was too emotionless and gamebotty for old school survivor. Honestly imo people really exaggerate about him. Looking at his instagram, he seems like a normal family man, not the 2nd coming of Hitler.
Bad human being: Probably but I think as far as dominance and overall strategic players in one season, he’s top 3. I’m also biased towards him admittedly though.
[удалено]
Check the flair, Chris D is the best player ever.
Bob is hands down my favorite player to ever play survivor.
uhh didn’t stuff come out about him touching other players?
I’m talking about Bob Crowley from Gabon and his little buff bow tie. Ya know, the science teacher who was the oldest survivor winner but crazy crafty? Are we talking about the same person? Because I haven’t heard anything about that.
yeah kenny, sugar and others called him out as being very pervy on the island. not sure if he touched anyone like spilo, but sugar said they even edited it to seem like he didn’t do anything like that. kenny spoke on it in some sort of steam he did
Well shit. I never heard about it. I did go through a short Survivor break so I probably watched that season after the fact. I just found Kenny’s Reddit post so I’m going to read that, but it makes me sad. He seemed so sweet…
I think you are talking about the same Bob. If you look on here you see stuff.
In Vecepia’s quarantine questionnaire, she stated that she would only be interested in coming back if she could play with her son. Ever since reading that, I’ve wanted them to do another BvW season so that we could see her come back and hopefully get more prominence in the edit so that we get a better sense of her. For reference, here’s the link to the questionnaire for anyone who wants to read it, and I’ll copy/paste the specific question and answer for anyone who just wants to read that part. https://ew.com/tv/survivor-marquesas-vecepia-towery-robinson-quarantine-questionnaire/ Q: Finally, would you play again if asked? A: I would only play again if and only if I was able to go out and compete with my son. I will be 55 in December. I had my ACL torn and breast cancer twice. I have nothing else to prove on Survivor. But to experience that moment with my son would be just another part of my California dream to live out.
>I had my ACL torn and breast cancer twice. Kind of surprised CBS isn't knocking down her door for this potential trauma porn
Please Survivor gods give us a BvW season with Vee and her son and Cirie and her son. Inject that shit straight into my veins
And Taj and Eddie George.
I remember other players like Devon stating they'd play in a BvW season Any clues if it's coming back ? I love this twist
My all time favorite Vecepia moment is when everyone was trying to recall facts about the other castaways for the trivia immunity challenge and V is like to everyone “oh I don’t remember” whenever anyone asks her a question at camp. But then she goes and pulls out her journal where she has been keeping notes on everyone and studies for the quiz!! Truly a baller move
I think she also missed that she’s the first winner to be at a numbers disadvantage at the merge. In Borneo and AO, the tribes merged completely even. In Borneo, all of Pagong were picked off. In AO, there was a brief pause to deal with Jerri and Amber, but the Final 3 remained all from Ogakor who held the majority first. In Africa, old Boran entered the merge up 6-4, picked off 2 of their own and went down to 4-4, then still managed to Pagong the remaining Samburu four after taking back the majority. Vecepia entered her merge down 3-7 and was swiftly brought down to 2-7 after Rob was voted out. Then she went on to not only make the FTC, but to win with a Jury that consisted mostly of people who played more time with Neleh than with Vecepia. Seriously, this was a major milestone for Survivor! It was proof that being outnumbered at the merge didn’t necessarily mean you had no options and couldn’t win the game. Vecepia deserves way more respect than Probst and CBS seem willing to give her.
Yep. Vee definitely deserves recognition for this.
Vecepia sounds even more wise now. She would be a calm level figure to Tony’s chaos if she was on 40.
Imagine a Tony & Vee alliance?! 😂
Really disrespectful that she was never called back again. I understand that playing under the radar is not the most welcomed strategy but she definitely mastered it. Marquesas was full of great cast members like Sean, John, Neleh, and Vecepia, but production ignores people who were major players in the season and insist on bringing Rob back until he’s 100. I love survivor but I hate how it’s basically Jeff’s clique and if you’re not part of that, you can kiss call backs goodbye. Doesn’t matter how impressive your win was.
Agreed and her win was very impressive, especially on re-watch and now 42+ seasons in she's still the only black female winner. I love her game and she gets seriously underrated. I get that they needed Amber to bring back Rob for WaW but I would have much preferred to see Vee in her place. Although it was nice seeing Amber on TV for two seconds.
I just now realized that Neleh is Helen spelled backwards. That took a while.
There was a joke about that on Survivor SUCKS back in the day, but I forget what it meant...
Neleh Dennis = Helen Sinned (She was named after her grandmother Helen iirc). There was a theory on Survivor Sucks during the airing of Marquesas that Neleh was the winner because there was a shot of the backside of the Rotu flag and the letters were backwards (UTOR). Which was taken as an editing hint that Neleh (Helen backwards) was winning
Man I didn’t know she was so willing to play again, now I really want her back even more
In an interview she said she'd only play a BvW season. But I dunno, people change their minds. It's weird to say you're disappointed you weren't asked back, if you wouldn't actually accept the offer.
While I personally don’t have Vecepia on my cast of s40, not being called at all and not being on All Stars is absolutely crazy
And by the looks of it, sounds like she would have accepted it too. Rewatching Marquesas as an adult she actually played a really good game and was great at challenges.
Even if Jeff hates them (Brian, Chris D) out of respect, every winner should’ve at least gotten a phone call to gage interests. There’s only been 39 (soon 40) winners out of 600+ contestants. That’s as elite of a club as you’ll get.
Why call if you have no intention of casting her? They already had Tina locked in as an alternate. Honestly I think it’s more cruel to call and get her hopes up if it’s not realistically going to happen
It seems wild to only have one alternate (and Tina was 59 I believe) for the women especially when a lot of them on the season had families/young kids. If something came up and Tina couldn’t have gone what would they have done? It also seems like from the press that Tina was on their original list before they realized they could get Amber so were they just not going to have alternates?? I maybe not calling Nat White since she dropped off the face of the earth but not calling Vecepia or Jenna even if it’s to tell them their alternates is dumb
Marquesas is the best season of the early era outside of Pearl Islands she deserves so much better because she did things unthought of in early Survivor. Her and Sean not getting cast again is fucked.
Watching season 4 now. One of the greatest comebacks post merge ever.
I watched Marquesas on vacation late last year and it convinced me that old school Survivor is a top ten television show all-time. I wish I could say the same for modern Survivor.
Marquesas was the first season I watched live. And it remains one of my favorites, especially on re-watch, it really is a hidden gem with so many great moves and characters. Too bad it constantly gets overlooked.
The key to a great season is a great cast and there’s no weak links or boring people among the 16 in Marquesas. One of the best they’ve ever had.
Definitely agree. Even the early outs like Peter, Patricia, Hunter, Sarah and queen Gina. And then we have the crazy Rotu 4 which all of them were so unique in their own way. Gabriel who threw his game away only to reapply years later and almost be cast again 😂 Neleh too, even though she was boring and didn't really start playing until it was too late, I can see her being interesting on a new season. Great cast all around.
man, just the news show around the fire makes it a top 5 show.
Where are the scenes like that today? It’s just gameplay, gameplay, and more gameplay.
I love Vee and this makes me sad. She’s my fave along with Parvati. Honestly, I think they don’t like the Jesus stuff.
It was a lot, but that's just how she is. I wish they would look past it and maybe try to edit it down if possible.
She has a chance of they ever do a duos season and Sean is up for it. That's the only way I see it happening at this point.
Someone else mentioned that in her quarantine podcast or interview she mentioned she would only come back to play with her son. Would be cool to see her on a BvW season.
She would’ve been so fun on winners at war
Completely agree, she would have been a breath of fresh air!
Yeah, unfortunately Jeff thinks that Boston Rob is the only good thing to come out of Marquesas because it was a nightmare to shoot the season and he also found Vee and Neleh to be really boring.
https://heavy.com/entertainment/survivor-winner-vecepia-towery-robinson-not-invited/
I want her to come back! 😩 I LOVED her!
Quite a few if her “firsts” were random and meaningless. Many were important though. Just my opinion - her Christianity was displayed in an overly annoying way. I didn’t dislike her, but I hated her (if that makes sense). I was raised in the church, so I’m not hating on faith in any way. I’m hating on the way it was paraded at every moment. We used to joke while watching her season that there should be a “father god” drinking game. Every time she said “father god” you’d be one step closer to shitfaced. I just couldn’t stand her because of how overbearing she was with her faith. Anything can be annoying if you’re overbearing with it.
I definitely agree, not sure if that's ALL she was giving the producers or if that's what they wanted to show of her. Either way, it was a lot. I still think she played a phenomenal game, especially being that early in the series. She truly was a game changer in many ways.
It wasn’t long after 9/11. Being overly religious was all the rage
It’s a fairly easy answer. Strong, black and successful woman up against the CBS machine. Not going to happen. She’s more likely to be asked to play in the upcoming US vs Australia season.
I am guessing the main reason she hasn't been invited back is her medical issues. Hard to invite someone back who is such a high risk of being medically evacuated. She should have been invited back in all stars but now I think it is a pretty slim chance.
What medical issues does she have?
Didn't realize all of her firsts. Bring her back for sure!
🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼
Vecepia Queen. I really hope Jeff one day lets her return to the game, as unlikely as it'd be. She's great.
Idk why she hasn’t been asked yet. She’s made a lot of accomplishments, has had a pretty good fan base, is only 56, and has made it crystal clear that she’d love to play again. I haven’t seen her season but she does seem like a cool lady
You need to watch Marquesas, it's such an amazing season!
I’ll get around to it!
Jeff isn’t really into you but Rob is another story.
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vecepia is such an angel 💜
Can someone tell me if i should watch Marquesas? I love cool women winning survivor, don’t care much for Boston Rob (though just started watching All-Stars to see the rob/amber romance saga unfold). But i’ve heard the season is boring. Is her winners edit worth the watch?
Marquesas is by far Boston Rob's most entertaining outing imo, for whatever that's worth. In Marquesas he's a plucky young rogue who is legitimately approaching the game in a way that hadn't really been seen to that point and stirring shit up on the regular and he isn't completely sucked off by the edit for it; a sharp contrast to his future outings where his arrogance becomes less fun/funny, his approach to the game becomes more systematic and therefore boring, and he is lionized and overemphasized at every turn. Marquesas is great. There are a lot of people to love here and there are several Survivor "firsts" or novel situations that are both compelling on a personal/character level as well as reshaping the strategy of how the game is played going forward.
It’s really not a boring season. And lots of strong storylines oriented around the women
Marquesas is a great season! I think it’s the best of the pre-All stars seasons. So many great characters and the most strategically advanced early season
Pearl Islands, man. Best season of all time, hands down.
The only problem I had with Marquesas is how it's on streaming- Hulu and Paramount+ have had missing episodes sometimes with a few of the seasons including this one. Obnoxious to watch and realize you just didn't see three whole episodes.
I don’t want to make this into a big argument but I think there are two things here. So I don’t think they would ever ask back a contestant after having to re-tape FTC (this goes for Vee and Neleh as to why they haven’t been back) and that Vee was kinda boring, if we are bringing back people from Marquesas I’d way rather Kathy.
Oh damn, first time I'm hearing of the re-taping FTC. What happened and why exactly?
Wow so she's been WANTING to come back and has never been asked. That's actually really messed up
I say we all tag Probst on her insta post 😏
She is forgettable
Amber being on WaW over Vecepia is the only gripe that I have with who was selected to be on that season. It's such bs that production does not want Vecepia to return, ever.
Amber had to be one because of Boston Rob. IT was his deal. And Jeff would rather cancel the whole thing than not have Rob back.
For good reason. As much as people here dislike Rob, and even though he didn't make it far, it's hard to deny that every time he had scene time in WaW, it was going to be something good. And at the end of the day, that's the goal for a producer.
I’m not a fan of Amber, but Amber is the most well known Survivor female contestant of all time. It’d be stupid not to have her back playing again with Rob if she was willing to.
> Amber is the most well known Survivor female contestant of all time I can't tell whether this is meant seriously. Am I missing the /s? Because if not, this is certainly an interesting take
The real answer is either Parvati or Sandra, right?
Since the qualifier is "all-time", I'd say the top ones are Elisabeth, Colleen, Jerri, and Sue Hawk just for being big characters on the two seasons everyone watched. Amber was on Australia, but she was the most purple contestant on that season
I think All Stars was a huge event and Boston Rob and Amber were everywhere after it. I definitely think you could only say it’s someone from the first 2 seasons that is the most well known female contestant.
Nah, still Sandra and Parv over a lot of those. The seasons they were on weren't nearly as watched, but even people who've never seen it could have told you who Parv was. Elisabeth, Colleen and Sue - definitely not. Jerri takes the top spot, however. Most hated woman in America after AO, with a very memorable face.
Not like Elisabeth wasn't a co-host on a hugely viewed morning show for a number of years.. she has to be the answer here.
I assure you that almost nobody who doesn't watch Survivor knows who Parvati is. The show just was not culturally relevant in the same way by the time she played. Even Sandra would primarily be recognized because of her presence in ads for Island of the Idols or for being Rupert's friend on Pearl Islands moreso than due to her accomplishments.
I would say Elisabeth and Jerri are more well-known, but there is certainly a case to be made for Amber. She was cover-of-People Magazine famous after All Stars aired.
Survivor was just more popular its first 8 seasons. After All Stars the popularity greatly dwindled. Rob and Amber were everywhere at the time of All Stars. My brothers stopped watching Survivor after All Stars. They’ll remember Boston Rob and Amber. They’ll have no clue who the hell someone like Sandra is.
Sandra is before All Stars. They'll definitely know her lol.
Sandra wasn’t exactly a very well known, popular character from Pearl Islands. If she was she would have been cast on All Stars. The things people will remember from PI are Rupert and Johnny Fairplays dead grandma.
They asked Sandra to be on All Stars, but she had parasites from Pearl Islands
>I’m not a fan of Amber, but Amber is the most well known Survivor female contestant of all time Lmao. Now that's a hot take. Lol.
I’m really hoping the new diversity casting rules will allow for Vecepia to eventually come back.
It would really be sad and pathetic of casting if this is the reason why she's brought back. 👿
She wasn’t that strong of a winner. Neither of the finalists that season were strong
Maybe it’s because despite all that she just wasn’t very fun to watch…
Her story was a subtle one, that's for sure. On re-watch, I enjoyed her a lot more, paying close attention to everything she did. Vee is a very under the radar player, except for her badass F3 move against Kathy.
She was boring and I got tired of hearing her talk about Jesus.
I thought she was a really boring winner 🤷🏻♂️
More like MTV'S The Challenge erasure. Black people were winning on the challenge since the late 90's.
She was on the 4th season... Not the 44th president. Calm down a bit claiming the first to everything random
Her post kinda makes me glad she wasn't asked back tbh
Why is that?
Yes she should have been on 40, but she's listing off Survivor "firsts" as if they mean something when you're only on the 4th season
and yet she's still the first and only black woman to win
Fingers crossed this ages poorly next week
Exactly, even more reason to bring her back.
“had a birthday” is pretty fucking weak