Survivor: Winners at War Review

Late to the party, but slowly watching all your videos because they're fab!!

I have suuuch mixed feelings on this season. It was so epic and so great, but also sooo depressing. 😅 The only thing I wanted from it was to see my ultimate favs (mostly old school people) go deep or even win, and they were just... absolutely steam rolled. 😢 People I didn't love (or have never loved) instead went deep. Or... won. 😅

We never needed 90 min episodes more than this season; it really sucks we didn't get to see as much stuff - strategy, relationships, and most of all, camp life stuff. I appreciate what they DID show, but man, with this awesome of a cast, it would've been SO good to see more of all of them.

Very much agree about Edge - some good things about it, like getting to see more of our old school favs - but it was such an unnecessary complication to the main game (literally or just in terms of airtime).

Still upset about the boot order, years later though, not gonna lie. 😂😂

I know HvV is widely considered the best season, and I truly loved that season, but WaW hit different for me. I felt like I got to really know each of these people at a deeper level. I cried multiple times, especially watching Ethan’s journey and during the family visits. I was also really touched by the connections these players formed with each other.
I was even happy with the winner (I was NOT happy with the HvV winner). I got the entire experience from this season, it is definitely the best one in my eyes.

This is the season where I feel like people realize what this game is, a game. Every person wants to be at the end with 3, and they plan on getting their with the lessons they learnt throughout life. SPOILER WARNING!! It shows that the people you learn from are the ones you want to beat 🪘

idk why people say tony was the obvious winner half way through this season. sarah had just as good of a resume and I figured it was gonna be coming down to those 2 it wasnt obvious who would win between them

Spoiler review






OMG SO HAPPY TONY WON I CRIED of pure joy 😭

Now this theme was Low profile vs high profile with old school vs new mix together. Tony was spot on and told everyone and no one listen.

First off I was getting angry Nat was getting votes like wtf not again 😡 please fix the edge it terrible. Now this was better than the first time cuz the fire tokens and they did more BUT The edge is extremely cheesy 🧀. Nobody should come back so late. Nat came back around 6 bruhhh 💀 NO JUST NOOO. That soooo late and destroy everything. It should be merge and again when there 12-10 but that it. 6 is hella LATEEEEE. Hated it so much. The fact Nat came late and almost won WTF 🤬 I didn’t want her to win not cuz I hate her but the the system itself is terrible.

Now with Michelle I also believe her 1st season she didn’t deserve the win cuz she didn’t, there are a handful who honestly didn’t deserve just not her. Now this season she was a amazing. She was so impactful. Tony and Michelle had the most screen time and if Tony didn’t win I wanted Michelle to win cuz she made it up with this season cuz she played her ass off. Again didn’t deserve her first season but she double it on this so happy for her.

I like this season but it was annoying the low-profile were making the high profile voted off and no one notice. Made me hate Sophie for no reason lol

This season hmmm 🤔 idk if it top 5 maybe top 15. It was really good and the whole everyone was wild with tribal just crazy.

There so much to say but Survivor still the Goat 🐐

Im satisfied with the final 3. But im more impressed with michelle and natalie since tony and his posey had numbers so its impressive when the ones with no allies makes it through 😂 and michelle wasnt riding coattails and flipping like kim or denise… but i was really rooting for natalie. She shouldve kept ben and denise and got rid of sarah like denise will flip had she told her she has the idol lol and get rid if tony next vote after sarah leaves if he doesnt win or had ben challenged tony in the fire challenge…

{[.

I think the way to fix the edge is very easy, have none return from it and the people there play a separate game as we saw and at the end one of them gets voted ( by the AUDIENCE ) to receive a smaller prize, that way the people who deserved to win but got unlucky would still get something and it would fix a lot of issues without sabotaging the integrity of the main game

I think the edge made sense for this season, and this was the time I enjoyed it. I think it gave us so much more time to see our favourites and get more iconic moments. I really enjoy the twist for this season. However, I hated it the first time it was done. I do like the entire cast getting a chance to vote for the winner and tell their stories, I found it unnecessary for the first season it was on. The second time for me, it made sense to have around. I agree longer episodes could’ve definitely done it justice, and wish they had done that.

All in all this season is fantastic. I’m not a big tony fan at all, but I respect that it was his season to lose. Just wish my favs had lasted a little longer, which is why I liked EoE, but overall it was really strong. I love it

Great job with this video! This was an epic season, I love Tony and the game he played. It was hard to watch Jeremy fight so hard to stay in the game.

I thought the season was very entertaining, though as someone who is bigger fan of the more methodical old school vs the hyper-focused, everyone is playing at day 1 new school, I was very annoyed to watch all my favorites go so early. Rob's my favorite all-time player and I was so mad watching him use his smart but obvious tactic which got him the boot and I was super bummed Yul didn't make the merge. I think Tony did great and is a deserving winner, I just really would have liked to see the merge have several big players going after one another rather than Tony, Kim, and several under the radar players.
I think the Edge of Extinction is dumb and does eat up a lot of time, but for this season I think it worked because we get more time with all the players and they get those satisfying endings.

Tony is the Goat, the best overall player.

Tony was fun to watch hustler but parvaty is so cute and flirty and manipulative Natalie very tough come back kid deserved to win the girls should have bikini dance and fish fry on beach to celebrate at end be fun may be Jeff will do it next time

I honestly feel like the old school slaughter was just coincidence. With the exception of Danni and Ethan I don’t think that any of them were targeted for being old schoolers.

I found this season extremely boring. Pretty much nothing exciting or iconic happened. At all.

Runner’s-Up Island would be a good time I think.

Edge wasn't the best but Adams reaction when Wendel hurdlers over the gap in trail in the coconut challenge was hilarious. Top 3 greatest Season of survivor

Lol you used chicken isle from sea of thieves.

I'm pretty sure Tony went out second or third in game changers and they were on separate tribes how is cops R' us three for three

90 minute episodes wouldn’t have been that big of an ask. This show still sells advertising absurdly even after 20 years – and did particularly for this special season. CBS acquired “Ten” - the channel/Network which plays “Australian Survivor” on it over there and they air 2-3 episodes a week in a 25/26 episode season.

Your take on the edge is SOOOOO accurate

Living the dream on pandarosa.
Swinging for the fences like samisosa.

I know this is from a year ago, but I just got done watching the season, the secret scenes and ponderosas, and deep diving into player interviews / AMAs, etc. and have SO MANY thoughts. IMO, with the exception of a few really fun or cool moments, the season was just such a bummer and let-down for me and I really wanted to understand why, I think the boot-order, and only the most uncharismatic winners remaining seemed to be a huge problem for me. Sarah's winning season was massively underedited, as was Sophie's and Michelle's and Wendell's. Jeremy and Nick's seasons were both great, but I felt like there was a lot we didn't get to see. Ben's winning game felt majorly rigged, and to a lesser extent so did Tony's to me. Whereas oldschool winners, and Natalie and Tyson, get such big and bold and fair (seeming) edits in their winning seasons that they're clearly defined. So it was just much more exciting to see well-defined oldschool winners play and so much more depressing when they'd leave.

I think WAW tried their hand at WAY too many things when it should've been the most tried-and-true season ever. Here are some problems I noticed with the show, outside of casting/editing/Jeff being cringe:

1. Way too many players have said that knowing about the Edge AND knowing in advance that their children would be at their seasons loved ones, made almost the entire cast far too cautious and unwilling to make a move. Both Kim and Tyson have explicitly said that if there was no edge and it was regular loved ones visit, that their seasons gameplay would've been radically more risky. Even Tony keeps his cool until post-loved ones visit. Beyond the fact that The Edge is inherently broken, unfair, wastes screentime, etc. it ACTIVELY encouraged worse gameplay. (and while I get that it was nice to see the children of the winners, I really think this should've been kept a secret and worked out with the families during filming without the winners knowing first.) Similarly, if the cast had more wildcard winners (J.T., Mike, Fabio) maybe some chaotic gameplay could've emerged early on.

2. Fire Tokens weren't remotely fleshed out, were overwhelming, and just a waste of time and players brain space. Players like Michelle and Nick were hoarding fire tokens for no reason, it sunk numerous players games (Sandra, Parvati, Yul, Wendell, Nick), and other oldschool players like Danni have said that it was just one too many things that made the season feel overwhelming. Probst bucks actively led to fan favorites losing out and the ONLY decent fire token moment of the whole season was the Tony-extortion. Hell, fire tokens is why Ben gave up, because he realized he had zero shot of winning since he never got any tokens ever.

3. The initial tribe breakdown absolutely sucked. Much like how All Stars would've been much better as a Winner tribe* VS Runner Up tribe VS Longshot tribe, in order to ensure at least some popular players make the merge or how Gamechangers should've been "Gamechangers VS People Who Need to Change Their Game", WAW really should've divided their starting tribes by something OTHER than arbitrary breakdowns. Divide the tribes by era, or even by gender, and the dynamics would've been so much more fascinating. It would've guaranteed at least SOME popular oldschoolers made the merge. Or better yet, if it was a 24 person season - three tribes of eight, "oldschool VS middleschool VS newschool".
(* = Vecepia and Brian would've both needed to be on the season to have a 6 person winner tribe, but back then both winners wanted to be on the season and Vecepia was an alternate - still a shame Jenna had to quit when Vecepia was willing and able to play.)

4. The cast. While I am actively fine with most of the cast, there were just so many iconic winners left out. If ever there was a time for a 24, 26, or even 28 person cast THIS SEASON was the moment. There's been fourteen women winners and of the four who were left out (Tina, Vecepia, Jenna, Natalie White) at least three said they wanted to play on WAW but neither Jenna/Vecepia were invited and Tina was an alternate. Natalie White is apparently "off the grid" but CBS could've found her if they tried hard enough. So many iconic dude winners left off the season too - but I felt especially bad for Hatch, Earl, Tom, Chris D., and Bob as all five are getting older fast and won't be able to play the next all-winners season in 10-20 years. Hatch was the victim of a really unfortunate 17-year-old Sue Hawk accident where CBS is more to blame than he is, and Earl's wife went into early labor, so I at least sort of understand why Hatch/Earl didn't play. But I feel bad for Tom and Bob, feels downright disrespectful that neither of them were even considered, and especially feel bad for Chris D. since Jeff has always hated him for no good reason at all and he always would've been a great fit for either HvV or WaW. J.T. and Mike and Fabio could've all been good wildcards for mixing things up as well, although I suppose Ben was an accidental wildcard all season long.

5. The cash winnings. The entire cast is either millionaires, or like Adam invested for their future. I actually think 2 million dollars for a grand prize was insultingly small for this group of players. I think if the cash prize was 5, or hell even 10, million dollars we would've seen some truly cut throat gameplay. Especially since so many winners seemed to be playing for other winners they were aligned with. Would Ben really have thrown in the towel? Would Denise really have checked out? Would Amber really have been content to just try and send Brob advantages from the Edge? I doubt all of these things so much.

6. Mandatory Fire Making and the reformatted jury both do not work. Reformatted jury encourages nothing but gamebot discussions, when there's more to Survivor than that, and specific players talk SO MUCH MORE than others it really always feels like just a time for alphamales to vent - many winners didn't even say anything in the edit! Meanwhile, while Mandatory Fire Making was very climatic, in seasons 35-39 it absolutely was not and never should've kept going this far - Tony didn't really "play" the game until after the loved ones visit, but using an idol and four immunity necklaces, he didn't need to use social skills in the endgame. I would've been FAR more impressed with Tony had he kept Sarah loyal for a 2-2 tie split, or somehow gotten the 3-1 vote target to be someone other than himself. Mandatory fire making basically makes it so nobody actually has to PLAY Survivor at Final four, much in the same way Final Threes make it so players have one less vote to worry about.

Overall i'm just so so disappointed. And of course, the season has some of the worst editing and music in the show's history, and the Edge/Tokens take up an unbelievable amount of screentime. I'm just... so disappointed. Shoutout to Natalie Anderson. Sophie, and Michelle for all kicking so much ass though! And shout to Kim and Nick for being the biggest letdowns ever lmao

It’s sad that Michelle’s reason to come out wasn’t just because she loves the game but that she felt like she needed to show the world she deserved winning her season. I don’t understand why people have to hate on winners, like the game is so hard that if they win then they did deserve to win. The jury believed she deserved to win and that’s the point of the game.

A hyped up season that just didn't deliver. Everyone who was there deserved to be there, but the boot order was terrible as expected. The season essentially centered around new/old school players and every single old school player was picked off either pre-merge or shortly afterwards, leaving a somewhat less appetizing cast for the remaining of the season. Tony deserved his win though, but considering it was likely the final time we'll be seeing some of these players (Rob, Parvati, Yul, Ethan), it was an awful sendoff for some of Survivors biggest players.

Winners at war would have been great if the initial tribes were Old School Vs. New School

Mark B. must be disappointed on who won because he was rooting for old school contestants but to be completely honest the reality show is boring

edge of extinction is not entertaining until something is given to them, except its monotonous and brutal and kinda makes me just feel bad. yes you'll be surviving out here for 39 days ideally but oh man redemption island had stakes. my first season was RI :( edit: perhaps more than 1 or 2 people should return from the edge. it would be spicy and fun

Tony comes in and casually plays the best single season anyone has ever had in the history of survivor against all veteran winners

As a new fan, honestly I was gonna watch the premiere to see how all the returning players would interact and play, and then the next thing I know I’d binge watched the whole season. The only regret I have is spoiling myself with Tony winning but nonetheless enjoyed seeing how he the win. With it being the first ever season I’ve watched I thought it was near perfect. Yeah it had flaws but I think the pros outweighed the cons. Gonna disagree with your take on EOE since I personally liked it.

It should’ve been Natalie. Not just because she worked her ass off for it but also how funny would it be for her to be the first one out and win. Almost like her blood v water season

A few months ago, I saw Peridiam's video on Survivor players who hacked challenges and because of those videos, I started watching the show. Today, I just finished Winners at War and I just really want to thank you, Peridiam, for bringing this show into my life and making my days stuck at home a lot better. <3

Fantastic analysis Peridiam; I'm a big fan of all your survivor and big brother videos.
I disagree with one thing though; you may dislike Edge of extinction but I love it. It's one of my favorite twists, slightly better than Redemption island.

If Natalie threw herself into the fire making challenge vs. Tony and wins, she would’ve been 2 million dollars richer. (Or 1.4 million after Trump takes it)

I reckon we'll all be happy to see the back of EoE for a while... but I do agree that it did give closure for this season alone

I also feel like we don't get to see enough in episodes for proper storyline, plot and even just entertainment value. Survivor US really should increase runtime to 1h30min like Australia. Or at the very least have a dedicated uncut episode on YT for the die-hards

Winners at war feels like the end of an era kind of like heroes vs villains

Ugh Tyson is the worst

I actually really liked the edge of extinction twist since it gave power to those who were on the outs by having their allies who were voted off help them. I think it would be terrible if the cast is boring though. Honestly I was still pretty invested in it because it would impact the play completely, I rather contestants choose who gets the advantages and disadvantages than just being hidden in like a napkin or something. This way you have to make sure that you have a good social game, in which, even if you blindside someone they still might like you enough to potentially help you. I think if it is genuinely your strategy to go to extinction first and come back with a boat load of advantages then that could be considered a very creative game strategy. It does circumvent most of the social game which is the backbone of the show, but it's a huge risk to leave your fate to a challenge even with multiple advantages so you can't say it isn't ballsy. I think the problem is that no one even considered this strategy because extinction sucks so much, if it had been the case that this had been Natalie's case instead of what actually happened, that would have looked very different in the resume. I know how important the social game is but I think a game is always better the more routes you have as long as none of them are broken.

The fire tokens turned the season into the board game of 13 13 dead end drive

Ngl I was skipping some of the merged Sele lol. Didn't really care for that dynamic much.

Entertaining season, but I hated the tony win. I was rooting for nick or Sara to go all the way.

Michelle is the only player not to get her torch snuffed and played for the most number of days. Queen

My heart still hurts that parv didn't win HvV.

Ben and Denise are the disappointment of the season. This is winners at war go for it! Both of them quit the game that's what I hate about this season. You have all the old school that really want to win and this two just decide to quit.

It would have been hard for this season to be good or like the winner if the 3 finalist was Natalie, Mitchelle and Ben in the case where Ben beat Tony in fire because of Natalie.
As well as hard for juror and audience to like it.

Ppl dun really want to vote for Nat bcuz she's a returnee. Even though she did play well but she was in no danger of being voted out after being voted out first.

Ppl dun want Ben to win or vote for Ben coz of the way he treated ppl. And the way he played.

Some of the ppl disrespect Mitchelle even though she has to play from the bottom and get all the way to the end and how hard it was.

Nothing against Mitchelle and Natalie.

They should have had 3 tribes separated by season 1-13, 14-26, and 27-39. That way u dont have just 2 old schoolers on each tribe being voted off by the 4 new schoolers JS

I hated the fire token twist because I hate an abundance of advantages/cheat codes. Sandra definitely overestimated their value too, which is fair as they were a mystery gimmick. Maybe if you could spend three fire tokens to neutralize a jury vote or bring them to the challenge to pay for a partially built puzzle or an extra 15 seconds I would like them better.