Happy 10th anniversary of Survivor: Guatemala. I don’t know if anyone will do a special podcast, or if they’ll celebrate with any kind of blog post. However, I will try and fill in that gap. (Try. I was just a small time writer for some random podcast and popular on PoS.)
Since I was introduced to the Survivor online fanbase (And is it huge!) I quickly became known for a love of a season that doesn’t seem to get a lot of it. To be honest, I don’t even think it’s really hated even. To be honest, it’s kinda a weird season too. The editing, the returning players, the idol… I really don’t feel like this season is like others. I mean, can you begin to place with early seasons? Where does it fit in with stuff like Pearl Islands, Africa, or even Palau, the season right before it? On the other hand, I don’t think it even fits with later seasons. It’s really the true neutral when it comes to this nonsense of people wanting to sort things into old and new school. Of course, when time shifts, this might be dated a bit. Uhhh….
“But Heather, why is it your favorite season?” You know, I get this question a lot. I usually answer with the fact that it was my first true season that I got to see front to back. With the exception of one and a half episodes (The Brian/Margaret boot was during a Tornado warning and I was really sick during the Amy one) I saw every bit of the season. It was an experience. I really grew on these people. I didn’t know anything about them sides from their first names and jobs, and yet these connections grew. Blake went to school in Tulsa, Brian later name drops Tulsa in a confessional, Cindy loves animals and is a zookeeper… Every week I tuned in to follow just who these people are, and to me that’s a certain kind of special that I can’t even begin to explain.
But wait, there’s more! (Pays royalties to the Billy Mayes Memorial fund) I was 11 when Guatemala first aired. And aside from making some of you feel old for saying that, there is a reason I mentioned that. See, my childhood was never easy. When I got older, my mother returned to drinking and her usual routine of belittling me when it comes down to it. For years I kept that pain bottled up until I made some truly amazing friends in high school that I felt that I can let that all out to. That’s a story of its own, and I don’t have enough time to explain it. The point is, when I was 11, my life was probably at its most normal. I went to a school that was outside of my own district and I had a new baby brother (Who is ten this year. Holy eff) but normal in my relationship with my mother who just came back from rehab and regained custody of me. Survivor later became an anchor of sorts. Whenever I became depressed I would remember last night’s episode, or imagine myself in Survivor, or even google searched for funny Survivor moments which led me to this one site that ultimately got me into the online Survivor based.
How is that such a big deal? Well, my mother and stepdad didn’t want to actually hit me or anything. That would leave marks and such, so whenever they wanted to punish me for something even small, they took away my video games, or my computer, they once even took away my sketchbook. But they never bothered my TV with minimal cable. So, my outlet with Survivor never went away. It did for a while after Micronesia (I didn’t want to watch it because of the lack of Guatemala people) but Tocantins brought me fully back into the fold of things. (Which is why I adore Tocantins too despite all of its flaws that I will gladly admit)
Okay, but why Guatemala again? Well, I was also huge on the Maya. I tended to research (Read: Google binge) on things and the Maya was a huge one. See, my favorite Sonic character was named Tikal (She was in the Sonic Adventure games if you didn’t know. Get those two games they are fantastic btw) which is named after the largest Mayan Ruin. They are amazing too. Also as a trivia, Tikal (the city of course) got name dropped in the “coconut chop” challenge that Cindy won. They stayed near the Tikal national park, but I believe they stayed at the lesser known Yaxha-Nakum one. Point is, I love learning about the Maya. We were also learning even more about them in History class. I’m not sure what normal 11 year olds were interested in, but mine was a group of people that loved human sacrifice, starving people in the middle of a very humid jungle, and chao. (Another Sonic thing. Look it up)
I would also love to add that a lot of people’s first season isn’t there favorite now. For me, Guatemala remains just as fascinating. Another thing I will point out is that was a girl (shocker) whose Grandmother helped raise. I love my grandma and I still talk to her and such (She was just over at my house a few days back in fact) but she was one of my many religious family members that seemed to have a set on what’s for girls and what’s for boys. I would say that, but I grew up as a total tomboy loving to climb trees and such, but I’d never forget the day where I asked my Grandma if I can someday swing from that tree as well as my male cousin (Who is like a brother to me) and she pointed out that he would always be better than me than that because, well he was a boy.
Meanwhile, Guatemala rolls around, the final five had four women in it and Rafe and each of those four women was strong in some way. Even Lydia, whom never seemed to win any challenges, but kept moral up, danced, and became a picture of never giving up. She was amazing. I will also point out Amy, who was tough as nails and despite having that bad ankle also never gave up. I don’t care that she didn’t make the merge, she is still my favorite Survivor after that. Even though she was a bit of a whiner, there is also Stephenie, who was the poster child for survivability (even though I didn’t really know that part. I still love her storyline in Guatemala. Suck it “Palau Steph is so much better” people if you please) Cindy won the car challenge and was also amazing and challenges. She also adored the experience and still talks glowingly about it and how awesome is that? The way she talks about how amazing the experience was makes this pasty, tiny woman who spends most of her time indoors insanely jealous. I’ll also add that this season was extremely tough with the humidity, the bugs, and the brutal challenges that technically everyone was a badass this season.
Finally, we have our winner, Danni. A lot of the weird edit may come from her manipulating a few things to her advantage. Okay, that might be the wrong word for that, but she refused to speak about things to the camera, she gave nonanswers to questions, and I’ve heard stories of her waiting until the cameramen run off to find something more entertaining than a few people just laying around in the heat before she talks to some of her alliance members. I don’t ever feel like “Under the Rader” is a good term for her, more like “Becoming meta to break the radar”. I believe she even described herself as not going under the radar, but beating the radar. She played up anything to her advantage, her height, her allies, even an actual advantage. I thought that she was amazingly resilient, strong, and smart, which when I grew up and entered online, I discovered those were words that described Stephenie during Palau, also known as the “villain” of Guatemala. Like rain on your wedding day maybe? Also she loves me. True story.
Maybe Guatemala doesn’t fit, but maybe I can relate to that. I’ve been called the Guatemala Historian (Pays royalties to Mario Lanza) and even the queen of Guatemala. I’ve had jokes about Guatemalan Gods (which was a thing before the SJDS tribe names were reviled to be named after them) in Survivor Sucks fanfiction and even more. Even though it was due to a time that I was embarrassed by a little later on down the road, I figured it was a great thing to be remembered by. I’ve had people tell me personally that they enjoyed the season after I encouraged a second look. I’ve had Brian thank me for keeping the season out of the dirty corners of Mark Burnet’s basement. (I love that quote) I got to talk to Amy and Jim and they were fantastic. All in all, it is an experience to be one of Guatemala’s well known fan.
In closing, thank you so much for reading this block of text. I hope you got to realize some of my inner workings. If you want to rewatch the season (I hope you do!) Amazon sells the DVD for this season so go look that up. (Or you can do Itunes as well) I want to encourage those that only watch this season once to go through it again with the knowledge that you gain from here or from other outlets. Even though I don’t agree with returning players, I was shocked at the fact that once again, no Guatemala players was asked back for any part of Cambodia. They were passed over for Micro, for HvV, for BvW, for Caramoan… Maybe someday, someone originally from that season will get another chance that actually falls through. (From what I’ve heard, Danni, Amy, Cindy, and Jamie were all considered, even asked, even more even for some of those seasons. Please don’t quote me) They deserve it and even if they are as invisible as Courtney in HvV I will still be happy that one of my favorites got another chance.
Love you guys, here’s to ten more years.
~Heather Nicole.
