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"The PMS ratings: Gabon"

Posted by Estee on 12-16-08 at 07:49 AM
LAST EDITED ON 12-16-08 AT 07:51 AM (EST)

Rank this season's contestants on a 1-10 scale in the following categories:

Physical includes: performance in activity-based challenges (and public perception as a challenge threat), the amount of gruntwork contributed to the tribe, raw strength and endurance.

Mental incorporates: understanding of both the game's dynamics and the players in it, logic-based plays, performance in mental-based challenges, innovation, knowledge of local environment and hazards, idol usage (where applicable), raw intelligence and perception.

Social can factor in: the ability to construct and maintain alliances, emotion-based plays, food providing (more of a social play than anything else), relationships with other players, raw charisma and presence.

If you want to see how people have ranked prior winners, the original PMS thread is at http://community.realitytvworld.com/boards/DCForumID4/4755.shtml

This season's full cast:

Michelle Chase
Gillian Larson
Paloma Soto-Castillo
Jacquie Berg
Danny "GC" Brown
Kelly Czarnecki
Ace Gordon
Dan Kay
Marcus Lehman
Charlie Herschel
Randy Bailey
Corinne Kaplan
Crystal Cox
Ken Hoang
Matty Whitmore
Jessica "Sugar" Kiper
Susie Smith
Robert "Bob" Crowley


Rank 'em. And rank on 'em at the same time if you feel like it. It makes the numbers easier to justify.


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"RE: The PMS ratings: Gabon"
Posted by Estee on 12-16-08 at 08:53 AM
LAST EDITED ON 12-16-08 AT 11:16 AM (EST)

Remember: these are really subjective. Early boot numbers especially so, as they're being judged on the little bit of their game we saw.

Michelle Chase: 6-4-3. Such a sweet, charming young lady. She was so sweet and so charming, she convinced her tribe to keep Gillian over her. (Now that's talent.) Arguably would have devolved into Corinne Jr. if given enough time, which makes you wonder why the producers thought we needed two.

Gillian Larson: 4-4-5. Typical strengthen-the-tribe, wasn't-it-great-just-to-be-here early stage victim. You could practically put 'Generic Second Boot' here and few people would argue, except for the ones who would be surprised she managed to make it that far in.

Paloma Soto-Castillo: 4-5-6. Those cast to be America's Sweetheart had better be able to pull their weight in the tribal stage, or all the smiling and giggling they do is going to charm all the hotel servers in Sequesterville. Not the worst person there, but not the best for challenges and while liked by a few, didn't have the alliances she needed to stay in.

Jacquie Berg: 6-5-6. For all that we saw of her prior to her removal, might have had a little potential -- but you can't judge someone on what they might have done. Just about a mystery boot: we learned more about her in the recap than we did during the series. Likely cast as a select brand of eye candy with some physical potential, but never got the chance to come through -- or do much of anything else.

Danny "GC" Brown: 3-3-3. I may be giving him too much credit. Challenges? Quit in the middle of them. Leadership? Quit on that. His alliances? Well, at least he's consistent. And the game? What do you think? A total waste of a casting slot, whether applicant or recruited -- and either way, whoever brought him in deserves to be Brazil's designated Challenge Test Dummy. Would have been less useless to his tribe if he'd died: at least then they could have eaten him. Not that there would have been much heart to cook. Or brain.

Kelly Czarnecki: 5-5-5. How did she last as long as she did? Tribal switches, more tribal switches, still more tribal switches, and higher priorities before her. Just about a perfectly forgettable player. (Who was she again?)

Ace Gordon: 7-6-6. If he was as good as he thought he was, this scale would have to go to 11. A subset of Kenny with more physical talent: thought he controlled everything right up until the moment when he didn't any more. Could be taken out of his game by the most minor unexpected events: in retrospect, may have been the only player who would have fallen for Randy's false call. Tried to make ego into both weapon and shield, then had nothing to compensate with when it was knocked out of his hands. Probably should have gone farther than he did, but Sugar was the vote wild card -- and he was too confident in his control of her. Gee, how many people made that mistake?

Dan Kay: 7-4-4. All you need to know about his mental game is that the man tried to dig a crater in the surface of a lake: his social one can be summed up by his being the most obvious boot in the world for his current tribe at that stage, up to six billion people could have figured it out -- and to him, it was pretty much a blindside. Proved once and for all that you don't automatically have to be smart to be a lawyer: you just have to pass the bar exam. Could contribute in physical challenges: otherwise, did a really good job of consuming rice. And wore a tie to TC. We can't forget that, can we? No matter how much we try.

Marcus Lehman: 7-4-7. Had his own tribe convinced that he needed to be kept for a little while into the individual stage despite his being a challenge threat, managed to temporarily bond with I-hate-everybody-including-you Corinne, and would have gotten deeper into the game if not for Susie's switch -- but he threw away the idol that would have saved him. It's beautifully ironic. It's also amazingly stupid. Retrospect isn't part of this: you never give up the chance at Immunity once it appears. You can hand it to someone else, you can go out with it in your pocket -- but throwing it away, while an interesting Social move, is the Mental agenda of a game-moron. Raw IQ doesn't always translate into game smarts, and for this environment, Marcus turned out to be an idiot.

Charlie Herschel: 5-6-7. Could have turned into nature's perfect tagalong: not enough of a challenge threat or weakness to dump, some ability to keep an eye on the others, and liked by nearly everyone around him until Ken somehow managed to turn him into the Brains Behind Everything, which made no sense to anyone else because the only thing Charlie was ever behind added up to 'Marcus'. Probably would have been a classic F5 boot in a more traditional game, as he was starting to evolve into a solid jury threat. The editing made him into a subset of Marcus, which was a crime in itself: when someone goes out this late, we should have some sense of who they are.

Randy Bailey: 5-7-4. Really wasn't the worst social player in the world: fit into Kota so seamlessly after the tribe switch that he might as well have started out there -- a trick very few players have ever come close to performing. But part of the S rating is the ability to read people and tell how your actions are causing them to react -- and in that, he's one of the weakest in series history. Had a pretty strong idea of the game and some small concept of the people in it, but couldn't use the information for anything. Voted based on a cookie: a cookie. A bratty seven-year old plotting revenge for endless spankings who somehow managed to convince himself that yes, the Nohawk was the perfect visual expression of his deep loathing for humanity. Gawds help us all, he'll probably make the next All-Stars...

Corinne Kaplan: 4-4-1. That's right: I just gave out a 1. I give out 1s about as often as I hand out 10s. But the ratings are the totality of that player's game, including the jury -- and until she opened her mouth in front of Sugar, Corinne was a solid 5 for Social: had extremely solid relationships with a number of players, totally alienated anyone on the outside of that circle. That's a fair 5. But then she decided she wanted to be the most hated player ever -- and didn't think about what would happen after the show. Social to 1 (and Mental from 6 to 4), because you're going to be the one thing you can't ever stand: ignored.

Crystal Cox: 3-4-6. Receives a Social boost because her alliance with Ken was true, strong, sincere, and arguably destined for F3 if Ken had been anywhere near as smart as he thought he was: that was more of a friendship than a simple partnering. Had a talent for going off at the wrong times over the silliest things (don't tell me to eat!), but was generally forgiven by anyone who wasn't Sugar or Randy -- so while loud and abrasive at times, didn't really suffer for it until she was handed a one-woman 'bully' edit: that takes some social skill. Was not playing down her physical strengths to look like less of a challenge threat: really, truly and simply svcked. No real credit for a mental game because she was just smart enough to let Kenny do the thinking for her -- and ultimately, that wasn't the best move.

Ken Hoang: 3-7-5. Thinks he's 4-10-7, and that's just about all you'd ever need to know about him. Control freak without the cheat codes in hand: had to have a part in every boot, had to have the others suspect him as the mastermind without being able to do anything about, and merrily sailed into the hubris edit waters with a yo-ho-ho while getting drunk on his own ego. Somehow managed to jump his own internal shark with a battle cry of 'How dare you not let me betray you!': could lie to anyone, but no one was allowed to lie to him. Let everything go to his head until the others started operating over it, which wasn't the furthest reach. Ultimately blinded by his perception of himself as puppermaster: everyone else just saw him as 'victim'. Guess who was right?

Matty Whitmore: 6-3-7. A perfectly nice meathead with no malice in him, not to mention a near-empty slot in the field of actual play. Wouldn't be a bad guy to hang out with if you could stand the total lack of intellectual conversation and his loyalty makes him a decent catch for his future spouse -- but it also made him into a truly crappy juror. Didn't figure out he was fifth in a five-person alliance until it was thrown in his face, not to mention that he was only there to defend against the awesome challenge force that was Bob. Sugar did the thinking for him out of mercy. Carried through the tribal stage as a physical necessity, rode along into individual as a spare part to be disposed of at any time. And could have won because he didn't offend anyone (except Crystal). Now there's a game for future players to emulate...

Jessica "Sugar" Kiper: 5-7-4. Sometimes displayed an idiot savant's understanding of how the game worked and could be manipulated in her favor -- but with absolutely no comprehension of how those moves could ultimately backlash on her, and a total lack of caring about it until the F4 vote hit. Social rating is pulled up to a four because those who liked her really did, while those who hated her voted for anyone else. Often seemed to be influenced by the wing motions of nearby butterflies. Occasionally displayed a love of offending people on a Corinne-like level: the laughfest at Randy's ouster is retroactively one of the stupidest moves in series history. Gained too much protection from a single idol that no one could figure out how to negate -- but that's the fault of those around her. Arguably the character of the season, but not a winner -- and could never play to be one.

Susie Smith: 3-4-4. Knew when to flip, and that is the only thing keeping her Mental rating out of the basement. Annoyed the living hell out of everyone she was around and everyone who had to watch her. Played 'useless' as a strategy and did it so well, it got her three votes, two of which should have gone to Sugar -- if anyone on that jury had been capable of casting based on actual play. A prime F3 sacrificial victim in any other season whose only purpose in casting was to fill out a boot slot. Two Immunity wins, one of which was an embarrassment to everyone else, with the second hopefully humiliating the challenge design staff. Will make a future All-Stars shortly after she reincarnates, plays again, and does something. But hey -- at least she applied.

Robert "Bob" Crowley: 7-7-8. Arguably the second-weirdest challenge threat we've ever had, but collected his wins against a considerably weakened pool. Had one great idea on how to potentially influence the game, but then allowed other people to dictate how that move should be made. Won through Immunity triumphs, a tiebreaker toasting, being next to a pair of F3 goats (one of whom was group-declared to have horns) and the fact that someone just really and truly liked him -- enough to decide that if she was going to lose to someone, this was the person she'd rather forfeit the million to. One of the all-time charmers for the series, at least post-edit to the viewers, and an above-average player -- but not a fantastically strong one.


"RE: The PMS ratings: Gabon"
Posted by Fishercat on 12-16-08 at 11:08 AM
LAST EDITED ON 12-16-08 AT 11:42 AM (EST)

General Rules: Running off a base of 3 or 4. You only lose points for serious missteps or continuous problems. 4 is below average, but...

Name - Physical-Mental-Social (Composite) {Composite w/ Socialx2}

Michelle Chase - 5-3-4 (12) {16}
-I'm willing to give her credit for physical skills. Fast up the mountain, looked fit, had to get on for some reason. It's very difficult to judge early boots on much, so her other two are low. Social gets a +1 off my base of 3 because her and Kenny connected early

Gillian Larson - 2-5-4 (11) {15}
-Just too weak in challenges to survive. She annoyed people, but still had a motherish quality to her that is endearing. Gets a 5 for mental just because she has applied at least 16 times, she must know something about the game.

Paloma Soto-Castillo - 5-3-4 (12) {16}
-Sure, looked moderately capable in challenges...but was voted out before anyone else on Kota. Before Kelly even. Yikes.

Jacquie Berg - 7-4-5 (16) {21}
-Credit where credit's due, the first real challenge threat to go due to guilt by association and a great boot at that. Had some good social game, true physical threat, no sign on the mental threat other than being in a majority alliance, +1 for that.

Danny "GC" Brown - 6-4-3 (15) {18}
-Gets the +1 majority alliance, gets a six in physical purely due to potential, we didn't see enough to see if he was pathetic in challenges. Kind of quit though...

Kelly Czarnecki - 3-5-5 (13) {18}
-Gets credit due to jumping from Kota's #8 to higher on Fang's totem poll and surviving a couple weeks. Plus, as Kenny said, she's hot. Inept in challenges, though for some reason I feel 3-5-5 is too low, I can't add anywhere.

Ace Gordon - 7-6-7 (20) {27}
-A significant threat survives in a minority alliance for several weeks and only gets ousted by a blindside. I hate the guy, but he was a strong player and deserves some credit. -1 for SHIELD TO THE FACE, and -1 social for being a douche.

Dan Kay - 5-4-4 (14) {18}
-See Paloma, just not enough there to judge, got voted out instead of Susie.

Marcus Lehman- 8-6-6 (20) {26}
-The Kotas worshipped the ground he walked on and he looked like an early challenge hoss. His moves made sense and, despite being an enormously conceited jerk, he was one of the best the game had. -2 social for underestimating Susie, Kenny, and Crystal all at once and for his air of superiority. His social skills gained him King position and his social skills took it away. -2 for throwing a HII away on mental. What?

Charlie Herschel - 4-6-8 (18) {26}
-Charlie was a nonfactor most of the time in challenges. Socially, everybody liked him it seemed, and he only really got voted out for distancing himself from Kenny (whether the *** comment is true as he puts it, or false as Kenny puts it) and basically ousting the hidden feast Idol. Probably one of the smarter cast members, even with a six.

Randy Bailey - 7-8-5 (20) {25}
-So, how do I give Randy a five in social? Well, he was able to oust Bob from the Kota 4, join a majority alliance as an outsider, and manipulate the emotions of others. He was a huge jerk and conceited, but in the right way, if that makes any sense. Impressive challenge performer on teams, mentally aware of much of what's going on...he was a good contestant.

Corinne Kaplan - 2-4-2 (8) {10}
So, how did she make it this far? Sheer luck. Meanness, underestimation of various players, poor challenge performer, , non-provider, and so on. She was a non-threat and there's no way she could have won this game.

Crystal Cox - 2-7-8 (17) {25}
I think people seriously underrate how Crystal did in this game. She physically was embarassing in all but one challenge (she gets a two for that challenge), but otherwise, I found her impressive. She gets points docked off of mental for yelling at Matty (poor game decision more than social decision), but very entertaining and aligned herself very, very well in this game. Made a big move or two as well.

Ken Hoang - 7-9-5 (21) {26}
My first nine goes to Kenny in mental. Loses a point for his decision to ostracize Matty at F6, but otherwise, everything he did makes sense. He played weak when needed and strong when needed. Very underrated in challenges and I'd say an asset in almost everyone, competitive with Matty and Bob. Social game is a five, he was manipulated several times and that was his downfall, along with conceitedness which is under social

Matty Whitmore - 8-2-6 (16) {22}
I feel weird with this rating. I can't dock any more points, though I don't think he was a good player. Damn charisma getting him a six in social. He was a mental midget in game, not making a single move. Physically, it was wrong place, wrong time for him. Other seasons, he'd win several immunities and it would be a different game, or he'd be on a good tribe. The six in social is entirely for charisma and emotional plays, and little else

Jessica "Sugar" Kiper - 2-4-8 (14) {22}
Well, physical is obvious. She may have been worse than Crystal, her log rolling gets her a two. Mental, obvious again, she was purely an emotional player, very little strategy, and what was there was malicious with no advancement. Social would have been a 9 or a 10...if she got some jury votes and people liked her. Everyone says this was a false edit and I'll believe the bitter. Turning on five allies? She still gets a eight for charisma and playing Kenny, Crystal, and Matty like fiddles.

Susie Smith - 7-8-6 (21) {27}
OK, a seven in physical is a stretch...but two huge challenge wins, competitive in other challenges, generally a good skills player physically. 8 for mental because she DIDN'T ##### UP. She failed to make that one mistake that kills a person that most other players make, and she booted Marcus. In other seasons she could be a six, now she's an 8. Also, I tend to think she was undershown to us, and that she had more to her game than do nothing wrong. Her exit interview with RTVW explains why she said she'd vote for Corrinne: to get the other Kota to have to talk to her. We saw little of social Susie, but she stayed around in key "him or her" boots over Dan and Ken, so there's something there. Plus, having one point over Marcus was my intent.

Robert "Bob" Crowley - 9-5-9 (23) {32}
His mental game was weak. Much like Sugar, he made moves that were lateral or backward instead of forward (and it almost cost him the final vote with Randy), and I saw nothing there. Assuming Susie's boot interview is true and she has no reason to lie about it, apparently Bob was fine at being at the Bottom of the Kota 6, with the "Top Six, does it get any better than that" quote. The fake idol plans were dumb in general. However, a nine for social because it took him to the finals, and a nine in physical because it allowed him the time to use those skills.

So by composite score, all things equal (and they aren't, social seems to be telling), here are the rankings (order in ties determined by finishing order in the game)

1. Bob (23)
2. Susie (21)
2. Kenny (21)
4. Randy (20)
4. Marcus (20)
4. Ace (20)
7. Charlie (18)
8. Crystal (17)
9. Matty (16)
9. Jacquie (16)
11. GC (15)
12. Sugar (14)
12. Dan (14)
14. Kelly (13)
15. Paloma (12)
15. Michelle (12)
17. Gillian (11)
18. Corrinne (8)

Seems to me I should multiply the social score by 2 or so to get a better composite order, no reason guys like Ace, Marcus, and Randy should be above Matty and Sugar (or GC above Sugar), but that's how it worked out.

ETA: I tried this by doubling my social rating, since I tend to be harder on players socially than in the other two categories and I feel it is the most important part of Survivor.

Composite with Enhanced Social

1. Bob (32)
2. Susie (27)
2. Ace (27)
4. Kenny (26)
4. Charlie (26)
4. Marcus (26)
7. Crystal (25)
7. Randy (25)
9. Sugar (22)
9. Matty (22)
11. Jacquie (21)
12. Dan (18)
12. Kelly (18)
12. GC (18)
15. Paloma (15)
15. Michelle (15)
17. Gillian (14)
18. Corrine (12)

Looks a little closer to finish order, with the exception of Ace. I just don't know where else to dock him with Sugar and Matty still a little low, but that's how I view them as players.