I think this is how I'd rank them:

Hors Catégorie:
1- Astralian Outback
2- Borneo

Top of the Class:
3- Amazon
4- China
5- Panama: Exile Island
6- Pearl Islands
7- Vanuatu
8- Marquesas
9- Guatemala

Good Seasons:
10- Fans vs Favorites
11- One World
12- Africa
13- Tocantins
14- Palau
15- All-Stars

Average Seasons
16- Samoa
17- Thailand
18- Fiji
19- Heroes vs Villains
20- Gabon
21- Redemption Island

Bad Seasons:
22- Cook Islands
23- Philippines
24- Nicaragua
25- South Pacific

I can't compare the first two seasons to the others so that's why I put them at the top. They hooked us and the series lasted this long because of them. In two seasons there was only Nick that was somewhat underdeveloped so, even if Borneo's production was lacking at first and the game was rudimentary, these are two gems.

- Amazon was comedy gold, the location was great and the game very interesting. The tribe swap worked like rarely before or after, the new dynamics lasting long after the merge.

- China also had many laughs; Zhan Hu was hilariously dysfunctional while Fei Long had some great clashes. With the editing following the Art of War as its main theme, I simply enjoyed it from beginning to end.

- Panama: This is rather high for a season that used the same location for the third time but Casaya is easily the funniest tribe ever and everyone tried to backstab the other.

- Pearl Island: This was Survivor's finest hour: Production and editing were at their peak and the characters were simply great. I drop it a few ranks only because I hated the Outcast twist at the time. Fire is life was put aside and I hated it but it turned out that it wasn't as ill-conceived as many other twists seen in later seasons.

- Vanuatu: You had to enjoy Chris to like this season and I certainly did. But it wasn't only Chris because there many themes woven into the story and we had some great volcano scenes.

- Marquesas: For the first time we saw the game being played as it was meant to be played. As for the characters, some were underdeveloped but it was only because some were so fun to watch. Sean was robbed: He should have been given the chance to play again.

- Guatemala: Playing the game in the shadows of the Mayan ruins gave this season an unequaled appeal. Watching the fall of the Axis of Evil which paralleled the fall of the Mayan Empire was great and seeing Steph as the mean queen was hilarious.

That's why these stand on top for me.

The bottom 4 have this in common: Not enough laughs and way too many twists. Some had interesting new locations but production did a poor job connecting them to the game.

Ils sont fous, ces Romains!