Survivor : Why Do They Cast Useless People Like CC and Sunday?

It boggles my mind that without fail, every single season has a slew of completely useless people that suck at challenges and seem to just sit around camp and do nothing. Are there seriously not enough audition tapes that you can't find some more active and physically fit people from whatever age group you are trying to fill?

I mean David is a complete waste of space from a challenge standpoint as well. I would choose a preschool toddler over him for any athletic endeavor, but at least he is using his mind to the best of his abilities.

Watching CC back at camp thinking she was immune from tribal and just gonna coast on into the finals (ignoring they have to actually win some challenges to not all get voted off) was embarrassing.

David sucked worse in challenges. Including puzzles. And he made one of the worst screw ups in a challenge ever.

David isn't smart. He's irrational and impulsive.

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David sucked worse in challenges. Including puzzles. And he made one of the worst screw ups in a challenge ever.

David isn't smart. He's irrational and impulsive.

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Defending your race again? David at least is playing the game. CeCe and Sunday are complete wastes.

As for David, I probably would have voted him out before CC, just because he is a paranoid player. I would not want to babysit him, plus he sucks at challenges. But that being said if I were casting I would cast David, but not cast CeCe or Sunday.they made awful tv.


ZING!

Watch Australian Survivor if you want to see competent casting.

Survivor US had competent casting in the beginning too. Just wait until Aus has a few more seasons. You'll start seeing the quality of players change because they'll have those demographic tv tycoons meddling in the casting process once it gains a profitable following.

If all contestants were fit and athletic - no way Id watch the show

I think it's because they try to have "a geek" and "a mother" and similar "types" in each season. They don't try to cast 20 fit and active people, they aim to have cast as much diverse as possible.

Exactly. So everyone watching the show can relate to someone playing it. Therefore, they enjoy the show more

I think it's probably to make the game more entertaining, if it was all athletic people it would be sports show, while the survivor game should be more of a social experiment. I know some people only watch it for the contests, but to me most of the fun is actually the interaction between the different types of people. I'm not a particularly sporty or fit guy, but my favorites this season since Mari went home has been Ken and Michaela, they're very different from me but they're still the ones I find most interesting on the show. That they're both fit is just a coincidence, Mari was a gamer but I'd put her in the same group. And some of the people are really fit but not likeable at all, like that bimbo Figgy was hooking up with, or Figgy for that matter.

I agree that neurotic guy is hopeless, but he's more entertaining than many others on the show, and although he might not be doing great on the island he seems to be one of the ones that did best for himself off the island. So no matter how helpless he seems out there he must have some quality that let him do good in real life, would be cool if the show would help us figure out what that quality is. It's one of the things I really like about Survivor, it puts people in an environment where their strengths and weaknesses become easily recognizable, but his is still a bit of a mystery. It also makes us, the viewers, have to think about things differently. For example, nobody likes a liar, but if someone is really good at it you might be forced to see it as an asset in the game. Many traits we as a society condemn are actually survival traits, and they're still with us for that very reason. If they were actually bad they would have been eradicated from the gene pool millions of years ago, but instead those traits flourished and became who and what we all are as humans.

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think it's because they try to have "a geek" and "a mother" and similar "types" in they aim to have cast as much diverse as possible.

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Good point. But it's so infuriating seeing people like CC stall in the water like a one legged dog trying to dog paddle backwards. And I'm so damn tired of Survivor casting black people that can't swim! I've been swimming since I was 3 and I ain't the only one, damnent!

Why even show up if you can't compete at anything remotely physical?! Sunday sucks too! I don't mind the David's because at least like some mentioned, he still tried to play the game..sometimes too much. But he didn't just sit around like he was in a church lunchroom waiting for a crochet club meeting.

And it further pied me off that all the lames were on my Generation. We are not that effn lame! Cast a mom that can dive, run, swim and kick a! I know a FEW!

Because you're talking about her, and so are a lot of people. That's why she deserves her spot on the show. The same reason goes to neurotic trainwreck like David, horny young couple, socially awkward nerds, notorious villains, manipulative witches and so on. They make great tv.

"They make great tv"

No that is literally the complete opposite of my point. They don't make great TV. They are just wastes of space.

Unfortunately, the show runners of reality tv think otherwise.
I once read an interview of a contestant from another reality show revealing the secret of how these shows casting their stars.
They basically have a set of personality profiles and they pick people whose personality fits. It's actually not random during their casting process.
And don't get me start on the editing. From I've learned(not just Survivor), it's shady as hell.

This season of Survivor has been doing pretty well in ratings, so by TV standards. That's great TV.


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But CeCe and Sunday are not the reasons for the ratings. They barely get/got screen time

from the very beginning the show has cast people that were a mix of skilled and unskilled survivors. That's part of the fun for me. I find it fun to see who has it and who doesn't every season.

I laugh at the incompetent people admired the skilled, but I really love it when the so-called super competent players end up being really stupid or physically inept. Like the athletes that can barely complete a challenge or the geniuses that can't complete a puzzle. It's also fun to be surprised by the ones that surprise me at their physical prowess, like Jane from Nicaragua and Michaela in this season. I though Michaela was going to be one of the delicate diva types; she's an Amazon so far. Lol

The Aussie Survivor sounds interesting, but I'd get bored with perfect people doing perfect things. there's enough TV shows on those types. I like the fish out of water element.

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from the very beginning the show has cast people that were a mix of skilled and unskilled survivors. That's part of the fun for me. I find it fun to see who has it and who doesn't every season.

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Exactly. That's a big part of the charm. Who wants to see every single contestant excel at everything?

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I would choose a preschool toddler over him for any athletic endeavor

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I think you've just unintentionally come up with a brilliant idea for a new hit reality show.
Survivor Junior: Toddlers VS Preschoolers.
Each kid starts the game with 1 blanket, 2kg of powdered milk and 3 nappies.
LET THE GAMES BEGIN!

It's been done > "Lord of the Flies".

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You have meddled with the primal forces of nature, and YOU WILL ATONE!

They were not toddlers and preschoolers. But thanks for the input.

They cast a variety of different people. Whenever they've recruited mostly fitness enthusiasts and models, the cast is typically very boring and people don't like it. Look at Big Brother. There's typically zero diversity in recent years and the casts have been mostly terrible.

Since when are models the only types of people on Earth that know how to swim?

You don't have to be a fitness enthusiast, but there should be some minimum level of competency required with regard to swimming, running, jumping and whatever else.

What is the point of having people be so bad at the game that they get "subbed out" whenever possible?

And on that note, why the hell was Will sitting out the latest IC that was entirely swimming based in favor of Sunday?

A Every season there are only a few that have no level of competency in anything. most of the others are competent in other ways. Some physical, some social, some mental, etc. Many winners have been people that weren't competent simmers, runners,jumpers, and whatever else This isn't simply a physical game. It's mote complex than that. It's about surviving against all odds, including social, mental toughness, game twists, overcoming dumb mistakes and personal obsatacles, and overcoming limitations.

This isn't like the Olympics or the Eco Challenge. It's not about the best against the best. Overcoming incompetence is as much a part of the game as being competent and having challenges come easy to you. It's about seeing who's good or becomes good enough to make it to the end and get the votes. It's also about seeing who fails and how quickly.

I always think that if I'm ever casted on this show, I'd try to prepare like practice swimming fast, do some cardio, hone my balancing skills and learn to build a fire. I wonder if abby off the contestants ever do that

There has to be a certain number of premerge boots, so they cast some people unlikely to make it, to have wiggle room for the players who are viable enough to go far.

So they have a few who are not really fit for the long haul, to serve as early boots, so the good players can get their feet wet in the game, make some mistakes, learn some lessons, without getting booted early.

Gee Woodle, Space Kadoodle!

I wondered the same thing. Maybe they just didn't show us enough of CC?? But I felt the same as you she did not make for compelling television AT ALL. Give me a train wreck any day of the week over someone boring like Cc.

I see it as if all players were competent and useful, who would get voted out early? Who would there be for the amazing players to contrast against? Also, I never thought anyone was ever useless, since everyone has a vote. A member of an alliance, a swing vote, a potential flip

Besides, there's no telling how their audition tapes went if they were loud and interesting, if they demonstrated any skills, either physically or mentally. Just because we see nothing of them now, it doesn't mean they didn't stand out when producers were choosing contestants. You never know.

You also don't know how much editing omits. They're trying to create a specific narrative, and stuff 3-4 full days worth of tape into only an hour. Sunday and CC could've very well been conspiring and planning, talking more, even helping a lot around camp, only it never shows it because they're not part of the narrative at this moment.

I didn't get the vibe that CC ever thought she was immune. She was close to going home before. I think she might've just put too much trust into David, since they were in an alliance before.

Also, Survivor is only somewhat about being physically fit. There have been winners who weren't fit at all. It's much more mental/social than it is physical.

It's also mind boggling when they did the beauty tribe, not a single one had any beauty about them.

??

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It's also mind boggling when they did the beauty tribe, not a single one had any beauty about them.

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??

Useless people???
Check out the spelling, grammar & proof-reading geniuses who've been participating on these discussions!

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Check out the spelling, grammar & proof-reading geniuses who've been participating on these discussions!

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I think I just found one.