We liked this season a lot more than I thought we would. The premise certainly lends itself to some terribleness, so I was pleasantly surprised when the most outspoken chauvinists were promptly ejected, made extra-great by the ladies just completely trouncing the men in the first part. Add to that Dave’s angry rebuttal of lying, Alex’s not backing down from Roger’s homophobia, and most people’s support of Christy and this season felt pretty warm and fuzzy for something set up with a battle of the sexes premise.

We watched this a while ago so my memories aren’t ultra-fresh and honestly the season isn’t super-memorable, but these things definitely stood out:

• Rob…the guy was no hero, but I did enjoy watching him. Partially because he really wanted to be a cool calm strategist in the vein of (later) Spencer and Cochran and that mostly worked out unless any other guy did literally anything that impressed any of the girls and then suddenly Rob’s only mission was to get the person voted out.
• JoAnne was upbeat and was an amazing singer, but I have no idea why you would sign up for Survivor if you’re terrified of the idea of touching something called an idol.
• Christy was one of my favorite players and I was glad when the swapped tribe was so welcoming to her. That said, her loss was 100% her doing. I think this was the first case of someone not learning a lesson that also dooms some other favorite players of mine down the road, which is, “If two alliances come to you asking you to join them, you had better tell at LEAST one of them that you’re on board.”
• Jenna seemed fine, but she is maybe the least memorable winner of the 30 or so seasons I’ve watched.