Most Underrated Seasons in Survivor History: No. 6 – Marquesas
Maybe it’s because it was the fourth season of the show or that people think Vecepia wasn’t a deserving winner (they’re wrong), but for whatever reason, Survivor: Marquesas is labeled as boring and gets left off key lists. This is a shame because Marquesas is not only a fun season but an important one for the show as well.
It was in Marquesas that we saw the first true power shift in Survivor. The Rotu 4 — which was made up of John, Robert, Tammy, and Zoe — looked to be in control of the game after the Rotu tribe entered the merge with a 7-3 advantage. Rob, Sean, and Vecepia were easy pickings, and Rob was taken out at the first tribal council after the merge
Then came a key reward challenge, where the three remaining members of the Rotu alliance not in the foursome figured out where they lay in the pecking order. Sean and Vecepia encouraged those three players — Kathy, Neleh, and Paschal — to turn the tables on their former alliance and that’s exactly what happened.
It went from John standing in front of a waterfall thinking he was on top of the world and in line to win the game to him crying in his final words after getting blindsided and his entire alliance crumbling without him. Marquesas is a very important season for the game of Survivor because of this moment and for that reason alone, it’s an underrated season.
It definitely does get a little boring after John is voted out and the power shifts to the newly aligned fivesome, but the pre-merge provides plenty of entertainment as well (“I need someone who can pee on my hand!”). This was also the season that introduced us to Boston Rob, who has become the biggest name from the show, aside from Jeff Probst, of course.
Another important moment from this season is the fact that Maraamu — who was getting destroyed in the challenges — voted out their strongest player/leader in Hunter in only the third episode. This wasn’t something that happened in the older seasons of the show and it was shocking when that episode aired in 2002.
While the John blindside alone is enough of a reason to make Marquesas a must-watch season, it had plenty to offer and it deserves more respect than it gets, even if the Rosie O’Donnell-hosted reunion was the worst reunion show of all-time.