Board Thread:Fourty-Two Iconic Moments/@comment-7785749-20141228054954

From twenty-one seasons of our ORG, forty-two of the most iconic moments in its history have been brought together and ranked. Starting at #42, another entry will be posted each day until completion.

"Moments" is a loose term to include any individual moment, overarching storyline, or any other source of notoriety, infamy, or notice.



#42 - Côte Can't Merge (Various Seasons)

#41 - Andrei's Immunity Run (Papua New Guinea, Episodes 8-11)

#40 - Savanes Sucks (Côte d'Ivoire, Episodes 1-7)

#39 - Ashes to Ashes (All-Stars, Episode 6)

#38 - Beyoncé's Divine Intervention (Madagascar, Episodes 12-13)

#37 - A Random Idol Play (Cuba, Episode 7)

#36 - An Anarchic Advent (Anarchy, Episode 2)



#34 - An InZane Tribal Council (AKA Zane Draws the Rock) (Sardinia, Episode 12)

There have been six purple rock drawings in the history of our ORG, and unfortunately, only two made the list. I'm really sorry about that, because each one of them probably is worthy of their own countdown. In honor of this, at the conclusion of the second purple rock entry, I'll give a small tribute to the other four that just couldn't crack the list.

That being said, the rock drawing that did manage to crack the countdown at #34 comes to us from Sardinia. Let's set the scene, shall we?

(This scene being set entirely off of the Sardinia page itself and whatever information I was able to gather from the Sardinia alliance pages, as confessionals are not up.)

We reach the merge, and The Swagliari Six have a majority on the tribe, because not only do they have their numbers, they also have Trevor, who flipped on his original tribe pre-merge, and Tyler, because of tribal lines. This is bad news for Arun, Hazim, and Wes. All is not lost yet though, as Hazim and Wes are very good players. Arun, um. Not so much.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:6px;font-size:14.4444446563721px;color:rgb(20,24,35);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,lucidagrande,tahoma,verdana,arial,sans-serif;line-height:21.466667175293px;">So from the looks of it, The Swagliari Six intended to split their votes between Arun and Hazim, except Hazim also votes for Arun, averting a tie, and Arun goes home. Good news: Hazim and Wes are safe. Bad news: They're still really down big time.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:6px;font-size:14.4444446563721px;color:rgb(20,24,35);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,lucidagrande,tahoma,verdana,arial,sans-serif;line-height:21.466667175293px;">But they're not entirely out. Because at the next Tribal Council, The Swagliari Six breaks apart. A core of AJ, Trevor, Tyler, William, and Zane emerges, and instead of voting out Hazim, they renege against their alliance and take Koopa out instead, apparently leaving Boo and Cali on the outs.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:6px;font-size:14.4444446563721px;color:rgb(20,24,35);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,lucidagrande,tahoma,verdana,arial,sans-serif;line-height:21.466667175293px;">And this is a move they should not have made.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:6px;font-size:14.4444446563721px;color:rgb(20,24,35);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,lucidagrande,tahoma,verdana,arial,sans-serif;line-height:21.466667175293px;">Boo and Cali now solidify a four-way partnership with Hazim and Wes. Go them! They are now poised to make a stand, even if they do have poor choice of alliance names.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:6px;font-size:14.4444446563721px;color:rgb(20,24,35);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,lucidagrande,tahoma,verdana,arial,sans-serif;line-height:21.466667175293px;">

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:6px;font-size:14.4444446563721px;color:rgb(20,24,35);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,lucidagrande,tahoma,verdana,arial,sans-serif;line-height:21.466667175293px;">

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:6px;font-size:14.4444446563721px;color:rgb(20,24,35);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,lucidagrande,tahoma,verdana,arial,sans-serif;line-height:21.466667175293px;">At the next vote, the reformed five-person core looks to split the votes again. It's unclear what their intentions are without confessionals and episode pages, but from the looks of it, this core thought that Boo and Cali were still with them.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:6px;font-size:14.4444446563721px;color:rgb(20,24,35);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,lucidagrande,tahoma,verdana,arial,sans-serif;line-height:21.466667175293px;">lol.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:6px;font-size:14.4444446563721px;color:rgb(20,24,35);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,lucidagrande,tahoma,verdana,arial,sans-serif;line-height:21.466667175293px;">The way the votes are arranged, I can only assume that their plan was to split the votes between Wes and Boo, with Boo going home if Wes played an Idol.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:6px;font-size:14.4444446563721px;color:rgb(20,24,35);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,lucidagrande,tahoma,verdana,arial,sans-serif;line-height:21.466667175293px;">Boo and Cali reneged on this plan, Wes still played the Idol, and it was instead AJ (who also goes by Jeff?????? The voting table confuses me!!)

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:6px;font-size:14.4444446563721px;color:rgb(20,24,35);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,lucidagrande,tahoma,verdana,arial,sans-serif;line-height:21.466667175293px;">(Arun also goes by Joecepia??????? ????????????)

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:6px;font-size:14.4444446563721px;color:rgb(20,24,35);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,lucidagrande,tahoma,verdana,arial,sans-serif;line-height:21.466667175293px;">So the end result is a shocking blindside that now leaves it clear that Hotel Comeback has four, Swaggity Swag Swaggy force has four, and they are very opposed to each other. Nice.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:6px;font-size:14.4444446563721px;color:rgb(20,24,35);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,lucidagrande,tahoma,verdana,arial,sans-serif;line-height:21.466667175293px;">Now here's where the moment begins to happen.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:6px;font-size:14.4444446563721px;color:rgb(20,24,35);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,lucidagrande,tahoma,verdana,arial,sans-serif;line-height:21.466667175293px;">William (Yap????) wins Individual Immunity, and at Tribal Council, the vote ties between Hazim and Zane, 4-4. If it goes to rocks, the Swaggy Swags will only have two eligible to draw the dreaded color, while the California Kids will have three. Statistics are against our favorite group of misfits, but they go for it anyways. They're willing to take the risk because it's their only chance left. They've got nothing to lose.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:6px;font-size:14.4444446563721px;color:rgb(20,24,35);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,lucidagrande,tahoma,verdana,arial,sans-serif;line-height:21.466667175293px;">

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:6px;font-size:14.4444446563721px;color:rgb(20,24,35);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,lucidagrande,tahoma,verdana,arial,sans-serif;line-height:21.466667175293px;">And then it happens. The Swaggy Swags fall, Zane draws the rock, and Hazim + Wes & Ryan Lewis are now in a 4-3 majority. Hella.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:6px;font-size:14.4444446563721px;color:rgb(20,24,35);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,lucidagrande,tahoma,verdana,arial,sans-serif;line-height:21.466667175293px;">You might be like, "What makes this moment worthy of this spot in the countdown? Because it defied probability? Pfft, go home Mitchell. You suck."

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:6px;font-size:14.4444446563721px;color:rgb(20,24,35);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,lucidagrande,tahoma,verdana,arial,sans-serif;line-height:21.466667175293px;">And you're right! I do suck! But this moment earns it's spot here for two big reasons.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:6px;font-size:14.4444446563721px;color:rgb(20,24,35);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,lucidagrande,tahoma,verdana,arial,sans-serif;line-height:21.466667175293px;">First off, for the setup. The Swaggy Swags of West Swagdinia were poised to run the game, but they just had to bite the apple and take out Koopa (Joecepia???????????????????????????????)

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:6px;font-size:14.4444446563721px;color:rgb(20,24,35);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,lucidagrande,tahoma,verdana,arial,sans-serif;line-height:21.466667175293px;">

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:6px;font-size:14.4444446563721px;color:rgb(20,24,35);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,lucidagrande,tahoma,verdana,arial,sans-serif;line-height:21.466667175293px;">The Swaggy Swaggertons basically said "Hey, Booyeah, Cali, we're gonna blindside our alliance member Koopa, but don't sweat it! We didn't clue you in but you're still with us. No sweat!"

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:6px;font-size:14.4444446563721px;color:rgb(20,24,35);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,lucidagrande,tahoma,verdana,arial,sans-serif;line-height:21.466667175293px;">And then at the next possible instance Boo Boo Keys and Cali flipped on their asses and said "fuck yo shit". And the Swaggs' response was "What what how why".

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:6px;font-size:14.4444446563721px;color:rgb(20,24,35);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,lucidagrande,tahoma,verdana,arial,sans-serif;line-height:21.466667175293px;">In the words of the victim himself:

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:6px;font-size:14.4444446563721px;color:rgb(20,24,35);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,lucidagrande,tahoma,verdana,arial,sans-serif;line-height:21.466667175293px;">"<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);line-height:22px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;">I know. It's extremely saddening that two of my own tribemates would flip to Sassari like that, betrayals and all." - AJ/Jeff/Who are you

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:6px;font-size:14.4444446563721px;color:rgb(20,24,35);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,lucidagrande,tahoma,verdana,arial,sans-serif;line-height:21.466667175293px;"><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);line-height:22px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;">The betrayals would go on to cost Swag Force the win for our second major reason why this rock drawing cracks the countdown: It sets up Hazim's win perfectly. It's so close to the endgame that not only are there really no opportunities left for shakeups, the blood between the rival alliances is so bad that nobody is even thinking about jumping ship, and Hazim is able to masterfully maneuver his way to the Final Tribal Council with the two former Swaggys, and win unanimously. You go Hazim.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:6px;font-size:14.4444446563721px;color:rgb(20,24,35);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,lucidagrande,tahoma,verdana,arial,sans-serif;line-height:21.466667175293px;"><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);line-height:22px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;">tl;dr: Zane drawing a rock in and of itself is not a memorable moment, but when coupled with the amazing setup to it - Swaggy Swags virtually giving up their almost guaranteed victory - and how it itself amazingly setups Hazim's unanimous win makes it not only a moment of great irony but also the junction of Sardinia itself, where any other outcome potentially causes the game to end drastically differently.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:6px;font-size:14.4444446563721px;color:rgb(20,24,35);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,lucidagrande,tahoma,verdana,arial,sans-serif;line-height:21.466667175293px;"><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);line-height:22px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;">The Swaggy Swags basically betrayed their own alliance member, then had their other alliance members flip to the minority and force a rock draw against them, where despite probability being in their favor, they lost, allowing said minority to disrupt their near-guaranteed victory and claim the title of Sole Survivor in a unanimous win against said flipping alliance members. You can't make this shit up.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:6px;font-size:14.4444446563721px;color:rgb(20,24,35);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,lucidagrande,tahoma,verdana,arial,sans-serif;line-height:21.466667175293px;">

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:6px;font-size:14.4444446563721px;color:rgb(20,24,35);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,lucidagrande,tahoma,verdana,arial,sans-serif;line-height:21.466667175293px;">P.S. - Sorry to the castaways if I misconstrued what was going on during your season. There wasn't much to go on, and honestly I just really love this interpretation of it. There's so much unintentional humor and cosmic irony in it.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:6px;font-size:14.4444446563721px;color:rgb(20,24,35);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,lucidagrande,tahoma,verdana,arial,sans-serif;line-height:21.466667175293px;">P.P.S. - Again, sorry to the purple rock victims that got cut from the list. You'll still be mentioned, don't worry, and there's still one other purple rock moment on the countdown.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:6px;font-size:14.4444446563721px;color:rgb(20,24,35);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,lucidagrande,tahoma,verdana,arial,sans-serif;line-height:21.466667175293px;">P.P.P.S. - There's one more Sardinia moment to look forward to on the countdown. Just saying. <ac_metadata title="#34 - An InZane Tribal Council"> </ac_metadata>