Survivor: Micronesia -- 16x01 "You Guys Are Dumber Than You Look"

I'm one of those Survivor fans who both enjoyed Jonny Fairplay what brought to the show and was disappointed when he basically rolled over in the first episode of Micronesia. However, I shouldn't be alone in my misery; with his ouster, fans of Survivor are generally worse off without him on the show.

A lot of Fairplay-haters would say that Survivor doesn't need the type of drama (or fun, depending on how much of a loose-morals libertine you are) he brings, which is what Jeff Probst himself has said. While these folks implicitly admit that Fairplay offers entertainment value, they ignore the fact that he can submerge even the most cynical and critically aware fan (both of which humbly describes me) into unreflective, emotional impulse -- you can't really avoid having an opinion about him. You either hate him or you love to hate him, without a whole lot of additional reflection factoring into your decision. He provokes a visceral, uncomplicated response that short circuits the meta—guessing games that usually go on with other reality programs (e.g. how much the editing is affecting our perceptions, how much influence do the producers/judges wield, and so on) -- and what would've been left would be the raw.

Indie rating: Matthew Dear - "Deserter"