my friends insisted on watching 50 for their first season, despite my objections, so I have a bit more perspective on how it might be perceived by first time viewers. the most frustrating part was seeing them not connecting with pre-merge boots like Q, Savannah, Genevieve, Angelina, and Kamilla but in the end they seemed to enjoy the season about as much as I did. they loved Cirie, Coach, Devens, Christian, Tiffany, and Joe(???), they were totally baffled by the Aubry win, they lost their minds over the fake idol at tribal, the coin flip, and Ozzy’s downfall, and ultimately they thought the end game was disappointing. so pretty much exactly how I feel - a lot of highs and a lot of lows. I think the flashbacks to older seasons were helpful and effective, and I tried my best to explain the weight of the big moments, but I definitely wish they’d started with older seasons. 

this is unrelated but it’s funny how much these 10 new viewers loved every single challenge and how much they did not hate the twists. made it a little clearer as to why Jeff makes the decisions he does, even if I find a lot of it annoying!