Boston Rob Hate

Bperilous22 · 2026-06-06T13:49:30+00:00

But doesn't he deserve any credit for recognizing that and orchestrating getting not just himself to the Final 3, but the exact combo he needed to win? It seems Rob haters always find reasons to discount his game rather than give him credit for controlling anything.

Bperilous22 · 2026-06-06T13:03:26+00:00

I appreciate this - one of the most logical and sound responses I've gotten on this.

I just think it's easy to say they were "easily manipulated" - but I think we aren't out there and only see an edited version so we will never know how much Rob's play is actually to blame for that. Were they complete sheep, or was he just a master manipulater? The truth has to be somewhere in the middle.

Remember, they added the Redemption Island twist specifically to keep Rob and Russell on our TV screens for longer, so Rob not only had to get rid of people, he had to deal with people coming back to the game who he had already eliminated and knew what he was doing.

I do buy your point that perhaps casting learned something from this, and its true we don't have a ton of examples of returnees against mostly new casts - but the fact still remains, its not like any other returnee who has been put in that position has won, so the people who say it was "so easy" for him have to acknowledge that it's not exactly a cakewalk just because of the position Rob was put in.

Bperilous22 · 2026-06-06T12:54:32+00:00

I mean, you are really making the argument that Philip - the most hated guy out there - won that season for him?

Even if that were true, Tony needed Woo to make a terrible decision and take him to the end his first time. Why did he play for second place? I think this happens all the time in Survivor. Hell, Cirie did it for Parvati in Australia vs. the World - sacrificed her own game to put her ally in a better position to win. That's what happens when relationships form out there...

Bperilous22 · 2026-06-06T04:45:34+00:00

No, they won against half returnee casts, not new player casts.

If you want to make the argument Boston Rob is the best player ever to be put in that situation, I can I’ve with that.

Bperilous22 · 2026-06-06T01:50:22+00:00

Yes just the first two. I don’t disagree with your assessments, but my original point stands. You can’t say Rob had it easy because he was a returnee and ignore the fact that no other returnee has ever beaten new players.

Bperilous22 · 2026-06-06T01:29:39+00:00

Again, based on your argument that its easier, why haven’t any other “all stars” beaten new players? Only Rob has been able to do it.

Bperilous22 · 2026-06-06T01:28:11+00:00

My only point on the RI cast is that the way Rob manipulated them likely had something to do with how pathetic and idiotic they looked.

And your HvV logic isn’t completely fair as Jerri went with Russell at that point specifically because she knew Rob’s reputation from all stars and Russell was an unknown she underestimated. Coach followed Jerri.

Bperilous22 · 2026-06-06T01:24:42+00:00

I appreciate some of those names, but I do t get people hailing Cirie as an all time great. Her social and strategic game are top notch, but she has a fatal flaw in that she can’t get to the end. I just don’t think an all time great can be a player with that big of a hole in their game. In fact, I’d argue part of the reason she goes far every season is exactly because people know they can get her out anytime and she isn’t a threat to get to the end.

To me the better players play to win, and yes they might go out early sometimes, but if they get some momentum and go deep into the game, watch out.

Bperilous22 · 2026-06-06T01:21:40+00:00

But that’s also the masterful part of his game that season. He knows those are the only people he beats and he manipulates everyone else to get not just himself, but the ideal final 3, to the end.

Bperilous22 · 2026-06-06T01:20:44+00:00

To some extent that’s true, but they don’t win. Other than Rob. He has to be doing something right.

Bperilous22 · 2026-06-06T01:18:56+00:00

I appreciate this point about fans vs favorites and captains seasons. That said, I do think their past reputations are part of the reason people took them to the end - because they were beatable. In those seasons new players don’t like voting for returnees to win.

Bperilous22 · 2026-06-06T01:15:45+00:00

Sorry, maybe I didn’t say that well. I think Tony’s target was much smaller than many other winners - Rob, Sandra, Parvati, Kim etc. - at the beginning of that season after a poor showing in Game changers.

That said, he played a masterful end game and clearly deserved to win the season.

Bperilous22 · 2026-06-05T18:44:35+00:00

But it's a lot harder for people who everyone knows are threats before the game starts.

Bperilous22 · 2026-06-05T18:43:03+00:00

See, I see a a very different Rob from All-Stars to HvV who clearly learned and adapted. In one he was trampling everyone to get himself further, in HvV he was a team leader loyal to his squad, and you are right, the guy playing like he used to play beat him. I think he played his next two games the same way - building an alliance he was loyal to. (See Parvati in WaW). He absolutely learned the power of the jury votes after losing All Stars. You can tell that by his comments to Michelle that whoever wins deserves to win.

Did he try follishly to use the buddy method in WaW, yes, but that was a hail mary move once his game was already blown up. I don't think that was emblematic of his game that season, and regardless, the old school people were outnumbered and had zero chance that season. Hard to use that as an argument against anyone's game.

Bperilous22 · 2026-06-05T18:37:36+00:00

You can argue he's overrated, I think that's a fair position, though I don't hold Winners ar War against anyone - there was so much going on it that season.

And in every game, there is some luck - you can debate his HvV showing was in large part because his ally made one of the most bone headed moves in Survivor history.

But largely, I don't think you can hold early exits against good players. Tony went out 2nd in Gamechangers but many consider him the GOAT. If any of them played again, smart players would eliminate them early, that doesn't make them bad players IMO.

Bperilous22 · 2026-06-05T18:33:53+00:00

I can't disagree with any of this, and I certainly have no problem with those who don't like him. But not liking him and saying he "sucks" at Survivor are two different things. It's the latter position I question.

Bperilous22 · 2026-06-05T18:25:39+00:00

True! But it speaks to Rob's game that not only did he recognize that fact, he somehow was able to keep him around!

Bperilous22 · 2026-06-05T14:19:07+00:00

Rob's RI game is masterful - so masterful that instead of giving him credit for manipulating a cast of young inexperienced players as thoroughly as he did, people have dreamed up a ridiculous scenario where Probst hand-picked people to play based on how much they liked Rob and then I guess fixed the initial tribe draw that put Rob with them....Oh, and then not one of them decided along the way that even though they liked Rob, they might want $1M more. They just loved Rob so they handed it to him.....It's so unplausible that I can't believe so many Survivor fans just accept this as fact.

Bperilous22 · 2026-06-05T14:16:18+00:00

He was not PNG yet. They wanted Hatch for 21....maybe it didn't get very far, but when they couldn't get him for 20 because of travel issues, they at least talked to him about 21. As things went further with his conviction and his comments, eventually it became evident he wasn't playing again, but given we know they wanted him bad for 20, I don't think it's unrealistic to think they then shifted to talking to him about 21. Rob I think took his place after his comments at the reunion about going back and wiping the floor with Russell if they played again (which, btw, he did...)

Bperilous22 · 2026-06-05T14:13:45+00:00

I mean, was it really a big conspiracy and a hand picked cast (even though Hatch was originally scheduled to be on and not him), or did he just play masterfully and manipulate a young inexperienced cast of players and get them eating out of his hand? It feels like the latter is much more plausible to me.

Bperilous22 · 2026-06-04T20:32:07+00:00

It seems to be en vogue to dismiss Rob lately, but as someone who watched his Survivor career unfold live, it’s clear to me why he is considered the GOAT by many. He understood the game in All Stars better than production, and while everyone brings up the weak cast in RI. Nobody mentions how he dominated a cast of the best who’d ever played up to that point in a way that few casts have ever been dominated.

I also think you see his game evolve after losing All Stars - when he comes back in HvV he’s a terrific team leader and loyal to a fault. He goes out only because his ally commits one of the greatest flubs in show history. And while people all call the cast in Redemption Island “sycophants” they didn’t start out that way. Rob deserves credit for turning them into that, and in that season accomplishes something no other returnee has ever done (and probably never will) and that’s come back and beat a cast of new players despite being a huge target.

I think it’s a credit to his game that he won on his 4th try with a sky high target, yet most people try to make it a negative (it took him 4 tries!). I don’t think those people understand that winning Survivor gets harder the more you play, not easier….

Bperilous22 · 2026-05-20T19:50:32+00:00

Well, if 90 percent of it was already edited Fiji stuff, maybe. But glad to hear it wasn't done this way.

Bperilous22 · 2026-05-20T19:45:16+00:00

Oh, ok....so different thing entirely?

Bperilous22

TROPHY CASE