Surviving Barstool Season 4 Has Been a Disappointment

Surviving Barstool Season 4 Has Been a Disappointment

SPOILER ALERT: If you have not watched through Episode 12 of Surviving Barstool Season 4, there are spoilers ahead. You have been warned.

Season 4 of Surviving Barstool, Barstool Sports’ approximation of CBS’ Survivor, was hyped up to be the biggest and best one yet. 24 Barstool coworkers, including some of the top personalities at the company, vying for a $250,000 grand prize offered the potential of a fantastic season of reality competition.

Unfortunately, Season 4 has largely been a disappointment due to extremely poor gameplay throughout. There has been a noticeable lack of big moves, effective immunity idol plays, or strategic prowess in general. That’s not for lack of opportunities, either. Frequently, there have been massive openings for big plays that players have inexplicably failed to take, instead choosing to act against their own self-interest.

Actually, let me back up. I’m confident there was plenty of strategy going on, but I’m assuming the reason that most of it didn’t make the edit is because it didn’t actually result in anything or wasn’t interesting enough. Some things were definitely left on the cutting room floor, but I maintain that there’s been a serious lack of actual big moves in this season.

I could go into specifics, but I really don’t have time to list all the questionable plays or lack thereof. Despite the editors’ best efforts to create intrigue (or maybe this is all an editing problem, but I really don’t think so), it has been extremely obvious who will be eliminated in almost every episode of the show. It’s been far too straightforward.

If you just finished Episode 12, you witnessed some of the most suboptimal gameplay of the season. Rico Bosco is holding an immunity idol with the knowledge that literally every single person is voting Big Cat out. Big Cat doesn’t want to play anymore, making him an easy boot. Rico keeps his idol, Big Cat is eliminated, and the final six is established. Based on who is left and what alliances still exist, this was a massive misfire. It’s also indicative of what I mean when I say there has been very little strategy played in this game.

How I Would Have Played It

Here’s a step-by-step of my strategy if I were in Rico’s shoes. First, play the immunity idol on Big Cat. The edit may have cut certain conversations, but it was pretty obvious that everyone was voting for Big Cat. Nullifying those five votes puts you in a huge position of power, with the ability to essentially take out anyone you want except Ria, who had won individual immunity.

Most people at this point would immediately jump at the chance to take out Dave Portnoy. Not me. You have to think about the endgame, and setting things up in such a way that you have the best chance of winning in the end. So who would I take out at that point? Moobie.

Why I Would Eliminate Moobie

I know so many people will think this is a stupid move. Moobie has next to zero chance to win in the end, and has significantly less power than Dave. She’s a puppet – why take her out? Here’s the thing. If you take out Dave here, sure it’s a big move, but it doesn’t actually help you a whole lot in the long run. With Dave gone, there’s still a solid voting block of Ria, Kelly, Moobie, and maybe Megan. You’re very much in the minority and probably next to go.

The key piece of strategy after eliminating Moobie is telling Ria that you did it under instructions from Dave to weaken her alliance, and that Dave is planning to take you and Big Cat to the end. Ria and Dave then go head-to-head after being together for the entire game. In voting off Moobie, you simultaneously weaken the alliances of the two strongest players in the game while also pitting them against each other and taking the target off of yourself.

Plus, keeping Big Cat in as dead weight guarantees you an ally to the end, one who doesn’t have any desire to be there and has no chance of winning. I think it would be fairly easy to win Megan to your side for her own protection. You can then take your pick of who to ally with between Ria and Dave. The optimal choice would be Dave, leveraging the previous show of trust of giving him immunity during the Pink Wedding. From there, you can pick off Ria and Kelly, locking in your spot in the final four.

It may be that you have to eliminate Dave at some point in this process due to Ria’s immunity idol. That’s also not a terrible thing to have happen because Dave is playing well. Big Cat is also there as a fallback elimination, but keeping him in as long as possible would be ideal. Regardless, this path puts you in the final four with a boosted resume and a position of power.

The Clear Frontrunners

As things stand, I think only Ria and Dave are in position to actually win the game. I’ve thought Ria has been getting a winner’s edit since like Episode 5. I’m not sure how these two being clear frontrunners hasn’t occurred to the remaining players, but they all seem content to sit on their hands and do nothing about it.

The Likely Winner

At this point, it seems obvious to me that Ria is going to win Surviving Barstool Season 4 and the $250K that goes with it. I won’t lie, I’m going to be very disappointed when this happens. Ria took control of the game fairly easily early on and was playing very well. However, she has gotten sloppy (and rather grating) in the latter half of the season, surviving in part due to a lack of critical thinking from other players rather than her own gameplay. The door has frequently been open for other players to take her out, especially as it’s become clear that she’s playing every side, but it seems like that thought hasn’t even occurred to anyone.

But I guess if you win $250K, it doesn’t really matter whether you played a perfect game. I won’t deny that Ria has played a good game overall. The game is about surviving, and if you do that, good on you. I just wanted a little bit more out of a season that had so much to offer.

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