This is one of the few times where i'm actually on board with redeeming a player. Culpepper is one of those many cases of Survivor characters mistreated both by players in the game and fans outside of the game. When i was first watching BvW, i remember having the same feeling Mario describes in this post. I still think, no matter how well he does in GC, that Culpepper is a genuinely good player, and that he demonstrated this at the time by dominating his tribe in a very peculiar season where you were basically learning how to play from scratch as you went along. His idea to vote off John was brilliant, and his reaction to constant insults and criticisms coming from all sides absolutely respectful.

I don't want to get too sociological or judgmental here, but as a foreigner from a non-english speaking country i always try to interpret the reaction to certain players/characters from the American audience and see what it could mean. In the case of Culpepper, i just think that there is a divide between the character type he is supposed to be, which is the celebrity-sport star-jock-villain who will crash and burn because of his big ego, and what he actually is: a decent, charming, educated man with a solid head on his shoulder and a lot of respect for his fellow human being. Both in and outside the game, people were belittling him because he didn't really live up to his character type. It was sort of "This guy is supposed to be arrogant and mean, let's give it to him" "It has to be him, no one can be this ruthless unless he's already done this as a football star, it’s his lifestyle”. There was a lot of prejudice that had to be confirmed (and the edit helped too somewhat), otherwise brad culpepper's character wouldn't make sense both to the players and to the audience (let’s say at least to the so-called “casuals”).

I do hope that when it comes to Funny 115 v4.0 we see a similar post about Scot Pollard, a survivor character player that i absolutely adore. Granted, a little bit more arrogant than Culpepper, but passionate about the game and having fun all around, especially when it comes to his more strategic moments (convincing Tai not to play the idol on Anna, and the whole playful charade with Jason and Tai at tribal where they vote off Debbie). I bet if and when Scot Pollard returns, we will see a similar character arc/redemption, which is what i like the most about analyzing returning player’s performances.