Let me preface this post by saying that I used to be a stereotypical fan of big moves and strategy, savoring every moment of split votes and idol plays. I started to truly watch Survivor when WaW was running, which was a highly complex and strategy-filled season. While I do still admire and respect big moves, like Tony’s vote-off of Sophie or Jesse’s blindside of Cody, I have grown to appreciate another facet of Survivor even more — thanks to the messiest season in the history of the show, Gabon.

Gabon is a season that is almost entirely character-based, with little to no strategy involved (especially during the pre-merge). People either tend to find the season wildly entertaining because of characters like Crystal, Corinne, and Randy, or think of the season as one of the worst in the show’s history because it is utterly devoid of strategic gameplay. The closest thing to gamebots are Charlie and Marcus — and that’s saying something.

I loved the season. How does a tribe handle a rapidly depleting supply of rice, an alliance come back from one of their own being voted out, or an individual player face tribe swap after tribe swap? Those questions, after Gabon, became much more intriguing to me than big moves and idol plays.

Fang was the messiest tribe in history, with truly human problems like scarce food and broken-down psyches. Crystal was pure gold. Sugar—whose status as a hero is highly debatable—would return to Exile for the umpteenth time. Kenny received the classic underdog story. Susie tried to avoid drama. And Randy hated everyone. The interactions between those five players alone made the season for me.

And then, on the other hand, you have the Kota tribe — this seemingly golden tribe that won almost every single challenge (at least in the beginning). Marcus was the ringleader of the Onion alliance until he made two fatal mistakes. Corinne’s acerbic wit made for epic one-liners. Ace was a snake with an accent. And Bob was Bob. What I’m trying to convey here is that the vast majority of players on this season were riveting by themselves, and watching them interact was spectacular (or, according to some people, impossible to watch). The classic underdog story of Kenny and Crystal, the Onion alliance being torn apart, and the animosity-filled tribal councils made the season for me. There were so many noteworthy moments.

In Survivor, eighteen complete strangers are divided into two or three tribes, and then they attempt to form a society. The real human relationships formed between players over the course of 39 days are unique and unprecedented. Thanks to Gabon, the mechanics of those societies—and the psychology behind actions, not necessarily the actions themselves—have become much more fascinating to me than who gets voted off. Gabon—possibly the unlikeliest season to do so—has provided me with an entirely new perspective on Survivor.