#because the only endurance contestant from seattle is...yeah

[betweenthetimeandsound]

Isaac Hainley on Endurance: Tehachapi

For some reason, I was always charmed by Isaac on Endurance. While the first episode I've watched from this season was the second-to-last episode--the one after his Green Team got eliminated--his down-to-earth, chill personality really piqued me. And when I got to watch the whole season, his strengths came to life.

Thinking about it, Isaac was the leader of the main Purple-Green alliance of the season. He had a good head on his shoulders and had a friendly personality, but was also very loyal to his friends. This played a huge role in "Hang 5", in which he didn't want to harm either the Purple or Blue Teams, but would've put Jeszie's friend Erika on the chopping block.

This played out an interesting paradox with the Green Team. In missions, they were absolutely dominant, being the only team since E1 Blue (Aaron and Jonna) to win three missions in a row. In strategy, they diverged quite a bit in terms of whom to protect; after Gray was eliminated, Isaac was closer to Purple and Yellow, while Jeszie was closer with Red. They were also different personality wise, with Isaac being more chill and Jeszie being a firecracker. As mentioned before, they clashed, and their teamwork wasn't the same after Hang 5.

But at the end of the day, if I could have any partner, I would most definitely have Isaac. He definitely had the athletic abilities to do well in missions, thanks to participating in multiple sports when he was in high school. He sticks with his allies and tries hard not to rock the boat, and could work with a lot of people, and I find all of them valuable traits to succeed on Endurance.

(And on a side note, seeing Green getting eliminated near the end hit harder on a rewatch. The final eliminations on the seasons before and after were obviously heart wrenching, but this one hits because you've seen Isaac and Jeszie do so well, and then even they could not escape fate.)