I think unfortunately the S3 cast is probably overall the worst cast in Fishtank so far. This is not to say that some of the fish weren't good or entertaining - we got the greatest fish of all time after all.
However, it was extremely top heavy with a few ultra strong contestants carrying the rest which were either forgettable at best or terrible at the worst. In my estimation, a lot of this is due to them seemingly being casted for a normie reality TV show, which makes sense for the Famous House arc of the show. But at the end of the day the show is Fishtank, not Famous House, and it was easy to see from a mile away that most of these people were unsuitable for the Fishtank environment even if they didn't immediately leave on the reveal. Without Burt, it's hard to imagine what S3 would have looked like.
I think this cast was also far less likeable overall than previous seasons, viewers seemed less invested in their favourites because the cast were mostly fame chasing late 20's/early 30's wannabes instead of early 20's autistic goofs. Someone in Sneedchat also mentioned during the season (I think
@attractive_pneumonia ) that the camera distance from the contestants faces compared to previous seasons could have played a part in them being less likeable and I tend to agree with that.
I've written a small blurb on each of the contestants below and given them a rating from S (best) to E (worst).
Burt - S
What more is there to say about Burt that hasn't been said already. The best Fishtank contestant we've ever seen and a once in a lifetime casting find, Burt was a pure content machine with or without TTS.
His delusions often were the main narrative of the show, and his willingness to engage with TTS and take in what the audience was saying to him made him endlessly entertaining. He was also a tough competitor, always putting in 100% to challenges such as the dance marathon and the cell challenge.
There was a period of time where I personally was getting a bit fatigued on Burt which was around the time before Frank showed up, but Frank was enough for him to break out of the loop and explore new territory. Investigations into Burt's life outside of the show were also just as entertaining as watching him on the show, with him being a perverted gay sex freak wannabe actor who is also allegedly an 160 IQ exam cheater revealed him to be a character even stranger than fiction.
I find it hard to imagine we will ever get someone like Burt again.
Luke - A
Luke in my opinion was the biggest victim of production this season. Going in as a plant, he expected that he would be entering Fishtank, a show where contestants fuck with each other and their shit, throw piss on each other and destroy the house while being mercilessly mocked and tormented by the audience.
Instead, what he got was a cast ostensibly as sensitive as the Big Brother audience and no direction from production or indication on timeline for how the show would progress. His first appearance did appear to be somewhat of a self immolation, but I contend that if he knew what was going on properly that would never have happened.
Since his return to the show was at the show's low point I'll sum up Luke by saying that what we did see of him was an extremely charismatic troublemaker, who was willing to mess with others and effortlessly played the fish against each other. He would have been an excellent contestant if it was just Fishtank the whole way through but I can't rate him higher than an A because we only saw him for a limited timeframe.
Alex B - A
Monkey King Cobra. Houston. Kentucky. Texas. Tik Tok. Tik Tok. Probably the first Fishtank contestant to truly be turned into a lolcow, Alex B is a deadbeat junky who is too retarded to stay sober for long enough to get seemingly hundreds of millions of dollars in inheritence.
Alex B was a lightning rod for drama, both from other fish and from the audience. His inability to identify when he is getting trolled led to one of the most iconic parts of the show so far - the Wild Randy gaslight - as well as his abusive hog wife coming and emasculating him for the whole internet to see. His crackhead energy was a constant source of entertainment on the show and elevated other more meek personalities surrounding him.
As is Fishtank tradition, production couldn't help themselves and piled on him with both Frank and his wife in a single day and while this was probably the greatest day in Fishtank history, it did eventually end with him leaving the show. That being said, by the time he walked out the door it did seem like he had produced all of the content that we could have got out of him without him looping endlessly. If he stayed longer and didn't loop as much as he did I probably would have rated him S.
Mizzy - B
Life is so Mizzy. I think Mizzy is a bit harder to rate because it seems like she's someone who is better and more entertaining post-show than she was on the show. She was the heel of the women for the majority of the show, was able to take the audience abuse and everyone attacking her better than would be expected and caught on to the true nature of the show before the others did.
However, there were a lot of times where she refused to fully compete in challenges and was annoying to watch early in the show. I do somewhat believe that if she understood the show before she came in she would have been more active but it's hard to judge how much of that is just her coping after the fact.
Overall she was the best female contestant this season.
Signal - B
It was very entertaining watching this jeet reinforce why racial stereotypes exist. Desperate, two faced, gropey and opportunistic, Signal embodied everything it means to be Indian.
One of my favorite Signal moments from the season was after being repeatedly called out for touching and groping the women whenever possible, during his apology Signal refused to acknowledge how his actions had impacted the women, instead worrying solely about his own career and how it would look and reflect on him. He didn't give a single fuck how they felt about what he was doing, only himself.
He was the main heel of the show and his continued immunity wins not only made him a constant character to concentrate hate upon, but it also did earn him a sliver of respect as well as staying in the game after his clothes were pissed on.
Do not redeem saar.
Binx - C
I think Binx is exactly the person who people accused Letty and Tayleigh of being. She is a chameleon who has no values or opinions of her own, and will immediately shapeshift to agree with whatever the majority position is on any given subject. Her purpose on the show was to milk the paypigs and nothing more.
Her unbothered attitude, which while technically a good strategy, made her extremely boring with no reactions to any negative TTS or anyone doing anything bad to her. She was constantly prodded by production to instigate conflict with the other fish but never complied, unless the group was already doing it (like when she dumped milk on Burt).
I will give her credit for at least attempting to talk the normies off a cliff after the reveal, and scheming to immediately vote out Signal during Famous House 2.0 was kino. But overall she was a very forgettable character and easily the worst final 2 contender we've had so far.
Payton - D
Self proclaimed nontent queen. Probably the most turbonormie of any of the contestants on the show, Payton started the show as a lackey of Alexis and Sneed and was the only one of the three to stick it out.
There were glimmers of hope with Payton after the reveal happened and she didn't leave, such as the Burt impersonation and sperging out and punching Frank when he touched a piece of her clothing.
But these were few and far between, with most of her existence on the show barely being an upgrade from Ian being on the couch. I will give her points for not leaving like the other normies did, but ultimately her presence was a big contributing factor to the show's late season decline.
Alexis - D
A busted single mother who spends all of her money on making herself look like a plastic doll and abandoned her kid to chase fame. Alexis and LaRon were basically the same person in my eyes.
They are both reality show-esque normies who were willing to form alliances and steal within the first few days of the show to progress them further in what they thought was the game. I think if she stuck around and fully bought into the show she could have been a decent contestant but since she bailed there's not much more to say.
LaRon - D
Much like Alexis, Sneed was a reality show normie. He came in thinking he would be the sassy black caricature but never actually did much of the sort or started any arguments.
Again, he could have potentially been interesting had he stuck around for the actual Fishtank part of the show but he didn't. I'm still giving him a higher rating than some of the others
because of the candy stealing.
Smaack - E
I struggle to think of a single memorable thing that Smaack did on the show, and I watched every day of S3. I guess you could say that her not showering would be a memorable thing she did. I know there were people simping over her in this thread and in Sneedchat but she really didn't do anything - positive or negative.
Ian - E
I think Ian might be the worst contestant ever seen on Fishtank. Not only did he not do anything of entertainment value except for the nigger argument with Jobe (which I would say is entirely credit to Jobe for continuing to push him), he barely interacted with the cast at all and was the equivilent of furniture.
There were some who loved the juxtaposition of this retarded spic sitting around doing nothing while the rest of the fish talked to each other and were active, but really all he did was take the place of someone else who would have been more entertaining.
Imagine if we got another Alex B, Burt, Luke, Jobe etc instead of this failure.
Ted - E
Another dreadful contestant, if Ian isn't the worst contestant ever then Ted definitely is. Ted provided no entertainment value whatsoever. All he did the entire show was play the male feminist role and do anything in his power to touch and grope the women.
I can't think of a single entertaining moment that Ted personally instigated. The only thing that was really funny that involved Ted was when Ted and Burt shared a bed, but that was totally predicated on Burt coming onto him so Ted was really just a prop.
Something of note with Ted, during Claire's recent interview with TJ she said that she had already met Ted in the S3 house during Bitchtank and that he was supposed to be on a previous season (I think she said S2? Can't remember) so even the idea that "Ted was a secret fan which production didn't know about" was also totally fake.
This loser knew exactly what Fishtank was and still all he did on the show was try to touch the women. Faggot.
