I Think Season 4 Is the Best One
It seems like the popular choice on this server is Season 3, but I've always liked Season 4. Season 3 had so many people that kind of infuriated me with incompetence. Tali, Ryan, but most of all David. There were a lot of episodes where I was really confused with the outcome. Episode 10 was by far the most egregious. Why did Mike go home exactly? Then you had the returning contestants episode where it was kind of frustrating to me. I feel like somebody got robbed so that Ryan could be in for some tension.
I know somebody's going to point to Krissi and say that she made it too far, but to be honest I can kind of understand that one. She was in the bottom 2 three times (excluding the weird Pho episode). One of them Lynn lost without a shadow of a doubt. One of them most of the insults towards her were due to her attitude seemingly, but ya that's bad. At least that was one instance. But overall more than any other season, Season 4 feels like a journey.
Season 3 only really had two main arcs/stores of contestants, Christine and Josh. Everyone else just kind of cooked. Season 4 you had multiple storylines. Lynn's downfall, Krissi/Bri, Luca's redemption, all of these woven together. There are some arrogant contestants, but they exist in every season. Plus, there are highs and lows all over the place for each contestant. Krissi's loss streak, the whole showdown in Vegas. You had the best uses out of Mystery Box advantages ever. You had an entertaining winner. And as much as we all hate Krissi, her downfall is one of the most satisfying moments in the show's history.
I wish I could analyze it further like I did for Season 11 (Dumpster Fire), but it's much easier to talk a long time about stuff you don't like.