Survivor’s probably not going to have an endurance challenge as the final ever again

Survivor doesn’t keep all of its traditions, and it looks as though the endurance final immunity challenge has gone the way of the dodo.

There are certain things that Survivor leaves alone once it settles on them. That includes things that Jeff Probst says, which is something that I’ve really noticed during my ongoing rewatch of Survivor: Borneo. For quite some time, one of those things left alone was the final immunity challenge usually taking the form of an endurance challenge. It started in Borneo, and it lasted on and off for several seasons, depending on how exactly you define an endurance challenge. That is, balancing things with progressive stages, a la Micronesia‘s finale, can be considered an endurance challenge.

However, since then, the final immunity challenge has taken other forms, as it has in more recent seasons like Game Changers. And, in a new interview with John Kirhoffer, one of Survivor‘s producers, in Entertainment Weekly, it sounds like the old way won’t become new again.

Here’s what he had to say:

"“We’ve been out here for 36 seasons and it just feels like we’ve evolved from being out there and keeping the crew out there forever when they’re running into overtime and all those other things that we didn’t account for […] We’re fine with three or four hours but…we just don’t need to be out there for that long.” [emphasis EW‘s]"

This came in the context of Dalton Ross bringing up the infamous Palau finale challenge, which lasted for almost 12 hours. I guess you can say that Katie, Tom, and Ian ended up as game changers after all, as my colleague Daniel George put it. It could have gone even longer, too. After all, it ended in a deal.

Many of those challenges did. That means that not having those endurance challenges can rob Survivor of some pivotal moments. (Ross, meanwhile, focuses on the idea of “who-wants-it-more”, which is another valid point.) For example, there’s Vecepia effectively backstabbing Kathy in Marquesas and the wonderful visuals of the cave-set finale of Thailand. Even if no one likes Thailand that much, it’s hard not to agree that it looks cool at the end. Can you imagine what that would look like shot in HD? Even Borneo‘s finale led to something big: Richard deciding to drop out so that the blood went onto Kelly or Rudy’s hands.

Over the years, Survivor has made many of its challenges look more and more elaborate, including things like the maze from just this past season. There’s some room for that to happen with endurance/balance challenges. For example, China‘s final immunity, which was more balancing than endurance, had a stunning backdrop.

However, if a producer has said that waiting for these challenges to play themselves out just doesn’t make sense anymore, then it’s likely a budget issue. It played a role in this decision, especially with the explicit mention of overtime. That makes quite a bit of sense. Survivor still draws in quite strong ratings for being a 17-year-old show, but that doesn’t mean it has carte blanche to spend lots of money on the crew to sit and shoot something for 12 hours.

It is also a good thing, in principle, that Survivor can assess what is and isn’t working. That includes things like casting, which an executive producer has recently spoken about, as well.

Next: Big Brother 19 premiere: A Survivor fan's perspective

Fans might not always agree with the changes. However, it’s hard to say that the show is worse because it doesn’t have the endurance finale. It’s different, with all the mixed impressions that means. But we’re getting at least two more seasons of the show. Barring big shifts, Survivor seems safe for more than just those two seasons.