Survivor What-if: A first boot season commentated using BrantSteele

One former player and two press members make the best of a long Survivor offseason by simulating a “First Boot” season using BrantSteele.

The inevitability of a two-time Survivor winner will come with an all-winners season (unless Sandra Diaz-Twine wins for a third time, of course). In the same breath, a season filled with players that were eliminated first in their respective seasons (a Survivor first boot season) will mean that someone who lost first will eventually win.

As much as people want to see who would be the winner of winners, I find the concept of a season where all the losingest players come together to find out who wins equally, if not more, fascinating. The marketability of such a season means CBS will likely never do it, but that doesn’t stop the good folks at Rob Has A Podcast from running a simulation of their own.

Rob Cesternino teamed up with Parade’s Mike Bloom and The Hollywood Reporter’s Josh Wigler to commentate on this simulation, pitting Chicken Morris, Ciera Eastin, David Samson, Francesca Hogi (Caramoan), Nadiya Anderson, Ryan Aiken, Sekou Bunch, Sonja Christopher, Tina Wesson and Zane Knight against Darnell Hamilton, Debb Eaton, Redemption Island Francesa, Sugar Kiper, John Raymon, Jonny Fairplay, Katrina Radke, Peter Harkey, Vytas Baskauskas and Wendy DeSmidt-Kohlhoff.

The idea is to use the BrantSteele simulation for Cambodia using customized tribes in order to replicate the challenge and gameplay format of a 20-player season. Of course, the guarantee of these players acting this way, let alone being cast on the same season, would likely never happen, but it’s fun to speculate just how the season would operate and who could win.

This suggestion is a follow-up to a BrantSteele simulation from earlier in the summer, involving players highlighted by Rob and Josh Wigler in The Evolution of Strategy; an 80-hour-long podcast series diving into the way the game has shifted over the first 30 season of Survivor. 

Watching a former player and members of the press talk about a fictional season for hours may not be your cup of tea, but it’s a fun ride nonetheless.