Survivor: Malcolm Freberg pitches wild idea after Edge of Extinction finale

“Survivor: Black Flag” brings a visual intrigue to the game in an idea pitched by former player Malcolm Freberg. Would you watch this kind of season?

If Survivor: Edge of Extinction has taught us anything, it’s that production is willing to morph the show into a scavenger hunt for idols and advantages at the destruction of its core; the social aspect of the game. Even Jeff Probst reportedly went on a rant during the finale reunion this week, rabidly defending the show despite how far from grace it has fallen after the season 38 results.

It seems clear that you can’t get the basic game ever again, so where do you go from here? Well, officially Survivor is taking on twists from other seasons, with Boston Rob Mariano and Sandra Diaz-Twine serving as coaches for Island of the Idols this Fall. Who knows if the show will follow in the footsteps of Big Brother and allow those coaches to enter the game at a later stage.

However, some former players are coming up with pitches that both allow for the inevitability of twist-heavy gameplay while also letting the players figure out what to do with the information provided to everyone. Malcolm Freberg of Philippines, Caramoan and Game Changers has an idea for Survivor: Black Flag, and it levels out the playing field in an advantage-rich environment.

Basically, Malcolm proposes a season where tribes are sent to beaches with a 30-foot tower in the water about 50 yards out from the beach, with a green flag dangling at the start. On the day of the Immunity Challenge, a black flag drops from the tower, raising after the first boot is eliminated. Other flags that drop include red for idols found on a beach, purple for advantages hidden, two black flags mean two are going home, etc. Nobody would be told what the flags mean.

Malcolm suggests this idea to combat the aimlessness of the advantage-era Survivor by giving certain players partial pieces of information they can draw upon experience, toeing the line between sharing that information and using it only to their advantage. A primary byproduct is that it doesn’t necessarily have to eat into character development time; an increasingly rare commodity in twist-heavy seasons.

Survivor is determined to be twist-heavy advantagegedons, so why not go with Black Flag? I think it has the mystery element that keeps both audiences and players guessing while playing out a bit like The Hunger Games where players’ actions are kept as a live tally that others have to figure out. Let us know your thoughts!