Survivor: Island of the Idols is set to begin in a bizarre fashion

Despite all the twists production throws at us, almost every season starts off with the same old marooning. That’s not the case in Survivor: Island of the Idols.

Warning: This article contains minor spoilers to the opening events for the premiere of Survivor: Island of the Idols.

Imagine the start of a new Survivor season without Jeff Probst! As fans of the greatest reality TV show on the planet, we’ve grown accustomed to Jeff making a dramatic entrance and explaining the theme for the season. In the past decade, an overwhelming majority of Survivor seasons have begun with the same old classic marooning.

However, that won’t be the case for Island of the Idols. It took long enough but production finally decided to shake up the premiere as teased in the season 39 behind the scenes video. Instead of a typical marooning where Jeff addresses the new cast and tosses them their buffs, the two tribes will go directly to their beaches without even seeing Jeff!

Once they arrive, their buffs will already be there, along with the season’s theme: Island of the Idols for the cast to mull over. It sounds like we won’t see Jeff until the first challenge, so the cast might go an entire day or longer without the host stepping in.

This is the first time production has planned such a unique start to a season in a long time, really channeling the creative premieres of old school Survivor. There has only been one other season to begin without Jeff Probst, and that was way back in season 14: Fiji.

In Fiji, all nineteen castaways were left on the same beach without any word from Jeff. It was only until Day 2, the first Reward Challenge of the season when Jeff made his first appearance. Those two days created confusion, but also allowed the large group of players to get to know each other and start to build those relationships without the immediate pressure of the game beginning.

The big difference for Island of the Idols is the fact that the castaways will already know their tribe members and will be on separate beaches. That said, this odd start to season 39 will surely have the cast wondering what’s going on. There might still be that Day 1 strategizing, but I think without Jeff’s presence to kick off the season, this twist will allow for the social game to flourish naturally.

Another bonus is that without the typical marooning off of a boat, there will be more time for us to get to know the cast. We saw a night and day difference between the well-paced David vs. Goliath premiere and the Edge of Extinction rushed first episode. With a 90-minute time slot set for the Island of the Idols premiere, I cannot wait for this intriguing start to season 39 get the runtime it deserves.