Three lessons US Survivor can learn from South African Survivor

South African Survivor is among the best international versions of the show and its US counterpart could learn a few lessons from it.

With both South African Survivor and Australian Survivor wrapping up their latest seasons, the focus now switches to Island of the Idols. As it’s approaching the 20-year mark, it can be hard for other iterations to match up with its established format.

That said, the South African version, which we’ll refer to as Survivor SA, does a few things so well that it’s the American version that should be taking notes. Here are three specific areas Survivor SA is superior to the original iteration.

Longer and more flexible episode lengths

One problem that the US version faces is that they have squeeze each episode in an hour time slot, giving them only 40-45 minutes of actual footage with the odd 90-minute episode. In South Africa, the episodes can range from 45 minutes to 70 minutes, although they’re typically close to an hour.

The longer length allows for more time to understand each tribe member’s viewpoint before they go to Tribal Council. Quite a few times in Edge of Extinction we had no clue why some people voted the way they did, but with an extra 5-10 minutes, that problem can be solved.

Also, the flexibility allows Survivor SA to let the episode dictate the runtime. If it’s a simple vote where there wasn’t much action, maybe 45 minutes is all they need. However, if there’s plenty of drama before Tribal Council, they won’t be afraid to make that episode into an hour or longer.

Only one elimination per episode

Due to the standard 13 episode order, there will always be two episodes that feature more than one elimination. Usually, it comes in the form of a double-elimination episode, and then a completely packed season finale. On the other hand, the South African version takes its time.

Their simple approach is to have just one vote an episode. Once again, that prevents the events from feeling rushed and being forced to edit out meaningful conversations. Even the reunion show is well-paced, using that time to understand each player’s actions during the game instead of spending time on advertising other shows or simply promoting good causes.

A balanced view of twists

Survivor SA does share many twists and advantages in common with its US counterpart, but it’s the way that they’re used that makes the difference. For example, the latest South African season: Island of Secrets, featured a Ghost Island type of twist where players were selected to go to the titular island.

Each visit brings something different, like a chance to win an advantage, a food reward, an idol clue, protection from Tribal Council, or sometimes there’s nothing. The point is this island is not made the focus of an episode. They spend a couple of minutes there and then shift back to the respective tribes, not taking away crucial time from watching the tribal dynamics develop.

When you compare the two shows, they’re actually very similar and the South African iteration might just be the closest version to the American one. While US Survivor is trying to get more and more intricate with their twists and gameplay, Survivor SA keeps it simple and focuses on developing each castaway’s story. Hopefully, US Survivor can keep those valuable lessons in mind going forward.