Survivor is back in production after a year hiatus but season 41 might be shorter than what viewers are used to.
After a year off the airwaves due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Survivor is in production in Fiji with seasons 41 and 42 filming back to back. Season 41 is filming as of this writing and Martin Holmes of Inside Survivor writes that the season could be significantly shorter than the usual 39 days.
"According to Inside Survivor sources, season 41 (and possibly season 42 and beyond) will not be the traditional 39 days and will instead be shortened in length. While we don’t yet have confirmation on an exact number, we’re told it could be cut at least 10 days shorter than usual.The reason for this change is currently unclear, though we can, of course, speculate. Budgetary and/or scheduling reasons are the first that come to mind—cast and crew having to quarantine for 14 days upon arrival in Fiji due to COVID-19 certainly eats into a considerable chunk of production time."
This would be unique, as we’re used to the castaways being stranded for 39 days. Getting to Day 39 is always the goal on Survivor so imagine now if the end goal is Day 29 and how much production is going to have to squeeze in a short amount of time. Twenty-nine days is just over four weeks longer, meaning there will be a challenge pretty much every day to accommodate the shortened schedule.
Survivor season 41 might be much shorter than what we’re used to.
This could apply to season 42 as well, which will film right after season 41 and air in the spring. It’ll definitely be weird, as the show hasn’t strayed away from 39 days since season 2 — Australian Outback — when they actually upped the number of days to 42. They went back to 39 days after the show’s second season and it’s stayed that way ever since.
It’s hard to complain too much honestly, as fans are just excited to have a new season of Survivor again this fall. We’ve been without the show for nearly a year now and while binging old seasons was fun for the first few months, we’re ready for new players, new twists, and new drama.
Hopefully, if the show is cut down to 29 days for the next two days, production can make sure it’s not too much during such a short time. We don’t need 8,000 advantages. Just find a way to make the show the thrill ride it normally is and all should hopefully be good.