Boston Rob knows the ins and outs of Survivor better than most, but he's joining the masses about complaining about one of the Survivor 50 twists that simply didn't work.
In an interview with People ahead of the Survivor 50 finale, Boston Rob revealed that he is no fan of the Billie Eilish Boomerang idol.
"Some of them didn't really play out, like the Billie Eilish Idol," Boston Rob told People. "Like, I love to hear that Billie Eilish is a fan of Survivor, but to not see it play out—or not yet anyway—I almost feel like maybe if it doesn't play, then leave it on the cutting room floor, right?"
While I don't agree with all of Boston Rob's Survivor takes, he's not wrong about this one. The Billie Eilish Boomerang Idol is an interesting concept, but it's way, way too limiting. If you really want to drum up some chaos, you have to allow these players to play. Forcing them to give an idol another player and keep that secret backfired. Then, once everyone knew about idols, it changed the fabric of the game. We didn't see one player use this advantage when it actually mattered.
Then, when you consider that Genevieve Mushaluk found two idols and couldn't use them for herself at any point of the game, it's just a bummer of an advantage that hasn't been as impactful as I think production and the game makers hoped that it would be.
For me, all you have to do is to add a layer of complexity to the Boomerang Idol to make it work better. You could do this by forcing the player who receives it to play it at the next Tribal Council for themselves or for someone else. Or, you could make it so the person who receives the idol has to play it for someone else, not themselves. That gives them a chance to make a major move with the idol, which encourages more strategic gameplay, not just holding the idol in case the target falls on their back.
You could also put an expiration date on the idol for the receiver but not tell them when they have to use it by. You could let the player know that it has an expiration date that bounces it back to the sender, so they feel more pressure to use it or lose it.
There are many options to improve this concept of a boomerang idol, so I'm excited to see what the producers come up with for Survivor 51 and 52. Will it be back in some capacity? We'll find out.
Boston Rob didn't shoot down all the advantages, though. He also mentioned that he loved the MrBeast coin flip.
"I loved the MrBeast one — taking the risk, taking the chance, flipping the coin, doubling the prize money — that was pretty epic."
If the coin didn't hit, though, that would have been quite the bummer, in my opinion. I, too, love that it worked, but it had the potential to be such a flop, just like the boomerang idol.
We'll see if Jeff Probst and company have any more twists in the Survivor 50 finale on Wednesday, May 20.
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