As CBS re-airs Survivor 50 this summer, it’s giving fans a chance to revisit the most recent season and reflect on the moments we loved, the moments we didn’t, and how the season could have played out with just a few minor changes.
One of the biggest grievances fans had going into the anniversary season was the fact that Survivor was attempting to repeat an old school game in the new era format. With only 26 days on the board and 24 players in the game, we already knew the season was going to be in hyperdrive before it even started. Assuming we’d see a Final Three on Day 26, that essentially meant there was going to have to be one elimination nearly every single night on the island.
Of course, the production found ways around this with elements like the “Blood Moon” twist, sending three castaways home in one night, the “Double Duos” twist which forced castaways to vote in pairs, sending two players home in a single vote, and the “Power Broker” advantage which allowed one player two vote at two Tribal Councils in the same evening.
While these were interesting and sometimes fun additions to the game, having so many multi-eliminations in one season made the game feel heavy and hurried. The fact that there were four nights where multiple players went home is just way too many in a single season of Survivor. I understand the need to cut people quickly, but fans also wanted to see people play the game. When more than a quarter of starting players are sent home in as many days as the early game sees one person go home, that’s starting to feel like overkill.
And one way to resolve this would have been to start with less players, but after Survivor 49 and wanting to cast both Rizo Velovic and Savannah Louie, that wasn’t going to be an option. So the next best option would have been—for one season and one season only—to go back to the original 39 day game structure. Yes, it would have forced production to follow a different schedule than the one they’ve set over the last five years and yes, it would have been more expensive, but it truly would have taken gameplay into another level and given fans the old school feeling they’ve been searching for since the new era began.
While I doubt we’ll ever see 39-day games again, it would have been nice just this once—for such a monumental milestone—to get a little switch up to maintain the integrity of the game. But even so, I’m glad we were introduced to do many new fun, multi-elimination twists and I hope to see some of them again in the new “open era,” just not all at once, please!
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