The Survivor 48 finale date has officially been revealed. According to a press release from CBS, the Survivor 48 finale will air on Wednesday, May 21, at 8 p.m. ET on CBS and Paramount+.
And, there's more good news for Survivor fans, as well, especially those who liked the original three-hour Survivor finale.
Survivor 48 finale will not be split into two parts
According to CBS, the Survivor 48 finale will not be split into two parts like Survivor 47. For those who don't recall, Survivor broke a decades-old tradition for the Survivor 47 finale and split the episode into two, two-hour parts. Those episodes aired one week apart on CBS.
For Survivor 48, CBS is returning to the original, three-hour season finale. Usually, it shakes out to be a little more than two hours of challenges, strategy, and Tribal Council followed by the Aftershow shortly after the winner is revealed. That's probably how things will shake out for Survivor 48, as well.
Personally, I kind of liked the two-part finale for Survivor 47. Tribal Council at the Final Six and Final Five obviously had enough drama to keep viewers captivated, but that doesn't always happen. We also had a super dramatic fire-making challenge and an extended look at the Final Tribal Council in Survivor 47. I enjoyed those elements, but it's clear that not every season needs that many episodes.
I'm also surprised, given the ratings of Survivor 47, that CBS is returning to the one-episode finale, but hey, I'm not in the rooms making those calls. We also saw so much more action in the four-hour finale than in the shorter, three-hour finale, so it'll be interesting to see how the show navigates that dilemma.
Remember, those episodes were all about Rachel LaMont dominating challenges and playing idols and advantages to basically win the game at the very end. It was excellent TV. Maybe, that will happen in Survivor 48. Maybe, it won't. We'll have to wait and see on May 21!
Survivor 48 will also be 13 episodes
Survivor 47 was 14 episodes with the two-part finale, but looking at the calendar and release schedule, it's apparent that Survivor 48 will only be 13 episodes like many Survivor seasons of old. Obviously, the episode count for Survivor has changed over the years, but all the New Era Survivor seasons (post-Survivor: Winners at War) have consisted for 13 episodes except for Survivor 47.
That's assuming CBS isn't planning any schedule breaks on Wednesday nights throughout the spring. That doesn't usually happen, but unexpected events have bumped episodes in the past, so it's something to keep in mind.
Stay tuned for more news about the Survivor 48 finale! We'll be covering the season every week at Surviving Tribal!