There's a growing trend in the Survivor community for fans to advocate for a season without advantages, idols, or twists. The fans want to return to a very basic, old-school season of Survivor that forces the players to win challenges for immunity and navigate the tricky social elements of the game to win each season.
If that's how you feel about Survivor and where you want the game to return to, it appears Jeff Probst has heard your complaints, and he has some feelings about a lack of twists and advantages in Survivor.
On the latest episode of On Fire with Jeff Probst, Jeff shared why he is an advocate for more twists and advantages being part of the game. He claims that it helps the best players play a better, more exciting game because they have more tools in the toolbox to work with, basically.
In the conversation, Jeff was responding to Rachel LaMont's point about how she would have been voted out of Survivor 47 if not for Sol Yi giving her the Safety Without Power advantage, which enabled her to leave Tribal Council before the former Tuku players voted out Tiyana Hallums right before the jury.
"I mean, it is so interesting to hear you say that, had you not got that advantage," Jeff said. "I mean, you think about the moments that shift the game. And people say, 'Oh, you should do a season without advantages or twists.' And, we're voting on it right now. I'm telling you, you want a season with maximum advantages, maximum twists, because that's when the players can get creative and do something."
Largely, I do agree with Jeff. There are some twists, specifically the double elimination in Survivor 46 and Survivor 48 right after the merge, that I don't love. I'm also not a huge fan of how challenging the Beware Advantages have gotten or the fact that the players who go on Journeys either lose their vote or gain an advantage. There's too big a target placed on those players because that information is so public. If there were smaller challenges back at camp that they could do instead of the Journey, I would be much more behind that part of the twist.
Overall, though, Survivor became more interesting with the hidden immunity and the Shot in the Dark. It solves very key parts of the game. How do you "survive" when you don't have the numbers? Well, you can convince your fellow players to keep you around. If that doesn't work, you can find an idol to keep yourself safe. And, if that doesn't work, you can play your Shot in the Dark as a Hail Mary. It makes the players play harder and smarter than they had to in the past because you can't just tell a person they are getting voted out. You have to make the person feel somewhat secure, and that's very fun to watch as a viewer.
So, I'm on the side of making the advantages more secret. I don't think players should be penalized, like they are when they lose their vote, for trying to get a leg up on competition. I think that's the part of the game that should change, personally.
Taking out advantages and twists from the game would result in a pretty boring game, in my opinion. And, it sounds like Jeff agrees. It is one thing that the fans are voting on for Survivor 50, and I just hope the fans and their hands make the right decision.
"“I'm just saying, I talk about this show all the time," Jeff continued. "And, the fans love those kinds of moments. Sol gives you the one thing you need on the one night you need it, and you go on to win the game because of it.”
"It's hard to argue that I would be here without that advantage," Rachel said.
Jeff is right. Rachel is right. Advantages, in general, do make Survivor better!