On Survivor, a player's greatest agency is the ability to vote. Yet, in the new era of the game, Jeff Probst and production have gone to great lengths to take them away.
The Shot in the Dark gives players the chance to sacrifice their vote for an opportunity at safety. Beware Advantages take the player's vote away until they complete a task. Journeys often punish players if they fail at a puzzle or game by taking away their vote. Why is Jeff so insistent on this mechanic?
Production feels it makes the game more exciting. Strategy can be thrown off when you expect a player to be voting that can't. It can lead to unpredictable tribal councils, three of which we have already seen on Survivor 48. It creates more risk for players to consider in regard to advantages. The presence of the Shot in the Dark makes blindsides the norm. This seems good as a viewer. So how is it ruining the game?
Survivor 48 has had exciting Tribal Councils but devastating consequences
On the last Journey the players went through on in episode 3 of Survivor 48, two out of the three players lost their vote: Justin Pioppi and Bianca Roses. These also happen to be the last two players voted out. These two players did not lose their vote by a choice they made; they were forced to attempt the game.
The game they had to play? A Yahtzee-esque dice role. Essentially, they fell victim to a random number generator that they could not opt out of. This is bad enough, but ultimately, their lost vote was a major factor in why they went home.
In fact, in the case of Bianca, it was the sole factor. Her admitting she lost her vote to Cedrek McFadden right before tribal council completely changed the plan for the vote out. Sure, the shocker of her going home on a 2-1-1 vote, and the theatre provided by Sai Hughley's reaction, were fun to watch. Justin goes home in a crazy Tribal Council where even Jeff had a hard time explaining the rules is fun for the history books. But, it also ruins the game.
The game has changed, and not for the better
The premise of Survivor is that players need to use their social and strategic game to navigate around voting. If you go home, it is because you did not succeed at that aspect. There is always luck involved, but by and large, it is a skill-based game.
One could argue that both Justin and Bianca still failed at those skills. But when the fans watching at home can't even figure out what is happening, or why a player got voted out, because the rules or the reasoning is so convoluted, that is a problem. They both made social mistakes, but neither had any chance of going home if it had not been for their lost vote.
That ruins the game. It changes the premise entirely. To go home simply because you could not get lucky rolling dice is no longer a game of Survivor. It is a game of complete chance, a game in which the players don't even have a choice. Just because a result is surprising does not mean it is good.
Survivor is no longer just about a player's ability to navigate social pressures, mitigate threat levels, make key moves at the right time, or even adapting to hidden advantages. It is now about avoiding or managing losing your vote. A vote that is your only power in the game. Especially in smaller tribes, this can entirely kill a player's chances. And then when multiple players on a tribe have all lost their vote? It becomes nonsensical.
When the game is no longer a game about skill but rather a game about chance, then the game is broken. That is precisely what has happened on Survivor 48, and it won't be the last time. That can only hurt the game we love, and hurt our enjoyment of watching it.