Survivor 47 finally tweaks one of the worst New Era challenges

After six seasons of watching players struggle through the Sweat vs. Savvy challenge in each premiere episode of the New Era, Survivor is throwing in the towel on the Sweat vs. Savvy challenge.

In an interview with Entertainment Weekly before the premiere of Survivor 47 on Wednesday, Sept. 18, Jeff Probst announced a big change is coming to the Sweat vs. Savvy challenge to start the game.

In the New Era (post-Winners at War), every season has opened with a Sweat vs. Savvy challenge. Basically, every season starts with a reward challenge between the three tribes. The winning tribe guarantees themselves the use of basic supplies. To get the supplies, the other tribes must choose a Sweat vs. Savvy challenge (yes, there have been some variations of this challenge already). If they accomplish the task given to them, they win supplies for their tribe. If they don't, they go back to the tribe empty-handed. It's shaped the course of the game and led to some iconic moments for some contestants, including David Jelinsky, who was voted out first in Survivor 46 after throwing in the towel on the Sweat challenge after "several" minutes.

Well, the Sweat vs. Savvy is changing, according to Probst, to make the game more fun. I can get behind this evolution!

"We've evolved Sweat vs. Savvy into something a little different this season. It's the same goal, which is to earn tribe supplies for your camp, but the method for doing it is very different. It's a nice, fresh idea. It's fun to watch, very fun for the player to do."

Finally! Finally, they are changing this buzzkill of an event to start the game. Obviously, they're keeping the challenge aspect to give the other tribes a chance to earn their supplies, but it sounds like it's going to be more fun than watching someone exhaust themselves on day 1 and basically take themselves out of the game. In my opinion, the point of the first day should be to allow the players to dive into the game, not punish them for losing the first reward challenge.

Why Survivor is getting rid of the Sweat vs. Savvy challenge

Probst shared a bit more reasoning behind the change. Again, there's still a challenge that will give the losing tribes the opportunity to win their supplies, but it's not a punishment like the Sweat vs. Savvy challenge was for the last six seasons.

Even though there is still a risk for the player and the tribe, Probst even made it sound like it's going to be something that the contestants actually want to volunteer for, which is fun, and interesting.

"I think it's one of those ideas that makes a kid want to play Survivor, because you watch this and you think, ‘I want to do that! It all looks fun. It's kind of Indiana Jones-esque.'"

Indiana Jones, you say, Probst?

Anyway, that's one area that I feel like Survivor could do a little bit better to improve. Giving important rewards and supplies early to some tribes and withholding them from others has always been a part of the game. It seems like the supplies given often give too big of an advantage early in the game. The Yanu tribe from Survivor 46 is the perfect example. They lost almost every challenge until the merge. Without another player getting injured and evacuated from the game, there's a good chance that Kenzie Petty, who won the season, would have been sent home.

With more resources, would Yanu have lost almost every challenge? I don't think so. Could they have done the Sweat vs. Savvy challenge better and got supplies much earlier? They could have, but do they really need to do that?

The Sweat vs. Savvy challenges are as grueling and difficult as anything we've seen on Survivor, and it's literally the first day. Just give them something to accomplish, give the tribes the supplies, and let's get the real game going. Enough of the little wrinkles making an incredibly challenging game even more difficult.

Survivor 47 premieres on Wednesday, Sept. 18! Make sure you don't miss it!