Survivor's Blood vs. Water theme is an interesting twist and could be revisited

For season 27, Survivor introduced a nice twist to the game called Blood vs. Water. For that season, they brought back favorites from previous seasons and pitted them against their loved ones. That extra level of comfort and joy of playing this tough game with someone you love and trust implicitly is offset by extra worry about what was happening with the loved one.

Tyson Apostal played nearly a perfect game that season and won the game fairly easily. We even saw one young player, Ciera, vote off her mother (rightfully so, by the way), which has to be looked at as one of the bravest, most independent moves the game has ever seen.

Survivor brought back the theme just two seasons later. Season 29 was a decent season of the show, but it felt like they should have waited at least another two seasons before reintroducing this theme again. It felt too soon at the time.

As Survivor is wont to do, they changed up the twist a bit in season 29. Instead of half of the cast being returning players, this time it was all new players. They also didn't shy away from causing emotional distress. On the very first day, one person was chosen to perform a challenge, and then it was revealed they were competing against their loved one. Then, the loser would be sent to desolate Exile Island.

Jeremy ended up beating his wife and sending her to Exile. It was an emotional gut punch right from the start and it led to other emotional moments throughout the season. Adding loved ones to the mix makes a game that is already hard to play even harder.

Survivor is a game where emotion has to be tamped down at times, but in Blood vs. Water, those emotions come to the forefront when loved ones are concerned. It makes people do things they might not have necessarily done if they hadn't been playing with their spouses, siblings, parents, or children.

Survivor season 29 introduced audiences to Jeremy Collins and Kelly Wentworth, but both were voted off way too early. Both would return to the game in later seasons. Natalie Anderson, despite her sister being the first voted off, won the game by playing a well-rounded game strategically, physically, and socially. It often seemed as if she was free from the worry of playing with her twin. She was allowed to navigate the game a bit more freely than other players.

Natalie made several top-notch moves down the stretch to secure the win. She returned for Winners at War and was dealt a pretty crappy hand and didn't really get to match up against other winners.

Forcing players into uncomfortable situations is a main goal for Survivor, and Blood vs. Water certainly does that. Now that some time has passed, this would be one theme that could be re-introduced into the new era of the game to add another level to the game.