Usually, during the off-season, the Survivor community is relatively calm and eagerly awaiting the next season to begin. While the latter is still true now, especially as the long-awaited Survivor 50 is around the corner, these past couple of weeks have been anything but.
Survivor 49 wasn’t a particularly engaging season, and while it was promising at times, it was an overall boring experience for fans. However, the tea behind the season has been so entertaining, it has definitely helped these last couple of weeks to flash before our eyes.
What is Cheat Gate?
If you’ve been keeping up with social media, you know the drama that has unfolded ever since the season ended, as Sage Ahrens-Nichols, who ended up in third place, revealed she had decided to wait until the season finished airing to speak her truth and share more details about her Survivor experience.
On Instagram, Ahrens-Nichols has shared that she’s been having a difficult time navigating Survivor waters, even before she and her cast mates officially started playing. Over the last couple of weeks, Ahrens-Nichols has started disclosing more about her time on the island, how the game ultimately unfolded, and how she has faced nonstop feedback and criticism about her gameplay.
Just a couple of days ago, Ahrens-Nichols once more rattled the winds by revealing that two of her former cast mates, Sophi Balerdi and Jake Latimer, were the culprits of pregaming and how this relationship impacted the game for everyone. Though the video has now been deleted from Ahrens-Nichols' YouTube page, it can still be found on other Survivor-related pages across the internet.
Pregaming is nothing new in Survivor, especially in returning players' seasons, when it is inevitable and expected that players will contact each other before arriving at the game. As to how influential pregaming is, it definitely varies. However, this is the first time that the concept of pregaming has become so prevalent, particularly in a recent season and in the New Era, which has been filled with new players, with the exception of Bruce Perreault.
As Ahrens-Nichols repeatedly stated in various videos, pregaming was a hindrance for Survivor 49, as it led to multiple connections that weren’t as organic as what we saw on TV, for instance, the bond between Balerdi and Latimer. Blaerdi ended up being the season's runner-up, and Latimer was medevaced after being bitten by a sea krait during the pre-merge. While we will never know what would’ve happened had Latimer stayed in the game, it is perhaps safe to assume that he and Balerdi would’ve been an inseparable duo in the long run.
Other Survivor 49 players speak on Cheat Gate
As for other players also speaking on Cheat Gate, Kimberly “Annie” Davis, who was also on Survivor 49 and on the Uli (blue) tribe alongside Balerdi and Latimer, spoke to Survivor: Island of the Idols contestant Lauren-Ashley Beck on the latter’s YouTube page, Beyond the Edit. During the interview, Annie divulges that she also noticed people talking but didn’t participate.
In addition, Annie also stated that it took her a while to understand that even if people aren’t talking game, per se, they are still talking, which is not only against the rules, but also creates bonds between people. As she explains, people at Ponderosa are completely cut off from their families, environments, and technology, which places them in a highly particular position where even a glance, a smile, or any sign of recognition can create ripples, hindering or even forming future relationships on the island.
The potential impact of Cheat Gate down the line
As previously mentioned, pregaming isn’t a new concept on Survivor, particularly in returning players' seasons, as former players know or are aware of each other, and leaks about who has been contacted to play are nearly impossible to prevent. However, in a new players season such as Survivor 49, this is a first (at least publicly) in how the cast interacted before the game, and, consequently, how the season would’ve unfolded had these talks been stopped in a timely manner will forever play out in an alternative timeline.
As production was forced to remove two people from the game, and now Sage has shared that these two weren’t the only culprits, further protocols should and most likely will be enforced to avoid this PR nightmare again from season 51 and onwards. While there’s a popular saying that goes that “all is fair in love and war”, there should be a notion to respect that certain rules are there for a reason, especially when it comes to a game such as Survivor when the outcome literally depends on social interactions, bonds, and relationships which can be helped or hindered by the slightest of notions.