Survivor 50 backlash grows as fans slam questionable new twists

Survivor fans voted for a lot of twists on Survivor 50: In the Hands of the Fans, and it appears we have made a grave mistake.

This season, we've seen a lot of big twists, new advantages, and disadvantages, but on the biggest season in Survivor history, we haven't really seen any of the twists actually pay off. Instead, most of the twists have felt rather annoying for fans, none more so than the Jimmy Fallon twist that sent Christian Hubicki packing.

While some of the twists have worked pretty well on Survivor 50, the biggest gripes fans have are about the Billie Eilish Boomerang Idol, the Blood Moon twist, and the most recent twist, Jimmy Fallon twist, that bounced Christian from the game.

For me, it's not the number of twists introduced this season that's frustrating; it's how those twists have limited gameplay for these players.

And, fans are not happy. Take a spin on the internet after Christian Hubicki's latest Journey, and you'll see how disappointed and angry fans are about the twists this season. It's basically a lot of this:

I picked the three biggest twists so far in Survivor 50 and shared out they have negatively affected the gameplay this season. Let's start with the Billie Eilish Boomerang Idol.

Billie Eilish Boomerang Idol is basically a flop so far

I love the idea of an idol that must be gifted to another player that can boomerang back if that person is eliminated from the game. The problem is in the execution! These players try to use the information as power, which means that everyone found out about the boomerang idols.

In Survivor, immunity idols that are kept secret, or shared among a small group, are much better for blindsides and shocking moves than idols that everyone knows about. As we saw, Aubry Bracco had to burn her idol just because everyone knew about it. That's not quite the case with Rizo Velovic and Ozzy Lusth, but that's another issue.

My other qualm with this idol is that it can only be used on the player it was gifted! That's no fun! We want fewer restrictions on what these amazing players can do. So many big idol plays in Survivor history have been because one player actually plays the idol for another player, saving them, and flipping the balance of the game.

Rizo and Ozzy can only use their idols on themselves, which means they can't protect Cirie Fields or another ally, or enemy, to score points with the jury or change the game. They can only protect themselves, and that's pretty limiting in a season like this.

My final frustration with the Billie Eilish Boomerang Idol is how the players who found them actually got no benefit from them. Genevieve Mushaluk found two idols, but she couldn't use them. Christian Hubicki found one and couldn't use it. Now, both of those players have been voted out, but everyone they gifted idols to are still in the game. They did all the work and received no reward.

The Blood Moon twist lacks bite

The Blood Moon twist was necessary in a way because we needed three players to be eliminated in one night for numbers. Like, you can't play a normal Survivor season with 24 players and 26 days, so somewhere along the line, this type of event or twist was going to happen.

The problem is how it was executed. Ozzy and Rizo got to leave camp, miss the challenge, and miss Tribal Council to sit on the sidelines on Exile Island. The other 15 players were split into three random groups where pre-existing relationships determined who would go home. Colby Donaldson, who was going to be removed from the game, Genevieve, and Kamilla Karthigesu were voted out. Only Kamilla's exit was even surprising.

So, again, Blood Moon twist looks good on paper, but if you don't set the players up for success, the least entertaining situations play out.

Jimmy Fallon twist was way too much of a disadvantage

There's long been debate about the Journeys being too much of a disadvantage in Survivor, and I feel like the latest Jimmy Fallon twist is proof the show has swung too far in punishing players for not succeeding at the task they literally can't opt out of.

In the latest instance, Christian was forced to solve a challenging puzzle on a floating raft. The puzzle was connected to anchors by a rope that would pull the puzzle into the water. If the puzzle is pulled into the water without being complete, Christian would lose his vote, have to vote for himself, and tell the other players that he is voting for himself.

It was a ridiculously cruel and unnecessary twist that removed any smidge of power from Christian at that point. He couldn't lie or maneuver his way out of it, and the other players, rightfully so, took the opportunity to knock Christian out of the game.

I don't mind that Christian lost his vote or even had to vote for himself, although I do think that was a bit extra, but you have to allow the players to actually play with these twists. Let Christian go back and lie about what happened. Give him a chance to reverse his fate.

And that's my biggest problem with all of these twists. So much of Survivor is left up to chance. Sometimes, the dice get rolled, the tribe swap arrives, and there's nothing these players can do to avoid their fate. Too often in Survivor 50, we're taking some of the best and brightest players we've seen recently and putting them in precarious positions that they can't find a way out of.

With Christian, there is no possible way that any other player solves that puzzle. He's one of the best puzzlers out playing this season, and that puzzle was too difficult, given the conditions (windy and wavy), to solve in such a short time frame. Cirie just had to walk around in the hot sun looking for a coconut, but she had a lot of time to make that happen. Christian had minutes on a rocking-and-rolling platform.

This is Survivor 50! I just want to see the players play and stop letting the twists get in the way.

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