Survivor 50 is off to an interesting start. In a lot of ways, the season lived up to the hype. It's so awesome seeing these returning players go toe-to-toe week after week, but there's one key area Survivor 50 is falling short.
The lack of screentime for several players, especially the women of Survivor 50, and giving too much screentime to country music superstar and spearfisherman Zac Brown has caused a ruckus this season. Now, it sounds like CBS and Survivor are making changes behind-the-scenes to re-edit some of the upcoming episodes with celebrity cameos.
According to a report from The Sun, a source close to Survivor told the outlet that the show is standing by the decision to include celebrities this season, but they are going to be cutting "down some of the future cameo edits, mostly Mr. Beast."
CBS and those associated with Survivor have not commented publicly about the cameos causing behind-the-scenes chaos as the article alleges, but Zac Brown's episode, which was Survivor 50 episode 4, "Knife to the Heart," is the lowest-rated episode in franchise history.
There are at least two more celeb cameos on the way in Survivor 50. We know that Mr. Beast is coming to the island after Jeff Probst appeared on his reality series, Beast Games. We also know that Jimmy Fallon, the host of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, will be in Fiji at some point this season, as well.
If they are cutting down the celeb cameos and giving some of that time back to the players, I think it's a good idea. Almost no one I've heard from enjoyed Zac Brown's fishing trip and concert, especially when there was an epic blindside and backstab on the way later that episode. It just didn't fit the vibe, you know?
While I didn't like almost every aspect, basically, of Brown's appearance because it took away from the game, I don't think Survivor 50 should be scared of upcoming celeb cameos. There's a much bigger problem happening in the game that needs to be corrected, and it's how the women are taking a backseat to the men in terms of storytelling and screentime this season.
Survivor 50 should make sure the women of the season are represented in the remaining episodes
Angelina Keeley spoke at length about this issue after she was voted out of Survivor 50 in episode 5, and she said it a lot better than I could. In summary, the women of Survivor 50 sacrificed just as much to head out to Fiji as everyone else, and they are simply not being represented on screen as much as the men of the season.
And, it's such a shame! You have some of the most incredible women to play Survivor on the cast, and we've barely heard from them. Tiffany Ervin was one of the best narrators of Survivor 46, and she's had two confessionals through five episodes. Zac Brown had four confessionals in one episode!
Of the top 10 players with the most confessionals so far, only three of those players, Emily Flippen, Genevieve Mushaluk, and Cirie Fields, are women. Tiffany, Dee Valladares, Chrissy Hofbeck, and Kamillia Karthigesu have fewer than 10 confessionals this season. Of the men, only Jonathan Young have fewer than 10 confessionals so far.
Look, I know that we have too many players to see every episode. We also have too many players who have lost every single challenge (Ozzy Lusth, Christian Hubicki, and Emily Flippen). Those three have the most confessionals so far. But, it's just puzzling some of the choices that are being made.
For example, it's so strange that Ozzy and Christian got so much time on screen in addition to confessionals after Mike White was blindsided when Angelina Keeley, Mike's best friend in the game, was sitting right there. We never heard from her.
I'll give you another. When Kyle Fraser was removed from the game, the one player out there who knew him and his game, Kamilla Karthigesu, never got a chance to tell us at length how she feels about it.
Survivor is the most thorough reality show when it comes to shooting coverage, interviews, confessionals, and all of that. We know everything is getting filmed. So, it's just narrative choices that are causing some of this backlash. It can be fixed, but damage has already been done.
Instead of worry about Jimmy Fallon or Mr. Beast, I wish they would go back to the editing room and make sure that we're getting more representation from everyone this season rather than, as Angelina called them, "the bros."