After the Final Tribal Council of the first season of Survivor, Jeff Probst read the votes, and that was it.
The show quickly evolved. After the Final Tribal Council episode for Survivor: Australia, the second season of the show, a live reunion show followed. It was hosted by Bryant Gumbel. From then on, there was a live reunion show for every season through season 39.
Unfortunately for fans and contestants alike, the COVID-19 pandemic prevented a live reunion after the much-anticipated Survivor 40: Winners at War. When Survivor 41 aired in the fall of 2021, with concerns about COVID-19 still in play, the show aired an aftershow immediately after the vote, a practice that has continued through the just-completed Survivor 47.
With the new era's aftershow, Jeff Probst and the players can address the vote and season while feelings and motives are still fresh. Most of the aftershows were interesting, but they were never as good as the live reunion shows. The lone exception was the aftershow for Survivor 46 when Maria Shrime Gonzalez revealed she had not voted for Charlie Davis, her closest ally in the game, because Kenzie Petty touched her emotionally during the Final Tribal Council.
The explanation fell flat. It came off more as sour grapes because Charlie made it to the Final Three, and she didn’t. It also awarded Petty the win for 30 seconds of emotion instead of 26 days of gameplay.
Survivor needs to return to the live reunion
The show needs to return to the live reunion but with improvements. Over the years, there have been changes to the reunion show. Initially, it was hosted by Bryant Gumbel, but Jeff Probst quickly took it over, as he should have.
Season 26 didn’t include the whole cast, only the jury and finalists. They righted this mistake during subsequent reunion shows. That was also a big issue with the aftershow during the last seven seasons. Only the jury and finalists are present during the new era aftershows, not all 18 players. If a player didn't make the merge, they didn't make the aftershow.
There have been other issues. As time passed, the Final Tribal Council and voting ran long and into the time allotted for the live reunion. This shortened an already brief amount of time needed to cover all that needed to be covered with the cast. Sometimes, not every cast member had a chance to speak.
The after-show for season 47 was a joke. The producers decided to break the last few days of the season into two, two-hour finales without any time specifically carved out for the aftershow. The result was a 12-minute aftershow, not counting the season 48 preview. Why did they even bother?
The live reunion was really for the fans. Yes, it was good for the contestants, too, but it was a chance for fans to interact with the cast to a certain extent and see the voting results live. It is understandable why the reunion had to be set aside because of COVID-19, but the producers need to bring it back.
They could also do with a format change for the live reunion. Maybe, the reunion should be 90 minutes instead of an hour. They could do what they did in season 47. Split up the final days into two 90-minute episodes. Then instead of a crappy after-show, go to a 90-minute reunion show. The expanded format would give Probst the chance to announce the winner, plenty of time to explore the season and players without rushing, and some fan interaction and a preview of the upcoming season.
This might curtail some pressing and hurrying that Probst has to do with the hour-long format. Contestants will have more time to explain their actions during the game. Overall, it is a better format than what they did before and certainly better than the after-show.
Survivor is still a blast to watch, and it’s still a study of human behavior that often reflects the times in which we live. The game has always been proactive in making changes to keep the game entertaining, and this is a change they definitely need to make.