Family visits in Survivor were a huge part of the old game. Before the new era hit and production was in literal lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic, almost every season of Survivor featured an in-person family visit.
The only seasons pre-Winners at War that didn’t include family visits were Survivor: Fiji (due to political unrest in the country), Survivor: Blood vs. Water and Survivor: San Juan del Sur (both loved ones season, so no visit was implied…), Survivor: Samoa and Survivor: Kaoh Rong (both of which do not have a cited reason, but fans assume for Kaoh Rong the number medical evacuations that took place that season messed up the production schedule).
But once the new era started and a new format of the show came to be, fans have been asking, “when will family visits return?” Well back when Survivor 44 was airing, during an episode of the On Fire with Jeff Probst podcast, the host and showrunner revealed that the loved ones visits were not completely out of the picture in the future—which we saw come true during Survivor 50's surprise Final Three visit—but they have to take the 26-day games into factor now.
Should the classic version of family visits return to Survivor? Here’s what the fans think…
We polled the Surviving Tribal community over on Facebook and were actually surprised to see there’s almost an equal split of people hoping for family visits to return as there are fans saying “good riddance.”
But the one thing everyone could agree on—Jeff included—is that in order for it to logistically make sense, the game needs to be more than 26 days.
“Yes, but only if they go back to the longer season,” one user wrote while another agreed, “Only if the season is moved back to 39 days!” Someone else chimed in, “It would be nice. The days on the island should at least be increased to 30.”
Though it’s unlikely we’ll ever see the game go beyond the new 26-day format, it does beg the question, “how long away from family is necessary before it becomes a vital moment for players?” 26 days isn’t even a full month. And while the players do arrive in Fiji a couple days before the game begins, it’s still a fairly short amount of time. And while I’m definitely someone who jumps on the phone daily with my family and friends, for a shot at $1 million, I’d happily go a month without hearing from them. But as someone who has never played Survivor, I can’t confirm what it’s actually like once you get out there.
So just as Jeff said on the podcast back around Survivor 44, "To me, it's right on the edge of wondering if it's enough to warrant it. But when you see even the loved ones' letters come, you realize it's still hard to be away and be isolated. So I do think that if we did loved ones that you would get a big reaction."
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