We made it, Survivor fans! After a three-month break after Survivor 49 ended, Survivor is officially back this week for the Survivor 50: In the Hands of the Fans season premiere.
The three-hour premiere, titled "Epic Party," will air at 8 p.m. ET on Wednesday, Feb. 25, on CBS and Paramount+! Needless to say, fans are super excited about the new season, which features returning players for the first time since 2020's Survivor: Winners at War.
While it's hard to argue Survivor 50 is one of the most anticipated seasons of all time when we've seen hits like All-Stars, Heroes vs. Villains, and as mentioned, Winners at War, there's no doubt this is the biggest and most important season since 2020.
Survivor 50 is officially the biggest season ever
For the first time in Survivor history, Jeff Probst and co. selected 24 returning players for Survivor 50. That's the biggest cast in the history of the show by a long shot. Prior to season 50, we'd only seen 20 players, maximum, on any season of the series.
More recently, Survivor has opted to go with 18 players for the new era seasons, which is probably best for the 26-day format.
So, you're not crazy! There are way more players playing Survivor 50 than any other season. With such a short window (26 days vs. the original 39-day season), there's going to be no time for these players to think. It's pedal to the metal for 26 days.
Probst told Parade they had 22 players picked for Survivor 50 heading into Survivor 49, and then, Rizo Velovic and Savannah Louie were so good that Probst knew they needed them to return.
"We landed on 24 in part because we saw these two players on 49 and said, ‘We got to have them.'"
Honestly, I have no idea how this season is going to work. There are so many players that have to be eliminated in such a short period of time. I have to imagine we'll see some twists, but at a minimum, we're probably going to see a new challenge of some kind every single day. We might see the cast split into smaller groups for longer around the merge to eliminate two players in some episodes. We just really don't know how it's going to shake out.
And, that's just from a game structure perspective. Don't even get me started on how we're going to make a show with 24 players work with 90-minute episodes from a narrative perspective. Of course, we want to see our favorites playing the game, hanging out, and all that, but the producers are going to leave seasons' worth of material and moments on the cutting room floor, so to speak. Some players are simply going to be left out of the narrative entirely. That happens in every season of Survivor, but I have a feeling it's going to happen even more in Survivor 50.
Luckily, we have a three-hour Survivor 50 premiere, so we should be able to at least see every player in that episode, but we might be looking at multiple eliminations very early in the game to really trim this cast down. If they don't, this season could feel very odd, and that's a bad thing.
Survivor 50 is the most important season in a long time
I don't know if we've ever had a more important season of Survivor than this one. As mentioned, it's been six years since our last returning player season, which was Winners at War in season 40. The COVID-19 pandemic and production costs caused Probst and co. to tweak the game.
By the time the show came back after an extended delay, the game was completely different in Survivor 41. It's still Survivor, of course, but there are clear changes with the number of days played, the downtime, the number of challenges, the lack of food, etc. that make the game different.
That's been met with praise and criticism. Probst has already said they're never going back to 39-day seasons, so the new era is here to stay, but the game will always evolve.
This time around, CBS is bringing the fans into the fold like they never have before. We've seen the fans select players for individual seasons, but this time, CBS gave them the option to vote on twists, tribe colors, food options, and a live reunion, which has been confirmed. For the first time since season 39, there will be a live reunion for this season.
Is this fan element a gimmick? Or, is it here to stay? We'll find out.
Now, I've mentioned this before, but as a Survivor fan, there's just a lot riding on this season. It truly feels like the end of an era in a way. I don't think we're ever going to see players like Ozzy Lusth, Coach, Cirie Fields, or Aubry Bracco play Survivor again after this. I would be very shocked if Survivor continues to pull players from those older seasons unless they're really desperate. That's just my feeling at this point.
So, where does the game go from here? Do they keep inviting new era players back? Do they keep bringing in fresh contestants and trying to build around them? With rising production costs, how does Survivor keep getting better as ratings fall year after year?
If Survivor 50 flops or isn't as good as CBS needs it to be, what happens next?
I don't like to be pessimistic. The pendulum could swing the other direction, and this could be the shot in the arm the show needs. I really hope that it is, but it could make things harder if this season doesn't live up to the hype.
We'll be covering Survivor 50 daily on Surviving Tribal throughout the season. Stay tuned for more news and coverage of Survivor 50!