I haven’t done an article in a while and was inspired to do this having just finished a rewatch of Survivor: All-Stars (spoilers for what the first entry on my list is going to be). In Survivor, sometimes the Final Tribal Council is competitive. We’ve seen great showdowns over the years and examples of people winning over the pre-vote favourite at Final Tribal due to their impressive speech. Other times, however, the runner-up has lost well before they reach the end. To be clear, this is not a top 5 list, but I’m going to go through five examples of exactly when the runner-up of a season lost the game.

1-  Boston Rob Mariano, (All-Stars, Final Five)

All-Stars is a pivotal point in Survivor history, because it was the first season that really threw aside friendships for the sake of getting further in the game. It was a season where pre-game friendships played a central role, we saw the success of a showmance, and many All-Stars came out of the game with their reputations damaged.

Boston Rob was one of the biggest pushers of “it’s just a game,” and during that time, he made alliances, burned them, and took advantage of his pre-game friendships to get himself further ahead in the game. Of course, being in a game that has previously been about friendships and combined with some of the egos of the season’s players, this was not well received. One of Rob’s biggest missteps in the game was when he asked Lex to take care of Amber in exchange for him taking care of Lex, when Amber was the only original Chapera on Mogo Mogo after the second switch (there’s a whole story about how this is rigged, but that’s for another time). Lex did so, and the next vote, Rob tells Lex he’s going back on the deal and voting Lex out. That’s one vote burned. At the final seven, Rob needlessly made an alliance with Alicia, shaking her hand and telling her Rupert was the next to go. Alicia got voted out. That’s two votes burned. At the final six, Shii Ann explicitly states that she’s voting for the person she thinks is going to win the game, and casts one for Amber. That’s three going against Rob if he makes it to the Final Tribal Council with Amber (which they’ve agreed to do, and, y’know, they’re a couple by this point). Where Rob lost the game was the final five.

Now, Rob’s in a pretty obvious power couple by this point and there are three people left: Rupert, Jenna (also in a tight two person alliance) and Big Tom. Big Tom has been with Rob since day one but is wavering. Despite my dislike of Rob, he makes a pretty good move before the vote in playing Tom and Rupert against each other so they’ll keep the target off him. It worked because the targets were either Tom or Jenna, with Big Tom believing himself to be the swing vote. At Tribal Council, Rob voted out Big Tom, burning yet another jury vote and officially sealing four votes against him. It didn’t matter who else went to the jury, Boston Rob was losing. He ended up losing four votes to three, but lost the votes of Lex, Tom, Alicia and Shii Ann, so had no hope of winning anyway. You could also argue he’d burned a fifth vote by going against Kathy, but she forgave him and voted for him anyway.

There’s an argument that Boston Rob lost at the final three by taking Amber over Jenna, because at the reunion show Shii Ann said she would have voted for Rob against Jenna, which meant he’d win 4-3. However, I take things said after the show has aired with a grain of salt as people have had time to watch the end. Shii Ann did dislike Jenna, though, so it’s plausible. That being said, I’m going off what happened in the game and the final five was definitely the moment Boston Rob lost his last chance at winning.

2 – Stephenie LaGrossa (Guatemala, Final Six)

Stephenie’s appearance on Guatemala was the biggest turnaround from hero to villain I think I’ve ever seen. The ultimate underdog in Palau, with popularity almost as high as Rupert’s in Pearl Islands, she came back in Guatemala and completely did a 180. The edit highlighted all her flaws, she came across as a little whiny, a little entitled and sometimes nasty. She played an aggressive game, burning people left, right and centre. She had no chance against any of the final five, and so for that reason I’d pinpoint the final six as the moment she lost.

This is partially due to Danni’s exceptional social play, in which she integrated herself with the majority by bonding with Rafe and exposing Judd’s lies, and also due in part to Judd’s numerous lies over the course of the game. Thanks to Guatemala’s fantastic storytelling, I completely understand why Stephenie would have cut Judd at six. Reading Reddit and post-game things, it was likely she wouldn’t have won against Judd either, but he was easily her best chance. The reason this vote sealed her fate, though, was because of the loved ones reward. Judd won it and took Stephenie and Cindy. The three spent the night with their loved ones at another camp and during that time, Stephenie told Judd’s wife that they were really close and going to the end together. Now, by voting him out, she has not only lied to Judd but his wife as well. This is the whole basis for Judd’s jury speech, and I’d argue that this specific betrayal was what sealed the entire jury against her. Danni took her to the end and easily crushed her due to having all her allies on the jury and everyone disliking Stephenie. Stephenie did herself no favours with mishandling that vote at the final six and it’s one of the biggest examples of how she misplayed the game.

3 – Russell Hantz (Samoa, Final Six)

From one aggressive strategic goat to another, Russell has divided the Survivor fan base for years ever since his first appearance, with people who think he was robbed of the win in Samoa and people who believe Natalie was fully deserving (I’m firmly Team Natalie but I’m not going to spend this section defending her win. That’s for another day). Russell was a very aggressive player who managed to crawl back from an 8-4 deficit and make the Final Three, yes, but also severely mishandled the jury. A common flaw in Russell’s game (no, it’s not that America doesn’t have a percentage of the vote) is that he has a completely incorrect read on the jury and will falsely take the person who’ll easily smoke him at Final Tribal because he thinks they’re a goat. Russell believed Natalie to be this coat-tail riding goat, but she had played a phenomenal social game up until that point. She recognised Russell would burn people and instead focused on relationships. She bonded with the Galus and was pivotal in swinging them to vote Erik out at the first post-merge Tribal Council, and was generally lovely to everyone. Natalie played the social game perfectly and deservedly won.

Now, as for when Russell lost the game, it was voting Shambo out at the final six. Shambo was heavily disliked by the majority of the Galus on the jury and had burned them by betraying them at the final ten. I’d find it incredibly hard to believe that she stood a chance of winning, but when Brett won immunity he voted her out anyway. It was then that Russell had no chance against winning with any combination from the final five, although he probably would have gotten more votes than Jaison and did get more votes than Mick. I’m not going to say he could have beaten Jaison and Mick, because in that situation, Mick likely gets the votes. I’ve heard post-game rumours that the vote was actually going to be for Mick before Natalie’s Final Tribal performance. By voting out Shambo, Russell lost his only chance at winning the game.

Had he taken Shambo and Jaison, he very likely could have won. Jaison had given up by the end of the game and Shambo is Shambo. But alas, he did not. Had Russell had a better read on the jury, we could be looking at him as the winner of Samoa. A lot of this speculation is based around the Russell-centric edit the season had, with a little bit of knowledge from previews. However, Jeff asked this exact question at the reunion and the cast agreed he’d win. As I mentioned earlier, I take this type of question with a grain of salt, especially given the Russell-centric edit in this case, but I believe firmly he lost his biggest chance at winning by voting Shambo off at the final six.

4 – Amanda Kimmel (China, Final Four)

This one is debatable, because Amanda was apparently the favourite going into Final Tribal Council. She completely blew it there, with one of the worst FTC performances I’ve ever seen, but I’d actually argue it was the final four where Amanda began to look bad in front of the jury and exposed herself as being unable to own up to her lies.

By this point, the alliance of Amanda, Courtney and Todd was obvious. Amanda was safe by winning immunity. She had no reason to lie to Denise about keeping her, and Todd and Courtney had been straightforward that they were voting for her. Denise was voting for Todd and Amanda decided to tell Denise that she had her back and would vote for Todd despite not wanting to do so.

At the Tribal Council, Denise calls out Amanda for lying to her and saying she’d have her back. Todd and Courtney turn on her and Amanda completely crumbles under the pressure, unable to defend herself. It was fitting for her Final Tribal Council as well, where she was unable to own up to her game and being cutthroat, despite this being what the jury wanted. This exposed her as a liar in front of the jury, left Denise feeling a little sour with her, and was also the moment it dawned on me that Amanda was not going to win. The editors wouldn’t have gone that far out of their way to bury their winner so close to the end.

In addition, this showed that Amanda lacked the killer instinct that is needed to win the game, and it was what Todd had. Amanda was able to make all the moves Todd was but she couldn’t own it. This is a pretty strong consistency throughout Amanda’s three seasons, but in China, it appeared for everyone to see at Denise’s elimination.

5 – Lisa Whelchel (Philippines, Final Five)

Lisa Whelchel is one of my favourite Survivor contestants because her journey from lacking self-confidence to becoming a strategic force is a fantastic story, and her emotions and struggles are relatable. The idea of Lisa as the season’s winner, as much as I like Denise, is amazing to me. The reality is, we almost had it. We would have if Lisa had voted off Denise over Abi in the final five.

It’s easy to call Lisa and Skupin’s move to vote off Abi a mistake in hindsight. Given their knowledge and the context of the game, however, it makes sense. Malcolm had won the last two immunities and Lisa had been trying to get him out since the final six as the biggest threat to win the game. Their main priority was stopping Malcolm from winning immunity and Denise was a bigger immunity threat than Abi. However, nobody was going to beat Denise or Malcolm at Final Tribal Council and this was where Lisa lost her chance at winning.

Had she taken Abi, I’d say she pretty easily wins the season. Very few people liked Skupin or Abi. Despite Lisa’s inability to separate her emotions initially, both Abi and Skupin were socially unaware. Abi would probably get Pete and Artis’s votes, so that’s two. Skupin probably still gets Carter’s vote. That leaves five people (Malcolm, RC, Jeff, Penner, Denise) who are likely to vote Lisa. It saddens me when people don’t give Lisa credit as a decent player because she lost the game from one wrong move. She was pretty strategic and made some great bonds socially.

It pains me that Lisa made the wrong move in hindsight but the right move in context, because I’d love a timeline where Lisa wins, but without question she lost the game at the final five.

The finale episode of Survivor is the buildup of everything that has progressed over the season. Over two hours, the journey that the audience has been taken on will come to a conclusion, the stories will wrap up and the winner will be decided. Some of the finales are a drain to get through, when the winner is obvious, there’s very little story to drive it, the characters aren’t the best or it just plain goes for too long. Other finales, however, are amazing and a fitting end to the season. They have fantastic storylines that keep you guessing until the very end, a final twist for the conclusion, or great, unpredictable moves right up until the Final Tribal Council. A great finale can have any or all of these combinations and, in this list, I will be counting down my picks for the top five best finale episodes. I’ve tried to grab a mix of old school, middle school and modern Survivor, so I hope you enjoy the list!

5- David vs Goliath

This may be my love of this season creating bias, or it might be the fact I watched this from a hospital bed and it made my day, but David vs. Goliath was strong all though the season and finished with a fantastic, story driven finale. What David vs. Goliath did really well was make it equally plausible that both options for elimination could be the one to go home, and that continued here. There were hilarious moments, fantastic stories, and although the winner was the one I least wanted to win out of the six, it was still a reasonable ending that didn’t detract from the experience.

The highlight of this finale was definitely the Angelina story. The “hundred foot” ladder that was only eight feet, faking an injury and crying and then having to get the guys to help her find it was just so hilarious. Add to the fact Mike was drunk off the wine and you have a thoroughly entertaining first part of the finale. Drunk Mike is seriously the best thing to grace our TV screens on Survivor .The best part of her story, though, was how extra she got with making a fake idol for Allison and wanting to make a show in front of the jury by idoling her out, and then having it blow up in her face.

Other strong stories were Nick’s bad reaction to being betrayed at the final six and the very real possibility that it could all blow up in Mike’s face based solely on Nick’s emotions, and Mike’s random underdog surge which made me convinced he was winning. When it comes down to it, I was disappointed that Nick pulled it out because I thought he was the least likable of the F6 and Mike didn’t seem to do that well in his speech (apparently he was winning going into FTC, which means we were robbed of a Mike win because Mike didn’t really try too hard since he didn’t need the money). Had Mike won, David vs Goliath would probably be my favourite season and the finale a little higher. Final Tribal was still really entertaining, though, and everyone’s arcs came to a conclusion nicely. It was the best finale we’d had in a few seasons and it’s gonna take fifth spot here.

4. San Juan Del Sur

This is an example of a finale that kept me guessing right up until the end, with fantastic moves and great stories that make for a brilliant two hours of television. Natalie’s move at the final five of idoling Baylor to guarantee herself a chance at the final three in all scenarios would be pretty high up on my list of favourite moves in a finale. Seeing Baylor and Missy smile when Natalie stood up, only to be confused when she asks Jaclyn if she voted the way she asked, then watching their faces fall as their games crumbled in front of them was great to watch. Jaclyn nodding bewilderedly and Natalie winning the jury over in that moment all make for an exception blindside.
 The episode beginning with Jaclyn, who was normally pretty calm and reserved, blowing up on Natalie, Missy and Baylor for blindsiding John was a really complex addition to her character and showed the strength of their relationship, which had been on show all season. Plus the journey of going from certain next boot to winning final immunity and guaranteeing her spot in Final Tribal was a nice one-episode thing and a great conclusion to her arc.

Then of course you just had anything Keith did ever. Seriously, that guy is a top ten character and everything he did was hilarious. We had Missy’s story with the broken leg and pretty much having her fate out of her hands the entire time before being wrecked at Final Tribal by Reed’s speech due to her hypocrisies and ill treatment of the minority (capped off with Reed voting for Jaclyn just so Missy got less money). Everyone got such great story conclusions. On top of that, the results kept me guessing. Missy and Jaclyn discussed a 2-1-1 on Natalie very briefly and for a moment I thought they’d actually do it.

Fantastic storytelling, amazing results and great character moments all bring a great conclusion to a great season and this is well deserving of fourth spot.

3- South Pacific

I’ve already written in extensive detail why I loved this season so much, so I won’t go too much into what makes the finale great in this post. The storytelling was fantastic, as we got the conclusion to The Family arc as Rick’s dreams of F3 were shattered. Ozzy loomed as a legitimate threat to take out the title, to the point where Sophie was trying to get Albert to help her pick up her pieces and stop competing so she could beat him. We had brilliant late-game complexity to Sophie as she was called out for being so blunt and mean to people and she broke down in Tribal as she realised it was multiple people feeling that way and she discovered new things about herself, and  Albert’s obvious goat storyline reached a hilarious conclusion, but my favourite thing was the swerve the endgame took. The season had been edited like either Coach or Ozzy would take it out but Sophie was single-handedly responsible for beating them both and it was just glorious. The Final Tribal Council was incredible as the jury was incredibly hurt due to the cult-like nature of The Family. Despite being called out for lying by literally everyone, instead of owning it Coach still tried to maintain the “honesty, loyalty and integrity” mantra that had deceived them all, and Sophie walked all over him. Albert’s fails at answering Jim’s and Brandon’s questions was hilarious. Seriously:

Jim: Don’t start with a compliment or you’ll lose my vote.

Albert: Well, that’s a great question!

How great, right? I wasn’t even a Jim fan but that moment was everything. Edna’s speech about accepting being duped was my favourite, as she took on one of those “address the jury” speeches without the obnoxious, condescending tone that others in similar veins had.

Oh, and of course, Ozzy wearing pigtails.

What an amazing finale for a criminally underrated season.

2- Marquesas

This finale had everything. It was one of those that kept me guessing right until the end as there were twists and turns galore. There were tragic endings, a heated Final Tribal Council, important historical moments and small, funny things that just make this great.

Firstly, I just want to take a look at the four exceptional characters that made the finale:

• Vecepia, the under the radar secret threat who had survived a tribe swap without the numbers, changed the game and won immunity when it mattered.
• Neleh, one of the early game changers, who was responsible for one of the biggest moments in Survivor history when she stepped up on Day 24 to blindside the Rotu Four and was still the sweet young girl all the way to the end.
• Kathy, who has the best transformation arc in the show’s history and was the unbeatable fan favourite who everyone was rooting for.
• Paschal, the man everyone loved for his father-daughter-like relationship with Neleh, who had never gotten a vote all season.

In addition to this great finale cast, we had an episode full of fantastic moments.

Vecepia was on the outs and needed to win the immunity challenge at the final four to survive, and she did it in one of the single most badass moments of early Survivor: she straight up broke the Fallen Comrades challenge. Up until that point it was a staple at the final four. Vecepia knew this and so as her luxury item, took a pen and paper and began noting down information about people. She won, was safe for the vote and so began another defining moment in history: the first rock draw. Kathy, realizing she was screwed at the final three because Neleh and Paschal would never go against each other, made a final two deal on the spot with Vecepia. The votes tied, nobody was going to change their minds and so the decision would go to a rock-drawing tiebreaker. This had changed from the previous two seasons, where they counted on past votes, and was designed to discourage people from deadlocks, and has been in place ever since this moment. They all drew rocks and Paschal, despite never having a vote against him all season including that night, drew the odd coloured rock and was out. The funny thing is that wasn’t even how the rock draw tie waseant to work: the people involved in the tie were meant to be safe, but Paschal would have been automatically eliminated anyway. From that point, until season 35, a tie at the final four resulted in a fire-making challenge.

So, at the final three, Kathy was guaranteed a win against either finalist. If she won, she took Vecepia; if Vecepia won (she had won two immunities compared to Neleh’s none so this was likely), she took Kathy. Fans were all set for Kathy’s heroic rise from black sheep to fan favourite. Then, in a tragic twist, it was all taken out from under her. She dropped out first and just a few minutes later, directly in front of her at the challenge site, Vecepia says she’ll drop down and give immunity to Neleh if she takes her to the end. Neleh does so and Kathy is just powerless to watch as her final two deal, guaranteed million dollars and entire game is taken out from under her in a second. She was subsequently voted out at that Tribal Council and really took it in her stride, but it was a heart-wrenching end to her story arc for that season and one I really appreciate.

Then we get to the Final Tribal Council and the two finalists are seen as subpar and blasted for their games. Vecepia gets heat for her holier-than-thou attitude and Neleh gets heat for playing up a “sweet girl next door” persona and not playing until Day 24. The jury is really quite angry and hurt by both of them and both are challenged on hiding behind Jesus/religion as they deceived people. In the end, Vecepia beat Neleh out 4-3, becoming the show’s first African-American winner (and the first African-American reality show winner, too, I believe), championing the under-the-radar game that is so criminally underappreciated these days. The fact Vecepia wasn’t even asked to return to the rumoured all winners season is a crime.

Oh, and Zoe Zanadakis wrote “NELEH IS THE ~SURVIVOR~ “on her Final Tribal Council vote for Neleh and she lost. That’s hilarious.

You know, Marquesas is a good season. I rate it at 18/38 and it is pretty underrated. It’s not the best but it should be recognised for all the historical moments in the franchise, and its finale is just incredible viewing. But there is one that beats it…

1- Borneo

Come on, would there be any other choice for number one? This was the conclusion of the summer ratings phenomenon, watched by 51 million people, that shaped the game and kicked off the franchise that is still going 19 years later. With an incredible final four, each with very distinct stories, Richard’s ballsy move at the Final Immunity Challenge, Sue’s iconic Snakes and Rats speech and Richard’s eventual triumph, shaping how the game would be played in the future, all make this brilliant viewing.

The characters in it were just amazing. Richard was the dirty strategist who had broken the game of Survivor and turned it into a game about strategy. Seriously, Richard was hated by the audience at the time because people thought alliances were cheating. I wasn’t there live to see it unfold and I don’t think I could explain how much people were against the idea of alliances back then, and Richard was the figurehead of that. If you want to read about it, it’s on the internet and in Survivor books somewhere.

Then there was Kelly, who I’ve come to appreciate a little more in subsequent Borneo viewings. She was wishy-washy because she’d commit and then uncommit to alliances. She was there solely on immunity wins because the alliance had been coming after her for the last three votes and she’d joined the alliance but then struggled based on moral code.

There was Rudy, who is still one of the best characters ever, even 19 years later. He was constantly unintentionally hilarious, deathly loyal to Richard and the Tagi Four and is still a fan favourite after all these years.

And there was Sue, the redneck truck driver who was blunt, strategic and known for terribly misspelling peoples’ names.

I can’t even explain how amazing the final four was and that was just on a character basis. Everything that happened from beginning to end in this finale was wonderful. We had the first ever tied vote at the final four as Sue, Richard and Rudy were forced to turn on each other due to Kelly winning immunity yet again. Sue was voted out in the revote, leading to the final three of Richard, Kelly and Rudy. Richard dropped out deliberately, claiming openly that whoever was winning was taking him to the finale, and he was right. Kelly knew she had a better chance against Richard and Rudy would never break his word. Rudy subconsciously let go of the idol during a rotation and Kelly won, taking Richard with her to the end.

Then we get to the Final Tribal Council, which is still probably my favourite in all seasons. We had Sue’s incredible Snakes and Rats speech, which still remains one of the most iconic moments the show has ever produced. It was pretty much just a way for her to express her hurt and anger towards Kelly’s betrayals and wishy-washy behaviour, but it was phenomenal. Then there was Rudy, who in typical Rudy fashion, created a moment by being unintentionally hilarious in one of the best speeches of all time. Seriously, it’s incredible. Just watch it in all its glory here. And yes, I’m being entirely serious when I say that was his speech. Last but not least, there was Greg’s famous “pick a number” speech which supposedly decided the winner between the two (this was pretty much Kelly’s second chance story on Cambodia). Richard picked the right number and won. Now I’ve heard a couple of rumours about this vote and how it was supposed to turn out:

• Greg was voting for Richard anyway and just wanted to ask a stupid question as a joke (Greg’s overall buffoonery makes this seem true).
• The vote was actually meant to be 6-1 but the anger in Sue’s speech turned people against her and a couple of people cast votes for Kelly (Gervase’s voting confessional makes this seem true).

No matter how the vote turned out or what was meant to happen, the moments in this finale were all iconic in their own way. The cast delivered and we got a fantastic conclusion to the first ever season. I’m not as big on Borneo as the rest of the fanbase (they frequently place it at or near first while I’ve got it at 15), but even I can appreciate the justice the finale did this season and what great viewing it was.

With U.S. Survivor’s 39^th season, Island of the Idols set to premiere on September 26^th AEST, I thought it fitting that I discuss an issue that’s been coming to mind with the U.S. version of the franchise. We’ve recently seen the end of Survivor South Africa: Island of Secrets which, for the portion I watched, was incomparably better and just incredible. Australian Survivor: Champions vs Contenders is doing well in ratings and has an incredibly strong endgame. In comparison, U.S. Survivor’s recent seasons, Edge of Extinction, Ghost Island and Heroes vs. Healers vs. Hustlers have been heavily panned by the fanbase. With poor editing, game-altering twists that take up a considerable amount of airtime and an abundance of advantages, it’s not hard to see why. I’m not going to get on my high horse and say that Survivor should go back to the way it was in season one, because the game has evolved now and that’s just not feasible, but the series has slowly been declining in quality and despite it currently winning in its timeslot consistently, its downfall seems inevitable.

Season 39 threatens to go down the same path. Although the cast looks incredible, as one of the most diverse casts in years, there is a game-altering twist. Two former winners, Boston Rob and Sandra, are returning on “Island of the Idols” as mentors. Jeff Probst recently explained how the twist will work, and while I enjoy the idea of people hopefully being tricked into thinking there’s idols everywhere (with the way the show is heading, that’s scarily feasible), but it seems like a one-up from Ghost Island. Sandra and Rob will give the castaways advice on things like making a fire, and then they’ll compete against them in a challenge relating to the advice with an advantage at stake. This is going to take a considerable amount of airtime, and since Ghost Island is infamous for having an incredibly underedited cast, I can’t help but feel nervous here. There are a lot of things that are killing Survivor and the themes are certainly one of them. That’s what will be the subject of this article today, as I discuss the things that I think are hurting the franchise. Let’s get into the list:

Relying too Heavily on Game-related Twists

This is a big one. Ghost Island had people go to an island and potentially compete for an advantage. The big selling point of this was “reversing the curse” of cursed items such as Sierra’s Legacy Advantage that got her voted out, Jason Siska’s “just a stick” fake Hidden Immunity idol and the immunity necklace that Erik gave up. While this seemed like a fun idea on paper and was really good for an episode or two, the novelty soon wore off as it sucked airtime out of the episodes and quickly became an excuse to place advantage after advantage in the game. As I mentioned earlier, Ghost Island is infamous for having almost all of its cast be underedited. While this has happened in seasons before without these twists (see Cook Islands and Samoa), and while this could partially be chalked up to the editors’ choice to work backwards from the result of the first ever FTC tie in Survivor history, but the Ghost Island twist was a heavy part of why the season tanked as a whole. I, and many others, weren’t a fan of the advantages, and the cast sunk with the edit. Often times people would only get airtime because they went to Ghost Island. There were some people who could have been stars in that cast with more airtime, like Jenna Bowman and Seabass, but unfortunately not.

The most recent season, Edge of Extinction, played out the same way too. It altered the game format, had returnees, and ended up with a player winning the game after surviving twelve days. It’s true that some people became stars only because Edge of Extinction existed (here’s looking at you, Reem), it sunk the season overall. It was always a possibility that someone voted out early could come back and win the game. It happened, and as a result we got a poorly edited season with multiple people falling under the radar because of the way the season had to go from its game altering twist. The second half of the season became the Rick Devens show, where he dominated the airtime, because the editors had to sell Chris as the winner despite coming back into the game with four days left. Chris makes some good moves in the finale, but his final move in giving up immunity and taking out Devens, the surefire win if he made the end, was the only way they  could do it. Edge of Extinction in itself has some fantastic characters, like Wendy and Wardog and post-merge Aurora. Without the Edge of Extinction twist, we could have potential for an incredible, perhaps top-tier season. There were some amazing episodes in there. The cast could have carried it, but because of the twist we lost all that. They could have had the four returnees come back still and sold a story of four people trying to finalise their legacy against fourteen trying to create one.

Season 39 has the Island of the Idols twist, and Season 40’s rumoured twists are getting absurd. Edge of Extinction is coming back, there is a rumour of something called “Survivor currency” to be exchanged for comfort or advantages. I don’t understand why Survivor felt the need to do this, especially when an All-Winners season is the twist, is the selling point and it has a cast that can carry it. Unfortunately, the reliance on game-altering twists is really hurting the show and will continue to do so.

Overabundance of Hidden Immunity Idols and Advantages

Recent seasons have seen what I consider to be a ridiculous amount of Hidden Immunity Idols and other advantages. This started with Game Changers, where Cirie was automatically eliminated because she was the only one in the final six who didn’t have immunity. This came courtesy of four immunity idols played: Sarah’s Legacy Advantage, Tai’s two idols and Troyzan’s idol he’d been holding on to all season. Game Changers as a whole suffered because of the amount of twists and advantages that had been thrown in but this one took the cake. What’s worse is production and Probst felt it was the defining moment. Things only got worse from there.

Heroes vs. Healers vs. Hustlers had Hidden Immunity Idols replanted immediately after they got played, and this lasted until the final five. This is a pretty infamous example within Survivor as it resulted in Ben, who was on the bottom, being able to find three idols in three rounds to get himself to the final four, where he heavily benefited from a new twist that I’ll talk about later. While some fault lies with the other players from thinking there were no idols and not doing anything to stop him, it is my opinion that having people rely on idols takes away from the game. Ben literally found his third idol the night he played his second one.

When it comes to advantages, though, the worst offender is Edge of Extinction. Not only did it have the “idols immediately replanted after use” thing (which helped Rick Devens make it to the final four), the Edge of Extinction island also had a huge role. Players could find advantages on the island and send them to someone in the game and the people who came back from Edge of Extinction were given two halves of an idol and had to combine with someone else to make it fully powered. It led to the game being frustrating to watch, especially in the first half of the finale, which turned into an idol hunt. A lot of screentime was dedicated to idol hunting and the finding of advantages all throughout the season.

In my opinion, this is killing the show because it disrupts the flow of the game. Having to constantly play around idols, advantages, etc. gets frustrating to watch as a viewer and it would be frustrating for the players, too. David vs. Goliath proved that people could play around them and we’d get a great season, due to solid editing and an amazing cast, but for the most part the reliance on idols and advantages is doing more harm than good. My suggestion is not to completely rid the show of idols and advantages, but scale back. Perhaps one (two at the most) per tribe would do it. We’d get a much more natural flow and something really interesting.

Altering the Basic Format of the Game Too Much

This is not an attack on the game to say that they should go back to the format they had in season one. Some of the twists they’ve introduced, such as the rock draw, tribe swaps and Hidden Immunity Idols (before they went haywire) have changed the game for the better. However, as of late, the twists have begun to devolve into altering the basic premise of the game, which is “outwit, outplay, outlast”, in other words meaning “play well enough to win, make people like you, but don’t play too well that you get voted out.”

As I’ve mentioned earlier, Hidden Immunity Idols being replanted immediately after use has altered the format of the game as people can survive off using idols (as we saw with Ben and Rick). The Edge of Extinction twist allowed someone to come back in the game in the final four days and win over people who had been in the game for 39 days. The idea of “Survivor currency” and being able to purchase advantages sounds completely ridiculous, but there is one that I have not mentioned: the revised final four rules.

Up until Heroes vs. Healers vs. Hustlers, people at the final four faced a vote just like every other round. If it tied, they went to firemaking. However, that all changed with the show’s 35^th season. Instead, the winner of the final immunity challenge would choose one person to sit beside them and the remaining people would fight it out in a firemaking challenge to earn their spot. This was introduced by production, through Probst’s own admission, to help players like Ben (not Ben specifically), because the strongest players would end up out at fourth. This was a huge reason why people soured on Heroes vs. Healers vs. Hustlers, as people felt the twist was designed to save Ben and that it altered the game too much. It has given us some good moments, such as Chris giving up immunity to defeat Rick since no one else could, but overall it has completely damaged the point of the game. If you play too well to the point everyone thinks you’ll win if you make the end, that’s a problem. You could argue it gave us the first Final Tribal Council tie, but the Domenick vs. Wendell storyline could have come to a more satisfying conclusion like David vs. Adam in Millennials vs. Gen-X. It was between the two of them at final four, Ken won immunity and it was between who, out of Adam or David, could survive. It ended up being Adam and he won unanimously, but David’s vote out was such a natural conclusion to his arc and delivered a shocking moment in itself. The firemaking twist gave us the first ever FTC tie in Ghost Island but, with the whole season being Domenick vs. Wendell and Domenick winning immunity, targeting Wendell at the final four would have felt like a more natural conclusion to the arc. And who knows, Wendell could have used his bond with Laurel to force fire anyway. Wouldn’t that have been a much better payoff to get Wendell in FTC than the challenge? Wendell could have gone from winner to fallen angel, but it would have been, personally, a more satisfying end.

Strong players have navigated their way to the end without the use of the fire tie. Tony manipulated Woo in Cagayan; Sarah got the votes off her in Game Changers; Aubry managed to get a tie due to her bond with Tai in Kaoh Rong; Natalie idol’d out Baylor to secure her spot in San Juan Del Sur. It can be done. It has been done. Sometimes it hasn’t worked out, but changing the format just leads to people adapting to the change. Changing from the final two to the final three gave us an amazing Final Tribal with Yul against Ozzy, but that was largely due to it being spring on the cast. The next season, Earl took two goats. Final threes do make it a little more competitive but people have adapted to expect the final three and therefore can do what Earl did. The same will happen with the fire-making twist: people will adapt to it and take out the strong players themselves (like Chris did), or will start voting out the strongest players in fifth.

Not to mention, the twist has given people opportunities to get to the end when they shouldn’t have. Since idols can be used up until the final five, players could plausibly idol their way to five and still have a shot without immunity at four (and it has been done). Production haven’t accommodated other twists to fit this one. They changed idols to expire at the final five when they introduced a final three, after Cook Islands, but idols still expire at five now.

My suggestion to these guys is remove these twists; scale back on the alterations to the basic format. It worked so well for seventeen years and the changing is where things have truly started to go downhill. We’re entering a dark age of Survivor and I don’t know if anything can stop it.

No Faith in the Cast

When it comes down to it, a lot of these twists, idols and advantages can probably boil down to one thing: Survivor no longer has faith in its cast to carry the season. Ghost Island saw the majority of the cast get purpled; Edge of Extinction had a game-altering twist and was overshadowed by poor editing and idols despite having a stellar cast. Island of the Idols looks like an amazing, diverse cast but a mentor twist with two former winners has been thrown in. It’s truly like Survivor doesn’t trust its cast to deliver and that is so upsetting. When it comes down to it, the most important point to a season is casting. Yes, there have been some dud casts, but every show has a few bad seasons. Things don’t work out. It’s just natural. David vs. Goliath, the universally-accepted best season of the modern era, had an incredible cast with balanced editing. And when it comes down to it, all the “best” seasons have their cast to thank for it.

Cagayan, one of the best seasons of the modern era? Incredible cast who made it dynamic week after week.

Heroes vs. Villains, often called the best season of all time? Incredible casting.

What was it, in the first place, that made Survivor a ratings phenomenon? Incredible casting.

When you ask someone to talk about their favourite seasons, the cast will always come up. It will likely be the first thing that does. It certainly is when I talk about my favourites.

But, unfortunately, Survivor seems to have lost touch with that. They seem to think that big moves and advantages is what will get them over the line. What I’ve noticed as of late is that production will choose a favourite to highlight and run with it. While production has always highlighted a few people, at least the editing is usually balanced and other people can shine through. Recently, this has gotten out of control. A favourite will be chose and dominate the screentime. With sixty minute episodes, and having to factor in idol hunts, two challenges, strategy, etc. this leaves the other people fighting to be visible. Ghost Island was the Domenick and Wendell show. Along with the idols and twists, almost everyone else got buried. Edge of Extinction had way too big a focus on returnees in the first half (especially since none of them made it past 9^th) and was the Rick Devens show in the second half. Everyone else got buried, and while Reem and Wendy shone through, we lost screentime from other people who could have been fantastic.

To get back to being a good show, Survivor needs to stop flooding the game with twists and advantages and take a chance on its cast. They need to remember what made them successful in the first place.

Doing the Same Thing Over and Over Again

Aside from overloading the game with twists and advantages, having no faith in their cast and changing the basic format, the other thing Survivor is doing wrong is doing the same thing over and over again. This might seem weird when I’ve just said they changed the basic format, but these days you can expect a pretty basic format in a modern U.S. Survivor season:

• There will be a swap from two tribes to three. This will come very early in the game.
• There will be a merge with a large amount of the cast still remaining.
• Idols will be planted and replanted over and over.

The thing is, these things are fun when they first happen, and for a couple of times after that, but when it occurs over and over again it just becomes frustrating. The two tribes into three, for example, was really fun the first couple of times it happened. Then it happened again and again and it became boring. The last season we had that stayed with two tribes was San Juan Del Sur, which will be 10 seasons ago when Island of the Idols comes. What’s worse is that the tribe colours remain the same. Observe:

• Millennials vs. Gen-X: Purple, Orange, Green
• Game Changers: Red, Blue, Green.
• Heroes vs. Healers vs. Hustlers: Red, Blue, Yellow:
• Ghost Island: Purple, Orange, Green.
• David vs Goliath: Purple, Orange, Green.
• Edge of Extinction: Blue, Yellow, Green.
• Island of the Idols: Purple, Orange (and I’d bet money that the third tribe is green).

Three tribes worked brilliantly. Past tense. From All-Stars to Philippines we never had another season start with three tribes of six. It was an amazing breath of fresh air, all three tribes were dynamic and it shook things up. In Cagayan, they started with three tribes. They were dynamic. They swapped into two and it was fun. In Kaoh Rong they started with three tribes. All were dynamic. When they introduced the expansion tribe in Cambodia it was really fun, and again in Millennials vs. Gen-X. But after that it became tiresome. They thought that because it worked once, it would work again, and it happened continuously. What made these dynamic was their freshness, and the strength of the cast. I would really love to see Survivor go back to a season of just two tribes. Throw in two swaps if needed, but give the three tribes a rest.

Another thing is that Survivor will frequently merge with 13 players now. Since Cambodia, when it first happened, it has happened in every season except Heroes vs. Healers vs Hustlers (which had 12) and Kaoh Rong (which doesn’t count because it was filmed before Cambodia). Having to keep track of so many people on one tribe means that people will fall through the edit. It means that it’s more difficult to keep track of things. Some of the best post-merges have come with 12 or 11 people remaining, and while 13 can be good, I feel it is a little too much, especially in an 18 person cast. Having five people be pre-mergers just doesn’t seem right. Survivor can stick with 13 every now and again, but I think the key here is variation. They keep talking about how they want to keep the players on their toes and they can do that by changing up how many people make the merge, alternating between 11-13. While it provides some consistency it means there will be enough variation to keep things fresh. Having thirteen people merge every single time is tiresome.

Even the challenges have become the same. Over and over again we see balancing, endurance, or something with a puzzle at the end. I can’t remember a good challenge over Edge of Extinction. David vs. Goliath had some new ones, and Heroes vs. Healers vs. Hustlers and Millennials vs. Gen-X had some brand new challenges that hadn’t been used before. The challenges were fun to watch then, and in the early seasons the challenges were a great part of the game. I understand why things have shifted, but to constantly use the same challenge all the time is frustrating to watch as a viewer.

And finally, when it comes down to it, there’s one significant contributing factor in all of this. There’s something that’s requiring production to come up with themes, game-altering twists and the like to distinguish one season from the next: the show is staying in Fiji permanently.

Listen, I understand completely why they’re doing this: the show is winding down after 20 years on the air; Probst is getting a little older; Fiji is an amazing, economically viable location that can give production everything they want. But that also means they can just reuse the same buffs, challenges and camps. It means they have to pull things out to make one season different than the next, and it takes away a crucial part of what made Survivor so great in the first place. By staying in the same location, production can no longer rely on the culture of their host country to inspire them. China utitilised the Chinese culture perfectly in challenges and rewards; Gabon had amazing shots of wildlife; you could learn about countries and the castaways could experience things unique to the location. They can’t do that anymore and now the rewards are pretty much just food or going on a boat. It’s causing things to become stale. They don’t have to go far; they could even revisit old locations, but they really should consider moving away from Fiji if they really want to keep the show fresh.

So there you have it, the five major things that I feel are hurting Survivor. While I understand needing to keep the show fresh and interesting after twenty years on the end, the show has lost almost all its magic from when it first aired and the format has been tinkered with so much. They need to strip things back, remember what made them great in the first place and try all sorts of variation they can without having the season and cast suffer as a consequence. Perhaps the show even needs to be taken off the air for a few years and rebooted. I just know that Survivor is devolving and becoming a parody of itself, and there are things that need to change.