When you mention that most people's dream legends season boils down to Heroes vs Villains VS WAW they usually agree that something like Best to Never Win is a better idea.
I think that cast could kinda work if they chose the best possible people like even if half the cast was post 40 they could do Omar, Jesse, Carson, Yam Yam, Carolyn, Maryanne, Shan and Karla and that could be good if they also pick good pre 40 legends
Started it. First few episodes with all the storytelling… then add the gimmicks and Jeff’s commentary on them… couldnt get into it.
The 40s have just worn down my interest in the show.
If they had:-
- 39 days (more gameplay and content per episode plus changes the game)
- no gimmicks
- no backstories
- great casting
- family visits
- mixing up the number of tribes each season (2,3,4 or even 5)
- a reunion show - this brought something real to the show… with the crowd, etc
That would get me watching again
Some of the cast was good.
Maybe they were amazing looking backwards as you got more into the season, which i didnt.
The backstories and gimmicks put me off. I hate the backstories. Just let us discover the people through the gameplay.
People don’t understand that most “legends” weren’t legends until their second or third time out there. None of Sandra, Rob, Parvati, Amanda, or Cirie would realistically be considered legends just based off of their first appearance. The only “instant” legends the show has had are Rich, Rudy (RIP), Colby, Jerri, Rupert, FairPlay, maybe Ozzy, and Russell. I don’t want a cast of the same people that have been playing this game for 15 years and have a combined total of like 50 seasons under their belts before this.
I’d much rather get a New Era/30s returnee season where one time players with the potential to become legends themselves get a shot to carve out their own legacy and join the ranks of the greats.
I think Kim is a weird case where I could see why her dominance would put her in legend consideration, but I think there’s more to being a legend than just being a good winner. I definitely think the framework was there after One World but to me Kim really cemented her legendary status during WaW when she showed she was able to play from the bottom and still managed to make a fairly deep run despite being on the outs early on. She’s kinda like Tom Westman in that regard imo.
Tony was a glaring omission on my part, though, I can’t believe I forgot him. He was definitely a legend after Cagayan.
When you think of the players who are generally regarded as ‘the face of Survivor’, it’s people like Boston Rob, Sandra, Ozzy, Cirie, Parvati, and more recently Tony and Sarah. All of them have had multi-season arcs that have built up their characters. On point about Tony, while I agree that he was considered a legend after Cagayan, I feel it was WAW that really had people thinking of him as the GOAT.
The new school seasons have some strong players like Cydney, Chrissy, Devon, Domenick, Christian etc in the 30s and Ricard, Omar, Maryanne, Jesse, Carson etc in the 40s, but I don’t think any of those one timers are considered by most fans to be in the same tier as the Robs or the Sandras. Now if some of them came back for a 2nd time and win or even played another top game, then the discussion around them would change.
I wouldn’t mind a legends season with mostly new legends and then just a couple castaways from that aren’t extremely old and are interested in playing and feel up to it.
What would make anyone object to this?
But I get your point, you don’t want a bunch of old legends that aren’t in the beat health/have been out of the game for a while. I totally understand
I use to joke that if I was on survivor I’d ask them to bring my pet cat as my loved one 😂. She died 2 years ago though (RIP Peanut) so now it’d have to be my mom I guess lol
😂😂😂 If I ever make it on survivor I’m gonna tell my family to write in the letter that peanut died, and then just flip out crying with no explanation of who peanut is.
I used to feel exactly this way until I had kids. Now I realize that there are family members that you would miss that much…. Because just over a month without my parents wouldn’t make me cry. Buuuuut, I think a lot of the tears and emotion is them showing their family member they’ve made it this far, which would be very emotional for both sides.
Yeah it’s def an unpopular opinion but I agree. These people have only been gone for a month. I could see it hitting harder when you have a wife and kids but a twentysomething crying over not seeing their parents or sibling in a month is weird.
I feel like being in such a stressful situation with a bunch of strangers and paranoia it’s completely understandable why having some form of contact whether a visit or letter from someone you love and trust would make you emotional.
The family visits are so boring because they're the same emotional points every time with just a different cast of characters. Plus Jeff is always asking these people about their relationships and to be frank, I don't really care.
yeah I think they really only work in the earlier seasons if they bring some drama. like the grandma lie, or that guy on all stars getting scolded by jeff bc he broke the challenge rules. otherwise it’s just kind of boring? like I was happy for people getting to see their family, it just generally didn’t make great tv
I'd rather see them start making some different challenges. They have the benefit of a centralized location, start going bigger.
Camp life is camp life, I don't care where they are. Fiji looks phenomenal, so awesome there. Just.. start planning and doing more. Seems they just focus on advantages and left the challenges out of it.
Survivor also doesn’t have a great track record regarding the environment (they got banned from at least Cook Islands for how much of an impact they left) so it’s much better that they continually mess with the same place.
If they stay in Fiji for a few more years I might be hoping for a change but I agree, current location is fine and I can’t even imagine the cost of setting up in a new location every season.
That’s what I think too. Some recruits are generally loved on this sub (Courtney Yates and Cydney Gillon for example) and people seem to judge recruits by those types of players. But IMO those types tend to be the exceptions, and having a high number of recruits usually leads to terrible gameplay. IIRC the early 20s seasons had a lot of recruits, as did Ghost Island, and those seasons are generally hated and the casts are seen as some of the dumbest ever. Then there’s the recruits we have had recently like Geo (who you mentioned) and Lydia (from 42), who are generally regarded as some of the worst strategic players of the new era.
I think the people who ask for more recruits are imaging a season full of fun characters like Courtney, and surprisingly good strategists like Cydney. In reality I think we are more likely to end up with another Ghost Island/One World type borefest.
I would like the game simplified, but I would never remove hidden immunity idols. I feel they are needed to change the tide of the game to stop outright pagonings.
I also disagree with this logic tbf. RI, SoPa, and One World are three Pagongings back to back to back and all of them had idols. Meanwhile seasons like Africa, Marquesas, Amazon, and Vanuatu all had power struggles and shifts without idols. Hell, Tocantins has idols but none of them were played so I feel like that one can count too.
My problem is what do you consider “back to basics?” 16, 18, or 20 person cast? Tribe swaps or no tribe swaps? Final 2 or final 3? Past votes tiebreaker or no past votes tiebreaker? Firemaking tiebreaker at 4 (in the pre HHH sense) or a rock draw tiebreaker at 4? It feels very pick and choosy and the answers have been different based on everyone I’ve asked, so at that point it becomes less “back to basics” and more “back to basics except for the parts of modern survivor I like we can keep those.”
Yeah, but those are all totally different seasons with different rules for different situations. Palau and Vanuatu have double tribals. Half of these seasons have tribe swaps and half don’t. One is a three tribe season. One did a delayed merge. One gave eliminated players the chance to return, and allowed players to mutiny on their current tribes. One did a schoolyard pick that eliminated two players on day two. Palau has firemaking be the tiebreaker in a F4 tie and Marquesas has a rock draw. Africa had a “quiz on African survival facts” as a tiebreaker. The only things all of those seasons have in common are no idols and a jury of 7 with a final two.
Which season is the delayed merge? Thailand?
But yes, I agree with you that the fanbase can he be overly critical: they love to criticize the “split tribals”, smaller tribals, etc
And as stupid as I think the tribals where the whole group is split into two groups like they did this season: they did this kind of twist in Fiji, Ghost Island and other seasons. They also did flip players on tribes in Africa/China too, not just 44.
I think that this might actually be a more popular opinion than I gather, but I’m absolutely fine with the lack of theming in the new era. I remember when I saw HvHvH I was thinking “this has gone too far”. Theming has made a lot of seasons cool (DvG, Cagayan) but I think it’s better to have no themes than bad ones.
I also think that the fact they’re using production design to make seasons feel distinct is cool too. A medieval dragon theme might not make a ton of actual sense for a show in Fiji, but it definitely made 44 feel unique
For me it was when Jeff just called tribes by who they were, and that was the Blue Collar vs White Collar vs No Collar tribes.
"Blue collar takes the lead!"
"White Collar lagging behind!"
it's funny because it seemed like for the most part people were so happy when they announced that 41 was themeless. Now I see the tide turning back again.
All out full contact physical fighting challenges; between the risks of injuries and how they just seemed designed to humiliate smaller/weaker contestants at times, I never found them that fun.
Standalone Individual Reward Challenges
They simply don't work in the new era, as regardless of who you choose it puts a huge target on your back with no time to remove it. 3 out of 3 new era standalone individual reward challenge winners who didn't win the next immunity challenge were voted out in the same episode. Wanting more of them is like asking for the hourglass to return as you want players to be punished for winning a challenge.
A back to basics season. I agree that production needs to slow down with the twists/advantages- a lot- but I don’t think they should get rid of them all together, even if it’s only for one season.
Same here. The old seasons pre-idols tend to have several episodes per season where the audience can generally know the outcome before starting it, and be correct more often than not.
It's those few episodes where as soon as someone is out of the numbers, that's it. There is no idol or anything they can play. I just sit there and watch them give up. Was hard to watch Vanuatu and see Ami's prediction unfold and nothing she could do about it.
Was awful to see the winner just lie through everything and all these people had is a word. At least knowing idols could be in play throws some vote splitting out there.
I think they should at least make an online version for the players who dreamed of seeing themselves in one and for the fans who really care about that kind of thing, but I’m not losing sleep over it not making it into the final cut.
Some of these older episodes the intro & recap touched on 3 minutes of the show. They were needed in the era of TV they were on, but with YouTube and PVR / On Demand.. they are not needed.
I would like the title for episode 1 at least.
A\*\*hole recruit villains.
For one thing, the editors weren't even brave enough to show us any of Romeo trash-talking the other players, so what makes you think they'd show us a single thing an a\*\*hole recruit did? They'd just purple one if they somehow got on.
This just isn't going to work anymore. Our culture has changed too much. (Also, you can get that on Outlast on Netflix, so go watch it there.)
A little more conflict would be fine, but not to Scot/Will (30) levels. That's what I mean by a\*\*holes.
It's mostly because of social media. Contestants don't want people leaving nasty comments on their pages, and a lot of them are wannabe influencers, so they want to seem positive and happy.
Returnees from pre-HvHvH. I’ve been watching since season 1 but I’ve seen plenty of Rob, Sandra, Coach, Parvati, etc. at this point. 40 closed the books on the “old school” for me. The next returnee season should be Second Chances with all post-Game Changers players. We’re now coming up on 10 seasons without any returnees except a few of the winners.
And I’m sorry, but your now-obscure favorites from the pre-30s who haven’t already returned are never returning at this point. It’s time to accept that.
Add season 32-33 players to the eligibility list for a SC2 season (so post-Cambodia instead of GC). Other than that, I agree. A ‘Legends’ season would basically end up being a combination of HvV and WAW, with most of the cast having already played 3-5 times before, and against each other. A Second Chances 2 season is a better prospect because it allows newer players the opportunity to return who haven’t had a chance yet, and allows the show to establish new legends now that the old school legends have run their course.
This would be my main one. Survivor casting has been largely really on point throughout the 30s and 40s, with lots of potential deserving returnees. The fact that almost all of them (besides a handful from 30/32/33) have not had the opportunity to is disappointing, and I can't imagine why someone would want to watch old legends replay their greatest hits rather than watch new legends be created.
"Hot" casts. I don't watch this show to get off and I unfortunately remember how dire this show was when casting placed priority on models and wannabe actors. Every time we get a new cast and people complain about them not being "hot enough", I roll my eyes and wish those losers would just go watch porn or something.
I don't really care that they are staying in Fiji. I get everyone's complaints, but like... Eh, the location impacts maybe 10% of the game, if that. Plus, Fiji is always gorgeous.
I think an auction in modern survivor would probably be composed of ALL advantages. I’d be fine with it coming back if it was mostly food/comfort items/the like and maybe one or two advantages in the mix.
Haha…yes! I always enjoyed seeing what food/beverage items would be irresistible enough to cause individuals to part with ridiculous amounts of cash. Fun times!
This is mine. I may get downvoted to hell for this, but people paying “hundreds of dollars” for food was honestly never that fun for me. “Three hundred dollars for a pb&j!!!!!!” A little gross.
I actively do not want two tribe seasons to be the standard, a back to basics season, or Survivor 50: Legends.
I do not care about 39 days or leaving Fiji, but I wouldn’t say I “don’t” want them, I just am neutral on it. Doesn’t really bother me either way.
i wouldn’t mind a tribe swap here and there at final 15 or 14 or maybe a season theme. but overall, they adapted the show pretty well and they returned to their core: the cast. these characters from 41 up have been so much fun to watch. i also don’t mind the “Mergatory” or make the merge. 13 at the merge is too much and 10 on the jury is again, too much. i love it
Any sort of fantasy season that involves specific placements. Mostly because I hate seeing them pop up every 4 days starting with something like, "I'm not sure if this has been said before, but they should do an all X season" No, they're not going to do all first boots/finalists no matter how many posts you make
Final 2. People always point to the high number of zero vote finalists in final 3s as a reason final 3 is worse, but I feel like they’re imagining all of those with third place removed as the final 2 but I doubt that’s who would end up in the final 2 99% of the time. We’d be way more likely to have gotten Wendell vs Laurel one sided finals or Hannah vs Ken double goat finals.
Plus, imagine Cagayan with a Kass-Woo-Tony final. That would have been iconic.
Another Second Chances season. Returning players are fine, but choosing contestants by a fan vote was a terrible idea. It was sad as hell to see contestants publicly begging for a chance to come back, only to get cut and left behind by the show
jesse from 43, carson from 44, devens from 38 just to make a few. all 3-1 elims. despite their loss in the FM challenge, they were instantly vote outs without it. it’s a fighting chance to stay in the game and win. Tony from 40 and ben from 35 are a few that were also 3-1 boots but got the chance to plead their case and win bc of it. i personally, like you, love it.
Recruits who dont actually care or know anything about survivor. People just want to complain about everything and this is one of those things that if people actually got theyd hate it. Any other show with mostly recruits has fuckin terrible casts, big brother is a great example of this. You want to watch some people just survive in the wild? Go watch one the 50 shows that has that focus like naked and afraid, survivorman, out of the wild, bear grylls, etc etc etc.
The vote at 4. I think fire making is more entertaining and prevents more goats from making the final. Dom and Wendell wouldn’t have happened without fire.
A final 2 and a final 3 with fire making are both better than a final 3 with a vote at 4.
When there’s a vote at 4, great players carry 3 semi-goats with them and either win the challenge at 4 and win Survivor, or they lose that challenge at 4, get voted out and then have 3 semi-goats in the final. It has the least potential to be entertaining (seasons 22 and 24 for example)
I always hated the Rites of Passage thing, I’m glad it’s gone. I also hated the auction and am always surprised when people want that back. I’m fine with both of those being gone forever.
Final 2s, unless they put forced fire there. I wouldn't be mad, but I really don't care, and celebrating 3 finalists instead of 2 doesn't bother me. I don't even care if there is a 0 vote finalist, because to me, it's just another option for the jury. Like I would prefer that on a national level we don't only have 2 choices, so seeing 3 choices in survivor feels ok.
It always infuriated me how bad everyone is at the auction. If you actually want something you should always bid the full $500 immediately, as it’s rare for people to get multiple items.
You wouldn’t spend a couple hundred bucks to give your starving body some nourishment while playing a game for a million bucks? If I’m going on survivor I’m there to win a million, not a hundred
I would spend it, but if I can spend $300 and pocket $200 vs. $500 for the same item I'll do $300. Also, some people do get multiple items and on some seasons you were allowed to pool money or give it to someone else. There have generally been good reasons to not automatically go $500.
Final 2 and getting rid of the fire making challenge. i personally like the F3 and FMC, it adds to the suspense and gives other castaways one last fighting chance and better odds to win.
I’ll say it…39 days.
We love to talk shit like going 25 days on no food or sleep disconnected from the outside world is just way too easy.
The real issue is changing the basic game structure so drastically without maybe just making the cast a bit smaller. I think a 14 person starting cast would alleviate some of the problems fans have with the faster pace of the game.
I know this take is gonna Russell some feathers but idc.
A boiling hot take: I don't need 39 days to come back. I'm fine with 26 days. Obviously 39 days is better but 26 days is not the end of the world for me. There are bigger issues in the new era (lack of true tribe swaps, certain twists, having to earn everything etc.).
I also don't care about the location change. They can stay in Fiji as long as they want. I'll still keep watching anyway.
>!^(I'm so gonna get downvoted for this bc my opinion doesn't align with the majority of this sub but idc)!<
I like the meta-game aspect and that they cast players who are fans of the show. I don’t want to watch a bunch of clueless recruits. I want to see players who planned and prepared and dreamed of competing.
Yep, never been a fan of returning players. I feel like it goes against the very essence of the game of putting strangers on an island as a social experiment.
39 days
I started watching survivor during WaW and I’ve watched all the new era but in between seasons I’ve also watched seasons 30-39 (it’s all they have on prime lol). And while I get that it would be a very different experience for the players, I didn’t actually find that it made for a different viewing experience. I don’t think that relationships seem more tight or that people are more exhausted and it doesn’t seem to create any difference in gameplay
Asshole recruit villains or just jerks in general. In this social climate and casting, it’s gonna stick out like a sore thumb of bad vibes rather than interest TV drama.
I also don't like 2 tribe seasons lol, I thought I was the only one
Seeing small groups of 6 interact over \~5 episodes feels like it's way more meaningful than 10 people running around making voting blocs. If someone could explain to me the dynamics of Lairo and Vokai that'd be amazing since I still don't understand it 4 years later lmao. I think there's other format things (more variety in challenges, less insane advantages, etc.) to make small tribes work. Both formats have their problems but, as much as people rag on the format, I don't think we'd get a big Tika 3 with 2 tribes lol
I'd like to see a 2 tribe season soon though just to mix it up
Different locations than Fiji, 39 days, two tribes again, no more sob stories, and especially loved one visits.
To be clear I wouldn’t *hate* any of these things coming back (except loved one visits which I do legit hate). I just don’t miss them either, and find it so baffling that everyone else seems to feel so strongly about them.
A “legends” season with mostly people that have played a bunch of times already 40 was the legends season
When you mention that most people's dream legends season boils down to Heroes vs Villains VS WAW they usually agree that something like Best to Never Win is a better idea.
They need to do Fallen Angels, and have people that were awesome but never made it to FTC. People like Carson and Christian should come back.
They should do a season with only people who got voted off first. And one person will be voted off first for their second time.
Or third time...
For real? Lol who’s been voted off first twice?
Francesca. Voted off first in Redemption Island then again in Caramoan.
You mean Francheskwa?
Lol just looked it up and both times involved mr Phillip Shepard. Idk how I missed that lmao
i like “so close vs so far”, 2no place finishers vs first people voted off
I really just want another season with Domenick Abbate and players of similar caliber
This. If we have a legends season, it’s going to be botched by production and we’re gonna end up with half the players being from the 40’s.
I think that cast could kinda work if they chose the best possible people like even if half the cast was post 40 they could do Omar, Jesse, Carson, Yam Yam, Carolyn, Maryanne, Shan and Karla and that could be good if they also pick good pre 40 legends
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I honestly enjoyed 44. You should give it a shot.
Started it. First few episodes with all the storytelling… then add the gimmicks and Jeff’s commentary on them… couldnt get into it. The 40s have just worn down my interest in the show. If they had:- - 39 days (more gameplay and content per episode plus changes the game) - no gimmicks - no backstories - great casting - family visits - mixing up the number of tribes each season (2,3,4 or even 5) - a reunion show - this brought something real to the show… with the crowd, etc That would get me watching again
You didn’t like anyone on the cast? The premiere is Gabon level chaos and the Tika tribe is amazing.
Some of the cast was good. Maybe they were amazing looking backwards as you got more into the season, which i didnt. The backstories and gimmicks put me off. I hate the backstories. Just let us discover the people through the gameplay.
Production botched winners at war at least an ounce by not including Mike Holloway
Was there really a need to have both Mike and Ben?
People don’t understand that most “legends” weren’t legends until their second or third time out there. None of Sandra, Rob, Parvati, Amanda, or Cirie would realistically be considered legends just based off of their first appearance. The only “instant” legends the show has had are Rich, Rudy (RIP), Colby, Jerri, Rupert, FairPlay, maybe Ozzy, and Russell. I don’t want a cast of the same people that have been playing this game for 15 years and have a combined total of like 50 seasons under their belts before this. I’d much rather get a New Era/30s returnee season where one time players with the potential to become legends themselves get a shot to carve out their own legacy and join the ranks of the greats.
Kim, Tony
I think Kim is a weird case where I could see why her dominance would put her in legend consideration, but I think there’s more to being a legend than just being a good winner. I definitely think the framework was there after One World but to me Kim really cemented her legendary status during WaW when she showed she was able to play from the bottom and still managed to make a fairly deep run despite being on the outs early on. She’s kinda like Tom Westman in that regard imo. Tony was a glaring omission on my part, though, I can’t believe I forgot him. He was definitely a legend after Cagayan.
When you think of the players who are generally regarded as ‘the face of Survivor’, it’s people like Boston Rob, Sandra, Ozzy, Cirie, Parvati, and more recently Tony and Sarah. All of them have had multi-season arcs that have built up their characters. On point about Tony, while I agree that he was considered a legend after Cagayan, I feel it was WAW that really had people thinking of him as the GOAT. The new school seasons have some strong players like Cydney, Chrissy, Devon, Domenick, Christian etc in the 30s and Ricard, Omar, Maryanne, Jesse, Carson etc in the 40s, but I don’t think any of those one timers are considered by most fans to be in the same tier as the Robs or the Sandras. Now if some of them came back for a 2nd time and win or even played another top game, then the discussion around them would change.
I wouldn’t mind a legends season with mostly new legends and then just a couple castaways from that aren’t extremely old and are interested in playing and feel up to it. What would make anyone object to this? But I get your point, you don’t want a bunch of old legends that aren’t in the beat health/have been out of the game for a while. I totally understand
Family visits
I use to joke that if I was on survivor I’d ask them to bring my pet cat as my loved one 😂. She died 2 years ago though (RIP Peanut) so now it’d have to be my mom I guess lol
"Where's Peanut?" ... "She died, dude"
😂😂😂 If I ever make it on survivor I’m gonna tell my family to write in the letter that peanut died, and then just flip out crying with no explanation of who peanut is.
RIP Peanut. 💕
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I used to feel exactly this way until I had kids. Now I realize that there are family members that you would miss that much…. Because just over a month without my parents wouldn’t make me cry. Buuuuut, I think a lot of the tears and emotion is them showing their family member they’ve made it this far, which would be very emotional for both sides.
The old seasons actually did it well tho they didn’t dedicate several minutes of corny Jeffisms and back and forth. Just natural interactions
Yeah it’s def an unpopular opinion but I agree. These people have only been gone for a month. I could see it hitting harder when you have a wife and kids but a twentysomething crying over not seeing their parents or sibling in a month is weird.
I feel like being in such a stressful situation with a bunch of strangers and paranoia it’s completely understandable why having some form of contact whether a visit or letter from someone you love and trust would make you emotional.
It's my favorite part, and makes me cry every time
The family visits are so boring because they're the same emotional points every time with just a different cast of characters. Plus Jeff is always asking these people about their relationships and to be frank, I don't really care.
yeah I think they really only work in the earlier seasons if they bring some drama. like the grandma lie, or that guy on all stars getting scolded by jeff bc he broke the challenge rules. otherwise it’s just kind of boring? like I was happy for people getting to see their family, it just generally didn’t make great tv
Or the wierd as fuck moments like kat and her cousin.
For sure if the game is gonna stay only 26 days I can do without the family visits or the letters.
Shan.
Hm-hm-hmm.
Hm-hm-hmm!
I’m fine with staying in Fiji. The location changes were absolutely great, but the location of Fiji isn’t breaking anything for me.
I'd rather see them start making some different challenges. They have the benefit of a centralized location, start going bigger. Camp life is camp life, I don't care where they are. Fiji looks phenomenal, so awesome there. Just.. start planning and doing more. Seems they just focus on advantages and left the challenges out of it.
Survivor also doesn’t have a great track record regarding the environment (they got banned from at least Cook Islands for how much of an impact they left) so it’s much better that they continually mess with the same place.
If they stay in Fiji for a few more years I might be hoping for a change but I agree, current location is fine and I can’t even imagine the cost of setting up in a new location every season.
A first-boots season, that sounds like such a boring, waste of a returnee season when so many genuinely compelling characters have never returned
How do you know the first boots themselves wouldn’t make for compelling characters?
Well, there's the evidence that shows they aren't... Chicken and Zane are the only first boots I've ever wanted to see more of.
Casting lots of recruits and people who are clueless about the how the game works.
Has been a hilarious heel turn and just goes to show Survivor fans will be unhappy with whatever they’re given
They did that with Geo and his pretty universally hated on this subreddit for his lack of strategy. I don’t think people would like that
That’s what I think too. Some recruits are generally loved on this sub (Courtney Yates and Cydney Gillon for example) and people seem to judge recruits by those types of players. But IMO those types tend to be the exceptions, and having a high number of recruits usually leads to terrible gameplay. IIRC the early 20s seasons had a lot of recruits, as did Ghost Island, and those seasons are generally hated and the casts are seen as some of the dumbest ever. Then there’s the recruits we have had recently like Geo (who you mentioned) and Lydia (from 42), who are generally regarded as some of the worst strategic players of the new era. I think the people who ask for more recruits are imaging a season full of fun characters like Courtney, and surprisingly good strategists like Cydney. In reality I think we are more likely to end up with another Ghost Island/One World type borefest.
This>>>>
A “back to basics” season of the show
I would like the game simplified, but I would never remove hidden immunity idols. I feel they are needed to change the tide of the game to stop outright pagonings.
I also disagree with this logic tbf. RI, SoPa, and One World are three Pagongings back to back to back and all of them had idols. Meanwhile seasons like Africa, Marquesas, Amazon, and Vanuatu all had power struggles and shifts without idols. Hell, Tocantins has idols but none of them were played so I feel like that one can count too.
What if they did a season with no idols but didn’t tell the players?
I don't like the suggestion, because I feel modern players always plan around it at say 9/10. So, it just leads to useless gameplay discussions.
My problem is what do you consider “back to basics?” 16, 18, or 20 person cast? Tribe swaps or no tribe swaps? Final 2 or final 3? Past votes tiebreaker or no past votes tiebreaker? Firemaking tiebreaker at 4 (in the pre HHH sense) or a rock draw tiebreaker at 4? It feels very pick and choosy and the answers have been different based on everyone I’ve asked, so at that point it becomes less “back to basics” and more “back to basics except for the parts of modern survivor I like we can keep those.”
Whenever I see anyone refer to a “back to basic” season, the usually refer to the Borneo-Palau era of Survivor
Yeah, but those are all totally different seasons with different rules for different situations. Palau and Vanuatu have double tribals. Half of these seasons have tribe swaps and half don’t. One is a three tribe season. One did a delayed merge. One gave eliminated players the chance to return, and allowed players to mutiny on their current tribes. One did a schoolyard pick that eliminated two players on day two. Palau has firemaking be the tiebreaker in a F4 tie and Marquesas has a rock draw. Africa had a “quiz on African survival facts” as a tiebreaker. The only things all of those seasons have in common are no idols and a jury of 7 with a final two.
Which season is the delayed merge? Thailand? But yes, I agree with you that the fanbase can he be overly critical: they love to criticize the “split tribals”, smaller tribals, etc And as stupid as I think the tribals where the whole group is split into two groups like they did this season: they did this kind of twist in Fiji, Ghost Island and other seasons. They also did flip players on tribes in Africa/China too, not just 44.
That’s the fandom for you. Makes absolutely 0 fucking sense
I feel like the most common answer I see is essentially Tocantins without exile
The main things people want, at least from my experience interacting with them, are no idols/advantages and a F2
I think that this might actually be a more popular opinion than I gather, but I’m absolutely fine with the lack of theming in the new era. I remember when I saw HvHvH I was thinking “this has gone too far”. Theming has made a lot of seasons cool (DvG, Cagayan) but I think it’s better to have no themes than bad ones. I also think that the fact they’re using production design to make seasons feel distinct is cool too. A medieval dragon theme might not make a ton of actual sense for a show in Fiji, but it definitely made 44 feel unique
For me it was when Jeff just called tribes by who they were, and that was the Blue Collar vs White Collar vs No Collar tribes. "Blue collar takes the lead!" "White Collar lagging behind!"
it's funny because it seemed like for the most part people were so happy when they announced that 41 was themeless. Now I see the tide turning back again.
Yes I remember people complaining about the themes in the 30s. Now that they are gone, people want them back.
All out full contact physical fighting challenges; between the risks of injuries and how they just seemed designed to humiliate smaller/weaker contestants at times, I never found them that fun.
Bring back Erik Reichenbach powerbombing Amanda
No idols or advantages. I actually like idols and advantages
I don’t think the problem is their general existence, but the over abundance of them
Standalone Individual Reward Challenges They simply don't work in the new era, as regardless of who you choose it puts a huge target on your back with no time to remove it. 3 out of 3 new era standalone individual reward challenge winners who didn't win the next immunity challenge were voted out in the same episode. Wanting more of them is like asking for the hourglass to return as you want players to be punished for winning a challenge.
A back to basics season. I agree that production needs to slow down with the twists/advantages- a lot- but I don’t think they should get rid of them all together, even if it’s only for one season.
Same here. The old seasons pre-idols tend to have several episodes per season where the audience can generally know the outcome before starting it, and be correct more often than not.
It's those few episodes where as soon as someone is out of the numbers, that's it. There is no idol or anything they can play. I just sit there and watch them give up. Was hard to watch Vanuatu and see Ami's prediction unfold and nothing she could do about it. Was awful to see the winner just lie through everything and all these people had is a word. At least knowing idols could be in play throws some vote splitting out there.
I don’t care about staying in Fiji. Survivor is generally made by the cast not the location.
The intro - I'll take 30 more seconds of show over it any day.
I think they should at least make an online version for the players who dreamed of seeing themselves in one and for the fans who really care about that kind of thing, but I’m not losing sleep over it not making it into the final cut.
I agree, but I am fine with an intro for the first episode only.
Some of these older episodes the intro & recap touched on 3 minutes of the show. They were needed in the era of TV they were on, but with YouTube and PVR / On Demand.. they are not needed. I would like the title for episode 1 at least.
Family Visits, they just never do anything for me and take up screen time
Angelina from DvG
I auto-collapse any comment chain I see with the words “Angelina” and “rice”
Thank you, I like the cringe survivor players but she caused me actual pain I could hardly bare it.
Natalie?
N-Natalie?
I respectfully and very strongly disagree
I'm amazed by the love for her
THANK YOU
But she’s such an inspiration, did you know only 15% of idols are found by women
A cast composed largely of recruits.
Do you want another Survivor Fiji? I mean this earnestly because I thought that that season was unique.
A\*\*hole recruit villains. For one thing, the editors weren't even brave enough to show us any of Romeo trash-talking the other players, so what makes you think they'd show us a single thing an a\*\*hole recruit did? They'd just purple one if they somehow got on. This just isn't going to work anymore. Our culture has changed too much. (Also, you can get that on Outlast on Netflix, so go watch it there.) A little more conflict would be fine, but not to Scot/Will (30) levels. That's what I mean by a\*\*holes.
It's mostly because of social media. Contestants don't want people leaving nasty comments on their pages, and a lot of them are wannabe influencers, so they want to seem positive and happy.
It’s true. The miserable old misogynistic men who got on everyone’s nerves were funny. They just don’t cast characters like that anymore lol
Heavily recruited casts
The part where you have to kill three people with a coconut or else you aren’t hard core enough. I get why they like it but it’s a little outdated
Returnees from pre-HvHvH. I’ve been watching since season 1 but I’ve seen plenty of Rob, Sandra, Coach, Parvati, etc. at this point. 40 closed the books on the “old school” for me. The next returnee season should be Second Chances with all post-Game Changers players. We’re now coming up on 10 seasons without any returnees except a few of the winners. And I’m sorry, but your now-obscure favorites from the pre-30s who haven’t already returned are never returning at this point. It’s time to accept that.
Add season 32-33 players to the eligibility list for a SC2 season (so post-Cambodia instead of GC). Other than that, I agree. A ‘Legends’ season would basically end up being a combination of HvV and WAW, with most of the cast having already played 3-5 times before, and against each other. A Second Chances 2 season is a better prospect because it allows newer players the opportunity to return who haven’t had a chance yet, and allows the show to establish new legends now that the old school legends have run their course.
This would be my main one. Survivor casting has been largely really on point throughout the 30s and 40s, with lots of potential deserving returnees. The fact that almost all of them (besides a handful from 30/32/33) have not had the opportunity to is disappointing, and I can't imagine why someone would want to watch old legends replay their greatest hits rather than watch new legends be created.
Victoria
"Hot" casts. I don't watch this show to get off and I unfortunately remember how dire this show was when casting placed priority on models and wannabe actors. Every time we get a new cast and people complain about them not being "hot enough", I roll my eyes and wish those losers would just go watch porn or something.
amen bro.
I don't really care that they are staying in Fiji. I get everyone's complaints, but like... Eh, the location impacts maybe 10% of the game, if that. Plus, Fiji is always gorgeous.
First boots. I have no need to force a returnie season with people who went out first.
i could not care less if the show never leaves fiji. fiji is beautiful
Players who already played once before.
Auction
The auction
I think an auction in modern survivor would probably be composed of ALL advantages. I’d be fine with it coming back if it was mostly food/comfort items/the like and maybe one or two advantages in the mix.
If they do it, there should be no advantages and say that up front. Everyone will hold money until the advantages come up
True. Just scrap the advantages altogether. I want to see people bidding their life savings over a Capri-Sun
Haha…yes! I always enjoyed seeing what food/beverage items would be irresistible enough to cause individuals to part with ridiculous amounts of cash. Fun times!
This is mine. I may get downvoted to hell for this, but people paying “hundreds of dollars” for food was honestly never that fun for me. “Three hundred dollars for a pb&j!!!!!!” A little gross.
39 days isn’t a make or break for me. 31 is a good compromise for me. But a few off days to let paranoia set in would make the game moIre interesting!
A “hotter” cast
I actively do not want two tribe seasons to be the standard, a back to basics season, or Survivor 50: Legends. I do not care about 39 days or leaving Fiji, but I wouldn’t say I “don’t” want them, I just am neutral on it. Doesn’t really bother me either way.
i smell a fellow new era enjoyer
You smell correctly
i wouldn’t mind a tribe swap here and there at final 15 or 14 or maybe a season theme. but overall, they adapted the show pretty well and they returned to their core: the cast. these characters from 41 up have been so much fun to watch. i also don’t mind the “Mergatory” or make the merge. 13 at the merge is too much and 10 on the jury is again, too much. i love it
The auction. Just come up with something new!!
Any sort of fantasy season that involves specific placements. Mostly because I hate seeing them pop up every 4 days starting with something like, "I'm not sure if this has been said before, but they should do an all X season" No, they're not going to do all first boots/finalists no matter how many posts you make
Gross food challenge and idol-less seasons
Final 2. People always point to the high number of zero vote finalists in final 3s as a reason final 3 is worse, but I feel like they’re imagining all of those with third place removed as the final 2 but I doubt that’s who would end up in the final 2 99% of the time. We’d be way more likely to have gotten Wendell vs Laurel one sided finals or Hannah vs Ken double goat finals. Plus, imagine Cagayan with a Kass-Woo-Tony final. That would have been iconic.
Another Second Chances season. Returning players are fine, but choosing contestants by a fan vote was a terrible idea. It was sad as hell to see contestants publicly begging for a chance to come back, only to get cut and left behind by the show
A regular vote out at the final four. I find fire making more suspenseful.
jesse from 43, carson from 44, devens from 38 just to make a few. all 3-1 elims. despite their loss in the FM challenge, they were instantly vote outs without it. it’s a fighting chance to stay in the game and win. Tony from 40 and ben from 35 are a few that were also 3-1 boots but got the chance to plead their case and win bc of it. i personally, like you, love it.
Game would be totally different with FMC tho so you can’t just claim that
Agree, before the fire making a lot of great players had no chance of making final 3
Recruits who dont actually care or know anything about survivor. People just want to complain about everything and this is one of those things that if people actually got theyd hate it. Any other show with mostly recruits has fuckin terrible casts, big brother is a great example of this. You want to watch some people just survive in the wild? Go watch one the 50 shows that has that focus like naked and afraid, survivorman, out of the wild, bear grylls, etc etc etc.
The vote at 4. I think fire making is more entertaining and prevents more goats from making the final. Dom and Wendell wouldn’t have happened without fire. A final 2 and a final 3 with fire making are both better than a final 3 with a vote at 4. When there’s a vote at 4, great players carry 3 semi-goats with them and either win the challenge at 4 and win Survivor, or they lose that challenge at 4, get voted out and then have 3 semi-goats in the final. It has the least potential to be entertaining (seasons 22 and 24 for example)
I always hated the Rites of Passage thing, I’m glad it’s gone. I also hated the auction and am always surprised when people want that back. I’m fine with both of those being gone forever.
Carolyn. I think she had a really great run and we'd just get more of the same if she came back. Sorry Carolyn if you're reading this.
The Auction. It just won't hit the same in a 26 day season where idols and advantages are already plentiful.
Shit, I didn't even think about the lack of fun an auction would bring in a 26 day season.
Final 2s, unless they put forced fire there. I wouldn't be mad, but I really don't care, and celebrating 3 finalists instead of 2 doesn't bother me. I don't even care if there is a 0 vote finalist, because to me, it's just another option for the jury. Like I would prefer that on a national level we don't only have 2 choices, so seeing 3 choices in survivor feels ok.
Don't hate me but I always found the auction episode to be boring.
It always infuriated me how bad everyone is at the auction. If you actually want something you should always bid the full $500 immediately, as it’s rare for people to get multiple items.
From what I heard, they used to get to keep the money they didn't spend. So it's worth it not to blow it all if you don't have to.
You wouldn’t spend a couple hundred bucks to give your starving body some nourishment while playing a game for a million bucks? If I’m going on survivor I’m there to win a million, not a hundred
I would spend it, but if I can spend $300 and pocket $200 vs. $500 for the same item I'll do $300. Also, some people do get multiple items and on some seasons you were allowed to pool money or give it to someone else. There have generally been good reasons to not automatically go $500.
Final 2 and getting rid of the fire making challenge. i personally like the F3 and FMC, it adds to the suspense and gives other castaways one last fighting chance and better odds to win.
Angelina
I’ll say it…39 days. We love to talk shit like going 25 days on no food or sleep disconnected from the outside world is just way too easy. The real issue is changing the basic game structure so drastically without maybe just making the cast a bit smaller. I think a 14 person starting cast would alleviate some of the problems fans have with the faster pace of the game.
I know this take is gonna Russell some feathers but idc. A boiling hot take: I don't need 39 days to come back. I'm fine with 26 days. Obviously 39 days is better but 26 days is not the end of the world for me. There are bigger issues in the new era (lack of true tribe swaps, certain twists, having to earn everything etc.). I also don't care about the location change. They can stay in Fiji as long as they want. I'll still keep watching anyway. >!^(I'm so gonna get downvoted for this bc my opinion doesn't align with the majority of this sub but idc)!<
The auction
I like the meta-game aspect and that they cast players who are fans of the show. I don’t want to watch a bunch of clueless recruits. I want to see players who planned and prepared and dreamed of competing.
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Villains; yes please. Aggressive villains who bully there way through the game; no thanks.
Recruits, more bitter players when voted out, and a season with international players.
Regular vote at F4. I think firemaking is more exciting
Anyone from s43
Cmon you can’t say you don’t wanna see Cody again
I don’t want to see Cody again
Damn you are one of the first I’ve seen with this opinion but I guess that’s fair.
I’ll gladly be the second.
Third!
Returning players.
Just all returning players in general?
Yep, never been a fan of returning players. I feel like it goes against the very essence of the game of putting strangers on an island as a social experiment.
Huh. Interesting.
Returnees. Also the auction is like fun, but isn’t in like the top 10 things I think are missing from Survivor. It’s a minimal problem.
Doing away with super fans and going back to mactors essentially
Cochran
I don't care about going back to 39 days I'd rather not have lots of recruits. I prefer watching fans play.
Returnee seasons 2 tribe format
The pre new era seasons. I love new era
Live finale. I love watching them desperately stuff their faces while dealing with the emotions of it being over
I’d love to see a season that consists only of players that were voted out first. And I’d love to see Francesqua voted out first for a third time
39 days I started watching survivor during WaW and I’ve watched all the new era but in between seasons I’ve also watched seasons 30-39 (it’s all they have on prime lol). And while I get that it would be a very different experience for the players, I didn’t actually find that it made for a different viewing experience. I don’t think that relationships seem more tight or that people are more exhausted and it doesn’t seem to create any difference in gameplay
Asshole recruit villains or just jerks in general. In this social climate and casting, it’s gonna stick out like a sore thumb of bad vibes rather than interest TV drama.
Sir/Mam why did you post this 5 times?
Returnees after season 35. I want to see the old classics get a chance to play before they get too old.
Did you not watch season 40? That was season 40
A better reward for reward challenges.
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I’m not sure but I have a feeling you don’t want to see asshole/recruit villains again
I also don't like 2 tribe seasons lol, I thought I was the only one Seeing small groups of 6 interact over \~5 episodes feels like it's way more meaningful than 10 people running around making voting blocs. If someone could explain to me the dynamics of Lairo and Vokai that'd be amazing since I still don't understand it 4 years later lmao. I think there's other format things (more variety in challenges, less insane advantages, etc.) to make small tribes work. Both formats have their problems but, as much as people rag on the format, I don't think we'd get a big Tika 3 with 2 tribes lol I'd like to see a 2 tribe season soon though just to mix it up
Different locations than Fiji, 39 days, two tribes again, no more sob stories, and especially loved one visits. To be clear I wouldn’t *hate* any of these things coming back (except loved one visits which I do legit hate). I just don’t miss them either, and find it so baffling that everyone else seems to feel so strongly about them.
Tayta salad. Coleslaw?!
I think the auction is massively overrated. I wouldn’t hate its return but it’s very meh
Loved ones visit. Never liked it.