The end of another Survivor season brings forth the question: did the game truly evolve, or did they play it too safe? Survivor Season 48 had potential, but its second half played out more like a foregone conclusion than a strategic showdown.
While each castaway who’s made it this far is worthy to be in the top 10, the second half of Survivor Season 48 seems too straightforward. There’s no one flip-flopping between alliances to spice things up, and no one wants to hurt anyone’s feelings this time around. Survivor is a show where people backstab and outwit one another to become the sole survivor. But the cast of Season 48 is too scared of going against each other.
Each player has made moves, and they all know their game will convince some jury members to vote for them if they make it to the final three. But in order to make it to the final three, they’ll need to vote other tribemates out. This season is another season where they simply pick them off one by one, starting with those on the bottom. No one jumped ship and risked their relationships to take out big threats, they simply stuck with the alliances created early on.
It feels like the early seasons before the manipulation became a big factor in winning. While no fan truly knows what’s happening on the island besides the contestants, it was easy to see the suspense the editors were trying to create isn’t there. There are multiple confessionals where a player says they’re considering flipping and taking out Joe Hunter, who is a huge and strong threat. But it’s very clear it’s not going to happen and the person who gets voted out each episode is completely predictable.
Now for those who love the obvious alliance of Joe and Eva Erickson, that’s great news. However, fans who want the secrecy and the jumping ship like so many seasons in the past have provided, they’ll be less enthusiastic with Season 48.
Looking past the many missed opportunities to shake the game up, each player on the top mostly knew what they were doing (as much as they could on a show where everyone could be lying straight to your face) and fought magnificently.
The ones who should’ve tried hard aren’t the castaways, but the crew. With episodes still being 90 minutes, it’s easy to think they have more time to show the relationships happening and a few more minutes of the challenges — after all, the challenges are some of the best parts of Survivor. But this season appears to reveal even less of the important events that took place than when the episodes were 60 minutes.
Around the time Star Toomey is voted off, it’s shown how truly no one trusts her. Yes, she voted for people still in the game, but that’s never stopped people in the past from teaming up with them to turn the tide of the game. Situations change so quickly in Survivor, and the editing of this season seems to leave out some necessary information.
Then, when it’s David Kinne’s time to leave the island, all viewers see is his paranoia taking over and people saying that’s the reason he needs to go. Yes, David is correct about Kyle Fraser and Kamilla Karthigesu’s partnership and that’s the reason Kyle wants him gone, but it’s shown that everyone else is fed up with his so-called paranoia. However, later in the season, Joe reveals it’s because of his relationship with Mary Zheng. The paranoia montage in week nine is fun to watch and makes sense at the moment but lacks the information that just drops later in the season.
There are a few other moments in this season that could’ve used more clips revealing the behind-the-scenes for relationships a tad more. With 90-minute episodes thankfully not leaving, it should be easier to have deeper dives into what’s going on back at camp, compared to the original 60-minute episodes.
Despite the lack of big blindsides and dramatic shifts, Season 48 still delivers what Survivor does best — the test of endurance, social savvy and strategy in an unforgiving environment. The castaways play with sincerity, strength and a level of mutual respect rarely seen in seasons. While longtime fans may miss the chaos and surprise betrayals, others will find a refreshing shift in the more stable gameplay that defines this season.
Looking ahead, there’s plenty to be excited about for Season 49. If this cast brought consistency and genuine gameplay, maybe the next will bring the unexpected. Survivor continues to evolve with each group of players, and while Season 48 may not go down as the most cutthroat installment, it still reminds us why we love the game — the human stories, the mental and physical battles, and the constant question of who will outwit, outplay and outlast.
