Survivor Season 48 Part 1 Review: Every Vote Counts

Now that we’re halfway through Survivor Season 48, past the Survivor merge, and every castaway voted out will be on the jury to decide the winner of $1 million, let’s dive into what Survivor needs to change.

It happens too often with the modern era of Survivor, where one of the three tribes gets brutally demolished at the beginning of the show, and let’s be honest, that’s not entertaining. It’s flat-out embarrassing. The casting crew of Survivor does a phenomenal job of recruiting people with huge personalities that make you love them or hate them. But they lack the skills to create tribes that are equally put together, so challenges aren’t blowouts.

There’s always one weak tribe that can’t seem to get back on its feet to win any challenges. Tribal council after tribal council, viewers really get to know these tribemates. While it’s entertaining to see personalities emerge further and evolve as the one tribe gets smaller, it prevents fans from getting to know where the other two tribes stand with their specific castaways with true intentions not being able to shine until the merge, when everyone combines to be one large tribe. 

Yes, it’s a fun little switcheroo when the death of one tribe episode after episode happens because Jeff Probst will then do a tribe switch. When the castaways blindly choose their new tribe, it’s interesting to see how the new personalities mingle. But isn’t that what the merge is for? Originally, the merge was for everyone to come together without having met or worked together in any way. Now everyone’s mingled with everyone before the merge. 

Again, yes, it’s fun to see how each relationship plays out and what sides are taken. But when one tribe has people so bad at challenges they can’t win until things are shaken up, then Survivor isn’t doing something right. Survivor needs to go back to two tribes. There needs to be some of the classic era brought back into the modern era. Now this doesn’t mean revert everything back, just change from three smaller tribes to two large tribes. 

If Survivor does go back to two tribes and one tribe still continues to be demolished, like Season 10 in Palau with the infamous Ulong tribe, at least there are more castaways to be picked off.

While the Vula tribe is the loser of the first half of Survivor Season 48, this season brought some things that never happened before in tribals and challenges. The best one is when a challenge gets emotional for Eva Erickson, and Jeff lets Joe Hunter comfort her. It’s a first because they got separated in the tribe switch, and typically, separate tribes don’t mingle — they stay in their own section. But these two castaways have a strong bond from being in the same tribe on day one, leading to this heartwarming moment taking place.

No matter what era or season Survivor is in, there are always moments and challenges that remind fans of why they’re watching. To see hardcore competitors be their real version of themselves while being cut-throat and manipulative. It’ll just be interesting to see Season 48 relationships progress, as there will be a new person voted out every episode.

Survivor 48 Part 1 is now streaming on Paramount+