Written by Kevin Kokoszka​
With Survivor’s 50th season coming to a close, it’s time to get excited for Season 51, the Open Era. The teaser gave fans plenty to talk about, with some promising changes as well as some red flags that I’m nervous about. Here are some of the things I hope to see Survivor implement in their new season – and leave behind.
Thoughts from the Trailer
One thing I’m excited for is that it seems like the season is starting with two tribes instead of three. Ever since Season 41, every season has started with three tribes, and it’s become stale. Survivor used to always switch it up and alternate between two and three tribes, so you never knew what to expect. I’m glad that they’re switching things up.
​In the trailer, we hear Jeff Probst say that every advantage, idol, and twist they’ve ever done will be in play. I am calling 100% BS on this. There is no possible way this is true. There have been so many twists and advantages in the 50 seasons of Survivor that there is no possible way that every single one will come back. Are you telling me we are going to see the Medallion of Power Twist from Survivor Nicaragua in this season? No shot. I think Jeff just said this in the trailer to get people feeling nostalgic for old Survivor and get excited for the season.
What I’d Like to See
New Challenges
The past few seasons of Survivor seem to recycle the same challenges over and over again. They’ve become so predictable that contestants are practicing them at home.​
I’d love to see a mix of classic challenges as well as more physical challenges that fans loved. I don’t understand why the show has seemingly given up on creating new, never-before-seen challenges or bringing back ones that we haven’t seen in years.​
It feels like nearly every individual immunity challenge boils down to standing on something uncomfortable for as long as possible or balancing a ball. Enough of this. Switch it up!
I miss when the show would have maybe one or two endurance challenges during the season, and have the final three contestants compete in one last endurance challenge, like in Season 1.
Another Live Winner Reveal and Reunion​
One thing that I really enjoyed in Season 50 was when Survivor brought back the live reunions. From Seasons 41-49, Probst revealed the winners right on the spot in Fiji, and then they immediately went into a makeshift reunion show. It was horrible. There’s no suspense leading into the winner reveal, and for the make-shift reunions, it felt like nobody wanted to be there.
For season 50, they went back to their old ways and revealed the winner live, then held a reunion show. This is how Survivor should always be. We did see Jeff Probst make a mistake and accidentally spoil the final four fire-making challenge, but to be honest, that was probably my favorite part of the finale. The live show makes everything feel more real and puts a nice bow on the season.​
What I Don’t Want Them To Bring Back from Season 50
Journeys
One of my least favorite parts of New Era Survivor are the journeys. These consist of one or more contestants going to some other island where they compete in a small challenge. These journeys usually end up with a player either losing their vote or gaining some sort of advantage. The reason journeys should not return for Season 51 is that I hate when players lose their vote because we lose out on seeing players actually play the game. I’d rather see a tribal where everyone has a say in the vote. In Season 50, we saw Q and Colby both go home after losing their vote and not being able to participate in tribal. Colby lost his vote playing a glorified version of Jenga. How is that fair? ​
Billie Eilish Boomerang Idol and the Celebrity Gimmicks​
Imagine going on Survivor and finding a hidden immunity idol, but being told it’s not yours, and you have to give it to someone else. Absolutely brutal! That was the twist with the Billie Eilish idol, where contestants would give their idol to someone else and only get it back if that person got voted out. I miss when idols on Survivor were simple. There would be one hidden immunity idol at each tribe’s camp at the start of the game and another one hidden at the merge. Can we please go back to that? In the New Era of Survivor, there are rarely any normal idols, and everyone ends up knowing who has an idol because of this.​
In Season 50, we also saw the Jimmy Fallon: One in the Urn twist, which caused a player to vote for themselves and the Mr. Beast Coin Flip, where one player’s fate came down to heads or tails. All of these celebrity twists seemed to be a marketing scheme to bring in new fans for the show, but they just made the game worse. It seemed like every episode needed some sort of twist, which made it feel like I was watching a parody version of Survivor.
Power Broker Twist and Blood Moon​
What’s the point of merging in Survivor if you’re just going to have contestants be in makeshift tribes every few rounds? The Power Broker Twists and Blood Moon led to players being split up into groups, where each group would go to a separate tribe and have their own vote. It makes no sense. The most fun and unpredictable tribals are the ones that have more people as there are more opportunities to make big moves and blindsides. These twists, where we see multiple tribals in the merge, come down to getting lucky and hoping that you’re in the same group as your allies.
Final Thoughts
All in all, I just really want to see Survivor go back to old school Survivor. Stop overcomplicating the game and adding so many twists. Survivor is starting to become a gimmicky game show where luck is the biggest factor. I hope Survivor 51 starts to change that.
