5 Reasons To Be Excited About Survivor 41’s Changes (& 5 Reasons To Worry)
CBS's hit reality competition show Survivor recently announced its plan to return to the television lineup this fall. The series will be airing its 41st season with all-new castaways competing in Fiji for a chance to become the sole survivor.
Survivor was off the air for a year and a half, which gave showrunners and producers a chance to make some changes going forward as it entered the 40s. These changes range from the number of days being played to the number of twists and idols in the game, and not all of them will be met with open arms. There's a lot to be excited about with a new season debuting September 22nd, and some to be skeptical of as amendments continue to be made to an already established show.
10 Be Excited: Survivor In The Age Of Covid
The last time fans got to watch a new season of Survivor was in May of 2020, and that season, Winners At War was filmed in the summer of 2019. Now, viewers have a brand new season of Survivor to look forward to this fall.
With the COVID-19 pandemic, it was difficult for Survivor players to travel and be safe without risking their health and the health of others. A year later, a new normal has arisen that is making it possible for Survivor to be filmed and air again. Contestants had to quarantine and get tested before filming began, which is something that will most likely be the precedent for players going forward.
9 Get Worried: Shortened Seasons
Typically Survivor is played for 39 days (except for season 2, in which it was a record 42 days). Those who make it to day 39 get to make their case to the jury as to why they deserve a million dollars and the title of sole survivor.
Because of quarantining amid COVID-19, host Jeff Probst has revealed that going forward, Survivor will be played for a shortened 26 days, and that those days will be grueling and dangerous for the players. This could turn off viewers who have watched since the first season who appreciate the 39-day format, and more dangerous gameplay could have a negative impact on the players.
8 Be Excited: Faster Pacing
Because of the shortened season, Jeff Probst said to expect faster pacing within the season. This could benefit the show in a number of ways, mainly that the lull of the first few episodes could be eliminated because gameplay will begin more immediately.
It takes a few episodes for viewers to get acquainted with all the new faces on their television screens, and it's harder to pack three days of strategy and filming into one 40-minute episode. With shorter seasons, there's less to pack in and an opportunity to get to know the castaways better in a shorter amount of time.
7 Get Worried: Breaking The Fourth Wall
When announcing the changes for the upcoming season, host Jeff Probst revealed that a new element Survivor will be trying out is breaking the fourth wall and talking directly to viewers walking at home.
This is reminiscent of season 1, where Jeff explained how the game worked to audience members who had never seen the show before and were unaware of the rules. 40 seasons in, this seems a little redundant, and it may get annoying to fans who don't want clues pointed out to them when they could figure it out for themselves.
6 Be Excited: No Theme
A big problem with Survivor in recent years has been too much emphasis on the theme of the season. When a season has a specific theme, the show tries too hard to stick to it and make it the driving force of the new episodes. This season will simply be known as Survivor: 41.
Fans of the show are typically more interested in the human aspect of the show, meaning they enjoy watching strangers interact and play the game that has been on the air for 20 years. Themes become cheesy and overdone and removing themes going forward could make original fans of Survivor want to revisit the show.
5 Get Worried: The Interactive Element
Along with breaking the fourth wall, Jeff Probst announced that there would be a new interactive part of the episodes where younger fans can play at home.
This was a bit off-putting to older fans, who enjoy the way Survivor already operates without having too much of a game-show-like quality. Introducing interactive puzzles for audience members to play along with could take away from the actual show itself, and make fans care less about the players and more about if they're solving a riddle correctly.
4 Be Excited: Playing With The Contestants
On the other hand, playing alongside contestants may make fans feel like they're on the island with them, and that may draw new fans or get audience members more invested than ever before.
It could also be fun to play the interactive games as Survivor castaways from the season interact with fans on social media, making them feel like they have a genuine connection with the people on their television screens.
3 Get Worried: More Twists
In addition to cheesy themes, a big complaint about Survivor in the last five years has been the added amount of twists to the game. While hidden immunity idols used to be hard to come by, now it seems they are at every corner of the island and easy to find with or without a clue.
Because Survivor is entering a new era, Jeff Probst promised more game-changing twists than ever before. A lot of former Survivor players and fans have begged the series to go back to the basics of the first few seasons and remove twists completely, so this could be detrimental to the reality show going forward.
2 Be Excited: More Diversity
It's no secret that Survivor hasn't been very good at diversifying its casts, typically composing the seasons of white men and women with very few BIPOC in the mix. This has led to only a handful of BIPOC winners and making Survivor incredibly white-washed.
Recently, CBS and Survivor promised to make a change and have at least 50% of the casts going forward be BIPOC, which is a huge step in the right direction for racial equality on the show. Additionally, there won't be any more segregating tribes based on race or gender, which has been a controversial twist done in the past.
1 Get Worried: Too Much Change
Even though some of the changes being made to Survivor seem promising, too much change might not be a good thing for the reality series going forward.
Too many changes could alienate older, die-hard fans who fell in love with the show's original premise, and may lead to the demise of the show entirely. If not executed properly, Survivor could turn into an entirely new series and one that might not be met with as much love as the one that debuted in 2000.