It’s been a little more than a week since the Survivor 50 cast was announced, and a lot of fans have not stopped complaining. I did my share of grumbling and am still big mad about a few last minute cuts (give us Abi-Maria!), but honestly, my annoyance is now focused elsewhere. More specifically, it’s focused on the number of people in the cast and what that’s probably going to mean for Immunity Challenges.
There are 24 people on the Survivor 50 cast. As a contrast, all of the so-called New Era seasons feature 18 players. In theory, that’s a great thing. We’re getting to see six legends who otherwise wouldn’t have made the cast. In practicality, however, those extra players are going to almost certainly require a change to how immunity challenges are run.
It’s a players versus days problem more than anything else. A season of Survivor used to take place over 39 days. In the New Era, they, much to the annoyance of fans, take place over 26 days. To compensate, Survivor has reduced the number of days between normal eliminations and typically has one or two surprise double eliminations where an episode features multiple Tribal Councils.
For Season 50, we’re adding in six more players. So, unless the show shocks everyone and adds additional days to production, it likely means every single pre-merge Immunity Challenge is going to result in only one tribe being safe and two going to Tribal Council.
Now, that matters for two reasons. First, it doesn’t let players relax and settle into the game. The atmosphere at the beach is way different when a time is safe versus when they have to go to Tribal Council. Two teams being up for elimination every single episode is going to mean 2/3rds of the players are in scramble mode trying to make sure they’re not voted out. That’s going to have a major effect on their relationships and necessitate forming alliances that much more quickly. That might not sound like a huge deal, but there are so many Survivor players who made deep runs that were initially on the bottom of their tribes and only stuck around because their whole tribe was safe.
Second, it creates a massive editing challenge that I’m not really sure can be totally fixed. Episodes the past few seasons have been ninety minutes. That change has been great for the show and allowed us to spend way more time at camp, but even with the extra length, the double elimination episodes always feel rushed. Unless both people getting booted are obvious unanimous choices, it always feels like we are missing part of the conversation. The idea of that happening every week is really frustrating, especially for a season that’s supposed to be a celebration of Survivor.
I’m still really excited about Survivor 50. It’s going to be fantastic to see Coach interact with players from the New Era. It’s going to be great to have Jenna back and to see people like Emily Flippen play again. I’m going to watch whatever we get and almost certainly enjoy it, but between some of the strange casting choices and what the number of days issue is likely going to do to immunity challenges, I can’t help but think the producers may be keeping the season from reaching its full potential.
