Survivor 41

[CYdTracked]

Glad to finally have a new season after not having one for over a year. Some thoughts on last night:

- Shorter season, 26 days vs 40 I think I heard? Means less time between challenges and people going home faster. I think the pace of gameplay could make things interesting
- Less items to start with, harder challenges with less rewards and penalties for losing too. I like this, I think the past few seasons they have been pampered with too many items compared to what the show originally was. The show is called survivor, going back to actually having to rough it a little like you would in a real survival situation is a good thing IMO. I like that there is now extra incentive to win challenges knowing you could lose an item like your flint. After that last challenge knowing you could lose your flint I would make sure I have a good fire going at camp before leaving for a challenge. I'm still amazed that after all these years how some people still don't know how to make fire when they come on the show. By now you should know that your fate in the game could come down to a fire making challenge at some point and to me that is a million dollar skill in that game that once you know you are going to be on the show I would be practicing at home to be good at it.
- New risk/reward advantages. These could be an interesting new twist that I am curious to see how they play out over the season.
- No more "come on in guys!" Little disappointed to see this phrase is going away after 40 seasons. Was almost a "woke" moment. That is an iconic phrase Jeff has had and I don't like how they now have turned it into a PC moment of letting them decide if he should keep it or not. Gotta have thicker skins if you find that offensive or sexist. What's next, are we going to do away with calling them "tribes" too and start calling them groups or teams?
- The 2 teams that lost the initial challenge sure went after their choice for their challenge at their camp in an interesting way. In the end it paid off for both of them but for crying out loud 1 team has a neuro surgeon that surely after 4 hours of the entire team staring at a triangle they could figure out how many triangles are within the big triangle. The other 2 guys searching for an idol while completing their challenge was funny too. I thought for sure they were not going to complete it.
- Tribal was interesting. I think given the parameters of this season voting off Abraham (Eric) was a mistake as winning challenges is going to be more important than anything early on right now. The 2nd tribal was a bit chaotic with all the side whispering going on. Sara was the right choice and I hate it when players like her start the whole sob story act as if they are almost entitled to stay longer. Someone has to go home first, it's part of the game you should be prepared for if you followed the show and especially if you mess up in a challenge early it should be no surprise you have a target on you.
- The "shot in the dark" dye that gives you a 17% chance of staying safe at tribal if you choose to use it could be another interesting twist this season. Sara probably should have used hers this time, looked pretty obvious she was going home after the votes were revealed so why not take that chance you could be safe as the odds were already not in your favor.

Any other thoughts from the fellow Survivor fans out there?

 

[Gonzo]

The tall rancher dude from Texas seems likeable but I don't think his bulb burns too brightly.

 

[BigD]

The tall rancher dude from Texas seems likeable but I don't think his bulb burns too brightly.

That rancher dude looks like Bill Walton.

 

[CYdTracked]

The tall rancher dude from Texas seems likeable but I don't think his bulb burns too brightly.

Yeah at first I kinda liked him but then some of the things he did makes me think he won't make it too far if he keeps it up and doesn't start playing the social aspect better. I like that he basically threw out 2 names to vote for right in front of them while everyone was talking as that is an old school survivor play but if you are going to do that you better be sharp with your gameplay and be ready to own it and at tribal he didn't appear to know what was going on around him.

I'm interested to see how things play out with this cast. They just came off of what I thought was probably the best season ever of the show because they had a good mix of some of the best players to ever play the show over the entire series so the bar was set pretty high where you don't expect new players to play the same way as an experienced player. Buy this cast on first impression so far I don't know has many if any have cut-throat type of personalities. It's just the first episode, usually take a few weeks until some of that starts to show up more but even on day 1 there usually are a few that stand out that you know are going to go all-out in the game and beside that guy there really wasn't anyone that stood out too much to me as ruthless yet.

 

[MeanDean]

Yeah, I like some of the changes too. Seemed like the team play at the beginning between the different tribes came to be something that was devalued. I mean that in that it seemed like a lot of the players were all about making it to the merge and their future individual strategies, and played that mindset versus being a team player.

 

[Gonzo]

That rancher dude looks like Bill Walton.

Agree. Wifey thought he looked like a combo of Howard Stern and Ric Ocasek.

 

[Clark]

I'm not sure I like all of the twists and I really don't like wasting what felt like a third of the 2 hour episode on a prisoners choice dilemma.

Did they show a single scene of them building the camp? Who has the best camp right now? the worst? What did they eat in the first three days? Which survivor on each tribe is going to be the "if you vote me out you won't eat as well" person?

In a two hour episode they couldn't be bothered to show them actually trying to survive?

I though Jeff asking the tribes if saying "guys" was ok or not was really, really stupid because all that does is annoy everyone. People who don't care are annoyed that you wasted air time asking, people who do care are annoyed you wasted air time asking (rather than just not saying "guys")

 

[CYdTracked]

I'm not sure I like all of the twists and I really don't like wasting what felt like a third of the 2 hour episode on a prisoners choice dilemma.

Did they show a single scene of them building the camp? Who has the best camp right now? the worst? What did they eat in the first three days? Which survivor on each tribe is going to be the "if you vote me out you won't eat as well" person?

In a two hour episode they couldn't be bothered to show them actually trying to survive?

I though Jeff asking the tribes if saying "guys" was ok or not was really, really stupid because all that does is annoy everyone. People who don't care are annoyed that you wasted air time asking, people who do care are annoyed you wasted air time asking (rather than just not saying "guys")

Yeah we didn't see much camp building and seems like the past few seasons they haven't showed quite as much of the camp life moments especially at night. I remember the early seasons where they literally were having to hunt for rodents or any kind of food source just to have something to eat. They also have done away with some of the eating challenges they used to do too which was good entertainment because while some of the stuff seemed gross to eat it still hat nutritional value.

I hope they don't make such a big deal going forward with all the "social issues" they have been pushing to highlight more lately. The show's intent was never to solve the world's problems or be a forum for them but to put a diverse group of people into a "survival" situation with a $1 million dollar prize and see how they would play the game. They gave too much focus on the "come on in guys" thing than it ever needed. I never recalled anyone calling out Jeff in the past seasons for using the word "guys" that is obviously a result of the PC society we live in today that they even made this an issue at all.

 

[Gonzo]

Yeah we didn't see much camp building and seems like the past few seasons they haven't showed quite as much of the camp life moments especially at night. I remember the early seasons where they literally were having to hunt for rodents or any kind of food source just to have something to eat. They also have done away with some of the eating challenges they used to do too which was good entertainment because while some of the stuff seemed gross to eat it still hat nutritional value.

I hope they don't make such a big deal going forward with all the "social issues" they have been pushing to highlight more lately. The show's intent was never to solve the world's problems or be a forum for them but to put a diverse group of people into a "survival" situation with a $1 million dollar prize and see how they would play the game. They gave too much focus on the "come on in guys" thing than it ever needed. I never recalled anyone calling out Jeff in the past seasons for using the word "guys" that is obviously a result of the PC society we live in today that they even made this an issue at all.

Yeah I think Probst fancies the show as some kind of social looking glass where ills of the day are to be explored among those playing, hasn't always been that way, mainly the past handful of seasons. Does get irritating. Still glad to have it back, we've been watching it since season 1, brings back a big dose of normalcy.

 

[CyGuy5]

Way too woke for my liking. Don’t need to blow everything out of proportion like “come on in guys”. Also found it hard to find anyone I really want to win, and it doesn’t really seem like they’ve picked the sharpest contestants this season

 

[CYdTracked]

Once again I am amazed how people who have 40 previous seasons to know what works and what doesn't still makes dumb votes early on. Second week in a row Yase gets their butt kicked in challenge with an obvious week link in Tiffany and instead they vote out another strong player in Voce (David.) Your survival early in the game is winning challenges as odds are there will be a mix up and eventually a merge and the more tribal challenges you win early gives you better odds of not getting voted out and gives you the numbers advantage going into a swap or merge. Evvie and Liana are already looking too far down the road with their gameplay by dragging along an easy target for their next tribe to vote out when she blows a challenge for them.

If they really wanted to add another dimension to this show to give it something fresh they should get a few former legend players like Boston Rob, Parvarti, Tony, etc. who have played the game multiple times and won to do some kind of after-show or a "watch party" episode that airs later in the week where they play the episode and you can get their reactions real time and get their thoughts on how they think the game is being played or they sit down and break down the episode.

Back to the episode last night, still haven't really found a player that I can root for yet. Gary is just weird that is for sure. For a bit there Evvie had me thinking she could be that person but I have a hard time respecting her game play yet because of not getting rid of the weakest link in Tiffany when she is in a good spot playing both sides of the tribe right now. Naseer has some potential to be 1 player I can get behind. I do like the new twist with the 3 way idol where all 3 have to be found to be active and in the meantime you can't vote at tribal. The goofy phrases you have to say at the challenge to see if anyone says their goofy phrase too could make for some funny moments eventually. I also like some of the backstories and behind the scenes moments they are integrating into this season too so you kind of get more understanding of where the players come from as well as what goes on in the production of the show.

 

[cmjh10]

Basically agree with everything here. Naseer and Evie are my 2 early front runners. Other than that, cast doesn’t seem like anything special.

 

[CyGuy5]

I really haven’t been impressed with this season yet. All the new twists just seem gimmicky to me

 

[Drew0311]

Survivor needs to get taken over by the producers of the Challenge. Get rid of the wok crap and just play Survivor. I think they have this opinion of themselves like they are some sort of teacher of good deeds instead of a game show that we want to watch to get away from the nonsense in normal life. I still watch but I’m losing interest after 40 seasons and the same “do an obstacle course and solve a puzzle” challenges that they do every single episode.

 

[Gonzo]

I really haven’t been impressed with this season yet. All the new twists just seem gimmicky to me

I like the three-part immunity idol thing with them needing to say the codes at the challenge.

Yes Probst can get preachy but I think Survivor is one of the few shows that's been able to make changes--some of which have admittedly been really dumb and short-lived--without losing the core of what the show is about and completely ruining it.

 

[Drew0311]

I like the three-part immunity idol thing with them needing to say the codes at the challenge.

Yes Probst can get preachy but I think Survivor is one of the few shows that's been able to make changes--some of which have admittedly been really dumb and short-lived--without losing the core of what the show is about and completely ruining it.

I thought Probst was the best host you could find the first 20 seasons, however, he is terrible now. It became about him instead of the game. I am all for TJ Lavin or someone like that taking over.

 

[CYdTracked]

Survivor needs to get taken over by the producers of the Challenge. Get rid of the wok crap and just play Survivor. I think they have this opinion of themselves like they are some sort of teacher of good deeds instead of a game show that we want to watch to get away from the nonsense in normal life. I still watch but I’m losing interest after 40 seasons and the same “do an obstacle course and solve a puzzle” challenges that they do every single episode.

Yeah I am sick of the woke moments where they try to take on society issues when it's really not a main focus of the game. OK I get it, if some perv does something like they had happen on season 38 with Dan then you deal with it when it happens but there is no reason to keep dragging that kind of of stuff and issues into the following seasons unless you have a cast member act up during the season where it can be addressed. I have been hoping they will eventually bring back some of the tougher individual endurance challenges again where they may be out there hours until they get a winner. Or the eating contests. The early seasons of the series had some great things we have not seen incorporated again like the car challenge that the winner usually got jinxed that if they won the car they wouldn't win the season. I'm sure they'd have to have sponsors pony up the car again but in general it feels like the show has gone soft and the contestants aren't really roughing it as bad as the earlier seasons had to.

Did you notice it sounded like Jeff was losing his voice at the end of the episode? Wonder how long he has to deal with that in the following episodes.

 

[CYdTracked]

I thought Probst was the best host you could find the first 20 seasons, however, he is terrible now. It became about him instead of the game. I am all for TJ Lavin or someone like that taking over.

Meh, Jeff is OK but you wonder how much of the woke crap that is going on lately is his idea or the show producers. If you ever have to replace him there are several former survivor contestants that would make great host like Tyson, Rob (and Amber if you wanted to do a co-host thing) Malcolm or maybe even Parvarti and Cochran.

Another idea to make the show fresh too would be an all-celebrity cast playing for charity but the problem with that is finding celebs that would actually play the game the same way some random person would trying to win a million dollars because I'm sure they would all have their circumstances on what they would or would not do.

 

[Drew0311]

Meh, Jeff is OK but you wonder how much of the woke crap that is going on lately is his idea or the show producers. If you ever have to replace him there are several former survivor contestants that would make great host like Tyson, Rob (and Amber if you wanted to do a co-host thing) Malcolm or maybe even Parvarti and Cochran.

Another idea to make the show fresh too would be an all-celebrity cast playing for charity but the problem with that is finding celebs that would actually play the game the same way some random person would trying to win a million dollars because I'm sure they would all have their circumstances on what they would or would not do.

Jeff is the main producer now. So it's his idea to ask stupid questions and put them on TV like "is it ok to say guys come in here". I mean we all know what he means and that is how people talk. It's not about guy being a guy. I mean when I tell my daughter and her friends to come downstairs I says "Come down stairs guys". They don't come down offended. They come down knowing what I meant.


The funny part is they abosolutey tried to do nothing about the sexual crap in that one season, then try to act like they are the main show focusing on doing stuff against stuff like that. Kick the dude off and move on.

 

[Gonzo]

Probst can be irritating, often drags tribal council BS out way too long prior to getting to the vote, other stuff that bugs me too. But all in all I still think he's a good host, that show wouldn't at all be the same with someone else.