Survivor 50: In the Hands of the Fans was promoted to be the ultimate season with major favorites returning and fans getting a chance to change the game. But there’s just one little problem… The show is focusing itself on the wrong fans.
While there were some things that fans were able to vote on like the colors of the tribes or even the fact that there would be a live finale in Los Angeles, there are other things that fans had no idea about. In the season’s sixth episode, host Jeff Probst announced that 63 percent of fans voted for major twists which led to the Blood Moon elimination that got rid of three contestants in one night. But while fans did vote for twists, there’s also a limit and the game is getting to the point where strategy hardly matters anymore.
Last week’s episode featured a brutal elimination in which Christian Hubicki failed to complete a puzzle in time while in exile. The result? Not only did he have to vote against himself at Tribal Council, but he had to tell the entire tribe what happened. He was unable to come up with a plan to help save himself from elimination beforehand due to it being hidden behind an envelope that he was forced to read out loud as part of his punishment. He was immediately voted out by the rest of the tribe in a heartbreaking elimination. Oh, and it was known as the Jimmy Fallon One In the Urn twist.
On The Tonight Show with Christian as his guest, Jimmy revealed that he actually didn’t come up with this exact twist.
“I talk to Jeff and I have all these crazy ideas for Survivor. I’m a big fan of the show. So I come up with these ideas and he calls me back,” he revealed. “And they have great producers on the show, and they go, ‘Here’s this idea that we have.’ And I go, ‘Oh, I love this. This is perfect. Great.’”
So not only have fans been lied to about these celebrity superfans coming up with these twists themselves, but it’s actually the producers who are fully impacting the game.
The Billie Eilish Boomerang Idol—which all the contestants had to say the full name of every time it was brought up and Billie Eilish hasn’t even acknowledged anywhere—never actually boomed back around. Which means those who would have normally found an idol to help their game actually never actually get one in the first place.
Country music star Zac Brown presented a special celebrity reward, but it stole the focus on nearly the entire episode due to a very long section that focused on him fishing and singing songs. It felt more like a commercial for the singer-songwriter rather than an actual episode of the reality competition series.
It’s becoming such an issue, that the fans who tune in weekly are starting to take notice. One Reddit user wrote, “The original spirit of the show isn’t here anymore. It’s not about Survival, it’s a chance based game show on an island. Now featuring celebrity cameos and evidently a weekly change in format since merge.”
A user on X said, “When they claimed this season would be a celebration, I really thought they meant old iconic challenges making a return, old twist making a return and implementing new and fun twists to the game but nope..we get Zach Brown and Mr Beast! That’s what survivor stands for #survivor50”
Especially in a season where you have some of the most incredible players coming back and ready to make big moves, it’s not necessarily the game they signed up for. Instead, it’s becoming a game of chance. I mean, The MrBeast Super Beware Advantage involved a literal coin flip. Guess the correct side the coin would land on? Then the million dollar prize pot would double and the person who volunteered to flip the coin would not only be safe for this tribal council, but they also get to take back an idol. Guess wrong? You’re immediately eliminated from the game.
Rick Devens, feeling that he would be voted off anyway, took the chance. Not only was he right, but as a chaotic player, there’s no telling what he’ll do next with an idol in his hands. Stephenie LaGrossa Kendrick was voted out unanimously even though she used an advantage to Devens’s Steal a Vote. Again, there was no time for strategy. Just shifting lines and choices being made on the spot.
There’s no word if there are more twists coming. But if they involve another celeb, then it might be a breaking point for the season. If they cannot strategize or actually, well, play the damn game, then is the winner actually winning anything? They’re definitely taking home $2 million, but they might not be taking home the title of the Greatest Survivor Player which was seemingly what this season was supposed to be about with all these legendary contestants coming back. And isn’t that the reason real reason why the true fans at home tuned into the season in the first place?
