Survivor has evolved a lot over the years. The casts, the challenges and even what the show chooses to focus on are very different from the early seasons. Fan opinions are positive or at least mixed on many of those changes, but there are some things that have disappeared from the show that everyone wants back. Fortunately, it seems like one of the most requested staples of the early years is on the table again.
Just a few years after Survivor unexpectedly brought back the auction, host Jeff Probst revealed he’s open to doing in-person visits from loved ones again. The show dropped the family visit to Fiji for the New Era, as producers “didn’t see a spot” for where it fit in the new structure, but having already done nine seasons under the new format, producers are now open to working the classics back in. Here’s a portion of Probst’s quote that he gave to The Hollywood Reporter…
We’re not opposed to loved one visits and it has nothing to do with the 26 days. It’s really just that when we rebirthed the show, the New Era, we didn’t see a spot for loved ones. We wanted to do a different game and make it what it is now. But the longer we’re on, the more likely some of these things you’re bringing up will find their spot again. Kind of like the auction.
Survivor typically makes some type of communication from home the basis of a reward challenge later in the season. Sometimes that is in the form of letters or phone calls. Other times it is via an actual in-person visit from a family member who is allowed to spend a small period of time on the island. Historically, fans have especially loved seeing the big emotions that come from in-person interactions, but in the New Era, the loved ones reward has always come in the form of letters from home.
The biggest pushback about the New Era (other than 39 days vs 26 days) has been about how formulaic fans feel the show has gotten. In a sense, that’s actually the larger theme of this conversation. It would, of course, be nice to get loved ones visits back, but more than that, it would be nice to get something that breaks what we’ve seen lately.
Yes, there are some different advantages and challenges each season in the New Era, but many of the story beats and the larger structure have been very similar over the last nine seasons. We’ve gotten three tribes of six people every single time. We’ve gotten a final three at Tribal Council every single time. Almost every season has contained one disaster tribe that lost almost all the early challenges. Every season has taken place in Fiji without a unique theme tightly woven in. It’s a lot of the same.
A few weeks from now, Survivor 50 is going to hit the TV schedule. The much-anticipated first returnee season since Winners At War will definitely break the traditional format, as there are more cast members and fans voted on many of the in-game wrinkles. There's also plenty of wild personalities that are such to make the season feel unique.
What happens after that, however, is anyone’s guess. It seems like Probst and the other producers are open to making some changes, but we’ll just have to wait and see what we get with 51, which, for the first time in awhile, could contain loved ones visits.
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