The Survivor 50 Edit Is Mostly Ignoring Some Players, And I’m Starting To Get Worried

I’m not one of those Survivor superfans who obsesses over confessional counts and screentime in the early episodes to try and predict who is going to win the show. Who is featured and who isn’t has a lot to do with circumstances like going on journeys and going to tribal councils. Sometimes good players with bright futures in the game just don’t have that many plot-relevant things going on, but at some point, a consistent lack of screentime starts to become very concerning.

We’re two episodes into Survivor 50, that’s four and a half hours of TV time including commercials, and there are six players that have three or less confessionals. I’m not saying that means they can’t win the game, but history tells us that with a few exceptions, like most recently Erika during 41, most winners are key characters throughout the show. They might be underedited a week or two here or a week or two there, but overall, they get enough storylines and confessionals so that their victory tells a story and doesn’t feel like it came out of nowhere.

Angelina and Charlie have three confessionals each. Chrissy, Dee and Kamilla all have two and Tiffany is alone on the island with one single confessional. That’s not ideal and should be at least a bit worrisome for anyone hoping one of those six wins the game. There are no doubt viewers watching Survivor 50 who didn’t watch their original seasons. Why aren’t we getting a fuller introduction if they’re going to play a huge role in the endgame? It’s suspicious, especially given there are seven castaways with ten or more confessionals.

I’m starting to get worried, especially for three specific players. I wouldn’t be happy if I were Charlie, Dee and Kamilla, but there are some built in excuses and reasons for optimism. All three of these players are on the teal tribe, which has gotten less screentime than the others. Their shine has mostly been given to all-time legend Coach, celebrity Mike White and challenge beast Jonathan. The screentime they have gotten, however, has mostly been positive.

Dee got to brag about being the most dominant New Era winner. Charlie had a really fun scene where he tried on Coach’s toe ring. Kamilla got a touching non-confessional moment where she talked about her relationship with Kyle, who had to be removed from the game. Dee and Kamilla have also both gotten a lot of fun reaction shots to show their personalities. In addition, Charlie seems to be a prominent part of next week’s episode based on the upcoming scenes, and it’s hard to imagine Dee won’t get a storyline about being the only remaining winner. There’s reason for hope here.

The other three, however, look like they could be in trouble. Chrissy is on the same under-edited teal tribe, but we got an extended sequence this week about how much she’s annoying some of the other players. There was a whole montage of her mothering everyone, and Charlie gave a confessional about wanting to work with her but knowing no one else does. If she was going to make a deep run, it seems like she would have at least gotten a confessional explaining her side.

Tiffany was widely considered the most surprising choice among everyone in the stacked Survivor 50 cast. She was a fun character on her season, but as an eighth place finisher who had a fun personality but wasn’t an all-time WTF character like Q, she seemed a bit out of place to many fans. It seems like there’s a real chance to tell a story about her trying to find her place among these legends, but we’re just not getting it. Yes, she’s on the underedited teal tribe too, but if she’s the castaway casual fans were least likely to remember, why wouldn’t the show spend more time showing us why they picked her?

Angelina’s edit so far is really confusing too, and I say that as someone who predicted she'd do really well. She was a standout character on her season because of her humor and relationship with other cast members. We have gotten a ton of camp life content from her tribe, which has not been underedited, but for some reason, she hasn’t been a narrator of it.

We got a whole rant from Q this week about how much she stands around, complete with a montage of her standing around, and she wasn’t given a chance to respond or give her take on the situation. There are also rumors she had a big negotiation moment during the first challenge that was cut for time.

Once again, I am not saying these six people can’t win. I’m certainly not saying Dee, Kamilla and Charlie can’t win, but I am saying it’s noteworthy how little we’ve gotten from them so far. I’m starting to see some warning signs about how they’re being portrayed, and I’m getting giant red flashing light-levels of warning signs from Angelina, Chrissy and Tiffany.

Maybe the show wants to tell a story of them suddenly emerging in later episodes, like we got from Genevieve during her season, but more than likely, this may be a situation of Survivor having limited screentime and the producers instead focusing on characters that are going to matter more to the overarching story of the season. If so, yikes.

You can catch new episodes of Survivor 50 on CBS on Wednesday evenings or you can stream on Paramount+.