As part of Survivor 51 press, each castaway was asked to give their hot take on the franchise. Kilby said old-school players like Richard Hatch would also be great in the modern game. Patt said she wants more nudity. Devin said he hates shots in the dark being part of the game. There were a bunch of really good answers, but I need to specifically talk about Kristin’s because I’m so here for it.
During her conversation with Mike Bloom over at Parade, Kristin said she was once kicked off a Survivor message board she used to post at for suggesting a gay versus straight season of Survivor. The idea apparently didn’t sit too well with the moderators, but it’s sitting really well with me. Here’s a portion of her quote…
I would [want] queer versus straight Survivor, because I think that if you put queer folks in tribes and straight folks in tribes, one of those tribes would know what was happening immediately, and the other would have no clue. And that would be interesting to watch play out. I love that stuff when Survivor goes way too far.
During her answer, Kristin also mentioned how much she loves Cook Islands, and I think whether or not you love this idea is probably very related to whether you love Cook Islands or at least the idea of Cook Islands or whether you hate it and think it’s uncomfortable. For those of you who may be out of the loop, Survivor 13 (subtitled Cook Islands) infamously split up the castaways into tribes based on race.
The season produced some of the most legendary players in the history of the game, including Parvati, Ozzy, Penner, Yul and Candice, as well as fan favorite side characters like Billy Garcia and Cao Boi. It also, not surprisingly, featured many conversations about race and racial identity, some of which were quite profound and some of which were not.
One of the most compelling things to me about Cook Islands was that we got to see POC players work together and plot against one another in a way that’s not always possible on a traditional season of the show. It featured a tribe of five Asian players, as an example, which, despite dramatic steps forward in POC representation over the last decade, would be very unlikely on a standard season.
So, yeah, give me a Survivor season that features a tribe of LGBTQ+ players. We’ve seen how they navigate in tribes that are overwhelmingly filled with straight people. I would like to see one season where we see how they navigate when they’re in complete control over the numbers. At the same time, I would also like to see how a tribe of straight people respond to that wrinkle. Would it change how they see numbers going into the merge? Would they trust the LGBTQ+ folk to work with them, or would they assume they would stick together? I need to see how that would play out.
Do I think this season will ever happen? Probably not. We got a season of the aforementioned Cook Islands that split based on race. We got other seasons that split by age or sex. The show was very open to these formats once upon a time, but despite saying they may bring back themes, I'm not sure they would use such a divisive theme like this.
Social media is a lot louder and a lot more intense these days, and there are a lot of people who are on the lookout to see the worst in any idea that involves race, gender or marginalized groups. I would be here for it. Kristin would be here for it. I think a lot of others would be here for it, but I’m not sure it would be worth it for the people who loudly would not be.
Regardless, we can all enjoy Kristin and both the straight and LGBTQ+ representation we have on Survivor 51, which has the potential to be the best season we've gotten in a long time. The characters are outrageous. The gameplay is chaotic, and many exciting changes have been introduced. It's definitely worth your time.
