Survivor Producers Need To Understand Why Fans Hated One Big Twist And Loved The Other

We’re a little more than halfway through Survivor 50, and the show has blindsided the players with two shocking twists so far. The first was widely criticized by the fanbase. The second, which happened during last night’s episode, got an enthusiastic thumbs up. Host Jeff Probst explained on screen that both happened because the fans, ahead of the season, voted to inject twists into the game. From my vantage point, however, there’s a very clear difference between the two, and it’s important that producers understand why we reacted very differently to each.

Let’s go over the specifics of the twists. The first, nicknamed The Blood Moon, randomly sent two players to exile island and had the remaining fifteen randomly draw a color. That color sorted them into three groups of five. Each group separately competed in a challenge with the winner getting immunity. The three groups then went to tribal council separately where they all voted someone off.

Last night’s second big twist asked the thirteen remaining players to divide themselves into six groups of two, with one player going it alone. Before the challenge, the solo player was sent to exile island. The duos then competed against each other in an immunity challenge. The winning pair was safe. Everyone then went to tribal council together, where they each individually had to cast a vote for which duo they wanted to go home.

Both twists were definitely shocking, but the different reaction to the two lies in the details. The first one included both a high degree of randomness and very small group sizes. Players had no say over who they ended up with, and because the groups only contained five castaways, we ended up with situations where players had the good fortune of getting sorted with their allies or the bad fortune of getting sorted with their enemies. Genevieve, as an example, ended up in a five person group with her biggest enemy in the game (Aubry), two of Aubry’s allies who had already sent her an immunity idol (Christian and Devens) and one person she could work with (Joe). It was obvious she was done the second she drew the color.

The other twist, however, gave the players an opportunity to actually implement strategy. They sorted themselves into pairs. Everyone competed together at the immunity challenge. They all went to tribal council as a group and because there ended up being thirteen votes, there was a real chance for people to work the numbers and try to get other players on their side. In short, they got blindsided with a huge twist, but they were also given time and enough people to work with to try and actually play Survivor. They could make deals, lean on on their social relationships and conspire to get themselves further in the game.

Most Survivor fans don’t want to see a completely stable season with no surprises. For the show to remain fresh and continue to innovate, there has to be twists and unexpected developments. We don’t want a standard vote every single week, but it’s important that when those twists happen, they allow players to strategize their way out of them. It’s important that the better players are given a chance to prove they’re better by scheming and making deals and putting themselves in a good position. That means less randomness and more choices. It means bigger groups that are more fluid, not random five person draws that almost always screw someone.

A bunch of my favorite players went home during these twists. Genevieve, Kamilla and Colby all got the short end of the stick on the Blood Moon and Coach and Chrissy went home during the duos twist this week. I still have hard feelings over the first three (as do many of the players). Kamilla at least had a little daylight to try and convince Jonathan who was stuck in the middle, but Genevieve and Colby were done the second they drew the wrong the color. I’m still mad.

On the other hand, Coach is one of my favorite players in Survivor history, and I have a strong affinity for Chrissy too. They went home as part of this latest twist, but I’m not bitter because they had a chance to play Survivor. Ultimately, the tribe decided to vote them out, and while it was under unique circumstances, it never felt like they didn’t have some say in their own destiny.

I love Survivor. I’m mostly loving Survivor 50, apart from that first big twist, the celebrity involvement and the whole dropping spoilers in episode descriptions. I want the show to continue taking swings, but it’s important for the producers to understand why (most) fans loved one of these twists and hated the other. The castaways need more choices and less randomness. They need more people voting at tribal council, not less. Those two things are the difference between a twist feeling unfair and a twist feeling unique and exciting.