Survivor officially launched the so-called Open Era last night, and the fanbase is collectively buzzing. The game structure is different from every New Era season. The risk/reward of immunity idols is different. Even the cast feels very different compared to the types of people we got during the New Era. Optimism is very high about pretty much everything, at least apart from a roughly five minute segment of the premiere in which longtime host and showrunner Jeff Probst called out hater fans over fire-making at final four.
There is perhaps no argument Survivor fans have more consistently than the forced fire-making debate. For those of you out of the loop, I’ll explain it as coherently and concisely as possible. With four players left in the game, Survivor used to do a traditional vote. Someone wins immunity. The other three are eligible to go home. Everyone votes. Easy enough. Starting with Heroes vs Healers vs Hustlers back in 35, however, Survivor changed the rules. Now, whoever wins immunity with four players left in the game gets to pick one person to go to the end and two people to compete in a fire-making challenge to decide the last spot.
Jeff Probst and the producers clearly love fire-making, and some fans agree with them. Typically, if there’s a vote at final four, whoever is considered the biggest threat to win the game goes home if they don’t have immunity, and if you’re the type of person who wants to see the best player win every season, fire-making increases the likelihood that happens. Others, however, feel like Survivor is ultimately a game of voting each other out, and figuring out how to literally survive that final vote, either through immunity or the relationships you’ve made, is a key part of winning the game.
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Given the Open Era is all about making changes to the game and increasing the uncertainty, many fans speculated that we might get a traditional final four vote, or mix it up between seasons, which I would prefer. Let the record show that’s not happening. Probst addressed the hot topic last night and put it to a vote, albeit an unfair one. He said if everyone voted unanimously to remove fire-making from the game, he would remove it, but it had to be unanimous with a show of hands. Only five players raised their hands, and he used the opportunity to direct address the audience of alleged haters at home.
Out of twenty of you, only five want to get rid of fire-making. If you knew the grief I take on the streets, in restaurants on social media. ‘Get rid of fire-making. You’re ruining the game.’ All I’m saying is (those people) aren’t out here.
The accusation of Probst and the producers ruining the game comes up a lot from superfans. Even if you set aside the game shifting from 39 days to 26 days for production and budgetary reasons which every person I’ve ever met hates, there’s a feeling from some fans that the show doesn’t trust the players to play the game. There’s a feeling from some that the show injects too many advantages or big twists, and as a result, there are several players each season who end up going home more because of bad luck than anything else.
Probst also addressed fans who feel that way during the same segment. Here’s how he continued…
Hypothetically, this is not on the table, hypothetically, show of hands, who wants to get rid of idols? Who wants to get rid of advantages? Who wants to get rid of twists? Okay. So this is what I’m taking from this, when you’re at home watching, it might be a different experience or maybe you’re a purist and you like the old Survivor, respect. But when you’re a player, you want a game to play.
As you can imagine, this segment didn’t go over super well with the people Probst is talking about on social media. There were widespread complaints from fans and former players who felt like it was disingenuous and off-tone. There were also many, including myself, who felt like he wasn’t fairly voicing the complaint many fans have.
An overwhelming majority do not want the show to get rid of twists, advantages and idols. Instead, they just want them to happen with less frequency so that the castaways can navigate them when they do happen. It’s one thing to manage the occasional tribe swap and an idol or two floating around. It’s another thing to keep track of two people missing votes and three who have idols and one who has a Knowledge Is Power advantage and then navigate a post-merge split tribe vote in which two randomly drawn groups are going to tribal separately.
Regardless, I’m going to choose to focus on the positives. The premiere of Survivor 51 was a banger. I’m already invested in the season, and I really like a lot of the changes the show made. Whatever this speech may have communicated, it’s clear Probst and company have listened to at least some of the feedback from fans, and that’s given the show new momentum and excitement.
You can catch new episodes of Survivor on Wednesday nights on CBS, or you can stream the show with a Paramount+ subscription.
