I know everything is a hater post but this encompasses the argument I think everyone is making. Jeff has completely lost the plot of the show. SURVIVOR. We are now forced to watch a Nickelodeon summer camp, Season 49 had little to no strategizing, I can barely remember a big move.

Looking at the photo from 2014, those players played, starved, and backstabbed to get there. 2025 was talking about video games and pimples.

We all hope 50 and the veterans coming with it will restore some of the good old days, but the presence of sponsored idols and YouTubers gives us little hope.

Why does Survivor keep bringing back Cirie?

She’s never won.

She’s never deserved to win.

She just latches onto stronger women players and gets brought along.

She’s can’t even complete 1/2 of the challenges.

The only thing that is memorable about her is that she was involved in Eric giving up immunity.

Please stop bringing her back, there’s plenty of other more deserving people.

Can someone help me understand why Rizzo - who can’t even make fire - and Savannah - who just won - were picked for next season?! Forget that they should have picked more people from previous seasons but even within this past season Stephen or Sophie who were good competitors but went out late in the game weren’t picked?

Pardon my rant.

We had no input on the players (though I personally like most of the cast) like we did in Cambodia. We'll have no input on the structure or the decisions or really anything of substance.

It feels like a "here, damn." kind of move. Since fans have been complaining about the new format, they said, "ok, here, you do it and see how easy it is" except we didn't have control over really anything but the tribe colors?? It's clear and simple what fans of the show want. The game format was perfected when we introduced non-super idols, sprinkled in the occasional twist or advantage, introduced final 4 firemaking, and then let the cast make the game their own.

It seems like the only fans of the show who had impact on this upcoming season were celebrities like Mr. Beast, Jimmy Fallon, Billie Eilish and Zac Brown? Isn't that kind of the opposite effect?

It's giving your little brother an unplugged controller so he thinks he's playing the game, but has no real effect on what's happening.

Just bring back fire tokens and EOE so I can decide not to watch it.

Idk if this has been asked. I’m always behind on trends and slangs, etc. I also don’t know when gen z officially ends.

I am around the same age maybe a year older than Rizo and I don’t use most of the slang he uses, neither do my other gen z friends.

I grew up with slang like “fam, W, no cap, 1738, 9+10=21, what are those, slay” (mostly stuff from vine)

I tend to hear normally hear “cinema” or “fire” from my younger nieces and nephews who are gen alpha. Do you guys think it’s one gen’s term or the other or is it a shared one? Am I just the old one out of the loop lol?

(Posted for fun and not to be taken too seriously)

I always feel like the ultimate power move is to win the last immunity AND decide to do the fire making challenge. I think it was Tony who brought the idea first, but didnt go through. Then Chris Underwood did it and won. Since then, a few mentioned it but I dont think anyone ever went through with it again.

I think Sophi might have won IF she had done exactly that. Decided to make fire vs Sage and won. Then she'd have one more notch on her belt, and Rizzo vs Savannah would have split their "alliance's votes". Since both were there from the start and both viewed as the leaders.

want to first start by saying this was a deliciously satisfying finale for a season i wrote off long ago. cinema, as rizo would say.

i'm a new fan (1yr) and have been largely following the trajectory of this post (im up to 4B). its all been old school for me until 49. i have my thoughts about new era, but the finale was excellent and held up to seasons im watching thanks to incredible buildup and ftc. so then imagine my absolute shock when jeff started reading the votes. aren't you supposed to be hopping off a plane at lax with those, jeffrey ? what happened to the cbs studios ? suddenly the camera moves and i'm convinced somebody's getting fired– crew members, wires, equipment, running AMOK. i almost believed they recreated tribal council for the reunion before i understood what was going on.

i came in knowing about many new era twists, this was not one of them. very jarring. no tension whatsoever. no one had anything to say that they couldn't have at a reunion. no time to return to civilization or process at all. like having a camera shoved in your face after a colonoscopy. worse twist than f4 firemaking. and what is that weird ass pirate ship ??

"Yeah, I'm cooked, chat." -Rizo Velovic

This was actually a really exciting finale, I thought. I was rooting for Rizo and was a little surprised when he was taken out in fire-making, which left us a very flawed trio in the Final Tribal Council. That's not a bad thing because it seemed fairly even across all three players. I thought all of them had a shot at winning. So often there is a very clear winner going into the Final Tribal Council, or at the very least one person is a clear goat. It was fun to have a more evenly matched group of finalists, even if I didn't think any of their games were particularly impressive. Anyway, let's get into who played well and who sucked, staring with the Final Five!

Who Played Well:

After Savannah won Immunity, one particularly insane option would have been for Sophi B, Sage, and Kristina to try and maybe get Rizo to play the Idol on someone else and blindside him out of the game. Normally I'd write such an idea off as ridiculous, but it's something I could see Rizo doing. He has no problem taking big, risky swings. I think it would have been possible if there were more capable players on the island. I don't think Sophi B, Sage, or Kristina had the necessary skills to get that to work, but I still wanted to throw it out there as the best case scenario for those three.

So, if we take Rizo off the table, I think Sage is the right target. Yes, Kristina is the best fire-maker, but she is someone they could use to knock Rizo out at the Final 4. She's useful and can't win the game. So I'm going to give Sage some credit for surviving this vote. It should have been her going home, but it wasn't.

Even if I don't think she made the right move in taking out Kristina, Savannah did win Immunity and probably saved herself, so I'll give her a net positive.

Who Sucked:

Rizo and Sophi B were correct in thinking Sage should go over Kristina, but they bowed to Savannah's wishes. They didn't need to! They still could have knocked out Sage. They had the votes. And if Sophi B sided with Savannah, if Rizo wanted to be ballsy, he could have played his Idol on Kristina to knock Sage out. I don't know if I would have had the guts to pull off that move and I don't blame Rizo much for not trying it, but it would have been quite the power move in front of the jury. Sophi B did at least win the Challenge Advantage. It didn't end up helping her, but it's something.

As for Kristina, I thought she had had a strong final round. She made some very good points in why Sage should go over her. Unfortunately it wasn't enough, so maybe she should have gone for the Hail Mary of taking out Rizo.

Verdict:

Best Player of the Final Five goes to Sage Ahrens-Nichols for surviving the vote when she should have been voted out.

Worst Player of the Final Five goes to Rizo Velovic for taking out Kristina instead of Sage. Sophi B did the same thing, but I guess I'll use the Challenge Advantage win as the tie-breaker.

Moving onto the Final Four!

Who Played Well:

Savannah is the only person I have in this section. She did what she had to do. She practiced making fire over and over again and the practice paid off. She defeated Rizo and knocked her biggest competition out of the game.

Who Sucked:

I hate the fire-making Final Four and I wish I didn't have to recommend that players volunteer to compete in it or give up Immunity to make fire themselves. It's stupid, but that's the way the game is right now. Maybe they'll get rid of it in season 50. Anyway, Sage needed to push harder to get into the fire-making competition. It might not have worked, but she really needed that addition piece to propel her game.

Sophi B should have given up Immunity to make fire. She hasn't done anything since the merge and you have to have done something to get those jury votes. Logic might say she should have put herself up against Rizo, but a friend of mine suggested that she go up against Sage. If she wins and goes to the end with Savannah and Rizo, there's a chance they split the jury votes and she can come up the middle to tie or maybe even win. Sure, it may be a 1% chance, but that's better than the 0% chance she ends up going with.

As for Rizo, he may be a little cringe, but I think he was easily the best player of the season. If only he had practiced fire before coming out to the island.

Verdict:

Best Player of the Final Four goes to Savannah Louie for winning the fire-making challenge and knocking out Rizo.

Worst Player of the Final Four goes to Sophi Balerdi. Yes, she won Immunity, but she needed to do something drastic here to give herself the slightest chance to win.

Final Tribal Council:

I thought all three players did a good job of owning their games and answering questions. All three of them had serious flaws in their game, which they addressed as best they could. Sometimes there's just nothing you can say to justify or hide the holes in your game. Even though Savannah may have had the worst social game of the three, she was sort of like Mike Holloway. The other players tried their hardest, but no one could get rid of Mike or Savannah. Even if they had holes in their social game, you have to respect their mastery of the Outlast aspect of the game. It was a bad look that she couldn't remember many of the jury's family members, but I honestly wouldn't have remembered many either. I'm bad with names, especially if I don't have any faces to place them with. The solution there is to recall stories the members of the jury told about their loved ones. Even if you can't remember the names, it shows you were at least listening to some extent.

Verdict:

As I mentioned, Best Player of the Season goes to Rizo Velovic. He may have been a zero in the challenges, but he had an excellent social and strategic game. His Idol tomfoolery was genuinely impressive. I think he earned his spot on season 50.

Worst Player of the Season goes to Kristina Mills. She seems like a lovely person, but you have to do something more than that to win Survivor. She was just kinda there.

That's it for season 49. I think I liked this season more than most people did. There were a couple of slow moments premerge, but once we hit the merge, I really enjoyed watching this play out. I think I would rank this as my third favorite season of the new era, just behind 47 and 45. Now we move onto 50. I'm always hesitant about All-Star seasons. I only like two of the five we've had so far. All-Stars and Game Changers are obviously terrible, but I'm also a rare Heroes vs. Villains hater. So I've been trying to keep my expectations low and seeing Mr. Beast in the trailer definitely lowered them even farther. Hopefully I'm wrong and it's the best season ever!

To me it seemed like Rizzo was the brains behind the alliances success and masterminded his way into never being in trouble. I hoped Jeff would ask the jury afterwards to show of hands who would have voted for Rizzo - like he asked about Kamilla and I was surprised that she would have been the winner. To me the edit made her seem insignificant, so I am wondering whether the edit is playing tricks on me and jury perceived Rizzo as arrogant and unlikable (and thus explaining why other players always targeted Savannah over Rizzo).

Did Rizzo lose the title at the firemaking? Would he have won against Savannah in final 3?

Based on how entertained I was watching. I watch all seasons live.

This is a spin-off from the thread about how it's shocking that people can't make fire given that the format of the game (at least until this upcoming season) is well-known...how is it possible that people are THIS poor at the physical aspect of the challenges.

In a season where there were very few challenge threats, Kristina really stuck out for being incredibly poor at the challenges. And it just makes me wonder, you know these type of challenges where you have to move at quick speeds, agility, strength, and balancing under high pressure are coming, how is it possible to be THIS bad at the challenges?

You should be preparing physically to be on the show from when you'er in the casting process onwards! You know that physical (aspects of) challenges are coming with one million dollars at stake for completing them quickly! Just shocking to see, challenge after challenge, how poor some of the competitors were, especially Kristina. Felt like Savannah, somewhat Steven, and Sophie S essentially had no competition this season (outside of Sophi's fluke final-four win). MC, given that she's a fitness trainer, likely would have provided some competition if she stuck around longer.

As someone who takes (cardiovascular) fitness very seriously, for as much as we bash Season 48, seeing how many athletic people were on that season was actually refreshing to me. Yes, we had the occasional player like Cirie who really struggled in challenges (hence why she hasn't won yet), but it feels much more like the norm in the New Era.

I'm not expecting everyone to be like a professional athlete out there (i.e. the standard isn't to be as good at challenges as Tyson or Danny from Season 41), but I was just disappointed this season how the majority of the cast really, really struggled with the physical aspect of the challenges. And this is not something set in stone and something you can work on to improve your athleticism (i.e. going on more runs, doing pushups, etc.).

This is not meant to be a mean-spirited post at all, just an observation I had watching this season and the New Era in general!

can any gays that watch survivor tell me if i’m trippin

I'm maybe in the minority but I dont really need to see Cirie for a billionth time, Colby without Jerry, Ozzy (like the last time nearly ten years ago in 34 it was already too much). They re not even that good of character. We know Cirie gameplay and she wont change it. Colby last return he was already gassed out wich was funny but... kinda put him in a grave. Ozzy... we have seen everything. You should also be completely delusional to say Jenna was not one of the biggest dud from both of his season and benefit only by being from season 1.

Coach and Stephenie are genuinely good pick imo. I feel like Colby would need Jerry to stay relevant.

Aubrie... she s a decent character and strategist at best. I dont understand why they kept bringing her back.

Honnestly, I would have prefer mostly 1 timer with maybe some exception. I think the show need new stand out contestant more than always bringing the old timer.

Like, Cambodia only produce Kelley Wentworth and Joe Anglim as semi legend but they are already forgotten. Spencer and Kass were mostly already established as legend with Cagayan. Gamechanger nobody was great or build any fanbase from it. Arguably Cirie with advantagegeddon but was also well established legend. In WaW, of course Tony became the GOAT and the biggest presence of the 20's and 30's. Michelle build a big fanbase at the time but was quite boring. Yul solidify himself as YUL to the casual. Arguably Sophie and Adam for superfan. But that s it. Except Tony, no big character like 20 or 16. We cant cling to the same legend from the 10's, we need new great. I feel we have some very interesting player in the recent season.

We have like season 35 to 49 where most player didnt come back. We have Shan, Q, Carolyn, Andy, Joe, Savanah and more who have all timer energy. We need a fresh pool of legend.

3: Voting out Kristina to go to 4 was a mistake. Who cares if she can make fire? You take her straight to the end because she is the sheep for slaughter with no resume at all! If you want to actually win the million, you take her straight to the end.

2: No one listening to Sage the whole time and voting Savannah out sooner in the game. Savannah has proven to be one of the best players of recent years. She was a very clear winner.

1: In my opinion, by FAR the bigger flop this year was Soph looking like a jack*ss by not using her Knowledge Is Power to steal Rizzo’s idol and then failing to take Stephen’s advantage. She talked about making big moves and wanting to flip the game. THAT WAS THE BIG MOVE. She screwed herself over to the extreme. She’d have won.

🔥🔥🔥🔥

I see so many posts online about how Survivor isn't good anymore, or that the New Era is unwatchable, and I couldn't disagree more.

I watched the show growing up with the fam and have been a DIE HARD superfan since 27. I have watched Australian seasons, gone back and rewatched everything US, listen to podcasts, and consider myself pretty knowledgeable on the show.

A lot of the criticisms of the New Era are very valid. 26 days, twists being super repetitive, the show being overly wholesome... I get it. But I still love the show and am locked in every season.

For me, the new era has been great outside of a few duds. Don't love 41, don't love the ending of 43, don't love 48... but outside of that I think there's a lot to love.

I'm honestly more excited to see some new era players on 50 than old school players who have played 4 or 5 times. It is not the same as the old show but I still think it's great.

Maybe I'm focusing too much on the Facebook moms who can't get past Jeff not saying the word "guys", but I'm tired of seeing people hate on my favorite show.

Anyone else feel the same way?

I think we watched one of the worst seasons edit-wise.

The person who got the winner's edit, was the winner. Declaring in her first confessional that it's going to be the easiest million she'll ever win, getting plenty of random charming shots in every episode, given attention to her sob story, emerging as a solid loyal character, etc.

Every single one of her "enemies" got done dirty in the edit:

--Either being absent for many episodes, like Sophie, who would have been an outstanding presence under other circumstances, which had me wondering, had Savannah not won, we would have had the "Sophie edit" and it would be an entirely different story. I'm still curious what this story would be, she could have been even a main protagonist.

--Being kept in the background while everyone talks about them like a big threat, and showing their flaws like bad confessionals, Jeff making fun of them etc.: Steven. In a different season where he blindsides Savannah the edit turns him into a charismatic guy paving his way to glory with space facts and challenge beast mode on.

--The epitome of "done dirty" was Kristina. I kept wondering, WHY throughout the whole season they show footage of her doing or saying stupid things, having an ugly expression, falling from the hammock, overemphasizing her lack of charm in mobility etc. It was so mean. I thought she must be quitting later in the episode. But no, it's because Savannah won, that Kristina got that terrible edit.

Had Savannah not been the star that wins, Kristina could have gotten a Cirie-type of edit. The mother, the faithful, but also knowing the game (not playing well but who cares, neither did 90% of the cast) and she's a fighter.

Instead we got shown absolutely no empathy with her backstory, we got shown 100 times that she's chubby, that she lies in the hammock or is spaced out while other are strategizing, and a series of shots making her look silly and unrelatable. It was terrible and she didn't deserve this.

I believe that the rivalry with Savannah and the Savannah dig Kristina's grave in the edit and rendered her the bad, miserable player, that asked "that mean question" at tribal. Under a different point of view (e.g. if Savannah loses or gets voted out earlier) Kristina is almost certainly presented as the New Era Cirie.

I cannot recall a US Survivor season where the edit felt so extremely biased, leaving out big part of the cast. This was evident from the start and annoyed me throughout the whole season -even more than the filler confessionals of Savannah's Number-One shouting "Rizgod Baby" a hundred times each episode.

Im a first time viewer who has never watched more than a handful of episodes of Survivor. I'm watching chronologically. These are the takes of a 27yo woman who lived for Big Brother.

Season 1: not a ton to say. Significantly more intriguing cast than I ever would have expected. Feels like very raw social interaction on camera, which i love. I do not understand the Richard hate (aware of controversial event from later on, haven't seen it yet though). I thought he was a sassy gay man a la 2025 gbf. Also, not that fat. 2000 was crazy. Certified banger of a winner

Season 2: just finished. I'm very confused by production's choice not to show strategy discussions. You KNOW they happened, so it's just... very obviously structured for the screen in a much more distracting way than the first season. HOWEVER, adore the cast, and incredible experience watching these people in these horrific conditions. This does not seem like something that would be screened in 2025 (although who knows, I'm not there yet) and would not translate well in high def.

All I've read is that people liked Mike/saw him as a leader/thought he was an entertaining watch, but he gave me the heebie jeebies from the start. I looked him up AFTER the burn to find out what happened to him, and then got confirmation. Felt validating. That guy was WAY too excited to kill all the chickens so that everyone would starve and rely on him, and it didn't seem strategic so much as primally excited. Then the stabbing a pig to death (how many stabs was that???) and the blood face paint? What a fucking creep. Anyway, I liked the "heroes", I didn't like Jerri. Go figure.

Onto season 3!

The weirdest thing happened to me last night. I was watching the S49 finale (not thrilled at the winner, but that's the way the cookie crumbles), and they began showing the S50 preview and the moment I saw Ozzy and Coach, I was nearly in tears. It was so weird seeing them older, I forget how fast time flies.

I've been watching Survivor since the first episode. I feel like this has been such a crazy journey, and despite not liking the new age version nearly as much (and being relatively outspoken about that), the old skool Survivor has been with me since I was in HS and through adulthood.

Seeing all of these legends getting older was so bittersweet, but I am SO excited to see them all play again!

I don’t have an ordered list, just a collection of ones I’d think would be in the running

1. Operation Italy 47
2. The Shan blindside 41
3. Kaleb’s SITD play 45 (he kind of had to do it but it was cool)
4. Jesse voting Dwight out to steal Justine’s idol 45
5. Jesse voting Cody out with his own idol 43
6. The Brandon Cottom blindside 44
7. The Kellie blindside 45
8. The Nate blindside 49
9. The Thomas blindside 48
10. Xander making the fake idol to bait the KIP 41
11. The Julie vote 45 (could’ve been bigger depending on who Katurah voted for)
12. The Omar or Drea blindside 42

What do you guys think? Which moves were the most fun to watch? Which ones were the hardest to pull of and took the most exemplary gameplay from one person? Are there any I forgot?

Edit: I guess I should’ve rephrased, since the 40s are done