Survivor Season 47 - 2024

A few years back, for pandemic and budget reasons, Survivor announced a “New Era” change in format. The show, which used to jump around exotic locations around the earth, would be shot in the same location in Fiji season after season. The iconic 39 day playtime would be shortened considerably. Seasons are referred to by number only, without any other sort of description. The runtime of each episode is lengthened from 60 to 90 minutes. These tweaks add up to make it a completely different game.

I’m in an awkward spot because I entered the new era in media res with Survivor 46, and I’m now 20 seasons into the Old Era, which has given me a lot of context for the show overall, but not much that is relevant for evaluating the most recent run. But I can compare this season to the last one, and to all of those I’ve now consumed. And I have this to say: it was very good.

No matter the location, the challenges, the gimmicks: ultimately a season of Survivor lives or dies by its cast. Interesting people, mixed up and forced to do interesting things, will produce fun, emergent, unpredictable behavior, and that’s what we’re tuning in for. In the New Era these people are pros: Survivor nerds who have analyzed every player and episode and are bringing their own ideas in to advance the metagame. This is different than the raw performances of the early show, where players express genuine resentment and hurl invective. These new players are like the old Ralph Wolf and Sam Sheepdog cartoons: ruthless rivals who are totally cutthroat in the game, then clock out and give each other hugs. It’s not always as fun in a trashy voyeristic way, but it’s healthier, and makes it feel more like a sport than a Big Brother-style reality show.

Rat Boy Rome flames out early, coming in way too hot and getting burned. But we have a rare Rat Girl in Genevieve, a schemer from Canada who does her big move too early and spends the rest of the game scrambling for credibility. Rachel is a born hero, with some amazing immunity wins, idol plays, and a novel use of the Shot in the Dark. But Andy was the one to watch. In the first episode, he has a heat and dehydration-triggered panic attack, raving to the entire cast about how he knows everyone hates him and that he’s going to be voted off and his life ruined. This maximum cringe should have sealed the deal for him, but instead, and I cannot believe this is a thing I get to type, Pod Save America’s Jon Lovett was voted off instead, and Andy becomes an underestimated power player.

This is a Cousin Greg-coded performance, where Andy presents as a grade-A doofus to everyone, while subtly driving votes. This isn’t a terrible strategy: people are looking for weak players to stand against at the end, and a surprise reveal of a master strategy might get a friendly Jury to give him the game. The problem is he’s too good at playing a grade-A doofus, and so one is taking him seriously. In a poetically satisfying scene near the end, he confides to Rachel, about to be voted out for her stellar gameplay, that he is the true threat in the game, hoping to prime the Jury for his argument. Instead, Rachel plays a hidden idol and he goes instead.

What I noticed more this time around (and maybe it’s because I’ve leveled up my Fan Rank to become a listener to the official tie-in podcast) is that the producers and editors are doing an amazing job at storytelling. I really enjoyed the episodes where there’s a single challenge early on, and the extra runtime is used to really get in the players’ heads as they concoct scheme upon scheme upon scheme. Tribal Council is a segment optimized for dramatic stakes, and the crew does such a good job getting up close with players to wring every drop of catharsis from these moments. It’s an achievement, and very easy to not even notice.

What makes me bullish on the New Era is that these guys are total pros, and the culture of excellence they’ve built up over 25 years includes a robust impulse to experiment. Not every segment hits, but they’re constantly figuring it out, and that’s an amazing achievement for a show almost 50 seasons in.