It’s been a chaotic, up and down start to Survivor 50. Fan response to the returning players and the actual gameplay has been incredibly positive. Ratings have been the strongest we’ve seen in years. There are so many reasons to celebrate, and yet, amidst all that excitement, there’s also been enormous fan backlash about the edit. Now, a rumor is swirling that the noise has gotten so loud that the show is recutting future episodes to make sure they don’t alienate fans.
Let’s do a quick preshow recap here to make sure we’re all on the same page. During the fourth episode (“Knife To The Heart”), the show decided to bring in Zac Brown as a reward for the players. Fans have been calling for better rewards for years, and in general, the idea of him being on the island was well-received. Unfortunately, the episode lingered and lingered and lingered and lingered on the reward to almost a comical extent. We got a segment of Brown spearfishing by himself. We got long excerpts from multiple songs. The whole thing just went on forever, to the point where it felt like the actual Survivor contestants were being overshadowed by Brown.
Angry fans, who already weren’t happy about the show naming an advantage the Billie Eilish Boomerang Idol and then bringing it up constantly, took to social media to vent their frustration. They also took to IMDB to throw up their middle fingers and quickly made the episode the lowest rated in the history of Survivor. The message was clear: we’re watching Survivor to watch the players, not celebrities.
Unfortunately for Survivor, we know they’ve already filmed more celebrity content for the season, as it was featured prominently in the trailer. Mr. Beast has been advertised to make a major appearance on a future episode, and we know Jimmy Fallon is somehow involved at some point too. Throw those in with a couple dozen more references to Billie Eilish, and the chance for future backlash is very high, which is perhaps why there’s now a rumor going around that the show is frantically making some changes to the edit.
Obviously no one involved with the show has spoken on the record, but The Sun has an article claiming the show stands by its decision to bring in celebrities but is working to trim the segments in future episodes so they’re not quite as long. The article claims Mr. Beast is the one most effected, as whatever he did will be reduced so it strikes a better balance and doesn’t put the actual castaways so far in the background.
I have no idea if Survivor is altering future episodes or not, but this is a case where I think it’s worth listening to the backlash and taking it seriously. Survivor 50 has an epic cast and is probably the last time we’re going to see a bunch of legendary contestants including Cirie, Coach and Colby. The fanbase is tuning in because they want to see how they navigate the game and whether they can add more fun moments to their legacies. They’re not tuning in to watch Zac Brown go spearfishing or to be reminded for the fiftieth time that Billie Eilish consented to letting her name be used on the season. It’s just not why anyone is watching.
The foregrounding of celebrities is also made worse by the fact that several players have been basically ignored by the edit so far this season. How little we’ve gotten from Tiffany, Chrissy and others has become a major source of conversation, and even current and former players are speaking out about how frustrating it is not to hear from some of the players. If Jeff Probst and company are really making tweaks to the edit, they might also want to consider making sure we hear from more of the contestants, especially the women who have been collectively underedited to an extreme degree.
The good news here is the fans are still in on Survivor 50. They’re frustrated, but that’s mostly because the ingredients are here for this to be an all-time great season. The editing just needs to be tightened up, and we all need to pray we don’t lose some great castaways this week when the show drops a huge twist.
You can catch new episodes of Survivor on CBS on Wednesday evenings or you can stream via Paramount+.
