DISCLAIMER: I know the identities of the two players in this cast that will be playing on Survivor 50. I know the identities of both players that were last minute alternates that were added to the cast of Survivor 49. I do not know anything else about the outcome or boot order or events of Survivor 49, but will be referring to the above information in my analysis. If you haven’t watched the finale of Survivor 49 or seen the First Look of Survivor 50 and don’t want to know any of that information, turn back now!

Congratulations, Savannah! The first words out of your mouth were that this would be the easiest $1 million you’d ever earn, and that is exactly what it felt like as a viewer.

Jeff’s opening monologue for the season implied that the winner of Survivor 49 would be someone who grabbed the game by the horns, made strong bonds, but would make moves that benefited them despite those bonds. Savannah fits these themes pretty well. On the OG Uli beach, Savannah was playing immediately and was part of a core alliance immediately. When Nate and Shannon got voted out, she and Rizo scooped up Sophi, and the three of them went all the way to the end together. When she was in danger, Savannah won immunity and continuously helped put her alliance in the best position possible every round. She was able to strong arm her alliance into voting out Kristina at Final Five instead of Sage. It wasn’t necessarily her choice, but she pulled no punches taking out her #1 ally in fire.

The editors put together a pretty compelling Final Tribal Council for each of the finalists, which was fun. However, at the end of the day, Rizo and Sophi folded to Savannah at Final Five. Sophi was never able to turn around and cut Rizo and Savannah until it was too late. Sage voted out her allies to her ultimate detriment. Kristina was a passive player. Savannah has been the best fit for the season’s theme since the word “go.”

Something that made me hesitate with her, despite the knowledge that she was going to be on Survivor 50, was her predominantly mixed to negative tone throughout the season. After a few episodes my core question about Savannah was whether she was going to be Parvati from Micronesia or Russell from Samoa. Turns out her comparator was Parvati, and once Sophi misplayed the Knowledge is Power at Final Six, it was undeniable.

Here’s how my chart and conder list evolved over the season:

Frankly, I didn’t really like this season and it was probably tainted by the fact that I knew that Savannah and Rizo were going to play again. I didn’t even dislike either of them, but I think that we probably didn’t get to know a lot of the other players that ended up making it far into the game because so much of the edit was focused on making sure the audience knew who they were. From an Edgic perspective, most of OG Hina had zero confessional episodes by Episode 3 or 4. Most of OG Kele was eliminated by the same point in time. It just felt so clear, so early that the story of the season did not care about most of the castaways. Knowing why that was the whole time just made the season a little bit boring and irritating to watch. It just felt like the rest of the cast was rolling over. Perhaps it would feel different as a binge or on a rewatch but watching in real time it was underwhelming and uninspiring.

The First Look of Survivor 50 was worrisome. These were the results of the fan votes throughout Survivor 48.

It was pretty irritating to see that fans voted mostly in favor of a more traditional game without excessive twists and gimmicks just for Jeff Probst and production to insert them anyway via celebrity cameos. Just really disappointing. On Drop Your Buffs, former casting director Lynne Spillman said that Survivor is still doing well with ratings. They don’t necessarily need to be trying to garner new types of fans. I personally find it annoying that production has turned so hard toward making Survivor a family show. It seems doubtful they will be changing course any time soon. 

Survivor’s resurgence in popularity, in my opinion, is not due to the success of the New Era. During the height of the pandemic, Netflix added old seasons like Heroes vs. Villains, Micronesia, and Cagayan to their offerings. This exposed people who missed the boat in real time to the classics and reminded people that this show was still on the air. They were the seasons that made people fall in love with the show in the first place. The product now is different, however, there is probably a reason that seasons like Survivor 46 tend to be among the favorite New Era seasons; it has that original feel. It had the humor, the friction, the grit, and the game.

However, for this upcoming landmark season, there appears to be real danger that the show will continue to lean further and further away from what makes the show great, the people, and lean further and further into what makes the game frustrating, adding more game mechanics. This fear may obviously be completely overblown. The season is not out yet. It just makes me nervous that some of these great players have been asked back just to be screwed by various strokes of luck. I personally do not want to see another Advantagegedon.

All in all, this season was a little bit underwhelming and I’m a little bit scared for Survivor 50. I’ll be tuning in next time though either way and I guess that’s the bottom line anyway.

**Images from Survivor CBS