[Warning: The following contains MAJOR spoilers for the Survivor Season 47 finale.]
The Survivor fire-making problem has been figuring out the ultimate three for a number of seasons now. Earlier than it was launched, tribal council voting is how gamers made into the ultimate spherical (and oftentimes it was simply two gamers pitching their instances to the juries). However the problem has followers and gamers divided. We requested Survivor Season 47’s winner — a self-proclaimed Survivor superfan with encyclopedic data of the CBS competitors present’s historical past — what they consider the problem that’s beloved by some followers and gamers and disliked by others.
The fireplace-making problem takes place within the season finale and requires two gamers to compete in opposition to one another for the third spot within the closing three. The 2 gamers are chosen by whoever wins the ultimate immunity problem. That winner will get to deliver one participant with them into the ultimate three, and the remaining two need to construct a fireplace excessive and scorching sufficient to burn by a string of twine suspended above their station. When the twine snaps, a small flag raises, and the dropping participant joins the jury.
This heated occasion is seen as an equalizer by some followers. With it, the immunity winner can doubtlessly ship the season’s greatest risk to compete in an elimination problem the place there’s a 50-50 likelihood they’ll lose. In the event that they couldn’t ship them dwelling by votes, that is an interesting choice. However then there’s the argument that when you weren’t a powerful sufficient participant to get a serious risk voted out, do you need to win the $1 million? It could additionally profit this sturdy participant, who might save their pores and skin within the recreation by successful the fireplace problem and thus stopping the bulk from voting them out. After which there are individuals who assume that when you didn’t hassle to discover ways to make fireplace for a present with survivalist components, you don’t need to win all of it. As Jeff Probst says, “Hearth represents your life on this recreation.” Hearth-making challenges are additionally used as a tiebreaker in tribal councils when wanted, however it’s a uncommon prevalence.
Season 47 winner Rachel LaMont is of the assumption that Survivor isn’t about surviving the weather however moderately a recreation of social politics. As she explains it to TV Insider, Survivor “is about voting folks out,” so she feels the ultimate three ought to be decided by voting. Rachel received the ultimate immunity problem within the December 18 finale, and he or she introduced Sue Smey along with her into the ultimate three, leaving Sam Phalen and Teeny Chirichillo to make fireplace. Teeny seemed like she was successful for a very long time, after which a giant gust of wind redirected her blaze simply as Sam was catching up. Sam ended up successful, and a few followers on social media famous that the problem isn’t as truthful because the format implies.
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“At what level will we cease calling this a Hearth-making problem? Congrats to Sam however Teeny objectively had fireplace earlier than him lol like there was an inferno. That was a fireplace,” one fan tweeted. “1,000,000 {dollars} shouldn’t come all the way down to actually which method the wind blows.”
LaMont’s recreation wasn’t ended by fireplace, however she’s nonetheless not the problem’s greatest fan. “I don’t love fireplace as a result of I feel that at this part in Survivor, most likely half the time we’d find yourself in a two-two [split vote] anyway [in the final four] and go to fireplace [as a tiebreaker],” she says. “So I don’t perceive why we simply can’t have a standard vote.”
She continues: “I get the thought of letting maybe the favourite, like a Jesse [Lopez, a fan-favorite to win in Survivor 43 who lost the fire challenge] have a shot when everybody’s going to overwhelmingly vote them out. Or if I had misplaced that immunity, they might’ve overwhelmingly voted me out. And to have the ability to redeem myself in fireplace can be cool. However I feel that the sport is about voting folks out, and that may be a very essential vote on the very finish of the sport.”
If they’d gotten to vote within the Season 47 finale, LaMont confidently believes that she, Sue, and Teeny “would’ve voted Sam out.” That will’ve made her much less “intimidated” by his sturdy jury pitch, however that also made for good TV ultimately and LaMont nonetheless walked away victorious.
Making fireplace as a substitute of voting within the closing 4 “does change the dynamic,” LaMont says, however “you play the sport that’s introduced earlier than you. We’ve got fire-making, and that’s a part of it. And so we anticipate fire-making and we plan round it, however it’s not my favourite.”
What do you consider this problem? Would you like Survivor to return to voting within the finale? Tell us within the feedback under.
Survivor, Season 48 Premiere, Wednesday, February 26, 8/7c, CBS