One of the complained about seasons in latest reminiscence got here to an finish final night time, and for probably the most half, the Survivor fanbase appeared fairly proud of the outcome. Instructor turned lawyer Kyle gained Season 48 in not-exactly-dominating-but-still-pretty-comfortable vogue, by way of a 5-2-1 break up jury vote. I’m completely satisfied for Kyle and assume he was a deserving sufficient winner, however I have to file a grievance about Joe ending in third place as a result of, to me, it’s very symbolic of what I see as a significant downside with Survivor’s casting course of.
Earlier than I get into why it bothers me a lot, let’s rapidly recap Joe’s season. He was extensively thought-about the chief of the so-called Robust 5 alliance, which outwardly dominated the again half of the sport. He put up 4 particular person immunity wins and voted with the bulk for the one who went residence at each single post-merge tribal council, together with the massive vote the place they turned on David. All through your complete recreation, he solely acquired one vote towards him, regardless of being a part of a really public duo and being talked about by different gamers as an enormous risk.
Throw in the truth that he’s a likeable firefighter who shaped robust emotional bonds, and he appears to have performed a recreation adequate to win. As a substitute, he bought one vote. He completed final at Closing Tribal, and it’s not as a result of he rubbed the opposite gamers the flawed approach. It’s as a result of Survivor now virtually completely casts superfans, and superfans are, for probably the most half, obsessive about splashy strikes, whether or not they make any logical sense or not.
There are two massive knocks towards Joe, not less than in the event you take heed to Survivor followers on social media. The primary is that he didn’t have an excellent strategic resume as a result of he didn’t engineer any massive strikes. The second is that Kyle tricked him and Eva into voting out Shauhin by mendacity and saying he was flipping and had an idol. Let me deal with every of these accusations, nonetheless, as a result of I simply don’t see them the identical approach in any respect.
Joe didn’t make any massive strikes on Survivor as a result of he didn’t must make any massive strikes. Superfans are obsessive about blindsides and the massive WTF reactions {that a} sneaky, surprising vote can create, however there’s no cause to make these strikes in the event you’re accountable for the bulk alliance. The purpose of Survivor is to get sufficient folks to vote with you with a purpose to remove different gamers. Joe had that your complete again half of the sport, and regardless of being thought-about the plain chief and most evident risk, he was by no means in severe hazard of getting voted out. Why would he proactively change that? What’s the purpose of creating a transfer if it will increase your possibilities of getting voted out?
Ought to Richard Hatch have proactively voted out Sue or Rudy simply so he had a stunning blindside on his resume? No. That might have made completely no sense, however as a result of Survivor solely casts superfans now who view the sport by way of a superfan lens of loving massive strikes, that’s more and more turning into the go-to successful technique on Survivor. There’s no higher proof of that than Kyle and Kamilla’s massive transfer, which solely is sensible from a jury administration standpoint if the jury is stocked with folks obsessive about the present.
Let’s speak about what Kyle and Kamilla truly did. With six folks left, they didn’t eliminate Joe, the chief, as a result of he had immunity. They didn’t eliminate his quantity two (Eva), the one participant everybody knew he needed to carry to the finals with him who had a public benefit in her pocket. As a substitute, they tricked him into voting out the particular person he cared about least in his 4 particular person alliance (Shauhin), completely so they might inform the jury they bought him to consider a lie. That was your complete plan. His second greatest pal tricked him into voting out his third greatest pal so they might carry it up later as a gotcha second.
I imply… effectively performed, I suppose, however in actual phrases, what does Joe even lose by Shauhin being gone? Shauhin was able to flip on him, and he didn’t care about attending to the finals with him. He solely cared about defending Eva. His complete purpose the entire season was to get to the finals with Eva, and he did precisely that. And it solely bought him one vote?
Look: Kyle is a pointy man who had some massive moments on Survivor this season. I discover him to be extraordinarily likeable, and his massive transfer labored precisely as supposed. The jury ate up the truth that he tricked Joe and Eva, and he was ready to make use of that and some different strikes to color himself as a much more strategic participant. He knew what the jurors had been in search of, and he gave them precisely that. Truthful play to him. I’m not saying he didn’t should win. That is fashionable Survivor.
As a substitute, what I’m saying is perhaps we’re dropping one thing with Survivor’s present obsession with casting gamers who actually, actually care about Survivor. The sport is altering and evolving, particularly as a result of superfans try to impress one another, and that results in gameplay selections through which it’s a greater choice to trick the perceived frontrunner into believing one thing inaccurate than working the votes to truly eliminate them.
I’m in on Kyle as a winner. I’m simply not so positive I’m in on what his win means about the place the present goes because it heads towards its extremely anticipated fiftieth season.