Star Power is Good, Fire Tokens are Dumb, Bill Simmons and Chuck Klosterman Talk and Tweak Survivor Season 40
Recently, Bill Simmons, host of “The Bill Simmons Podcast” on theringer.com had on his longtime friend and as he promotes, “podcast Hall of Famer” Chuck Klosterman to talk about season 40 of Survivor, “Winners at War”. Simmons reports he has seen 27-30 seasons, and Klosterman has seen 39 of the 40. (Which one did you miss Chuck? How have you not gone back and watched it?) During the conversation they traded their hot takes on what they like about Survivor, what they like about this season, and what they would like to see tweaked about the show and show format going forward.
Simmons - Too many people on the show
“Why do you have 20 people on it?”
This is the problem these shows can run into. If you have on former players, former winners, or popular players, yes, people will tune in and be excited. But, the problem is the castaways people tune in to see can be off the show quickly. So, if Survivor puts together a season of all former winners and fan favorites, it needs to keep them on the show or else they will lose or frustrate viewers. I haven’t watched this season yet, because of my binge watch journey through all 40 seasons of Survivor isn’t there yet, but I would imagine that these are some of the best players to ever play and the producers needed to find a way to keep 20 people on the show any way they could. I’m in on the idea of extinction keeping popular stars like Boston Rob on the show and with at least an outside chance to get back in the game. Everybody wins right? If the NBA playoffs were happening (I wish they could be) and LeBron and the Lakers lose and are out, then the playoffs just got a whole lot less interesting. You want to keep LeBron in the playoffs just like you want to keep the stars of Survivor around as long as you can even if it means tweaking the format of the show.
Simmons - need 90 minute episodes
From what I can tell about the Survivor watching community, they are a loyal fanbase. They can’t get enough of it. They don’t care if it is former players or new players, they are in, and most people have watched every episode. (Like Klosterman) I don’t think the fans would have a problem with extending the show to be 90 minutes for each episode, especially if the episodes brought in, as Simmons alluded to, more about the connections between castaways or the disdain that was brewing within the tribe. More Survivor, more better.
Chuck Klosterman will keep watching but wants to tweak the show…
Klosterman - “Need to move back in the direction toward “dangerous” setting”
Klosterman references Season 3, Africa, and the inherent danger that castaways were put in as a result of the location of the show. I have seen recently people on Survivor fan pages calling for similar changes as well. One idea was to put Survivor in a cold weather setting. Yikes! If they haven’t done it in 40 seasons, I don’t think they will. I understand why people go in this direction, but the reality is, if it ain’t broke don’t fix it. The tropical location is working and has been for 20 years. Would like to see them go back to Africa though.
Klosterman - “Survivor is like sports. Sometimes you overcompensate. It used to be about personalities and back story but it has come closer to sports in which the only thing left to do is root for the best players.”
After 20 years and 40 seasons some castaways are going to stand out above the rest. Klosterman is right, people will root for the best players to both succeed and fall short. I think Survivor could easily dial up their stars to be on every season like MTV’s “The Challenge”. Every season of the challenge includes show favorites Johnny Bananas and CT and I certainly don’t complain. I like those guys. I root for them. There are others that they have on every season that I root against. In the end, Bananas and CT move the needle. Without them, the show loses something. In sports people love and hate LeBron James or the Warriors making the NBA Finals year after year after year, but the fact is more people watch the finals when LeBron is in it. Survivor, keep finding a way to put the stars out there, and viewers will keep loving it.
Speaking of stars…
Why Simmons is interested in Season 40 “Winners at War”
1 - Star power
There are die hards that will watch any season of Survivor no matter where it is and who the castaways are. But, like I said previously, the stars move the needle. The NBA is a star driven league, so is Survivor. Simmons tells his audience he is in on this season to see stars like Boston Rob, their experience, and the familiarity he has with them and that’s ok!
2 - Everyone knows each others’ moves
Simmons also likes the idea of the players basically scouting and knowing how everyone plays Survivor. This season features all previous winners, aka, castaways who have reached the mountain top of the game. They all had strategies and tactics that got them there and everyone on this season has watched how the others won their million dollar prize. He correctly compares it to an NBA playoffs 7 game series where teams know how each other play making the series a slugfest. Maybe, they would run the “Winners at War” back a couple more times and see how the strategy of the same crop of players would change in a follow up “game 2” or legacy defining “game 7” of the “Winners at War series”.
3 - Better at the game so they have advanced the game. Game beyond the game.
This was his best point. Ultimately, viewers enjoy the best players playing because they push the overall game of Survivor to a higher level. In season 1, Richard Hatch paved the way showing future players an effective plan of attack for the game. He wasn’t there to make friends or for the experience, he was there to play a game and do what was necessary to win the prize. And he did! With each new season, the best of best followed Richard’s lead and charted their own course for how to outwit, outplay, and outlast the rest and grow the game. Now, 39 seasons later, it is all the best players duking it out at the highest level of Survivor.
Klosterman’s Question About Voting for a Winner
Klosterman - “Am I voting for the person who played the best or the person I liked the most?…I don’t know how they’re going to gauge who should win this because they have all won before.”
We won’t know how they voted until the season finale and we may not know why they voted the way they will. Voting for a winner must be tough especially for a group of all former winners. My guess is it is kind of like voting for President. There are only 2 choices. If there is a third, they often aren’t a factor or take votes away from others. Some finalists will get a vote because they are better at politics, they are the lesser of two evils, they are more like me, or the jury member is a one issue voter on something like trust. Ultimatley, the jury has to cast a vote for a winner whether they have won before or not. The jury may even hate the finalists but they have to write someones name down to win the money and title of sole survivor of sole survivors. In that process they must consider Klosterman’s question.
This makes me think of another question. Does the right person win each season? Having read Simmons’ book, “The Book of Basketball” https://www.amazon.com/Book-Basketball-NBA-According-Sports/dp/0345520106, in it was a chapter about the NBA MVP award. Simmons meticulously goes through each year of the award, who won, and who should have won but didn’t. (ex: Karl Malone over MJ in ‘97) This in mind, does the right person win each season of Survivor?, or does the person who should win get voted out by people who were smart enough to band together and vote out the player who would surely beat them in a jury vote?
At the time of writing this, my blog’s binge watching of Survivor is on the last episode of season 1. Four remain. To Klosterman’s question about voting, I too am curious how the season 1 jury will gauge who they should vote for. There is no precedent. They are part of setting the very precedent he has questioned. Will it be the person who played the best (Rich) or the person they liked the most (Kelly? Rudy?) Nice to know that this question will be around throughout the entire 40 season journey.
Thanks for reading. Don’t forget to outlike, outcomment, and outshare the rest and join me on the journey through Survivor!
The blog has spoken!
