Survivor: Heroes vs. Healers vs. Hustlers

October 12, 2017 1:54 PM - Season 35 (Full Season)

This season features 18 new players divided into three tribes based on dominant perceived trait: "Heroes" (courage), "Healers" (helping others), and "Hustlers" (tenacity).

This season is the third in a row to be filmed in Fiji, on the Mamanuca Islands.

This season also goes back to the old tie-breaker format that was present prior to Game Changers where re-votes still would occur in case of a dead-locked tie before it went to open deliberation and then rocks.

posted by ApathyGirl (9 comments total)

For the first two votes, and the first especially, I felt like Survivor editing hurt the show. They want so badly to have suspense at tribal council that they don't give us enough information about what is going on at camp. They make it seem like Chrissy and Katrina are best friends and then it's a straight up unanimous vote to send Katrina home.

But all is forgiven with the third episode. Patrick thinks he is running camp, lost the challenge for the team, and then brags how someone is going to get blindsided at tribal. The moment they showed his smile at Lauren's name being read it was obvious he was going home. Plus he was a sore loser in the post-interview. It was a perfect Survivor hubris edit.

It seems like for these gimmicky setups, they tend to get cold feet and switch up the tribes early (Cook Islands kept them divided by race for only two weeks). So valuing strength over loyalty is not a smart move past maybe week two.
posted by Gary at 7:04 PM on October 12, 2017

I think when they do three tribes, if one gets down to four people they have to re-mix, just cause of the numbers. I'm not really feeling this setup though, and most of these people seem kind of unlikeable.
posted by ApathyGirl at 10:59 AM on October 13, 2017 [1 favorite]

After being so paranoid about idols in the first episode, this was a fitting end for Alan tonight.

Full credit to Joe and Desi for putting the fake target on Ashley. Everyone seemed genuinely surprised and probably would have misplayed an idol if they had one.
posted by Gary at 12:16 AM on October 19, 2017

Holy Hanna, I've never seen tribal councils with so much open strategy discussions on the side. Every season they're rewriting the "rules" of Survivor.
posted by GhostintheMachine at 5:59 PM on December 6, 2017

I hate the Final Four “twist” with the heat of a thousand suns.

And I was rooting for Ben.
posted by The Gooch at 5:57 PM on December 21, 2017 [1 favorite]

That twist was so unfair. She was absolutely robbed, and it looks like no one even mentioned it as part of the jury arguments. Part of "outlast" is getting to pick who sits next to you. Take that away and why even bother doing a final three? Just go back to final two and make the last challenge a "who wants it most" endurance test like in early seasons. Grr.
posted by Mchelly at 4:25 AM on December 22, 2017 [1 favorite]

I was actually thinking of Devon as the one who was robbed since I’m pretty sure he would have won had he made it to the Final 3 as planned. It’s funny, it’s like the producers outthought themselves. In an effort to make the Final 4 more exciting, they ended up having the opposite effect: Now, what has traditionally been one of the most dramatic and highly anticipated moments of every season since 2000 - the Final Immunity challenge where one person not only guarantees their spot in but also largely dictates who else is in the finals, instead is reduced to“just another challenge” since the end result is now only a minor, slight advantage in the finals and nothing more.
posted by The Gooch at 8:45 AM on December 22, 2017

In an interview Probst gave his reasoning for the final four twist:

If someone plays a great game and gets to the final four, it has always bothered me that the other three can simply say, “We can’t beat him, so let’s all just vote him out.”

But that's a problem with every single vote, not just the final four. It's fundamental to Survivor at this point that if people think you are a challenge threat or have too good a social game you become a big target. What helped Chrissy was that she didn't look formidable even though she ended up being a challenge beast.

I don't want Survivor to turn into Big Brother where being an anti-social jerk is a great strategy because everyone wants to sit beside you at the end. But I think having a final 3 and good casting mostly solves this problem.
posted by Gary at 12:55 AM on December 24, 2017

If someone plays a great game and gets to the final four, it has always bothered me that the other three can simply say, “We can’t beat him, so let’s all just vote him out.”

So, in other words, Jeff, you don’t like THE POINT OF THE ENTIRE GAME??????
posted by The Gooch at 9:20 AM on December 24, 2017 [1 favorite]