Survivor 50 Should Have Been Landmark Television – Here’s Why It Absolutely Stinks – SlashFilm

It’s not a good sign for the legacy of “Survivor 50,” the landmark season of the long-running reality TV competition, that host and showrunner Jeff Probst straight-up spoiling the outcome of a pivotal challenge during the finale proved to be one of the most exciting moments of that entire season. It didn’t have to be this way, but Probst — or, as the eventual runner-up of the season insisted on calling the guy, “Mr. Jeff” — and, I guess, his fellow producers botched what really should have been an incredible season of reality television. So what happened? 

I’m here to perform an autopsy of sorts on how and why “Survivor 50” went from exciting to exasperating across 13 episodes and a few months, so first, let me provide a little context. “Survivor 50,” subtitled “In the Hands of the Fans” (a misleading subtitle if I’ve ever heard one!), is the sixth-ever season to feature only returning players competing for the title of Sole Survivor and a cash prize. (That cash prize is, usually, $1 million; it was $2 million this time, and there’s a really stupid reason why. Put a pin in that.) After incredible returnee seasons like Season 20, “Heroes vs. Villains,” and less exciting installments like “Game Changers” (Season 34) and “Winners at War” (Season 40), expectations were very high for “Survivor 50.” 

As you may have gathered, I don’t think “Survivor 50” succeeded, and I also don’t think I’m alone in feeling that way. From Probst’s relentless meddling to nonsensical twists to a handful of genuinely painful celebrity cameos, here’s where “Survivor 50” went wrong.

The demise of “Survivor 50” stings for a number of reasons, especially because the premiere showed some serious promise for the season to come. Sadly, the season rarely reached the highs of that first episode, and anything that did work during the season was actually in spite of Jeff Probst, not because of it.

While some players repeated history in good and bad ways — Lusth and Flippen both got voted out in ways that felt all too familiar, while Fields, one of the show’s most beloved and iconic players, deployed a truly masterful advantage play to save herself before unfortunately being sent home in the following episode — Probst was doing his absolute best to make sure that “Survivor 50” felt like a gimmick rather than an ode to 25 years of the long-running show. Instead of letting cunning strategists like Fields and challenge beasts like Lusth, Joe Hunter, and Jonathan Young show off the talents that got them invited back to play “Survivor 50” in the first place, we got to watch Zac Brown go spear-fishing for like, 20 full minutes. Billie Eilish, who may or may not have ever seen “Survivor” based on a baffling statement she said about how much “math” is involved with the show, got a “Boomerang Idol” that accomplished little to nothing, Jimmy Fallon “designed” a challenge that forced Christian Hubicki to vote for himself after losing, and Mr. Beast got Rick Devens to flip a magical coin that increased the prize pot to $2 million. This was all … unbearable to witness.

I don’t even have the time or bandwidth to get into all of the irritating, overwrought twists — and the damage is done. So how did it wrap up? Badly!

I feel like a little bit of a jerk saying this, but truthfully, Aubry Bracco as the winner of “Survivor 50” kind of sucks. We barely heard from her during some of the season’s earlier episodes — it’s no secret that the editing through “Survivor 50” felt wildly lopsided and let a lot of contestants fall by the wayside — and got way too much of her towards the end as she suggested that the tribe oust Cirie Fields in the season’s penultimate episode. (Jeff Probst should write Fields a $2 million check for her trouble. He can afford it.) Still, Bracco was the best possible option, because the final three of “Survivor 50” were flat-out terrible.

Bracco, who first competed on the show’s 32nd season, was the elder statesman compared to Joe Hunter and Jonathan Young — probably her biggest selling point as a winner. Add in that Hunter barely even played “Survivor” due to some weird ideals about being “honorable” and that Jonathan had a miserable social game, and it’s really easy to see how Bracco sailed to victory. (A big highlight of the “Survivor 50” finale, though, was Fields revealing that everyone had to babysit Hunter before each vote to get him to make the choice they wanted, referring to this presumably miserable gig as a “Joetation.” She is perfect.)

Still, by any metric for a “Survivor” fan, Bracco, who got $2 million and a car for being the least unlikable person in the final three, is a disappointing winner in a disappointing season. Unfortunately, “Survivor 51” will feature even more twists and seems like more Probst nonsense. Go stream old seasons of “Survivor” on Paramount+ if you want to watch something good.