“Survivor” went for Redemption and ended up with Rejection
On Sunday, the 22nd season of Survivor will conclude and someone will be named the winner. Odds are, fewer people will be watching than any other “Survivor” finale. While Survivor has seen ratings slip fairly steadily over recent seasons, the erosion of viewers this year has been especially alarming for this television staple.
The season isn’t over yet, so it is sort of unfair to make a comparison to past seasons, but it looks like “Survivor’s” ratings will be down about 10%. Even with lower ratings, “Survivor” remains one of the 15 or so highest rated shows on television each week, but – as someone who has seen every episode of Survivor for 22 seasons – I had to wonder why the show seemed to be slipping so much.
Initially, it seemed like “Survivor’s” producers came up with a good idea to boost ratings this year. In most “Survivor” seasons, all the characters are new… but not this time. The producers brought back Russell Hantz and “Boston Rob” Mariano. Rob and Russell are two of the most popular characters in “Survivor” history and were enemies last year on the popular “Heroes vs. Villains” edition of the show. The thought of them renewing their rivalry had most “Survivor” fans drooling. Russell, who was not trusted by his tribemates, was voted out very early in the show; but Rob has dominated the game. He earned the trust of his tribe very quickly – trust that has turned into an almost cult-like devotion – and has seemingly been in charge of virtually everything that has happened on the show for months. Coming into the Sunday finale, many think he is the player to beat.
So, why have ratings declined? You need look no further than the name of the show this time around—”Survivor: Redemption Island.”
The show introduced a new concept this year— everyone who is “voted out” sticks around and goes to “Redemption Island,” a place where they face off against other voted out contestants to try to earn their way back into the game. One player, an extremely religious young man named Matt Elrond, has been voted out by his tribe twice, but remains a viable player because he continues to survive on Redemption Island. As we go into the Sunday finale, there are 4 players still “alive” on Redemption Island each of whom could win the grand prize.
I’m going to take a moment now to talk about my favorite principal when it comes to game shows – KISS. For those of you who do not know, the KISS Principal stands for, “Keep It Simple Stupid!” I am of the belief that all successful game shows follow KISS.
• “Jeopardy” – Answer questions to earn money. Make more money than everyone else and you keep it. Simple.
• “American Idol” – They sing. We vote for the one we like best. Simple.
• “Wheel of Fortune” – Guess letters to solve a puzzle. Earn money with each correct guess. Simple.
If you can easily explain a game in 2 sentences, it is probably simple and will probably be successful. Inevitably, the ones that fail are almost always complicated and take paragraphs to explain all the nuances.
For years, “Survivor” has been simple too. You vote out the people you don’t like and they leave the game. Simple. But not this year — this year, you vote someone out and they might come back. For 21 seasons, if there was one thing you could count on each night, it was that someone would leave the game for good at the end of virtually every episode. This season, no one leaves after they get voted out. Rather than each episode ending with a “boot,” they end with someone going to Redemption Island. Several “losers” have survived on Redemption Isle for more than a month of episodes. If I tried to explain “Survivor: Redemption Island” in 2 sentences, it would be a pair of run-on sentences with about a dozen “ands,” “ors,” and “buts” in them.
So, we come into the finale not with the typical 4 or maybe 5 people still competing to win. Instead, there are 8 players still alive in the game. Several of them have had barely any interaction with the other competitors and would seemingly have a difficult time judging who should win the million dollar grand prize. What’s more, it is possible that the unthinkable could happen – that someone who has been voted out of the game could actually come back and win it. It violates almost every principal of what has made Survivor great for 22 seasons.
Boston Rob, one of the smartest players in “Survivor” history, has admitted on the show that he is confused by how the Redemption Island concept works and has complained about trying to play a game where losers are allowed back into the competition. Seeing as the producers edit what we hear from Rob, you can bet that he has made some far more harsh comments about it that they have not shown to the viewing audience.
There will probably be 11-12 million people watching Sunday night’s Survivor finale. I will be one of them. But, I will be rooting like crazy that there will be enough “Survivor” fans NOT WATCHING so that the producers will learn their lesson and embrace what made the show great, not tinker with it in an effort to fix something that was never broken in the first place.
On Sunday, the 22nd season of Survivor will conclude and someone will be named the winner. Odds are, fewer people will be watching than any other “Survivor” finale. While Survivor has seen ratings slip fairly steadily over recent seasons, the erosion of viewers this year has been especially alarming for this television staple.
The season isn’t over yet, so it is sort of unfair to make a comparison to past seasons, but it looks like “Survivor’s” ratings will be down about 10%. Even with lower ratings, “Survivor” remains one of the 15 or so highest rated shows on television each week, but – as someone who has seen every episode of Survivor for 22 seasons – I had to wonder why the show seemed to be slipping so much.
Initially, it seemed like “Survivor’s” producers came up with a good idea to boost ratings this year. In most “Survivor” seasons, all the characters are new… but not this time. The producers brought back Russell Hantz and “Boston Rob” Mariano. Rob and Russell are two of the most popular characters in “Survivor” history and were enemies last year on the popular “Heroes vs. Villains” edition of the show. The thought of them renewing their rivalry had most “Survivor” fans drooling. Russell, who was not trusted by his tribemates, was voted out very early in the show; but Rob has dominated the game. He earned the trust of his tribe very quickly – trust that has turned into an almost cult-like devotion – and has seemingly been in charge of virtually everything that has happened on the show for months. Coming into the Sunday finale, many think he is the player to beat.
So, why have ratings declined? You need look no further than the name of the show this time around—”Survivor: Redemption Island.”
The show introduced a new concept this year— everyone who is “voted out” sticks around and goes to “Redemption Island,” a place where they face off against other voted out contestants to try to earn their way back into the game. One player, an extremely religious young man named Matt Elrond, has been voted out by his tribe twice, but remains a viable player because he continues to survive on Redemption Island. As we go into the Sunday finale, there are 4 players still “alive” on Redemption Island each of whom could win the grand prize.
I’m going to take a moment now to talk about my favorite principal when it comes to game shows – KISS. For those of you who do not know, the KISS Principal stands for, “Keep It Simple Stupid!” I am of the belief that all successful game shows follow KISS.
• “Jeopardy” – Answer questions to earn money. Make more money than everyone else and you keep it. Simple.
• “American Idol” – They sing. We vote for the one we like best. Simple.
• “Wheel of Fortune” – Guess letters to solve a puzzle. Earn money with each correct guess. Simple.
If you can easily explain a game in 2 sentences, it is probably simple and will probably be successful. Inevitably, the ones that fail are almost always complicated and take paragraphs to explain all the nuances.
For years, “Survivor” has been simple too. You vote out the people you don’t like and they leave the game. Simple. But not this year — this year, you vote someone out and they might come back. For 21 seasons, if there was one thing you could count on each night, it was that someone would leave the game for good at the end of virtually every episode. This season, no one leaves after they get voted out. Rather than each episode ending with a “boot,” they end with someone going to Redemption Island. Several “losers” have survived on Redemption Isle for more than a month of episodes. If I tried to explain “Survivor: Redemption Island” in 2 sentences, it would be a pair of run-on sentences with about a dozen “ands,” “ors,” and “buts” in them.
So, we come into the finale not with the typical 4 or maybe 5 people still competing to win. Instead, there are 8 players still alive in the game. Several of them have had barely any interaction with the other competitors and would seemingly have a difficult time judging who should win the million dollar grand prize. What’s more, it is possible that the unthinkable could happen – that someone who has been voted out of the game could actually come back and win it. It violates almost every principal of what has made Survivor great for 22 seasons.
There will probably be 11-12 million people watching Sunday night’s Survivor finale. I will be one of them. But, I will be rooting like crazy that there will be enough “Survivor” fans NOT WATCHING so that the producers will learn their lesson and embrace what made the show great, not tinker with it in an effort to fix something that was never broken in the first place.
