Getty Image / Jason Kemplin
For forty seasons or so, CBS’ hit show Survivor hosted by Jeff Probst, was fantastic television. The show, which was a cultural phenomenon and sparked the competition reality craze, reached a low-point in terms of casting and game play in Wednesday night’s premiere of Survivor 45.
The casting has been criticized in recent years, as CBS reality shows made a dedicated push towards diversity in casting. And, the diversity is good, but who they are casting within that diversity is downright terrible.
Simply put, they’re casting people that most of the population can’t relate to. The beauty of throwback survivor casts was the fact that they were a bunch of normal people, with a few oddballs mixed in.
That represents society! Most people are normal, some are a little different, and the different people made the show fun! People like Rupert Boneham, originally on the show’s seventh edition, Survivor Pearl Islands, or Ben “Coach” Wade, who first played in season 18, Survivor Tocantins, helped keep the show fresh, and showed how people who are a little different can play and succeed in the game.
Who are they casting now? This tweet sums it up better than I can.
When did Survivor start recruiting exclusively from people in line at a ComicCon? I mean, it gets boring if they all look like contestants from The Bachelor. But how about mix in someone who looks like they’ve spent a night outdoors?
— Jerry Thornton (@jerrythornton1) September 28, 2023
Gone are the casts of players from different walks of life that would do anything to win a million dollars. And, tonight’s episode illustrated just how far the show has fallen in terms of the people of casting.
It was bad from the get-go. Brandon, a 26-year-old content producer, cried when he got to the mat as the cast gathered for the first time. Then, he failed to get up a ladder, had a panic attack in the water, and medical staff had to make sure he didn’t drown.
People have panic attacks. But, maybe this person shouldn’t have even been close to being cast on a show that is going to put people under significant physical, mental, and emotional stress. The rest of his episode was no better, and this is clearly someone, despite loving the show, should not be anywhere close to the beach.
Somehow, Brandon was not the biggest train wreck on his tribe, named Lulu. That title belongs to Hannah, a 33-year-old therapist.
Immediately, you could tell that her heart was not in it. And, coming back from her tribe’s loss in the first immunity challenge, her ally Brandon had to talk her out of telling the tribe she wanted to go home, as she said she wanted to sleep in a bed that evening and missed nicotine. Mind you, it’s day 2 of a game that is now 26 days and for 40 seasons was no shorter than 39. The weather was not bad.
Fast-forward to tribal council, and Hannah predictably quits the game, becoming the first player in 45 seasons to quit in the first episode.
I’m not blaming Brandon or Hannah for their awful showings in the first episodes. Rather, this falls on a casting strategy that has been downright awful.
Too many so-called “superfans” are being cast, despite not in any way being cut out to provide truly great television or gameplay. There are so many oddballs being cast that none of them actually feel interesting at all.
Some of the game’s best players had never seen an episode of Survivor before and were found in hotel bars, on beaches, or on college campuses, diverse in race, occupation, socioeconomic status, and personality.
Sadly, these casts resemble the type of people who play board games on campus during the big-time college football game two blocks away. And, a few of those types make for a great cast of Survivor. But, when it’s the vast majority of the cast, you’re going to get bad television.