In the 20th season premiere,”Survivor”nice guy Colby Donaldson is literally dragged through the sand by a member of the opposing team. Colby’s face is covered in sand as his opponent drags his body to help his own team win the challenge. After the challenge, Colby looks embarrassed and defeated. Thus, the battle between heroes and villains began on the fun and entertaining new season of the long-running CBS program.
When “Survivor” premiered a decade ago it was a hugely popular show celebrated on magazine covers across the country. EW.com even noted that the first season finale of the program was the second highest-rated show of the last decade. Since that time the series has continued to do well in the ratings for CBS and has helped spawn numerous other reality shows. Although I watched the earliest seasons of the program and the “All Stars” season, I have not been a devout fan.
Because the 20th season includes some of the most high-profile players from past seasons, I decided to watch again to see if the show was still as entertaining as I remembered. This season the contestants have been divided into two groups: heroes and villains.
Because this season includes some of the most popular past contestants, it’s a strong group. On the hero side, you have people like the likable Colby whose personal claim to fame, according to his CBS profile, is that he “can make a mean potato salad.” On the villains side, there are contestants like Boston Rob, who’s cocky, competitive and charismatic. Even though he’s a “villain,” he seems to have fun embodying that role. Some people may hate him but he has a larger-than-life personality that shouldn’t be underestimated.
In addition to the eclectic cast, the game itself is still interesting to watch, such as fun little side story-lines about possible romantic relationships between contestants where the audience watches them bond and flirt. There are also interesting side competitions between those who dislike each other, partly from their shared experiences on past seasons. It’s always interesting to watch the dynamics change between contestants as alliances are formed, alliances are broken and people are voted out.
There are some negative aspects, though. I was a bit disappointed in the first challenge, which was very physical, causing a number of contestants to get injured. The other competitions that focus more on strategy, endurance and intelligence are far better than a challenge where people wrestle with each other and get hurt in the process. Embarrassing a player in a competition is one thing, but when a challenge becomes so physical that multiple people need medical help, that stops being entertaining.
However, watching this new season, I realized how much I missed “Survivor,” which is both light-hearted and fun to watch — no wonder it’s survived twenty years seasons.
After contestants are each voted off, their torch is put out by the “Survivor” host. With the show continuing to be this addictive and entertaining, the torch of the show shows no sign of being extinguished in the near future.
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