Survivor 50

originally aired February 25, 2026 to May 20, 2026

The order players were eliminated and the impact they left behind:

• Jenna (Borneo, All-Stars) Cast mainly to represent the first season.
• Kyle (48) Very, very glad he was a quick exit, and as such proof that his Season 48 win was a fluke of circumstances.
• Savannah (49) Treated her return as a victory lap without realizing you can't make Final Tribal Council speeches early in the game.
• Q (46) I liked Q his previous experience, but he showed nothing this time to justify my belief that given another chance he'd have a better shot.  A surprisingly cutthroat season filled with players who really didn't know what they were doing, driven more by ego than by skill in the game.
• Mike (David vs. Goliath) The first real victim of the season, falling to the massive ego of Christian, who had no idea there was such a thing as good will involved in the game, either as player or viewer.  Mike White is the most recent mainstream competitor.  Still haven't seen White Lotus.
• Angelina (David vs. Goliath) Another victim of Christian's enormous ego.
• Charlie (46) A little too smart for this season, perhaps.
• Kamilla (48) Like her...buddy? Kyle, very gratifyingly voted out without having done anything of note given another chance, thereby proving my view that their previous success was a fluke.
• Genevieve (47) Surprisingly, I actually liked her this second go-around.  I saw her make good on another opportunity, but this just wasn't a season that was going to cooperate with her gameplay.
• Colby (Australian Outback, All-Stars, Heroes vs. Villains) His third time around, worried a little less about his age, but still didn't know how to play the game.
• Dee (45) Very surprising, a returning winner who had no clue how to play the game, or what it took to win, even though I had nothing but respect for her previously.
• Chrissy (Heroes vs. Healers vs. Hustlers) Probably the most baffling return player.  Surely they could've scraped anyone else to fill the slot?
• Coach (Tocantins, Heroes vs. Villains, South Pacific) Very, very full of himself, somehow even more than ever before, but basically the only player this season who was actually as amusing as he thought he was.  Knew the assignment.  Perhaps still the purest player of this game to never win.
• Christian (David vs. Goliath) One of the most deluded players ever, who trashed all over whatever positive memories I still had of his previous appearance with his ridiculous antics and mugging.  Seems to have no grasp that a reality show like this actually does exist in the real world, too.
• Stephenie (Palau, Guatemala, Heroes vs. Villains) Still one of my all-time favorites, an embodiment of all the things I value about the game, still can't survive the experience unscathed.
• Emily (45) I actually liked her better this second time around, too, but ultimately her gameplay was pointless, cancelled out by the extremes around her being more effective.
• Ozzy (Cook Islands, Micronesia, South Pacific, Game Changers) If Coach is the best pure player to never win, Ozzy is his equal and opposite, as their showdown very early on in the season set the tone for everything that followed.  Ironically, they played very similar games, and both hoped to set a better tone than actually prevailed.  Ozzy just can't figure out the whole game.  He can't do strategy.  
• Devens (Edge of Extinction) The guy who successfully converted Christian into a minion, a legend in his own mind, as deluded as Christian, who caused chaos with every belief that it was getting him exactly what he wanted...The very embodiment of viewing the show as a show and failing to see that there are actual people playing.
• Cirie (Panama, Micronesia, Heroes vs. Villains, Game Changers) I actually liked her, finally, her other most recent appearance, but, very contrary to her "Fan Favorite" win, ultimately I just can't stand her, the embodiment of the smug attitude too many players brought back this season carried with them.  The ringleader to the selection of the wrong winner.
• Tiffany (46) Gosh, the worst second chance this season.  I actually respected her last time.  This time, not at all.
• Rizo (49) A complete nonentity, even in the edit, this time, used shamelessly and even voted out his own allies, so completely delusional, somehow completely unaware that he had absolutely no shot at winning.  At some point this kid has got to get a glimpse of reality.
• Joe (48) Proved his previous experience was no fluke, but has, really, nothing to show for it, the primary mover this season in playing a game of integrity, obviously completely ineffective at Final Tribal Council...
• Jonathan (42) The actual winner this season, completely dominated it, the victim of a bitter jury that couldn't stand it had been utterly outmaneuvered.
• Aubry (Kaoh Rong, Game Changers, Edge of Extinction) I get why she won.  I knew she was going to win, with this jury.  I also don't think she deserved it at all.  This game is too easy to win by just surviving the voting process.  If you take Jonathan away, she's not even in the conversation.  I never liked her, and I guess that streak continues.  

On a separate note, what a horribly botched final episode.  I'm not talking about the editing flub wrongfully attributed to Jeff Probst.  They finally bring back the live audience and winner reveal, and they spend almost no time there except in snippets.  They bring back a host of players to attend, and we see almost none of them.  Mike White, who wasn't even there, literally had more screen time than most of the players who even played the season.  No highlights over the past fifty seasons.  There wasn't even anything particularly compelling to fill in all that time.  Highlight of the season was Jeff participating in a challenge.  But then they spent too much time gushing over celebrity fans/participation.  They could've at least inserted snippets of these celebrities gushing over the show.  Viewers had no sense that these celebrities actually like Survivor and weren't simply names they bought to include, in some cases. Kind of a huge slap in the face of longtime viewers.  Very, very surprising.  I've never felt this cheated in twenty-six years of watching, even in the many seasons won by players the low caliber of Aubry.  Well.  Next season, all the twists return.  Total complete chaos.  Hopefully it means players are less capable of introducing so much of it themselves...

Survivor 47

originally aired September 18, 2024 to December 18, 2024

The order players were eliminated and the impact they left behind:

• Jon (Gata) Probably one of the most gratuitous first boots in Survivor history, a good talker hyped by production who subsequently got virtually zero actual screentime.  Basically the epitome of the season, everyone gunning to make a mark and eliminate the competition, with no one really in control, and so a lot of good players went to waste through sheer attrition.  Also the first indication that Sam was (and wasn't) a big game player.
• TK (Tuku) This was basically the entire season, just a lot of maneuvering.  My memory of the early season tends to weaken these days, so I don't remember TK so much.  Sorry.
• Aysha (Lavo) Just plain don't remember her, either.  Sorry!
• Kishan (Lavo) Pointedly, these past two boots were the result of Rome's maneuvering.
• Anika (Gata) Here's the first of the players I gave nicknames to this season.  My texting buddies heard these nicknames all the time.  Anika (except in exact spelling) shares her name with Star Trek: Voyager's Seven of Nine, so that's how I referred to her.  Otherwise the victim of when Sam was really playing, mostly motivated by desperately trying to figure out why Andy was still in the game.
• Rome (Lavo) I loved Rome's hustle.  Like Jon I think he just found himself in the wrong season.  A lot of what happens in a season depends on casting and how players react to each other.  It took Boston Rob four tries to win, but everyone knew even though he got voted out so early his first season there was something special about him.  Rome isn't exactly Boston Rob, but if he'd had anything to play with he'd have done much better.  Easily.  
• Tiyana (Tuku) I just realized that a large part of why it's been difficult to remember the early boots recently is the aftershow, what used to be the reunion, that since 2020 has really only been the jury, which means all the early players, half the players, are even for the show itself basically an afterthought.  Which is a huge disservice.  But Tiyana's ultimate legacy is basically Rachel's first real move to victory.
• Sierra (Gata) My sister says she's the one who was in a showmance with Sam, but this was something featured more in conversation than the edit.  Which goes to show how crucial it is to have the season edited fairly.  I've been dissatisfied with the editing for a while now, which is all the more astonishing given the supersized episodes that're supposed to give more room for the human element that still gets neglected.  That used to be the best part of Survivor.  Too many players aren't nearly the strategists they think they are.  This isn't Big Brother.  Let Survivor be Survivor.
• Sol (Lavo) Often neglected in the edit but usually worth paying attention to when included, but ultimately not much of a factor in the how the season played out.
• Gabe (Tuku) My most infamous nickname, as I referred to him as Maui, from Moana, throughout the season, given the reasonable visible resemblance.  Like Sol not overly featured in the edit, but unlike Sol, usually in the actual mix of events, just never really in control of anything.  I didn't actively hate anyone this season, and Gabe was someone I actively liked, and not just because he looked fun.
• Kyle (Tuku) My sister agreed that Kyle gave off Ian (Palau) vibes in his layback attitude.  But I guess this also means we might now know what would've happened to Ian without Tom.  Because Kyle certainly never had a Tom.  Unfortunately.  Probably the most likable player this season.
• Caroline (Tuku) One of the prime movers in a season filled with subprime movers, if that makes sense.  
• Andy (Gata) I called him Young Johnny Depp early on.  A lot.  Because that's what he looks like.  Or, I guess, Young Jack Sparrow.  Anyway, if he'd made it to the finals he would've been my absolute pick to win.  Just one of the most inexplicable journeys in Survivor history, from someone who had a nervous breakdown and asked to be voted out, to arguably the player most likely to dominate strategy and results.  Should definitely, definitely get another chance to play.
• Genevieve (Lavo) Another of the subprime movers.  I never really saw her as a dominant player, but she was game for making moves, or trying.
• Teeny (Lavo) Gosh, I really, really wanted to like her, but she turned out to be not much of anything.  Lots of growing up to do.
• Sue (Tuku) A fairly delusional player (make of that what you will, but we at least have plastic surgery as part of the inclusion package now), unaware that she made it to the finals mostly because she was the least deserving.  It had nothing to do with her age.  That's her own obsession.
• Sam (Gata) I had a nickname for him, but I don't remember it, mostly because his gameplay and effectiveness was so erratic.  Obviously after a certain point he simply got good at the war of attrition, although very late he realized he needed to have some actual credentials.  But he didn't deserve to win.
• Rachel (Gata) A genuinely worthy winner, and exactly who I wanted to see claim the title by the time Andy was booted.  Usually when someone's outside the ranks of players I'm actively rooting for, I don't have that much time for them, but Rachel was an exception.  Her allies were one thing, but Rachel was adept at making the right moves, and then she became dominant, and then she became inevitable.  I don't know that she claims truly elite status, because she's still a product of a specific kind of gameplay where the field was level and it was scrambling all season long, and she didn't really stand out until late in the season.  But when the going got tough, she got tough, too.  That's outplaying, outwitting, and outlasting.  Definition of the game.