Fix The Show

[TVFan1]

The only reason the fire making challenge at Final 4 exists is because the show couldn't stand the thought of Ben going to the jury in season 35 so Ben still had a chance to stay. Otherwise, he would have been voted out by a 3-1 vote. Just go back to where actual votes get you out at final 4.

Edited May 24, 2024 by TVFan1

[blackwing]

I was overseas for work last week and there was a channel on the TV that showed nothing but Australian Survivor 24 hours a day.  They were showing what was billed as Season 3 but was the start of the rebooted series that started again in 2016.

Since this was the first rebooted season, there were some elements that I thought didn't work.  In particular, the way the tribes went from 3 to 2.  24 contestants divided into tribes of 8.  When it got down to 18, there was a challenge.  Each member of the winning tribe (there were 5 members left at that time I think) got to decide if they wanted to stick with their tribe or join a new tribe.  Of course they all stuck together.  And then they got to poach from the other two tribes to fill out a tribe of 9.  Of course they took some of the biggest and strongest.  Leaving the other tribe as a tribe of "rejects" that proceeded to lose every single challenge until the merge.

However, on the whole, I thought some of the challenges in Australian Survivor 2016 were fantastic.  So much more creative and physical and fun to watch than most of the challenges in the U.S. version.  The U.S. version has seemingly devolved into obstacle course then puzzle.  Almost every challenge ends in the puzzle.  This is my biggest beef with the U.S. version today... so many repetitive challenges.

Australian season also had puzzles, but they had a better mix of challenges.  Some of the ones that I'd like to see introduced (or brought back, if they have been used in U.S. before):

- Memory challenge:  Host lifts a cover and shows a series of 6 or 7 objects (wooden idols with different coloured paint markings, traditional brown fuzzy coconut, huge yellow coconuts, some other fruit or gourd, sack of rice, mortar/pestle, wooden carving etc).  Contestants run back to station and choose objects from bin and recreate the order.

- 3 on 3 water basketball.

- One person slingshots a ball towards two team members running around field with lacrosse sticks.  First to catch 3 balls wins.

- Endurance challenge - hanging onto a horizontal pole with hands and legs

- "how well do you know each other" quiz.  Questions such as "who is most likely to be viewed as trustworthy".  If your answer agrees with the majority answer, you get to break someone's square.  Each person has five squares, when they are out of squares they are eliminated.

- Transfer of coconut water.  One person uses an axe to break a coconut.  They transfer the water into a bowl to next person.  That person carries the coconut water through obstacle course of teeter totter and balance beam and then pours water over a high bar into the mouth of the third person.  The third person spits the water into a clear cylinder and has to get the water past a line.

- Twisted path obstacle course.  The one we have seen where someone has to make their way through a rope which is twisted all throughout an obstacle course (over, under, through bars/beams etc).  Only in this version, the person's feet are tied, so they have to be physically carried by the other tribe members.

- Fill mud into a trough.  Two people at a time from each tribe thrown themselves into a mud pit.  Then they stand over a trough and teammates scrape the mud from their bodies.  Then two more go and get mud on themselves.  Not sure if this led to too much touching of breasts and junk?  I did hear one guy apologize to a woman and she said "it's ok just keep going".

- Connect Four.  One person tosses a coconut to the next person.  The next person has to throw the coconut through a large rectangular opening, which is being defended by a person from the other team, to the next team member.  That person has to successfully catch the coconut and then walk across a balance beam while avoid sand bags being swung by two members of the opposing team.  If they get hit and fall off the beam into the mud then that coconut is out of play.  Then place the coconut into a large grid.  First team to get four coconuts in a row wins.
 

I wonder if the U.S. production team helped initially with designing these challenges for the Australian production team?  If not, they need to take some notes.  Last season was so boring, it was obvious that Rachel was great at puzzles and would win many of the puzzle individual immunities.  Whereas Sam was clearly not good at them.

[surfgirl]

34 minutes ago, blackwing said:

I was overseas for work last week and there was a channel on the TV that showed nothing but Australian Survivor 24 hours a day.  They were showing what was billed as Season 3 but was the start of the rebooted series that started again in 2016.

Since this was the first rebooted season, there were some elements that I thought didn't work.  In particular, the way the tribes went from 3 to 2.  24 contestants divided into tribes of 8.  When it got down to 18, there was a challenge.  Each member of the winning tribe (there were 5 members left at that time I think) got to decide if they wanted to stick with their tribe or join a new tribe.  Of course they all stuck together.  And then they got to poach from the other two tribes to fill out a tribe of 9.  Of course they took some of the biggest and strongest.  Leaving the other tribe as a tribe of "rejects" that proceeded to lose every single challenge until the merge.

However, on the whole, I thought some of the challenges in Australian Survivor 2016 were fantastic.  So much more creative and physical and fun to watch than most of the challenges in the U.S. version.  The U.S. version has seemingly devolved into obstacle course then puzzle.  Almost every challenge ends in the puzzle.  This is my biggest beef with the U.S. version today... so many repetitive challenges.

Australian season also had puzzles, but they had a better mix of challenges.  Some of the ones that I'd like to see introduced (or brought back, if they have been used in U.S. before):

- Memory challenge:  Host lifts a cover and shows a series of 6 or 7 objects (wooden idols with different coloured paint markings, traditional brown fuzzy coconut, huge yellow coconuts, some other fruit or gourd, sack of rice, mortar/pestle, wooden carving etc).  Contestants run back to station and choose objects from bin and recreate the order.

- 3 on 3 water basketball.

- One person slingshots a ball towards two team members running around field with lacrosse sticks.  First to catch 3 balls wins.

- Endurance challenge - hanging onto a horizontal pole with hands and legs

- "how well do you know each other" quiz.  Questions such as "who is most likely to be viewed as trustworthy".  If your answer agrees with the majority answer, you get to break someone's square.  Each person has five squares, when they are out of squares they are eliminated.

- Transfer of coconut water.  One person uses an axe to break a coconut.  They transfer the water into a bowl to next person.  That person carries the coconut water through obstacle course of teeter totter and balance beam and then pours water over a high bar into the mouth of the third person.  The third person spits the water into a clear cylinder and has to get the water past a line.

- Twisted path obstacle course.  The one we have seen where someone has to make their way through a rope which is twisted all throughout an obstacle course (over, under, through bars/beams etc).  Only in this version, the person's feet are tied, so they have to be physically carried by the other tribe members.

- Fill mud into a trough.  Two people at a time from each tribe thrown themselves into a mud pit.  Then they stand over a trough and teammates scrape the mud from their bodies.  Then two more go and get mud on themselves.  Not sure if this led to too much touching of breasts and junk?  I did hear one guy apologize to a woman and she said "it's ok just keep going".

- Connect Four.  One person tosses a coconut to the next person.  The next person has to throw the coconut through a large rectangular opening, which is being defended by a person from the other team, to the next team member.  That person has to successfully catch the coconut and then walk across a balance beam while avoid sand bags being swung by two members of the opposing team.  If they get hit and fall off the beam into the mud then that coconut is out of play.  Then place the coconut into a large grid.  First team to get four coconuts in a row wins.
 

I wonder if the U.S. production team helped initially with designing these challenges for the Australian production team?  If not, they need to take some notes.  Last season was so boring, it was obvious that Rachel was great at puzzles and would win many of the puzzle individual immunities.  Whereas Sam was clearly not good at them.

That sounds more like punishment than entertainment @blackwing! 😂

[seacliffsal]

8 hours ago, blackwing said:

I was overseas for work last week and there was a channel on the TV that showed nothing but Australian Survivor 24 hours a day.  They were showing what was billed as Season 3 but was the start of the rebooted series that started again in 2016.

Since this was the first rebooted season, there were some elements that I thought didn't work.  In particular, the way the tribes went from 3 to 2.  24 contestants divided into tribes of 8.  When it got down to 18, there was a challenge.  Each member of the winning tribe (there were 5 members left at that time I think) got to decide if they wanted to stick with their tribe or join a new tribe.  Of course they all stuck together.  And then they got to poach from the other two tribes to fill out a tribe of 9.  Of course they took some of the biggest and strongest.  Leaving the other tribe as a tribe of "rejects" that proceeded to lose every single challenge until the merge.

However, on the whole, I thought some of the challenges in Australian Survivor 2016 were fantastic.  So much more creative and physical and fun to watch than most of the challenges in the U.S. version.  The U.S. version has seemingly devolved into obstacle course then puzzle.  Almost every challenge ends in the puzzle.  This is my biggest beef with the U.S. version today... so many repetitive challenges.

Australian season also had puzzles, but they had a better mix of challenges.  Some of the ones that I'd like to see introduced (or brought back, if they have been used in U.S. before):

- Memory challenge:  Host lifts a cover and shows a series of 6 or 7 objects (wooden idols with different coloured paint markings, traditional brown fuzzy coconut, huge yellow coconuts, some other fruit or gourd, sack of rice, mortar/pestle, wooden carving etc).  Contestants run back to station and choose objects from bin and recreate the order.

- 3 on 3 water basketball.

- One person slingshots a ball towards two team members running around field with lacrosse sticks.  First to catch 3 balls wins.

- Endurance challenge - hanging onto a horizontal pole with hands and legs

- "how well do you know each other" quiz.  Questions such as "who is most likely to be viewed as trustworthy".  If your answer agrees with the majority answer, you get to break someone's square.  Each person has five squares, when they are out of squares they are eliminated.

- Transfer of coconut water.  One person uses an axe to break a coconut.  They transfer the water into a bowl to next person.  That person carries the coconut water through obstacle course of teeter totter and balance beam and then pours water over a high bar into the mouth of the third person.  The third person spits the water into a clear cylinder and has to get the water past a line.

- Twisted path obstacle course.  The one we have seen where someone has to make their way through a rope which is twisted all throughout an obstacle course (over, under, through bars/beams etc).  Only in this version, the person's feet are tied, so they have to be physically carried by the other tribe members.

- Fill mud into a trough.  Two people at a time from each tribe thrown themselves into a mud pit.  Then they stand over a trough and teammates scrape the mud from their bodies.  Then two more go and get mud on themselves.  Not sure if this led to too much touching of breasts and junk?  I did hear one guy apologize to a woman and she said "it's ok just keep going".

- Connect Four.  One person tosses a coconut to the next person.  The next person has to throw the coconut through a large rectangular opening, which is being defended by a person from the other team, to the next team member.  That person has to successfully catch the coconut and then walk across a balance beam while avoid sand bags being swung by two members of the opposing team.  If they get hit and fall off the beam into the mud then that coconut is out of play.  Then place the coconut into a large grid.  First team to get four coconuts in a row wins.
 

I wonder if the U.S. production team helped initially with designing these challenges for the Australian production team?  If not, they need to take some notes.  Last season was so boring, it was obvious that Rachel was great at puzzles and would win many of the puzzle individual immunities.  Whereas Sam was clearly not good at them.

Have seen most of those challenges in American Survivor, but not for a long time.  They also use to have 'concentration,' Jeff tells a story and then they have to go into the jungle and answer questions, etc.  There used to be a LOT more variety but staying in one place seems to limit some of their options for challenges.

[Nashville]

2 hours ago, seacliffsal said:

Have seen most of those challenges in American Survivor, but not for a long time.  They also use to have 'concentration,' Jeff tells a story and then they have to go into the jungle and answer questions, etc. 

This was actually one of my OG comp favorites.

 

2 hours ago, seacliffsal said:

There used to be a LOT more variety but staying in one place seems to limit some of their options for challenges.

Hmmm - telling a story, then running a maze…?  How location-dependent can that be?  

[surfgirl]

Fix this show: go back to the OG format, stop casting people who are not emotionally equipped to be on this type of show (it is not entertaining to watch people steuggle emotionallyon this show), and probably replace Peachy because I'd like to vote him off the island. I think Boston Rob could do a better job.

[SummerDreams]

More or less I like the show just like it is. The only two problems I have are 1. I want ONLY players who know and love the game and they are willing to do anything to win (no more goats who are there for the experience and fame) and 2. Make them 2 tribes again and not 3. In 3 tribes of 6, there is a big chance we lose early people who had potential. In a tribe of 9 people there is a lot of room to move and create many alliances, something that will be interesting to watch.