{"id":24044,"date":"2025-11-12T03:06:00","date_gmt":"2025-11-12T11:06:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/?p=24044"},"modified":"2025-12-02T15:16:11","modified_gmt":"2025-12-02T23:16:11","slug":"survivor-hot-takes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/survivor-hot-takes\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Survivor\u2019 hot takes"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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A photo of the Kele tribe during a challenge. | Photo from @survivorcbs on Instagram<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Nov. 12 2025 | Abbi Duhart | News Editor<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even fans who aren\u2019t avid consumers of the reality TV show \u201cSurvivor\u201d likely remember seeing a season here or there, whether it be remembering a season from the old era with dangerous twists and turns such as lions roaming around the castaways\u2019 camp, or a season from the new era with all of the various gameplay additions, such as idols and beware advantages. I know I love watching all of the drama unfold as well as the new challenges and twists they come up with, a reason that likely contributes to why fans keep watching season after season. \u201cSurvivor\u201d contestants from Season 49 \u2014 the current season \u2014 provided their own personal \u201cSurvivor\u201d hot takes, and I\u2019ll be ranking them from worst to best for both die-hard fans and the occasional viewer alike to enjoy.
18. Bring back the super idol \u2014 Kristina
When the super idol was in play, contestants who found two hidden immunity idols could combine them to create a super idol, meaning they could use the idol after the vote. Personally, I feel like this advantage gives one person way too much power. Some advantages are just unnecessary because they change the game way too drastically and unfairly.
17. The margarita curse is fake news \u2014 Alex
The \u201cmargarita curse\u201d is essentially a theory that any contestant who wins a margarita from a reward challenge ends up getting voted out. It happened a few times, so fans and contestants started joking that it was related. I feel like this hot take isn\u2019t really a hot take because the margarita curse isn\u2019t real and is all theorized from a few occurrences that were most likely a coincidence.
16. Sam should have won season 47 \u2014 Jake
Sam, the runner-up, argued at the final counsel that he should win because he fought for immunity in all the challenges. Rachel ended up winning and countered that forming bonds and alliances are just as important. I believe that any aspect of \u201cSurvivor,\u201d whether it be a contestant’s physical strength or their social game, is crucial to a win.
15. Contestants shouldn\u2019t be forced to risk their vote, it should be a choice \u2014 Steven
I feel as if there aren\u2019t really many cases where contestants are forced to risk their vote. Most often, they lose their vote while going on an individual journey to an island, and most contestants voluntarily do this.
14. Idols overrated, advantages underrated \u2014 Jason
I\u2019m not sure if I or other fans would necessarily agree with this, because idols are the most powerful advantage in the game. I also believe that the new era of \u201cSurvivor\u201d has a multitude of advantages, and they aren\u2019t really underrated.
13. The best player does not always win \u2014 Rizo
As viewers, we can often favor one contestant over another for various reasons like their strength or their social game, and we may have the perception that one deserves to win over the other. While this may be true, I think anyone who manages to win \u201cSurvivor\u201d didn\u2019t win by fluke.
12. New era > old era \u2014 MC
Both have their strong points: new era comes with many more twists and turns, where contestants have to think a lot more about their strategy, while old era comes with more of the survival aspect of \u201cSurvivor.\u201d
11. Russell is amazing \u2014 Annie
Russell is a contestant who can be seen as overly harsh and has sometimes even been described as a snake, but he made the game very interesting and managed to win Fan Favorite for arguably one of the most iconic seasons: Heroes vs Villains.
10. There\u2019s no such thing as an honest game \u2014 Sage
This hot take really makes me think hard about what an honest game even is. Many contestants go into the finale claiming they should win because they played an honest game, but I think I agree that it\u2019s near impossible to do this while they are actively voting people out.
9. \u201cA lil rice would be nice\u201d \u2014 Shannon
I do think that the game may be more interesting if each tribe was given rice rations to eat, because they would be slightly stronger for challenges.
8. Chris Underwood deserved the win \u2014 Matt
While I do believe that everyone who wins deserves the win, Chris won the final immunity challenge but gave up immunity to compete in the fire-making challenge because he believed he needed to prove he deserved to win. I think this is a very risky but iconic move that deserves some credit.
7. Stop handicapping losing tribes by taking their flint \u2014 Sophie
Like with the rice debate, I think if tribes had their flint, it may make the rest of the game \u2014 the challenges \u2014 more interesting.
6. Bring back the loved one visit \u2014 Jeremiah
I think adding this reward later on in the game would provide contestants with more motivation after to play the game harder and better.
5. Cast more people likely to get in a showmance. Love is the only way to beat logic \u2014 Savannah
Many fans remember the iconic Boston Rob and Amber showmance, and I think we would all enjoy more showmances to make the show more interesting.
4. Knowledge is power is pretty awesome \u2014 Jawan
I think having this advantage in the game can make the gameplay more challenging and thought-provoking, and may push contestants to be more careful about who they show their idol to.
3. Immunity idol = death in the game \u2014 Nate
I think this really depends on how the contestant strategizes with their idol. Many of them choose to show their alliances that they have an idol, which can cause rumors to spread around and can ultimately lead to their downfall.
2. There is no such thing as a player who should have won, it\u2019s all about jury management \u2014 Nicole
Many fans and players argue that whoever was the best in challenges and the strongest physical player should have won, but the social game in \u201cSurvivor\u201d is just as important. Ultimately, it\u2019s the jury at the end deciding their fate.
1. Whoever wins deserves it \u2014 Sophi
On that note, \u201cSurvivor\u201d is all about how each contestant uniquely plays the game. There is no right or wrong game if someone makes it to the finale. Winning a reality TV show over seventeen other contestants is not an accident.<\/p>\n

Contact the author at howlnews@mail.wou.edu<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nov. 12 2025 | Abbi Duhart | News Editor<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1645,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"\u2018Survivor\u2019 hot takes","_seopress_titles_desc":"Take a closer look at the Season 49 \u201cSurvivor\u201d contestant hot takes","_seopress_robots_index":"","_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[7516,4473,7520,1178,7523,1315,7521,7537,7532,7527,564,7522,2771,3971,2934,3932,7528,7525,7519,7538,7088,7531,7533,7530,7534,7539,819,7524,633,7203,7517,2267,6676,7536,7535,7518,1583,7529,562,4466,7526,4472,684,3957,39],"class_list":["post-24044","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-entertainment","tag-advantage","tag-best","tag-camp","tag-campus","tag-castaway","tag-challenge","tag-challenges","tag-compete","tag-contestant","tag-contestants","tag-drama","tag-era","tag-fan","tag-fans","tag-fire","tag-game","tag-hero","tag-hot-take","tag-idol","tag-immunity","tag-island","tag-jury","tag-knowledge","tag-margarita","tag-new-era","tag-old-era","tag-play","tag-rank","tag-ranking","tag-reality","tag-reality-tv","tag-season","tag-social","tag-survival","tag-survive","tag-survivor","tag-television","tag-tribal","tag-tv","tag-view","tag-villain","tag-watch","tag-western","tag-win","tag-wou"],"modified_by":"saragerrick","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24044","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1645"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24044"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24044\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24055,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24044\/revisions\/24055"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24044"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24044"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24044"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}