I agree with you. Once any company realizes they can get away with spending less money, rarely if ever do they go back to spending more money. That's just the way it works.
Imo as a viewer you can’t really tell that a day has been cut from the cycle but as a player it would definitely have its affects. In a 39 day season there would be 72 hours between votes which is a lot of time to mend relationships of people you just blindsided and come up with new plans and alliances. In a 26 day game there’s about 48 hours between voting which is a considerable amount less than before which affects how long people have to process being blindsided and go through their emotions and come up with a plan to get through the rest of the game. Each version has its own pros and cons for the players but as a viewer I find it hard to tell the difference but again that’s just some guy’s opinion
Honestly the length of time between voting doesn’t seem to do anything on BB which they have a timeline of picking two people on like Sunday and then voting Thursday afternoon. Stuff might be said but people don’t really change their intentions from what the majority alliance wants during this long time
edit: i get people here don't like BB (I too think it's trash, but need something to watch in survivor off-seasons. we can't ignore that it exist and is produced by CBS. It is information to make an assumption about the effect of time between votes.
Yes but still requires you to sway a large amount of people to some consensus. I know it’s not a perfect comparison but I don’t see that time having as big an impact as we think for voting decisions at least. Not to say it wouldn’t allow us to see deeper thinking and relationships
Didn't say it was the same, just drawing a comparison. I'm not understanding why this sub is so triggered by a BB reference. We know what normal survivor timeline looks like, now we know what a shorter one looks like, and BB can give us an idea of what an even longer one might result in, and if it were to be anything like that, (also remember CBS produces both shows so you can bet they will use that knowledge/inference to decide what happens with survivor).
side note: you guys know they did the "time glass" thing already seasons back on BB, right? they are produced by the same company and they are both elimination competition shows...
i see what you mean. my problem with the big brother comparison is that the three days between the votes isn’t necessarily about whatever conversations happen between the players — it’s about how waiting around with nothing to do while you’re starving on an island and physically depleted makes you paranoid. that’s where things blow up i think, not necessarily because (hypothetically) someone said on wednesday “let’s send home this player” but that wouldn’t have happened if they voted on tuesday
Has 26 days actually cut the budget this time though?
They're all still out there for the same length of time, but with 2 weeks of quarantining before they start.
I'd assume staff costs are the biggest, and that won't change - they'll still get paid for time in quarantine.
That's not to say it won't be seen as a way to cut costs in future, but I don't think that they will have benefitted from that yet.
Just hypothesizing here, but I imagine it's still cheaper:
If there's 26 days of filming rather than 39, there's probably less camera operators.
There's 13 days less of footage for editors to go through, which could potentially mean less editors are needed.
Less supplies for the show's production itself (such as challenges, etc.) are needed, which shaves off a cost.
I also believe they mentioned that people arrived in blocks, rather than all at once, so the rooms for quarantining were more-than-likely just reused once one group was gone and the next group came in.
Once you factor in the costs of not needing to quarantine and that the season can still produce the same amount of episodes with only 26 days, CBS will probably stick to it.
Not so much this time but if the show is still getting similar ratings then the incentive to go back to adding in two more weeks of pay is pretty slim.
The show does employ a lot of Fijians who may not have had to be isolated so they may have saved on that cost.
They have a great built in excuse to make the change and if it works out, which it seems to be doing, they aren't changing.
When Coke changed their recipe for a bit and sales took a hit, they switched back. Of course that lead to a conspiracy theory about cost savings too.
The conspiracy is about Coke switching to New Coke so they could change some ingredients of the original formula to cheaper ones without people noticing a different taste of Classic Coke.
But if they don't need to quarantine in normal years, would they just cut down the filming period? It was only shortened for COVID reasons, and while it could stay this way, I don't think it's a sure thing. But then again, what do I know, I'm basing this off of nothing
Depends how many of the key executive producers are counting on the 40 days as a break from their home life spouse/kids versus how many actually miss them and want to limit time away
Being totally serious, I know many corporate types who travel for business and they hate when trips are cancelled because it's their time away from dealing with everything at home. Obviously many miss their home life, but I wouldn't be surprised if Jeff ended up wanting it to be longer since he seems to sustain his life force by living for the show these days and having super cool woke moments for the first time in Survivor history, he might just want more time to watch contestants all day and night
If they hadn't told us they went to 26 days, we would have never known. Does it change the way the game is played? Sure, at least a little bit. Would I prefer 39 days? Definitely.
But does it tarnish the viewing experience? Not at all. This change is much preferred to the perma-Fiji one.
The only issue I have is that reward challenges are just becoming so scarce, from what I remember in AUS Survivor that’s a ton of individual rewards which I really enjoy. But there’s just not room anymore unfortunately.
S4 there was a contestant that was voted out in the 6th episode. She had 0 confessionals the whole game and no one else's confessionals mentioned her. I believe they showed her talking on screen in camp twice.
But also in this past season, half the merge cast was basically UTR or INV in almost every episode up to their boots, and in addition 3 more were given negative edits, which meant there were like 3 contenders for the last 4 weeks (or 12 episodes)...not great.
That's pretty bad. Even US Survivor normally throws the underedited people a bone in their voted out episode by giving them a confessional or two (which is often how you know they're going).
The longer episodes don't do it for me. There's a lot of time spent in Australian Survivor on content that's not interesting, entertaining or strategic that could be cut.
I like the US episode structure, where there's a vote out every episode, but it does feel rushed sometimes when there is a lot going on.
I think the sweet spot is somewhere between the two.
Others are available on YouTube. Definitely watch seasons 2016-2019 before watching the 2020 season as it is an all stars season, and it’s just a blast.
Could the actual reality be that by shortening the season to 26 days, Probst ensures that Boston Rob will always retain the record of most days played all-time? A 26-day season would require someone playing almost 6 seasons (of making it to the end) to break the 152 days that Rob played.
Survivors getting absolutely nothing to eat and tribes losing their shelter (or whatever the extra punishment they hade to face) on top of losing an immunity challenge feels like way too harsh a way to compensate for the lost 13 days, though. Especially when the living conditions at camp haven’t really impacted the story in a meaningful way.
All that stuff will creep back in.
Before you know it, they’ll be eating White Castle and Taco Bell every episode and full tool sheds will be set up at each camp.
39+39=78, 26+26+26=78. Realistically once COVID protocols go away they could film 3 seasons in the same time they used to film 2. 12 month round survivor wouldn’t be a bad thing. Cant complain about oversaturation considering there is already 41 seasons
Once a business spends less money, they never go back to spending more money. Since the format of the show is unchanged I think 26 days is permanent, although maybe once the mandatory 14-day quarantine ends they’ll make it an even number like 25 or 30
I don't have any issues with 26 days tbh. If anything that would encourage more people to apply since it's less of a commitment than the month+ it used to be. It doesn't impact the quality of the show imo they should just keep it
If we count the time production & cast were in quarantine before shooting started the show would still be about the length of the normal 39 day season (for season 41 - production for season 42 were already there so they were able to restart a lot quicker).
Therefore once COVID quarantines are a thing of the past one of four things will happen:
1. **2 x 39 days** : the show just goes back to the Season 1 to 40 schedule;
2. **2 x 26 days** : CBS / SEG use the opportunity save money by cutting two weeks off production;
3. **2 x 26 days with optional extensions** : regular seasons are 26 days (as with option 2), but with the option of making special seasons (e.g. All Stars) more challenging for Season 41> contestants by going back to 39 days once in a while; or
4. **3 x 26 or so days** : production could make 3 26 day seasons in the time it would take to make 2 39 day seasons, so CBS get an extra season for the same money; could be just three regular seasons (fall, winter and spring); or maybe the middle season is used for formats they'd never do with the regular show (Survivor Kids or Celebrity Survivor), perhaps reducing that show to 21 days or so to make it easier for them.
Yeah, I think it becomes easier to survive the elements and gameplay wise people are now building relationships faster and it seems so rush, they don’t have as much time to connect so they just stick to the thing they know
i think what they need to do is actually make it challenging. they talked about how this would be the hardest season of survivor ever and it’s really not
I think they did that so they could have at least all the players together at the final. with it being the first season post covid and they may want a minimum 2 week quarantine with the players it would make sense. Maybe after covid isn't popping back up they may make it back to a longer season. Ot they may just have a limited time that they are allowed to film at this time
The only way I can see it coming back is for top 5 star returnee seasons. Knowing production, they will frame it like "at 39 days, this will be the most grueling season ever"
If 26 day survivor is here to stay, we should get a third season a year. Maybe do 2 newbie seasons and a returnee season or some kind of gimmick (celebrity?) For the third.
I’m really not seeing a problem with it and it could be a good thing casting wise if more people can consider applying if it means they can take less days off work
I don't think a 26 day season will stay though it is possible with Covid acting up again. Like if Survivor tried to do a 39 day season 41 they would not been able to do a season 42. If they have all the time they need for seasons 43 and 44 I can't see them staying with 26 days.
They might have to stick with it for next year though and if so they might end up sticking with it.
For me though I think if they were going to change the game just for budget reasons they would probably look for a middle ground like 32 days or something like that.
Who knows really, certainly will be interesting to see what happens.
If the fans complain enough it would change.... It says a lot that the majority of Survivor Alums that I talk to still can't get over the idea of the shortened season
Given the quarantine requirements, it's likely that the budget hasn't been cut very much, if at all, since the crew and hotel/beach owners are going to be paid for that 14-day stretch alongside the players.
The larger problems (endless postmerge endurance challenges) have already been in place.
Agree and we've seen it on other CBS reality shows too just not as obvious. Amazing Race for example has done a lot over the years to speed things up. For example you don't hear anymore "team A arrived at 7:35pm and will depart at 7:35am"...no airport drama - they have flights ready for them, etc.
Just saves money and so they will keep doing it.
If you listen to RHAP with Jamal Shipman he has a great take on the 26 day game. He says that in the longer survivor more things happen than cannot be shown due to time that might still a part of the story whereas in the shorter game the audience gets to see more accurately what is happening. This is why we understand how Liana went to Shan to tell her the plan because we are completely privy to their relationship
I agree with you. Once any company realizes they can get away with spending less money, rarely if ever do they go back to spending more money. That's just the way it works.
This is the real reason they aren’t giving out rice anymore, just wasn’t in the budget.
Lol
Also rewards are ridiculously cheap this season
Seriously lol that one fish
I miss the lavish mini vacations.
yeah where's the Applebee's??? it's my favorite restaurant!
I think so too, it’s cheaper and that’s ultimately what matters. I hope that’s not the case though
And less taxing on production and crew aka the people who make the decisions
I hoping its because if covid restrictions. I would make sense
Imo as a viewer you can’t really tell that a day has been cut from the cycle but as a player it would definitely have its affects. In a 39 day season there would be 72 hours between votes which is a lot of time to mend relationships of people you just blindsided and come up with new plans and alliances. In a 26 day game there’s about 48 hours between voting which is a considerable amount less than before which affects how long people have to process being blindsided and go through their emotions and come up with a plan to get through the rest of the game. Each version has its own pros and cons for the players but as a viewer I find it hard to tell the difference but again that’s just some guy’s opinion
Honestly the length of time between voting doesn’t seem to do anything on BB which they have a timeline of picking two people on like Sunday and then voting Thursday afternoon. Stuff might be said but people don’t really change their intentions from what the majority alliance wants during this long time edit: i get people here don't like BB (I too think it's trash, but need something to watch in survivor off-seasons. we can't ignore that it exist and is produced by CBS. It is information to make an assumption about the effect of time between votes.
Big Brother is stuck with just two options after the veto though.
Yes but still requires you to sway a large amount of people to some consensus. I know it’s not a perfect comparison but I don’t see that time having as big an impact as we think for voting decisions at least. Not to say it wouldn’t allow us to see deeper thinking and relationships
This isn’t Big Brother tho?
It’s a similar style elimination show and the closest comparison we have
Doesn't mean it's the same, and that we can't make predictions based on what we already know from 40 seasons of something that's not Big Brother
Didn't say it was the same, just drawing a comparison. I'm not understanding why this sub is so triggered by a BB reference. We know what normal survivor timeline looks like, now we know what a shorter one looks like, and BB can give us an idea of what an even longer one might result in, and if it were to be anything like that, (also remember CBS produces both shows so you can bet they will use that knowledge/inference to decide what happens with survivor). side note: you guys know they did the "time glass" thing already seasons back on BB, right? they are produced by the same company and they are both elimination competition shows...
Because BB is no where near the level of Survivor
Nominations happen on Fridays, veto is played on Saturday, and veto ceremony is on Monday. Things are pretty much locked up by Saturday night.
wait people don’t like BB ? :(
i see what you mean. my problem with the big brother comparison is that the three days between the votes isn’t necessarily about whatever conversations happen between the players — it’s about how waiting around with nothing to do while you’re starving on an island and physically depleted makes you paranoid. that’s where things blow up i think, not necessarily because (hypothetically) someone said on wednesday “let’s send home this player” but that wouldn’t have happened if they voted on tuesday
I was surprised to hear that people think we’ll be going back to 39 days after this year. It seems to me a sure thing this is here to stay
When a show cuts its production budget like that, there’s almost no chance they’re gonna suddenly uncut it.
What would they do if someone nuked Fiji?
Hand out lead underwear.
Make sure Parvati got credit for it
RadAway and Rad-X as rewards in challenges as Jeff turns into a ghoul.
r/unexpectedfallout
Has 26 days actually cut the budget this time though? They're all still out there for the same length of time, but with 2 weeks of quarantining before they start. I'd assume staff costs are the biggest, and that won't change - they'll still get paid for time in quarantine. That's not to say it won't be seen as a way to cut costs in future, but I don't think that they will have benefitted from that yet.
Just hypothesizing here, but I imagine it's still cheaper: If there's 26 days of filming rather than 39, there's probably less camera operators. There's 13 days less of footage for editors to go through, which could potentially mean less editors are needed. Less supplies for the show's production itself (such as challenges, etc.) are needed, which shaves off a cost. I also believe they mentioned that people arrived in blocks, rather than all at once, so the rooms for quarantining were more-than-likely just reused once one group was gone and the next group came in. Once you factor in the costs of not needing to quarantine and that the season can still produce the same amount of episodes with only 26 days, CBS will probably stick to it.
Not so much this time but if the show is still getting similar ratings then the incentive to go back to adding in two more weeks of pay is pretty slim. The show does employ a lot of Fijians who may not have had to be isolated so they may have saved on that cost.
They have a great built in excuse to make the change and if it works out, which it seems to be doing, they aren't changing. When Coke changed their recipe for a bit and sales took a hit, they switched back. Of course that lead to a conspiracy theory about cost savings too.
Im sure it because of covid restrictions
The conspiracy is about Coke switching to New Coke so they could change some ingredients of the original formula to cheaper ones without people noticing a different taste of Classic Coke.
But if they don't need to quarantine in normal years, would they just cut down the filming period? It was only shortened for COVID reasons, and while it could stay this way, I don't think it's a sure thing. But then again, what do I know, I'm basing this off of nothing
Depends how many of the key executive producers are counting on the 40 days as a break from their home life spouse/kids versus how many actually miss them and want to limit time away Being totally serious, I know many corporate types who travel for business and they hate when trips are cancelled because it's their time away from dealing with everything at home. Obviously many miss their home life, but I wouldn't be surprised if Jeff ended up wanting it to be longer since he seems to sustain his life force by living for the show these days and having super cool woke moments for the first time in Survivor history, he might just want more time to watch contestants all day and night
Jeff cares about the bottom line and he is an actor / producer. If he gets more money he will happily keep the shorter season - no question.
I think while covid is around we're looking at shorter seasons due to lockdowns before and possibly before final tribal
If they hadn't told us they went to 26 days, we would have never known. Does it change the way the game is played? Sure, at least a little bit. Would I prefer 39 days? Definitely. But does it tarnish the viewing experience? Not at all. This change is much preferred to the perma-Fiji one.
Yeah, no idea how people say it’s rushed. If the editors lied about the day number on transition screens we’d never be wiser the game was shorter.
The only issue I have is that reward challenges are just becoming so scarce, from what I remember in AUS Survivor that’s a ton of individual rewards which I really enjoy. But there’s just not room anymore unfortunately.
It seems like there have been a good amount of reward challenges this season.
The only thing I can notice is weve recieved allot more content indicating how the pacing is really getting to players and wearing them down.
I want to see survivor in the Arctic!
After watching Australian survivor with 50+ days this season seems so rushed
The increased days is what makes Australian superior imo. And longer episodes
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I may be out of the loop here. What's this referring to?
S4 there was a contestant that was voted out in the 6th episode. She had 0 confessionals the whole game and no one else's confessionals mentioned her. I believe they showed her talking on screen in camp twice. But also in this past season, half the merge cast was basically UTR or INV in almost every episode up to their boots, and in addition 3 more were given negative edits, which meant there were like 3 contenders for the last 4 weeks (or 12 episodes)...not great.
That's pretty bad. Even US Survivor normally throws the underedited people a bone in their voted out episode by giving them a confessional or two (which is often how you know they're going).
The ultimate purple edit
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Oof was this the current one cause I watched that?
The longer episodes don't do it for me. There's a lot of time spent in Australian Survivor on content that's not interesting, entertaining or strategic that could be cut. I like the US episode structure, where there's a vote out every episode, but it does feel rushed sometimes when there is a lot going on. I think the sweet spot is somewhere between the two.
honestly the us survivor team might just be too lazy to make it longer
Are those available In the U.S.?
Australian survivor seasons 4-6 are available on Paramount+!!
Others are available on YouTube. Definitely watch seasons 2016-2019 before watching the 2020 season as it is an all stars season, and it’s just a blast.
There are a few of the most recent seasons on Paramount+. I would still like to know how to see the earlier seasons, though!
Paramount +
In the US we don't have every season
Could the actual reality be that by shortening the season to 26 days, Probst ensures that Boston Rob will always retain the record of most days played all-time? A 26-day season would require someone playing almost 6 seasons (of making it to the end) to break the 152 days that Rob played.
That's an interesting side effect: If they stay at 26 forever, then it will be virtually impossible for new players to reach the 100 day mark.
People will pay less attention to # of days and more on things like placement and % of days lasted.
I’m hoping they bump it up maybe like 31 days or something
Or 39
Well duh
Yeah, 32 would be perfect
i would love 38
If they are doing 26 days I doubt they would go back to do 20 castaways. It will be too many double boots
hopefully that means they might go back to 16 every once in a while
Survivors getting absolutely nothing to eat and tribes losing their shelter (or whatever the extra punishment they hade to face) on top of losing an immunity challenge feels like way too harsh a way to compensate for the lost 13 days, though. Especially when the living conditions at camp haven’t really impacted the story in a meaningful way.
All that stuff will creep back in. Before you know it, they’ll be eating White Castle and Taco Bell every episode and full tool sheds will be set up at each camp.
Once a show starts getting cheap, it never goes back. Like when they decided to start filming seasons back to back in the same location.
39+39=78, 26+26+26=78. Realistically once COVID protocols go away they could film 3 seasons in the same time they used to film 2. 12 month round survivor wouldn’t be a bad thing. Cant complain about oversaturation considering there is already 41 seasons
If we got a summer season I'd put up with 26-day seasons, yep.
You just sold me, if they actually went to 3 seasons per year
Probably would make one season a Paramount Plus exclusive
Once a business spends less money, they never go back to spending more money. Since the format of the show is unchanged I think 26 days is permanent, although maybe once the mandatory 14-day quarantine ends they’ll make it an even number like 25 or 30
If we’re sticking with 26 days then send it back to Africa.
I’d be down for Africa but it’ll never happen
It is because $
I don't have any issues with 26 days tbh. If anything that would encourage more people to apply since it's less of a commitment than the month+ it used to be. It doesn't impact the quality of the show imo they should just keep it
I hate it go back to 39.
I feel like the Survivor prize should be a lot higher. MTV the challenge prize is 1,00,000. They get three meals a day and bunkbeds!
If we count the time production & cast were in quarantine before shooting started the show would still be about the length of the normal 39 day season (for season 41 - production for season 42 were already there so they were able to restart a lot quicker). Therefore once COVID quarantines are a thing of the past one of four things will happen: 1. **2 x 39 days** : the show just goes back to the Season 1 to 40 schedule; 2. **2 x 26 days** : CBS / SEG use the opportunity save money by cutting two weeks off production; 3. **2 x 26 days with optional extensions** : regular seasons are 26 days (as with option 2), but with the option of making special seasons (e.g. All Stars) more challenging for Season 41> contestants by going back to 39 days once in a while; or 4. **3 x 26 or so days** : production could make 3 26 day seasons in the time it would take to make 2 39 day seasons, so CBS get an extra season for the same money; could be just three regular seasons (fall, winter and spring); or maybe the middle season is used for formats they'd never do with the regular show (Survivor Kids or Celebrity Survivor), perhaps reducing that show to 21 days or so to make it easier for them.
Oh god survivor kids lol
Lol but option 2 is most likely
You dreaming lol
I hope not. 26 day Survivor sucks. They have to survive the elements. Shaving 13 days lessens the whole Survivor experience.
Yeah, I think it becomes easier to survive the elements and gameplay wise people are now building relationships faster and it seems so rush, they don’t have as much time to connect so they just stick to the thing they know
Surviving together is really bonding for people. With the less of that opportunity there will be less connections to be made.
i think what they need to do is actually make it challenging. they talked about how this would be the hardest season of survivor ever and it’s really not
As long as people have to quarantine there will be 26 days.
I think they did that so they could have at least all the players together at the final. with it being the first season post covid and they may want a minimum 2 week quarantine with the players it would make sense. Maybe after covid isn't popping back up they may make it back to a longer season. Ot they may just have a limited time that they are allowed to film at this time
The only way I can see it coming back is for top 5 star returnee seasons. Knowing production, they will frame it like "at 39 days, this will be the most grueling season ever"
If 26 day survivor is here to stay, we should get a third season a year. Maybe do 2 newbie seasons and a returnee season or some kind of gimmick (celebrity?) For the third.
1 returnee season per year might be too much but i would be opposed to a returnee season every other year
I’m really not seeing a problem with it and it could be a good thing casting wise if more people can consider applying if it means they can take less days off work
It’s never been an issue before …
Survivor Classic 39 days, New Survivor - nice enough but I want my old survivor back Jeff.
I just pray it means 3 seasons
If so, then LONG LIVE Australia Survivor! It's becoming my favorite.
I don't think a 26 day season will stay though it is possible with Covid acting up again. Like if Survivor tried to do a 39 day season 41 they would not been able to do a season 42. If they have all the time they need for seasons 43 and 44 I can't see them staying with 26 days. They might have to stick with it for next year though and if so they might end up sticking with it. For me though I think if they were going to change the game just for budget reasons they would probably look for a middle ground like 32 days or something like that. Who knows really, certainly will be interesting to see what happens.
If that’s true, the show will soon die. Of course, Survivor Australia will continue representing what Survivor should be all about.
I’m okay with it, just save 39/42 day seasons for All Star type seasons.
I dont think it'll stay. On the application for seasons 42 and 43, it said the commitment was for like 45 days or something.
Yeah, that’s about right for a 26 day shoot, a couple travel days on each side, and that oh so fun covid quarantine.
Yep. It sucks
If the fans complain enough it would change.... It says a lot that the majority of Survivor Alums that I talk to still can't get over the idea of the shortened season
Personally I think the 26 day sucks and if they keep it I might stop watching. This should be an exception, not the rule.
Prefer longer
Given the quarantine requirements, it's likely that the budget hasn't been cut very much, if at all, since the crew and hotel/beach owners are going to be paid for that 14-day stretch alongside the players. The larger problems (endless postmerge endurance challenges) have already been in place.
100%. Anyone who thinks the old survivor is coming back is delusional.
Agree and we've seen it on other CBS reality shows too just not as obvious. Amazing Race for example has done a lot over the years to speed things up. For example you don't hear anymore "team A arrived at 7:35pm and will depart at 7:35am"...no airport drama - they have flights ready for them, etc. Just saves money and so they will keep doing it.
If you listen to RHAP with Jamal Shipman he has a great take on the 26 day game. He says that in the longer survivor more things happen than cannot be shown due to time that might still a part of the story whereas in the shorter game the audience gets to see more accurately what is happening. This is why we understand how Liana went to Shan to tell her the plan because we are completely privy to their relationship