LogFAQs > #906430182

at the risk of throwing out a super hot take, a lot of my interest in survivor comes from a background of watching tons of game shows and sports growing up. in those competitions, sometimes players' personalities shine, but the game at its core is the most important part, and why i as a fan am compelled to keep watching.

on survivor, as a longform "reality" show, i think it's definitely more important to showcase personalities and keep fans invested, but i still come back to that background of being excited and compelled by the game itself. in cambodia, we had the benefit of already "knowing" most of the cast, and so seeing them go at it from week to week, being unsure of where anything was going, and seeing how the action played out was a big part of the drama. i'd still contest any notion that all the players were "gamebots" or whatever, but regardless i also feel like i didn't need a detailed storyline on who abi, savage, or keith was to get a sense of who they were. it didn't have to be a "big character" season like exile island to be exciting, and that's okay.
there's not one single recipe to survivor being good, and for that reason especially, i don't think cambodia "ruined" survivor despite definitely being a contributor to its recent bad seasons - things will change, ideas will work/not work, and some of us will move on. that's just inevitable.
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it's an underwater adventure ride