Welcome the DReem Team!
A Survivor Newsletter
This a weekly newsletter about the greatest reality show of all-time (The Bachelor is trash). Don’t worry if you haven’t watched every single one of the previous 39 seasons (neither have I). In fact, this newsletter is more geared towards the casual fan. If this is your first time here, subscribe below.
It’s Season 40 baby! Imagine for second, that instead of ESPN dedicating 15 hours a day to the MJ vs LeBron debate, we could settle the debate once and for all. That’s what we’re getting with Survivor Season 40: Winners at War, the first time in the history of the show where all the contestants are winners of seasons. It’s like the Jeopardy! Greatest of All Time, except for people with social skills. Sure, some of the players aren’t in as good of shape as they once where, but Rob has convinced me that Dad Strength is very real. On a normal season, there are maybe 5-10 strong or aggressive players, and the rest are referred to as “sheep” or “passengers”, those who are just along for the ride, not taking any chances or making any “big moves”. There will be none of that this season, I guarantee it.
Other than only featuring winners, this season is different for 2 reasons: the return of Edge of Extinction and Fire Tokens.
Edge of Extinction
The EoE was first introduced in Season 38, and it was met with mixed reactions. The idea is simple: once a player is voted out, instead of going home, they have the ability to live on a separate island called Edge of Extinction. There, they must wait (and most importantly bide the time by mostly doing nothing) for an opportunity to get back into the game. Which brings me to the namesake of this newsletter, Reem Daly, who spent an astonishing 32 days on Edge! She was also a truly hilarious player.
In general, I am not a fan of this ripple in the game. If you’re voted out, you should be voted out, end of story. Otherwise, what’s the point. Not to mention the fact that the winner of Season 38, Chris Underwood, spent the majority of the game on Edge, and came back with 3 days left to snatch the title. I will say, his final move of relinquishing immunity to take out Devins in fire building was epic. But in the end, it just messes with the core of the game too much. However, for this season, I do think it makes sense. The producers wouldn’t want to have all these legends return and then be gone in a second. If Rob had been voted out first and simply sent home, it would have been a huge disappointment.
Fire Tokens
In college, my friends and I played a lot of Super Smash Brothers for n64. Whenever we played, we kept items/weapons turned on except for hammers, hearts and tomatoes. They were simply too powerful; affected the game too much. Real players go head-to-head with items turned off completely. Introducing more twists and turns benefits weaker players because they can provide advantages without which they would certainly lose. As much as I hate to admit it, I needed the help playing smash. (But that also might be because I refused to play with anyone other than Ness).
Fire Tokens, which we’ve never seen before, add this randomness to the game. Each person was given 1 at the beginning of the game, and will be able to use them to purchase different rewards or advantages. It’s still too early to tell, but in general I am not a fan of adding more items to the game, as it adds too much variability. In a season like this, we want the best player to win. We don’t want to see someone win by getting lucky.
Closing (Random) Thoughts on Episode 1
My picks to win are Yul and Adam, in that order. Adam had a stronger edit than I think he should have, and I can see him flying under the radar a little bit. Yul had a strong first episode, but my only concern for him is if he can continue to pull strings without attracting too much attention.
I’m a little confused by the Sandra and Rob beef. I don’t know how production was scheduled between Island of the Idols and Winners at War, but I have to assume that she stayed in Fiji through the end of the first and the beginning of the second. Wouldn’t she assume that Rob would do the same?
To be honest, I got a bit distracted during the premiere, because I ended up fighting about the Democratic Primary with my friends I was watching with. I’m definitely not going to make that mistake again. We will be skipping the less important Nevada Primary in favor of watching episode 2.
Funniest thing from Reddit this Week
See you next week :*