The Big Picture
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Survivor
50 will feature returning players, no themes, and shorter filming days. - Probst confirmed LGBTQ cast members won’t be limited to recent seasons.
- Fans and alums propose a queer Survivor season for emotional stakes and unpredictability.
You can’t reach 50 seasons of a reality show without celebrating. Jeff Probst announced in an Instagram video that Survivor 50 will be returning players. The $1 million prize game show already had a Winners at War season for season 40 and the following seasons are considered the “new era” of the game. Its filming days are shorter, the cast doesn’t get rice to eat, there are no themes, and the finale has the cast filming the “reunion” immediately after the last vote instead of months later.
Some wondered if season 50 would only have new-era players. But Probst said the returning castaways won’t be limited to those seasons. We don’t know if there will be a theme. However, some fans and alums of the show have one that hasn’t happened yet on the CBS show. Is it time for an LGBTQ season of Survivor?
Survivor
A reality show where a group of contestants are stranded in a remote location with little more than the clothes on their back. The lone survivor of this contest takes home a million dollars.
- Release Date
- May 31, 2000
- Cast
- Jeff Probst
- Seasons
- 46
- Studio
- CBS
- Creator(s)
- Charlie Parsons
Karla Cruz Godoy Says a Queer ‘Survivor’ Season Would be Messy
Fans are making their dream cast and giving their opinions for the monumental season. “I only want girls gays and they’re on Survivor 50,” a fan tweeted. Katurah Topps from Survivor 45 quoted it and wrote, “Can we petition for this?” The new era has been more diverse since CBS moved to have half the cast on reality TV shows being BIPOC. There have also been multiple LGBTQ castaways in each season, and we’ve seen that bond castaways to each other. However, other times there were tense conflicts, like between winner Yam Yam Arocho and Josh Wilder.
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“With Yam, it was more of a personal vendetta,” Josh told Parade after his elimination episode. “I wanted to work with him so bad when I got to Tika. And I felt heartbroken. I play emotionally; I learned that about myself. And I was heartbroken because we’re both POC, we’re both gay, we’re the same age, we’re both married. And when he didn’t want to play with me, it hurt me. And so I was like, ‘Well, I guess I can work with you. So you’re gonna go.'” Who doesn’t want to see more emotional and complicated stakes like this in the upcoming season?
Karla Cruz Godoy of Survivor 43 gave her opinion on an LGBTQ cast on the Black Bi Reality podcast. “Listen, it would be so messy,” she said with a big smile. “Sometimes queer banter can like, be a little flirty, and so I would love to see a queer season because you just don’t know what could happen,” she later added. “And we could be like kiking one day to then flirting the next to then like blindsiding each other. It would be really cute. I’m all for it.”
There is still plenty of time for producers to decide how this season with returning players will be different or similar to ones in the past. We’ve seen returning castaways go up against fans. Then there were returning players who were considered Game Changers get another shot at the prize. There was even a season that started with tribes based on race, so why not switch things up with an LGBTQ season?
Survivor can be streamed on Paramount+. New episodes air on CBS every Wednesday.
