Story for the Week
CBS started hyping Survivor Season 50 even before Season 48. In fact, Season 49 barely registered.
I have talked about being a fan of Survivor in a lot of blog posts, starting all the way back in 2020 with Confessions of a Reality TV Junkie. With two seasons airing every year, the show premiered in May of 2000, and I have been obsessed from the start. I have seen every episode and even got Corinne hooked enough to rewatch every season with me a few years ago.
A lot has changed in 25 years.
When the show first started, no one talked about alliances. Immunity idols didn’t exist. Contestants received a single bag of rice and boiled their drinking water. The live reunion show revealed the final jury votes two months after filming wrapped. So with the exception of the first season when Richard Hatch literally received his check on the island, the winner didn’t actually know they won until well after shooting ended.
Over time, the show obviously changed a bit. They introduced hidden immunity idols that save contestants from being voted out. Instead of moving to a different location every season, they settled in Fiji. The number of contestants increased. Every season there seemed to be a new twist, which usually made for a more interesting season.
But the things that never changed—39 days, a bag of rice, a live reunion show—I loved those. What I especially loved about the reunion shows were the reactions from players who voted for a winner and then discovered by watching the season that person they trusted had betrayed them. You would see them at the reunion come to the realization that they should have voted for someone else.
When COVID threw a wrench into a lot of shows, Survivor producers eventually revamped to accommodate a pre-game quarantine period, so 39 days became 26 days. And no live reunion show. But there have been other changes with the “new era.” Teams earn flint for help with lighting fires by winning challenges, and they lose their flint when they lose a challenge. (Talk about kicking a team when they’re down.) The teams don’t start with any rice, but there seems to be no lack of food rewards. The number of immunity idols and advantages is kind of ridiculous.
And everyone seems to have a sob story. I get it. Part of being an empathetic person means understanding that you never know what someone else is going through. But in the new era of Survivor, it feels like every single contestant’s introduction includes whatever challenges they have or had. Everyone is going through something, and it becomes their entire personality on the island.
What I looked forward to with Season 50 was the combination of old era and new era players, figuring that the old era players would eat the new players alive. But the old era players are…well, older. The challenge beasts who were in their 20s in the older seasons can’t compete as well at 50. The show also introduced some distracting celebrity cameos this season. They have a Billie Eilish Boomerang idol. Zac Brown participated as a reward for one of the challenges. Mr. Beast and Jimmy Fallon round out the season with appearances. This is not the Survivor I know and love.
There also seems to be a lot less doing and a lot more talking. I miss the days of watching teams try to build a shelter and (many times) failing. We rarely see teams looking for food or trying to build or maintain a fire. But we see a lot of confessionals and a lot of talking among contestants.
I watched an episode with my brother-in-law recently. About 30 minutes in, he commented that he thought it was a competition, that there were contests. And all we were seeing was talking. In a 90-minute episode, there was literally one immunity challenge, and the rest of the episode was talking. I understand that part of the game is social. That’s one of the things I’ve always been intrigued by actually. I love watching teammates turn on one another. But I also don’t want a 90-minute episode with only 10 minutes of real action.
I’m glad that they’re bringing back the live reunion for this season, but we need more. Bring back the auctions, the food challenges, Exile Island, loved one visits. Bring back 39 days! And enough with the talking talking talking. I would like to think I’m an empathetic person…AND I want to see more interactions like Alicia finger-wagging at Kimmi about chickens (if you know, you know).
I recently finished a short story that felt similar to what I’m experiencing with Survivor. There was a lot of sad, confessional-type talking talking talking and not a lot of action. It fell a little flat…kind of like Season 50 of Survivor so far.
Book Review
⭐⭐⭐
3 Stars for Everybody’s Favorite Guy by Katherine Center
51 pages
Publisher: Amazon Original Stories
Publication Date: March 17, 2026
Purchased on Amazon.
Publisher’s Description
For Lily, falling in love with her childhood friend Walker was the easiest thing to do back in high school. His sudden rejection was unforgettably crushing. Seven years later, their families have conspired to bring them back together at a cabin in the Rockies when a sudden snowstorm traps them overnight with no power. Thanks to a cozy fire, a prowling bear, and a little forced time in an open-air gondola, they confront their unresolved feelings—and a past more complicated than Lily knows.
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Main Characters:
- Lily – mid-20s, works as a graphic designer
- Walker – mid-20s, joined the Navy just out of high school, planning to start an undergraduate feeder program for medical school
Lily and Walker grew up together, so close that their families spent every summer in their shared cabin in the Rockies. They fell out in high school and haven’t spoken for the past seven years. Now with both moms widowed, they decided a weekend at the cabin together would be the perfect time to honor their dads’ wishes to have their ashes scattered at the cabin.
Lily only agreed because Walker couldn’t make it. To her utter disappointment, his plans changed, and her mom notified her right after she landed in Denver that he should be at the airport at the same time. On their drive to the cabin, a sudden snowstorm hits. While their moms, having arrived later, get a hotel near the airport for the evening, Lily and Walker have to spend the night alone at the cabin without power.
I was so excited for a Katherine Center short story to tide me over until her next book release of The Shippers on May 19. Understanding that it’s only 51 pages, I still hoped for something fun. I love Katherine Center’s style of writing dialog for love interests, and this is pitched as a romantic comedy. That said, I did not get that vibe.
Told in the first person from Lily’s perspective, Lily is still heated from an interaction she and Walker had in high school. When all is revealed, I appreciated why Lily and Walker fell out in high school and why she no longer considered him a friend. Obviously with the two of them stuck in a cabin alone without power, we’re going to find out what happened.
But I found it all kind of sad and depressing. And as close as their moms are, I find it hard to believe that this has never come up before. Their moms are still best friends. I assume their moms still talk and spend time together. How have they never questioned them about what happened until this particular weekend?
At the end of the day, it’s not a bad story, but it’s not the Katherine Center I know and love. Short stories have to draw you in quickly, and the story has to advance quickly. You have to pack a lot into a small number of pages. This felt more like a depressing confessional that just happens to have a happy ending.
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