Survivor Needs More Than a New Era. It Needs a New Location 

Survivor 51 is kicking off what host and Executive Producer Jeff Probst calls the Open Era, a time when just about anything from the show’s past could come back into play.

If everything is back on the table, maybe a map should be too.

For the 19th consecutive season, Survivor is filming in Fiji. The show made the Mamanuca Islands its permanent home with Survivor: Millennials vs. Gen X in 2016, and ten years later, production is still there.

I have watched Survivor since the beginning, and what I miss most is each season feeling like its own adventure.

We were not just meeting a new group of castaways and settling in for another game. We were getting to experience a new part of the world with them.

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The Next Destination Used to Be a Big Deal 

Think about some of the places Survivor has taken us over the years.

Australia, Africa, the Amazon, the Pearl Islands, China, Guatemala, and Cambodia bring back completely different images because the destination gave each season its own personality.

Sometimes the location was part of the challenge.

“Survivor: Guatemala” began with an 11-mile trek through the jungle to ancient Mayan ruins, and the castaways later dealt with brutal heat and the possibility of crocodiles in the water. That is a far cry from starting another season on a familiar beach.

Then there was “Survivor: China.” The castaways started by traveling from Shanghai to Mi Tuo Temple for a Buddhist ceremony.

That season’s reward was a visit to the Great Wall. The setting was part of the experience, not just scenery.

Many memorable moments took the Survivors beyond camp and brought them face-to-face with the locals.

In “Survivor: Africa,” Lex won a reward that included taking supplies to a local AIDS hospital. “Survivor: Worlds Apart,” filmed in San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua, gave castaways the chance to deliver supplies to a local orphanage. 

Those were special moments for viewers, and you could often see how much the experiences affected the Survivors themselves. Many times it brought them and us to tears.

For a little while, nobody was worried about an idol, an alliance, or the next vote. It was more than a game.

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Cambodia was another season where the rewards opened the door to something bigger, giving players a chance to experience the country beyond the beach.

Those moments gave viewers something Fiji cannot recreate season after season, no matter how beautiful the islands are.

The Destination Used to Be Part of the Excitement

There was always something fun about finding out where Survivor was headed next.

The location reveal became an end-of-season tradition. The destination was part of the tease. We already had our first clue about what the next adventure might look like before anybody picked up a buff. 

That tradition is gone now.

We can speculate about what the current Open Era will bring back, who might return, and what CBS has tucked away in its bag of tricks, but nobody is wondering where Survivor will take us next. We already know.

At this point, Fiji is basically Survivor’s work location.

Production knows the area and the routine. Unfortunately, it’s routine for viewers too. That sense of discovery is long gone.

I miss that part of Survivor more than I realized. Seeing different places, people, and cultures added something to the game that staying in one place simply cannot.

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I Understand Why Survivor Stays Put

Survivor stays put for real reasons.

Jeff Probst has described changing locations as essentially building a city, tearing it down, shipping everything across the ocean, and building it all over again. I get it.

For a production this size, staying put is convenient, and knowing the lay of the land helps, especially when you’re often dealing with treacherous terrain.

Money is most likely the biggest part of the equation. Fiji currently offers qualifying television productions a 20 percent cash rebate on eligible spending in the country.

I don’t know whether Survivor receives that incentive, but its availability makes finances another reasonable consideration when thinking about why staying in Fiji might be attractive. Who doesn’t want to save a few bucks?

And if that helps keep Survivor going, I’m all for it. I have been watching for more than 25 years, and I want those torches burning for many more.

I just would like to see them burning somewhere else occasionally.

There’s Plenty of World Left to Explore 

I am not suggesting Survivor go back to packing up the entire production after every season. It’s been made clear how much work that requires.

Still, 19 straight seasons in the same place is a long time. 

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Fiji has been good to Survivor, but I am ready for the show to move on. We get two seasons a year. Maybe alternate between Fiji and another country.

Can the Survivors outwit, outplay, and outlast somewhere else? Please!

A whole world still exists that could challenge players in new ways and give fans something we haven’t seen before.

After more than 50 seasons, taking the reality OG somewhere new would make the adventure feel fresh again.

Survivor has changed almost everything else over the years except the location. It is time for a change of scenery.

Are you fine with Fiji, or would you like to see a new location? Let us know in the comments.

The post Survivor Needs More Than a New Era. It Needs a New Location  appeared first on TV Fanatic.