Survivor introduced “journeys” in Season 41, and the most controversial journey to date took place in Survivor 50, when Jimmy Fallon got to pitch what happened on the excursion and the consequences of losing the challenge along the way. This twist ended up sending David vs. Goliath fan-favorite Christian Hubicki home. After 10 seasons in the game, it’s time for a check-in. Should Survivor get rid of journeys? Cast your vote in our poll below.
Journeys first debuted as summits that led one ambassador from each pre-merge tribe to a place where they could risk their vote in exchange for an advantage. The locations and designs of the journeys have evolved over time. Some Survivor alums and fans alike think that journeys should be retired because there are few pros to them. The main gripe is the fact that, at this point, it’s obvious that whoever goes on a journey will have a chance to get an advantage, so it puts a target on the player’s back, no matter the outcome.
“It’s just like you’re damned if you [do], damned if you don’t with a journey,” Survivor 45 and 50 alum Emily Flippen told TV Insider. “If you go on it, even if you don’t get anything, you get accused of getting something. If you do get something, you have to be honest about it, or someone’s going to assume you got something. And then, there’s a more likely scenario, you’ll probably end up losing your vote or have to vote for yourself in Christian’s case. There’s very few positive outcomes from journeys, in my opinion.”
Christian’s Survivor 50 journey was unique in that it came with a fairly punitive twist if he lost the challenge, which he did. The “One in the Urn” went like this: After winning a game of Rock, Paper, Scissors, Christian went on a journey where he had to complete a puzzle on a barge before time ran out. The prize was getting to cast a vote early, without anyone knowing. The punishment was having to vote for himself and tell everyone about it, stripping away his ability to lie in a game often defined by lying.
Christian told us that he wasn’t sure the reward-punishment scales were balanced with Fallon’s twist.
“I think this one definitely scales on the harsher side, for sure. I mean, the downside was really, really harsh. Again, I’m not saying it’s the only reason I went home, certainly not. But the upside in and of itself is complicated,” Christian explained. “The way it plays, an extra vote would be better…It’s not a super-powerful advantage, but not every advantage needs to be. But the downside was very bad.”
Savannah Louie, Mike White, and Colby Donaldson also went on a journey early on in Season 50. Colby lost, and he lost his vote because of it. He could only earn it back after his first tribal council, but he was voted out in his first tribal council. Some fans were disappointed to see the Survivor legend, who first appeared in Season 2, get eliminated without so much as a vote to his name to defend himself.
Survivor 51, premiering this fall, is being called the “open era,” where every single twist and advantage that’s ever been in the game before could be in play again. With that in mind, we want to know if you want journeys to be on the chessboard in Season 51 and beyond. Let us know your thoughts on Survivor journeys in the poll below.
Survivor 51, Premieres Fall 2026, CBS