Day 18: Least Favorite Survivor Season
Survivor 39-Day Challenge
I’m not so sure if it’s Rob Cesternino who said this but I heard this once before:
Survivor is like pizza; even when it’s bad it’s [still] good.
So, it’s hard to pick my least favorite because they are all good and entertaining. If I am to pick my overall least favorite including the other versions like Australia and Philippines, I’d pick Survivor Philippines: Celebrity Doubles Showdown (2011–2012).
This fourth season of Survivor Philippines, featuring Filipino celebrity couples, was the demise of the Filipino franchise of the show. It had no redeeming qualities whatsoever. Early on, a week into the game, there was already a record-breaking five quits, all due to moral reasons. Between the US and the Filipino versions, there are plenty of noticeable cultural differences. One of which is the necessity to lie, cheat, and steal. Many castaways in the US version recognize that this is the name of the game; you need to lie, cheat, steal, and whatnot to get ahead of the goal of being the Sole Survivor. The ability to separate one’s game persona from his or her real self is more prominent in the US, and to some extent the Australian version.
In the Philippines, however, being predominantly Catholic/Christian, such behavior of lying and cheating is somewhat taboo. Not to mention the lack of ability to recognize Survivor as just a game, by the players and viewers alike. Consequently, castaways are not being able to separate their game persona from their real self. This, among many other things (i.e. vague understanding of the term reality television), may be the reason why the Filipino version of Survivor failed to thrive in the Philippine television landscape.
Side note: I intended to do a thesis about this topic — the Filipino reception of Survivor Philippines — tackling different angles of the ut I decided to discontinue my masters program in communication. Too bad.
Moreover, the season was pretty much forgettable other than the fact that it’s bad. There was no memorable tribal councils nor blindsides (I’m not even sure if the players knew the concept of a blindside). Wait, there’s one — the only one. But it’s memorable for all the wrong reasons.
It was the penultimate tribal council at Final 4.
According to the rules of Survivor, the jury is not allowed to talk to the active castaways during tribal councils except the final tribal council. However, two jury members were shown violating this at the Final 4 tribal, and it was revealed later on that almost everyone on the jury was violating such rule. The violation was the jury signaled Mara, Stef, and Betong (the eventual winner) to vote out KC. It was known that the jury influenced the three to connive against KC, because prior to the violation, the vote turnout was supposed to be KC, Mara, and Stef voting out Betong. Many viewers, especially former Survivor Philippines castaways, were dismayed by this event.
The local production stated that they had consulted the violation to the Castaway Television Production, who advised them to just continue the game. There’s not much to continue anyway as the next part of the game was already the final tribal council, which showed over-the-top jury speeches and conflicts which didn’t help the narrative of the season whatsoever. If this series of events was the main reason of the discontinuance of the Philippine franchise of Survivor, I’d not be surprised at all.
Gun to my head, I need to pick a Survivor US season, I’d have to say Island of the Idols (2019). Not even Rob and Sandra mentoring stints that season could save it from all the ugliness that transpired between the castaways. But going back to my initial quote, even when it’s bad, it’s [still] good. The uncomfortable events for the most part of the season were just hard to ignore.
I’m not sure if they would continue doing opening Ancient Voices sequence for Season 41 onwards, but the fact that Island of the Idols does not have one in all of 40 seasons of Survivor is very telling.
Winners at War was supposed to not have one, too, but the clamor from the fans motivated the production to release an opening sequence at the tailend of the season. It’s a milestone of a season after all; not having an opening Ancient Voices sequence for Winners at War would have been the Survivor’s dumbest move of them all.
Going back to Survivor Philippines: Celebrity Doubles Showdown, the only good thing that came out of this season was the idea of a ‘blood vs. water’ season for the US version. Other than that, having back-to-back seasons of Survivor Philippines featuring celebrities is just ugh, meh.
Runner-up: Survivor Philippines: Celebrity Showdown (2010)
