Forget Loyalty—‘Survivor’ Is a Game of Lies, and Season 48 Proves It -

Competition shows are not the place to be honorable, especially not Survivor. The honor approach is set up to fail and does not work. Besides, for the audience, an honor-based game is boring and annoying. Season 48 has an alliance built on being honorable, and honestly, I have never wanted anything to fail more in my life. Survivor players need to stop pretending they can play this game with honor.

Survivor has been on the air for over twenty years. Over time, the format of the game has changed. Early seasons had no hidden idols and very few advantages. This meant that being loyal and honest was easier since it was a social game more than anything else. However, now, in the New Era, with a twist at every turn, telling the truth puts just as big of a target on a player’s back as lying.

Audiences Want Drama

David Kinne during an endurance Immunity Challenge on 'Survivor 48.' — Image via CBS

There is nothing wrong with being loyal or trying not to lie, but once a player starts pretending to be better than the others for some arbitrary reason, everything stops being fun. Moral superiority based on very little information is annoying to watch and comes off as condescending. Survivor castaways playing with “honor” also tend to form alliances built on that holier-than-thou foundation. Watching alliances like this tends to be irritating. If the alliance is trying to be honorable, they stick together as long as they can through thick and thin, which results in a steamroll. Steamrolls are great for the players but terrible for the audience.

Honor Is Not Enough To Win

From a game perspective, being noble can not prove that a castaway deserves to win. Ultimately, some friendly blood needs to be spilled to get to the end and not be carried. Season 48 castaway Chrissy Sarnowsky voiced this at the tribal council in a recent episode. Only one person can win, and only three can make it to the finale. To make it through to the finale, a player has to shed blood and harm the other contestants. This is especially true with bigger alliances. As finale night approaches, the alliance will have to turn on each other to survive. In the end, honor must be cast aside to advance in the game.

Survivor-48-L-R-Joe Hunter-Thomas Krottinger- Eva Erickson-Star Toomey-Shauhin Davari,-Bianca Roses.

‘Survivor 48’ Proves We Need Another Heroes vs. Villains Season

Loyalty and chaos are already abound this season.

The honor approach and an “honorable” alliance can actually put a player’s whole game at risk. The first problem is during the game, when being loyal to one person means no one else can put their faith in someone. For example, Eva Erickson and Joe Hunter are loyal to each other and would not hesitate to throw someone else under the bus to protect each other. Lastly, the honor approach either needs to succeed entirely, or it will fail where it matters most: with the jury. If a player takes on an honorable game but fails and hurts people, the jury often will not vote for them. The most well-known example of this is Lillian Morris in Season 7, who the jury was angry at because they saw her as a boy scout, but she had been strategic and manipulative through her time on the island. Overall, the honor approach is a considerable risk to an individual game.

The Honorable Alliance on Survivor 48 is Bound to Fail

Alliances built on honor often implode. Season 48 has David Kinne, Joe Hunter, Eva Erickson, Shauhin Davari, and Kyle Fraser building an alliance based on honor and integrity. However, all five players have reasons to turn on the others. Hunter, who objectively has been the most honorable in practice, would sacrifice anyone else to protect Erickson, and she would do the same. Kamilla Karthigesu is in an alliance with Hunter, Davari, and Fraser, and they have a strong partnership with Fraser, meaning that if she is voted out, they would have been breaking their promise to her and being dishonorable. As for Kinne, he already has reason to be suspicious of Kyle and Kamila because of Kamila’s lie about Shauhin having the idol. The alliance already has cracks, and it is just a matter of time before they betray each other. At that point, none of the castaways can claim that they played a genuinely honorable game and still deserve to win.

Season 48 saw the creation of an alliance based on honor, but it cannot last. The honor approach in Season 48 is doomed to fail because the alliance is already unstable, and there is a risk to each castaway’s game. Not only are alliances built on “honor” annoying to watch, but they are also unsustainable in the game. Survivor is available to watch on Paramount+.