Survivor 45: 90-Minutes Well Spent

Let me start off by saying I loved Survivor 45. 90-minute episodes are gonna revitalize the show. Every season is automatically better with the longer episodes. We got to intimately know the cast, saw so many extra camplife scenes, and the strategy was actually explained properly. As far as new era Survivor goes, this one was really good.

A Survivor season is nothing without its cast. The cast, and the resulting boot order, makes or breaks the season. Survivor 45 has one of the best casts in a long time. There were very few duds. I wouldn’t even call the quitters duds. I think watching people quit is extremely fun, as long as it doesn’t become constant.

The season was bursting with personality. From Uncle Bruce’s boomer rants, to Jake’s Boston accent, to Drew’s endless soliloquies, and Kaleb’s suave golden retriever energy. Not only were these guys incredibly charismatic, but they were all so diverse. Emily’s arc from arguing with everyone to being the fan favourite is my favorite part of the season.

Now let’s talk strategy. The Reba 4 dominated this season, very reminiscent of the Tika 3. The new era meta is becoming clear. Pre-merge, focus on becoming as “tribe strong” as possible and become inseparable. Post-merge, be undyingly loyal, shed the fat if you have your own minority, and pit the other two tribes against each other. Drew, Austin, Julie and Dee played this expertly. They never were going to flip and they took advantage of Belo’s dysfunction.

The nagging question on my mind is whether Reba was really good or if everyone else was really bad. And ultimately I think the strategy on Survivor 45 was really bad. The Reba 4 had no opposition. Katurah bent over backwards to help them advance, Jake couldn’t execute a plan to save his life, and the Belo’s were too busy hating Bruce to rally together.

Bad strategy does not make for a bad season by the way. The cast was still top-tier. On a scale from Gabon to Cambodia, this season definitely is closer to Gabon. Personally I don’t like watching alliances waltz to the end. It gets frustrating tuning in week after week, praying that someone will finally make a move, and it never happens.

Overall, Survivor 45 is the second best new era season, behind Survivor 42. The new era bullshit was pretty tame, we got some vintage Survivor throwbacks like the intro and the auction, and we had an incredibly fun cast. 90-minute episodes have to stay. It’s like watching a different show, I could never go back to 60-minutes.

PS. I’m so fucking ecstatic that I predicted Dee’s win. My first time correctly predicting the winner. Dee was a great player and a very deserving winner. Dominant big toe queen.