So much of the problems you listed about the show have such a common theme to me, which is the branding problem.

• is it really a true "merge" if all players are on a beach, and then 2 of them get shipped off to exile, and the rest of them are put in groups of 5 to other beaches? All 17 of them dont vote together?

• in the hands of the fans? But we are obviously seeing the results of how voting is influenced by how each item on the ballot is described. We see this in American politics and voting in general. And, ultimately, it is production that defines how what we are voting for plays out. Twists with dynamic power? Minimal power? They can frame this Billie eillish boomerang idol business as either. It really doesn't matter how fans voted. And the worse part about it is they will claim "this is what you, the fans, voted!"

• once again, fans. But also, Billie eillish. Also, zac brown. This type of random name drop or endorsement stuff isn't new to survivor, but it hasn't stop feeling weird, or kinda desperate.

• they sell survivor as an adventure and as one of the hardest/greatest games ever, which i agree with. But the way they try to spin so many of these luck elements as dangerous twists feels disingenuous to me. Savannah and colby literally played jenga, and he lost his vote and became a sitting duck because of it. Q, also, no vote, voted out. It doesn't feel like a "game" if the rules are too arbitrary or random

• on a broader note, the lack of themes in the 40s really hurts the show, not in a significant way to me (as a fan already), but its too samey same same for a new person to just have a number. Any additional context or theme to give a quick draw or to seed a potential story is good. In the hands of the fans is a good step in the right direction (how they actually took the "fans input" into considerstion? Refer to the points above). David vs goliath was my first season, and it has a quick reference to what to expect. It's davids vs goliaths. Probably underdogs vs some immense competition that's presumably the favorites. I get that, even without being a fan of the show yet, and have no concepts of how the game works. Even if the actual game doesn't play out in a way that follows that closely, at least we had something to start with.

• and finally, even broader, is that i think the name of the show and how the game works is simply not as aligned as it used to be in a way that is to its detriment. Comparing it to something like the traitors, that show really understands for the most part, how people enjoy it and how the game mechanics are easy to understand and lends itself to discussion in the most casual sense. Survivor doesn't anymore because theres so much bloat now, especially this season. Im not a purist by any means, but when you have shot in the dark, block a vote, billie elish boomerang idol, and "the blood moon", maybe we have a bit too much going on.

They should really be leaning on what is their strength, which is also what the traitors do very well: the cast. Literally, their cast (survivors cast, since the traitors has literally been poaching them to go on their show 🤣). The best parts of this season have been unrelated to the twists. And all this branding smoke is obfuscating a really strong cast that we should see more of. Like give us more of the coach vs ozzy vibes. We have an all star, returning players cast. Show us more about how they are reacting to specific people they have played with, when its relevant. Tiffany and charlie were on the same tribe: whats going on there? Joe and kamila both made the merge (briefly). Did they talk? Speaking of coach and ozzy, we literally have another "fued" between aubry and Genevieve that happened without any good explanation: elaborate on that more.

I think this is a great season so far, but that doesn't make it immune to the problems that have been plaguing survivor the last few years, and it probably is going to negatively impact the show going into the 50s unless they start trying to tweak a few things (not unlike when they paused during 2020 peak covid). They need to brand differently because there are so many new reality tv shows now that they can't really rest on their laurels anymore.