‘Survivor 41’ may have ended almost a month ago with Canadian communications manager, Erika Casupanan crowned the Sole Survivor in a 7-1-0 vote against finalists Deshawn Radden and Xander Hastings, but it doesn’t mean it’s all over in the heart of fans.
Though the producer and network’s eyes are all on the forthcoming Season 42, many fans are still reeling from the many controversies surrounding the past season- including widely panned twists and advantages, strange editing decisions but mostly, one specific Survivor they believe was robbed.
Host, Jeff Probst promised twists, and boy did season 41 deliver. These twists have been debated online in fan forums since and it seems they will continue to be panned or applauded as season 42 was filmed before producers received (mostly negative) feedback from season 41’s new format.
‘Survivor 41’ Still Stirring Controversy: What We Didn’t See And Why Fans Are Paying Up For The Castaway They Say Was Robbed
Just as hotly debated was the strange editing and, as the castaways from season 41 speak out more and more on social media, audiences are reeling at the footage they didn’t see.
Firstly, Heather Aldret who placed fourth after being eliminated in a fire-making challenge by the skin of Deshawn’s teeth was edited to be either invisible or as dead weight dragged along by her alliance/tribe.
The most we heard Heather’s name was when Jeff was pointing out, yet again, how badly she was performing in challenges.
According to Heather, though, we missed a lot- she was a mastermind, a partner in crime to winner Erika and had a hand in a lot of Tribal Council decisions. In fact, Heather was so miffed at her edit, she called a Survivor producer after the season aired to ask “What the F@#% did I do to you?”
Though the crazy edit did make it harder to guess the winner (as opposed to when they shed such a positive light on one specific castaway, they may as well circle them at all times and write WINNER under their name during their one-on-one sides) fans have recently discovered season 41 had friends and family visit!
A popular mainstay, most fans love the emotions that are brought to the surface when the players get to see their loved ones show up on the beach. Personally, I prefer to skip it, but I have been accused of having no heart…so, there’s that.
Ricard Foye, who placed 5th oh-so-casually dropped the bomb in a tweet as he was discussing why he believed many key moments around camp were not shown.
After fans enquired further, Ricard explained it was a Covid version of a loved ones visit that occurred during the ‘Pizza Under the Stars’ reward. Ricard had won the reward challenge and chose to share it with Shantel Smith, Xander, and Heather. All four castaways received video messages from their families.
Ordinarily, this would provoke tears from Castaways (and audiences) and then bragging around camp while those who didn’t get a video message wept into their badly cooked rice.
Another Castaway who has a beef with how they were edited is the winner herself, Erika. Though the final episodes had many jumping on the Erika train- because she suddenly started receiving a positive edit, most audiences barely knew who Erika was, other than the girl who smashed an hourglass to instigate the most controversial of all twists throughout an extremely “twisty” season.
The ‘Turn Back Time’ twist created furor amongst fans AND players, with 6th place getter, Danny McCray FLIPPING out on Jeff and producers calling it “not a twist but a lie”. Survivor editors chose to not show Danny’s outburst. Yep, we are still scratching our heads over that.
While this was a big event, it was handed to Erika, she didn’t earn it and, without showing much else- besides a little strategy, especially when it came to voting out front runner Shan – many viewers disagreed, hotly, with Erika’s win.
There is a large group of Survivor fans who believe Xander should have taken home the title of Sole Survivor- and the $1 million dollars. So, instead of just whining about it, have decided to do something about it.
Thanks again to editing, Xander was shown to be competent in challenges and quite liked around camp. He was also shown to be strategic in his gameplay by holding onto his immunity idols, even with a ‘Knowledge is Power’ advantage, designed to steal the idol, was lobbed his way.
However, Danny McCray’s exit interview shed the light on the Xander that his fellow players saw, and it was vastly different from what us couch surfers got to see.
Xander was the goat, not Heather. He ws so universally considered by his fellow castaways to not be a threat that they didn’t even bother to flush his idol. It turned out Danny’s assessment of how the competitors viewed Xander was right on the money. The viewers’ favorite to win received ZERO final votes to collect the million-dollar prize.
This has sat so badly with fans that they started a GoFundMe campaign with the goal to raise at least some of the prize money they believe Xander was robbed of.
Very quickly the campaign had earned $2000 (a far cry from the $1 mill Erika earned), and then, just as quickly, the Go Fund Me was shut down. The creator of the campaign explained they needed Xander’s permission and contact info to keep the fundraiser going and began refunding contributors.
It turns out-the permission and contact info of the 21 year old app creator ISN’T required and after Xander supporters continued to reach out hoping to contribute to the fundraiser, a second page was made.
The second attempt is a little different, this one explains they are trying to accrue the money to award Xander the $100,000 Fan Favorite award. Originally called the “Sprint Player of The Season” award, this went defunct but was then was revived by singer Sia to become the “Sia Award”. However, neither fan favorite award was presented during the season 41 finale.
Obviously, Xander stans believe he was the hands-down fan favorite (I was a Xander fan myself- brainwashed by editing?) but, had the award actually existed, there’s a chance he may not have even received the “consolation prize”. Both Ricard and 8th place getter Shan were beloved by fans…but not enough to earn their own Go Fund Mes!
Survivor 42 will premier on March 9 but if you are still angry about Xander’s loss, you can donate here. You might want to keep in mind, however, that though it is not 100% guaranteed, the final 2 and 3 usually receive around $85,000- $100,000 from the show itself.
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