‘Survivor 41’ premiered to much fanfare this past week and, as promised by long time host, Jeff Probst, changes to the show and format were immediately apparent.
But there was one specific change that had Twitter light up with comments…the new ‘wokeness’ the show is displaying.
“Come on in, guys.”
This sentence has been uttered by Probst for 40 seasons. Yet before the three tribes of six entered into any game play, Jeff addressed the Survivors, asking if they believe he should rephrase his signature line, dropping the word “guys” in an effort to remain gender neutral.
‘Survivor’ Goes ‘Woke’…and People Have Thoughts
People hate change, and many saw this as their favorite show caving to the “Woke Police” (can you blame Jeff for being a little gun shy after an ‘unwoke’ Chris Harrison was fired from his post of host of the Bachelor after two decades?). Several angry viewers promised this was when their viewership would end while others saw Jeff’s speech about the possible change as a disingenuous piece of “woke theater”.
The part that was most concerning was how Survivor, and Jeff went about proving that they could move with the times.
Did they really think the contestants, whose life in the competition depends on how their tribesmen (and women…relax) perceive them, would utter their first words in the entire game and use them to tell the juggernaut show that they should change one of the most famed line in it’s 40 season reign? All with cameras in their faces and boom mics hanging over their heads?
Evvie Jagoda, a self-professed queer woman was the only castaway to speak up. Her opinion was that “guys” was not offensive to her. Everyone else stood like stunned mullets.
Days later, when the players showed up to their first immunity challenge, castaway Ricard Foye, a gay man who is married to a transgender pregnant man (stick that in your diversity cap, ABC and The Bachelor) spoke up, saying that he “fully” agreed with omitting the ‘guys’ from the catchphrase.
Instantly Ricard became a target for Twitter, but worse, he may be seen as problematic or disagreeable to his tribe.
One has to wonder if that was Survivor’s real intention. After all, they could have had Jeff omit the word from his daily speech and let the diehard fans figure it out for themselves (they would have- oh, they would have).
“Survivor” alum, and noted ‘villain’, Russell Hantz is not impressed with the ‘wokeness’. Hantz tweeted, “I’m not covering survivor this year! I agree with you! This woke s***! I rather not even watch!!”
He later predicted this would be the end of Survivor writing, “This will be the lowest rated survivor in history and you’re watching the beginning to the end! It’s over GUYS!”
What do you think of the new wokeness? Do you have strong thoughts or do you not give a care what words come out of Jeff’s mouth as he welcomes the competitors into the arena- as long as that arena is back on our screens and we finally get to see 18 players all compete to outwit, outlast and outplay…guys, girls and everyone in between?
If you are in the latter group, watch Survivor season 41 on CBS on Wednesdays!
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