‘Survivor: Worlds Apart’: Jeff Probst promises to address controversy at reunion
Even though we have discussed “Survivor: Worlds Apart” at length this season, we still do not necessarily feel like we have addressed in full some of the controversy around it enough. This has not been a season that has so far matched the hype from Jeff Probst; while there are great moments of strategy, many of them have been overshadowed by offensive and at times abusive comments from some players. Specifically, we are talking about the ones that Will made at Shirin, and also the ones Dan made in confessional about her. Both men have been hit with accusations of sexism and/or simply being terrible people. There is obviously a game component to “Survivor,” but there is also a level of common decency and decorum that they have ignored.
Of course, any time that there is controversy, the public wants someone to blame. During “Big Brother 15,” for example, casting and production were both attacked for not doing something about the racist comments being made in the house. With “Survivor,” we’ve heard people say that the show has not condemned these comments enough, or maybe even did the wrong thing in presenting them.
Let’s take a moment to address that claim individually. Did CBS do the wrong thing by showing what Will and Dan are doing? We don’t think so. If this the side of themselves that they are showing out there, then the network and producers should show that. We should not have a censored game, and one way or another, we have to know that these comments will come back to bite these two. Maybe it does hurt them in the game down the road, and it is certainly hurting them in live now.
As for why Jeff Probst hasn’t taken more of a stance on the show, he explained on Twitter late last week that he is currently allowing things to play out because that is his role as host not to inject his own personal opinions. However, he did promise that these will be subjects of conversation during the reunion show.
For the record, we do think that Jeff did what he could last week, ridiculing Dan for comparing Shirin’s situation growing up with abuse to him being adopted.
We’re interested to see what the reunion looks and feels like this season, and for the time being, we want to see this season as almost a parable to see what sort of consequences these men receive as a result of their deplorable actions. In one way or another, the other shoe will drop. The only way we’ll be angry at CBS or “Survivor” in all of this is if there is ever consideration to bring either Dan or Will back; we love villains within the game, but the key words there are “within the game.” Berating someone as a human being is not a part of that.
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