‘Survivor: Cagayan’: Jeff Probst on no Redemption Island, when it could return
Fans of “Survivor” have seemingly made one thing clear for at least a little while now: They are not the kind to celebrate a twist that they don’t like. One of those said twists is Redemption Island, which has invaded the game on a few occasions.
We’ll be honest here when we saw that we actually liked it in “Blood vs. Water” for the most part, and we also wouldn’t mind it on future seasons where there are loved ones or castaways with preexisting relationships on board. However, our feeling on it is that it should be pre-merge only, and there should be something a little bit different done with the immunity idol clues than what we saw last time. That got pretty boring fast.
Well, some of you Redemption haters should be pleased to know that host / czar of “Survivor” Jeff Probst does not currently plan to use the twist anymore for anything other than the “Blood vs. Water” twist. Just take a look at what he said in an Entertainment Weekly interview, which also contained some sort of strange analogy comparing a twist on a reality show tom women:
“I think Blood vs. Water was the best use of Redemption Island, and if we do Blood vs. Water again we would most likely do Redemption Island again and probably wouldn’t use it otherwise. But I really can’t say for certain, because my opinion has not changed. I still like elements of Redemption Island. And I still understand why people hate Redemption Island. It’s not that I don’t like the purity of Survivor without Redemption Island. I love it! I love the finality of somebody being voted off. I love it! But both can exist. I can also love Redemption Island. I’m baffled by people who want to strangle me because I like Redemption Island. That’s like saying I like brunette women, but I also find blond women attractive. Both can exist! So I like both! But I will concede that Blood vs, Water was the perfect time to use Redemption, because that format that happened at Redemption Island allowed so much spark to happen. That was perfect.”
So that’s it: Redemption Island could go to sleep for a little while, and that means that the blindside really means something again. So long as there are good players and a good season, that matters more than anything else.
In case you missed it, we recently profiled all of the castaways appearing on this upcoming season over at the link here. We’ll have a full pre-season predictions article up soon, and if you sign up now for our CarterMatt Newsletter, you can get some more updates sent straight to your email.
Photo: CBS