Is ‘Survivor: Millennials vs. Gen X’ have the most likable final 9 ever?
Without question in our mind, the second hour of Wednesday’s “Survivor: Millennials vs. Gen X” was the best hour of the show this season. As a matter of fact, we’d argue that it may be one of the greatest episodes of all time. Yeah, we know that’s a bold statement. That’s a good subject to take on when we’ve got a little bit more distance between now and when the episode aired, so be on the look out for that int he future.
Still, here’s a brief summary of all the amazing content that was in this hour: Zeke flipped from one alliance to the next, David burned an immunity idol on a player who didn’t need it, we had the most emotional Tribal Council in history, there was a hilariously lopsided immunity challenge, Bret and Zeke had a beautiful moment during the Reward, and Hannah further established herself as an amazingly fascinating player.
In circling back to the question in the title, we’re hard-pressed to think of a final 9 of any other recent “Survivor” season that had this many people we loved in it. Despite the two going after one other, Zeke and David are both incredibly likable guys who love the game and love being out there playing it. Bret emerged as an outstanding character, Jay’s goofy but still a fighter, Adam’s personal story is heartbreaking but his attitude is inspiring, Hannah’s wonderfully relatable, and Ken is like the cool kid in high school who recognized the nerds were more fun and went and hung out with them instead.
Look at Sunday and Will, two of the remaining players with the smallest amount of screen time. Sunday comes across as a very kind person who’s overcome a lot in her life, and Will’s one of the most grounded people under 21 we’ve ever seen on the show. There’s almost nobody here to even remotely dislike, let alone hate.
Even Chris and Jessica, who went home last night, seemed like perfectly good people who were just trying to play the game. Chris didn’t want Jessica out because he hated her; he presumed that she was after him because of a previous action within the game to get rid of Paul.
If you had to point to something in the episode that made you not like a particular character, maybe you can take a look at Hannah calling Zeke condescending. Or, maybe you can say that Bret and Zeke skewering David’s anxiety at Tribal Council was a little mean, but upon reflection we don’t actually think they were deliberately making fun of him. We think they, strategically, were trying to keep him from controlling the narrative, and wanted to cut off any opportunity to get the upper hand over them. It was harsh, but it’s also part of this game and nobody left seems to be taking anything seriously. The last person you could arguably describe as a “villain” was maybe Taylor, but we’d say as a player he was more of a trainwreck than anything else.
As for some other really likable “Survivor” casts, we cannot think of anything close to this where it was hard to find reasons to root against anyone. Maybe “Cagayan,” “San Juan del Sur,” or “China” were close, but you still had people within there that you wanted to root against. We’d say that “Tocantins” may also be up there, provided that you didn’t take Coach altogether seriously and simply enjoyed the ride.
Do you have a cast you find more likable? Let us know in the comments! Also, be sure to head over here to check out our full review of last night’s “Survivor” episode. (Photo: CBS.)