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Survivor: South Pacific was ruined by Religion

Survivor says a prayer to God and snuffs out another season. Amen to that.

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Tonight Survivor fans will get the see the Finale (and Reunion) of Survivor: South Pacific.

Remaining in the game are Coach, Sophie, Rick and Albert with Ozzy and Brandon set to battle it out on Redemption Island. Other than fly under the radar, I don’t think I can name one thing Sophie or Rick have done all season.

As a loyal follower of the long-running show I’ve been pretty disappointed this season.

If it wasn’t for fan-turned-competitor Cochran wreaking havoc amongst the tribes it would have been dull as dishwater.

But the biggest problem for me as been the suffocating focus on religion in the gameplay.

Coach, the self-appointed “Dragon-slayer” who’s never slayed a Dragon in his life, has led his flock with prayers to God while manipulating them at every turn. On the one hand he is practising Eastern meditation and then preaching like a Bible-Belt minister -all the while with his eye on his real religion: money (or possibly narcissism).

Last week he voted out his lapdog Brandon and had the nerve to tell him “It’s God’s will.” Seriously.

I’m all for wacky heroes and villains giving a Reality show colour and twists. It’s just that we’ve had to endure so much religion getting in the way of gameplay -but only one religion. Why?

Maybe next season they will have to cast Buddhists, Muslims, Russian Orthodox, Jews, Scientologists and Athiests just to give the show some balance.

In any case it all ends tonight from 9:30pm, with the all-important Reunion (where the winner is announced) at a very-late 11:30pm on Nine.

41 Responses

  1. I loved this season of survivor.
    Cochran was good for being different and failing to capitalise on his knowledge of the previous seasons (how stupid for turning on his team. It was obvious he would have stayed on at least one spot longer had he stuck with his team).

    Religious mumbo jumbo only added to the fun of this season. It was obvious to all that coach and the others were using religion to shroud their immoral strategising.
    I loved watching host jeff look on with disdain at the competitors as they proclaimed that they guided by God in their actions.

    The only sad part was that brandon may actually have become a better person if he hadnt had been voted out by his fellow “christian” mate coach. He may have been a bully with anger issues but i suspect he truly did believe he was trying to be a better person and now it seems likely he will fully turn to the darkside lilke his dad and uncle russell.

    The rest so obviously used religion as a tool to band together into a clique and cemet their alliance. Nobody would believe that they were spouting fake religious fervour for anything more than a convenient alliance. Coach plays his character but in no way believes what he is saying and viewers know he is full of crap but like him for the lovable scoundrel that he is.

    Ozzy is very competitive but also let slip himself to be a bit of a bully towards cochran.

    survivor does what it does best that Its a knockout could never do and that is create competitive soap opera with easy to digest characters. a true life running man without the killings. keep it going for many more years.

  4. David… I am sure that God will forgive and bless the producers. I don’t agree with you about having diverse religions, I would prefer no religeous aspect at all as this is just an elongated game show.

    Religion is a very personal thing. Apart from the political driven conflicts of the 20th century, religion or its deeply held beliefs have been responsible for virtually all wars as everyone thinks thety have God on their side.

    So, for me, tv is about entertainment and if I require some religeous guidance or input I will head to the relevant place of worship.

  6. Strange you would say that religion “ruined” this season, I would have thought it was more a case of the fact that no one was willing to make a move. How did the players’ references to God make any difference? My goodness, heaven forbid we are forced to watch a television show where they hold hands to pray for 30 seconds, especially when so many other shows on tv are loaded with sex or poor language (I don’t think I’ve ever read an article on these issues with regards to television programming?).

    I wouldn’t mind reading an article on the role of religion in survivor this season, but I am disappointed to see it used as the reason to explain this season’s drop in value.

    1. If the religion is as diverse as the rest of the backgrounds of Survivor contestants then I would have copped it sweet. But it was all one faith. When casting this genre it’s better to have contrasting religions / class / ethnicity / gender / sexuality etc. The irony is all it did was show how hypocritical many of them were -so maybe that was the point of including so many religious scenes.

      In TV Tonight surveys most readers have indicated violence offends them more than sex and language issues, and even then they are more offended by a lack of suitable classification. I think most viewers are happy to make adult decisions based on the correct information put in front of them.

  7. I blame the producers too David, not for the narritive editing choices but for the decision to bring back returning players. All the negatives of the last few seasons, discussed below, stem from the leadership/power given to positive (Russel excluded) returning players.

    I don’t blame them for the religion. Going into filming the big players, in the producers eyes, would have been the RPs and little Hantz ‘fighting for his family name’. When two of those players start spewing out ‘the cool aid’, and make it as far in the game as they do, the producers no longer have a choice. Religon has to be a major part.

    Keep the returning players for the all star seasons.

  9. BTW, Survivor is easily my favourite show on TV at the moment. Year in and year out it provides very high production values combined with brilliant casting and argueably the perfect host. I’m guessing a massive budget doesn’t hurt either. It always has great “shoutability”.

  11. I actually quite enjoyed watching the religious nutters this season. Sure, they’re pretty annoying but they’re also fascinating to observe the way that deeply troubled individuals like Brandon and Coach have latched onto religion as a way of justifying their poor treatment of others.

  12. I agree that there was been Way too much of a focus on religion and so-on but I think Survivor’s bigger problem is their editing when it comes to some of the contestants compared to the obvious favourites (Coach, Ozzy, etc.) because like you said we hardly know anything about Rick, and to a lesser extent Sophie, and it was the same with Edna. I remember classic Survivor would focus on all the contestants equally, but these days they pick who they want the audience to love & hate and give them 90% of the air-time with a quick glimpse of the others just so you don’t forget their names 🙁

  13. Hi David,
    I fully respect your opinion and can understand your thoughts as mine were the same until a few weeks ago. After questioning why the very talented production team at Survivor would want to show so much religious fervour in this series I can only conclude that they are trying to very subtly show Americans just how ridiculous they are when it comes to religion. They are sending up their own countrymen on an international stage. They could edit nearly all of this secular rubbish out if they wanted, but by showing how seemingly intelligent people (Dragon-slayer) can use “The word of God” to manipulate the weak or stupid (Hantz) is this not a microcosm of modern society?
    “God’s will” indeed!

  15. Totally agree with you David! This has been my beef all season. Whether its the prayer montages, or Brandon relating everything to god, it’s as if the producers are now trying to please the religious advertisers.

    It has affected the viewing of the game severely – I had to stop watching after 4 episodes because it was getting too much. Yes I’m athiest, but I’m all for religion if it’s shown in an equal unbiased fashion. This was just preachy.

  17. Sophie hasn’t flown under the radar, the producers just don’t want to give her enough air time. Every time they do, they show how bitchy and powerful she is 😉

  18. Already seen the finale over a week ago and was surprised who won it. I couldn’t agree more with your analysis of this season David. I almost gave up half way through but stuck it out, just.

  20. Spot on. I’ve switched channels just so i didn’t have to listen to them babbling on about God. It’s been nauseating. Particularly Brandon. Claims he’s all high and mighty because he’s one with God, but then he’s the most rude, disrespectful person there, but that’s ok God will forgive him.
    And yep, first time I heard Rick speak was last week. Hope Ozzy comes back and wins the game, cos the rest don’t deserve it. Terrible season of Survivor. That’s the reason i voted Amazing Race as favourite Int’l Reality Show in the survey instead of Survivor.

  22. Completely agree. We have been almost tragic followers of the show since inception and have been underwhelmed by this season. We have noticed in the last two series a large and rather unsavory focus on religion. Had wondered if a religious group has ties with the series?

  23. I’m a believer, but I rolled my eyes every time coach’s tribe had a group prayer, said God told them what they needed to do, or that something was god’s will. Turned my stomach, the pack of hypocrites. That feral look in Brandon’s eyes has made me wonder if it was God they’re worshipping or Satan. Yeah, let’s blame God, “God made me do it”. Nut jobs!

  25. Hmm yeah the constant religion is a bit annoying – and I’m way more tolerant of that stuff that most people. But then again, there obviously isn’t much else going on right now on the set, and religion was what bought the main alliance together. It’s unfortunate, and you can bet there’ll be some less religious types next season or 2. I find Brandon and Coach interesting, but I can’t root for them like I could for Cochran.

    The other trend that’s starting to gain traction is the ‘strong tribe to the end’ deal, Boston Rob started it last season, basically telling his tribe to not even talk with the other tribe when the 2 merged and it meant they cruised to the end as a group. Kinda the same this season with Coach’s group. Hopefully in coming seasons they mix up the tribes earlier, with more swaps to stop those alliances becoming too deep. Otherwise the last few shows become very predictable. Alliances breaking up is what makes a show IMHO.

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