When the castaways drop their buffs, they’re stuck in Merge Limbo. It’s now a changing game of strategy for the individuals.
The Big Picture
- The New Era of
Survivor
has changed the merge stage by introducing “Mergatory” where players must earn their buffs and merge feast. - The traditional merge boot has shifted in
Survivor
due to new mechanics like Shot in the Dark, altering gameplay strategies significantly. - While earning rewards adds depth, some question the need for Mergatory and changes to the classic individual gameplay of
Survivor
.
In the New Era of Survivor, the merge stage of the game has changed. Despite all the remaining castaways dropping their buffs, they are temporarily stuck in “Mergatory,” as the fandom and players have lovingly called it. In this Survivor limbo, players must earn their buffs, the merge feast, and safety in the first Tribal Council as a new tribe. As proven once again on Survivor 46, with limited targets available to vote for, the game of numbers and shifting alliances can change the entire trajectory for the rest of the game. While it does alter how the game is played, it is a welcome way to shake up the obvious merge boot from the game prior to the New Era. It’s one of the exciting changes in the New Era. But is it the best mechanic for the game as it currently stands?
Since the show first began, Survivor has been essentially a game played in two phases. First is the tribal stage, where players are divided into a certain number of tribes ranging anywhere from two to four. In this portion of the game, they must work as a team to win and keep themselves safe from being voted out. At a certain point in the game, the players will merge into one tribe where they will now be tasked to play and survive as individuals. For castaways playing prior to the forty-first season, once the tribes have merged, the remaining players would earn a merge feast along with their buffs, alongside their ability to play for themselves. The only real unexpected element would be when exactly the jury would start, as it was not a guarantee to make the jury should you make the merge. But once host Jeff Probst threw everything against the wall in the New Era, the merge has changed. There is a new phase, “Merge-atory.” This purgatory element is a psychological mechanic where Jeff essentially is forcing his players to earn their merge buff, something that he is quite fond of in the New Era.
Survivor
A reality show where a group of contestants are stranded in a remote location with little more than the clothes on their back. The lone survivor of this contest takes home a million dollars.
- Release Date
- May 31, 2000
- Cast
- Jeff Probst
- Main Genre
- Reality-TV
- Seasons
- 46
- Studio
- CBS
- Creator(s)
- Charlie Parsons
The First Merge Vote on ‘Survivor’ Has Changed
For many Survivor hopefuls, winning the game is the end goal, but making the merge is usually the second bucket list item behind not being voted out first. Making the merge is a huge goalpost moment in the game as it has allowed the players to alter their game. Perhaps in the tribe portion of the game, a player is in the minority. They can use the merge to their advantage, finding new allies to help boost their standing. Perhaps in the tribe portion of the game, a tribe enters with all of their original players. They can use the merge to their advantage, pulling in a player or two to help fluff their number majority and dominate to the end of the game. Traditionally, being a strong player in the tribal portion of the game tends to keep them safe, but when the tribes merge, if a physically dominating player doesn’t have individual immunity, their head is usually on the chopping block, leading to a strong player being voted out first at merge. It was a way to ensure that person didn’t go on an Immunity Challenge winning streak. With a new stage occurring before the official merge, the typical merge boot has shifted. Smart and strategic players, beware!
In the New Era of Survivor, Jeff has teased his contestants that until everyone has a buff, they are not a fully united merged tribe. There is a challenge dropped in their path to success. In order to reach the next stage, the tribes will be split into two where they will compete in a combined Reward and Immunity challenge. The winning team will earn their merge buff and merge feast. While they will be able to cast a vote for someone on the losing team, the players on the winning team cannot be voted for. It has been tradition that with an uneven number of players, typically one player will sit out and either get to choose their champion in terms of betting which team will win, or they will be whisked away to an Exile Island type situation where they are teased with a game-changing opportunity. Remember the hourglass during Survivor 41 and Survivor 42? In those two situations, the exiled player, ultimate Survivor 41 winner Erika Casupanan and Rocksroy Bailey from Survivor 42 had the opportunity to smash the hour glass and change who has safety in the upcoming Tribal Council. Luckily for the viewers, they both opted to change fate and caused just enough chaos to keep things interesting.
Players Adjust As the Tribes Start To Merge
For the first two seasons where this was implemented, it was a welcome and fascinating new element. It truly kept the castaways on their toes, forcing them to adjust their strategy as the potential targets may have shifted based on if they’ve won safety or not. Depending on who is available and vulnerable to vote for, the three starting tribes must decide whether it’s more important to keep their original tribal number advantage or find new allies to help shift the targets and future trajectory. Without an element to alter if the safe castaways may lose their safety, the votes have been becoming more cut and dry. While the strategy has completely changed compared to how this portion of Survivor used to be played, the New Era players have figured out how to hack this vote. And it’s all thanks to the controversial Shot in the Dark.
While it only worked to one player’s advantage, Survivor 45 and Survivor 46 watched both targets use the Shot in the Dark advantage in order to save their place. For Kaleb Gebrewold, his advantage play negated all the votes for him, saving him, and causing a re-vote and the shocking blindside of J. Maya. This season, Moriah Gaynor became the unfortunate target for all the players. Her Shot in the Dark was unsuccessful, and she was voted out nearly unanimously. With no new twist integrated into Mergatory, players know that it’s best to play their Shot in the Dark as it is their last ditch effort to save themselves. The goal in this vote is to target a strategic player rather than a physical player, something that has drastically changed the game.
What Is “Playing Too Hard” in ‘Survivor’?
In this game of lies and strategy, no one is ever safe.
The merge portion of Survivor is one of the most exciting elements of the entire game. While Survivor is a game that deserves to evolve and change, it should consistently shift its elements in order to make the game unexpected and exciting. The Mergatory aspect of Survivor forces players to adapt to the new mechanics they are given. While it’s not always the outcome fans want, some of the New Era’s Mergatory episodes have proven to be some of the most thrilling and exciting to watch go down. The merge portion of the game is supposed to be played individually, but in recent seasons, adding double Tribal Councils and multiple Immunity holders following the merge is a step too far.
Survivor is a game of ever-changing strategy and adjusting to the elements, but intertwining group challenges and partial tribal votes in the merge stage of the game distracts and strays away from the classic element of the game. It’s certainly possible to understand why Jeff and the Survivor team would want to keep players on their toes, but it’s not the classic way the game has played. Even with a shortened season, shocking the players with inconsistent twists and turns can stray away from how the classic game should be played. Sometimes “more is more” is a good thing. In this situation, not so much. Perhaps it’s time to edit the twists a tad.
Why All Players Deserve the Merge Feast
Jeff Probst has been very adamant that everything in the New Era of Survivor must be earned. It’s a way to help prove the difficulty of the game, especially in the shortened time frame of game play. It’s been an understandable and controversial sticking point for fans, but his logic holds some weight. While it’s still a tricky situation whether the players should have to earn their flint or not, another element that should be provided for all players, once all castaways have officially made the merge following the Mergatory vote, is the merge feast. Using Jeff’s logic of players needing to earn everything, the vulnerable players who were not voted out at Tribal Council did earn their buffs and their safety. Hence, shouldn’t they earn their merge feast as well?
As it currently stands, the winners of the Mergatory challenge automatically get their merge feast. And they will be the only ones to have the chance to eat like kings and queens. But following the Tribal Council, the vulnerable players earn their buffs as a merge tribe, and they do not get a chance to eat. Why? Well, there’s no explanation. Despite this being the new trend in the New Era, it’s been a grand tradition on Survivor to see all the merged players chow down on a merge feast. Back in the day, they even had the opportunity to find immunity idols and advantages hidden in the food and cutlery. It would be a great change to see Survivor bring this back into the New Era.
Survivor fans can sometimes be traditionalists. Twists and turns are inherent in the game as it keeps Survivor fresh. Once Survivor Mergatory was implemented during Survivor 41, new strategies have emerged and how to handle the individual stage of Survivor has evolved. Keeping a portion of the New Era twist is welcome, but in order to make it have its full impact, other little twists should not be paired with it. Regardless of how Survivor handles the merge moving forward, it’s been a complete game changer.
Survivor airs Wednesdays at 8:00pm on CBS in the U.S. All seasons of Survivor can be streamed on Paramount+.
This article was originally published on collider.com