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“Survivor” is back! Season 43 will kick off with a two-hour premiere on Wednesday, September 21, at 8 p.m. Eastern Time on CBS. On Wednesday, eighteen new castaways will be dropped into the Mamanuca Islands of Fiji in the hopes of winning the one million dollar grand prize.
Ahead of the premiere, host Jeff Probst spoke to Entertainment Weekly about what fans can expect from season 43 and revealed that one controversial twist would not be returning.
Here’s what you need to know:
Jeff Probst on Getting Rid of the Hourglass Twist
In a September interview with Entertainment Weekly, Probst said that the Hourglass twist, which first appeared in season 41, would be retiring from the game.
The Hourglass twist, also called the Change History twist, received backlash from fans who felt the twist gave one player an unfair advantage.
The twist first appeared in “Survivor 41” right before the merge. Probst told the castaways that they would have to earn their way into the merge by competing in a challenge.
The players were separated into two groups of five. A random draw determined the teams. Two players, Naseer Muttalif and Erika Casupanan, got the short end of the stick and had to sit out of the challenge. After the challenge, the winning team got to choose either Naseer or Erika to join their team, guaranteeing that player immunity. The winning team chose Naseer and Erika was sent to Exile Island.
But here’s where the twist got complicated. Probst showed up at Exile Island and presented Erika with a choice. He told her she could either keep the game as is or she could “smash the hourglass” and reverse the outcome of the challenge. If she chose to smash the hourglass, she and the losing team would be granted immunity going into the merge and the winning team would now have to compete in an Individual Immunity Challenge. Erika chose to smash the hourglass.
The controversial twist caused an uproar on social media. Fans expressed their thoughts on social media, calling out Probst and the “Survivor” producers for creating an unfair twist.
The twist returned in season 42, but this time, Probst informed the players ahead of time that the castaway sent to exile island would be given an advantage.
Despite the modification, fans were still not impressed.
i hate this flop hourglass twist so much, i cant believe jeff and the producers really thought applebees and a subtle nudge nudge wink wink that something bad is gonna happen would make it any better than the mess it was in 41 #Survivor #Survivor42
Probst spoke to Entertainment Weekly about the backlash and the decision to get rid of the twist.
“I can already hear some fans celebrating and others saying we caved to criticism,” he told the outlet.
“We love fan feedback, and the feedback on Change History was amazing,” he continued. “People either really liked it or really hated it, but not a single person said ‘Eh, I could take it or leave it.’ And with Do or Die, the drama was electrifying but we also felt that was one twist we could put on the shelf… for now.”
Tyson Apostol Opens Up About ‘The Challenge: USA’ Finale
Tyson Apostol played an impressive game on “The Challenge: USA.” The “Survivor” alum won four challenges and was the favorite to win going into the finale, so fans were shocked when Tyson, along with several other players, decided to walk away from the game in the final episode.
The “Blood vs. Water” winner opened up about his decision to walk away during “The Challenge: USA” finale in an interview with “Us Weekly.”
“When it comes to Sudoku, they’re not letting us time out,”he told the outlet. “And so, I just have to quit. I’ll try to do this Sudoku. I’ve never played it before. I know the premise and I’m gonna try one time. It’s taken me a while. I didn’t get it. They’re like, ‘That’s incorrect.’ I was like, ‘OK, well I don’t know what else to do.’ And they’re like, ‘Well, we can’t do the puzzle for you.’ And I was like, ‘I’m not asking you to do the puzzle for me.’ I’m just saying I can’t do it because I don’t know how to do this. They were like shoulder shrug and then I quit.”
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A Controversial Twist Will Not Return for ‘Survivor 43’