Survivor season 43 features the Beware Advantage as a game changer, but some fans find it repetitive and uninteresting. The Beware Advantage was introduced during Survivor season 41 and has stayed in the game ever since. It is similar to finding an immunity idol but comes with a challenge in which whoever opens it must complete it to avoid a consequence. Fans often critique new twists shown on Survivor and judge how well it fits into the game without giving an overwhelming advantage or disadvantage. While fans initially praised the twist for keeping Survivor interesting, they want the show to continue to develop the Beware Advantage to avoid it getting stale.
Survivor 43 features a different Beware Advantage from previous seasons hidden within the camp of each tribe. One member from each of Survivor 43’s three featured tribes had the chance to find the hidden challenge and decide if they would take it. Whoever accepted the challenge had to collect six particular beads, one from each member of their tribe. The challenge was that the bead could only be given to them, not stolen, thus requiring social skills and discreteness. If they did not complete the challenge before their next tribal council, the competitor would lose their vote, but they would gain an immunity idol if they did.
How Survivor 43’s Contestants Handled The Beware Advantage
All three challenges were found and accepted by Cody Assenmacher, Karla Cruz Godoy, and Jeanine Zheng. For many players, such as Geo Bustamante, playing a riskier game is worth the advantage it gives them. This season, viewers watched contestants complete the Beware Advantages with ease and seemingly no consequence. The challenge was not difficult to achieve since trading items and making bracelets from beads was not suspicious in their camps.
One critique of the Beware Advantage was how viewers essentially watched the same challenge completed three times across different episodes. It became repetitive since Cody, Karla and Jeanine used similar methods to get the beads from their tribe members. In addition, some Survivor fans argue that the punishment of losing a vote for one tribal council is not a harsh enough punishment. While no competitor wanted to lose their vote, many felt confident enough in their alliances to take the Beware Advantage since it was still early in the game.
Twist failures like Survivor 42’s Hourglass Twist happened before, and producers do their best to avoid them. So while fans want to see the Beware Advantage reworked to be more exciting, it is challenging to do so. If tribes have different challenges, they need to be equal in terms of difficulty to ensure that no competitor has an unfair advantage. The challenges should also not be too hard, or else players in future seasons will never take them. Still, new twists are vital to keeping Survivor interesting, as it has now aired 43 seasons.
Survivor airs Wednesdays at 8 p.m. EST on CBS.
