Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Survivor’ Season 45, The Return of CBS’s OG Reality Competition Series, Now With Supersized 90-Minute Episodes

As Survivor returns to CBS for its 45th season, it retains its post-COVID “new era” format, with 18 contestants competing across three teams in just under a month of gameplay on Fiji’s Mamanuca Islands, which the series has called home for over a decade. Strengths will emerge, and weaknesses will be revealed. Whispered alliances will be forged. Secrets will be kept, hidden paths to immunity will be uncovered, and ultimately, a “Sole Survivor” – picked by their peers – will be left standing to collect the million-dollar grand prize. Before the sun even sets on the first day of competition, there’s already been more than one utterance of “This is the hardest thing I’ve ever done.” So let’s see what kind of individuals we’ll be following on this 45th go-round of the Jeff Probst-hosted reality fave.   

SURVIVOR – SEASON 45: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT? 

Opening Shot: An epic fanfare touched with a bit of foreboding, and the Survivor logo appears, tweaked to reflect this 45th season of the pioneering competition reality series. A few establishing shots of the setting and game action to come, and then it’s time for the Survivor 45ers to rendezvous with Probst. 

The Gist: This season begins with three tribes of six contestants each – Reba (red), Lulu (yellow), and Belo (blue) – and as they pull up on longboats to a commercial fishing barge docked in iridescent ocean waters, we learn a little bit about some of the players. Drew’s a bookish graduate student in his early 20s who believes the dual sides of his personality will be assets to Team Reba. Katurah of Team Lulu is one of three attorneys competing this season, but just like Julie of Reba, she’s determined to keep her profession secret from the other contestants. (Not so for Jake of Belo, who seems to be as proud of passing the bar exam as he is of his Boston accent.) Lulu’s Sabiyah is a former US Marine, Belo’s Brando is a youthful software developer, Reba’s Janani, or “J,” is a singer, and Bruce of Belo might be a familiar face to Survivor heads, since he initially competed in season 44 before being evacuated after a medical emergency. Probst compliments the teams’ hyperactive energy levels, and reminds these groups of strangers of the show’s basic premise. Learn to work together, and prepare to vote each other out.

The challenges begin right then and there, with each group working in teams of two to haul heavy ropes on deck, swim to a small dinghy off starboard, and finagle their camp’s flint free of its bound-up storage bag. Reba eventually wins their flint, machete, and cook pot. But Lulu and Belo will initially need to approach building their camps without these essential items. There’s also an initial bout of gamesmanship. Emily, an investment analyst, speaks up from the ranks of Team Lulu to question the relative advantages of Bruce being a series returner. But in a cutaway interview, Bruce says he won’t bring know-it-all dad energy to Belo, but will instead go for “fun uncle” vibes. Nevertheless, within hours of arrival at their camp, other Belo team members bristle at the New Jersey insurance salesman’s tendency to take over the management of a given task.

By day three of the competition, there have been a few forays into allyship – Kellie, Kendra, and Katurah of Belo want to change the recent status quo of women being sent home in Survivor’s earliest rounds – as well as a few gripes tallied. But there’s no time to sit around and stew, because the first immunity challenge is nigh. And after a challenging obstacle course, one team is left to consider whose torch will get snuffed at the first tribal council.    

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? CBS’s Fall 2023 features a few other familiar reality hits that you may have heard of. The network dropped the 25th (!) season of Big Brother on us this past August, and has paired the premiere of The Amazing Race season 35 (!!) to Survivor for a reality show programming block immune to ripple effects from any ongoing Hollywood strikes. CBS also offers a little bit wackier of a reality experience with the new series Buddy Games, hosted by Josh Duhamel.   

Our Take: It’s always a trip to watch the reality of what they signed up for unfold on the faces of Survivor’s newest set of competitors. In the first episode of the longtime hit’s 45th season, the same contestant who becomes emotional at the mere sight of Jeff Probst standing on the deck of a ship in the Pacific is within minutes reduced to a blubbering heap of exhaustion at the host’s feet. The host calls to the teams as they muck through thick mud and slop and yank hungrily on each other’s limbs to try and pull them through challenges. “Survivor is never easy! You are earning it every single day!” And his boundless well of encouragement is admirable, but it’s also a barometer of just how tough this series gets. When many of these contestants arrive at the jungle clearings that will become their camps, they mill about and stop to consider just what it might entail to construct a sturdy shelter. These are the same individuals who namecheck past Survivor winners with ease – “I’m going Tony Vlachos style, times five!” says one guy of his style of gameplay – but sometimes, it’s the show’s most elemental components that seem to confound them. Mildly losing her shit on the very first day, another contestant claims that nicotine withdrawal has made her hangry. Well, what was she planning to do if she made it to like day 12? Smoke coconuts? 

Survivor is great at pushing these moments toward each other, of course, to use the contestants’ disparate personalities as activators for both alliances and more friction. The show also utilizes its tight format – less than a month to grab at the big grand prize – and a wonderful knack for editing to keep the energy constantly flowing toward a common result. Individual dynamics and side squabbles? Totally necessary. But this group who have made it all the way to Fiji to participate in a show they know and love will see themselves chewed up and spit out before they see any kind of cashola. And we’re here for that journey.

Sex and Skin: Not so much sex and skin as the rapid onset of sunburns, improvised clothing choices, and people more or less constantly being soaking wet, covered head to toe in sloppy mud, or making due with some combination thereof.

Parting Shot: After we witnessed some on-the-fly strategizing and chess board references that really didn’t seem to solve anything once they met with Jeff Probst at the council, the host tells the remaining five teammates from the immunity challenge loss to take their torches and head back to camp. 

Sleeper Star: The Emmy-winning Probst continues to be the host to beat in the reality show game. There’s no question that he’s influenced countless others as the genre continues to churn out new titles. And yet, his style remains as fresh as ever here in Survivor season 45. Probst never instigates drama for drama’s sake, though he’s more than willing to stoke it at a competitive level. He always treats the contestants with dignity, and he can still make any immunity challenge sizzle with his ongoing commentary and rallying cries to cross the finish line.     

Most Pilot-y Line: “There are a lot of people out here who are just happy to be here, happy to have the experience,” says Emily of Team Lulu in an interview. “I don’t really care. I’m a goal-driven person. And if I’m not going to win the game, I would rather be the first person voted off. It’s a complete waste of time if you’re not the Sole Survivor. Excuse me for being honest.” Emily’s is definitely one of the loudest voices going into season 45. Her experience on the show feels like it’ll be one to watch. 

Our Call: STREAM IT. With its 45th season, Survivor returns to a genre it largely defined and continues to dominate. The pace is electric, the challenges are unforgiving, and the personalities and styles represented feel contemporary but also cognizant of how to win the game. These people have all watched a lot of Survivor. But it always looks easier from the comfort of your couch. 

Johnny Loftus is an independent writer and editor living at large in Chicagoland. His work has appeared in The Village Voice, All Music Guide, Pitchfork Media, and Nicki Swift. Follow him on Twitter: @glennganges