Former ‘Survivor’ Winner Ethan Zohn Prefers the ‘Old-School Game’ Over Newer Seasons: ‘The Survivor Aspect is Minimalized’
The reality TV show Survivor has been going strong for over two decades. Early on in the series, Ethan Zohn won the third season, Survivor: Africa. He’s still a big fan of the show, but he thinks some things were better in the past. He believes that today’s Survivor simply doesn’t have enough emphasis on actually surviving.
Ethan Zohn prefers survival skills over strategy
Recently, Zohn appeared on the podcast The Sarah Fraser Show. Naturally, the discussion turned to Survivor and what he thinks of the show today.
“I love the show. I love everything about it,” he explained. But he also went on to say that because of his experience with it, “I’m very critical of the show.”
What he’s most critical about is how the rules have shifted over the years.
“I feel that based on some of the new twists — clues, advantages, ways to get back in the game — an average or below average player can get far in the game, because I think a lot more is based on luck versus your own, kind of, decisions and strategy.”
Not only does this mean that the player with the strongest survival skills isn’t any more likely to make it to the end, but it may also actually be a disadvantage in today’s competition.
“Good players aren’t doing well because if you play too hard, it puts a target on your back.” He says that the result is that the “survivor aspect is minimalized.”
When it comes down to it, Zohn prefers the “old-school game” over today’s version. But how much has actually changed?
Changes to ‘Survivor’
Survivor is still going strong after more than 20 years and 44 seasons. Along the way, the show has adapted and changed to keep audiences interested.
According to The Things, one of those changes is the addition of hidden immunity idols, an element that was introduced in season 11. The idols can keep a player safe for one vote.
Other advantages have been added, such as an extra vote, idol nullifier, and juror removal, and they’ve led to gameplay that’s much more complex than it used to be. All of this intrigue has even undermined the concept of alliances, which were very important in the early years.
Other elements seem to make it easier to weather the physical challenges. The game’s length has been cut from 39 days to 26. Players are also now given fire tokens, which they can use to buy supplies.
Ethan Zohn is a survivor in more ways than one
It’s no wonder that Zohn places such a high value on survival skills. He’s had to rely on his will to stay alive more than once. After he won Survivor in 2001, he returned to play two more times, in 2004 and 2019. But he fought some bigger battles between his second and third times on the show.
According to Boston.com, in 2009, Zohn was diagnosed with CD 20+ Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, a rare form of blood cancer. He went through treatment, which seemed to be successful. But less than two years later, the cancer returned.
After another course of chemotherapy and one more stem cell transplant, he was declared to be in remission in 2012. He remains healthy to this day.
Seven years after his second round with cancer, Zohn returned one more time to the grueling conditions on Survivor. That level of grit explains a lot about why he prefers the early days of the show. Game playing may be entertaining, but for Zohn, survival is what really matters.
