‘Survivor’ Season 43 Isn’t the First Time 4 Women Were the First Voted out
Survivor is historically known to favor men over women. More men (24) than women (16) have been crowned the Sole Survivor throughout the show’s run. Even though the previous two seasons featured women winners, before that, it had been seven seasons since a woman won the series. And it seems like the pattern is returning in Survivor Season 43.
The first four boots of ‘Survivor’ Season 43 were all women
Four episodes into Survivor Season 43, and already four women are gone.
In the premiere, the Baka tribe lost the Immunity Challenge. And at Tribal Council, they decided to vote out Morriah Young so that they could keep their tribe strong. As fans know, that is the reason many tribes use when voting out the smaller, usually women, players.
In episodes 2 and 3, the Vesi tribe lost both Immunity Challenges. As Baka did before them, they voted out Justine Brennan and Nneka Ejere because they wanted to keep the stronger players to win more challenges.
Finally, in episode 4, the Coco tribe lost the Immunity Challenge after Baka and Vesi helped one another. Back at camp, they were set on booting Geo Bustamante from the tribe. However, Lindsay Carmine’s paranoia shot her in the foot, and they sent her packing at Tribal Council.
So nine men are still left in the game, but only five women remain. The odds definitely favor the men over the women for the rest of the season.
Two other seasons also featured four women voted out first
If fans thought that Survivor Season 43 set a record for most women consecutively voted out, they would be mistaken. The first four boots in Survivor: Panama and Survivor: Gabon were all women castaways.
Tina Scheer was the first player voted out of Survivor: Panama, followed by Melinda Hyder, Misty Giles, and Ruth Marie Milliman. Aras Baskauskas was the winner of that season. However, Survivor: Panama also introduced fans to Cirie Fields, who finished in fourth place and returned for three more seasons. She’s arguably the best castaway never to win the game.
As for Survivor: Gabon, Michelle Chase was the first castaway booted from the competition. And then Gillian Larson, Paloma Soto-Castillo, and Jacquie Berg followed her out the door. Bob Crowley would go on to win Survivor: Gabon.
There has never been a season in Survivor history that featured five women as the first five voted out. So if a woman leaves in Survivor Season 43 Episode 5, it would set a record.
Fans react to the pattern in ‘Survivor’ Season 43
After recognizing this troubling pattern of women leaving Survivor Season 43, fans took to Reddit to discuss it.
“In [episode 1], when the Baka women make their alliance, Elie [Scott] says that women can accomplish anything if they work together, and they even subtitle it for emphasis,” one Reddit user wrote. “When the episode ended with her turning on Morriah, it really made that line stick out more.”
They continued, “I can’t help but think that a narrative theme this season will be ‘women can accomplish anything if they work together. Too bad for these women because they didn’t do that.’ At this point, I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if we saw all the pre-merge boots be women.”
Another fan commented, “I still have hope for the gender balance because: In Panama, despite four women being voted out at the beginning, the next four eliminations were men, and the genders were balanced for the rest of the season. In Gabon, despite four women being voted out at the beginning, six of the next seven eliminations were men, and both genders were balanced for the rest of the season.”
Someone else pointed out, “Welcome to lack of [tribal] swaps. It makes challenge strength extremely important.”
New episodes of Survivor Season 43 air Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET on CBS.
