Survivor Season 41 To Be A Shortened Season?

A monumental change…

Photo: CBS

Survivor is back in Fiji and set to begin filming its forty-first season this week, but we may not be getting as much Survivor as we’re used to.

According to Inside Survivor sources, season 41 (and possibly season 42 and beyond) will not be the traditional 39 days and will instead be shortened in length. While we don’t yet have confirmation on an exact number, we’re told it could be cut at least 10 days shorter than usual.

UPDATE 05/23/21: We have now confirmed the season will be 26 days long.

The reason for this change is currently unclear, though we can, of course, speculate. Budgetary and/or scheduling reasons are the first that come to mind—cast and crew having to quarantine for 14 days upon arrival in Fiji due to COVID-19 certainly eats into a considerable chunk of production time.

That said, it still comes as a shocking development given that “39 days” is baked into the very conceit of Survivor; it’s as synonymous with the show as “the tribe has spoken.” Other than The Australian Outback, which was 42 days, every other season has lasted 39 days.

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The shortened season length will obviously change the show’s flow and pacing, at least in terms of production. Survivor previously operated on a 3-day filming cycle, which usually included a Reward challenge, an Immunity challenge, and a Tribal Council.

If, for example, the show is losing 10 days, production could potentially move to a 2-day cycle going forward. This could mean more combined Reward/Immunity challenges and perhaps more double boots—as far as Inside Survivor is aware, the number of castaways hasn’t been lowered.

This change also begs the question, how many episodes will we get? Will it still be the traditional 14? In fact, will Survivor itself even tell us about the shorter length, or will they use the magic of editing to pretend that it’s still a 39 day season? Only time will tell.

Stay tuned to Inside Survivor for more info in the coming weeks or subscribe to our Patreon for all the latest rumors and speculation.


Written by

Martin Holmes

Martin is a freelance writer from England. He’s represented by Berlin Associates for comedy writing and writes about TV and entertainment, currently for TV Insider and Vulture, previously Digital Spy, ET Canada, and Yahoo. A finalist for the Shortlist Sitcom Search in 2012 for “Siblings,” Martin received his BA in English with Creative Writing from The University of Hull. Martin is the owner and editor-in-chief of Insider Survivor.


28 responses to “Survivor Season 41 To Be A Shortened Season?”

      • Martin, you must condone this shit since you allow it! How do I know it isn’t you? It could be for all I know….

    • OK, “Andy”, are you fucking stupid? I had ALREADY said before that you DON’T talk/write like me & STILL haven’t figured it out! They (whoever “they” are) say “imitation is the sincerest form of flattery” so you MUST be in love with me for as much as you (try to) do it! Only I don’t know how you could be in love with somebody you don’t even know! That being said, you REALLY need to cut the fucking shit!

        • While that may be true,I highly doubt that’s the case! It is pretty apparent to me that that “Andy” is trying to impersonate how I have complained before about the casting aspect of Survivor. It is very perplexing to me how someone with the “same name” as my says things when I know I had NOT posted(nor use the verbiage that was used). Don’t tell me that isn’t suspicious….

  1. If this is what is going to happen, cast should be shortened permanently to 16 players only. If they keep the 20 with this length change, we’re going to have even more players we don’t get to know at all. It’ll become a cycle of came-and-went that’ll make it boring to watch.

  2. This is pretty shocking… If it does happen, hopefully only in 2021 and not beyond, when hopefully quarantining for 14 days isn’t necessary anymore. Thanks for the update.

    When does filming start?

  3. It won’t show less episodes. No need to tell us. That they ate cutting days. Why would they make it clear In anyway outside one into on how many days it been.

    • Because it usually shows what day number it is at the bottom of the screen and Jeff usually starts by saying “39 days… 18 players… etc”.

  4. umm, less than 39 days = less enjoyment for myself and others = less than $1million for you too…

  5. I feel like they’re slowly killing the show with changes like this (along with the final four fire making challenge, the 4000 twists each season, 500 immunity idols etc). What a shame

  6. I could also see them filming the next 2 seasons for only 29 days to fit in the filming of a third season to still fit within their allotted production time by CBS.

  7. I love Survivor as much as anyone and I love seeing rule-changes to make the game more interesting and challenging. Here’s an idea I had from the very beginning of COVID. How about making the 14 day quarantine period part of the game in some way. During quarantine, the cast would, in some clever way, have to participate in on-line challenges. Like puzzles or memory challenges or even some kind of physical challenge – all done remotely. Think about it, the quarantine itself would be a challenge. Production could make it as challenging as they want. Anything from physical to psychological.

    • Love that concept. I would like to see a season where Jeff actually plays the game and maybe with the crew. That would very interesting.

  8. Hey guys,

    Any updates? I think S41 is filming already right? And maybe for quite some time? Very curious to know anything 🙂

    Ryan

  9. Did I miss it, or do we not know how many contestants there will be?
    To the viewing audience, 39 days vs 29 days is less important than how many EPISODES there are.

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