I could talk about these last two weeks, but I feel like the only thing I would have to say is that no force on Earth will convince me that Benji pulled off a mastermind move. To act like he did -even after one of the people he shielded went home- is so ridiculous that I cannot help but think of it as contrarian caping the likes of which I have never seen. I am going to try really hard to limit my yelling at dumbasses in articles. Instead, I want to take a look at US Survivor. Trust me, it gets progressively less fun as it goes, but this upcoming season really has me intrigued- especially seeing how much it is compared to the current Australian season of Champions vs Contenders.

A lot of times, the upcoming US season is treated as a ripoff of CvC (also what I would call a season made and filmed roughly around the same time as CvC). The concept is similar- a bunch of higher-class semi-famous people are on a tribe against a batch of underdogs from more provincial lives. That being said, this is America. The cultural differences will probably show immediately that these two seasons are similar concepts that will likely take different paths.

In Australia, a lot of people could be described as “semi-famous” or not famous at all (though this is a weekly reminder that Sam deserves to be). Still, there are a few absolutely famous athletes on the cast. One of them, Shane Gould- Olympic superstar and world record setter- may actually be in history books. She’s bigger than all the celebrities US Survivor has ever cast combined. There are also some prominent football stars, and Monika competing in Miss World has single-handedly shut down every US pageant queen that will ever compete on Survivor.

Also in Australia, I have learned by watching the show and fan reactions that these people are really respected in spite of being celebrities. I say “in spite of” because in America, our reaction to celebrity is condescension at best and vitriol at worst. Caring about the Hollywood elites is seen as either vapid and of low IQ or politically incorrect. I can’t really think of anyone who does without at least a little irony. People either hate them or are too pretentious for them. In Champions vs Challengers, not even Monika- a woman and pageant queen- is condescended about in the edit. Their whole vibe about all the non-Russell champions is respectful to the level of a precocious crush.

David vs Goliath hasn’t aired yet, but a close contemporary would be Survivor: Worlds Apart, a season I loathe thinking about. Think early on though before most of the characters turned rancid, though- the white collars, aka the successful rich people, were edited as evil and dramatic, getting all of the villain lines in the setup. The blue-collars- hardworking normal Middle American people- were edited as underdogs. Even the No Collars’ core was portrayed as cute. That’s what we have to go on for American class warfare seasons, which to some extent David vs Goliath is.

This is America- the land of the underdog story, where we have a statue of a fictional underdog boxer. Not only that, Survivor is the show of the anti-hero. They treat those who scheme and blindside others as doing the right thing. Combine the two, and you get a love of the underdog who is given every license to scheme and shut down rich elites. The tones of the seasons are set right there. In Champions vs Challengers, the elites are admirable and looked up towards, while in David vs Goliath I struggle to see a world where they are not vilified.

Not only that, but I cannot imagine they will get along due to the hostility between the working class and the elites. Even though the president of the working class is a well known rich man, there’s genuine vitriol between both sides. The rich disregard the poor, the poor genuinely loathe the rich. In David vs Goliath, there may be some powerful hostility off the bat.

Let’s take the American cast setup versus the Australian cast setup. They do a really good job in CvC of making the Contenders very normal people. There’s a personal trainer, police officer, pro skater’s wife, and multimillionaire entrepreneur. The cast across from them is hyper-successful and oftentimes famous, but honestly, at least one or two contenders could have been switched over with no batting an eyelash. I have expressed my love for the Contenders before, but in a sense if you really want to go for a “successful vs underdogs” vibe some of the choices do reek of “what’s left” casting. Still, Shane Gould is on one tribe. Anyone would look like a chump next to her.

Meanwhile, the Davids include more humble people. Truck drivers, country girls, young waitresses. Even those who are more successful are underdogs- Bi Nguyen is an MMA fighter but she started her career beating a very experienced fighter and sending her to the retirement line. On the Goliath’s side, we have complete douchebag Alec (who started off the season saying “fuck it” to the NDA and CBS saying “quite!” to him being at the reunion), heel wrestler John “Johnny Nitro” “Mayor of Slamtown” “Shaman of Sexy” Hennigan, who just wants to win to buy a big Corvette.

If a literal heel wasn’t enough to make them evil, take Natalie Cole, who I swear was bred in a lab to threaten weakminded men and enthrall everyone else with her cold, take-no-prisoners executive attitude. Natalie Cole got a lot of hype as soon as the Ghost Island reunion ended as someone teeming with power, and it’s clear to see why in her bio. She’s the CEO and sales director for two branches of the LA Times. Not only that, but she’s the first black woman in her field. She acts like someone who’s used to clawing her way up and has to time for peons when she’s at the throne. Be intimidated by her. She deserves it.

I would suspect that a divide is being deliberately stoked in David vs Goliath between the poor and the rich. Let’s be real with ourselves, though- the divide is not going to last very long. In Australia Survivor we got ten episodes of the Champions facing off against the Contenders. Even in a world with fourteen episodes instead of twenty-five, that is still a good forty percent of the season. That would be around five or six episodes of a US season. We get merges after six episodes, and swaps after two or four, no matter what the theme of the season is. After those swaps, the role of those themes and divides is drastically lessened.

Meanwhile, in the swap in CvC a lot of the champions and contenders have blended together on the theme of physical strength- something the champions seem to think that the contenders must lack. (Please ignore Fenella doing better than all the champion women in last week’s endurance challenge. It’s easier that way.) This leaves the new Beans and Rice of Fenella and Shonee, aka the most invested in two people I have been all year, to sit back as the looked down upon women talking about how up their own asses the champions are.

Not only that, enough time has passed that the Champions seem like they’re on the road to decimating all of the contenders- while now getting two on board in Benji and Robbie. However, competitiveness has shone through- the Champions do not like losing and will do whatever it takes to win- to a fault, as Lydia found out, and Shane exploited.

In US Survivor, the divide will likely be gone by Episode Five unless one side gets a free Pagonging over the other and makes it the new Malolo. All we will get are a few scenes of the Goliaths looking smug and the Davids looking like underdogs.

(Yeah, there’s the rumor that with the tribes being named David and Goliath it will stay that way until merge with no swaps, but come on. CvC proved that you don’t need a name change for a swap, and this is an element I think DvG will emulate because every season has had a swap since South Pathetic.)

I think cultural and national differences will really separate two seasons with a similar concept- not only in how it is played, but how the audience takes it, and how the different general game mechanics will cause them to run differently. I don’t think they’ll be copies of each other at all. In many ways, their reception will be worlds apart.

You may now kill me for that pun. I deserve it.

-Cam