

Well, so far on “‘Survivor’ What-If’s”, we’ve explored changing the timeline right after the merge, and near the end of the game. With such nebulous groups, there’s only one place left to go: The very end of the game, of course! Recapping how an entire season changes based on a change in the first boot is, to be frank, too unpredictable to be interesting. Some might argue that a small change at the end also makes things uninteresting, but given that this also examines how future seasons are impacted, it can be fun to see how things will fall out with a different overall outcome, even if little else changes. Ironically, for the first season where we’re looking late in the timeline, we actually have to go back fairly early in the overall “Survivor” timeline. Yes, it’s time to talk about what’s arguably the first season of “Survivor” I watched, “Survivor Exile Island”.

Before we dive into discussion, though, a quick reminder that this blog contains the dreaded SPOILERS! It’s hard to talk about an alternate way a season goes down without comparing it to how it went down in our time, so if you haven’t seen “Survivor Exile Island” or any subsequent seasons, make sure you’re prepared for any lack of enjoyment you may experience as a result of this blog. For the rest of us, let us begin with…

THE IMPACT: When I say we’re making a change at the end, I mean that about as late as can possibly be. Danielle, as you’ll recall, won the Final Immunity Challenge on Day 38, and agonized over who to take to the end between Terry and Aras. In our timeline, she chooses Aras, which I’d personally say was probably her safer bet, but let’s say Danielle thought differently at the time. Terry previously giving her his hidden immunity idol would violate my “Two Independant Changes” Rule (and also be a really dumb move for Terry), so let’s instead say that Danielle calculated out potential votes, and figured that with the ex La Mina all voting for Aras, following Terry’s lead, plus Shane hating her guts, there’s no way she could win against Aras. With Terry, however, she can hope that old Casaya loyalty, and not wanting to see a former La Mina win the game, wins her the votes of a majority-Casaya jury. Thus, Danielle votes Terry off.

THE FALLOUT: Danielle is incorrect. She was losing no matter what, and Terry wins by a 5-2 vote. Oddly, this is exactly the same ratio that Danielle loses by in our own timeline, though who votes for her differ slightly. Bringing Terry to the end gains her Cirie’s vote, but loses her Shane’s. Since we’re so near the end, that really does it for this section. Timeline changes so near the end really don’t have much impact on the season proper. On subsequent seasons, though? Hoo boy, this is a doozy!

THE LEGACY: Now, on the surface, this change actually doesn’t seem to do much. Most of the breakout characters remain breakout characters. A Terry win does not erase the impact of Cirie, nor the comedy gold of Shane. Aras might fade into the background a bit more than he does in our timeline, but I’d argue he’s not one of the more well-remembered winners to begin with, and given how random the casting for “Survivor Blood vs. Water” was, I think we still get him and Vytas later on. That season perhaps sees a slightly more aggressive Aras, hungry for a win, and we’re more likely to see Aras later on as a result, but ultimately, not much changes with any of the Casaya people.

What does change is Terry. Now, saying that Terry was not a major character of the season does a disservice even in our own timeline. The only reason Terry wasn’t the breakout star of the season was an unlucky combination of being on the same season as Cirie, and Ozzy coming along one season later to do what Terry did with more success, thus supplanting his spot in returnee seasons. In a timeline where Terry WINS? You can bet he’s not fading into the background. Cirie may be the breakout star of the season, but Terry comes in a close second. He’s fairly likable for the general public, he’s basically the first guy to immunity his way to the end, and most importantly, he breaks the car curse. Yeah, for those of you who are late-comers too “Survivor”, let me fill you in on a bit of history: Starting with “Survivor The Australian Outback”, and going fairly steady through “Survivor Fiji”, one reward challenge would have the winner take home a car. However, as the seasons passed, people started to notice that whoever won the car did not go on to win “Survivor”. There were some close run things, like Colby nearly winning “Survivor The Australian Outback”, but ultimately, no victors also won a car on the show (unless the car was part of the prize for winning, along with the million dollars). A victory by Terry changes that, and he’s forever immortalized as “The Guy Who Broke the Car Curse”. The subsequent elimination of the car reward also posthumously makes more sense as a result, its death throes on “Survivor Fiji” notwithstanding.

So Terry’s a bigger deal, now. What’s the big deal about that? Initially, not much. “Survivor Micronesia” is the next returnee season, and while Terry is definitely given serious consideration for it, the halving of returnees for new contestants, and the rise of Ozzy screws him (along with, I would argue, the returnee potential of “Survivor Guatemala”) out of a spot there, with the final nail in the coffin being the lack of winners being invited for that season. “Survivor Heroes vs. Villains” is another matter. “Survivor Heroes vs. Villains” is the 10th anniversary season. It’s about milestones. It’s about icons of “Survivor”. If someone broke the car curse, you can bet they’d be considered an icon. I see no way, in this timeline, that Terry doesn’t get the invite back for “Survivor Heroes vs. Villains”. Presumably, he’s on the “Heroes” tribe, taking up Tom Westman’s spot. Tom was iffy about coming back to begin with, and while “Survivor Palau” probably remains the more iconic season overall, in this timeline, Terry is the bigger winner, dominating challenges like Tom, being the good guy, like Tom, but coming from an underdog position, rather than the tribe that just steamrolled the other. I don’t think Terry does much better than Tom in this scenario, though I do think Terry’s a bit quicker to abandon Colby to his fate once it becomes clear he’s in the minority. This MAYBE gets him to the merge, but I’d be a bit surprised, and ultimately, it doesn’t change much about “Survivor Heroes vs. Villains”.

Moving on, the next change as a result of this comes from “Survivor Cambodia”. In our timeline, Terry was on that season. With him as a former winner, plus a two-time contestant, he’s now disqualified from the vote. Thus, someone else goes on that season in his stead. Based on the reports of who was considered, I’m inclined to say Hayden from “Survivor Blood vs. Water” probably isn’t cut from the vote, and is eligible as an option. Possibly he gets on instead, but I’m more inclined to say that Shane ends up taking the spot ultimately filled by Terry. Regardless of who gets on, though, what does change is the merge of “Survivor Cambodia”. Without the gut-wrenching illness of Danny, Terry’s son, there’s no need for someone to leave the game unexpectedly, thus meaning that “Survivor Cambodia” merges at the final fourteen contestants, and assuming the jury was always meant to start at 13, means Kass likely doesn’t make the jury. Overall, I prefer our timeline on this one. Apart from being a big fan of Kass, merges at 13 are chaotic enough. Opening up the door to 14 is just too much for me.

Now, this could be where Terry’s story ends. Having won, he might not feel the need to play a third time. Plus, ending things here would be easier on my writing. However, I feel duty bound to point out that, having made such an impact on the show in this timeline, Terry is probably up for consideration for “Survivor Game Changers”. My guess would be that he probably takes Brad Culpepper’s spot, since both fit the archetype of the older leader, but JT’s spot is also a possibility. Either way, I don’t think it has as much impact on the season as we might hope, but it’s an interesting possibility.

This has been a weird one for me to write, in that the timeline does change, but only because of and around one person. When we hit the point where the ripples are too chaotic to see what would happen, we’ve already got ourselves a possible 3-time returnee, an early merge, and a “Survivor” legacy with really no equivalent in this timeline. Which one is better? I leave that up to you. I also leave the possibility of future timelines up to you! Feel free to suggest new timelines for me to examine in the comments below/on social media. Anything goes, but please bear in mind my three ground rules for timeline alteration suggestions:

One Change Only: This can’t be a whole bunch of things or multiple things going another way to alter the course of a season. This must be one singular event that alters the season in some way. Cascade effects, where one change naturally leads to another, are ok, but they have to be natural and logical. As an example, Shii-Ann not flipping and Chuay Gahn losing the final 10 immunity challenge on “Survivor Thailand” would definitely change things, but those are two independent changes that need to happen, and therefore not for this blog. I should also mention that the change has to be an EVENT, not a play style. Yes, “Survivor Heroes vs. Villains” probably goes much differently if Russell Hantz (“Survivor Samoa”) isn’t an asshole to everyone, but apart from that never happening, it’s a change in overall play style, not a single moment. It’s also, as I say, implausible, which leads to my next ground rule…

The Change Must Be Realistic: An unlikely change is ok, but it has to be something that COULD have happened, or it’s not worth writing about. Yes, Fang winning the first challenge on “Survivor Gabon” would drastically change the season. Would it ever happen? No. So there’s no point in talking about it.

The Change Must Have An Impact: By this, I mean the change has to actually alter the season in some significant way. Simply changing up the boot order is not enough. Someone new has to win, the perception of the season has to change, or both. As an example, I originally planned to do a blog on “Survivor Heroes vs. Villains”, with a timeline where Candice didn’t flip at the final 9. I thought this could lead to a Heroes Victory. Then I remembered that Russell Hantz plays his idol for himself in that same episode, meaning the flip doesn’t matter, and apart from a slight boot order change, the season as a whole remains untouched. Uninteresting, and therefore not worth talking about.

Well, we’ve got through the three types of timeline changes I wanted to try out. Now onto randomly doing whatever I find interesting! As always, your feedback is appreciated, and remember to be kind to each other!

-Matt