An interesting topic that’s come out on social media about the New Era of Survivor having villains or not, so I want to give my take.

I think of villains as somethin akin to playing a wrestling heel, you gotta get into it, into the character, you gotta have clear motivation to play the villainous role, and its also got to be an extension of who you are as a person. People that say they dont want villains back I feel are thinking more of the Ben Browning, Rocky, Shannon, or Kyle/Scot type, people who were unlikeable a-holes, but had nothing beyond that. But the villains that people love came in wanting to play that role because of something they wanted to achieve, plus they also play the role well because I can buy their persona :

Richard Hatch wanted to turn the show into a strategic game, and knew the “survivalist” aspect of it was mostly unimportant. That showed him as an intelligent, calculating businessman, which he is.

Boston Rob wanted to get rid of all the tribal strength and loyalty BS and just build an army of people that he could control, trying to take advantage of anything he could do, showing him as someone highly manipulative and playing into his love for the godfather role.

Fairplay wanted to be the biggest a-hole possible for the audience and see if he could pull off the dirtiest move in Reality TV history, pushing the boundaries on what was allowed to be played with, which plays into his love for wrestling IRL and his slippery personality

Tyson wanted to throw snark at every living being and play the class clown. Same with Randy playing the role of a lonely, grumpy old man who hates everyone, they just wanted to see how far they could go while playing these outrageous personalities, but at the same time, its a part of their everyday attitude.

Kass wanted to prove that middle aged women could play just as ruthless as a man, and expose the hypocrisy of the reception of cutthroat strategic players in men and women, while in real life she also devotes her internet space to pointing out all the BS in the reality TV sphere

These are all examples of villains that had depth to them, they didn't just come to the show and be assholes, they wanted to ACHIEVE a goal, to change something in the game that they thought needed changing.

The New Era "Villains"

However, when it comes to the New Era of Survivor, I feel that people are just playing for the money, and the satisfaction of the title. There's no true "villains" anymore because everybody wants to achieve the same goal: just win.

Of course they have their reasons to win: Gabler with the charity, Jesse for his family, Carolyn for her cause, but they don’t really want to prove something beyond the game. Their ultimate goal is just... to play the meta as effectively as possible.

Karla wants to prove that big girls... can play the meta as well as any.

Owen wants to prove that, as an asian, he... can play the meta as well as any.

Ricard wants to say that, as a deaf man, he... can play the meta as well as any.

And because everyone does, it makes no one stand out as a fun villain.

I mean, Omar came to the show playing this schemy persona, but at the end of the day his goal was to… prove he could be schemy, which everyone is in this day and age. There are very few players who are "honor bound" in the new era, and they're now the outsiders in every season.

All the other players that people say are New Era villains dont really have a reason to be villains, they just want to play the game as effectively as possible, and the reason why they are seen as villainous is that they are playing it so well that we don’t like the predictability. We’re just rooting against them because we dont want a predictable outcome, but they themselves are not doing hugely villanous things or having fun with it.

You could argue that Jesse Lopez did a villainous thing by blindsiding his closest ally, Cody, using the idol that he gave him, but then he's not that different from Ricard from 41, who also blindsided his closest ally in Shan. Everyone understands why they did it, because its part of the Survivor Meta, turning on your closest ally because they're a huge threat and it adds to the resume. So there wasn't any villainous intent behind the blindside, they didn't want to hurt them, they didn't want to send any message, they just played the Survivor Meta of the New Era. It is villainous because it's their closest ally, but they're not being villains because it's something that everyone does now.

You could argue that Drew Basile from Survivor 45 was having fun playing a villainous nerdy persona, but he's not that different from Omar or Hai from Survivor 42, who also played the role of cutthroat strategists. All these people wanted to do was prove they could be the cutthroat strategist, something that we have every season now, so once their season ends, they just get lost in the shuffle of constant cutthroat strategists. It's like in every season players are just filling the same roles over and over.

Thing is, in real life, you can tell they are just normal, likeable people trying to play a reality board game, and they are aware of it. There's not that feeling anymore where you're actually intimidated by these guys because you saw how they were on the show. Everyone is aware that they are nice people playing a persona on TV, its just a game now, so nobody gives us those huge, world-shattering reactions of betrayal and anger that we used to see.

Sure, Kellie had a good voteoff reaction, but it never went past that, and Kellie's allies never really retaliated, they just moped and doped at the fact she was gone. And the game went along as normal, because at the end of the day, it's just a move. And it's just a game. She got got.

The reason why Australian Survivor is being so fun right now is because it’s getting these villains that want to prove something. What makes George one of the greatest of all time was his desire to put his ruthless, people manipulator skills to the test in a game like this, which culminated in one of the greatest showcases of social and strategic manipulation the franchise has EVER seen in its history, and which played into his real life skills as a politician. But what distinguishes him the most is that ALMOST EVERYONE deeply hates him in the game and sometimes outside of it. They end up kicking and screaming for people to get rid of this menace, but George keeps outplaying them and everyone has to just shut up and take it because they can't do anything about it, they've already lost to a maniac. That's some real emotion! That's why Simon was so fun to root for and against for, of course I wanted to see George humbled, but I also loved seeing him playing with Simon as if he was just an amusing cat toy.

The Only Villain of the New Era

I think that’s why I don’t feel like there are any villains in the New Era.... there's no one who wants to achieve something.... other than Shan Smith.

In Survivor 41, Shan came in with the intention of taking her skills of influencing others in real life as a pastor, and using it to manipulate her tribemates to do her bidding in the game. And the show did a good job showcasing how she pulled it off: she smiled to everyone, but behind her backs she plotted with her main ally Ricard to do what she thought was best for her and her only. She flushed idols and she stole advantages by taking the trust that everyone put in her and throwing it out the window when she saw fit. It was a ruthless display that wasn't just about "playing the game right."

But once the merge hits, she ends up creating a Players of Color alliance with the goal to have everyone in it get to the end and crown a POC as the first winner of the New Era of Survivor. It was a divisive, controversial objective, but it was meaningful for Shan, a movement that would shake the landscape of Reality TV, and that's what mattered. She really wanted this, she wanted to put on a huge display of power by driving this alliance to the finale, even if it cost her her game at the end.

That's what made her so interesting. She was playing the game in easy mode at the start, so now she decided to kick it up a notch to accomplish what she thought was important, while at the same time risking her game for it, similar to Tiffany in Big Brother 23.
I'm sure Shan knew that being the leader of the alliance was not "optimal play", and if she wanted it she could've just hidden in the background targeting the biggest players, but she stood for something she wanted to change.

And at the end, she was blindsided by players who wanted her out because she was a threat and because it was a big move on their resume, because that's how Survivor is played now.

So, to me, Shan in the only true villain that Survivor has in the New Era, someone that, in a return, could achieve a legendary character status if she can get to display even more of her manipulation skills to get far in the game.
Sadly, a lot of the character in Survivor 41 was lost in a barrage of advantages and new twists that disappeared after one season because they were so bad, so Shan didn't really have the same impact as the villains of old. Nevertheless, I think she has come the closest to replicating what I loved about earlier Survivor villainy.
I hated Shan during 41, but in a way that was fun to root against her in Survivor.

It's something I haven't felt in any of the new era seasons since, and something I'm afraid will disappear with the rapid pace and the constant game-show-ification of the franchise nowadays. So I hope Australian Survivor still holds strong.