Review: Survivor, "Cancel Christmas" | Season 46, Episode 6
At this point, Survivor’s audience is pretty steady—as the show contracted from a gargantuan hit to a reliable performer, it became less and less likely that new viewers would sample early episodes without sticking around for the whole season. This year’s linear ratings reflect this: after opening to 4.9 million viewers in the premiere, Season 46 has been pretty steady, with last week’s episode earning 4.72 million. Compare that to Survivor: Panama—which debuted in Spring 2006—which started at 19 million viewers before dropping under 15 million by the fourth episode.
I bring this up because I was reflecting on tonight’s pre-merge episode, and wondered about something: was there ever a subsection of Survivor fans who would check out of the show after the premiere but show back up for the merge? There’s an argument to be made that the game doesn’t really start until the tribes come together, and I think it’s a big part of why the 26-day version of the game moves up the merge so significa…
ncG1vNJzZmidoJ7AsLDInKSenJmqum%2B%2F1JuqrZmToHuku8xop2iqlau2psOMrKyrrpmrvLN5wpqlnJ2cYrCpvsisq6aZow%3D%3D