Why Survivor's Most Popular Player Ever Rupert Boneham Thinks Jeff Probst Is Corrupting The Show

Summary

• Rupert Boneham criticizes Survivor for having too many twists, affecting social gameplay.
• Jeff Probst defends the twists, stating they create exciting moments in the game.
• Boneham expresses interest in playing Survivor again despite his concerns about the current state of the game.

After Survivor fans figure out which seasons to watch first, they will often follow the lives of certain players. As a result, many fans know that the first player who got medically evacuated went to prison and that one of the show's biggest villains was facing serious criminal charges.

On the other end of the spectrum, many Survivor fans have no idea that the show's most popular player wasn't happy with how things have changed. In fact, Rupert Boneham spoke out about why he feels Jeff Probst is corrupting Survivor.

This article will reveal why Rupert Boneham thinks Jeff Probst has been making Survivor worse. Then, the article will look at how Probst has defended the changes he has made to Survivor that Boneham hates.

Rupert Boneham Thinks That Survivor Has Too Many Twists

In 2021, Rupert Boneham was interviewed by WTTV's CBS 4 Indy ahead of the premiere of Survivor 41. Since it was exciting to have Survivor return after the show went away due to the COVID-19 pandemic, speaking to one of the most popular and passionate players ever made sense.

Ever since Boneham first competed during a Survivor season, he has repeatedly expressed how grateful he is for the show. With that in mind, it may have seemed like a no-brainer that Boneham would praise the state of Survivor at that time.

In reality, however, Boneham actually wasn't happy with what has happened to Survivor since he last appeared on the show. Since he has been Survivor's showrunner for some time now, Boneham's criticisms clearly were directed at Jeff Probst.

When Boneham first competed on Survivor, the show was mostly straightforward. Even though Boneham's first season featured one of the worst Survivor twists ever, the outcasts, there wasn't even an immunity idol yet.

Even though Rupert Boneham complained about what has happened to Survivor, he would love to play again. Even though Boneham had recently battled throat cancer at the time of his 2021 interview, he stated he was even willing to be a Survivor prize. "If you can’t tell, I’d love to go play the game again. MY GOSH! I even told them I’d go be a prize, you can win me on Survivor!"

By the time Survivor 41 was set to premiere, however, each season included a slew of twists. During Boneham's aforementioned interview, he complained about the overabundance of twists, arguing that they make the social gameplay matter a lot less.

"What happened to ‘Survivor’ where it counts on your social game, on your game play?... You start throwing challenges and things in there that social play doesn’t matter? You’re taking part of the game away. They should go back to the old way, eight people on each tribe. Strangers."

In response to Boneham's remarks, the interviewer asked the Survivor legend a pretty simple question. What was it about all the twists and rules changes that made Boneham think that the game was being compromised?

Instead of answering that question in great detail, Boneham began talking about all the twists again. Boneham's remarks implied that he felt that having too many twists gets away from the spirit of the game as he knew it.

"They have taken a game and keep throwing twists out there and keep throwing stuff out there."

Perhaps Boneham anticipated the feedback that some people may have had for his remarks. After all, even though Boneham has never been known as a dominant social player, he was talking like that is what mattered most to him.

How successful was Rupert Boneham when he competed in Survivor?

However, Boneham argued that he deserved more credit for his social gameplay considering how long he lasted in the game each time he played.

"People say I have no game play and they don’t understand because I tell everybody what’s going on and I share everything. But there’s no other guy out there that’s got 100 days in three games. I know the value in the social play, it’s how I made it through."

During the same interview, Boneham spoke about two examples of Survivor twists that he didn't like. Based on his remarks, Boneham hated the Do or Die and Shot in the Dark twists.

"They have the if I think I’m going to get voted out you can draw a rock but it’s a one in six chance my God you better be really desperate. They put in a twist where you can try for this immunity but the first one out of the immunity has to go into a do or die situation."

Jeff Probst Defended How Many Twists Survivor Has Now

Even though it is shocking to learn that Rupert Boneham was criticizing Survivor, he was far from the first one to make that complaint. In fact, it is pretty common for fans to complain about the overabundance of twists, especially after a bad twist debuts. As a result, Jeff Probst defended how many Survivor twists there are, while talking to Entertainment Weekly in 2020.

While talking to EW, Probst explained that he doesn't worry about there being too many twists and idols despite fan complaints.

“What doesn’t go through my head is, ‘Oh, there’s going to be too many twists. Oh, there’s going to be too many idols.’”

The reason why some fans argue that Survivor has too many twists is they believe the game has become too much about luck. However, while talking to EW, Probst explained why the too many twists complaints don't make sense to him.

“I still don’t get that criticism. Some of our best seasons have hovered around last-minute idol finds or betrayals at Tribal because of an idol or ‘I’m blocking your vote, well, I’ve got an extra vote,’ the idol nullifier. You have to have this in the game.”