There are only two castaways on Survivor this season that are over thirty-five. None are in their fifties or sixties. If you haven’t watched the beloved reality competition since its early seasons, you might think this must be a one-year aberration, but over the years, Survivor has seemingly prioritized a younger core of castaways. That doesn’t mean we don’t see older players, but it feels like they’re fewer and further between. If you ask host Jeff Probst, however, there’s a reason for that.
The longtime Survivor figurehead was recently on his podcast On Fire when the subject of current season players Bruce and Julie and their strong challenge performances came up. Co-host Rick Devens asked him why we don’t see more cast members who are older, and Jeff Probst responded with a thoughtful answer about applications. You can read a portion below…
I get the question a lot: How come there aren't more older people on Survivor? Well, it's reflected in the smaller percentage of older people who apply. We get a lot of younger people applying, which is great because they're discovering the show and they're coming of age to apply. And they've got that energy of ‘I could do this, I could win that game.’ We also have a lot of diverse types of stories who are applying, which has been incredibly inspiring. So the good news is, if you're over 40, which is old on Survivor, and you want to apply, we are looking for you.
A lot of reality shows cast like they’re checking off boxes. Survivor has always been very open about not doing that. They’re not looking for a woman in her fifties, they’re just looking for different types of people. If there’s not a woman in her fifties who they think would be a good fit, then that type of person isn’t cast. On the brightside, that means we don’t get a ton of dud cast members who are merely there to fill a role. On the downside, that means we often get casts that are mostly younger and/ or more likely to have certain jobs and/ or more likely to be the type of Survivor superfans that would practice the puzzles.
You can read Jeff explain more about his process of not filling holes below…
But here’s the caveat. We don’t fill holes, as we’ve talked about. So we're not going to put you on just because you're older. That would be a wasted spot. And in the same way that sometimes an 18-year old is lacking a little life experience to make them ready for the show, I meet a lot of people in their 50s who are so locked into who they are that it's also equally not interesting on the other side of the spectrum. There's no layers to them.
There are mixed feelings from Survivor fans and former players about how well the show does at casting. That’s been an especially loud topic of conversation this year as multiple players have quit and/ or seemed way out of their element trying to do the actual survival part. If you listen to the critics, that’s a sign that Survivor is trying too hard to choose people who have obvious personal growth to achieve and/ or compelling backstories, rather than choosing more normal people who might actually be better at things like catching fish or building a shelter. Then again, it’s also worth noting that some of the earlier seasons suffer from the opposite problem of not exactly having a ton of people who are compelling in confessional interviews.
I’d like to see a bit more age diversity in Survivor, even if it means casting a few people who wouldn’t ordinarily make the show. It’s crazy that you have to go back to Season 41 to find one with more than three people above fifty. That being said, I agree with Jeff that the show shouldn’t be casting every season to make sure every possible viewer has someone to identify with. It has to be a balance. Fortunately, Survivor has never been louder or more aggressive about wanting to get people to apply; so, if you’re interested, you can make your own casting video on the show’s website.
