There were always going to be Survivor contestants mad about not getting cast on 50. People love playing the game, and there simply weren’t enough available slots for all the castaways that wanted to return. As more and more former cast members who didn’t make the cut speak out, however, it’s becoming increasingly obvious that the process by which the show picked who went and who didn’t rubbed many the wrong way.
The latest comments come from beloved Survivor personality Abi-Maria Gomes. The firecracker was a standout in both Philippines and Cambodia and was reportedly one of the show’s last cuts, except she claims she wasn’t ever actually told she was cut. In an interview with The Sun, she said producers met with her numerous times and gave her a psych test but then never followed up. She says she found out she wasn’t going to be on Survivor 50 when the players were officially announced.
As far as I know, no one else has said they weren’t told they were cut, but several popular players have said producers dragged them along for nearly a year long casting process and made them feel like they were for sure going to be on the season until they suddenly weren’t. Former contestant Spencer Bledsoe, who now goes by the name Reiman, brought up his frustrations on social media, saying producers implied to him that he was a “lock” for the season before he was cut. Legend Jerri Manthey was reportedly cut at the last minute and then posted a video of herself staring off in the distance with a WTF look on her face.
We don’t know the full list of players who were contacted by the show and asked about availability and/ or given interviews with producers, but we know the number is really high. More than sixty former players have either confirmed themselves they were talked to or sources close to the show have said they were interviewed. Some have been very public about the fact that they got cut, and we know some even turned down other competing reality shows because they were hoping to get cast.
There were also reportedly a number of huge names who weren’t contacted for inexplicable reasons. Natalie Anderson and Parvati Shallow have both said they weren’t called, as well as other legends like Johnny Fairplay and Russell Hantz. How you could allegedly talk to more than sixty players and not get around to them is baffling, considering Season 50 was billed as a way to honor the history of the show, and it’s hard to talk about the show without at least mentioning those four.
As I said, there was no way to cast Survivor 50 that would have made everyone happy, but the more I read reactions from players, the more it’s clear a lot of them feel confused and taken advantage of. Producers clearly made many players who didn’t ultimately make the cast feel like they were probably going, and that’s clearly because they went into the process without a clear sense of what they wanted to do.
I get that you need to talk to people and check availabilities, which means you need to contact more players than necessary, but it’s because of these players that we care about Survivor 50. Without these legends of the game, the show wouldn’t have gone on for some many seasons. It seems like they should have been entitled to a little more transparency.
Regardless, Survivor 50 is currently filming in Fiji, and while there some obvious problems with the cast, there are also a ton of reasons to be excited. All-time classic players like Cirie, Coach, Colby and Ozzy will be out there alongside New Era favorites like Q and Emily Flippen. It should be a terrific season.
Fingers crossed Survivor gives us another returning season within the next few years and works in some of these last second cuts.