CBS committed to greater diversity last year and both Survivor 41 Big Brother 23At least half of the casts had people of color. It was interesting when both shows created powerful all-Black alliances as a result. It was evident on Big BrotherIt was first, with a six-player team “Cookout”Alliances taking the initiative all the way through to the end. There were many comparisons drawn, SurvivorIn September, episodes were aired that featured a similar strategy but ended up being quite different. Now, Survivor 41Shan Smith, fan favorite Shan Smith, addresses these comparisons with new insights and shares her hope for Season 42.
There was an obvious similarity between the two. “Cookout”Allies were built with a strong Black woman at the helm. Namely, Shan Smith’s epic strategic moves throughout Survivor 41Tiffany Mitchell was expected to do the same for her. Big Brother 23. Smith says that Smith seems to think the comparison goes deeper than that. She stated that Rob Had A Podcast Recently, she came up with the exact same idea. “buddy” strategy that Mitchell created on her show, even if it wasn’t shown that way on screen. He was a well-known pastor.
The strategy of [Big Brother]The recipe for cookingout was very similar. [Survivor] ‘camp-out,’For lack of better words. I told Danny [McCray], ‘You have your person, Syd [Segal]. I have my person, Ricard [Foye]. Liana has her person, Evvie [Jagoda]. Deshawn has his person, Heather [Aldret],’He kept calling her Mama H. It’s really simple. Keep our people close, and then let it go. While we talked about it as strategy, we didn’t push the Cookout as hard. [Ours] wasn’t as marketed as their strategy, that’s fine.
It was obvious almost immediately that the rules for the game of Survivorthey would be a hindrance to its all-Black Cookout-esque alliance. Where Big Brother 23The first Black winner was chosen by’s team. Survivor 41’s alliance eventually fell apart, starting with Shan Smith’s own ousting. Smith believes that despite the differences in endings, Smith still sees the meaning in it all. She says she saw Tiffany Mitchell and the rest in the finale. BBFinal 6. Final 6.
It was truly moving to see that. [Cookout] strategy was executed…Everyone in the final were all people of color. It was amazing to see the final six, all Black, in a year when Black people were at the bottom. We marched. We were marching in COVID, risking our lives to do so. It was just such a beautiful moment, and it was hard, too, because I knew where Survivor was going and I knew how Survivor ended…our whole thing gets cannibalized, and it just felt like I had worked so hard for nothing, and it was hard. It was frustrating.
The jury did not crown Black as the winner, however. Survivor 41Deshawn Radden, a Cookout alliance member, was the winner. Erika Casupanan was voted Sole Survivor. She is the first woman of color and first Canadian to win since Natalie Anderson in 2014. Shan Smith hopes that the lessons learned can be used in Season 42.
We have learned a lot. One victory, one lesson. Big Brother was the triumph and Survivor the lesson. I’m hoping they do it right in 42. It will be a great season, I hope. Is it possible to work together? There’s so much to be learned.
Season 41’s new twists and benefits are expected to be repeated in Season 42. This will create more difficulty for any future all Black alliance trying to survive. Survivor. But if we get another Shan Smith in what’s to come, who has learned from the mistakes of the past, then we should be in for another treat. Keep watching! Survivor 42Premieres on CBS March 9, 2022, in the 2022 TV Schedule