[ThePhoenix]

This is how the game has evolved. There's no longer a major alliance, but the alliance of the week. Whatever helps your game that week, you do it. The three original tribes mean little. I'm of the opinion that THAT ship has sailed as well, and it would be fun to see a whole season with no tribes, and every challenge is for individual immunity. That could make some interesting dynamics.

I bring up how Survivor has evolved every Big Brother season, where in Big Brother, there are usually at least TWO major alliances that last for weeks. And it gets boring watching "the other side" get voted out week after week. Because of the new dynamic in Survivor (well newish, it's been like this for at least the last 10 seasons), it's much more unpredictable (well unless production decides to telegraph who's going home).

Survivor’s evolution is definitely interesting. I’ve recently been watching old seasons, starting with season 14. Right now I’m on season 20 which is the first season with Russell Hantz. I think the biggest changes to the game began in reaction to his gameplay.

 

[ThePhoenix]

To me, the biggest change (and it's going back awhile) was the introduction of the hidden immunity idol. It completely changed the way the game is played both from the person holding the idol to the rest of them trying to figure out who A) has the idol and B) will play the idol. So it lead to all kinds of blindsides. Hantz changed it further by actively searching for the idol before Jeff "introduced" it's existence for the season. Nobody really did that before.

Yeah, that’s a great point. Before there were HIIs, they could openly talk about who they were voting off with lower risk, and never had to worry about splitting votes and catching someone off guard.