Survivor 48’s Final 4 Fire-Making Proves The Challenge Needs To Be Retired (It’s Too Unpredictable)

Watching Survivor 48’s finale, it was clear that despite being one of the long-held finale mechanisms, the final four fire-making challenge needs to be retired before the milestone season, Survivor 50. Throughout the last dozen seasons of Survivorthe final four has been brought down to a trio with a fire-making challenge that has been divisive among fans. Survivor 35 ushered in the era of the fire-making challenge, where two castaways go head-to-head to see whose self-made fire could grow big enough, quickly enough to raise a flag. Fire-making is a huge part of Survivorbut the challenge is tired.

While Survivor 48 was always expected to go the route of using the final four fire-making challenge, it’s long been one of the things viewers have issues with in the game. During early seasons of Survivorthe castaways typically came down to a final two rather than a final three, with the final three castaways competing in an endurance challenge prior to the last tribal council and elimination of the game. First appearing in the iconic Survivor: Cook Islands (or, Survivor 13), a final three can work, but the fire-making challenge building up to it has become an irritating issue.

Kamilla & Eva Were Put Into Fire-Making By Kyle

Kamilla Felt Confident In Her Skills

During the Survivor 48 finale, Kyle Fraser won the final immunity challenge and chose to bring Joe Hunter to the final tribal council with him, leaving Eva Erickson and Kamilla Karthigesu to take part in the fire-making challenge. While Eva seemed like she was going to have a tough time fighting her own frustration to build a big enough fire. Kamilla was successful in her fire-making while she practiced. Despite knowing that the only fire that truly matters is the one made during the challenge itself. Both were nervous moving into final fire, but seeing Kamilla there was more surprising.

While Kamilla and Kyle had been aligned, she shared prior to his decision that she hadn’t intended to bring him to the end, so he chose to bring Joe forward. With Kamilla a part of final fire, it was clear that Kyle would likely be happier to have Kamilla out of the game than in it, as he wanted someone to advocate for him on the jury. Even so, it seemed like Eva would be too frustrated or overwhelmed during the challenge to be able to come out on top. As the fire-making challenge began, Kamilla couldn’t get a spark.

Despite Strategic Decisions, Kamilla’s Fire Cost Her The Game

She Couldn’t Get Her Fire To Grow

As fire-making got underway, it seemed like Kamilla’s fire would be the one to grow in the initial moments. Kamilla continually tried to get a spark over and over, and though she was striking her flint and growing sparks, nothing was catching flame. While Kamilla and Eva took two different methods to build the base of their fires, it was clear that Kamilla’s form wasn’t going to matter if she couldn’t get an initial spark. As Kamilla struggled, Eva was able to quickly find a spark that she grew into a flame. Though things got tricky, Eva’s fire overtook Kamilla’s.

When Eva’s fire finally found its way to the top of the rope, Kamilla only had a small fire going that she was struggling to grow. The end of Kamilla’s game was, unfortunately, because of the final fire-making challenge, which left things far more up to chance than she would’ve liked. Despite making careful decisions throughout Survivor 48 and doing her best to move through the game with allies on all sides of the cast, her strategy wasn’t enough to find her with a successful outcome. Kamilla’s game came to an end due to a fairly disliked chance-based fire-making challenge.

Fire-Making Is A Great Concept, But Its Poor Execution Makes It Unpopular

It’s Too Chance-Based For Such A Strategic Game

Although Survivor bringing fire-making into the competition as a mainstay was an interesting move, it used to be a piece of the game that only came out during a tie-breaking situation. In earlier seasons, Survivor used fire-making as a way to break a tie vote, but since Survivor 35 the show has used it as a piece of the final endgame. Allowing fire-making to be a huge part of the final stretch of Survivor takes tons of control out of the castaways’ handsleaving their final moves up to their ability to create fire and the direction of the wind.

Though there’s merit to being able to create fire in such a high pressure situation, leaving the final seat of final tribal council up to chance is confusing for a game that relies so much on strategy and social relationships. Throughout the game, it’s often left up to the castaways to fend for themselves as they make their way through the social situations strategically, but seeing such a big moment left up to chance often feels off-putting. Throughout the buildup to the fire-making challenge, the castaways can practice, but there’s no real way to control what happens during the challenge.

Final 4 Fire-Making Should Be Retired By Survivor 50

It’s No Longer A Fun Or Interesting Game Mechanism

Although Survivor 48 isn’t one of the first seasons to bring fire-making into the endgame, it was one of the most difficult fire-making challenges to watch in recent seasons. Seeing Kamilla and Eva moving through the final challenge knowing that their fate was being left up to the wind and her ability to build a fire by chance made it tough to feel like they were being treated fairly. After their moves throughout the game were made strategically, seeing the end of their games come down to chance was a tough end of the road for the Survivor 48 season.

While the fire-making challenge has become a big part of the Survivor endgame, it’s something that needs to retire before the pivotal Survivor 50. Leaving the endgame up to chance becomes a huge weakness when the strategic players within the game have to come up against something they have basically no control over. Rather than bringing fire-making into the Survivor DNA rather than allowing the castaways to work through the endgame strategically or competitively is a slap in the face to the castaways who have worked hard all game long. Reverting to older rules, Survivor should move forward without fire-making.

Survivor is available to stream on Paramount+.

Source: Survivor/Instagram

Survivor

Release Date

May 31, 2000

Showrunner

Jeff Probst

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