Survivors Rob Cesternino & Lauren Beck Break Down The Season 41 Cast

Survivor’s Rob Cesternino & Lauren Beck Break Down The Season 41 Cast

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Screen Rant spoke to Survivor’s Lauren Beck and Rob Cesternino about their thoughts on a new season that signifies the next era in series lore.

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Survivors Rob Cesternino & Lauren Beck Break Down The Season 41 Cast

Survivor season 41 arrives this month after what has felt like an eternity to a fandom used to the biannual rhythm of the show, and this week’s cast announcement marks the formal end to an offseason that has been both draining and enlightening. The promise Jeff Probst made in his garage at the finale of Winners at War that Survivor would return in the fall collapsed like a Michele Fitzgerald karate-kicked puzzle, hopes of continuity quickly dashed by a virus that is still claiming the lives of hundreds each day. During the unprecedentedly long hiatus, Survivor contestants came together to demand change, fans rewatched old seasons to pass the time and Probst was afforded days upon days to write the next chapter of the series.

Entirely on brand, the ageless host is amped as ever for the themeless season, touting the dynamic cast as well as the new wrinkles yet to unfold. Screen Rant spoke with Rob Has a Podcast host and two-time Survivor Rob Cesternino and season 39 contestant Lauren Beck to break down the 18-person cast and determine whether followers of the show should be feeling excitement, trepidation, or a healthy balance of both as the premiere approaches.

Beck brings experience as a final four competitor on the most recent newbie season and has been an integral voice as a Black woman advocating for increased diversity in casting and production. Rob analyzes such a large volume of reality TV that his most loyal patrons have practically earned a PhD in the subject, for what it’s worth. Together, their outlook on Survivor provides a wholesome perspective of where the show has been, where it’s going, and whether this new direction, at first glance, will truly usher in a bright new era for the franchise.

A connection deeper than the game

Survivors Rob Cesternino & Lauren Beck Break Down The Season 41 Cast

The one shift that is undoubtedly positive is CBS’s move to listen to the requests of their former contestants for season 41 and beyond. This was a result of an incredible effort by Black Survivor contestants who refused to allow the status quo to proceed without structural changes. Beck was cast on one of the most diverse seasons of Survivor to date, but acknowledged that when she auditioned, she assumed Black fans did not feel as comfortable watching the show as their White counterparts, since they weren’t as likely to see people who looked like them excelling at the game. Her mom told her, bluntly, “Black people don’t play that.”

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A couple seasons removed from being one step away from a final three appearance, felled by the controversial fire-making challenge, Lauren is overjoyed to see the type of representation that is long overdue. Beck said, “I really think this is going to lead to more Survivor fans.” Cesternino, who covers other CBS shows where these new standards have already been implemented, added that it helps when it’s not only one or two people of the same cultural background cast on a season because there is that unspoken connection that’s “deeper than the game.”

This extends not only past the lines of race and sexual orientation but also through generations. Some Gen-Z castaways, including one who has been watching Survivor for literally her entire life, will face off against a handful of contestants who skew older than Survivor’s typical casting pool. While some of the cast falls squarely in the middle of the two divides, Beck senses a potential rift between the youngest and oldest members of season 41. “I could totally see Gen-Z icing them out,” she said.

Cesternino is most intrigued by Jairus Robinson, a 20-year-old college student from Oklahoma City who describes himself as the brainchild of Survivor winners Parvati Shallow, Jeremy Collins and Fabio, if you can wrap your head around that one. “He just has a really electric smile and seems like he has the charisma and a mix of the game know-how,” Cesternino said. Beck has a handful of early favorites, none moreso than 32-year-old communications manager and Toronto native Erika Casupanan. “She is going to be the underrated strategist,” Beck said. “You can just tell she is going to be the underrated strategist and hit them where it hurts and they’re not going to expect it.”

It’s not ‘Diet Survivor’

Season 41 will only take place over the course of 26 days rather than the iconic 39. Many in the Survivor community are already bracing for the inevitable complaints that this is “Diet Survivor,” but Cesternino predicts viewers will hardly notice a difference. “Fans will always find something that they don’t like from the season,” he said.

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Even Cesternino isn’t on board with every alteration that has been teased thus far. The All-Star Survivor is a bit unsure why this idea of the “monster,” consistent with the insinuation Probst is making about the game becoming more punishing, is Survivor’s chosen tack after a long COVID-induced absence. “Trying to come out with a game that’s more balanced for everybody that’s out there playing might be a better way to go for the new era of Survivor instead of making it more like Naked and Afraid,” Cesternino said.

Cesternino, though, is “all for Jeff doing weird stuff,” and is excited about the interactive element of the upcoming season. Beck is less skeptical about a more punishing game, and pushed back against the theory some may hold that a season designed more for survival of the fittest is inherently favored towards men. There are, though, certainly ways in which the show should have reflected on how to level the playing field since the last six winners have been men. Beck is not as bullish that every new mechanism Probst wants to throw into the next chapter of Survivor will wind up with universal approval ratings.

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But then again, that’s what makes Survivor a reality TV staple. There have been debates about every twist from the swap in Survivor: Africa to the Edge of Extinction in season 38 and again in season 40. The banter, consumed through Twitter feuds and longform podcasts, will surely continue into this next era. Much has changed since Tony Vlachos collected his million dollar check: a virus has ravaged the country, a new president occupies the White House, Probst’s locks have grayed and grown. Amidst it all, an air of comfortability settles over the Survivor fandom knowing a new season is about to wash upon our shores once more.

“I think people will just be happy to have Survivor back on their screens,” Beck said, her heavy optimism garnished with a hint of resignation to the fact that not every Probstian twist will pan out perfectly, “in whatever capacity Mr. Probst wants to put it on our TV.”

Link Source : https://screenrant.com/survivor-rob-cesternino-lauren-beck-cast-season-41/

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