History YMMV / Survivor

* Shane and Courtney of all people are forced to be the main participants of Bruce's Medical evacuation scene in ''Panama'', resulting in a horrifyingly funny scene where Courtney sings to Bruce against his will and Shane spends the scene pantsless for some reason as sad music plays in the background.

** The Legacy Advantage was believed to be a wasted twist given how in the previous two seasons it was used, nobody aside from the holder did not know that it exists at the start of the game. When it returns to Ghost Island, the person who found the legacy advantage must give it to somebody else making at least one person aside from the holder knew of it's existence.

** From ''Island of the Idols'', many fans found it incredibly satisfying to see Aaron, Missy, and Elizabeth voted off in quick succession for their role in protecting [[HateSink Dan]], eliminating Kellee and tormenting Janet. Dan himself gets disqualified shortly after Elaine's elimination due to yet another touching incident, this time with a ''producer''. To say viewers were relieved he was finally gone is an understatement.

** Dan Spilo sexually harassing women and continuing to do so after a warning in ''Island of the Idols''.
** Will Sims during his tirade at Shirin insulting her for how her family was torn apart by domestic violence (something she was clearly still heavily traumatized about) and refusing to apologize for when called out on it.

** While nearly every merge contestant apart from Kellee, Karishma, Janet, Jamal and Noura got some flack for how the situation with Dan was handled, Elizabeth Beisel and Missy Byrd in particular were notorious for how they outright used the situation to get Kellee out while keeping Dan in the game for their own sakes. It got to the point where Elizabeth was conspicuously absent from the Reunion, likely out of shame and fear for her own safety.
** Despite Ricard having one of the flashier games in 41, him making Jeff abandon the iconic phrase "Come on in guys" is the thing he is best known for and the first issue most fans bring up when talking about him.
** Survivor 43 is infamous for the fact that the first four people to go home were all women, and by the final 10, only three remained. Alongside Gabler's shocking victory, this is the first complaint people have about the season; even Adam Klein (whose winning season ''Millennials vs. Gen X'' had a similarly male-dominated endgame) has put this as his foremost complaint.

** Island of the Idols itself isn't seen as one, as it was seen as a fun way for the newbies to learn lessons about the game, and, later in the game, take time away from the drama at camp. However, ''no one'' liked the way Jamal's challenge was implemented. Basically, he got screwed over in order to be taught a pointless lesson and was eliminated that very episode.
** The merge twist in Seasons 41 and 42. At the final twelve, the remaining castaways shall be spilt into two teams and the two teams must be compete in an "immunity" challenge. The team that won ends up send somebody to Exile Island. While all this can be a bit odd, the ''real'' ScrappyMechanic from this twist is that Erika (a.k.a. the person that went to Exile Island) has the option to reverse the immunity win in exchange for their safety in the game. Basically, almost anybody within Erika's shoes would reverse the immunity win, and everybody that rightfully won the challenge to be immune would basically get screwed over instead. Not to mention that Probst ends up straight-up lying to the contestants while in previous seasons, he was very careful with his wording when a twist comes up.[[note]]For comparison, during the fake merge in ''Thailand'', Probst was extremely careful not to mention anything about a merge.[[/note]] Fans [[AuthorsSavingThrow appreciated that Probst announced it was removed]].

** ''Thailand'' was seen as a huge miss, thanks to an extremely unlikable winner whose victory could have been seen coming a mile away, boring and unimaginative challenges (with one notable exception[[note]]the infamous "attack zone" challenge[[/note]]), and generally not having as many high points as other seasons. Grindgate is also seen as intensely uncomfortable to watch, especially after the Dan Spilo incident in ''Island of the Idols''.

** Many people had this reaction after the merge episode of ''Island of the Idols'' where the people who tried to stand up against Dan being inappropriately handsy with women got in the bottom of the tribe where Dan as well as Missy/Elizabeth (who tried using that behavior to manipulate others) and Lauren (who outright stated that she doesn't care since [[ItsAllAboutMe it didn't happen to her]]) got in the majority alliance. Fortunately the next episodes improved things; as Missy, Aaron, and Elizabeth were voted off in quick succession (Missy specifically for being a bully towards Karishma), and Dan was ejected later on when he pushed his luck with a crew member.

** Noura Salman and Karishma Patel from ''Island of the Idols'' are probably the least popular among their fellow tribe mates. Noura for being unpredictable and obnoxious, and Karishma for being TheLoad and emotionally flip-flopping. However, both women are relatively popular outside the show, Noura for her humorous moments and being very proactive and pro-woman, and Karishma for the exploration of her Indian-American heritage and genuinely sympathetic backstory. And then both of them had their popularity rise after the incident with Dan, where both women showed a willingness to vote him out and didn't approve of his behavior; and Karishma followed up by standing up to Missee bullying her.

** Boston Rob outing John Carroll in ''Survivor: Marquesas'' wasn't made a big deal back then, despite the fact John hadn't yet outed himself to his friends and family, and it having negative consequences on his life as some of his family didn't accept his sexuality. Had he done it in this day and age, he would have been reviled the same way Varner was for his outing of Zeke.
** The whole Grindgate situation with Ghandia and Ted in ''Thailand'' bears some downright eerie similarities to the Dan Spillo situation in ''Island of the Idols''... only everyone was on Ted's side at the time. (To be fair, Ted himself did seem genuinely apologetic, and it seemed like an honest if '''horrific''' mistake on his part)
%%** Some modern viewers take offense at the blatantly perverted [[HarsherInHindsight and handsy]] guys in ''Amazon'' (Springing from the Men vs Women setup), though it is somewhat mitigated by being PlayedForLaughs. It really helps that they all meet downfalls. (This can be re-added on May 11, 2023)

* CaptainObviousReveal: The editors tend to edit some winners to the point that they will obviously win. Honorable mentions for this trope goes to Brian Heidik, J.T., Boston Rob, Kim Spradlin, John Cochran, Tyson Apostel, Mike Holloway, Jeremy Collins, Sarah Lacina, and Tommy Sheehan.

** Daniel Strunk who is (half-jokingly) called the worst strategic player in Survivor history. He was actually playing a decent strategic game in the beginning but a series of monumental screw ups got to the point people admitted they wouldn't even want him as a lawyer.
** Crystal Cox from ''Gabon'' became a ''[[FountainOfMemes Fountain]]'' [[FountainOfMemes of Memes]] about her inability to win just about any challenge, especially the physical ones, often losing to unfit and scrawny people. Cox is an Olympic gold medalist. [[labelnote:*]]She did later admit to using steroids causing her to be stripped of her gold medal, which may explain why she performed so poorly in challenges.

** David Jelinsky reached this in record time for having what's widely considered the most pathetic game in Survivor history.

* SalvagedStory: Before the 40s, the show began to catch flak for having villains who were legitimately bad people rather than just someone playing the Heel for the show or playing aggressively, with Dan Spilo being the most infamous example and the point where everyone agreed it could no longer be ignored. Starting with ''41'', seasons have stopped casting HateSink types of people in favor of people who just have good villain storylines in the game, such as Deshawn, Ricard, Shan, Tori, Omar and especially Cody.

** Jeff's recent trend of calling every mildly intense scene the "Best _ ever" devalues the phrase almost to the point Series/AmericasGotTalent has devalued the phrase "We have never seen anything like this before"

* SalvagedStory: Before the 40s, the show began to catch flak for having villains who were legitimately bad people rather than just someone playing the Heel for the show or playing aggressively, with Dan Spilo being the most infamous example and the point where everyone agreed it could no longer be ignored. Recent seasons have stopped casting HateSink types of people in favor of people who just have good villain storylines in the game, such as Deshawn, Ricard, Shan, Tori, Omar and especially Cody.

** Crystal Cox from ''Gabon'' became a ''[[FountainOfMemes Fountain]]'' [[FountainOfMemes of Memes]] about her inability to win just about any challenge, especially the physical ones, often losing to unfit and scrawny people. Cox is an Olympic gold medalist.
** The Lulu tribe in ''Survivor 45'' became this in record time, and it only became worse as more of them got eliminated quickly. They failed to win all but one challenge, two of them effectively quit the game, one of them was an exceptionally poor challenge performer, and one was almost voted out first before any of the aforementioned for being so abrasive.

** Seasons 33-39 can be viewed as this with the exception of ''David vs. Goliath'' thanks to fans believing that the show has become too much about twists with many of those twists ended screwing over fan favorites such as Malcolm, Cirie, Devon, Jamal, Janet, and a lot of members from the original Malolo tribe out of the game.[[note]]Malcolm has to deal with the Mana/Nuku Tribal Council in which he could not prepare in advance, Cirie has to deal with [[FanNickname advantagegeddon]], Devon has to deal with the fire-making Final Four twist, many of members from the original Malolo tribe were voted out simply because they didn't have the numbers since the first tribal swap, Jamal losing his vote for taking a note hanging from a tree even when most ''Survivor'' players would taken that note regardless, and Janet had her idol nullified thanks to Dean who got an idol nullifier through a ''freaking coin toss''.[[/note]] Then, come to ''Edge of Extinction'' where the entire post-merge would have been entirely different without the twist as the final juror and the actual winner of the season were people that were voted out pre-merge but ended up coming back to the game. It is not uncommon for many fans to fear that this show is becoming like ''Series/BigBrother''. Not to mention the cast for ''Game Changers'', ''Ghost Island'', and ''Island of the Idols'' has been constantly criticized thanks to the first season having {{questionable casting}} choices, the second season not having a lot of people making big moves and playing to win, and the third season having the infamous Dan Spilo incident and the way a lot of players handled the incident was not very well-received at all. Let's just leave the last one at that.

** Seasons 34-39 can be viewed as this with the exception of ''David vs. Goliath'' thanks to fans believing that the show has become too much about twists with many of those twists ended screwing over fan favorites such as Malcolm, Cirie, Devon, Jamal, Janet, and a lot of members from the original Malolo tribe out of the game.[[note]]Malcolm has to deal with the Mana/Nuku Tribal Council in which he could not prepare in advance, Cirie has to deal with [[FanNickname advantagegeddon]], Devon has to deal with the fire-making Final Four twist, many of members from the original Malolo tribe were voted out simply because they didn't have the numbers since the first tribal swap, Jamal losing his vote for taking a note hanging from a tree even when most ''Survivor'' players would taken that note regardless, and Janet had her idol nullified thanks to Dean who got an idol nullifier through a ''freaking coin toss''.[[/note]] Then, come to ''Edge of Extinction'' where the entire post-merge would have been entirely different without the twist as the final juror and the actual winner of the season were people that were voted out pre-merge but ended up coming back to the game. It is not uncommon for many fans to fear that this show is becoming like ''Series/BigBrother''. Not to mention the cast for ''Game Changers'', ''Ghost Island'', and ''Island of the Idols'' has been constantly criticized thanks to the first season having {{questionable casting}} choices, the second season not having a lot of people making big moves and playing to win, and the third season having the infamous Dan Spilo incident and the way a lot of players handled the incident was not very well-received at all. Let's just leave the last one at that.

** Jerri Manthey in ''Australia'', thanks to her EroticEating fetish. Silas Gaither from ''Africa'' as well (which got a lot less funny when he was arrested for rape).

** The Lulu tribe in ''Survivor 45'' became this in record time, and it only became worse as more of them got eliminated quickly. They failed to win all but one challenge, two of them effectively quit the game, one of them was an exceptionally poor challenge performer, and one was almost voted out first before any of the aforementioned for being so abrasive. With their final member being voted out by one vote thanks to an idol play, Lulu's legacy was cemented as one of the worst tribes in Survivor history.

** The Lulu tribe in ''Survivor 45'' became this in record time, and it only became worse as more of them got eliminated quickly. They failed to win all but one challenge, two of them effectively quit the game, one of them was an exceptionally poor challenge performer, and one was almost voted out first before any of the aforementioned for being so abrasive.

* [[TheScrappy/{{Survivor}} The Scrappy]]

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness
** Some of the earlier seasons, mainly the first 3, can be a little hard to watch nowadays because many people had played the strategy game so well that some of the early players seem like utter fools in comparison. Even predesignated roles - Jerri proudly wears the title of ''Survivor'''s original Villain, but seeing her in ''The Australian Outback'' in probably 10 years later can make her look like just a rude girl in comparison. (She admits as much in the premiere of ''Heroes Vs Villains'', and she wasn't ''that'' villainous thereafter. See also RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap where Jerri was applauded; whereas she was booed off the stage previously in the ''All-Stars'' reunion).
** The challenges also fall into this category. They were far less elaborate in the earlier seasons than they were in the seasons within TheNewTens, unless they were one of the FinalExamBoss type challenges.
** Some people have said that ''Borneo'' was the worst season of ''Survivor'' specifically ''because'' it was so boring and predictable with the majority of players making no strategy to speak of. That despite ''Borneo'' codifying right from the start how the successful play even goes - but there was only Richard doing anything at all.

* EvilIsSexy: Female examples are Parvati, Jerri, Ami, Danielle, Courtney, Abi-Maria, and Corinne. Male examples are Brian, "Boston" Rob, Tyson, Rob Cesternino, Spencer (Cambodia), and Jay.

** Some people have said that ''Borneo'' was the worst season of ''Survivor'' specifically ''because'' it was so boring and predictable with the players making no strategy to speak of. That despite Borneo codifying right from the start how the successful play even goes.

* SeinfeldIsUnfunny
** Some of the earlier seasons, mainly the first 3, can be a little hard to watch nowadays because many people had played the strategy game so well that some of the early players seem like utter fools in comparison. Even predesignated roles - Jerri proudly wears the title of ''Survivor'''s original Villain, but seeing her in ''The Australian Outback'' in probably 10 years later can make her look like just a rude girl in comparison. (She admits as much in the premiere of ''Heroes Vs Villains'', and she wasn't ''that'' villainous thereafter. See also RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap where Jerri was applauded; whereas she was booed off the stage previously in the ''All-Stars'' reunion).
** The challenges also fall into this category. They were far less elaborate in the earlier seasons than they were in the seasons within TheNewTens, unless they were one of the FinalExamBoss type challenges.
** Plays that were at the time novel and brilliant are now seen as commonplace - alliances (first appeared in ''Borneo''), finding idols without clues (''Samoa''), Splitting votes to flush out the idol aka "Plan Voodoo" ''Cook Islands''), throwing challenges following a tribal switch (''Africa''), BaitAndSwitch voting (''Fiji''), idoling (''Fiji'' again), and fake idols (''Fiji'' '''again''') are all a part of the game so much that their use in later seasons has a lesser impact.
** Certain twists. Tribal switches, hidden immunity idols, etc are so commonplace.
** Some people have said that ''Borneo'' was the worst season of ''Survivor'' specifically ''because'' it was so boring and predictable with the players making no strategy to speak of.

** Seasons 34-39 can be viewed as this with the exception of ''David vs. Goliath'' thanks to fans believing that the show has become too much about twists with many of those twists ended screwing over fan favorites such as Malcolm, Cirie, Devon, Jamal, Janet, and a lot of members from the original Malolo tribe out of the game.[[note]]Malcolm has to deal with the Mana/Nuku Tribal Council in which he could not prepare in advance, Cirie has to deal with [[FanNickname advantagegeddon]], Devon has to deal with the fire-making Final Four twist, many of members from the original Malolo tribe were voted out simply because they didn't have the numbers since the first tribal swap, Jamal losing his vote for taking a note hanging from a tree even when most ''Survivor'' players would taken that note regardless, and Janet had her idol nullified thanks to Dean who got an idol nullifier through a ''freaking coin toss''.[[/note]] Then, come to ''Edge of Extinction'' where the entire post-merge would have been entirely different without the twist as the final juror and the actual winner of the season were people that were voted out pre-merge but ended up coming back to the game. It is not uncommon for many fans to fear that this show is becoming like ''Series/BigBrother''. Not to mention the cast for ''Game Changers'', ''Ghost Island'', and ''Island of the Idols'' has been constantly criticized thanks to the first season having [[WTHCastingAgency questionable casting choices]], the second season not having a lot of people making big moves and playing to win, and the third season having the infamous Dan Spilo incident and the way a lot of players handled the incident was not very well-received at all. Let's just leave the last one at that.

** John Cochran from ''South Pacific'' and ''Caramoan''. He is infamous among the viewers for his infamous flip against his tribe, as well as his annoying tendencies. Despite this, he was brought back as one of the more [[WTHCastingAgency questionable]] choices for Caramoan, with a cast of returning players that he is friends with. He received several advantages over the course of the game and was heavily focused on throughout the season, and went on to an easy win. And all the while Jeff continues to fawn over him. This has gotten even worst about how he ended up making an appearance on ''Game Changers'' to give Debbie (who has been sent to exile island) some advice, and he manages to get even more confessionals than New Mana.

*** The [[WTHCastingAgency questionable casting choices]] had many fans believing it left the season with a lopsided cast. To start with, [[NotBadassEnoughForFans not many fans view a lot of the cast members as game-changing castaways]] causing people to hate the cast before the season even began. Then, it got worst by having many of contestants that actually changed the game go out pre-merge due to them being huge threats in the game, and the more questionable casting choices made it to the merge with the final four of that season each containing a WTHCastingAgency entry listed below. Because of that, a lot of people view the season being better if the boot order was reversed.

** ''Caramoan'' has [[WTHCastingAgency questionable choices for favorites]] (including a first boot, an annoying SpotlightStealingSquad, and a [[MoodSwinger Mood Swinging]] TagAlongKid), and poor editing that mainly shows off {{Jerkass}}es like Brandon and Shamar while ignoring everyone else. Brandon's violent breakdown broke the fanbase and everything was in favor of the favorites. The post-merge stepped up but near the end, the 'loved ones challenge' became a DiabolusExMachina that eliminated a (though quite invisible) fan favorite, and the winner being too obvious and divisive. The cherry on top of all this was the fact that the pre-jury boots were not allowed on stage in the reunion show in order to cover up the absence of Brandon, and Jeff consistently claiming that it was a great season despite [[HypeBacklash not many people seeing it from his perspective thanks to said editing]].

** ''Game Changers'' has been accused of this. To start things off, there is even more [[WTHCastingAgency questionable casting choices]] than in ''Caramoan''. There is also a bunch of [[ScrappyMechanic hated twists]], Jeff Varner's infamous comments towards Zeke in the former's boot episode, an incohesive storyline, and a generally disliked boot order with fan favorites like Sandra, Malcolm, Ciera, and Tony all going out in the pre-merge leaving most of the post-merge castaways as [[BaseBreakingCharacter Base-Breaking Characters]]—if not complete {{Scrappy}} characters—or OutOfFocus. Plus, the winner of that season managed to become one of the least popular winners in the show's history with [[CaptainObviousReveal her win being extremely obvious]], which fans didn't appreciate especially as the preceding season tried their best to avert the CaptainObviousReveal, making fans less forgiving of that trope.

** ''Caramoan'' and ''Game Changers'' was also hit hard by this as well thanks to the [[WTHCastingAgency questionable casting choices]] those seasons had. Even more so when the spoilers were leaked for the latter's season when many fans were upset that the more "game-changing" castaways went out pre-merge.

** Sabiyah from "Survivor 45" is this for her passionate gameplay and among the first four early outs, didn't quit. Many fans rank her as not only one of the most likable payers but one of the most likable early outs among the likes of Cao Boi Bui.

** The "Survivor 45" cast has become this in record time due to having two quitters in the first four episodes, and some like to group Brandon with them since he wanted to quit in the first episode and gave up the next one even though he was at least voted out unlike the others.