Episodes 13-14: Revenge, Redemption, Re-edit?

Published: August 9, 2026

S20: Heroes vs. Villains wraps up in fine form, as the final five gets whittled down to an all-time Final Three of Russell, Parvati, and Sandra, and the jury vote very much does not disappoint. But the season as a whole could still benefit from a minor editing refurbishment. Maybe for its 20th anniversary?

Episodes 11-12: Battle of the blowhards

Published: August 1, 2026

There's not a lot of elite gameplay going on in Episodes 11-12 of Heroes vs. Villains, which make up the bulk of the post-merge. The Heroes keep losing ground, although Russell pointlessly picks a fight with his own alliance, and Danielle and Amanda tussle over an idol clue. But it's fine, because at least there's more Sandra.

Episodes 8-10: Going down in Villain flames

Published: July 26, 2026

After Boston Rob's blindside in Episode 7, Heroes vs. Villains drags out the pre-merge for a couple more episodes, but that pays off with JT coming up with what the show itself trumpets as "one of the dumbest moves in Survivor history," which sets up the Villains for one of the most entertaining merge Tribal Councils in the show's entire run.

Episodes 6-7: Villains demolition

Published: July 21, 2026

As we enter Episode 6, the Heroes vs. Villains competition has been all but a blowout. Since Russell Hantz has an idol, it's time to force both tribes to vote someone out. Result: The complete collapse of the Villains tribe. Also, a plea for an editing re-do, with longer episodes?

Episodes 2-5: Now the game really begins

Published: July 17, 2026

Heroes vs. Villains chugs along a bit in its second and third episodes, with an obvious, simple majority boot from each tribe. But Episodes 4 and 5 offer an action-and-reaction pair of big game moves, powered by flip-flopping Hero JT, who manages to betray his entire tribe in the space of four days. It's a run that highlights both the edit disparities in this era and the lingering prevalence of stodgy gameplay from most of the cast.

Episode 1: Season 20 vs. season 50

Published: July 10, 2026

With one big milestone season just aired, it's a good time to look back at the one from 16 years ago, and try to figure out why it worked so much better. That's simple: S20 mixed huge characters and players together, and watched what happened. Season 50 did everything it could to keep them apart.

Jeff Pitman is the founder of the True Dork Times, and probably should find better things to write about than Survivor. So far he hasn't, though. He's also responsible for the Survivometer, calendar, boxscores, and contestant pages, so if you want to complain about those, do so in the comments, or on Bluesky: @truedorktimes