Jeff Pitman's S48 recaps
Jeff Pitman's Survivor 48 recaps
Survivor 48 Recaps/ analysis

Weaponizing journeys: Good stories and bad luck

Episodes 3-5: Weaponizing journeys: Good stories and bad luck

Published: April 1, 2025

Episodes 3-5 of Survivor 48 had outcomes almost entirely dependent on a single journey. There were strong storytelling moments throughout the latter two episodes, and a big emotional moment that is what Survivor does best, but also an increasing dependence of the game itself on pure luck.

Pointless

Episodes 2-3: Pointless

Published: March 15, 2025

The lengthy Tribal Council in Episode 3 of Survivor 48 was advertised as 'historic.' And sure, it was the first time one person's vote decided who went home in Episode 3 of a season. Congrats, I guess? But I have another word for it: Pointless.

Heroes vs Heroes

Episode 1: Heroes vs. Heroes

Published: March 1, 2025

As premieres go, Survivor 48's was solid, if a bit unspectacular. As the eighth new era premiere, most of the rough edges of the rejiggered format have now been sanded off, and it chugged along under its own power pretty well. There were some great, deeply emotional moments along the way, though.

Jeff Pitman's recapsJeff 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 twitter: @truedorktimes