David Bloomberg elaborates on his seven basic rules to follow when playing Survivor:
Rule 4: Don’t Let Your Emotions Control You
Rule 6: Don’t Be Too Much of a Threat
Rule 7: Know How to Deal with Idols and Advantages
Appendix A: Make Your Votes Count – Keep in Mind Your End Goal
What Survivor 44 Players Should Have Learned
Over the course of the past 43 seasons of Survivor, it should be obvious that contestants need to learn certain rules to play by. In previous years, we’ve seen far too many players who seem to not be fans of the show and maybe only watched a couple seasons provided to them by CBS just before heading out. Luckily, most of the players in recent seasons have been actual fans, and good players should be drawing on the history of the entire series as far as how they should play the game – and how they shouldn’t. The other presumption here, and I know it sounds silly but it needs to be said, is that the player actually wants to win the game. They shouldn’t be there for the experience or to face the toughest opponent or whatnot. Or rather than can be if they want, I suppose, but those are not the people who we’re focused on here. Survivor is a game and the goal is to win. Period. That is the basic assumption here and these rules can lead good players to that end goal. To quote Harry, a superfan on Australian Survivor, “People should play to win.”
I wrote the original version of these rules way back after Season 1 as a newspaper column and then began updating them on my website at the time, Reality News Online. I continued updating them each season when I began podcasting on RHAP to address changes in the game and good (or bad) examples of how to play. The most recent changes and boldfaced and italicized.
You can also get the poster version of these rules drawn by Erik Reichenbach right here!
