The Facade of the CBS Diversity Mandate

CBS has announced that many of its shows such as Survivor must have further cast diversity. The main change we have seen is that at least 50% of a show's cast must not be white. This does make sense, with almost exactly 50% of the US population not being white and this figure being underrepresented on many shows. Some have argued that there should be a bit of leeway to improve casts, and have proposed a minimum figure of 40%. I don't, however, really have the knowledge to make a judgement here. 

What I do have knowledge on, however, is Survivor. Why, you may ask, do I feel like this is a facade? Simply because I feel as if while this may cause people to look different, which I do agree with, Survivor has made the actual personalities of these contestants very monotone. To be perfectly honest, season 41 had a pretty terrible cast, even if it looked good in a photo.

I say, go on with this, and secure a racially diverse cast. It's a good thing! However, I feel that an entirely independent change has occurred with regards to cultural diversity. So in the rest of this article I will discuss the issue and its causes. 

So yes, every single cast member except one exception from Survivor 41 was middle-class, English mother-tongue and democrat-leaning, catering for the audience that fits these boxes and alienating a large group of people who don't. I am not really one of these people, but I still felt the difference and that it led to an underwhelming season. I will discuss the one season 41 exception and go a bit more in depth later, but let me just go over the background and gradual changes.

First, Survivor: Borneo, where it all started. A quick look at the cast and you see a lot of examples of people who wouldn't make it into modern casting, even though that was such an extraordinary season and beginning. Excluding Sonja (not too sure about her race) there were two non-whites, Gervase, who was a success and Ramona, who wasn't. 

Ramona wouldn't be cast nowadays because of her strong religious views. Now I myself am not a religious person, however I do feel they should be represented on the show. In recent seasons, these people who are so passionate about their religion have disappeared. Gervase wouldn't have made it because... he's funny. This would of course mean the only LGBTQ+ cast member (Richard Hatch) along with Greg Buis would not have been cast. 

Other notable people who would by no means make it today are Rudy Boesch, Sue Hawk and Jenna Lewis. This is because they want to keep everything very sanitized, the audience to only see people they relate to and generally to avoid controversy. In addition to Gervase, Richard and Greg players such as Rob Cesternino, Jonny Fairplay and Tyson Apostol would be excluded because of the slight chance that some random audience member might take a joke out of context and find it offensive.

They are quite simply trying to avoid conflict. Sue Hawk and Jenna Luis would not be cast, and none of Tony, Russell, Rodney or Joe (HHH) would be cast, players who historically have become a legendary part of the game. And the reason this has occurred so fast and so extremely is due to one man, known as Dan Spilo.

This was already happening to an extent to casts, taking out the people who were a bit rough around the edges, and it is a good thing to, say, prevent hate speech on the show by not casting racists, homophobes, etc. but not when it is actually making the show less enjoyable in seasons like Ghost Island, HHH, etc. Dan escalated the issue.

Survivor simply doesn't want the controversy. Even though Dan didn't really wreck their reputation they are petrified that something like that might happen. However, this was one time in over 40 seasons, and happened on a season with a fairly sanitized cast proving that this doesn't even help avoid this controversy. You cannot blame Survivor for the occurrence, there had been nothing to suggest Dan shouldn't be cast, but their reaction has been a clear desperate grab to retain a good reputation when an issue had simply not arisen. 

The need to return to a more culturally diverse cast can be seen pretty easily, because despite not going very far Naseer, the only exception to this sanitization, was one of the most popular players on the season. He wasn't middle class, and English wasn't his first language. He had grown up so differently from everyone else, and that is the exact reason the fans liked him.

What am I really saying? One single occurrence that didn't do much damage to the show should not be allowed to destroy the show. Survivor is an important part in the lives of many and an enjoyable sideshow for others and one ugly dude who likes giving massages should not ruin that for everyone. Survivor, please give us our show back.