The last two episodes of "VIP Survival" featured a rough overhaul of the format and double standards • Family reunion? More like an ambush on viewers • Episodes 54-55 on the machete

The phrase “production intervention” has already become commonplace with any experienced reality viewer, but what happened in the final episode of “Survival” goes beyond that framework. This is not a brief, slightly inelegant moment in which the stirring hand of the production that disappeared a few moments later was felt and things continued as a series. This is an event that seems to be filmed in advance from A to Z in order to press on the emotional glands of the contestants, resulting in our viewers as well, and this time too it is done in the most unrefined way possible.

Why did we watch it?

We usually sum up the episodes of "VIP Survival" with a lot of words, but the last two episodes can be summed up as follows: Idan won the prize mission and then was faced with a dilemma - to meet his mother or give up and give the rest of the tribe a chance to meet their relatives. As expected of the Golden Hearted Survivor, he gave up. But this is not the end. He was then given the opportunity to fight for the same prize against Israel, but then Guy surprisingly announced that the duel was canceled and that they both get to hug their families. You all go to camp, la-la-la and what fun.

And now for our review. Let's start with the format that was trampled underfoot - Idan won the task, but everyone wins. Does it not matter to the mission and the fact that he struggled for an hour or so to turn the "fan" (as my son called it)? If that doesn't make sense - why did we watch it? If it makes sense - how is it that everyone wins?

And what about strategy? After all, Idan's decision to give everyone the prize is certainly worth a vote or two in the last Tribal Council, but who will remember it to win if in the end he did not really give up anything?

And what about reliability? "It's such a moment that I tell myself it's maybe a little too much," hissed the presenter who this season is actually functioning as the intervening hand of the production, without hiding, just before Idan and Israel can meet with their relatives. Really, Guy? Nothing pre-planned? Did you see them cry and come back?

And what about competitiveness? The simple subtext of this statement is that even the production of the show has a boundary that is not crossed, so to speak. According to the production, as part of the game it is allowed to fight for immunity that will ensure the continued stay of a person in the game; Even a war on various luxuries that will improve the stay on the island, and of course on food, are a legitimate thing. But the right to embrace a loved one? This is no longer something moral to play on - so according to Guy's statement.

Bottom line, what actually happened is the complete opposite. The creators of the program stretched the emotions of the participants and consequently of the viewers as well, and repeatedly pressed on their emotional glands in everything related to the encounter with their families. It started with promising a favorite dish from the family, went up for a reunion with a family member, stretched into an dilemma posed to Idan (you or everyone) and exploded into the duel option (only one of two will see a family member). If the right to hug a loved one is not something worth fighting for in a duel, why has the show's production played on the card so intensely throughout the last two episodes? And why was she suddenly back in it?

And what about the commitment to viewers? In recent years we have learned, as experienced reality viewers, that reality is a genre that can be cruel. But in this case it does not seem to be cruelty, but negligence and net logical failure. Throughout the episode, the viewers' rubber band was stretched, towards an answer to one question - who will be heartbroken? Who will not get to see his family? But instead of going all out and maybe getting out bad, but at least standing behind their move, in the production of the show they chose to release the elastic band of emotion with a subtle gentleness, and undo everything at the last minute. All the tension dissipated at once like a balloon emptied of all the air. "Hear? Everything that has been until now was basically just. In fact, you all get relatives! You get a relative! And you get a relative! And you!" In the end, they will make a gif out of it.

A joke at the expense of viewers

As mentioned, canceling the duel mission did not seem like a spontaneous event. The point that the creators of the program wanted to reach was probably from the beginning a meeting of all the relatives with the whole family. But in the reality era of 2020 it is no longer simple enough to bring relatives together, things have to be taken to the extreme. Maybe the possibility of two reward survivors fighting each other for this award really seemed too cruel to a production, but why not stretch them and on the way the viewers, that this is supposedly the case and that they have to fight the "Hunger Games" style for the right to get a hug?

So, after previously dressing up as "Big Brother", now this season is dressing up as "Ambush" (maybe this is actually a sophisticated promotion for a variety of network programs? If so, we are in favor of Idan and Jordan for "Race for a Million" and Benny for "80s") , Only that unlike the suspense show in question, here the joke is also at the expense of the viewers. It was not fun to say the least to discover that there was no meaning to the mission we watched or to the long, tense minutes surrounding the deliberation of an era or around the duel we waited for to happen and in the end did not happen. And no, the exciting moments of the meeting and the touching tears of Israel, do not really manage to sweeten the feeling that they worked on us twice - even when we realized that the course of the game does not really matter and when the program presented double standards for using family members as an emotional engine. Unbeknownst to us, 12 days before the final, "Survival" once again crossed the border.

• Continuing to talk about "Survival" on the reality blog "Armchair Sweet Potato"

They really said it:

"Sheikh remains without a clan" (Guy updates Asi, thank you, he probably did not notice)

"Well, I'm saved here, for them to finish. Maybe you'll have a hard time with them, Guy? What one hand" (my son, the king's evil adviser)

"Stubborn Jerby who came to make my life easier. If she hadn't, this season would have been much easier" (era, and the affair continues)

"Let's get this over with, Saturday today. There's a synagogue, a shower" (my son, with his own schedule)

"Kafishki!" (A generation of Alina, "Kafishki" for you too)

"I must stink" (Alina Lador, just before she hugs him. Welcome to "Survival" Relatives)

"He must not be seen as such" (Israel, Pierre, broke our hearts)

"Did you do teaspoons with girls?" (Adi, clarifies with Asi the really important matters)

"Hagit, take your feet off all sorts of places" (Benny, closes the section for us)