When my Gen X genus Bos asked me to recap the premiere instalment ofSurvivor : Millennials vs. Gen X , I had to be honest : I ’d never determine a single episode of the reality hit ’s prior 32 season . But I ’m a millennial , and I was bring up to believe I can do anything I put my judgement to , regardless of my experience or skill band ! So I fired up my CBS All Access app , teem the show to my Chromecast , and gave it a go .
Wait – how are they defining Gen X and millennial?
accord toSurvivorhost Jeff Probst , millennials were yield between 1984 and 1997 , and Gen 10 - emergency room between 1963 and 1982 . Many X witness might take issue with this on the face of it arbitrary range of age , as Generation X ’s oldest tribe member , a 53 - year - old gravy boat mechanic named Paul , is a border boomer , and 33 - year - old model Ken is a proto - millennian . And some millennials are horror-struck to be collocate in with anyone over 30 . It ’s worth noting thatSurvivoritself , abide in 2000 and now 16 ( the show air two season per year ) , is squarely Gen Z.
Right out of the gate , Probst piece on the oldest and vernal contestant : Paul , who recalls let to go to a store to buy milk rather of take it delivered via drone ; and Will , age 18 , who spend out of high school day to participate in this show , which he unquestionably wo n’t come to repent one mean solar day . But good – our contestants are already fire up by their disdain for the other demo , even as a chyron asks#WhichTribeRU?in a language only millennials can understand .
Surprise: the millennials don’t think they are millennials
" I never called myself a millennial once , " claimsZeke , 28 , a self - described " 80 - class - old man " who ’s " not dressed for the spring chicken parade , I ’m dressed for the bingle mixer at the retirement center " and is spoil by his peers . " I ’m on a tribe with small fry , " the creatively mustachioed Brooklyn - found asset managing director says . " When I looked around and meet all of these kid , I consider , You know what none of these kids have ever had in their entire lives ? A real job . They ca n’t do anything . "
You know what the enterprisingFiggycan do ? Flirt . " I ’m estimable at manipulate Isle of Man , " admits the 23 - class - one-time Nashville bartender whose full name is Jessica Figueroa . " hoi polloi mean I ’m just a pretty font , but they do n’t know the psyche behind the side , " she says . " possibly I ’ll get the million - dollar checkandI’ll get a hubby . "
Hold up : the prize is still the same as it was 16 eld ago ? What about inflation ? And that heftystudent debtmillennials shoulder ? Seems unjust , considering this is among CBS ’s most successful enfranchisement . Either fashion , Taylorthe snowboard instructor is falling for the babes of his tribe : " I ’m a sucker for pretty girls , " he tells us , which isnot very woke .
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The Gen X-ers are boring
This is n’t an indictment of the propagation , just the 10 objector opt to be it . Most of these people are concerned in lame stuff , like in reality build a shelter or find immunity matinee idol to keep them from getting carry off . Somewhat interesting : Ken , the 33 - year - old example and Gen - X tribe member who , come on , is n’t a Gen - Xer , and lead his on - camera confessional shirtless . AlsoDavid , a goofy 42 - year - old who is allegedly a TV writer back on the mainland yet still signed up to be on this show .
David is on the verge of a breakdown in every scene , and bail with his teammates over his very Gen X fear of mortality . " I was born consider about dying " is quite an icebreaker on a literal team survival competition .
There ’s alsoBret , a police ah - fficer from Bah - ston who is very good at army hut mental synthesis and seems inspired by Ken to doff his shirt ; andJessica , who find and hides an gasbag containing something called a Legacy Advantage from her teammates in an super obvious manner . Still , most of the Gen X segment serve as a corking time to catch up on my Instagram feed , so I ca n’t detest on them too much .
Neither generation is strong enough to weather a cyclone
For the first time inSurvivorhistory , Jeff Probst evacuates both teams because Fijian storm organisation are too dangerous – not until after he rent each squad shiver through one night of a monsoon , though . This may seem barbarous , but it induce for big television when the millennials fail to reconstruct anything resembling a field hut and have to shiver together in a pile .
Millennial Will , the dude who return up on his high - school sheepskin to be here , calls his squad ’s makeshift protection " one of the worst in the history ofSurvivor . " He was 2 - yr - honest-to-goodness whenSurvivorpremiered , so if he ’s catch up on all 32 old season , he might have dropped out of schoolhouse a tenacious time ago .
I am very curious about the evacuation accommodations , butSurvivorshows us nothing . I ’ve watched too muchUnREALto consider that nothing fall out to the dissenter when the cameras are n’t roll . I have so many question about that missing meter . Like , how indulge were they ? How was the food ? Did they lam with Jeff ? Who hooked up ? ( You know they thieve up . ) I guess I ’ll have to wait for the DVD extras ( spell my editor program , who still buys DVDs ) .
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Millennials just wanna have sex
As a Certified Millennial ™ , I can vouch that this feels realistic – and we emphatically missed something during Evacuation Night . I take a like toHannah , the 24 - year - old self - identifying Jew in rain - speckled Warby Parkers who astutely sum up up the group dynamic as " high school coolheaded kids versus weirdo grind . " ( Guess which bivouac she falls into . )
Hannah forges an alliance with perceived fellow weirdo nerdMari , who probably shit more money in her calling as a YouTube telecasting - gamer than she will on this show . " The good - looking , popular mathematical group is isolating themselves from the entire tribe , " she whines . Nah , girl . They just wanna bang .
“Millennials are much smaller”
That ’s a direct inverted comma from our legion during the unsusceptibility challenge . Way to body - ignominy the cristal - ers , Jeff . That final race incorporates both an obstruction course of instruction and a nous - teasing puzzle . They can choose " shortcut " along the course in central for a more complicated puzzle ; the Gen X - ers go for the latter option , which Probst visit " a wise choice , give their consistency . " Sure enough , the slender spring chicken finish first .
The two tribes barely interact!
Much like the real world , the millennials do n’t even talk to the Gen ex - ers , or receipt their universe . Since Gen X lost the immunity challenge , they must vote out one of their own . David is already shaping up to be too much of aChadto get the rush , so he is sticking around ; instead , we say goodbye to someone namedRachel , who basically only complained about the weather and rent her mate down when it come to solving that teaser . I do n’t think she did much else ; maybe while I was checking Instagram . Bye , Rachel .
Someone “might have had a heart attack”
Next week onSurvivor : Youths vs. Olds , we ’re talented with the above tease and a foreboding nip of a heart monitoring machine on the shore . Now , I ’m not a doctor , but it also sounds like someone mightnothave had a heart blast . Either manner , I am eager to get more fashion inspiration from the millennials who become their team scarves into tube tops and get wind more about what David thinks happens when you go to that swell self-aggrandizing island in the sky .
Gosh , I ’m an expert already . As Zeke would say , " Survivoris helping me rise to my potential . " It ’s genuine : millennials learn tight . learn your skreak backs , Gen X.
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