These days, Survivor has been around long enough that new fans have to figure out which seasons to watch first. As a result of that longevity, many fans of Jeff Probst’s beloved reality show still debate which winners are the best, what players are the greatest, and which are the best seasons. However, a lot of fans who have opinions about those topics have forgotten which player was the first to be medically evacuated.
Thankfully, some of Survivor’s original players are still around to teach lessons about the show. For example, when Gervase Peterson was interviewed by TheThings about how underrated he is, the Survivor original also explained what modern players get wrong about the show.
Gervase Peterson Told TheThings That Survivor 48 Players Need To Stop Obsessing Over Making Big Moves
For many years now, a lot of Survivor players have been mostly concerned about building their resumes. As a result, many of those players want to make sure they pull off some big moves that they can tell the jury about when they make it to the final tribal council.
During Survivor 48, there has continued to be evidence of players wanting to build their resume. For example, when three Survivor 48 players found beware advantages, none of them even seemed to consider not taking the item that could be dangerous.
One of the biggest reasons why new fans don’t even seem to consider the dangers of losing their vote is because they want an idol to be safer and make a big move. With that in mind, it is fascinating that Gervase Peterson told TheThings that new players, like the cast of Survivor 48, are playing the game wrong.
In February 2025, TheThings journalist Matthew Thomas interviewed Gervase Peterson about his Survivor experience.
Gervase Peterson’s Survivor Placements | ||
|---|---|---|
Placement | Season | Player |
10th Voted Out/3rd Jury Member/Day 30 | Survivor: Borneo | Gervase |
Second Runner-Up | Survivor: Blood vs. Water | Gervase |
During the resulting conversation, Gervase spoke about Survivor’s so-called “big moves” era. After being asked about returning for Survivor: Blood vs. Water, Gervase stated his opinion that the biggest mistake that players make now is trying to control their tribemates.
“People are making the same mistakes. You know? One of the biggest mistakes somebody makes is, ‘Hey, Matt. We’re gonna vote out Will. And you’re like, ‘Yeah. But I like Will.’ [So I’m like] ‘No. We’re voting out Will.’ You’re like, ‘Okay. We’re voting out Will.’ And then you do your interview. You’re like, ‘I’m not voting out Will. No way. I like Will. I’m a get rid of him because he’s telling me who to vote for. Nobody tells me who to vote for.’ And it’s just the same mistakes are made season after season.”
From there, Gervase went on to talk about how wrong new players like the cast of Survivor 48 are about how the game has changed.
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When fans saw hot takes from Survivor 48’s cast, many of their ideas about the show were truly awful. Despite that, it seems like the cast of each new season of Survivor believe that they’ve evolved the show and its strategy.
When people talk about Gervase Peterson’s Survivor tenure, they don’t give him enough respect. Obviously a very charismatic and smart person, Gervase managed to last an impressive 69 days in the game between two seasons.
However, while talking to TheThings, Gervase expressed his opinion that Survivor’s new players are wrong to think they’ve evolved the game. Instead, Gervase believed that the new players need to get back to basics and remember what competing on the show is really about.
So to me, it was like, nobody’s learned anything. You guys are playing the game. You’ve evolved the game. But the game is basic and simple.
During Survivor’s so-called “new era,” the show has introduced a slew of new twists that change aspects of the game. With that in mind, it would be easy for new players who are playing for the first time to think that the game is largely about grappling with those twists.
While talking to TheThings, Gervase Peterson called out the obsession over the “big move” era. As Gervase explained, he believes that players need to wait for the right moment to take their big swing. “Even Jeff promoted the big move. Like, ‘You gotta make a big move in this game. That’s how you win.’ And I’m like, ‘No. Big moves puts a target on your back. It’s swinging for the fences, but it’s like, either you swing and you hit or miss. And I’m not trying to strike out now. I’m gonna strike out when I’m at the finals. If I wanna strike out, I wanna be sitting in the final three to strike out. That’s why I wanna take my big swing. But the whole point is you gotta get there. And if you can’t get to the finals, all this is for nothing and the best way to do it is a social game still.”
While players obviously can’t ignore twists and advantages, Gervase exclusively told TheThings what he believes it really takes to win Survivor.
“It’s get people to like you, and if people like you enough, they’ll keep you around, and then they’ll like you enough to give you a million dollars. That’s what it comes down to at the end.”
From there, Gervase explained how he had to grapple with the way that new players think about Survivor.
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While talking to TheThings, Gervase explained how he dealt with the newer players who he felt misunderstood the game when he competed on Survivor: Blood vs. Water.
“So I’m thinking, ‘Okay. I need to go out there and show these people how to play the game all over again the right way because everything you’re doing is wrong.’ And I even kinda said that out there. ‘You guys are playing this game wrong. You know? You’re making it more complicated than it has to be. Basketball is a simple game. You put the ball in the hoop. The rules have changed. The game has changed after all these years, but you have to put the ball in the hoop. It’s that simple.’ So that’s how I went out there.”
Gervase Peterson Told TheThings How Rejecting Big Moves Helped Him During Survivor: Blood Vs. Water
During Survivor Blood vs. Water, Gervase Peterson memorably teamed with Tyson Apostol and Monica Culpepper throughout the season. As a result of their alliance, all three of them were able to make it to the final tribal council and Tyson won the season.
While talking to TheThings, Gervase explained that the newer players who wanted to make big moves wanted to instantly make alliances. However, because he relies on his social understanding, Gervase decided to wait to team up with the right people he could work with.
“The best things that happened for my game was we won the first three challenges. So for the first nine days, we didn’t go to tribal council. So I took those nine days to get with everybody on my tribe, take them down to the beach, have a two, three-hour conversation with them, and just talk to them and got to know them and let them know me so we can understand. This is how the type of person I am, and this is the type of person that’s gonna play this game. You know? And I’m trying to find somebody who I can work with.”
Gervase went on to tell TheThings that he initially thought he was going to team up with Aras Baskauskas. “I thought it was gonna be Aras at first. That fell apart really fast. Day zero, that fell apart for me.”
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While Gervase wasn’t sure who he could work with at first, he thought he knew one thing. While talking to TheThings, Gervase stated that he believed that he wanted to get Tyson voted out as soon as he could.
“My goal was to get rid of Tyson as soon as I could. Because I felt like Tyson was that guy that was that wild card that would mess your game up. You know? And he would mess his own game up. You know? I thought was Tyson was just that crazy person in the game, that he was the x-factor. So my goal was to get rid of Tyson.”
Gervase then told TheThings that he realized Tyson was the perfect person for him to team with after they sat down and talked.
“After sitting down and talking to Tyson, I was like, this guy is not anything like what we’ve seen on TV. You know, in a lot of ways he is, but there’s this other side to him that you’re not gonna get unless you talk to him. And I was like, ‘I wanna play with Tyson. I think me and him could do something together in this game and go far.'”
Finally, Gervase described the moment that he and Tyson cemented their relationship. “I said and I was honest to him. I said, ‘Hey. My goal is to get rid of you. I told Marissa, ‘If it’s you on her team, get rid of this guy first. He’s gonna mess your game up.’ I said, ‘But I really wanna work with you. And he said, ‘I feel the same way about you.’ And I was like, ‘Let’s do it.'”
Survivor
- Release Date
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May 31, 2000
- Network
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CBS
- Showrunner
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Jeff Probst
- Directors
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Jeff Probst
- Writers
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Jeff Probst
