The problems that lie at the heart of Survivor have been there from its beginning, and while it would be nice to think that the show’s success happened in spite of its problems, the reality is, its success has probably been dependent on them. Survivor is one of the longest-running reality TV shows in history, with 40 seasons under its belt, over the course of 20 years. During that time, the show and host Jeff Probst have claimed to make progress on issues like racism, sexism, and homophobia. In particular, Probst has insisted that he loves to learn on-screen; he loves to talk about what it’s like to live as a trans person or a woman or a person of color. But perhaps what he means is that he loves to seem like he’s learning in order to give audiences the narrative arc they intuitively want. Real learning — for Probst and producers — would mean that there would be changes in everything from casting choices to manipulative edits that enforce gender stereotypes. Instead, the show has demonstrated that it only learns when it wants to learn, and acts like a ‘50s sitcom when it wants to entertain. Hearing players such as Smith and Dawson — both of whom once had deep love for the game — tell me that they’ll never play again was eye-opening for me. After years of having Survivor as a staple in my life — a problematic fave, admittedly — I’ve realized that, until the show reckons with its systemic prejudices, I’ll be snuffing my torch, maybe for good.