Survive the Raft

I thought I would be alone in coming on here to give this show a not so positive review, but I do join the other reviews and just like the heading, say it was a great idea, but horribly produced.

I admit I have been watching the show in its entirety from start to finish and I don't mind some of the things other people are saying, because these game shows are ALL ABOUT politics and saving oneself via alliances and schemes (think back to Richard on Season 1 of Survivor, the original alliance guy). However, this show is ran by the producers, because each episode builds on how the contestants are steadfast in what they will do at the end of the episode, only to find that we as an audience have been dooped, and they were all in agreement the whole time. Like it was going to be some super clever plot twist that we didn't see coming. BUT it is in Every. Single. Episode.

How could the show let this happen it was supposed to be about diversity and representation but they let these money hungry meathead womanizer come on and take over total FAIL in my eyes stopped watching and won't watch another episode. I was completely invested until Jimmy and Garrid come in and turn it into a show all about the money and Jimmy completely came up short in all the bounty games he's exactly like CJ said a used car salesman, and in his introduction there's pics of him in between two women with g-strings and this is what the producers thought that's what the people wanted? Well you lost me for sure once again total FAIL.

The actor / would-be host, Nate Boyer, has assembled 9 people for an alleged social experiment in cooperation for the greater good. The premise is an old well worn one studied many times to see if the participants will pull together or if they will sdoggedly pursue their needs or desires.

Assembled are some of the most odious characters you will find in the murky backwaters of social media & Truth Social (lol).

I changed channels in the first 20 minutes when one of the cretins wanted to spend their very limited funds not on food but on ice (really!) and another wanted to spend the remainder on comfort items.

But it's just so bad. It also doesn't help that they constantly reference the original experiment which sounds like it was much more interesting and would've made a better show. This show seemed like it wanted everyone at eachothers throats but they all just kinda worked together, and at worst were slightly annoyed by each other once in a while. Bringing new people on every episode and creating the vote was just straight up stupid, not gonna try to rip it apart, it was just a bad idea. They should have just been given the option to vote members off if they wanted, make it more ominous and random.

There are also no stakes at all. It's just all chill, they're clearly taken care of and don't have to do any real survival. It's like Big Brother on a boat but somehow more boring and with less conflict, honestly it's kind of amazing how much they seemed to fail at their own concept here of "difficult and different people being forced to live together."

This show needs to take its concept and mix it with The Mole, and simplify concepts a bit. There is just way too much going on, like several different shows happening at once.

Also Russ, the vegan and the little Karen ruined everything.

I watched Survive the Raft expecting a social experiment, but it quickly felt like a platform for conflict-particularly political and racial conflict-rather than cooperation.

From the beginning, I felt CJ was unfairly targeted, especially by Lashanna, who came off as loud, aggressive, and immediately confrontational. CJ's calm response-"I was just attacked in a group for how I look... based on my appearance..."-was a standout moment. He called out the hypocrisy in how assumptions were made about him based on his being a white male. And the silence that followed said a lot.

The show seems to lean into the same divisive narratives we see all too often in media: constant focus on race and identity over character and individual merit. Many of us are tired of being told what to think about each other based on skin color. Most Americans, I believe, care far more about someone's integrity, work ethic, and how they treat others than what box they check on a census.

Things really took a turn for the worse when Jimmy joined the raft. Almost immediately, he started sabotaging CJ's standing with the group, spreading lies and twisting CJ's words to stir up gossip-especially among the women. This snowballed quickly and led to a poorly timed comment about Russell, which gave the group an excuse to vote CJ off. It was frustrating to watch, because without Jimmy's meddling, CJ-a skilled spear fisher, level-headed presence, and strong competitor-would have likely made it to the end. His exit felt orchestrated, not earned.

Finally, in the last bounty mission, players were given the option to cross off names from the list-eliminating others from sharing in the final cash prize. Not one of them did it. Not even Jimmy, who had proven himself to be manipulative and money-driven. That moment felt too clean, too perfect. Are we really supposed to believe that no one tried to cut anyone out for a bigger payday? It came across as scripted, or at least heavily influenced behind the scenes, which undercut the entire social experiment premise.