Fans Think Survivor 45's Lulu Tribe Might Be The Worst Ever, But I See A Big Silver Lining

Did you watch the premiere of Survivor 45? Yikes. We had one contestant who cried every other 30 minutes, complained about how much she hates being outside and then quit. We had another contestant who also repeatedly cried, panicked during the first challenge and couldn’t figure out how to climb a ladder. We had a third contestant who was so repeatedly negative and unpleasant to be around that she admitted she’s behaving like a “weird, aggressive” version of herself that is “palpable at camp.” And somehow, all three of these people were put on the same tribe that looks like it has the makings of being an all-time Survivor trainwreck, but if you look back at previous seasons, there may also be a big silver lining.

Let’s break down this tribe. Lulu started the first episode with six members. There’s Hannah, a seemingly nice lady who it turns out is not fit to play Survivor and may not be fit to do anything outdoors other than maybe walk short distances. She wasn’t an obvious disaster in the challenges, but she was very open almost immediately about how hard everything was and how much she hated playing. She would have cruised through at least a few episodes but ultimately begged people to vote her out and quit. Then there’s Brandon, a 26-year-old content creator who cried at least twice before the first challenge even started. He had what may have been a panic attack mid-challenge and could not figure out how to climb a rope. He ultimately got pulled up by his teammate and literally crawled to the finish line. His energy was mostly positive at camp when interacting with other players, but we also got like five cut-tos of him saying he needed to take breaks.

Then there’s Emily, who jumped into the deep end and immediately started playing at 100 miles per hour the second she got to the first challenge, probably because she wanted to be the anti-Mike Gabler. She called out Bruce, a returning player on another tribe, in really straightforward fashion for seemingly no reason, then started a rumor that some of her tribemates lost a challenge on purpose in order to gain a secret advantage. They did not. All that, coupled with relentless finger-pointing and negativity at camp about anything and everything, turned her into an immediate outsider. On a normal season, she would have been the no-doubt obvious first boot, but given we’ve got a woman who openly wants to quit and another who I was worried might drown mid-challenge, it should have been easy for her to pivot the vote to one of them. Except, after they lost the immunity challenge, she bizarrely started trying to point the finger at the other members of the tribe who I haven’t mentioned yet. She claimed this was her thinking multiple steps ahead, but in reality, it just left everyone confused and wanting to vote her out more.

Those other members of the tribe are Kaleb, Sabiyah and Sean. I have no idea how good they are. They might be all-time fantastic players. They might be extremely mediocre, but they’ve emerged as comparative rock stars on the Lulu Tribe, merely by doing basic, normal things 95% of new Survivor players do during the first episode. They didn’t start any drama. They helped build the shelter. They treated fellow tribe members with basic respect and decency. They didn’t talk about how much they hated being on Survivor. They finished their portions of the physical challenges without major delays, with Kaleb especially performing well. They just existed, and that earned them so much sympathy from Survivor fans.

The reaction on social media was a mix of feeling terrible for Kaleb, Sabiyah and Sean and talking about how Lulu might be one of the worst tribes in the history of the show. Twitter was ablaze with tons of tweets talking about what a disaster the sixsome is, and many of them had hundreds or even thousands of likes. You can check out a sample one below…

That’s just the tip of the iceberg. We’ve got fans arguing about whether they’re a fun mess or just a mess. We have fans wondering how producers could have possibly thought putting these people together is a good idea. We have more kind-hearted fans yelling at other fans and telling them to stop being so mean to Lulu. And, of course, we’ve got people speculating this might be the worst tribe ever and/ or comparing them to some of the biggest disasters in history.

But that’s actually where the silver lining comes in. I have no idea what’s ahead for Lulu, but based on the skills they’ve shown so far and the scenes from next week, I think it’s going to be a rough start to the season. There’s a real chance we could see both Emily and Brandon leaving in short order, but if history tells us anything about terrible Survivor tribes, it’s that some of the show’s biggest stars have historically emerged from those messes. 

Season 27 Cagayan featured the infamous disaster Luzon. Garrett threatened everyone and said they weren’t allowed to talk to each other before the Tribal Council vote. J’Tia intentionally destroyed her own tribe’s rice. They lost three of the first four challenges, but out of that complete failure emerged Spencer, Tasha and Kass, all of whom made the top six and appeared in future seasons of the show.

The same story happened in Survivor 25 Philippines. The first four castaways voted out were all from the Matsing tribe. The start of the show was such an irredeemable failure that they had to mix up the tribes almost immediately because the aforementioned squad only had two players left. Those two remaining players, however, were Malcolm and Denise, who dominated the rest of the game and came back to play additional seasons later on. 

I could go on and on. Even last season, Tika was an embarrassment early in the show. Bruce was medically evacuated in the first episode. Helen, Sarah and Josh all went out before the jury, and yet, Carson, Yam Yam and Carolyn emerged as three of the top four and will be remembered as one of the most beloved trios in the show's history, one so popular many credit it with earning the show an Emmy nomination. In fact, it wouldn't be a surprise to see all three return to play again at some point in the future. 

I’m not saying I would want to be put on the Lulu Tribe. Certainly I'd rather take my chances with a normal group of players than be among one of Survivor’s most pitiful crews, but one of the reasons the reality show is so great is because you can maneuver your way out of bad situations and turn them into an advantage later on. Many great players have done so in the past, and there’s a chance we could see that again this season.