'Survivor' - greatest theme-based seasons as of now

8. Survivor: Millennials vs. Gen X (Season 33 - 2016)

This was the theme that started the current theme trend, mainly because Survivor decided that it was time for the show to establish a permanent filming home on the islands of Fiji. Since they can't keep using Survivor: Fiji as a title and the location name isn't going to change itself, it was time to fully implement themes as season titles.

Millennials vs. Gen X was first, and after initially watching the season teaser, it's kind of hard not to shake your head. The show has pitted men vs. women, old vs. young, race vs. race, but those were utilized as season tribe division tactics, not the core theme for a season. Sure, Brains vs. Brawn vs. Beauty was an essential part of the two seasons that theme was used, but at least it had a location in the official titles, Cagayan and Kaoh Rong.

The last time the tribes were initially divided by age was season 21, Survivor: Nicaragua, and that wasn't the cream of the crop when it came to seasons, so it was a bold move to once again center an entire season around age. In addition, this was kind of a cop-out theme since the age division had been used before. The only difference this time is, instead of just saying the tribes made up of castaways who were either 30 and younger or 40 and older, the birth year of the castaways were highlighted. According to Jeff on the opening episode of Survivor: Millennials vs. Gen X, the Millennial castaways were born between 1984 and 1997 and the Gen X castaways were born between 1963 and 1982.

While Jeff also made clear at the start that the division was going to test the philosophical ways of life of the two generations rather than just which age group is better, the theme really isn't that special in the Survivor world. If you look back on the early seasons of Survivor when the show was more focused on human interaction and social politics rather than advantages and blindsides, many of the conversations and confessionals made by the castaways centered around their typical ways of life. Often times, the division of millennials and generation x would be a focus of episode segments, especially when camp work ethics were involved such as gathering firewood and how long individuals napped.

Season 33 did introduce someone memorable players and did have its fair share of exciting moments. However, as a theme, it's good enough to make number eight, but its lack of originality prevents it from advancing any further up the list.