A ‘Survivor 47’ castaway claims one of the most beloved seasons is ‘mid at best’ ⏤ but before you try to slap him, let’s hear him out

We are just days away from the premiere of Survivor 47, and while castaway Sam Phalen may seem like a good contender for the title of “Sole Survivor” and the million-dollar prize — serving as the perfect combination of brains, brawn, and beauty — his taste in Survivor seasons has made us question just how qualified he may really be for the show.

For those who are unfamiliar with Sam, he is a 24-year-old sports reporter from Schaumburg, Illinois, currently living in Nashville, Tennessee and covering the Tennessee Titans NFL team as a career. According to the contestant himself, he is a “day one fan” of Survivor who has been anxiously awaiting his chance to actually compete on the show — deeming the beloved competition series to be “the greatest game ever created” — but he quickly rubbed fans of the franchise the wrong way with a hot take that had everyone hooting and hollering.

In a pre-game interview with longtime Survivor writer and reporter Mike Bloom, the “passionate, stubborn, and ambitious” castaway revealed his belief that Survivor: Winners at War was not a good season after all, describing it as “a mid season at best.” How wild is that?

Now, before Sam is cancelled by fans of the hit competition show, keep scrolling for his reasoning.

Sam Phalen slams Survivor: Winners at War

When asked his hottest Survivor take by Mike Bloom, naturally, Sam Phalen sang like a bird:

“I think Winners at War is a mid season at best. I just felt like so many of the players didn’t come to win. They came to kind of make it a capstone on their Survivor career, and they got to a point at eight, seven, six in the game, where they were just like, “Hey, vote me out. It’s been a great ride.” I’m like, ‘No! You’re playing to be a Survivor legend, the greatest ever if you win twice, especially if you’re two for two at it,’ so that kind of bothered me.”

In this response, Sam was undoubtedly referencing Survivor: Heroes vs Healers vs Hustlers winner Ben Driebergen, who let his strong alliance with Survivor: Game Changers winner Sarah Lacina get the best of him towards the end of Winners at War. When he felt backed up against a wall at the final five — losing individual immunity to the eventual “Sole Survivor,” Tony Vlachos — Ben decided that his Survivor journey was complete. Admitting that there is nobody he would have wanted win the game rather than Sarah, he gave the police officer permission to vote him out — to which she obliged — ultimately leading to the marine’s untimely departure on day 37.

While this element of Winners at War was frustrating (to say the least), the rest of the season was nothing short of sensational, bringing the best of the best together for a chance at two million dollars, in addition to they one million that they all had won previously. Because of the high caliber of gameplay fans saw basically all season long, the fact that Sam would go so far to say that Winners at War is “a mid season at best” is mind-boggling…

Nonetheless, will Sam manage to make Survivor 47 a better season than Survivor: Winners at War? More importantly, will Sam manage to take home the title of “Sole Survivor” and the million-dollar prize?

To find out for yourself, catch Survivor 47 when it airs on ABC this fall, beginning with a soon-to-be spectacular, supersized premiere on September 18.