Nostalgia Alert: 5 Things We Desperately Miss from Classic Survivor

CBS' Survivor has been on the air for more than two decades, and throughout that time, the show has never failed to appeal to its viewers, introducing new compelling contestants and tough challenges season after season.

However, the fan-favorite reality competition series has obviously changed in the last five years or so, becoming a more fast-food version of itself, where the challenges feel safer and the overall vibe is much more like other reality shows.

Here are five things we miss about the classic Survivor years.

Those old intros

While Survivor has undoubtedly become a more polished and generally well-produced show in recent years, it has lost much of its personality and charm (even if it was sort of cheesy, to be honest). Most of all, fans miss the old-fashioned intros with pulsating tribal music and glamor shots of the contestants that made the start of each episode a must-see.

Those mundane but great rewards

In recent years, Survivor's challenges have gotten much bigger, but the rewards themselves are simply not as exciting as they used to be. In the early seasons, the contestants were happy to get some basic things like hot coffee or pizza as prizes, and when the producers treated them to helicopter rides and trips to the nearby villages to meet the people, the contestants were on cloud nine, and so were we. It just felt more real, you know?

Those emotional letters

Watching the show, we clearly see how hard it is for the contestants to live in total isolation without normal food, shelter, and other trappings of civilization. But of course, the survivors miss their families and friends most of all, so seeing them read letters from their loved ones was an extremely emotional affair in the early seasons.

The current Survivor has excluded this from the show, and it's a huge disappointment.

Those deep dives into contestants' backstories

While Survivor still spends a lot of time fleshing out its contestants, it's no coincidence that the cast members from the earlier seasons have proved to be more memorable than any of the new ones. Back then, the producers allowed the contestants to really open up to the audience, and Survivor was not only a competitive reality show at the time, but also a psychological one.

Various locations

Needless to say, Survivor has always been about traveling to faraway places around the world, and fans loved visiting those barren islands and deep jungles.

But of 44 seasons of the show, the last 12 installments were filmed on the Fiji Islands, and though these islands are certainly beautiful, the series' settling down on just one location feels like a huge letdown.