Really, critics and audiences ought to turn thoughts and wallets discreetly away from Surviving Christmas, ignoring the sight as if Santa had just stepped in droppings from Donner and Blitzen. But how can we, when handed such an unseasonably early holiday turkey stuffed with helpings of Ben Affleck and James Gandolfini? The former has, for reasons far exceeding his thespian capabilities, become a celebrity the size (and substance) of a Macy’s Thanksgiving Day balloon; the latter, while manifestly ambivalent about celebrity, is rightfully admired for his superb skills in playing Tony Soprano, the most affecting fictional character in popular culture today.

What is he doing? What is he thinking? What the hell is wrong with this freakin' guy? That was my basic reaction while watching Yam Yam Arocho help Carson Garrett with his fire-making skills during the finale of Survivor 44. Here was one player teaching another player how to make fire — the master giving the student skills that then could be used against him should the two ultimately face off against one another in the final four fire-making competition.

FINALLY!!!!!!! Geez Louise apple cheese, I’ve been waiting forever to write about Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains. Seriously, I think they filmed this back in 1981 right around the time of the first Space Shuttle launch it seemed so long ago. It was actually last August. I went on location through the first Tribal Council and have been dying to share some behind-the-scenes stuff with you guys that you didn’t see in the episode.

With Survivor filming for seasons 41 and 42 indefinitely postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, EW is reaching back into the reality show’s past. We sent a Survivor Quarantine Questionnaire to a batch of former players to fill out with their thoughts about their time on the show as well as updates on what they’ve been up to since. Each weekday, EW will post the answers from a different player. Mitchell Olson had something he wanted to keep under wraps when he went out to play Survivor: The Australian Outback 20 years ago.

Warning: This article and video contains spoilers on the most recent episode of Snake in the Grass. Contestants ofSurvivor and Big Brother are constantly trying to figure out who is lying and who is telling the truth. And the deceit was ratcheted up to a whole other level when Cirie Fields and Stephenie LaGrossa Kendrick of Survivor fame as well as Big Brother legends Rachel Reilly, and Janelle Pierzina were dropped off in the jungles of Costa Rica for USA's Snake in the Grass, with $100,000 at stake.

Jeff Probst called it "the most frightened I've been in all my time on Survivor." So imagine how it must have felt for Caleb Reynolds. The man dubbed Beast Mode Cowboy was one of three people to collapse during Wednesday's Survivor reward challenge, and his condition was the most serious. Caleb was simultaneously panting and unresponsive and had to be medically evacuated via a helicopter. But what happened next? An emotional Caleb called into Entertainment Weekly Radio (SiriusXM, channel 105) to fill us in on everything that went down, and you can hear it all right now on the InsideTV Podcast.

Cirie Fields made history during the Survivor: Game Changers finale, and in the worst way possible. Cirie became the first person to be "voted out" of Survivor without a single vote being cast against her. That's because every single other player (Brad, Tai, Aubry, Sarah, and Troyzan) had one form or another of immunity, meaning Cirie was the only person who could be eliminated. And so she was. How does Cirie feel about her epic exit (and the standing ovation from the jury that followed it)?

So, I’ve got a deal I’d like to make you. And it’s a pretty sweet deal, if I do say so myself. Now, don’t be intimidated by the fact that I took an Advance Negotiations class at the University of Hard Knocks and got my Masters degree in Pointless Scheming. I promise this will be fair. What I’m thinking is something along the lines of this: I give you my Sisqó doll I obtained at an EW Toy Sale because nobody even bothered to bid on it, and you give me… ummm, I don’t know, let’s say everything you own in exchange.

Survivor 44's Three Stooges have been on fire of late by playing the middle and running the game from the shadows. But one of the alliance members got burned this week in a scene that never made it to TV. Or, at least, her pants did. In an exclusive deleted scene from this week's episode, Yam Yam Arocho describes a funk that's been permeating the camp due to everyone's clothes being constantly wet.

In the absence of direct American military involvement in the Syrian Civil War, the closest many Americans come to feeling a real stake in that conflict is when journalists like James Foley and Steven Sotloff are killed by terrorists. So for her new film Viper Club, premiering at Toronto International Film Festival this week, director Maryam Keshavarz (Circumstance) decided to examine several related issues through the eyes of Helen (Susan Sarandon), an ER nurse who tries to gather support for her journalist son (Julian Morris) after he goes missing in Syria.