{"id":265843,"date":"2026-01-30T18:48:12","date_gmt":"2026-01-30T18:48:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/265843\/"},"modified":"2026-01-30T18:48:12","modified_gmt":"2026-01-30T18:48:12","slug":"how-would-the-send-help-characters-do-on-survivor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/265843\/","title":{"rendered":"How Would the \u2018Send Help\u2019 Characters Do on \u2018Survivor\u2019?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rachel McAdams and Dylan O\u2019Brien, your tribe has spoken\"\"<\/p>\n

What a time to be a Survivor fan. The good: The reality competition series has been going strong for 26 years and counting and will celebrate its 50th season next month with an all-star cast of returnees, including Cirie Fields, Coach Wade, and Mike White. The bad: Jeff Probst doesn\u2019t seem to know what fans want these days, considering Survivor 50\u2019s bizarre casting choices<\/a>\u2014including the exclusion of New Era breakout star Carolyn Wiger\u2014and, well [gestures at MrBeast<\/a>]. But even if Survivor\u2019s seen better days, I can think of no greater endorsement for its enduring cultural footprint than that the series is a major source of inspiration for a new Sam Raimi movie.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In Send Help, which came out on Friday, Linda Liddle (Rachel McAdams) works in a Fortune 500 company\u2019s strategy and planning department, where she\u2019s promised a promotion to VP. Things take a turn when her boss dies and his entitled son, Bradley Preston (Dylan O\u2019Brien), takes over and would rather promote his golf buddy Donovan (Xavier Samuel). While Bradley, Linda, and some select higher-ups are traveling to Bangkok to complete a merger, their plane crash-lands in the middle of nowhere. Bradley and Linda are the only survivors, forced to fend for themselves on a deserted island as they wait for when\u2014or if\u2014they get rescued. Oh yeah, and Linda also happens to be a Survivor superfan. She auditioned for the show and everything. (If I were Jeff, I would\u2019ve cast her.)\u00a0<\/p>\n

Now, Linda gets to live out her wildest Survivor fantasies, and since I’m a fan of both the series and horror-thrillers where characters are isolated before slowly losing their minds, Send Help was a Dumpuary<\/a> godsend. It also got me thinking: If the premise of Send Help were somehow turned into a season of reality television, who\u2019s got a better r\u00e9sum\u00e9 for being Sole Survivor? (The obvious answer would be Linda, but she has one fatal flaw that could hurt her case.) Below, I\u2019ve broken down Linda’s and Bradley\u2019s respective \u201cgames,\u201d as it were, in several categories to determine a winner. Survivors ready? Go!\u00a0<\/p>\n

Pregame\u00a0<\/p>\n

In Survivor, players spend about a week before the start of the show in \u201cpregame,\u201d which includes everything from final medical checkups to press and photo ops in close quarters. Ideally, contestants aren\u2019t allowed to strategize during this time, but it can prove difficult to keep them in check. (See: The Survivor 49 pregame drama<\/a>, as explained by Sage Ahrens-Nichols.) Obviously, the characters in Send Help weren\u2019t exactly planning to find themselves stuck on an uninhabited island somewhere off the coast of Thailand, but Linda and Bradley both failed to make a good impression in their respective pregames.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s start with Linda. She is exceptionally talented at her job\u2014a \u201csavant\u201d with numbers, as Bradley describes her\u2014but she\u2019s never been a good hang at the office. Her coworkers find her awkward to be around\u2014none of them want her to come to karaoke night and sing Blondie\u2019s \u201cOne Way or Another,\u201d even though it\u2019s a certified banger\u2014and she doesn\u2019t stand up for herself when a peer takes credit for all her hard work. To make matters worse, when Linda greets Bradley on his first day as CEO, she has a piece of tuna salad clinging to the bottom of her lip, and by the end of their conversation, it lands on Bradley\u2019s hand. I don\u2019t blame him at all for reaching for the hand sanitizer; that shit\u2019s nasty.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Bradley, however, is no better. He\u2019s the kind of boss who\u2019s ascended the corporate ladder only because daddy ran the company, and when Linda goes into his office to ask why she was denied a promotion, he\u2019s interviewing an attractive secretary in a way that suggests he wants her to go [clears throat] above and beyond. Bradley plans to have Linda come to Bangkok for the merger just so she can do some busywork before transferring her to another office. When Donovan pulls up the video of Linda\u2019s Survivor audition tape on the plane, Bradley openly mocks her. Basically, Bradley doesn\u2019t like Linda\u2019s vibe and wants to keep her around only while she\u2019s useful. Unless you\u2019re part of his sycophantic inner circle, Bradley\u2019s quite unlikable. He\u2019s in for a rude awakening when the tables turn and he\u2019s not in charge anymore.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Who\u2019s the better Survivor? Neither character covers themselves in glory during the pregame, but I\u2019m giving the edge to Linda. She might lack social graces in the office, but I have no doubt that the company would be in shambles without her strategy and planning. Bradley is a nepo baby who, if left to his own devices, would care only about golf trips and harassing his prospective secretary.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Survival\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

While new-era Survivor has scaled back the actual survival elements\u2014contestants are stranded for 26 days instead of the original 39\u2014it\u2019s still an essential component of the show. If a tribe is going to outlast the elements, they\u2019ll to need to make a shelter, build a fire, and hunt for food. Without these things, a tribe can get caught in a vicious cycle of being too sleep-deprived and starved for challenges, which in turn leads to members continually being voted off.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This is where Linda runs circles around Bradley. She isn\u2019t just a Survivor obsessive\u2014her apartment is a testament to her love for adventure. She\u2019s visited the Grand Canyon and has a whole shelf of survivalist books. When the duo is stranded on the island, Linda wastes little time putting together a shelter, collecting rainwater using coconut husks and leaves, and foraging for food. (She even creates makeshift chopsticks out of bamboo, a wild flex.) She\u2019s so good at surviving that her entire demeanor changes from meek to confident almost instantaneously. Dare I say, Linda also gets more attractive, following in the grand tradition of Survivor contestants becoming Island Hot\u00a0<\/p>\n

Bradley, by contrast, is a fucking disaster. In his defense, when Linda finds him passed out on the beach, his leg is injured and he\u2019s unable to walk. But even when he regains enough strength to limp around, Bradley proves to be woefully out of his depth. For starters, he\u2019s ungrateful to Linda for nursing him back to health while believing that the workplace dynamics\u2014he\u2019s the boss; she\u2019s the underling\u2014still matter on the island. Then, in an iconic display of unearned confidence, he thinks he\u2019d be able to build a shelter and hunt for food better than Linda. It goes horribly wrong\u2014as in, he\u2019s shivering in the cold during a storm and eats a gross insect that causes his tongue to turn black. When Bradley finally begs Linda to welcome him back to her shelter, it\u2019s the kind of humbling he\u2019s needed his entire life.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Who\u2019s the better Survivor? It\u2019s Linda in a landslide. She reminds me of a classic old-school Survivor player: She\u2019s great at the literal survival elements, and if she was voted off early, the rest of the tribe would suffer for it Bradley, meanwhile, is a variant of a new-era player: He hails from corporate America, and you wonder whether he\u2019s even been camping before getting stranded on the island.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Challenges\u00a0<\/p>\n

Challenges on Survivor can be for a reward (typically food oriented), tribe\/individual immunity, or both. They test a player\u2019s physical endurance and mental fortitude, whether it\u2019s hanging on to a pole<\/a> for more than five hours or eating gnarly local delicacies<\/a>. While winning too many challenges\u2014also known as being a Challenge Beast\u2014can put a target on a player\u2019s back, a clutch win at the right time can help them reach the final tribal council. (Survivor 47\u2019s Rachel LaMont, for example.)\u00a0<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, Linda and Bradley\u2019s predicament doesn\u2019t include Jeff emerging from the jungle to say, \u201cWanna know what you\u2019re playing for?!\u201d There are, however, moments when they\u2019re put through an ordeal with genuine life-or-death stakes, which, to me, feels very challenge coded. The greatest challenge on the island is when Linda goes hunting for a wild boar. The upside: Catch the boar, and this plucky tribe of two will have sustenance for a while. The risk: A wild boar is quite dangerous and is liable to kill you. The wild boar puts up a good fight, but Linda comes out on top. As she jokes to Bradley, she literally brings home the bacon.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Stop me if you\u2019ve heard this one before, but this is where Bradley fails. We don\u2019t see him successfully hunt anything\u2014unless eating that gross bug counts\u2014and the closest thing we get to Bradley undergoing a challenge is his insistence that the best way to get rescued is building a raft and paddling out to open sea. I highly disagree, but when Bradley does get the chance to escape in a raft\u2014after feeding Linda poisonous berries to incapacitate her; not cool!\u2014it breaks apart after a few waves. He nearly drowns, and the only reason he survives is because Linda drags him out of the water and performs CPR in between puking her guts out. (She mostly vomits on Bradley\u2019s face, and he deserves it.)\u00a0<\/p>\n

Who\u2019s the better Survivor? Again, it\u2019s Linda. She\u2019s the definition of a Challenge Beast, and if she were on actual Survivor, I wouldn\u2019t be surprised if she broke the record for most individual immunity wins by a female contestant. As for Bradley, well, he\u2019s got the makings of an early boot.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Social Gameplay\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

For all the emphasis on literal survival and challenges, winning Survivor ultimately comes down to a player\u2019s social game. Your fellow contestants are the ones deciding who wins a million dollars, and if you ruffle enough feathers, they might vote for someone else. (Even if you thoroughly dominate a game like Russell Hantz, it won\u2019t matter if you\u2019re a dick to everyone, like Russell Hantz.) Whether it\u2019s because of bad vibes or a bitter final jury, the person the audience perceives to be the \u201cbest\u201d player on Survivor isn\u2019t always getting the most votes<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, this is Linda\u2019s downfall. Her lack of social graces around the office extends to the social dynamics on the island. Yes, Bradley is an ungrateful asshole, and I don\u2019t blame Linda for losing her temper with him at times, especially after he poisons her to try (and fail) to escape the island in a raft. Still, Linda\u2019s decision to punish Bradley by [deep breath] feeding him a neurotoxin that paralyzes his body before threatening to cut off his manhood if he disobeys her again is \u2026 not how I\u2019d go about handling tribal conflict.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Linda also casually admits her indirect involvement in her ex-husband’s death\u2014she handed him car keys after he got drunk and wanted to storm out of their apartment\u2014and, despite spotting a boat early into their ordeal, decides not to wave it down in order to live on the island longer. Later, when Bradley\u2019s fianc\u00e9e and a local guide miraculously find Linda by the beach, she elects to murder them instead of, you know, returning to civilization. Throw in the reveal that there\u2019s a billionaire\u2019s luxurious getaway(!) on the other side of the island, which Linda keeps from Bradley to maintain her domineering position over him, and she really loses the plot.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Conversely, Bradley is a savvy player at times. He\u2019s duplicitous, but he repeatedly proves that he can disarm Linda with his charm and good looks. In the game of Survivor, what matters is perception more than reality, and one could argue that Bradley makes the most of a difficult situation. Linda does the majority of the work around camp, and he reaps the rewards. He successfully lulls her into a false sense of security with the poison berry meal before unsuccessfully trying to escape the island. There\u2019s more than one type of person who gets on Survivor, but I maintain that the game can favor a manipulative player who knows how to push the right buttons. (See: Survivor: Thailand\u2019s Brian Heidik<\/a>.) Of course, Linda does wise up to Bradley\u2019s deceitful nature, and by the end of the film, she beats him to death with a golf club. In the game of Survivor and the game of survival: If you fuck around, you might get found out.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Who\u2019s the better Survivor? Even though he’s straight-up murdered, I\u2019d argue this is where Bradley\u2019s game really shines. Linda is almost entirely responsible for them staying alive on the island, but Bradley\u2019s shrewd social maneuvering is the kind of thing that could win him a million bucks if he\u2019s got good jury management. Linda being stuck doing all the hard work while Bradley gets the plaudits? Sadly, that might remind Linda of their dynamic in the office.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Final Tribal Council\u00a0<\/p>\n

OK, so let\u2019s say that the ending of Send Help didn\u2019t happen\u2014that, instead of Linda and Bradley fighting to the death in the billionaire\u2019s home, with Linda delivering the fatal blow, Jeff Probst has them make their case to a jury of eliminated castaways. Since nobody else survived the plane crash to judge their performances, I\u2019ve asked a jury of Ringer colleagues who\u2019ve watched Send Help, including me, to vote on a winner. I\u2019ll go tally the votes<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

And the winner of Survivor: Send Help is \u2026 Linda Liddle!\u00a0<\/p>\n

Congrats, Linda. Despite some highly questionable decision-making\u2014namely, killing the people trying to rescue you\u2014you proved that you\u2019ve got what it takes to be Sole Survivor. I\u2019m sure CBS would love nothing more than to cast you on a future season of Survivor, with one condition: If you have any disagreements with a tribemate, hash them out at Tribal Council\u2014and leave the knives back at camp.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Miles Surrey<\/p>\n

<\/a>Miles writes about television, film, and whatever your dad is interested in. He is based in Brooklyn.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Rachel McAdams and Dylan O\u2019Brien, your tribe has spoken What a time to be a Survivor fan. The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":265844,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[146,85,46,411],"class_list":{"0":"post-265843","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tv","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-il","10":"tag-israel","11":"tag-tv"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/265843","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=265843"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/265843\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/265844"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=265843"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=265843"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=265843"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}