One of the key components of every Survivor episode is Tribal Council, but some viewers think that the show should consider abbreviating the segment. Tribal Council has been a part of nearly every Survivor episode since the show's premiere in 2000. It's inarguably the most important segment of the show since it's where the players go to vote their competitors out of the game. It's been featured in every episode except for the rare times when a player quits or is medically evacuated, which can alter the season's elimination schedule.The Survivor Tribal Council has evolved in many ways over the years. What was initially used as a forum for tribes to air their grievances and simulate a community council has shifted, along with the show as a whole, into an arena for the players to strategically maneuver and implement their game plans. In the mid-30s seasons, players even began changing the game during the Tribal Council by getting out of their seats and whispering plans to one another. This became known as "live Tribals."Related: How Survivor's Ryan Medrano Brought An Old School Flair

Survivor's Tribal Council Is Losing Its Spark

Now, it seems possible that the Tribal Council segment might be a bit bloated and could use some cutting down. Although many fans are tired of the live Tribals, those are no longer a pressing issue for the show, as they haven't occurred with any regularity since the mark of the show's "new era" in Survivor 41. Instead, the format of Tribal, coupled with the show's casting of savvy players, has led to criticism of Tribal Council for being a segment in which the players speak almost exclusively in metaphor and analogy to discuss the nature of the game. Instead of any direct conflict being brought up during the segment, the usual Tribal Council consists of host Jeff Probst asking questions to the contestants and the contestants responding with vague or metaphorical soundbites. This trend began sometime after Survivor season 30, with players like Aubry Bracco, David Wright, Hannah Shapiro, and Zeke Smith, who would come up with vivid and often-humorous analogies about the game.

Analogies Are Ruining Survivor Tribal Councils

Survivor 43 Tribal Council

The Survivor analogy aspect of Tribal Council has proliferated the segment to a degree that it has become increasingly rare for anything of note to occur during Tribal, which now runs much longer than it did in earlier seasons. Instead, Jeff asks the contestants questions, sometimes explicitly requesting they give him an analogy about the Survivor experience, and the contestants deliver some version of "Survivor is like..." without discussing anything about the game in detail. It has reached a point where the metaphors and analogies themselves rarely contain much substance or originality, meaning the segment comes across as superfluous for the game, which is the opposite of its tone and the intent of its placement within the format.

Overall, the show could stand to shift the tone of Survivor's Tribal Council back to the conflict inherent in the game. Jeff's questioning could be a bit more direct to prompt honest answers and generate conflict out of players who are savvy enough to skirt more general strategy-based questions and deflect with simplistic metaphors and analogies. Tribal Councils have the potential to be riveting television, but the current era's version of the important Survivor segment is simply too tedious to be given nearly a quarter of each episode's airtime.

More: How Survivor's Sami Layadi Strategized By Playing Multiple Sides