Watching Mitch excel on TV's 'Survivor'

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James (left) with Survivor contestant Mitch Guerra at the National Stuttering Association of America conference

Earlier this year, a moment from the US reality show Survivor featuring a contestant who stammered went viral. Survivor uber fan James Hayden from the USA tells us all about it.

The reality show Survivor premiered in 2000 and revolutionised American television. I've been a fan since 2005 and my fandom has only increased over the last two decades. The most recent season featured a person who stutters, a first for the reality juggernaut. Mitch Guerra was one of 18 people battling it out for the million dollar prize.

For those who don't know, Survivor is a social strategy game, with the US version filmed on the Mamanuca Islands of Fiji. Contestants are divided into three teams, called tribes, of six and compete in an immunity challenge and every two days. The losing tribe goes to tribal council where they vote out one of their own. Eventually, the tribes merge into one and compete in individual immunity challenges for safety at tribal council. On day 26, the final three pitch their case to the jury (the eight most recently voted out players) about why they should win the prize. To get the opportunity to pitch their case, the final three must successfully navigate allies trying to betray them, paranoia, starvation, sleep deprivation, losing their vote at tribal council, and more. 

Worries

When I first heard that someone who stutters was going to be in it, I was elated. After twenty years of fandom, someone who sounds like me was going to be on the show. But then reality set in. Knowing how stuttering is portrayed in the media, and how little knowledge there is around stuttering, I was worried about how long Mitch would be around and what his edit would be. 

I also feared that contestants might equate Mitch's stuttering moments with being deceitful.

I also feared he would be voted off early by other contestants. That he would be viewed as a threat because he has a good story. I also feared that contestants might equate Mitch's stuttering moments with being deceitful. In a social strategy game built on lying and deception, Mitch could possibly go early for those reasons.

As far as his edit goes, I wanted stuttering to be just one tiny part of his story and not his whole story. I wanted Mitch to mention his stutter at the beginning, but then that's it. As the game progressed, I wanted his stutter to fade into the background and his role in the game to take centre stage. I wanted to see Mitch be the strategic mastermind, the puzzle guy, the glue guy or the challenge beast.

Going viral

It's been two months since the finale aired and my fears and concerns were mostly for naught. Mitch excelled. He immediately disclosed his stutter at the start, he got along great with all of his tribemates and stuttering was never an issue (as it should be). 

In the second episode, Mitch had a viral moment with host Jeff Probst. Before a challenge, Probst asked Mitch, on camera and in front of fellow contestants, how his tribe was handling the first few days of the game. During his answer, Mitch stuttered. Probst followed up by asking Mitch how he would like people to respond during his stuttering moments (watch it below). It was a great reaction from Probst and Mitch's response was beautiful and powerful. He told Probst, his fellow contestants, the crew, and ultimately the world, “The hope is that everyone would hang in there for me and give me the opportunity to finish my sentence.” As a person who stutters, all I want is the space to stutter openly and finish my sentence. Mitch said it so eloquently and he educated so many people on how to best interact with someone who stutters.

That brief clip went viral and was all over my social media pages: 'Jeff Probst Just Gave A Masterclass On How To Engage With Someone With A Disability, And Everyone Everywhere Should Be Taking Notes'. My friends within the stuttering community were sharing it on their feeds, and my friends who don't stutter shared it because of how powerful the moment was. As a lifelong fan of the show, it was great to see so many people from different parts of my life share it. Because of the clip, Mitch appeared on various news outlets raising awareness for stuttering and stuttering advocacy. 

Mitch's stutter was just one small part of his story and not his entire story. He was allowed to be 'Mitch the Survivor player' and not 'Mitch the person who stutters'.

Later in the series, Mitch bonded with another tribemate, Cedrek, over their time in speech therapy as kids. Besides those two moments, Mitch's stutter was in the background and his gameplay was in the foreground. Any criticisms about him were based on strategy and not stuttering. Edit-wise, Mitch's stutter was just one small part of his story and not his entire story. He was allowed to be 'Mitch the Survivor player' and not 'Mitch the person who stutters'.

Normalising

 My concern about him being eliminated because he had a good story somewhat came to fruition. He reached the final five before being voted out, with the tribe saying he was too likeable, had a great story, and could win the game - Mitch was a beast in the challenges and won many for his tribe.

Mitch lasted 24 out of 26 days and finished in 5^th place. But that's irrelevant. For me, Mitch could've been voted out in episode four and I still would've considered this a massive success. He openly stuttered on a major show on a major network in the USA and it was a non-issue. Now that he's done it, I hope others appear on reality TV shows and continue to normalise stuttering; that one day stuttering is seen the same way as needing glasses or using a walker. Ultimately, I hope Mitch's appearance shows the world that people who stutter can do anything, and having a person who stutters on a show is not news-worthy. 

in early July, I was lucky enough to get the opportunity to meet Mitch at the National Stuttering Association of America (NSA) conference (see the picture above). I had the honour of introducing him as one of the keynote speakers and presenting him with the NSA Impact Award. I also got to moderate a panel discussion, which included Mitch and two other reality show contestants: Phillip Solomon from Deal or No Deal Island and Wes Meador from American Ninja Warrior. They talked about how stuttering prepared them for their experiences and how their games influenced their relationships with their stutter. For me, this was a culmination of 20 years of reality TV fandom.

Read more articles James's has written for STAMMA. One of them is all about 'Surviving the online Survivor game'.

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