Faith was a recurring issue on CBS’ Survivor: Redemption Island. The series puts together people from every walk of life together for 39 days of competition and it ends up bringing out the worst and best in people.
For ten years Survivor producers have never seemed to portray faith in an authentic way. It could have been that the contestants did not carry their faith in a way that would increase ratings or it may have been edited out.
Season 22 of Survivor’s “Redemption Island” put faith out front.
Matt Elrod, pre-med student from Nashville, lived his faith out in a very authentic way. He states that it was his relationship with God that sustained him during his time on Survivor.
This season’s Survivor had a new twist called Redemption Island, which was a place where people who were voted out were sent. They them would battle other castaways to try and get back into the game.
Voted out of his tribe early in the game, Elrod often sat in isolation during an unprecedented 29 days on Redemption Island. Each week Elrod would compete against a new castaway with the loser going home and the winner staying in the game. Elrod won eleven straight duels to keep this hopes alive of winning the game.
In a very moving moment, Krista Klumpp left Elrod her one “luxury item”— her Bible—before she left Redemption Island and the game for good. Elrod said that he could hardly put it down.
“It brought so much peace and joy and comfort. So I read the Bible often,” said Elrod, according to CBN.
At one point Elrod tells God that he doesn’t want to be there anymore. In finding peace, Elrod said that he did not know why he was still in the game, but that if God wanted him there he would continue to draw from his faith and do his best.
Two of the other Survivors who spent time on Redemption Island with Matt were Mike Chiesl and Julie Wolfe.
“There’s a lot of soul searching that went on with me,” said Chiesl. “Survivor transformed me as a human being, as a man, as an American. It helped me understand my purpose. I got closer to God. It was great to have talks with Matt.”
Wolfe, a Southern California firefighter said her experience on Redemption Island was spiritually transforming for her. When she lost the duel that sent her out of the game for good, she said with a big smile that she had renewed her relationship with God and would be looking for a church when she returned home. In fact, it was Chiesl who later invited her to his church where she is now involved.
Survivor host Jeff Probst, who likened Elrod’s experience to 40 days in the wilderness, gave Elrod’s commitment to “his God” some jabs, but in the end Probst admitted that he had the utmost respect for the way Matt held to his faith.
“Everyone says their hearts were breaking for me but at the same time they were like, wow, the way you got to talk about your faith and talk about what God was doing for you was so incredible,” Elrod told Probst. “The people who know me really well thought that was the best thing for me since I like to be alone so much.”
“Survivor was the most difficult/rewarding thing I have ever done,” Elrod told CBN. “I learned an invaluable lesson in trusting God. I still struggle daily as I try to be more like Jesus to everyone around me, but I know God is good. If I put my trust in Him, He is able to do so much more with my life than I would ever come close to accomplishing.”
Matt, Julie and Mike gave us the visual picture of how God’s grace can be sufficient and that if our lives reflect what we believe, we can make a difference.
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