The concept is a decent one.
I honestly do not know why there's all these references to the 1973 INTERNATIONAL crew. This is a crew of Americans, clearly. And it's not 1973. The continuous references to 1973 are pretty meaningless and ill-placed. If this were a more international crew, and the goal wasn't a competition for money, then perhaps.. but that's a different show.
They may have gathered a collection of people with polarizing opinions.. but that sure is not visible in the episodes. All the episodes show is pretty much how Russell decides things need to be, and all the others are afraid to contradict him. That single casting has made the series pretty pathetic.
Merely because Russell isn't afraid to have his opinion heard.. everyone else just shuts up and lets him decide their fate. The problem with this series is the lack of a backbone by everyone other than Russell. No one wants to "make waves,"
Russell decided they'd "stick with the initial group."
Russell decided to nominate himself to prevent a vote off.
Russell decided when a swap was permissible ('cuz Summer is cute).
Russell decided when it was okay to vote someone off.
Russell decided when it was okay to take a temptation.
Every contestant appears to be scared to speak up and make their voice, or opinion, known about others. With the ONLY exception being the vegan speaking up about fishing...
"Cancel culture" seems to have made it a very precarious thing to merely state you don't like someone. It inevitably leads to others casting aspersions regarding racism, or homophobia, etc., even though none of that may be at play.
I would point out NOT voting someone off due to their ethnic background is as much racism as voting them off.
To be honest the "competitions" should have forced the contestants into more team-oriented opinion-based challenges to spur on debate rather than the physical challenges that had little to do with their wide range of viewpoints.
There's VERY LITTLE in the episodes that leads to any sort of topical debate. It's not a "social experiment" as must as it is a simple game show like all others... shut up and play along to get to the money.