Survivor: Borneo

Production

In 1998, CBS offered Mark Burnett the chance to present his idea of this reality show to producers. In October 1999, CBS held a casting call for a new reality show concept. The idea was Survivor, in which sixteen people would be stuck on an island 20 miles (32 km) away from the mainland of Borneo. Ten main cameras were set on the island that would film the castaways every day. Every three days, a Tribal Council would be held in which one castaway would be voted off the island. The last castaway to be on the island would win $1 million.

Over 6,000 people applied for the show; 800 were then interviewed in sixteen cities. 48 people were then chosen, and after background checks and psychological evaluations done by the producers, the final sixteen contestants and two alternates were picked.

As the survivors awaited the game's start, Survivor crews prepared the island for reward and immunity challenges, removing any harmful items, checking for any harmful animals in specific locations, and building a Tribal Council set. Camera and other crews were sent to the island three weeks in advance for testing. On the opposite side of the island from the tribes, headquarters were set up for the producers and crew to live in on the island. This facility included many traditional trailers with running water, televisions, and one phone line. The Tribal Council set was built two hundred yards from the crew's facility. The Tribal Council set was 30 by 30 feet (9.1 by 9.1 m) with no walls and only a platform. In the middle of the set was a fire lava pit providing fire for the torches, which represented the castaways' life in the game.

On March 7, 2000, the contestants were flown to Los Angeles, then to the city of Kota Kinabalu in Malaysian Borneo. From there, they were taken by boat to their island. Contestants were not allowed to speak to one another until they got on the boat headed towards their beaches. The two tribes shared the island of Tiga, which was divided by over 20 miles (32 km) of forest. The castaways were surrounded by wildlife such as pythons, kraits, adders, monkeys, monitor lizards, and white-bellied sea eagles. The show was set to air in the summer of 2000.

Contestants

There were sixteen contestants overall, divided into two tribes, Pagong and Tagi. After six contestants were eliminated, the tribes were combined, or merged, to form one tribe, Rattana. Seven contestants made up the jury, who ultimately decided who would win the game and the $1 million grand prize.

Future appearances

Rudy Boesch, Richard Hatch, Susan Hawk and Jenna Lewis returned to Survivor for Survivor: All-Stars, respectively placing 17th, 14th, 13th and 3rd. Gervase Peterson returned for Survivor: Blood vs. Water alongside his niece, Marissa, where he placed 3rd. Kelly Wiglesworth returned for Survivor: Cambodia, where she placed 11th.

Outside of Survivor, the Borneo cast have made many appearances on other TV programs and film. Notably, Colleen Haskell appeared in a lead role in 2001 film The Animal, opposite actor Rob Schneider. Hatch later competed in the eleventh season of The Apprentice (known as the fourth season of The Celebrity Apprentice) and was fired in week 5, finished in 11th place. Hatch would later appear on the seventeenth season of The Biggest Loser, and finished in 13th place.

Season summary

The sixteen contestants were divided into two tribes of eight: Tagi and Pagong. Both tribes fared equally in challenges but differed in organisational structure. Pagong was dominated by the younger, more carefree members, whereas four contestants on Tagi—Kelly, Richard, Rudy, and Susan—formed an alliance, choosing to vote as a voting bloc to ensure their safety. When ten players remained—five from each tribe—the tribes merged into one, named Rattana. The alliance strategy proved to be successful, and the four took advantage of the other contestants' lack of voting strategy to gain dominance. There was dissension in the alliance as Kelly was deemed untrustworthy, but she won four consecutive immunity challenges and was ineligible for elimination.

When only the four alliance members remained, the vote initially ended in a draw; close allies Richard and Rudy voted for Susan, and Susan and Kelly voted for Richard. On the revote, Kelly decided to switch her vote and Susan was eliminated. After winning the final immunity challenge, Kelly decided to eliminate Rudy because she believed she had a better chance against Richard. At the final Tribal Council, Susan lambasted Kelly for switching her vote and proclaimed her support for Richard. Richard's strategic prowess and leadership were valued over Kelly's impressive challenge performances, and the jury awarded him the title of Sole Survivor in a vote of 4-3.

Voting history

Ratings

By the second week, the show had already gained over 18 million viewers, beating out ABC's show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? in ratings. After the season finale, Carter said that Survivor "built over a 13-week run to what was expected last night to be the biggest single television audience ever assembled for a summer television series, far eclipsed every expectation the network had when it acquired the rights to the show last year." Leslie Moonves, the president of CBS Television said that "it has beaten our expectations by about double." The finale of Survivor was watched by 51.7 million viewers, the second-highest viewership of any American television episode during the first decade of the 21st century, exceeded only by the finale of Friends. The finale had higher ratings than the World Series, NBA finals, NCAA men's basketball finals, and Grammy Awards of that year. CBS was able to make the cost of commercial advertisers up to $600,000 during the season finale.

Survivor was the surprise summer hit show of the season garnering an average of 28.3 million viewers with a 12.1/36 share in the 18/49 market over its 13-week run. Thus, it achieved the second-highest ranking and the second-highest amount of average viewers of the entire series, behind The Australian Outback. In addition to the highest amount of finale viewers, it also garnered the highest amount of reunion viewers (37 million).

Critical reception

Survivor: Borneo initially received mixed reactions in the media. Bill Carter, a writer for The New York Times stated that Survivor has "clearly begun to emerge as part of the wider culture, with news and discussion about the show widespread on television and radio talk shows and coverage increasing in newspapers." On the Late Show with David Letterman, David Letterman began a segment titled, "Top 10 Things That'll Get You Thrown Off the Survivor Island." During the first season, USA Today held coverage of the show as if it were a sporting event, listing which participant was voted off. USA Today also held a poll to see who viewers would have voted off. With 26 percent, Susan Hawk won the poll, although it had no effect on the game, as Sue made it to 4th place. CBS's The Early Show held an interview with each contestant the day after the episode in which they were voted off aired.

Survivor: Borneo was criticized by the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) in response to footage showing the contestants trapping rats on the island, initially for fish bait but later for human consumption.

Susan Hawk's "snakes and rats" speech given during the final Tribal Council has been cited as one of the greatest and more memorable speeches in the show's history,

Despite the initially mixed reception at the time, Borneo has undergone significant critical reappraisal in later years, and is now considered one of the best seasons of the entire series. Host Jeff Probst consistently ranks it as his favorite, equating it to a "first girlfriend." Entertainment Weekly columnist Dalton Ross ranks Borneo as tied for first with Survivor: Micronesia, saying "...Borneo now seems dated and tame by comparison, but it's the biggest game changer in the past 20 years of television...If you ask me which is the most important season, well, obviously it's Borneo." Borneo is also ranked as the greatest season of the series by Examiner.com and Zap2it, and is ranked second behind Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains by The Wire. Survivor fan site "Survivor Oz" has consistently ranked Borneo in the top 10 in every one of its annual polls ranking all seasons of the series; it was 5th in 2012, 6th in 2013, and 8th in 2014. Another prominent Survivor fan site, "The Purple Rock Podcast," ranked Borneo as the 10th best season in 2015. Fifteen years later, in the CBS Watch official issue commemorating the 15th anniversary and 30th season of Survivor, Borneo was ranked as the 7th-greatest season of the series by a viewer poll. In another poll in the same magazine, Hatch's win at the end of the season was voted by viewers as the #5 most memorable moment in the series. Noel Murray of The A.V. Club noted that the 5th episode, "Pulling Your Own Weight", was one of the season's most influential segments. In this episode, the Tagi alliance led by Hatch secretly worked together to vote Dirk off the island, surprising many of the remaining contestants who were shocked to discover there was an alliance. Murray noted that while this sentiment towards alliances at the time seemed controversial and against the spirit of the show, it formed the basis for most future Survivor series and reality television in general, and highlighted the lengths that players on reality television shows would go to form such collusions while deceiving others as to ultimately win the game.

DVD release

The DVD release of season one was released by CBS Home Entertainment in the U.S. on May 11, 2004, after it had completed broadcast on television. As well as every episode from the season, the DVD release features bonus material including commentary, interviews and behind-the-scenes featurettes.

Stacey Stillman controversy

In early 2001, Borneo contestant Stacey Stillman sued CBS, claiming that executive producer Mark Burnett arranged her exit and orchestrated the show's outcome. Her 14-page lawsuit alleged that two of her fellow tribemates, Dirk Been and Sean Kenniff, were persuaded to change their vote from 72-year-old Rudy Boesch to her. Stillman sought restitution for lost prize money, plus $75,000 representing out-of-pocket expenses and punitive damages. While CBS and Burnett denied the allegations, Been supported them; Kenniff admitted talking to Burnett, but told USA Today that the vote wasn't influenced and Burnett said only to "vote your conscience." Burnett counter-sued Stillman for at least $5,000,000. Eventually the case was settled out of court.