Survivor (U.S. TV series)

Updated on Dec 23, 2023

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Survivor is the American version of the international Survivor reality competition television franchise, itself derived from the Swedish television series Expedition Robinson created by Charlie Parsons which premiered in 1997. The American series premiered on May 31, 2000, on CBS. It is hosted by television personality Jeff Probst, who is also an executive producer, and also executive produced by Mark Burnett and original creator, Parsons.

The show maroons a group of strangers in an isolated location, where they must provide food, water, fire, and shelter for themselves. The contestants compete in challenges for rewards and immunity from elimination. The contestants are progressively eliminated from the game as they are voted out by their fellow contestants, until only one remains and is given the title of "Sole Survivor" and is awarded the grand prize of US$1,000,000.

The American version has been very successful. From the 2000–01 through the 2005–06 television seasons, its first eleven seasons (competitions) rated amongst the top ten most watched shows. It is commonly considered the leader of American reality TV because it was the first highly rated and profitable reality show on broadcast television in the U.S., and is considered one of the best shows of the 2000s (decade). The series has been nominated for several Emmy Awards, including winning for Outstanding Sound Mixing in 2001, Outstanding Special Class Program in 2002, and was subsequently nominated four times for Outstanding Reality-Competition Program when the category was introduced in 2003. Jeff Probst won the award for Outstanding Host for a Reality or Reality-Competition Program four consecutive times after the award was introduced in 2008. In 2007, the series was included in Time magazine's list of the 100 greatest TV shows of all-time. In 2013, TV Guide ranked it at #39 on its list of the "60 Best Series of All Time".

The series was renewed for a 34th season, Survivor: Game Changers, which premiered on March 8, 2017. The series has been renewed through the 2017–18 television season.

Survivor new mexico season 1 episode 1

Format and rules

The first U.S. season of Survivor followed the same general format as the Swedish series. Sixteen or more players are split between two or more "tribes", are taken to a remote isolated location (usually in a tropical climate) and are forced to live off the land with meager supplies for 39 days (42 in The Australian Outback). Frequent physical challenges are used to pit the teams against each other for rewards, such as food or luxuries, or for "immunity", forcing the other tribe to attend "Tribal Council", where they must vote off one of their players.

Once about half the players are remaining, the tribes are merged into a single tribe, and competitions are on an individual basis; winning immunity prevents that player from being voted out. Most players that are voted out at this stage form the game's "jury". Once down to two or three people, a final Tribal Council is held where the remaining players plead their case to the jury members. The jury then votes for which player should be considered the "Sole Survivor" and win the show's grand prize. In all seasons for the United States version, this has included a $1 million prize in addition to the Sole Survivor title; some seasons (particularly earlier seasons) have included additional prizes, such as a car.

The U.S. version has introduced numerous modifications, or "twists", on the core rules in order to keep the players on their toes and to prevent players from relying on strategies that succeeded in prior seasons. These changes have included tribal switches, seasons starting with more than two tribes, the ability to exile a player from a tribe for a short time, hidden immunity idols that players can use to save themselves at Tribal Council, special voting powers which can be used to influence the result at Tribal Council and a chance to return to regular gameplay after elimination through "Redemption Island" or "The Outcast Tribe".

Series overview

The United States version is produced by Mark Burnett and hosted by Jeff Probst. Each competition is called a season, has a unique name, and lasts from 13 to 16 episodes. The first season was broadcast as a summer replacement show in 2000. Starting with Survivor: Africa, there have been two seasons aired during each U.S. television season.

In the first season, there was a 75-person crew. By season 22, the crew had grown to 325 people.

There have been a total of 498 contestants that have competed on Survivor's 33 seasons.

Concept

The original idea of Survivor was developed by Charlie Parsons in 1994 under the name Castaway. Parsons formed Planet24 with Bob Geldof to produce the show and tried to have the BBC broadcast it, but the network turned it down. Parsons went to Swedish television and was able to find a broadcaster, ultimately producing Expedition Robinson in 1997. The show was a success, and plans for international versions were made.

Mark Burnett intended to be the person to bring the show to the United States, though he recognized that the Swedish version was a bit crude and mean-spirited. Burnett retooled the concept to use better production values, based on his prior Eco-Challenge show, and wanted to focus more on the human drama experienced while under pressure. Burnett spent about a year trying to find a broadcaster that would take the show, retooling the concept based on feedback. On November 24, 1999, Burnett made his pitch to Les Moonves of CBS, and Moonves agreed to pick up the show. The first season, Survivor: Borneo was filmed during March and April 2000, and was first broadcast on May 31, 2000. The first season became a ratings success, leading to its current ongoing run.

Locations

The American version of Survivor has been shot in many locations around the world since the first season, usually favoring warm and tropical climates. Though locations varied across the globe in the first dozen seasons, more recent seasons have used the same general location for back-to-back filming of two cycles (for example, the use of Samoa for filming of seasons 19, 20).

Since The Australian Outback, the announcement of each season's winner and subsequent reunion have been broadcast live in front of a studio audience, usually alternating between the Ed Sullivan Theater in New York City (home to the CBS' Late Show franchise) and CBS Television City or the CBS Studio Center in Los Angeles.

U.S. television ratings

Survivor has consistently been one of the top 20 most watched shows through its first 18 seasons and from seasons 21 to 23.

Seasonal rankings (based on average total viewers per episode) of the United States version of Survivor on CBS.

Note: Each U.S. network television season starts in late September and ends in late May, which coincides with the completion of May sweeps.

Post-show auctions

At the end of each U.S. Survivor season from Survivor: Africa onward, various Survivor props and memorabilia are auctioned online for charity. The most common recipient has been the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation. Most recently, proceeds have gone toward The Serpentine Project, a charity founded by Jeff Probst, dedicated to helping those transitioning out of foster care upon emancipation at eighteen years of age. Items up for auction have included flags, mats, tree mails, contestant torches, contestant clothing, autographed items, immunity idols and the voting urn.

Controversies and legal action

In February 2001, Stacey Stillman filed a lawsuit claiming that producers interfered in the process of Survivor: Borneo by persuading two members of her tribe (Sean Kenniff and Dirk Been) to vote her off instead of Rudy Boesch.

During a reward trip on Survivor: The Australian Outback, Colby Donaldson removed corals from the Great Barrier Reef and, on the same trip, a helicopter involved with the production crew flew around protected seabird rookeries. Both acts violated Australian law and the incidents could have resulted in fines up to A$110,000. Mark Burnett, the executive producer, issued an apology on behalf of Donaldson and the Survivor production team.

At the tribal immunity challenge for the final four players on Survivor: Africa, host Jeff Probst asked which female player in their season had no piercings. Kim Johnson answered Kelly Goldsmith, got the point, and went on to win the challenge, which put her through to the final three and ultimately (after winning another immunity challenge) the final two. Unbeknownst to the producers, another contestant on "Africa", Lindsey Richter, also had no piercings. Lex van den Berghe's answer had been Lindsey, but the show did not award him a point, which could have significantly changed the outcome of the challenge and the overall game. CBS later paid van den Berghe and Tom Buchanan, who had finished in fourth place, a settlement.

In the fifth episode of Survivor: All-Stars, a naked Richard Hatch came into contact with Sue Hawk after she blocked his path during an immunity challenge. Hatch was voted out that day for other reasons, but Hawk quit the game two days later as a result of what had happened. Hawk considered filing a lawsuit against the parties involved, but appeared with Hatch on The Early Show the morning after the sixth episode aired, stating she opted out of legal action because CBS had helped her "deal with the situation".

Rupert Boneham, a contestant on Pearl Islands and All-Stars, was extremely popular with television audiences, but finished eighth and fourth, respectively, in his appearances on the show. As part of a special on the All-Stars reunion (Survivor: America's Tribal Council), a contest for the 18 players was created, where the winner would be selected by the viewing audience to receive a $1 million prize. Boneham unsurprisingly won this prize, with more than 80% of the votes cast. Many fans of the show saw this as a way of diluting the overall concept of the show, that instead of outwitting, outplaying and outlasting your fellow tribe members to win the game, a player could now play specifically just to gain popularity with the show's audience, regardless of how well they played the game, and still be rewarded with a large prize.

In January 2006, Richard Hatch, the winner of the first season of Survivor, was charged and found guilty of failing to report his winnings to the IRS to avoid taxes. He was sentenced to four years and three months in prison.

In the beginning of Survivor: Cook Islands, the tribes were grouped according to their race. Probst claimed the choice came from the criticism that Survivor was "not ethnically diverse enough", but several long-term sponsors, including Campbell's Soup, Procter & Gamble, Home Depot, and Coca-Cola dropped their support of the show shortly after this announcement, leading to speculation that the decisions were in response to the controversy. Each company has either denied the link to the controversy or declined to comment.

The selection process for the 14th season came under fire when it was revealed that, of the entire Survivor: Fiji cast, only Gary Stritesky had gone through the application process for the show; the rest of the contestants were recruited. Probst defended the process, citing finding diversity of cast as a reason.

At the Survivor: China reunion show, Denise Martin told producers and the audience that she had been demoted to a janitor from a lunch lady due to the distraction she was to students from her appearance on the show. Because of her misfortune, Burnett awarded Martin $50,000. But Martin would later recant her story after the school district she worked for publicly stated that she had taken the custodial position before appearing on the show. Martin then decided to donate the $50,000 to charity.

A brief uncensored shot of Marcus Lehman's genitals during the premiere episode of Survivor: Gabon led to the show and network being asked to apologize for the incident.

Jim Early (aka Missyae), who was a user on one of the fan forums for Survivor, was sued by Burnett, his production company, and CBS in August 2010, for allegedly releasing detailed spoiler information for Survivor: Samoa and Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains. Early revealed that he was getting his information from Russell Hantz, a contestant on both seasons, through both phone calls and emails. Early complied in the lawsuit by providing such evidence, eventually leading to its dismissal in January 2011. Although legal action has yet to be taken against Hantz, the contract for a player in Survivor includes a liability of up to $5 million for the premature revealing of a season's results. Hantz has stated that the claim is false.

Contestants that did not make the jury in Survivor: Caramoan were not allowed on stage for the reunion show. While Jeff Probst claimed that the new stage could not accommodate all 18 of the attending contestants, the format change was panned because the show's fans and fellow contestants felt that it was unfair for them to be left out in the audience. Erik Reichenbach, who finished 5th and did not even get a chance to speak at the reunion, called out the producers for their treatment of the contestants. Calling it a farce, he criticized how the reunion show left so many unanswered questions about the other contestants and his own evacuation during the season finale. He also criticized how the pre-jury members were completely left out in favor of featuring the show's former contestants, like Rob Mariano and Rudy Boesch.

Merchandise

The wild success of Survivor spawned a wide range of merchandise from the very first season. While early items available were limited to buffs, water bottles, hats, T-shirts, and other typical souvenir items, the marketability of the franchise has grown tremendously. Today, fans can find innumerable items, including computer and board games, interactive online games, mugs, tribal-themed jewelry, beach towels, dog tags, magnets, multi-function tools, DVD seasons, Survivor party kits, insider books, soundtracks, and more.

Home media releases

Best of

Full seasons

Seasons 1, 2, 7, 8, 9 and 10 were released in stores. The remaining seasons have been released exclusively on Amazon.com through their CreateSpace manufacture on demand program.

CBS All Access

All seasons, including the current season, are available on CBS All Access, the network's over-the-top subscription streaming service.

Video games

In the 2001 Survivor video game for PC, developed by Infogrames, it allows players to play and create characters for the game based on the Pulau Tiga or Australian Outback cast members. The game also includes a character creation system for making custom characters.

Gameplay consists of choosing survivors' skills (fishing, cooking, etc.), forming alliances, developing relationships with other tribe members, and voting off competitors at tribal council.

The game was very poorly received by critics. GameSpot gave the game a 'Terrible' score of 2.0 out of 10, saying "If you're harboring even a tiny urge to buy this game, please listen very carefully to this advice: Don't do it." Likewise, IGN gave the game a 'Painful' 2.4 out of 10, stating "It is horribly boring and repetitive. The graphics are weak and even the greatest Survivor fan would break the CD in two after playing it for 20 minutes." The game was the recipient of Game Revolution's lowest score of all time, an F-. An 'interactive review' was created specially for the game, and features interactive comments like "The Survival periods are about as much fun as" followed by a drop-down menu, "watching paint dry/throbbing hemorrhoids/staring at air/being buried alive."

On November 4, 2009, it was announced that a second game based on the show would be turned into a video game. The game would require players to participate in various challenges like those in the reality shows in order to win.

Soundtracks

Various soundtracks have been released featuring music composed by Russ Landau, including soundtracks for seasons 9 through 27 (with the exception of season 14).

Thrill ride

The Tiki Twirl thrill ride at California's Great America in Santa Clara, California was originally called Survivor: The Ride. The ride includes a rotating platform that moves along an undulating track. Riders can be sprayed by water guns hidden in oversized tribal masks. Theme elements included drums and other familiar Survivor musical accents playing in the background, Survivor memorabilia throughout the queue line and other merchandise for sale in nearby gift shops.

References

Survivor (U.S. TV series) Wikipedia

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