Survivor is a popular reality television
program produced by many countries throughout the world. The show consists of contestants isolated in a remote location competing
for a cash prize.
Premise
This text refers to the American version of the show. Small differences may exist between it and other versions. Also, rule
changes instituted for one season are discussed below.
The basic premise of the show is that each series starts with sixteen players and on each episode one player is voted off by
the other remaining players. Initially, the players are divided into two eight person "tribes" which compete against each other
in "challenges" - competitions of endurance, intelligence, teamwork, dexterity, or will power. Each episode has an "immunity
challenge" and the tribe that loses this challenge must vote off one member of the tribe at "Tribal Council." In addition, most
episodes have a "reward challenge" and the winning tribe will receive a prize such as additional food or equipment. Exceptions:
In Survivor: All-Stars, there were 18 players in three tribes
at the start of the game. In Immunity Challenges, the top two tribes received immunity; only last place went to Tribal Council.
In Survivor: Vanuatu, again 18 players began the game, but in two
tribes of nine players each. In Survivor: Palau, 20 players began the
game, and were divided into two tribes of nine, with the other two players being eliminated immediately.
At some point in the season the remaining players from the two tribes "merge" into a single tribe. From this point, challenges
are won on an individual basis. Rewards are given to only one player (who is often given the option to choose one other player to
share the reward with), and only one player wins immunity. This immune player cannot be voted off on that episode, although he or
she still has the right to vote against other players. In some seasons, the player who won immunity has the right to pass it to a
fellow tribemate.
The voting is done at the end of each episode at Tribal Council. The show's host, Jeff Probst, questions and provokes the players about events that have occurred and their opinions about the
other players. The players all then secretly vote, and the player who receives the most votes is out of the competition. Probst
takes the players' torch, extinguishes it, and declares "The tribe has spoken." The player then leaves the area and gives his
final words, which air during the credits of the episode. If there is a tie, the following tiebreakers have been used: In Seasons
1-3, all players not in the tie voted again. If the tie remained, whoever had received the most votes in prior Tribal Councils
was eliminated. If this did not break the tie, a sudden death trivia challenge was used. In Survivor: Marquesas, a tie was broken by a random draw among all players, except Vecepia, who had
immunity. In Survivor: Thailand, reference was made to a
"purple rock," but Probst commented that he had not disclosed how ties would be broken. No vote has ended in a tie since
Marquesas.
The first several players eliminated leave the game, but those who finish in ninth through third place remain to form the
"jury" which does not directly participate in the show but observes the Tribal Councils. In the final episode of each season, the
final four (3 in Survivor: Australia) players typically go
through a number of activities during their final days. They compete in an immunity challenge, which has generally been "Fallen
Comrades," where players compete (in front of the jury) to answer questions about the jury correctly. Immediately following this
challenge, fourth place is voted out. The players return to camp and go through a "memorial" for the players previously
eliminated from the game on the way to their final challenge, generally one of endurance. Whoever wins this challenge has the
sole vote to eliminate third place. The final two return, and on the last day go through a symbolic destruction of camp. Then
they go to their final Tribal Council, where the seven members of the jury are given the right to ask them questions. At the very
end of the show, each of the seven jurors votes for the winner. Probst takes the container with the votes, and it is secured
until the live finale of the show, when the votes are revealed and the million-dollar winner announced. The runner-up receives
$100,000 and the other players voted out receive gradually lesser amounts, down to last place receiving $2,500.
While the show is based on the theme of wilderness survival, the real basis of the show is interpersonal relationships. The
survival aspects are difficult enough to discomfort the players, but contestants are of course never truly endangered (only one
has ever had to leave in mid-series due to injuries). The real survival skills required are the ability to make deals and form
alliances with other players to keep from being voted off. Because of the steadily diminishing number of players and the fact
that the players being voted off will in turn choose the ultimate winner, considerable political skills are required.
Concept history
The Survivor concept was conceived by Bob Geldof's Planet 24 television company. It initially
failed to attract the attention of any of the major broadcasters in Britain or the United States and was eventually
taken up by Swedish television in 1997 as Expedition Robinson (alluding to
Robinson Crusoe). The show was a major hit in Sweden, and it is
estimated that half of Sweden's population watched the final episode.
The initial series was a huge ratings success in the US in 2000. Its second season, in
the winter/spring of 2001, drew even larger audiences. Subsequent US versions have attracted smaller but still substantial
audiences. There have also been British and Australian versions of the show in 2002. Both were ratings flops, indeed in Britain, its failure was a national joke (though ratings
for the UK series were considerably lower than ITV had hoped for, it still regularly
attracted six to eight million viewers, a decent rather than huge audience, but enough for ITV to commission a second series
which appeared a year later). A Japanese version was also produced for four installments which achieved some success. [1] (http://www.tbs.co.jp/survivor/) Broadcast rights for the American version have been sold to
various broadcasters and is viewed in many countries around the world.
Seasons of the American version of the series
The U.S. version is produced by Mark Burnett and hosted by Jeff Probst. When the program
is broadcast, it airs weekly on CBS. As of early 2005
ten games have been aired, including a special competition with past contestants. DVD's of the first season, and All-Stars have
been released. DVD editions of other seasons are planned.
- Survivor: Pulau Tiga (also called Survivor:
Borneo) was set on the remote island of Pulau Tiga in the South China Sea. Richard Hatch was its winner.
- Survivor: The Australian
Outback was set in Australia in the Outback (though the location was by Australian standards not particularly remote, nor was it
arid). Tina Wesson won. In this season, there were 42 days and 14
episodes.
- Survivor: Africa was set in a Kenyan desert. Ethan Zohn won. In this season, with 6 players
left on each tribe, a "twist" was used, and three from each tribe switched places.
- Survivor: Marquesas was set on the island of
Nuku Hiva in the Marquesas.
Vecepia Towery won. In this season, with 13 players left, a random
switch was instituted. In addition, as noted above, a tie was broken by random draw for the first time.
- Survivor: Thailand was set in Thailand. Brian Heidik won. Instead
of starting the game with predetermined tribes, the two eldest players were given the responsiblitity of choosing their own
tribemates, as well as the camp they would live at. At one point, players were given the option to switch tribes, but none did.
When 10 players remained, the standard number for the merge, the tribes began to live together, and assumed they were merged, but
Probst informed them at the next challenge that they were still competing as two tribes.
- Survivor: The Amazon was set in the jungles of
the Amazon River region of Brazil. Jenna Morasca won, with the largest margin of
victory yet in an American series, 6-1. The season began as a tribe of men vs. a tribe of women, but the tribes later mixed
together before merging.
- Survivor: Pearl Islands was set in the
Pearl Islands off the coast of Panama. Sandra Diaz-Twine won. When 10 players
remained, the 6 previously voted out tribe members were given the opportunity to win their way back into the game; Burton Roberts, who later became the first Survivor voted out twice, and
Lillian Morris, who went on to become the season's runner-up,
re-entered the game in this manner. Osten Taylor, who left the game
voluntarily due to exhaustion, was the first Survivor ever to quit.
- Survivor: All-Stars was also set in the Pearl
Islands, and featured eighteen contestants from past Survivor seasons. Amber Brkich won. A second million-dollar prize was also awarded to Rupert Boneham for being voted (at the CBS website and by mobile phone) as the viewers' favorite contestant on Survivor: America's Tribal Council.
Several rule changes were used in this season regarding the nature of tribes, and they are listed in the separate article.
- Survivor: Vanuatu: Islands of Fire was set on islands
in the archipelago nation of Vanuatu, located in the South Pacific Ocean. Chris Daugherty won. Eighteen players started the game, and, as in
Amazon, began as men vs. women and were later mixed before merging.
- Survivor: Palau was set on islands of Palau, located in the Philippine Seas.
The season started with 20 contestants, but on Day 2, the number was reduced to 18 in a tribal selection process. This season is
currently in progress.
Survivor: Marquesas was not shown in Australia as the network was showing a series of Australian Survivor instead. The latter was not a ratings
success, and since then the American edition of Survivor resumed airing.
Miscellaneous
- In all, there have been 150 different American Survivor players over the 10 seasons, 18 of whom got to play twice.
- Of the 112 different players from the seven pre-All Star seasons, only three have never been eliminated from the game:
Vecepia Towery, Brian
Heidik, and Sandra Diaz-Twine. Each of the other five winners
lost in their other season. Jenna Morasca never had her torch snuffed out
because she quit Survivor: All Stars.
- Four others were never voted out of their tribe: Michael Skupin
left Survivor: Australia due to injury. Paschal English was eliminated from Survivor: Marquesas in a random tiebreaker. Jenna Morasca won Survivor: The Amazon
before quitting Survivor: All-Stars. (Susan Hawk became the third person in the show's history to quit in All-Stars,
however she had been voted off in her previous season.) One could also argue that Jonathan Libby and Wanda Shirk from Survivor: Palau also never had their torches snuffed out because they were
never placed on any tribe. Osten Taylor asked his tribe to vote him out but
Jeff Probst told them it wasn't necessary.
- Five players, after their tribe has lost a group immunity challenge, have asked their tribe to vote them out of the game.
Palau Tiga (also known as Borneo)'s BB persuaded his tribe to oust him on day 6, a move he said he later regretted.
Shawna Mitchell of the
Amazon season complained of illness and asked to leave on day 12, but her tribemates refused. She recovered but was voted
out on day 18. Osten Taylor of Pearl Islands opted out on day 19 --
in protest, Jeff Probst tossed his extinguished torch to the ground and the
show refused to allow him a post-departure confessional (the confessionals play over the closing credits). On day 6, Ashlee Ashby of Palau, complaining
of illness and exhaustion, convinced her team (Ulong) to eliminate her. On day 8, Jeff Wilson, also of Ulong, was voted out after seriously injuring his ankle on a loose coconut.
- Four players won in the final vote without having any votes cast against them in any previous Tribal Council: Tina Wesson, Ethan Zohn, Brian Heidik, and Sandra Diaz-Twine. Kelly Wiglesworth made it to the final vote without having had a vote cast against her.
- Jerri Manthey has had the most votes cast against her with a total of
nineteen. She had twelve votes cast against her on her first appearance (tying Clarence Black for the single series
record) and an additional seven during her second appearance. Black and Ryan Opray share the record for a single Tribal Council, with eight votes.
- Lucinda Allen in Australian Survivor also received eight
votes, however she voted for herself, the only contestant to do so. This is against the rules in the American edition.
- Tom Buchanan has been on
Survivor the longest, lasting a total of 73 days (across two seasons). Amber
Brkich lasted a total of 72 days.
- Jonathan Libby and
Wanda Shirk have been on Survivor
the shortest, lasting only until Day 2 due to not being picked during the tribal selection phase on Survivor: Palau.
- In the 9 completed seasons of Survivor, 5 women have won and 4 men have won. There has been one final competition between a
pair of men (Thailand) and two between pairs of women (Marquesas, Pearl Islands). In the six other final
competitions between a man and a woman, the woman won three times. All-Star was the first season where the final 2 were in
a romantic relationship (Amber Brkich and Rob Mariano.
- The 10 players voted off to start the game each season: Sonja Christopher (the very first Survivor ever to be voted out), Debb Eaton, Diane Ogden, Peter Harkey, John Raymond, Ryan Aiken, Nicole Delma, Tina Wesson (who won Survivor: The Australian Outback but first out on Survivor: All-Stars), Brook Geraghty, and Jolanda Jones. However, Jolanda was not the first to be eliminated in Survivor: Palau, because Jonathan Libby and Wanda Shirk were eliminated by default in the tribal selection process that started the season.
- Traditionally one of the final reward challenges of each series has awarded a car as a prize. No player who has won this
challenge has gone on to win the million dollar prize. However, Amber
Brkich, winner of Survivor: All-Stars, was awarded a car
as part of the final reward challenge, but she was selected by Rob Mariano,
the actual winner of the challenge.
- Both winners in the British series won the grand prize by a 7-0 vote. No grand prize winner on any of the other series have
won by a 7-0 vote.
- Wanda Shirk and Jonathan Libby of Survivor: Palau are the only contestants who never belonged to a tribe on the
show, due to the tribe-selection process that eliminated them. Rupert
Boneham of Survivor: Pearl Islands and Survivor: All-Stars holds the record for belonging to the most
tribes, with a total of seven. On Pearl Islands, he belonged to Drake (his orignal tribe), Morgan (he was briefly considered a
member when the opposing tribe "kidnapped" him as part of a reward), and Balboa (the season's merged tribe); on All-Stars he
belonged to all four of the seasons tribes: Saboga (his original tribe), Chapera (when Saboga was dissolved), Mogo Mogo (as a
result of the "tribal shuffle") and Chaboga Mogo (the merged tribe).
- When the original tribes merge into a single tribe, the players are given the responsibility of naming the new tribe, as well
as creating a flag for it. Four seasons have had a merged tribe named after something or someone: Survivor: Pulau Tiga's Rattana tribe was named for the large
amount of rattan wood on the island, Survivor: The Australian Outback's Barramundi tribe was named after the
barramundi fish, Survivor: Africa's Motomaji tribe was derived from the Swahili words for "fire" and "water",
and Survivor: Pearl Islands's Balboa tribe was
named after the explorer Vasco Núñez de Balboa. Two
seasons of survivors have fashioned the merged tribe's name from the names of the original tribes: Survivor: Thailand's Chuay Jai was formed from Chuay Gahn
and Sook Jai, and Survivor: All-Stars's Chaboga
Mogo was a combination of Chapera, Saboga, and Mogo Mogo. Two seasons have had merged tribe names that
were coined to have a special meaning: Survivor: Marquesas
had a merged tribe named Soliantu, which the survivors made up to mean "sacred allegiance to the sun"; the survivors of
Survivor: Vanuatu named the merged tribe Alinta to mean
"people of fire". Survivor: The Amazon also had a made-up
tribe name, Jacaré, but the survivors apparently had no special meaning behind it.
- Currently, the least popular survivor is Jon Dalton from Survivor: Pearl Islands (18%) and the most popular Survivor
is Rupert Boneham from Survivor: Pearl Islands and Survivor: All-Stars (95%). However, the player with the lowest popularity ever was Daniel Lue from
Survivor: The Amazon who was at 9% popularity in the 5th
episode but his popularity went up. The player with the highest popularity ever was Jessie Camacho from Survivor: Africa, who was
at 98% popularity in the pre-show (but her popularity went down drastically once the game started.) However, since Jessie's
popularity was only high before the game, Rupert is considered to be the most popular ever.
- The toy company, Mattel, published a board game and a card game based on the television series in the
year 2000. The card game was officially called Survivor: The Australian Outback Card
Game.
- Rudy Boesch is currently the only Survivor contestant to have an action
figure created in his image.
UK Survivor
Survivor (UK) hit screens in the United Kingdom in 2001. The format was
similar to that of the US version, and was screened on ITV1. Sixteen contestants were
marooned on the island of Pulau Tiga and were split into two tribes. They
completed in challenges and schemed against each other. The first series was won by Charlotte Hobrough. Despite
hype surrounding the show, it was a ratings flop, and was heavily criticised by the press.
Despite the disappointing performance of the first series, ITV decided to commission a second one, with some changes.
Presenters Mark Austin and John Leslie were axed, and replaced by Channel 4 cricket presenter Mark Nicholas. There were twelve contestants instead of sixteen, the show was scheduled in a later time slot,
and was set in Panama. The series was won by Jonny Gibb. Ratings were still disappointing,
and so ITV1 decided to axe the show completely.
There was a similarly titled series, Survivors, a 1970s series by Terry Nation, set in the
then-present day, when most of the world's population were suddenly wiped out by a virulent plague. It followed the fortunes of a
few of the "lucky" people who were immune.
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