This May, the hit reality tv show Survivor turns 25. The show has changed a lot over the years, changing the way players engage with the game and changing up how it’s run. The only constant in the show being the legendary host, Jeff Probst, who’s seen it all and continues to be surprised each season along with the rest of us viewers.
The Game
Survivor, as we know it, was created in 2000, created by Charlie Parsons, and the executive producers are Mark Burnett and Probst, as well as the host. The game at its core remains largely unchanged, which is a group of ‘survivors’ are stranded on an isolated location in the world and they must feed themselves and create shelter. Meanwhile, they participate in challenges against an opposing tribe of survivors, and then individually, and each contestant is eliminated every episode. The ultimate goal is to make it to day 39, where they face a jury of eliminated players to plead their case to win the title of Sole Survivor and win $1 million.
Of course, things have changed a lot over time since its inception. For starters, they hosted the games in many parts of the world for years, which include African countries like Kenya, many Asian countries such as Malaysia, China, Thailand and more. It also includes locations in South America, Oceania, and Central America. However, since season 33 in 2016, they’ve stayed put on the Mamanuca Islands of Fiji, located in Oceania off from New Zealand and Australia.
Also, since the COVID-19 pandemic, the long standing run for Survivor was reduced to 26 days from its original 39 days. Probst himself has explained why on a podcast episode of On Fire with Jeff Probst, citing the requirement for 14 days of quarantine, “How we landed at 26 days to begin with was Covid…. The requirements of starting with a 14-day quarantine and then doing two 39-day seasons back-to-back and not being able to ever leave the island for anything once we started — we just couldn’t do it. So we had to get creative. We landed at 26 days.” He brought this up in light of some backlash he got for reducing nearly a third of the show’s original timeline.
In the same episode, he also addresses how some older survivors believe the show is easier now with fewer days, but he disagrees, saying it’s actually tougher now. I can honestly see how, considering older runs of the show had days where players don’t do a lot of challenges and instead are more focused on the interpersonal relationship and strategies of their game. Now, nearly every day presents a new challenge for them to do, with more strenuous tasks as well as having to focus on the mental aspects of who to vote off, who to backstab, etc.
How It Changed Reality Tv
As far as reality tv goes, Survivor is a pioneer in American reality shows, especially with it turning 25 this year. It’s considered one of the best shows in the 2000s decade and won multiple awards since its creation. Its real claim to fame was that it was the first American reality show to become not only profitable but highly rated.
It also introduced many concepts that we see in reality shows today, such as plot twists, introducing social experiments, and having themed seasons. One of my favorite seasons I watched was Game Changers in season 34 where the cast that season was all returning players, whether they won or not. They were all chosen based on their varying strategies that made the game that much more entertaining and unpredictable. It was also very funny to see a previous winner be so brazen with his strategy that they immediately voted him out.
Final Thoughts
Despite being as old as the show itself, I did not watch it until much later in my life, and even though I haven’t watched all the seasons and truly scratched the surface that is Survivor, I can say that it is a fantastic show that anyone can watch. Very commonly, families will watch the show together, rooting for their favorite survivor to win. I first began my viewing of the show when I saw that season 28, Cayagan, was on Netflix and I gave it a shot. Little did I know this was a highly regarded season and I thoroughly enjoyed the experience.
Since then, I occasionally pick up a season to watch, and even have waited for the latest ones to come out and watch along with everyone else tuning in every week. Eventually I will make my way through the entire collection of the season, but given they air two seasons a year, it won’t be anytime soon.
I am however very excited for what Probst and crew have in store this year for the 50th season. Given the show turning 25 this year and a milestone of 50 seasons, there’s no doubt it will be a special season for a special show.
