Survivor (American TV series)

Survivor
File:Survivor.borneo.logo.png Fan-made recreation of the logo for Survivor: Borneo.
Created by	Charlie Parsons
Presented by	Jeff Probst
Country of origin	United States
No. of seasons	19
No. of episodes	259
Production
Running time	approx. 42 min
Original release
Network	CBS
Release	May 31, 2000 – present
Related
Expedition Robinson International versions

Survivor is an American version of the Survivor reality television game show, itself derived from the Swedish television series Expedition Robinson originally created in 1997 by Charlie Parsons, and first broadcast in May 2000. Mark Burnett produces the American series. Its host is the former game show emcee and news reporter, Jeff Probst. The CBS television network broadcasts the premier run of each season, and syndication to other cable networks follows. Russ Landau composed the theme song.

The show maroons a group of strangers (as one or more tribes) in a desolate locale, where they must provide food, water, fire, and shelter for themselves, while competing in challenges to earn either a reward, or an immunity from expulsion from the game in the next of the successive votes for elimination. While much rarer than elimination by vote, medical conditions, such as injury or infection, have eliminated several contestants. The last two or three survivors face a jury historically comprising of at least the last seven players voted off. That jury interrogates the final few, and then votes for the winner of the title of Sole Survivor and a million dollar prize.

The American version has been very successful. From the 2000-2001 through the 2005-2006 television seasons its first eleven seasons (competitions) rated amongst the top ten most watched shows. It is commonly considered the mother of American reality TV because it was the first highly-rated and profitable reality show on broadcast television in the USA.

The show completed its nineteenth season, Survivor: Samoa, on December 20, 2009. Probst has signed a contract to host the show through its twentieth season. The 10th anniversary edition of the show was also filmed in Samoa and will be the show's second "All-Stars" season, titled Heroes vs. Villains. The twentieth season will premiere February 11, 2010.

On November 4, 2009, it was announced that the show would be turned into a video game. The Survivor game would require players to participate in various challenges like those in the reality shows in order to win. A previous version of the game, in which the player could play as any of the 32 Pulau Tiga and Australian Outback cast members or create a character from scratch, was released on November 13, 2001, but received poor reviews.

Format and rules

Main article: Format and Rules of Survivor

The first U.S. season of Survivor followed the same general format as the Swedish series, but since then, the show has introduced several twists to the core rules to keep players on guard in newer seasons from relying on strategies present in previous seasons. These changes have included tribal switches, seasons starting with more than two tribes, the ability to exile a player from their tribe for a short time, and a hidden immunity idol that a player can use to save themselves at the tribal vote.

U.S. Survivor seasons

The United States version is produced by Mark Burnett and hosted by Jeff Probst. It airs Thursdays on CBS. The first season of Survivor was broadcast as a summer replacement show in 2000. Since then the show has been broadcast each U.S. television season. Each competition is called a season, has a unique name, and lasts from 13 to 15 episodes. Starting with Survivor: The Australian Outback there have been two Survivor seasons aired during each U.S. television season.

#	Name	Location	Original tribes	Winner	Runner(s)-up	Vote	Notes
1	Survivor: Borneo	Pulau Tiga, Sabah, Malaysia	Two tribes of eight	Richard Hatch	Kelly Wiglesworth	4-3	Only season to air on Wednesdays.
2	Survivor: The Australian Outback	Australian Outback around Cairns	Two tribes of eight	Tina Wesson	Colby Donaldson	4-3	Michael Skupin suffered burns and became the first contestant to be evacuated due to injuries; only season to film for more than 39 days, running 42 days.
3	Survivor: Africa	Kenya's Shaba National Reserve	Two tribes of eight	Ethan Zohn	Kim Johnson	5-2	First season to feature a tribal swap
4	Survivor: Marquesas	Nuku Hiva, the largest of the Marquesas Islands in French Polynesia	Two tribes of eight	Vecepia Towery	Neleh Dennis	4-3	The only time the infamous Purple Rock tie breaker was ever used
5	Survivor: Thailand	Ko Tarutao, Thailand	Two tribes of eight picked by the two oldest players, Jake and Jan	Brian Heidik	Clay Jordan	4-3	First to feature a fake merge and a delayed merge
6	Survivor: The Amazon	Amazon River region of Brazil	Two tribes of eight divided by gender	Jenna Morasca	Matthew Von Ertfelda	6-1	First time a reality show contestant competed with a disability - the hearing impaired Christy Smith
7	Survivor: Pearl Islands	Pearl Islands, Panama	Two tribes of eight	Sandra Diaz-Twine	Lillian Morris	6-1	First and only time players who had been voted out were allowed to return to the game as part of the Outcast Tribe; first season in which a player, Osten Taylor, quit the game
8	Survivor: All-Stars	Pearl Islands, Panama	Three tribes of six returning players	Amber Brkich	Rob Mariano	4-3	Survivor: America's Tribal Council was held four days later, and a second million-dollar prize was awarded to Rupert Boneham for being voted by the viewers as their favorite contestant; Mariano proposed to Brkich during the Reunion.
9	Survivor: Vanuatu - Islands of Fire	Efate, Vanuatu	Two tribes of nine divided by gender	Chris Daugherty	Twila Tanner	5-2	Chris was the only male remaining in the final seven; Chad Crittenden was the first amputee contestant.
10	Survivor: Palau	Koror, Palau	Two tribes of nine, plus two eliminated without a tribe	Tom Westman	Katie Gallagher	6-1	Only season in which one of the tribes, Koror, won all the immunity challenges - Stephenie LaGrossa, the last member of the defeated tribe, Ulong, was simply absorbed into Koror.
11	Survivor: Guatemala - The Maya Empire	Yaxha National Park, Guatemala	Two tribes of nine, including Stephenie LaGrossa and Bobby Jon Drinkard from Palau)	Danni Boatwright	Stephenie LaGrossa	6-1	First season to include a hidden immunity idol.
12	Survivor: Panama - Exile Island	Pearl Islands, Panama	Four tribes of four divided by age and gender	Aras Baskauskas	Danielle DiLorenzo	5-2	First season to include Exile Island throughout the show and first to offer the hidden Immunity Idol throughout, which could only be found by being exiled to Exile Island.
13	Survivor: Cook Islands	Cook Islands	Four tribes of five divided by ethnicity: African Americans, Caucasians, Hispanics, and Asians	Yul Kwon	Ozzy Lusth Becky Lee	5-4-0	Both Exile Island and the Hidden Immunity Idol were used throughout the season; first time three castaways were involved in the final vote, with a jury composed of nine members
14	Survivor: Fiji	Vanua Levu, Fiji	Two tribes of nine, plus one who joined after the first tribal council	Earl Cole	Cassandra Franklin Dre "Dreamz" Herd	9-0-0	First time the total number of castaways was an odd number (19), due to the last minute withdrawal of one contestant. As part of the twist to this season, one tribe enjoyed much luxuries while the other had virtually nothing; first unanimous victory.
15	Survivor: China	Jiangxi, People's Republic of China	Two tribes of eight	Todd Herzog	Courtney Yates Amanda Kimmel	4-2-1	A twist involving kidnapping players from the opposing tribe replaced Exile Island
16	Survivor: Micronesia - Fans vs Favorites	Koror, Palau	Two tribes of ten: fans against popular past contestants	Parvati Shallow	Amanda Kimmel	5-3	Two contestants, one from each tribe, were sent to Exile Island; first season to have three castaways leave due to reasons other than being voted out.
17	Survivor: Gabon - Earth's Last Eden	Estuaire, Gabon	Two tribes of nine	Robert "Bob" Crowley	Susie Smith Jessica "Sugar" Kiper	4-3-0	First season shot and aired in HD. The show premiered on September 25 as a two-hour event. On Exile Island, the player selected could choose the clue to the Hidden Immunity Idol or take comfort of a hammock, pillows and fresh fruit.
18	Survivor: Tocantins - The Brazilian Highlands	Tocantins, Brazil	Two tribes of eight	James "J.T." Thomas Jr.	Stephen Fishbach	7-0	Two players were sent to exile, where one would receive a clue to the hidden immunity idol
19	Survivor: Samoa	Upolu, Samoa	Two tribes of ten	Natalie White	Russell Hantz Mick Trimming	7-2-0	The tribe who won reward sent one of their castaways to accompany the losing tribe back to their campsite and observe them until the next immunity challenge.
20	Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains	Samoa	Two tribes of ten returning players divided into those considered heroes and villains	TBD	TBD	TBD

U.S. television ratings

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.

Survivor: Borneo doesn't have a ranking because it aired in the summer of 2000. It would have ranked #2 in the 1999-2000 U.S. television season, assuming it would have attained the exact same viewership numbers as it did in the summer of 2000.

Program	Timeslot (ET/PT)	Premiered		Ended			TV Season	Rank	Viewers (in millions)
		Date	Premiere Viewers (in millions)	Date	Finale Viewers (in millions)	Reunion Viewers (in millions)
Survivor: Borneo	Wednesday 8:00PM	May 31, 2000	15.51	August 23, 2000	51.69	36.70	1999-2000	#2	28.30
Survivor: The Australian Outback	Thursday 8:00PM	January 28, 2001	45.371	May 3, 2001	36.35	28.01	2000-2001	#1	29.80
Survivor: Africa		October 11, 2001	23.84	January 10, 2002	27.26	19.05	2001-2002	#5	20.69
Survivor: Marquesas		February 28, 2002	23.19	May 19, 2002	25.87	17.89		#4	20.77
Survivor: Thailand		September 19, 2002	23.05	December 19, 2002	24.08	20.43	2002-2003	#6	21.21
Survivor: The Amazon		February 13, 2003	23.26	May 11, 2003	22.29	17.65		#8	19.97
Survivor: Pearl Islands		September 18, 2003	21.50	December 14, 2003	25.23	21.87	2003-2004	#6	20.72
Survivor: All-Stars		February 1, 2004	33.541	May 9, 2004	24.76	23.92		#3	21.49
Survivor: Vanuatu		September 16, 2004	20.06	December 12, 2004	19.72	15.23	2004-2005	#6	19.64
Survivor: Palau		February 17, 2005	23.66	May 15, 2005	20.80	15.48		#5	20.91
Survivor: Guatemala		September 15, 2005	18.41	December 11, 2005	21.18	15.21	2005-2006	#8	18.30
Survivor: Panama		February 2, 2006	19.20	May 14, 2006	17.07	11.65		#11	16.82
Survivor: Cook Islands		September 14, 2006	18.00	December 17, 2006	16.42	13.53	2006-2007	#13	15.75
Survivor: Fiji		February 8, 2007	16.68	May 13, 2007	13.63	11.43		#15	14.83
Survivor: China		September 20, 2007	15.35	December 16, 2007	15.10	12.22	2007-2008	#8	15.18
Survivor: Micronesia		February 7, 2008	14.02	May 11, 2008	12.92	10.84		#11	13.51
Survivor: Gabon		September 25, 2008	13.05	December 14, 2008	13.77	11.74	2008-2009	#15	13.81
Survivor: Tocantins		February 12, 2009	13.80	May 17, 2009	12.94	11.59		#19	12.92
Survivor: Samoa		September 17, 2009	11.66	December 20, 2009	13.97	11.68	2009-2010
Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains		February 11, 2010

^1 The season premieres of Survivor: The Australian Outback and Survivor: All-Stars each aired after a Super Bowl. Survivor seasons (competitions) broadcast in winter/spring have had episodes moved to Wednesdays at 8:00pm to avoid conflicts with broadcasts of the first two weeks of the NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship. For Survivor: Marquesas and every competition beginning with Survivor: The Amazon, the finale was broadcast Sunday Night at 8:00pm. In addition, for the spring Survivor season (second competition of the television season), this finale has almost always coincided with Mother's Day in the United States (2009 was an exception).

Locations

Locations of the different seasons

The American version of Survivor has been shot in many locations around the world since the first season, favoring warm, tropical climates.

Continent	Locations (Season number)
Africa	Kenya (3), Gabon (17)
Asia	Borneo (1), China (15), Thailand (5)
Oceania	Australia (2), Cook Islands (13), Fiji (14), Marquesas (4), Palau (10, 16), Samoa (19, 20), Vanuatu (9)
North America (Central America)	Guatemala (11), Panama (7, 8, 12)
South America	Brazil (6, 18)

Post-show auctions

At the end of each U.S. Survivor series 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

Turmoil between players is commonplace for any reality series, but Survivor has had a few instances which went beyond mere intertribal squabbles. More recently, there have been debates, some even prior to the series' premiere, regarding the formatting of the show:

• In February 2001, Borneo player Stacey Stillman filed a lawsuit claiming producers interfered in the process of the game by persuading two members of her tribe (Sean Kenniff and Dirk Been) to vote her off instead of Rudy Boesch.
• During a reward trip, Colby Donaldson removed corals from the Great Barrier Reef. In the same trip, a helicopter involved in the production flew around protected sea bird rookeries.
• At the trivia immunity challenge for Africa's final four players, 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 pushed her to third and ultimately (after another immunity win) second place. Tom Buchanan was eliminated. Months later, the cast and producers (who were preparing for the live finale and reunion) watched the episode backstage. During the rebroadcast of the challenge, Lindsey Richter shouted to the TV that she had no piercings. Lex van den Berghe's answer had been Lindsey, yet the show had not awarded him a point, thus significantly changing the outcome of the game (van den Berghe was eliminated in third place). CBS later paid van den Berghe and Buchanan a settlement.
• In the fifth episode of the All-Star season, a naked Richard Hatch may or may not have come into contact with Sue Hawk after she blocked his path during an immunity challenge. Hatch was voted out that day for other reasons; Hawk quit the game a few days later (episode six). 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."
• In order to be sure to win a Reward Challenge in which the castaways competed to win a visit from their friends or loved ones, Pearl Islands Survivor Jonny "Fairplay" Dalton conspired beforehand with friend Dan Fields in what has been described by Probst as the greatest lie on Survivor to date. Fields told Dalton that his grandmother, Jean Cooke, had died, in order to win sympathy from his tribemates and subsequently the reward. In reality, Cooke had not died, a fact that only emerged to his tribemates once the episode had aired. When the show staff heard the report of Cooke's death, they called Dalton's family to offer condolences, only to have Cooke herself answer the phone. Dalton admitted in confessional after the challenge that his grandmother was alive and "probably watching Jerry Springer right now." On that season's reunion show, Jeff Probst had a short interview with Cooke, who was indeed alive and well.
• Rupert Boneham, originally on Survivor: Pearl Islands and then part of Survivor: All-Stars was an extremely popular player with television audiences, but finished eighth and fourth, respectively, in his appearances on the show. As part of Survivor: All-Stars, a special Survivor: America's Tribal Council contest for the 18 players was created, where the winner would be selected by the viewing audience and would receive US$1 million prize; Rupert won this prize, unsurprisingly, with more than 80% of the votes cast. Many long-time Survivor fans 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 to gain popularity with the show's audience, regardless of how well he played the game, and still would be rewarded with a large prize.
• Richard Hatch, the winner of the first season of Survivor, was charged and found guilty in January 2006 of failing to report his winnings to the IRS to avoid taxes. He has been sentenced to four years, three months in prison.
• The 13th season of Survivor, known as Survivor: Cook Islands, began with tribes grouped according to race. Host Jeff Probst claims the choice "came from the criticism that Survivor was not ethnically diverse enough." Several long-term sponsors, including Campbell's Soup, Procter & Gamble, Home Depot, Coca Cola, and General Motors dropped their support of the show shortly after this announcement, leading to speculation that the decisions were in response to the controversy. Each of the companies has either denied the link or declined to comment.
• Mark Burnett has also received criticism for reenacting scenes with actor stand ins which he claims were used to increase production value and did not affect the outcome.
• The program angered its fan base when Jeff Probst revealed that Survivor: Fiji ignored the thousands of viewer applicants and instead used their own recruited players. It was revealed that Gary Stritesky was the only actual applicant chosen, while the rest used on the show were recruits. While Probst defended the process by claiming they wanted to find more diverse players, 10 of the recruits were from California (13 the previous season) and many were young unemployed actors found in places like bars and MySpace. One example was Mellisa McNulty, a Fiji recruit, who was unable to even make it to the island, quitting because of a panic attack merely five hours before departing.
• At the Survivor: China reunion show, Denise Martin told producers and the audience her unfortunate story of being demoted to a janitor from a lunch lady because of the distraction she was to students. Because of her claimed misfortune, Mark Burnett awarded Martin US$50,000. Martin ultimately recanted the story after the school district publicly stated that she had taken the custodial position before appearing on the show. She also decided to donate the $50,000 to charity.
• A brief uncensored shot of Marcus Lehman's genitals during the premiere episode of Survivor: Gabon has led to the show and network being asked to apologize for the incident.

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.

One of the more novel merchandising items has been the interactive Survivor: The Ride thrill ride at Great America in Santa Clara, California. The ride includes a rotating platform on which riders are divided into one of four "tribes." As the ride moves along an undulating track, riders can be sprayed by water guns hidden in oversized tribal masks while drums and other familiar Survivor musical accents play in the background. Other theming includes Survivor memorabilia throughout the queue line and other merchandise for sale in nearby gift shops.

DVD releases

Best of

DVD name	Release date
Season One: The Greatest and Most Outrageous Moments	January 1, 2001
Season Two: The Greatest and Most Outrageous Moments	September 25, 2001

Full seasons

DVD name	Release date
The Complete First Season: Borneo	May 11, 2004
The Complete Second Season: Australian Outback	April 26, 2005
The Complete Seventh Season: Pearl Islands	February 7, 2006
The Complete Eighth Season: All-Stars	September 14, 2004
The Complete Ninth Season: Vanuatu	December 5, 2006
The Complete Tenth Season: Palau	August 29, 2006

Complete seasons on iTunes

Currently available
Season 9: Vanuatu
Season 10: Palau
Season 11: Guatemala
Season 12: Panama
Season 13: Cook Islands
Season 14: Fiji
Season 15: China
Season 16: Micronesia
Season 17: Gabon
Season 18: Tocantins
Season 19: Samoa

See also

• Expedition Robinson
• Survivor (UK TV series)
• Survivor BG
• Survivor Philippines
• Australian Survivor
• Celebrity Survivor
• Obstacle course
• Survivor South Africa
• Pirate Master
• Total Drama Island

External links

• Official website
• Template:Tv.com show
• Survivor at IMDb
• Survivor Official Wiki
• Survivor Maps