In season 50, how is ‘Survivor’ still surviving as the king of reality TV?
As the reality competition show that started it all hits a milestone season, fans and amateur players reflect on the magic sauce that has given “Survivor” longevity beyond its competitors.
It’s hard to be king, but even after 50 seasons, “Survivor” has somehow maintained its place on the reality TV throne.
Reality competition shows are now a dime a dozen, but when “Survivor” aired on CBS in 2000, it was unlike anything else on American TV. That might still be the case.
An adaptation of a Swedish reality show, “Survivor” puts competing “tribes” of contestants in a remote location in Fiji and asks them to build fires, find food and water, and either collaborate or backstab their way to being the last person standing. Tensions run high as players get pushed to their limits by physically demanding challenges and emotionally fraught decisions to vote out one another.
Few shows make it to 50 seasons, let alone reality shows. It’s “mindblowing” even for a seasoned fan like Eric Eldredge, who has played fan-made “Survivor” games for years and even researched the mechanics of reality competition shows while a graduate student at Northeastern University.
For Eldredge and other longtime fans-turned-amateur players, the show’s lasting success comes down to an inherently gripping concept combined with cleverly simple game design and a vibrant community of fans and players.
“I think that ‘Survivor’ is still and probably always will be the unquestioned G.O.A.T. [greatest of all time],” Eldredge said, referring to the show as “Greatest of All Time.”“It’s hard to topple something like ‘Survivor’ with its longevity and its simplicity and beauty in game design.”
A reality competition show’s success is based on many factors, but one of them is a “strong theme” that creates conflict, Eldredge explained. Reality competition shows like “Big Brother” and, more recently, “The Traitors” have created more complex games in the wake of “Survivor.” But the relative simplicity of the rules on “Survivor” allows for complex social dynamics and strategy to shine.
From “Lost” to “Lord of the Flies,” the desert island survival scenario is a constant in popular culture for a reason. It strips away the veneer of polite society and forces people into physically- and emotionally-raw situations without the support system they would normally have.
On “Survivor,” contestants have to compete for resources, complete physical challenges and navigate social landmines. One of the most ingenious mechanics in the game, Eldredge said, is that players who get voted out form a jury that eventually decides the season’s winner, or Sole Survivor.
“At its core is the notion that you have to vote people out and then ask them to reward you by giving you $1 million,” Eldredge said. “There’s no solution. It’s one of the least possible to solve games for that reason, and it creates so many compelling stories.”
For fans like Lexi Blanco, a lifelong fan of the show and current president of the student-run “Survivor” competition Survivor Northeastern, the show is an endlessly entertaining social experiment.
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“The real life social situations that you’re seeing play out are so much more raw because they’re on an island and they’re going through vulnerable things like literally starving and going through typhoons, insane things,” she said.
Players have stolen resources, including each other’s shoes, and created spy shacks to eavesdrop on the competition. Contestants are just as likely to work together and form lasting bonds, including some that have blossomed into marriage, as they are to lie, cheat and steal.
“Not every person has the same strategy to win,” said Bernie Baschkier, treasurer for Survivor Northeastern. “Their strategies aren’t always aligned with how they are in real life, their personality. You can change your persona a bit to get what you want.”
The show is also elegantly designed to follow core game design principles, Eldredge said.
For example, there’s a concept in game design called the Bartle taxonomy of player types that separates game players into four basic categories: achievers, explorers, socializers and killers.
“You’ve got … people trying to prove something to themselves, people hacking and slashing their way through the jungle,” Eldredge said. “You have the achievers, people who are in it for challenge wins, stats, perfect voting record, the gameplay. … You get people turning into mercenaries, playing a villain, playing a character that they’re not in real life but coming out here and being an absolute savage and cutting down the field battle royale style.”
According to Eldredge, “Survivor” is designed to capitalize on all four kinds of players, giving audiences a chance to see their own personality or play style on the show.
And it’s this quality that might be most appealing. “Survivor” gets viewers asking, “What would I do?” It’s a question that has fostered the community so vibrant that it’s spawned fan-made versions of the show, like Live Reality Gaming and Survivor Northeastern. For some, it’s even impacted how they move through the world outside the game.
“What keeps me coming back is I can see a lot of real life in ‘Survivor,’” said Lindy Nelson, head of logistics for Survivor Northeastern. “I can map out the alliances and tell you who’s moving where. … The only unfortunate thing is I can’t vote people out of real life, as much as I may want to.”
