Authored by Mark Peters in Movies and Television
Published on 11-18-2008
Since it burst on the scene in the United States in 2000, Survivor has been one of the more popular television shows on the air. The show has also been largely credited with starting the popularity and emphasis on reality television. Two of the most popular things about Survivor are the fact that viewers can identify with the real people that are featured as the stars of the show, and that many people tune in just to see the incredible shooting locations that are chosen for each season. Many of the “regular people” chosen to be on the show have gone on to modest levels of fame outside of the series. While it may indeed be one of the most popular television shows of all time, while it may be a show that everyone thinks they know everything about, here are 5 things you may not know about the reality television show Survivor.
1. In the 10th season of the show, Survivor: Palau featured a first. This was the first time that one tribe was able to win every immunity challenge, thus when it was time for the usual merging of the tribes there was no group to merge with so the remaining Ulong tribe member was just absorbed into the Koror tribe. This makes season 10 as the only Survivor season in which there was no merger.
2. Survivor: Fiji was the first time that there were an odd number of contestants on the show. The reason for this is that one player backed out of the show the night before the first day of the game was to start and the producers had no time to alert and bring in a replacement player.
3. While the winner of the show receives prize money in the amount of $1 million dollars, all of the other contestants also receive a specified amount of money that varies regarding how long they last in the game. Each player also receives $10,000 to appear on the reunion show at the end of the season.
4. Contestants of the American version of Survivor are not only required to follow the laws of the country that the show takes place in, but also they are required to follow all American laws even though they are outside of the country.
5. Survivor is a fixture of CBS’s Thursday night primetime television schedule, few remember that the first season of Survivor aired on Wednesday nights.
While no longer having the popularity that it once had, Survivor continues to be one of the most popular shows on television. From the initial episode where the contestants are first introduced to their new home, to the final live episode where host Jeff Probst reveals the winner, Survivor has mastered the ability to weave fascinating story lines with the strategy of a game. The Survivor formula, though not as crisp and new as it once was, appears to be a formula that will continue to make successful television for many years to come.
