Survivor changed reality TV. Now it’s celebrating its 50th season

Hartley Jafine was flipping through the channels on a Wednesday night in 2000 when he happened upon a show where two groups of people were stranded on the remote Malaysian island of Pulau Tiga, competing to light a series of torches.

The winning team would get 50 waterproof matches to assist in their survival, and the right to stay on the island for at least a few days longer. The losing team would have to choose one of their own to leave the island.

“I was fascinated by that idea of, oh, they just competed together as a team, and now they’ve got to eat one of their own,” said Jafine, a professor at McMaster University, where alongside teaching courses on the intersection of theatre, improv and health care, he leads a course on Survivor. 

Jafine, who was 15 at the time, was watching the very first episode of the reality TV show Survivor: a show that would  create super fans, alter the landscape of reality television and inspire countless other shows. 

Now, 25 years and hundreds of contestants later, the show will air its 50th season on Feb. 25, which will include Canadians Kamilla Karthigesu, originally from Toronto and now living in California, and Genevieve Mushaluk from Winnipeg. 

“As I go through each stage of the [season] 50 process, you know through casting, through the marooning, through actually playing the game, it sort of hits me a little more and more each time where I kind of understand how big this is,” said Karthigesu, who came close to winning in Season 48, but was the last person voted out, finishing fourth.

That first marooning

The premise of that first season of Survivor, hosted by Jeff Probst, was simple: 16 contestants had to survive on an island for 39 days, all the while competing in challenges and voting other people off the island, with the aim of becoming the sole survivor. 

“It was really fascinating to think about, what are the reasons why one might be ejected from the show and that got me hooked from moment one,” said Jafine.

At the end of the show, seven of the people who were voted out decided who of the final two contestants deserved the game’s million dollar prize.

It was an overnight sensation. Over 50 million people tuned in to watch Richard Hatch claim the title of sole survivor in the season finale.

It wasn’t the first reality TV show, or even the first of its kind, being derived from a similar Swedish series called Expedition Robinson, which premiered in 1997. 

But Erin Meyers, a communications professor at Oakland University in Rochester, Mich., says Survivor was the first major reality TV success on a U.S. broadcast network, in primetime.

“This was different from what most people were seeing on television at that time,” she said.

“Particularly the focus on real people as the contestants, the unusual and over the top kind of challenges and situations that they were put in. And so I think it really opened a door for different kinds of entertainment to flourish at that moment.”

She says Survivor — and other shows like it — were cheap to produce. They didn’t require high paid actors and union writers. So, she says, other networks tried to replicate it.

There were survival shows, such as Mantracker, Survivorman and Man vs. Wild, which all first aired between 2004 and 2006. 

And then there were the competition shows. A few months after the first season of Survivor, the U.S. version of Big Brother aired. Other shows such as The Amazing Race and American Idol followed shortly after.

Creating super fans

Omar Zaheer of Richmond Hill, Ont., watched his very first episode of Survivor when he was in Grade 4, recording the show on the family VCR. 

“I was just captivated,” said Zaheer. “A lot of kids are insecure like, are you liked, can you make friends … so I would watch what would get people voted out and try to avoid that in real life.”

Zaheer would continue to watch and record each episode, then rewatch it until the next instalment came out. By the time he went to university, he had each season up to that point on VHS and a fount of Survivor knowledge.

“I think that I know more about Survivor than any survivor that’s ever played,” said Zaheer.

And while he watched, he couldn’t help but imagine himself on the island. 

Then, in 2018, production allowed Canadians to apply. Zaheer applied, and was cast on Season 42, which aired in 2022. Of the 18 contestants, Zaheer made it all the way to the final six before being voted out. 

From being on the show, he says it’s clear how it’s lasted so long.

“Seeing how real it is and how difficult it is and how cool it is and how amazingly well-oiled the machine is to create the show, it was very impressive,” said Zaheer, who was also a contestant on another reality TV show, The Traitors: Canada. 

How it survived

While the main formula has remained the same, the game has changed over the years. The length of the competition has gone from 39 days to 26, and instead of visiting different locations for each season, production has made camp in Fiji. The show has also added twists such as hidden immunity idols, tribe swaps, and secret advantages. 

But Jafine says the most important adjustment the show has made is how it has adapted to society. 

“It’s not static, it’s not keeping the same year 2000 norms and values, but the show’s evolving with the audience.”

In Season 41, Probst retired his recurring line, “Come on in guys,” which he would say before the start of each challenge. After a discussion with that season’s cast, he decided to use more gender-neutral language.

And then there’s the casting. Zaheer says when he watched the first season, there was nobody that looked like him.  

“I remember latching onto Gervase [Peterson] because he was the only Black man on Season 1. And I’m not Black, but that’s all that you have … but it’s still not the same,” he said.

But in recent seasons, he says that’s changed. 

“Most people watching could find somebody within the last 10 seasons that they resonate with.”

Two Canadians on Season 50

The 50th season, airing on Wednesday, will feature 24 returning players from Season 1 to 49, including the pair of Canadians.

And Karthigesu says she doesn’t see why the show can’t continue well past 50. The show has already been renewed for another season by CBS.

“There are just so many different types of people who are applying to the show these days,” said Karthigesu. 

“As long there is a steady flow of interesting of people that we can relate to, I think Survivor will just continue to happen.”