Since Candid Camera heralded the dawn of reality TV in 1948, the genre has grown into a billion-dollar industry — and Survivor has come out on top.
We’ve seen an endless amount of programmes that would fall into the category. There are dating shows which have included everything from people trying to find love in the nude to singletons marrying strangers.
The competition sector has seen sewing, cooking, and drag queen artistry all getting their moment, and TV bosses have even commissioned series just documenting the everyday lives of ‘ordinary’ people. While many have stuck around nobody has done it quite to the level of Survivor. The wilderness-themed competition has reached its 47th series in the USA.
While you may have thought ITV were extra with their winter Love Island and summer original, American Survivor has been pulling off the single-year double hitter since launching in 2000.
What is Survivor?
The format originally came from the Swedish television series Expedition Robinson (a reference to the adventure novel Robinson Crusoe), which began airing in 1997 and saw a bunch of strangers placed in an isolated location.
The contestants compete in tough physical and psychological challenges and must provide themselves with food, fire, and shelter.
Survivor around the world
Sweden
Costing £2 million, the original Survivor became the most expensive commission in the history of Swedish TV and it was money well spent as series one’s finale was watched by half the Swedish population.
Australia
People aren’t just interested in watching Survivor, they want to be part of the show. A mammoth 20,000 people applied to be on season 4 ofAustralia’s Survivor in 2017.
Denmark
The first country to bring out their own version after the Sweden original has been very consistent. They have released a new series every year since it began in 1998, aside from 2012 and 2020 due to the Covid pandemic. They are currently airing their 25th season.
Greece
Although it was cancelled after two series in 2004, when it returned in 2007 it was able to find firm footing and has become an integral part of Greek TV. The seasons are long to satisfy viewer demand – the most recent one began on January 27 and ended on June 24, and was 116 episodes in total.
USA
A total of 715 contestants have put themselves to the test across the 47 series of Survivor in the US.
Although they work in tribes, and alliances quickly form, as the days progress, people are eliminated from the competition in vote-offs. Eventually, it is whittled to just one person – the Sole Survivor – who takes the cash prize of $1,000,000.
Survivor has been recognised with 63 Emmy Award nominations (winning two) and consistently brings in the largest audience for a reality show. It’s provided viewers with many watercooler moments, including Sue Hawk’s scathing speech in season one.
She told fellow contestant Kelly Wiglesworth: ‘If I were to ever pass you in life and you were laying there, dying of thirst, I would not give you a drink of water. I would let the vultures take you.’
While watching the events unfold, host Jeff Probst recalls thinking to himself: ‘I knew we had just filmed a hit.’
Survivor’s cultural impact
The impact of Survivor is far-reaching, without it, writer Suzanne Collins would never have been inspired to pen The Hunger Games. In this parallel universe, we wouldn’t have witnessed Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss Everdeen shouting ‘I volunteer as tribute’ or rocking a Dutch braid – now that’s a sad thought.
It’s not just America that has fallen in love with the concept – 50 versions of the programme have been commissioned around the world to date, including in Russia, Greece, and Australia.
British creator Charlie Parsons explained why he believed it’s been such a hit: ‘Ordinary people’s stories are interesting. How they cope with the situations they find themselves in is interesting. Our big thing about Survivor was that it was almost like a sport.
‘The show is extremely careful about its contestants, all of whom are heroes. It’s not exploitative and not watching and sneering,’ he added to Variety.
It may have found its way into many countries’ TV schedules and stayed firmly there, but in the UK, it has struggled to find its audience.
What went wrong with Survivor in the UK?
It first appeared on UK screens in 2001, airing on ITV for two seasons, and then it disappeared for over two decades before its heavily promoted return on BBC.
Presented by Joel Dommett it was marketed as the next big entertainment show, and was given a primetime Saturday night slot straight after the broadcaster’s beloved Strictly Come Dancing.
It reportedly cost the broadcaster £30,000,000 to produce, but ironically, it may not survive longer than one series after attracting just 2.6 million viewers on average.
Although, the production team put out a casting call immediately after the finale won by Matthew Haywood, by the summer reports began to circulate that it was on the chopping block.
TV Editor Adam Miller explains what Survivor should do differently
‘Survivor caught me completely off-guard. I wasn’t even a little bit excited for it to return in 2023 and just when the last thing I needed was another TV show to rob me of any social life, I got hooked.
The cast was perfect, featuring several outlandish characters who would have made headline news if they were in the Big Brother house in the noughties. Christopher was the closest thing to a Nasty Nick for Gen Z I’ve ever seen.
I noticed people who actually watched Survivor loved it but I don’t think the BBC knew how to pitch it and who to pitch it to.
Primetime Saturday night television is about big live studio audience fun like Strictly or The X Factor. Essentially it’s pretty silly – It’s not Survivor.
Survivor was quite obviously primed for a weeknight slot – much like The Apprentice or Race Across The World when we’re way more engaged with that level of midweek escapism only a competition of who can be the most ruthless can bring.
I don’t think the UK would hate Survivor if the BBC hadn’t failed it so badly.’
A source told the Daily Mail: ‘It was clear at the time it went out the show was not a hit. They threw everything at it, but although a lot had been changed, and many years had gone by since it was last on, it still did not work.’
However, Joel, 39, was still holding out hope it could get a second chance when speaking to Metro.co.uk earlier this year.
‘Fingers crossed… there’s a lot of stuff that we would do slightly differently,’ he optimistically said.
‘Like with every first series, it’s hard, so I think a second series would be amazing.
‘Everyone seems to really love it, so I’m excited that – hopefully – [we get to] do another one.’
With Survivor’s international counterparts continually being hailed as some of the best television there is, it was somewhat considered a guaranteed ratings winner, but it wasn’t to be.
Since its lukewarm launch, viewers have passionately shared their theories about why it failed to take off.
On one Reddit thread set up to discuss the show, Nomad_88 said: ‘I think they took the Survivor concept, but gave it too much of a UK reality show edit. It didn’t fully feel like survivor. I want the survivor music. Not cheesy pop music. That was the biggest and worst thing for me.’
‘The edit was bad,’ wrote an account called Deleted. Expanding on their point further, they explained that it felt like they were purposefully trying to mislead viewers so the final vote at the end of each episode would be a plot twist.
llcooldubs felt the casting left much to be desired, calling the players ‘average’ and so not providing enough excitement or jeopardy.
The Survivor series one is available to watch on BBC iPlayer
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