Survivor, also known as Expedition Robinson, is a reality-based competition television show.
History[]
Survivor is derived from a 1997 Swedish television series called Expedition Robinson. Following its success, in 2000, Mark Burnett collaborated with Charlie Parsons (who developed Expedition Robinson) to create the U.S. version, which they entitled Survivor. Initially, Burnett looked for a television network who would buy the concept, but was unsuccessful, until CBS accepted the offer.[1][2]
The American series debuted in May 31, 2000, which amassed huge international success, which prompted Burnett and Parsons to produce more seasons after it.
Following the American franchise, other countries have produced their own versions of the series. The rights to these franchises are bought from Parsons' Castaway Television Productions.
In Survivor: All-Stars, the movie, Lord of the Flies, was said to be an inspiration of the series.
The Survivor series is considered to be the pioneer of the Reality Television genre, spawning several reality shows with completely different premises, either competition-based, or chronicling a famous person's daily life.
Premise[]
The show's premise is to subject 16-20 strangers to a remote location, stripped away of most comforts in life such as food and technology. These contestants would be undergo challenges and physical and mental fatigue for 39 days. Divided in to teams called "tribes", the castaways must construct a new world while battling the elements and one another. Every few nights, the tribe that loses an Immunity Challenge would go to Tribal Council and must vote one of their own off the island. At a certain point, what remains from the original tribes would merge into one final tribe where they will compete for a seat at the Final Tribal Council, where the Jury|most recently eliminated castaways will ultimately decide which of the final few would earn the title of Sole Survivor and its accompanying $1,000,000 prize.
Motto[]
The series' motto, Outwit, Outplay, Outlast, is the three key factors to ensure victory in the game. "Outwit" is the strategic factor, where a contestant must cleverly make it through the game as unscathed as possible. To "Outplay" is to consider the other contestants and how to assimilate and/or manipulate them. "Outlast" stands for surviving as many days as possible.
Format[]
To know about Survivor's rules, refer to the Survivor Rulebook page.
Sixteen to twenty strangers will be marooned in an unforgiving territory where they will be divided into teams called "tribes". According to Jeff Probst, the standard 16-castaway format is implemented to make the viewers get to know each contestant more; but in seasons with more than 16 contestants, Probst explained that the expanded cast is to have "wiggle room" in case of unprecedented events such as medical evacuations and voluntary exits.
Given a pre-determined amount of tools and supplies, the tribes would then proceed to their camps, which they will inhabit on for the next 39 days. These tools are usually limited to a machete, a cooking pot and water canteens. In some seasons, contestants are given limited food supplies such as rice and fruits. Otherwise, they have to rely on available flora and fauna for nourishment.
These tribes are also required to compete in competitions called "challenges", where they have to vie for either creature comforts such as additional supplies, food or love from home (Reward Challenges) or the right to stay for three more days (Immunity Challenges). The tribe that loses at the Immunity Challenge must go to an elimination ceremony called Tribal Council where their actions will put into account. The tribe votes, and whoever receives the plurality of the votes (majority vote is not nessary) will be sent home. In , , and , the person who gets voted out will be sent to Redemption Island to win their way back into the game.
At a certain point, the tribes will be merged into one final tribe, where they will now compete as individuals unlike the tribal phase, where challenges are won by group effort. In the later seasons the merge also marks the start of the jury phase, where the people who gets eliminated will return to subsequent Tribal Councils to ultimately decide which among the final two/three wins the title of Sole Survivor and the million dollar prize that comes along with it at the Final Tribal Council.
Over the years, each franchise has introduced twists to the original format to make the game fresher and more interesting.
International Franchises[]
Africa[]
Country | Local title | Network | Presenter |
---|---|---|---|
South Africa | Survivor (South Africa) | M-Net | Mark Bayly (seasons 1-2) Nico Panagiotopoulos (season 3-5) |
Pan-Regional | Survivor (Africa) | Anthony Oseyemi |
Americas[]
Country | Local title | Network | Presenter |
---|---|---|---|
Argentina | Expedición Robinson | El Trece | Julián Weich |
Brazil | No Limite | Rede Globo | Zeca Camargo |
Chile | Expedición Robinson | Canal 13 | Margarita Francisco |
Colombia | Expedición Róbinson | Caracol TV | Guillermo Prieto (season 1–4) Katerine Porto (season 1) |
La Isla de los FamoS.O.S. (Celebrity series) |
RCN TV | Guillermo Prieto (season 1–4) Katerine Porto (season 1) | |
Ecuador | Expedición Robinson | Teleamazonas | Marisa Sánchez |
México | La Isla | TV Azteca | Alejandro Lukini |
United States | Survivor | CBS | Jeff Probst |
Venezuela | Robinson: La Gran Aventura | Venevisión | N/A |
Asia-Pacific[]
Country | Local title | Network | Presenter |
---|---|---|---|
Australia | Australian Survivor | Nine Network (season 1) Wikipedia:Seven Network|Seven Network (season 2) Wikipedia:Ten Network|Ten Network (season 3) |
Ian Dickson (season 2) Jonathan LaPaglia (season 3-) |
China | Into The Shangri-La | CCTV | N/A |
India | Survivor India | Star Plus | Sameer Kochhar |
Japan | Survivor | TBS | Munehiro Tokita |
New Zealand | Survivor NZ | TV2 | Matt Chisholm |
Pakistan | Survivor Pakistan | PTV Wikipedia:ARY Television Network|ARY Wikipedia:TVOne Global|TVOne Global |
N/A |
Philippines | Survivor (Philippines) | GMA | Paolo Bediones (season 1-2) Richard Gutierrez (season 3-4) |
Europe[]
Country | Local title | Network | Presenter |
---|---|---|---|
Baltic states | Baltic Robinson | TV3 Estonia TV3 Latvia TV3 Lithuania |
Emil Rutiku (seasons 1-3) Pauls Timrots (seasons 1-3) Vytautas Kernagis (season 1-3) Tenu Karks (season 4) Raimond Dombrovskis (season 4) Vytautas Kernagis (season 4) |
Bulgaria | Survivor BG | BTV | Kamen Vodenicharov (season 1) Wikipedia:Vladimir Karamazov|Vladimir Karamazov(season 2-3, 4) Evtim Miloshev (season 4) |
Croatia | Survivor Croatia | HRT (season 1) Wikipedia:RTL Televizija|RTL Televizija (season 2) |
Antonija Blaće Milan Kalinić Andrija Milošević Marijana Batinić (season 2) |
Czech Republic | Trosečník | TV Prima | Marek Vašut |
Robinsonův ostrov | TV Nova | Ondřej Novotný | |
Denmark | Robinson Ekspeditionen | TV3 | Thomas Mygind (season 1–6) Jakob Kjeldbjerg (season 7–) |
Finland | Suomen Robinson | Nelonen | Jarmo Mäkinen (season 1) Arttu Harkki (season 2) |
Selviytyjät Suomi | MTV3 | Heikki Paasonen | |
France | Koh-Lanta | TF1 | Hubert Auriol (season 1) Denis Brogniart (season 2–) |
Georgia | Ukanaskneli Gmiri | Rustavi 2 | N/A |
Germany | Survivor | RTL 2 (season 1-2) ProSieben (season 3) |
N/A |
Greece | Survivor | Mega TV (season 1-3) STAR (season 4) |
N/A |
Hungary | Survivor – A Sziget | RTL Klub | András Stohl |
Italy | Survivor Italia | Italia 1 | Pietro Suber (season 1) Benedetta Corbi (season 1) |
L'Isola dei Famosi | Rai Due (season 1-9) Canale 5 (season 10-) |
Simona Ventura (season 1–8) Marco Mazzocchi (season 1–3) Paolo Brosio (season 4) Francesco Facchinetti (season 5) Filippo Magnini (season 6) Rossano Rubicondi (season 7) Daniele Battaglia (season 8) Nicola Savino (season 9) Vladimir Luxuria (season 9) Alessia Marcuzzi (season 10-) Alberto 'Alvin' Bonato (season 10-) | |
Netherlands | Expeditie Robinson | VT4 (seasons 1–5) NET 5 (seasons 1-5) Wikipedia:Tien (TV channel)|Tien (Seasons 6–7) Wikipedia:Q2 (TV channel)|2BE (seasons 6–13) RTL 5 (seasons 6–13) |
Désiré Naessens (season 1) Ernst-Paul Hasselbach (seasons 1–9) Roos Van Acker (seasons 2–5) Lotte Verlackt (seasons 6–7) Evi Hanssen (seasons 7–13) Eddy Zoey (seasons 10–12) Dennis Weening (season 13) Dennis Weening Evi Hanssen (season 14) |
Norway | Robinsonekspedisjonen | TV3 (season 1-14) TV2 (season 15-) |
Nils Ole Oftebro (season 1) Christer Falch (season 2–) |
Poland | Wyprawa Robinson | TVN | Hubert Urbański |
Portugal | Survivor | TVI | N/A |
Romania | Supraviețuitorul | Pro TV | Dragoş Bucurenci |
Russia | Last Hero | C1R | Sergei Bodrov, Jr. (season 1) Dmitry Pevtsov (season 2) Nikolai Fomenko (season 3) Aleksandr Domagarov (season 4) Vladimir Menshov (season 5) Kseniya Sobchak (season 7) |
Scandinavia | Expedition Robinson VIP | TV3 Denmark TV3 Norway TV3 Sweden |
Mikkel Beha Erichsen |
Serbia | Survivor Srbija | A1 Televizija (season 1) PRO TV (season 1) Prva (seasons 1-4) Alternativna Televizija (seasons 1-2) NTV Hayat (season 2) Wikipedia:TV 3 Slovenia|TV 3 (season 2) Wikipedia:Sitel (TV channel)|Sitel (seasons 2-4) TV In (seasons 2-4) Wikipedia:Televizija OBN|OBN (seasons 3-4) Wikipedia:RTL Televizija|RTL (season 4) |
Andrija Milošević (seasons 1-4) Marijana Batinić (season 4) |
Slovenia | Survivor | TV3 (season 1) Wikipedia:POP TV|POP TV (season 2) |
Ula Furlan (season 1) Miran Stanovnik (season 2) |
Slovakia | Celebrity Camp | TV JOJ | Petra Polnišová |
Ostrov | Markíza | Marián Mitaš | |
Spian | Supervivientes | Telecinco (seasons 1-2; season 7-) Wikipedia:Antena 3 (Spain)|Antena 3 (season 3-6) |
Juan Manuel López (Seasons 1-2) Paco Lobaton (season 2) Paula Vázquez (seasons 3-6) Alonso Caparrós (season 3) Nuria Roca (seasons 4-6) Jesús Vázquez (seasons 7-11) José Mª Íñigo (season 7) Mario Picazo (seasons 8-10) Eva González (season 11) Jorge Javier Vázquez (seasons 12-15) Raquel Sánchez (seasons 12-14) Lara Álvarez (season 14-15) |
Sweden | Expedition Robinson | SVT (season 1-7) TV3 (season 8-9) TV4 (season 10-14) Sjuan (season 15) |
Harald Treutiger (season 1-2) Anders Lundin (season 3-7) Robert Aschberg (season 8-9) Linda Isacsson (season 10) Paolo Roberto (season 11-14) |
Switzerland | Expedition Robinson | TV3 | Silvan Grütter |
Turkey | Survivor Turkey | Kanal D (season 1) Show TV (season 2-4) Wikipedia:Star TV (Turkey)|Star TV (Season 7-8) Wikipedia:Tv8 (Turkey)|Tv8 (season 9) |
Ahmet Utlu (season 1) Acun Ilıcalı (season 2-8,9) Hanzade Ofluoğlu (season 5) Burcu Esmersoy (season 6) Alp Kırşan (season 7-8,9) |
Urkraine | Last Hero | ICTV | N/A |
United Kingdom | Survivor | ITV | Mark Austin (season 1) John Leslie (season 1) Mark Nicholas (season 2) |
Middle East[]
Country | Local title | Network | Presenter |
---|---|---|---|
Arab World | Survivor | LBC | Tareq Mounir |
Azerbaijan | Extreme Azerbaijan | Space TV | Emin Əhmədov |
Israel | Hisardut | Channel 10 (season 1-6) Wikipedia:Channel 2 (Israel)|Channel 2 (season 7-) |
Guy Zu-Aretz |