Survivor | Description & History (2024)

Survivor, popular reality television game show whose format has been adapted and produced in more than 25 countries since the late 1990s, becoming a huge hit on American television after its debut on CBS in 2000.

First employed in 1997 for a Swedish television show called Expedition: Robinson (as in Robinson Crusoe), the Survivor format involves a group of usually 16 to 20 contestants who are sequestered in a remote, exotic location and compete for a cash prize. They are initially divided into two teams (“tribes”) and are expected to survive (build shelter, find food, etc.) with a minimal number of tools. The teams periodically compete against each other in tests, called “challenges,” involving physical endurance, problem-solving ability, and resourcefulness. (The motto of the American version of the show is “Outwit. Outplay. Outlast.”) The tribe that wins a “reward challenge” is awarded “luxury” items (such as food, equipment, or phone calls). The tribe that wins an “immunity challenge” temporarily staves off elimination from the larger contest, while the losing tribe attends a “tribal council” with the show’s host at the end of each episode to oust one of its members from the show through a secret vote.

About halfway through the season, the tribes merge into a single unit with 8–10 members, after which all challenges are contested on an individual basis, although the winner is sometimes allowed to share or transfer the reward or immunity. The whole tribe attends the tribal council after each challenge, and the group continues to vote one contestant off the show each week. When only nine players are left, the contestants who are subsequently voted off begin to form the “jury” (eventually consisting of seven members), observing each tribal council and ultimately determining the winner (the “sole survivor”) by voting during the last show to eliminate one of the final two contestants. The jury’s vote is sealed, and during a live finale the winner is revealed, receiving the grand prize ($1 million in the American version). Two seasons are produced each year.

The first season of the American show (won by Richard Hatch, who was later convicted and incarcerated for tax evasion on his $1-million grand prize) was a huge ratings triumph for CBS and is generally credited with launching the reality-television fad of the 2000s. Although subsequent series (except the second season) did not repeat the same ratings success, they nevertheless fared very well, usually placing in the top 20 most-watched shows of the season. Survivor was nominated for a number of reality program Emmy Awards, and host Jeff Probst won four Emmys in the category Outstanding Host for a Reality or Reality-Competition Program. The show was moderately successful in other countries, though not to the extent of the American version.