On September 22, 2021, the 41st season of Survivor will premier on CBS and Paramount+. This is an amazing lifespan for a primetime show, and it demonstrates the permanence of reality television on TV. It’s also no secret that I love competition reality shows. I was late to the survivor bandwagon, opting instead for the summer fun of Big Brother or The Challenge on MTV. I prefer these shows, but Survivor seems to be the most influential in the genre.
When watching people compete, there are some truths about human behavior that emerge. Early into its life, this was part of Survivor’s appeal. Only one person will remain in the end, but it’s an individual game that nobody can win alone. As the show grew, some twists were implemented and strategies were built on the trajectories of prior seasons.
Survivor creates its own little world. While people are on the island, they are free from many social norms. The show has featured meek players who crawl their way to success while outspoken leaders have been immediately eliminated from the game. Few people will ever have the opportunity to live in such an environment, and seasons now focus on navigating a social landscape. The island itself is less important, and (SPOILER ALERT) everyone survives the show. No one has died as a result of Survivor: at least not the US version.
People Want to Be In Groups
Almost every season of Survivor divides players into multiple tribes. Within each tribe, smaller groups of people will form. If the tribe has to go to “Tribal Council,” the vote-off ceremony, people tend to vote for players outside of their smaller groups. In a game like Survivor, there will always be groups within the group. People want to be part of the inner circle, and a subsequent outer circle will form.
You can see this mentality in many social environments: school, work, even family gatherings. Even when seniority and social status are eliminated, people will find their tribe within the tribe.
People Avoid Tough Conversations
Voting people out of the game is tough, but it’s part of the structure of the competition. Every player has alliances, and there’s a lot of scheming. Yet most people are afraid of confronting their target. Even when the target’s fate is sealed, players try to blindside them at Tribal Council. Perhaps this is out of fear that the target could derail the plan, but often, people don’t want to deal with the backlash of their decisions.
Ultimately, the eliminated players become the jury and vote for the winner. “Jury management” is a critical part of the game, and blindsiding another person will earn you an enemy. Yet many people are afraid of confrontation and justifying their decisions. So, they ruin relationships for short-term comfort.
If There’s a Shortcut, Someone Will Take It
More recent seasons of Survivor have emphasized the Hidden Immunity Idol, a power that provides individual safety for a week. Winners know that Survivor is a long-term game, and you need to have strong social relationships to win. Yet many people think short-term and spend hours looking for Idols. They can prolong a person’s game, but they’re not always worth the attention they bring.
The Idols can be part of a good strategy, but people are often just looking for instant gratification. In regular life, this holds true in many cases. People want to get immediate benefits, but the real success comes from a long-term strategy. Many of the Survivor greats play a strong social game rather than spend hours roaming the forests for Idols.
Your Strength Can Be Your Weakness
There comes a point in Survivor where the strong, athletic players become liabilities. Early into the game, they’re valuable resources who can win challenges and build shelter. Midway through the game, they’re viewed as competition. Castaways try to eliminate them because they have the potential to win immunity. So, it’s common to see muscular players sitting on the jury.
Other people take a slower approach. They don’t flex their muscles and try to hide their abilities. When the moment comes, they showcase their strengths. These people tend to get further in the game because they don’t show off. No matter how strong one person may be, true strength often comes in numbers.
Money Only Has So Much Value
There’s a point in the game when family members come to visit. Usually, the castaways have been on the island for a few weeks at this point and they’re deeply involved in the game. At the sight of their loved ones, their priorities shift. Everyone wants to spend time with family, and they sacrifice most of their strategy for a brief visit.
Most people don’t find themselves in positions where they have absolutely no contact with family, but many people fall into cycles where they ignore loved ones. It’s common to become hyperfocused on other priorities and take family for granted. Then, when these people need you, those other priorities become trivial. Many things are going on in the world, and every dollar lost can be replaced with a different dollar of the same value. The value of your family can’t be measured or replaced.
You’re Not Better Than the People On TV
After decades of airing the show, many “superfans” have appeared on Survivor. These people have seen multiple seasons and studied the game. A lot of viewers see an edited episode and think they’d be more logical than the person who got eliminated. When that person stands on the island, they make the same mistakes and fall for the same tricks.
Everyone wants to play Monday morning quarterback, but they’re only seeing one side of the story. This is true in many scenarios in life. People pretend they’re experts until they’re assigned responsibilities. Then, they’re no better than the last person because they didn’t realize the complexities of the situation.
Everyone Is the Main Character of Their Story
Every couple of minutes there is a confessional with a Survivor castaway where they turn to the camera and express their emotions. These are really interviews with production, but the players can only tell their side of the story. An event that hurts one person benefits another, but each player will enter the confessional with the same level of intensity. At the end of the day, we care about ourselves more than we care about others.
All Survivor players know their odds of winning are roughly 5% (one out of twenty), yet everyone thinks they’re going to defy the odds. The vast majority of Survivor contestants have not won, but that doesn’t stop people from applying. Everyone is the hero of their own story, which can be motivating at times and jade our perception of reality at other times.
There’s Always a Better Player
A few masterminds have emerged on Survivor, and every season is advertised to be bigger than the last. There’s often truth to this because strategies evolve and each season features a group of players sneakier than the last. The survival aspect of the show is secondary to the competition, and it’s easy to get lost in a political web throughout the seasons.
We see winners return to the show, and they get targeted quickly. New competitors study the older seasons and learn from prior mistakes. This allows them to come into the game with strategies we’ve never seen before. It can make for an interesting show, but many of the greatest players have been humbled by rookies.
What Can We Learn From Survivor?
At this point in the show’s lifespan, it’s easy to overlook the essential elements of the game. People need to survive, they’re social beings, but they look out for their own best interests. Even CBS knows they need to pack the show with twists rather than just appeal to the survivalists, but that doesn’t mean the show has lost its human element. The players have been forced to adapt to the twists and turns production has thrown into the show, just like they adapt in real life. From a social standpoint, Survivor is still fascinating.
Few people will be lucky enough to ever compete on the show, but many people will need to survive a social obstacle course on a daily basis. Survivor puts players under a microscope where their actions have little consequence outside of the game. For the most part, there is one goal: win. This allows castaways to remove inhibitions they’ve adapted into their daily lives. Some people thrive in these conditions, but it makes the show a reflection of human behavior we seldom see off television.
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