A Guide to the Hit Reality Series Survivor for the Novice Fan

Survivor is the hit reality television show that forces contestants to compete against the exotic elements they are located in and their fellow competitors. The best way to describe it is a sports match within a soap opera. There is lying, cheating, stealing and all the things that you can imagine people doing to win a game. Physical abilities are very important in the game, but someone who is very manipulative and street smart will often go further than someone with brut strength. The game has undergone various changes along the way and this review will not cover every single thing, but it should give the novice viewer a basic understanding. I personally did not start watching Survivor until I met my wife (then girlfriend) when Survivor Africa was on

What occurs is that typically16-20 contestants are dropped off in some remote location that will vary from season to season. These locations have included Borneo, China, Korea, Panama, Brazil and various Islands. The contestants are often divided into two tribes, but there have been instances of three or four tribes used. They have been grouped by age, people picking teammates, by race and by gender (this caused controversy). The personalities within the tribes do very. There are open castings throughout the country for the game, but many suggest that people are recruited to play the game. One thing you can almost guarantee on survivor is you will have the token black guy and one homosexual contestant. This is not always the case, but it does seem those are two groups that the producers always try to stick onto the tribes. I am not debating the choice of being gay as right or wrong here, but I find it funny that since gays are like 1% of the population that one always gets on the show. Blacks make up 12% of the population, but it is pretty rare that you will have more than one black on the show. It has happened though.

Once the tribes are divided they make their way to their separate camps. Sometimes they will compete initially for the camp or be given a choice on the camp they want. An example might be that one camp has its water closer by and the other is more comfortable, but the water is a real hike to get to. Now it appears that all of the water requires boiling before you can drink it so getting fire to boil it is very important. The tribes were initially given very basic supplies and food, but now they have to either make fire themselves with two sticks and so forth. Initially they would be given fire making materials. They also used to get basic food like mush or beans, but now they have to either earn food or come across food while in their camps. Contestants will often tell you how hungry they are and how overwhelming it can be on you. There also is no air conditioning and you have to make your own shelter from the rain nowadays. The tribes get a chance to see who in their tribe is going to work to help the tribe and who is basically going to be lazy and not worth a darn. After the group gets to know each other they get a chance to compete against the other tribe.

Typically the first thing the tribes will compete against each other in would be a reward challenge. The challenges will vary. Some involve a physical task like an obstacle course or a mental challenge in which a puzzle is put together. They also could be a combination of those and there are a wide variety of challenges. There are too many actually to explain in detail. These challenges will vary in what is offered. Typically one of the first ones the winning tribe will win a flint that they can use to make fire. That will also help them cook and boil water since the water typically will need to be boiled in all the recent survivors. As time goes things like a feast or a trip could be given as the reward for the winning tribe. They could also get other things like chickens for the camp and so forth. The losing tribe gets nothing in this case. Once people start getting voted off at tribal council (more on that in a bit) teams with extra members will have to have people sit out so the two teams are even during the competition. These rewards can often help the tribe in the future and even for the upcoming immunity challenges. If you are thirty and dehydrated it will be pretty tough to compete. Being hungry can also hurt you. If you are hydrated and dry it can help you in the immunity challenge.

The tribes will also compete as a team in an immunity challenge. An immunity challenge is when the two tribes go head to head with the losing tribe going to Tribal Council and having to vote one of their members off. The concept is the same in that the teams have to be even and if they are not then someone will have to sit from the tribe with more people. Some of them can get pretty physical and almost bordering on tackling each other in contests that could be described as capture the flag. Sometimes the winning tribe will get a reward like food or some comfort in addition to the immunity. The losing tribe will meet with host Jeff Probst at Tribal Council.

At tribal council the losing tribe meets with Jeff. Each time that a tribe comes to Tribal Council for the first time they need to light their torches. The first symbolizes the person's life. If they are voted out the Jeff puts out their torch. Many times the tribe will have an idea of who they want to vote out. It can often be done based on block voting and alliances. In an alliance people are supposed to agree to help each other get further in the game. These alliances till often got broken and people lie to each other and back stab each other. Sometimes there will be multiple people that members of a tribe want to get out of the game. At the tribal level it will often be based on who is not pulling their weight or who is bringing the tribe down. This does not always happen as there are some pretty sorry people who stay in the game way longer than they should. Each member of the tribe votes and the member with the most votes are voted out of the game. Jeff then has them bring their torch up front and says "The tribe has spoken" and snuffs out their flame.

This is when things can get really complicated. They have had various things that were done in the event of a tie. Each member of the tribe used to draw a rock and the odd colored rock is voted out. Even if the person did not get any votes they could be voted out. This has caused people to change their votes or vote certain ways because people decide they don't want to take the chance on being voted out. They had also had just the two people getting votes do a competition against each other like making fire. How a tie is broken can change season to season.

Eventually the tribes will merge. Sometimes the numbers are even and others they are not. The tribes also get switched sometimes to mix things up a bit. Again this can vary from season to season. Once this occurs the two tribes typically get a new name and a new flag along with buffs (bandanas that each tribe member gets). Once the merge occurs it is everyone for themselves. People still have (and break) alliances, but it is an individual game where your goal is to get to the final 2 or 3 and win the million bucks.

The tribe will now have a tribal reward challenge. Sometimes it will still have a team element, but that is very rare. Typically everyone is competing against everyone else. The person who wins a reward always involves some type of food or experience like an island tour and a night in a real bed. They often get to take a person or two with them. The tribe also competes in the immunity challenge as an individual. The person who wins cannot be voted to be kicked out. The person can give the immunity to someone else, but that rarely happens. The idea of the Tribal council is basically the same as it has been. The person with the most votes gets kicked out of the game.

Of the people voted out typically seven of them will make up the Jury. In some seasons up to nine members could be on the jury. These are people that were voted out of the game and are the final seven or final nine people voted out before the finalists. For example, if you have a final with two people and a jury of seven. The Jury will be composed of the people who had been voted off before we got down to the final two. Some the top nine will make up the jury and finalists. It would work the same way in the case of three finalists or a jury with more members. The last immunity challenge before the jury is usually a purely endurance challenge. Something like holding something in a very uncomfortable to see who will hold up the longest and that person usually will pick who they face the jury with.

The jury ultimately rewards the winner of the game with the title of Soul Survivor and also the prize money. Each finalist gets to make a statement to the jury. After that each member of the jury gets to ask the finalists questions. The idea is for the jury member to find out things they may want to know to see who to vote for. Sometimes people have their mind made up on who they are going to vote for. Sometimes they will not even really ask a question, but just slam the players over how they stabbed the person in the back. There have been cases were the person says they don't care who wins. During Survivor Africa one juror asked the contestants to pick a number because that is what she was going to crown the winner since she did not care either way who won the game. After this they cast ballots just like previous Tribal Councils. This time the votes are not to pick who is removed, but who will win, or in the case of more than two finalists, who will get which runner up prizes. They announce this live several months after the taping of the show is over. The contestants have to keep hush hush about it though. The prizes can very slightly, but generally the winner gets $1,000,000 and the runner up gets $100,000. These numbers very from season to season. The winner will also get a car and some other goodies. There is also a challenge during the game were a competition is held for a car. This is typically not the same person. Jeff Probst often notes that there is a "curse of the car" in that no one ever wins the game that wins a car.

There are various odds and ends that occur throughout Survivor. It would go beyond the basic nature of this review, but I thought I would go over a few that come up. One thing that often occurs is that members can be sent to Exile Island. Typically the winning tribe of a reward challenge will pick a member of the losing tribe to send to Exile Island. They are usually by themselves, but there have been cases where a person from each tribe goes to Exile Island. The good thing is that there is often a hidden immunity idol on Exile Island. They have also added a kidnap option were the members of a winning tribe can kidnap a member of the losing tribe, or send a member of their tribe to the losing tribe's camp to see what is going on.

The hidden immunity idol can be one of the most important things in the game at times. This idol basically vetoes any votes that a person gets a Tribal Council if they play it. They have to play it before the votes are read though. This does make strategy very important in whether or not to play it. Sometimes tribe mates will try to force the idol out so it is not used later. The Idol typically can be used until there are five players left in the game. Then they are not able to be used. Some games have only had one of them and more. If a player has the idol and is voted off the idol comes into play again and is replaced and hidden in a new location. The player can choose to give the idol to someone else if they chose to as well.

There are various perils that can occur in the game that people often get to see at home, but may not always have the full picture of. The game in general is pretty rough as there are often people that are dehydrated and can also be dealing with extreme hunger. There are also various parasites and nature problems like misquotes that can occur in the area. In Africa there were lions and so forth, but there were people there to protect the survivors. They have not really had anyone seriously hurt by an animal yet, but it can happen in some of the locations that they are in. there have been various injuries though from people getting hurt in challenges or around camp when they are doing various things. They have had people evacuated from the game for medical reasons. The first of these was in Survivor Outback when Michael Skupin fell into the fire and suffered burns and was evacuated.

Overall it is a pretty good and entertaining show. I must say I think that it teaches that you win by lying, cheating, and stealing. Those are not the best lessons in the world, but there is a ring of truth in that if you look at the history of the world. I figured I would include some superlatives about some of the various personalities on survivor.

The biggest villain of all time has to be Johnny Fairplay of Survivor Peal Islands. He cooked up a scheme to say that his grandmother died so the tribe would let him win immunity. His grandmother was not dead and this was done totally for his own gain. He also lied to lots of people and is the kind of guy that you would just want to back hand. He did wise up though it seems after getting married and having a child.

Since I am a male I will be giving my opinion on the hottest female survivor contestant. There have been several and I can't really pick just one. I think everyone knows that Parvati Shallow of Fans v. Favorites is up there with hott chicks. Two that do not get much mention because of them not cracking the final four are Kim Powers of Survivor Africa and Erin Collins from Survivor Thailand. Kim Powers is really good looking, but a bit tiny. Tammy Leitner was also one of the more attractive contestants, but a bit too bony as well.

I really like older women so I will also include my opinion of some of the hottest MILFS on the show. It is hard to say the hottest of them. I think Tina Wesson from Tennessee is really up there. She won Survivor Outback and seemed like a halfway decent person. She was 39 at the time of her first appearance. She has a decent body and great smile. She looked like hell on the show a lot was the only downfall. Lisa Keiffer of Louisiana was another hot older chick at 44. She was put together rather well and has a great exotic look to her. She competed on Survivor Vanuatu. Some will say I am not with this next pick, but Janet Koch from Missouri looked great at 47 years old when she was on Survivor Amazon. She had a bit of the grandma look, but a great smile and a nice little chubby body. There is nothing wrong with a little meat. I must say my pick has to be Tracy Hughes-Wolf of Survivor Fans v. Favorites were she was a fan. She was 43 years old and put most women half her age to shame. She was from Virginia and the very beautiful southern belle. I must say she has a great body and incredible breasts. It is possible she has had some work done though, but I don't know that for a fact. If she did not then she just oozes sex appeal. I will give honorable mention to Teresa Copper of Survivor Africa. She was 42 and from Georgia. Loved her accent and seemed like a really good mom. Also Kathy Vavrick-O'Brien from Vermont was 47 when she competed on Survivor Marquesas

It is pretty tough to be honest and nice to be in Survivor. I would have to say that Rupert Boneham from Survivor Marquesas would be the person I would trust the most in an alliance. He generally kept his word in the game and I can't recall him really backstabbing anyone. He was backstabbed both times that he was in the game and voted out though. In Survivor All-Stars he was voted $1,000,000 in a fans choice award. Like a good husband he promptly turned it over to his wife. He also does lots of charity work in his home state for younger kids. He was nice enough to send me an autographed photo. I think that he fits the role of pirate pretty good and think he should have got a part in the Pirates of the Caribbean movies. I don't know if he will manage to win because of his honesty in Survivor Heroes v. Villains, but I am sure that he will do pretty well. Rudy from Survivor Borneo would probably be my second choice. He could be a little shadier though.

There have been lots of key strategy moves in Survivor. There are too many moves by too many players to list. There are three such players who come to mind regarding this. Each did things in their own way. The reality that makes them unique is that each got much further in the game than they would have all things being equal. The first player I would like to discuss is Rob Cenesterino of New York. He was really comical, but reminded me of the kind of guy that that got his lunch taken away from him and stuffed into lockers at school. He basically flipped and flopped with various alliances and also found a way to make people laugh so that most people liked him. Jeff Probst called him "the smartest player to have never won Survivor". A fellow contestant was dumb enough to tell him that when he got to the final four he was voting him out and Rob got with the three outcasts and became to fourth to vote out one of the better players in the game.

The next player completely dumbfounds me. Cirie Fields has been picked for Heroes v. Villains. I have no idea why. She really did not appear to be very honest. She is not one of the more attractive contestants that may be voted back for ratings purposes. When she was chosen as a hero and selected for Heroes v. Villains I was even more surprised. Reality shows always seem to have the token black contestant, but there are more attractive black females they could have put on and much better players. She never won a single immunity and never won a reward by herself. She basically sucked she even knew she was a weak player and always fears weak people being voted off. She makes my list for moves based on a key blindside that she pulled off in Survivor Fans v. Favorites.

During an immunity challenge all of the survivors were involved in a test of wills. They held a hand above their head until they could not do it anymore. When they lowered their hand they got soaked with a bucket of water that was tied to the hand being held in the air. Jeff Probst would temp members to give up periodically by offering them food. Favorite Parvati and fan Jason were all that remained. After a little bartering and an offer for a bunch of food that could be shared with the tribe, Jason said he would step down if his safety was guaranteed. The entire tribe agreed that he would be safe and many crossed their fingers behind their back including Cirie. Parvati won immunity by default. It was decided that they were going to go back on their word and get rid of Jason. Favorite Ozzy had an immunity idol and was an extremely strong player and Cirie wanted to get rid of him and orchestrated a blindside with three other members and brought Jason into the fold, but decided to make everyone else think that Jason knew he was going home. Ozzy, his alliance and the one jury member were shocked. That was probably the only way Cirie could get rid of him. He actually was much more deserving of being further in the game than her. She is pulling the same crap in Heroes v. Villains. Some are realizing that it's good to get rid of strong players, but she can go far if she can stay below the radar.

One of the first great strategic moves that I noticed was by Survivor Sean Rector. He was in Survivor Marquasas ended up in the minority in a switched tribe. At first he and his friend Rob (Boston Rob) were going to vote with an alliance started by John. He approached Tammy, Zoe, and Robert about a final four alliance to get rid of the rest of the people. They were going to bring Paschal English and Runner up Neleh Dennis on the coattails to have the numbers. The first target of the alliance after the merge was Boston Rob. This was in part because Rob told Kathy that Zoe wanted to get rid of her and Kathy confronted her. John was ticked and turned on Rob. Next the alliance targeted Sean. The immunity challenge was a pecking order game were each member of the tribe gets to cut one of a few ropes holding up a log. When all of the ropes were cut the log would break a plate and put the person out of the immunity challenge. I am not 100% positive of the order but this is a basic idea. Sean was the first out as all the alliance members started to hit him, followed eventual winner Vecepia, Kathy, Paschal, and or Neleh. Then they final four alliance of John, Tammy, Zoe, and Robert played for immunity (which I forget who won. As people were having their ropes cut and sitting next to Sean on a stump. He kept saying this is how it is going to go down. The exact order they will be going out. He then figured that he, Vecepia and Kathy could vote together, but needed Paschal and Neleh and could break the alliance of John. Paschal did not really like Sean and viewed it that he did not think he deserved to go far in the game. Neleh reasoned with him that they will go further with Sean. They decided to go against the alliance with John in which they gave their word. At Tribal Council John was voted out and was really surprised. Sean said into the camera that in roulette "always bet on black" I must say that was one of the better strategy moves. This move put Sean in 5^th place instead of the 9^th place he would have finished in. he also seemed like a nice guy and was rather religious and brought a bible as his personal item. I thought that was very admirable. He also told it like it was and I liked that.

In the game there have been lots of great players that never got a chance to win the game. I am sure some were voted out really soon. Here are a couple of the ones that immediately stick out that really played the game great ( although lying, cheating, and stealing in some cases) that did not win the game. The first of these that come to mind is Russell Hantz of Survivor Samoa. He won two individual reward challenges and the final individual immunity award. He also found three hidden immunity idols. Two were found without any clues. One of these would save his skin and keep him in the game with seven votes against him out of 11 votes cast. He outplayed the winner Natalie by miles, but people were ticked at him and did not vote for her but against Russell and hence he finished second. He also was already a multi-millionaire and that probably weighed on people. He will get another chance in Survivor Heroes v. Villains.

My second choice for best player not to win is Rob "Boston Rob" Mariano. He competed in Survivor Marquasas and finished in tenth place. He should have done better and could have, but an alliance fell apart. See my comments on Sean for strategy players in the alliance of John's that Sean broke. Mariano was invited back for Survivor All-Stars and finished second to his eventual wife Amber. He broke several promises in the game including one to Lex that was able to keep Amber safe during a tribal switch. He was supposed to protect Lex for protecting amber, but went back on his word. He also broke final four deals with Alicia and Big Tom. Big tom was really hostile and people thought they might come to blows over it. He also broke one with Rupert. He is really smart and has a great work ethic. He is also a physical threat. His second place finish in All-Stars really needs to be put in context. The first thing is that it is ironic because he carried Amber and there is no doubt in my mind she would not have even made final four without him. Especially his "Robfather" deal with Lex. Also it was a 4-3 vote. I think many thought Amber was too stupid to be behind the plots so Rob was held accountable for it. When he proposed to Amber on national television at the reunion show he mentioned that he asked her father's permission. Many people nowadays don't realize how chivalrous that is. I am sure Rob is a pretty nice guy in person, but I would not want to be on his bad side in the game.

I have never competed on Survivor and really can't say someone does not deserve to win. I am basing this next opinion totally on what I had observed on the show on some of the people that I think were not very deserving winners. I think that Vecepia from Survivor Marquasas really did not do anything to win. She never won a single immunity or reward challenge and was really lazy around the tribe. She did seem to be a rather nice person, but if it were not for Sean turning the tables on the alliance that John created she would not have had a chance to be in the finals. Further in the final test of will challenge Vecepia, Kathy, and Neleh were all holding a hand on a pole with a foot on a rock to see who could do it the longest. Kathy was in very good shape, but Neleh mentioned that her shirt started to come open and a boob was hanging out (that would not have been bad. She was hott for an older lady) and she lost concentration and fell. Vecepia then offered to step down in Neleh took her to the finals with her and Neleh did voting Kathy out. Vecepia was never in the John alliance and probably figured they would be ticked at Neleh for going against them and vote for her. This was how Vecepia won by one vote in a 4-3 decision. Since she did not win I have to say Neleh sucked as well. She seemed like a real nice girl and all, but she was horrible at challenges and rode coattails the whole game and did not win a single thing.

Jenna Morasca won Survivor Amazon. She was basically eye candy. A bit thin for my tastes, but most would see her as that. She really did not play a great game and was a bit of a liar in the game. In fairness she did win the final two immunities (it seems the sorriest person always wins the next to last immunity) and chose not to take Rob C with her because she knew she would lose. She got all but one vote in the finals and I was really surprised by that. I think Matt played a much better game and thought that it would have been a closer vote. She probably is the most deserving of the least deserving winners.

Amber Brkich is also one of the least deserving winners ever. She appeared on Survivor Australian Outback and placed 6^th place. In All Stars with the help of Boston Rob, she was able to win. She did manage to win the second to last immunity challenge, but if it had not been for Boston Rob making the Robfather deal with Lex she would have been voted out before the tribes even merged. From what I watched I won't say she was lazy like some other winners, but there are no two ways about it. She was carried on Rob's coattails and no one really voted for her, people either voted for or against Rob. At least two votes (Alicia and Lex) would have voted for anyone to win over Rob based on vendetta.

Sandra Diaz-Twine is almost universally considered a very lucky winner. She did not really play Pearl Islands dirty when she won. It was more that people liked her better than Lillian, who did backstab people. She also never won a single immunity or a challenge. She was probably one of the ultimate floaters and that is good strategy. I am sure it helped that she was able to secure various items for the tribe at the outset of the game since she spoke Spanish and traded her gold chain for chicken and various things from a local woman. I will say that she had and was true to an alliance with Rupert. When he was voted out she was really ticked and even threw fish away he caught because she did not feel people should eat fish he caught after voting him out.

Overall the show is like a real life soap opera. Unfortunately the best person does not always win, but it is rather entertaining. I would like to see a way to have only the Soul Survivors compete against each other. They could also have all of the first people voted out of the game compete in a Survivor contest. They need new ideas and there is one.

Further Reading

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