Survivor (franchise)

Survivor is a reality-competition television franchise produced globally. The show features a group of contestants deliberately marooned in an isolated location, where they must provide basic survival necessities for themselves. The contestants compete in challenges for rewards and immunity from elimination. The contestants are progressively eliminated from the game as they are voted out by their fellow contestants until only one remains to be awarded the grand prize and named the "Sole Survivor".

The British television producer Charlie Parsons developed the format for Survivor in 1992 for Planet 24, a United Kingdom television production company; the Swedish version, which debuted in September 1997 as Expedition Robinson, became the first Survivor series to be broadcast on television. Since its launch in 2000, the flagship American version of Survivor has aired 49 seasons of the show. The 50th season, commemorating the show's 25th anniversary, will air in early 2026.

Survivor, through its seasons and various international versions, has maintained the basic premise of the game despite several new rules and gameplay twists introduced in later seasons. In the game, the contestants, known as castaways, are split into tribes and assigned separate camps at the filming location, typically a tropical setting. As a tribe, the castaways must survive the elements, construct shelter, build fire, look for water, and scrounge for food and other necessities for the entire length of the game, which is generally around 39 days for most versions including the American version, but has ranged from 20 days (as in some French special seasons) to over 150 days (as in some seasons of the Turkish edition). In the first half of the game, the tribes face off in challenges, some for rewards of food, shelter, or luxury items, while others are for immunity, preventing the winning tribe from having to go to the next Tribal Council. At Tribal Council, the tribes discuss the events of the last few days with the host asking questions, and then vote out one of their own players, eliminating them from the game.

In the second half of the game, the tribes are merged into a single tribe, and challenges are played at an individual level for individual rewards and immunity. At subsequent Tribal Councils, those eliminated start to form the jury, who sit in on all subsequent Tribal Councils but otherwise do not participate. When only two or three castaways remain, those castaways attend the Final Tribal Council, where the jury is given the opportunity to ask them questions. After this, the jury members then vote to decide which of the remaining castaways should be declared the Sole Survivor and be awarded the grand prize.

Episodes typically cover the events that occurred over two to three days since the start of the game or previous Tribal Council, including Challenges and events that occur at the tribes' camps. Each episode typically ends with the Tribal Council and the subsequent elimination of the voted-out player. The final episode will typically speed up the gameplay of the final couple of eliminations (which occur daily), followed by the Final Tribal Council on the final day of the completion. Many versions of the show will follow the final episode with a live reunion, during which the votes from the Jury are counted, and a "Sole Survivor" is declared, and the players reunite to discuss their experience on the island.

The following description of the show is based primarily on the American version of Survivor, though the general format applies to all international versions.

Players for each season are selected through applicants and casting calls, down-selecting to between 16 and 20 players and additional alternates. American version host Jeff Probst noted that while 16 castaways assist in splitting the tribes with respect to age and sex, they have used 18 or 20 to provide them "wiggle room" in case of player injury or if one should want to quit the game. These players undergo physical and psychological evaluation to make sure they are physically and mentally fit for the survival endurance and will not likely quit during the filming period, replacing those that are questionable with the alternates. In one case, Fiji, on the day before filming was to start after they had dismissed their alternates, one of the castaways opted out of the competition, forcing production to start with 19 players and adapting the activities of the first few days to accommodate the odd number of players.

Tribes may be predetermined by production before filming starts. Often this is done to equalize the sexes and age ranges within both tribes. Other seasons have had the tribes separated by age, gender, race or other characteristics. In other cases, the tribes may be created by the castaways through schoolyard picks. Most often, only two tribes are featured, but some seasons have begun with three or four tribes. Once assigned a tribe, each castaway is given a buff in their tribe color to aid the viewers in identifying tribal allocation. Tribes are then subsequently given names, often inspired by the local region and culture, and directions to their camps.