Survivor 15 applications are due January 23, 2007. Around March 2007, about 800 applicants will be selected for an interview by CBS. Out of those 800, about 48 semi-finalists will be selected to go to Los Angeles sometime during April-May 2007. From these semi-finalists, about 16 will be selected to participate in the show between June and August 2007.
At least 16 strangers (18 or 20 in some seasons; 19 in the upcoming "Fiji" season) are stranded in a remote location and divided into 2-4 equally sized teams called tribes. Depending on the season, tribes are usually given a minimal number of tools to survive with: commonly, this has included a machete, water canteens, and a special water well created for the show which holds brackish water that the players will need to boil prior to drinking, thus necessitating a fire to do so. Tribes are encouraged to build shelters to protect themselves from the elements, and to forage on the local flora and fauna for nourishment. In some seasons, tribes have been able to start with food supplies (typically rice) provided by the show, while other seasons have given the tribes no additional help at the start of the game.
- advertisement -
Initial tribe divisions have been made in several ways over the years. Early seasons tended to feature tribes separated by production based on a roughly equal distribution of age and gender within each tribe. Several seasons have features tribes split by gender, age, and/or racial background as specified by production. Two seasons have had the tribes selected in a schoolyard pick (where the last selected member picks a player from those remaining of the opposite gender).
As part of a tribe, each player is given a 'buff', an elastic ring of material that can be worn as a armband, headband, or similar to a tube top. The buffs generally are patterned with the Survivor logo for that season, and there are buffs for each tribe in the tribe's representative color (selected by production at the start of the game). When a player switches tribes (due to a merge or swap), they are required to give up their old buff and obtain a new one in the new tribe's colors. Players are required to wear the buff in a visible location at all times to allow the audience members to recognize which tribe they are on.
During the time on the island, the players will compete against each other in competitions called Challenges. Players are given note of this by special messages left at a location near camp, dubbed as 'treemail' (due to this location being a basket hanging from a tree in Survivor: Borneo). These messages may include props that hint or may be useful for the upcoming challenge, and nearly always include a cryptic rhyme about what the challenge will be about. This allows teams and players to attempt some strategy prior to the challenge.
There are two types of Challenges: Reward Challenges and Immunity Challenges. Both types consist of endurance, problem solving, teamwork, dexterity, and/or will power.
In Reward Challenges, the contestants compete for luxuries that are not essential for survival but make their lives easier and/or more enjoyable. Examples of rewards have included food, flint, matches, rain gear, and even short vacations.
In Immunity Challenges, the contestants compete for immunity, meaning they get to stay in the game until at least the next Immunity Challenge. After the Immunity Challenge, the losing tribe must vote to remove one of their own members from the game at a voting ceremony called Tribal Council.
There have been several combined 'Reward/Immunity' challenges in later seasons. These have come in two approaches:
In cases where there are more than 2 teams, the challenge may give the reward to the winning team, and immunity to all but the losing team, which then will need to go to Tribal Council.
In latter seasons, when there are two tribes left, there have been challenges which result in both teams going to Tribal Council (one after another), but with the winning team getting an additional reward, such as a meal, while they watch the proceedings of the other tribe's Tribal Council.
Prior to the merge, all challenges are between tribes, resulting in tribal rewards and immunities. After the merge, challenges are performed on an individual basis. Individual rewards have often included the option to select one or more other tribe members to participate in the reward. There are also times that after the merge, a reward challenge is performed by randomly creating 2 or more teams from the remaining players, with the winning team reaping the reward benefits.
The challenges are usually held in a 3 day cycle - one day of rest, one day for the reward challenge, and one day for the immunity challenge and the Tribal Council.
All eliminated players except the final nine (final twelve in Survivor: Cook Islands), leave the game altogether (The only exception was during Survivor: Pearl Islands where the first six eliminated players returned as part of an "Outcast" tribe for a one-shot chance to return to the game). The players who leave the game, excluding the final two (three for Survivor: Cook Islands), form the "jury," a group of people who vote to determine the winner of the game. Once the Jury starts to form, the members are present at every Tribal Council, but are not allowed (except in very specific cases, i.e., Survivor: Cook Islands) to speak or interact with the players still in the game; they are only there to observe the questioning and voting that occurs. Jury members are sequestered until the end of the final Tribal Council, and are not allowed to discuss their voting or issues with the remaining contestants, with other jury members, or the final players in order to prevent any possible cooperation or collusion from subgroups within the jury. This restriction continues through the game and up until the reveal of the winner of the game.
The last two challenges (starting on the 3rd to last day of the competition) before the Final Tribal Council have always followed a similar pattern:
Prior to the second-to-last challenge, the players are usually treated to a small food reward (a hearty breakfast or similar meal) for making it this far. The second-to-last challenge tends to be a extremely grueling, multi-part challenge, and usually is the most elaborate challenge of the entire season. Typically this has been a race through a maze, but other forms have been used. Earlier seasons used a quiz that tested the players' knowledge of the players who had already been voted off. A Tribal Council is held to vote off one player at this point.
Prior to the last challenge, the remaining players typically go through a memorial activity appropriate for the theme of the show, where they pay respect to the players who had been eliminated previously. This usually leads directly into the last challenge, one of balance and endurance which can last for minutes to almost a half-day. In most seasons, with only 3 players participating, winning immunity on this challenge allows that player to select whom he or she wants to go with to the Final Tribal Council, significantly improving their chance at winning the competition. Because of this, the challenges tend to allow players to talk and try to make last-minute deals, giving up immunity for assurance to be taken to the Final 2. A Tribal Council is again held to vote off the last eliminated player. At this point, the game is no longer is the remaining players' control, as the next day they face the Final Tribal Council where their fate will be decided.
Survivor: Cook Islands used a similar pattern to previous seasons for the end game, but the endurance challenge was held with the final four players left in the game, and had three players facing a final Tribal Council made up of the previous nine players that had been voted off. While ties are possible in this situation, it is unknown how they are resolved, though they appear to be resolved at the live finale when the votes are finally read, based on Cook Island season finale.
TV Shows
