Games - Survivor

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	Games - Survivor

Survivor is a popular reality television program produced in many countries throughout the world. In the show, contestants are isolated in a remote location and compete for a cash prize. "Survivor" is based on the successful Swedish show Expedition Robinson. Survivor is considered to be the mother of reality TV, since its success led to an entire genre of similar shows.

Premise

This text refers to the American version of the show. Small differences may exist between it and other versions. Also, rule changes instituted for one season are discussed below.

Tribes and Immunity

Sixteen to twenty players are stranded in a remote location and divided into equally sized teams called tribes. They compete against each other in competitions called challenges. These are divided into reward challenges and immunity challenges. Both types consist of endurance, problem solving, teamwork, dexterity, and/or will power. After the immunity challenge the losing tribe must vote to remove one of their own members from the game at the Tribal Council. Most episodes also have a reward challenge where the winning tribe receives a luxury for winning, such as blankets, spices, or flint. When there are ten,nine, or eight players left in the game they "merge" into a single tribe. From this point, challenges are won on an individual basis. Rewards are given to only one player, and sometimes that player has the option of sharing the reward with one or more other castaways.

Tribal Council

Tribal Council is held at the end of each episode. Here the tribemates vote one person out of their tribe. Jeff Probst, the show's host, questions the players, often provoking revealing details from them of events and interactions since the tribe's previous tribal council. The players then vote in secret, and the player who receives the most votes must leave the game. That player takes his or her torch to Probst, who extinguishes it, and declares "The tribe has spoken." The player then exits the Tribal Council area and delivers some final words that air at the end of the episode.

In the event of a tie, the following tiebreakers have been used:

A challenge where the loser is removed from the game. (Re-vote Prior) Season 10
Whoever had the most prior Tribal Councils votes is eliminated. (Re-vote Prior) Seasons 1 - 3

Note 1: With the same number of prior votes, the person to lose a sudden death trivia challenge is eliminated.

Note: 2: Previous Tie-Breaker Re-Votes do not count as Previous Votes in a future Dead-Lock Tie

The players who do not have immunity pick rocks out of a bag. Whoever draws the purple rock is eliminated. (Verbal Re-vote Prior) Season 4

End of the game

All eliminated players, except the final nine, leave the game altogether. Those who finish in ninth through third place remain to form the "jury". In the final episode the players go through a number of activities that ends in an immunity challenge. Immediately following this challenge another person is voted out. The players return to camp and go through a "memorial" for the players previously eliminated from the game on the way to their final endurance challenge. Whoever wins this challenge votes another player out, thereby determining who receives third place and which two players go to the final two. The final two return to camp for one last day. At the final Tribal Council each of the seven jurors votes for the winner. Probst takes the container with the votes, and it is secured until the live finale of the show, when the votes are revealed and the million-dollar winner announced.

Prizes

Every player receives a stipend for participating on Survivor depending on how long they last in the game. The known prizes for All-Stars are as follows: 2nd = $250,000; 3rd = $125,000; 4th = $100,000. In most seasons, the runner-up receives $100,000. Sonja Christopher, the first player voted off in Survivor's first season, received $2,500. The prizes in seasons with more than sixteen contestants are unknown.

The million-dollar winner also wins an automobile, as does the winner of a specific reward challenge in each season (excluding the first). All players also receive an additional $10,000 for their appearance on the reunion show.

Game rules

(rules may vary in foreign versions of the series)

Conspiring to split winnings will result in immediate expulsion from the game.
Except for the occasional challenges which involve wrestling or limited combat, any physical violence between players will result in immediate expulsion from the game.
At Tribal Council, players are not permitted to vote for themselves, nor can they spoil their ballots or decline to cast a vote. Players must also show who they voted for to the camera inside the voting booth.
Contestants must abide by U.S., as well as local law.
Contestants may not skip any tribal councils, nor can they refuse to participate in an immunity or reward challenge except in the case of sitting out to even the numbers as described below.
When one tribe has more players than the other tribe, it must designate players to sit out of tribal challenges so that equal numbers compete. This rule was relaxed only in the Survivor: The Australian Outback season because Jeff Probst
felt neither team would be helped or hindered by the numeric disparity. Beginning with Survivor: Africa, the rules specifically stated that any player who sits out a reward challenge cannot sit out the following immunity challenge. In Survivor: Palau episodes 7-8 the Koror tribe had 8 players while Ulong only had 3 (and then 2), which forced the show to allow various Koror players to sit out back-to-back challenges. The only qualification then was that the same 2-3 players could not participate in each concurrent challenge. Katie Gallagher and Janu Tornell, both of the Palau season, tie for the most sit-outs of any players (they each sat out 7 challenges over 8 episodes).
Tribe members may not raid or visit the campsite of another tribe unless they are doing so as part of an immunity challenge, reward challenge or tribal merger activity with the other tribe. They also cannot visit the TV crew compound. There have been two exceptions to this rule:
*During the 2nd season when Michael Skupin was injured he was taken to a production tent to await the arrival of a medivac helicopter.
*During one episode in Guatemala, members of the Yaxha tribe visited the Nakum tribe and invited them back to their camp for Danni's birthday party. There is no indication as to whether the rule has changed or if this was a one-time event. It's also possible that because neither Yaxha nor Nakum technically entered the opposing tribes camp that this was not a technical violation of this rule.
Depending on which country the show takes place in, contestants may be barred from killing certain forms of wildlife and plant life.

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