Concept The original idea of
Survivor was developed by
Charlie Parsons. By his production company
Planet 24 under the name Survive. He had “marooned” four strangers and filmed them on
Network 7, a tv show on which he was
showrunner in 1988, and started developing the format from there. It took ten years and many development teams to develop it but despite this the main TV networks in both Britain and American turned it down. It was only when Parsons went to Swedish television, he was able to find a broadcaster, ultimately producing
Expedition Robinson in 1997, the most popular show of Swedish television that year. The show was a success, and plans for international versions were made.
Mark Burnett intended to be the person to bring the show to the United States, though he viewed the Swedish version as a bit crude and mean-spirited. Burnett retooled the concept to use better production values, based on his prior
Eco-Challenge show, and wanted to focus more on the human drama experienced while under pressure. Burnett spent about a year trying to find a broadcaster that would take the show, retooling the concept based on feedback. On November 24, 1999, Burnett made his pitch to
Les Moonves of
CBS, and Moonves agreed to pick up the show. and
Survivor: Winners at War, where a video conferencing event was used during the broadcast of the final episode due to the
COVID-19 pandemic. The final episode of the latter did not include the live reunion, except for a brief moment at the beginning of the episode where all 20 contestants appeared together on screen from their homes, Beginning with
season 41, the winner was revealed on location during the final tribal council, which was previously done in the original season (
Borneo), as the producers were unsure on the ability to have a live finale due to the
COVID-19 pandemic. The vote reveal was then followed by a
Survivor After Show special with the finalists and the jury instead of a live reunion. After a fan vote, the live reunion will return for
Survivor 50: In the Hands of the Fans.
Casting Early seasons of
Survivor were limited to United States citizens, and have required Canadian-American dual citizens to give up their Canadian citizenship to compete, as in the case of
Survivor: China winner
Todd Herzog. According to Probst, the limitation was due to the rights that Mark Burnett and CBS had on the
Survivor format, limiting it to contestants with American citizenship. The rules were changed mid-2018 to allow Canadian citizens to participate, with
Tom Laidlaw being as the first Canadian citizen cast for
Island of the Idols. When
Survivor launched, the minimum age requirement was 21 years old; one exception was made for Michael "Frosti" Zernow who competed on
Survivor: China while 20 years old. In 2008, the age requirement was reduced to 18 years old, with
Survivor: Tocantins Spencer Duhm being the first 18-year-old to play. The age limit was further reduced to 16-year-olds in 2020. In 2020, after criticism of inadequate inclusion on several reality shows, CBS president George Cheeks mandated that 50% of all of CBS's reality show participants are to be
black, indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC).
Survivor 41 was the first season to implement this rule. Probst has said to have been a positive improvement to the show, giving them more diverse stories to tell as well as increasing viewership of the series in other countries outside the U.S. The casting diversity initiative was formally discontinued following the decision by
CBS to roll back its
diversity, equity, and inclusion policies in April 2025. Despite the formal change in policy, casting director Jesse Tannenbaum for all of CBS's reality shows stated, "Well, from my perspective, nothing's changed. I've always, in the back of my mind, felt we needed more diversity on these shows...I'm still shooting for having a really diverse cast because I think everybody needs to be represented." ==Reception==