Staying Fit
As Survivor returns to CBS on March 9 for its 42nd season, cast members and fans alike know exactly what to expect. More important, in the world of Survivor they know what not to expect: enough food or shelter, or the option for competitors to let their guard down for even a minute during their 26-day journey.
Robert Voets/CBS Entertainment
“You take a group of people and force them to rely on each other to survive in the wild while voting each other out. It sounds so simple, but it’s incredibly complex,” says Survivor host and executive producer Jeff Probst about the series’ winning formula, which has kept it on the air for a remarkable 22 years.
AARP Membership— $12 for your first year when you sign up for Automatic Renewal
Get instant access to members-only products and hundreds of discounts, a free second membership, and a subscription to AARP the Magazine.
The 18 castaways competing on the 42nd season of "Survivor."
Robert Voets/CBS Entertainment
How Survivor keeps winning
It all began in the summer of 2000, when then-CBS honcho Les Moonves took a chance on a “Swiss Family Robinson meets Lord of the Flies” pitch from a little-known British television producer, Mark Burnett. The idea suited the network, which wanted to expand its fresh television programming into the typically repeat-filled summer months. (Remember, back in those days, Netflix was just a two-year-old DVD delivery service and Amazon Prime wasn’t delivering everything from toilet paper to refrigerators straight to our doorsteps, let alone streaming content into every device we owned.)
Burnett, who has gone on to helm powerhouse reality shows including The Apprentice, Shark Tank and The Voice, tapped Probst to host Survivor from day one, lauding his creative instincts as central to the show’s enduring success despite the mercurial tastes of reality television fans.
Probst, who has snagged four outstanding reality host Emmys along the way, says Survivor’s essential formula hasn’t wavered, and that’s what hard-core fans love about the show. “Purists will often stop me to tell me they don’t think we need any twists at all,” he says. “They say, ‘Just let the players form alliances and play the game, Jeff!’”
