Clay Jordan

Survivor is an American reality television show, based on the Swedish program, Expedition Robinson. Contestants are referred to as "castaways", and they compete against one another to become the "Sole Survivor" and win one million U.S. dollars. First airing in 2000, there have been a total of 34 seasons aired; the program itself has been filmed on five different continents. The current season, Survivor: Game Changers, premiered on March 8, 2017.

Contestants usually apply to be on the show, but the series has been known to recruit contestants for various seasons. For Survivor: Fiji, the producers had hoped to have a more racially diverse cast, and hoped that a more diverse group would apply after the success of the racially segregated Survivor: Cook Islands. When this did not happen, the producers turned to recruiting and in the end, only one contestant had actually submitted an application to be on the show. For the most part, contestants are virtually unknown prior to their Survivor appearance, but occasionally some well-known people are cast.

A total of 498 participants have competed, and 91 of them have competed in multiple seasons: 69 of them competed in two seasons, 18 competed three times, and four competed four times. Eleven seasons have featured returning players: four with all-returnees (Survivor: All-Stars in 2004, Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains in 2010,Survivor: Cambodia in 2015 and current season, Survivor: Game Changers), four with two or three returning players, each on a tribe with new players (Survivor: Guatemala in 2005, Survivor: Redemption Island, and Survivor: South Pacific in 2011, and Survivor: Philippines in 2012), two with a tribe of ten returning "Favorites" facing off against a tribe of ten "Fans" (Survivor: Micronesia in 2008 and Survivor: Caramoan in 2013), and one featuring a tribe of ten returning players playing against a tribe of their family members (Survivor: Blood vs. Water in 2013).

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