Survivor (franchise)

Survivor
A recreation of the logo for the first U.S. Survivor season, Survivor: Borneo.
Also known as	Expedition Robinson Koh-Lanta
Genre	Entertainment Reality Competition
Created by	Charlie Parsons
Developed by	Planet 24
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Distributor	Castaway Television Productions Ltd
Release
Original network	Sveriges Television (SVT)
First shown in	Sweden
Original release	13 September 1997 (1997-09-13) – present
External links
Production website

Survivor is a reality competition television franchise produced in many countries throughout the world. The show features a group of contestants who are marooned in an isolated location, where they must provide food, water, fire, and shelter for themselves. The contestants compete in challenges for rewards and immunity from elimination. The contestants are progressively eliminated from the game as they are voted out by their fellow contestants until only one remains and is declared the winner and awarded the grand prize and is named the "Sole Survivor."

The format for Survivor was created in 1992 by the British television producer Charlie Parsons for a United Kingdom TV production company called Planet 24, but the Swedish version, which debuted in 1997, was the first Survivor series to actually make it to television.

Survivor, through its seasons and various international versions, has maintained the basic premise of the game despite several new rules and gameplay twists introduced in later seasons. In the game, sixteen to twenty contestants, the castaways, are split into tribes and assigned separate camps at the filming's location, typically a tropical setting. As a tribe, the castaways must survive the elements, construct shelter, build fire, look for water, and scrounge for food and other necessities for the entire length of the game, which is generally 39 days in the American version, but has ranged from 20 days (as in the French special seasons) to 134 days (as in some seasons of the Turkish edition). In the first half of the game, the tribes face off in challenges, some for rewards of food, shelter, or luxury items, while others are for immunity, preventing the winning tribe from having to go to the next Tribal Council. At Tribal Council, the tribes discuss the events of the last few days with the host asking questions, and then vote out one of their own players, eliminating them from the game.

In the second half of the game, the tribes are merged into a single tribe, and challenges are played at an individual level for individual rewards and immunity. At subsequent Tribal Councils, those eliminated start to form the jury, who sit in on all subsequent Tribal Councils but otherwise do not participate. When only two or three castaways remain, those castaways attend a final Tribal Council, where the jury is given the opportunity to ask them questions. After this, the jury members then vote to decide which of the remaining castaways should be declared the Sole Survivor.