17 years, 34 seasons, and 500 episodes. That is how long Survivor has been on the air. With their two seasons a year pace, they have passed the Simpsons in terms of number of seasons in a series. That is a show that has been on the air since 1989. That’s incredible! Even if the audience eventually leveled off, Survivor has been a very consistent source of ratings for CBS since its heyday. Is there any end in sight for the show?
Here’s what we know: relative to sitcoms or procedurals, Survivor is a very cheap show to film and produce. Not having to pay a cast for each episode outside of the grand prize and stipends is one of the biggest reasons why. Like Big Brother, Survivor is an easy show for CBS to trot out with its consistent ratings and low level production costs. As long as the show keeps bringing people back to their screen, the show will have its say as to when it wants to end.
Throughout the years, Survivor has also kept itself fresh by changing up its format. It has incited some criticism from fans who want to keep the show as pure as possible to its original seasons but it has also helped bring in some fresh eyes. Compare it to a show like American Idol that eventually lost a lot of steam because it never really transformed outside of placing more emphasis on judges and guest stars than the contestants. Once upon a time, American Idol would destroy Survivor in terms of ratings but in 2015, it was cancelled. There have since been plans to bring the show back but it won’t have the pull that Survivor has maintained throughout the years.
Thinking about American Idol some more, another thing that has kept Survivor so popular is its distinctness. Shows like the X-Factor, America’s Got Talent and the Voice all came along and took a piece of the market pie that American Idol had cornered. While Big Brother has a similar “competition” style reality show and shares some fans with Survivor, they are ultimately fairly different in both aesthetics and gameplay. There is no replacement for Survivor if you want to see a television competition in that style.
Simply looking at the most recent season, Survivor: Game Changers, one can see that ratings have gone down. Kaoh Rong a calendar year ago was pulling about 10 million people in on average. Game Changers averaged about 8, never crossing the 9 million people mark. The decline in numbers might be cause for concern if it wasn’t a nearly universal phenomenon for cable shows. Consider that despite losing nearly two million average viewers over the course of a year, Game Changers still ranked first in its timeslot and totaled more viewers over the course of the season than a show like Modern Family.
In terms of finding new talent each season, the show appears to be getting better with age. For a while during the 20s, it seemed like casting was struggling to put together strong casts. Since around the time of Survivor: Cagayan, the show has really done an excellent job in finding people that know how to bring it on a television screen. They still receive applicants in the thousands and that isn’t even mentioning the people they can go out and recruit. Under their casting director, Lynne Spillman, the character part of Survivor appears to be in good hands.
As of now, two more seasons are guaranteed. In fact, season 36 should be finishing up their filming within the next couple days. At this point, it’s become fairly obvious that CBS is willing to keep the show on the air for as long as production is willing to go out and film. Since Mark Burnett has been mostly out of the picture for many years now, a lot of the onus falls on the shoulders of Jeff Probst.
Jeff has been with the show since day one and has been a producer since around Survivor: Tocantins. Nobody has given more of their time and efforts into keeping the show fresh in the eyes of everybody. While it may seem like there’s a picture of Jeff Probst aging in somebody’s attic, he is actually getting older season by season. He turns 56 this year with 36 seasons filmed under his belt. The traditional answer for when the show will end has been whenever Jeff doesn’t feel like doing it anymore.
In a sense, there’s a lot of truth to that belief. The show has had some iconic players who transcend multiple seasons but nobody has been on every single season like Jeff has. To many, he is the face of Survivor with his necklace, cargo shorts and baseball cap. How can you really have a Survivor without Jeff screaming out “come in guys!”? Would it really be tribal council if Jeff wasn’t around to host it?
If you look around the web, people have different theories on how to go about replacing Jeff in front of the camera. Some people have suggested Boston Rob, as he is probably the most well-known contestant ever and has great charisma. I have also seen John Cochran as a potential Jeff replacement for his love of the show and knowledge of the game. Others still would like the gravitas of somebody like Jonathan Penner, known for his story-telling abilities and tiffs with Jeff during challenges. I could easily see any of those three taking a shot at the job if Jeff wanted to step out of the limelight but could they really have the presence that Jeff has after doing it for 34+ seasons?
Besides, that’s just his on camera role. If you consider that he is basically running the entire operations for a season, you would conclude that his job away from the camera is even more important. By this point in time, Jeff has the most pull in terms of who is cast, what twists and themes a season will have and how events are edited. He has the most experience having been around since the beginning and Mark Burnett trusts him to handle all of these aspects without a hitch. Even if you can replace Jeff the host with a former Survivor, there is no replacing the man behind the camera.
That’s why I think Survivor unfortunately has a very real expiration date. It probably isn’t after season 36 because the show is going to want to close it out with an iconic season of legends, or at least I would if I was them. It may not even be in season 40, which would be a nice round number, but eventually we are going to reach the end of this rainbow. If Survivor makes it to season 50, which would be in about eight years, Jeff would be nearly 65. I can’t picture him wanting to keep going past that age considering the toll filming two seasons every year must take on his body.
If they’re planning on ending it anytime soon, and I truly hope they aren’t, here’s my suggestion: end it on season 39. Wouldn’t it be the perfect number? Every season, minus the Australian Outback, has had players compete for 39 days. Bring back 20 legends or all-winners to duke it out in one final explosive season to send Survivor off with a bang. Can’t you picture it now? Jeff doing pull-ups off the legs of a helicopter over an active volcano and he opens up the season with:
“39 seasons, 39 days, 20 winners, one final Survivor”.
