Among the many things I love about Survivor, near the top of the list has to be its ability to find so many different personalities to put together on an island. It’s been a staple since the very beginning, “16 people from different walks of life” and on every season with an all-new cast, production has done a very extensive job in making that true.

True, every season has its share of contestants that are easy to find, those who reside in Los Angeles, are trying to make it into acting and list “waiter” or “personal trainer” as their occupation (though those types have recently seemed to migrate to the Bachelor. That said, they also go out of their way to find people from outside the LA region. They’ll go get some southerners, people from the middle states and out on the east coast and even better than regions, they’ll find people who completely differ in personality.

The most interesting aspect of Survivor is that they throw together a bunch of strangers whose paths would likely never cross outside of the game. Sometimes that makes for some incredible drama when strong opposing personalities clash and that’s always entertaining. Though I prefer even more when the unlikely happens and these people forge bonds. Those surprising relationships are often the basis for some of the seasons I love the most.

Of course, an early example of such a relationship is Richard Hatch and Rudy Boesch. The gay man and the old veteran. It’s a great couple that nobody in production could have ever predicted going in. They have also been talked about to death because of how iconic their duo was. I don’t take that away from them but if you really want to read about them, it’s pretty easy to find material.

One of the standard “unexpected couples” is the older woman and the alpha-male. The original two for that type are Colby Donaldson and Tina Wesson from the Australian Outback. They are an iconic and memorable pair but unfortunately for the audience, production felt like keeping much of their relationship from us and did not show us nearly enough of their bond. When they reach the finals together and talk about how close they are, it almost comes off as a surprise to the fans because there isn’t much emphasis on them other than being in an alliance together. However, that fact alone, that they were an alliance, was truly interesting. Seeing the women stick together or the athletic young guys form an alliance isn’t captivating. It’s the status-quo. Seeing a combination of Colby and Tina, that’s something different that doesn’t happen on every season and should be celebrated.

Tina and Colby moments after her Australian Outback win

With time, production has gotten better at really showcasing the relationship. In Panama, Cirie Fields and Aras Baskauskas form a very tight bond over being the only two sane people on Casaya. While much of that alliance eventually implodes upon itself, Aras and Cirie stick together until the end. Aras gives her a chance at the final four by forcing a tie to let her make fire. She is a locked in vote for him to win in the end. When Aras is discussing why he should be taken by Danielle DiLorenzo to the final two, he tells her that he and Cirie are lockstep as one vote and that she would lose both by not taking him. Even after their season ended and through present day, they support each other and remain close friends. That kind of bond is amazing to see.

Even further in time to Survivor Philippines, Denise Stapley and Malcolm Freberg form the most recent pairing like Colby and Tina. Left to find solace with each other on the horribly inept Matsing tribe, Malcom and Denise became incredibly close as their tribe’s only two competent members. Despite having to turn on one another in the end-game to give themselves a chance for an easy win, they have come out of their season as close friends. Malcolm has gone on to play twice more and each time Denise has been one of his most vocal supporters online. For his part, Malcolm has been incredibly supportive of Denise’s win even though a lot of fans claim that she didn’t deserve it (a patently untrue statement).

Of course, not every odd relationship is an older woman and a younger man. Survivor is great at finding other couples too. One of the most lasting memories from Survivor: Marquesas is the bond that is formed between Paschal English and Sean Rector over a shared reward win. The two could not be any less similar. Sean is from Harlem, NY, a proud black man that grew up in a rough upbringing and decided to try and change the future by becoming a teacher. Paschal is an old white man from Georgia who had a chance to pursue a higher education on his way to becoming a court judge.

These two are truly people who would never ever meet outside of the show. They share nothing in common outside of both playing Survivor on the same season. They had just formed a very tentative alliance to create the first coup in Survivor history and that was about as far as they knew each other. During a reward challenge with eight people left in the game, the two were randomly paired together and managed to pull out a win. The reward was going to a BBQ pig roast with a bunch of Marquesan natives. At the reward, they sit around and talk about their lives back home and gain a brand new appreciation of each other. Paschal admits that he appreciates how honest Sean is and Sean recognizes that even though Paschal is an old white dude, he is can be pretty chill.

Sean and Paschal enjoying their reward

This scene is one of the more touching moments from Survivor’s entire 34 season run because it is a very human connection. Though they share an alliance, nothing from their time together at that reward relates to the game. Sean and Paschal both take the time to learn about each other’s lives and they gain mutual appreciation for one another because of it.

Later on in its history, the audience also gets to see the wonderful alliance of Earl Cole and Yau Man Chan in Survivor: Fiji. The young black male and the old Asian man, the Rush Hour alliance as Earl refers to it in a confessional. Recognizing that they are the two smartest and most sane people on their tribe, Earl and Yau form an alliance based on mutual trust. They work together to find an idol and would later on co-operate to use it successfully and help Yau become the first person to idol out another contestant in the modern sense of the word. Throughout the season, they have each other’s backs and use their brains to create an alliance that overthrows a majority and leads to Earl’s win.

What is most interesting about their relationship is that they both knew they needed to take the other out before the end. Sitting next to each other was not a guaranteed win for either but having one on the jury meant a landslide victory for the other. With the whole Dreamz-Yau truck fiasco, Earl got the chance to vote out Yau at final four and it made Earl the first ever unanimous winner. Post-season, they remain close friends and both go out of their way to compliment the other’s games.

Sometimes, we even get to see enemies become close while still maintaining those team lines. Most recently in Millennials vs Gen X, between Adam Klein and Jay Starrett. Despite never working together, the two grew to be basically brothers; constantly fighting between themselves but sharing a deep adoration. Eventually, Adam admits to Jay that his mother is back home fighting a terminal battle with cancer. Jay is the only person Adam would ever tell, not even anybody from his own alliances. This brings them exponentially closer as humans but still does nothing to put them together as teammates. Adam knows he can’t beat Jay in a final tribal council and eventually votes him off despite the real connection.

There are plenty more pairs of unlikely duos that I haven’t even touched upon. It would take me hours to enumerate all of them and why they were so interesting. The examples above are simply some of my personal favorite pairs over the last 34 seasons and that it goes from the very first season to the 33rd, it shows that Survivor is not done finding more people of different paths to put together. At its core, Survivor will always be a social experiment above all else and when it works well, it creates some of the most compelling television out there today.

Whenever I tell people that Survivor is among my favorite television shows, they mostly laugh or are surprised that it’s still on. Deep down, I am the one laughing because I tell myself that these people don’t understand what they are missing. Yes, the strategy is important and exciting. Yes, you want to see compelling twists and turns and a satisfying winner but for me, the end of the game has never been the main focus. It’s always been the journey to it and the journey is never better than when we get great characters with great interactions between them. Especially so when it becomes clear that these people would have never met outside of the show. Survivor is the most extreme form of bond building activity but when it works, it works like a charm.