Getting Your Friends Into Survivor

What season to show them first, a guide

Sometimes, being a Survivor fan in modern day isn’t easy. Back in the golden years of its infancy, you could walk down the street and more than half the people you would talk to were watching the show. It was a cultural phenomenon and worked its way into the cultural zeitgeist. Now? Not so much. It still has a large audience, relative to other cable television shows, but like most appointment television, it has its own niche market.

As such, talking about the show is relegated mostly to online forums and social media. Both of those places offer discussion but also loads of toxicity. They allow for the majority opinion (or at least a loud minority opinion) to hammer away at any naysayers, often stifling what little conversation might be had. Sometimes, don’t you just wish you could introduce your real-life friends to the show? If so, this is the guide for you.

Here are my own suggestions for which season one might you use to show a friend Survivor and why that season might be ideal as well as for what type of person. Follow along, consider the person you’re trying to indoctrinate and see if my suggestions work for them.

Warning: these will all contain spoilers of the seasons being discussed. Do not proceed if you have not seen them.

Survivor: Borneo

If the person you want to hook is obsessed with continuity and watching shows chronologically, this is the obvious starting point. On its own, it’s also a very strong season. In terms of the game, it really goes a long way towards explaining very basic strategic elements like alliances and how the social dynamics impact the end results. If the person you want to get hooked onto Survivor has never seen any type of competition reality show, this would be an ideal way to get them into it.

The strongest point about Borneo is its richness in characters. Rich is a great inaugural winner. Everybody on the planet loves Rudy Boesch. Watching Sue Hawk play Survivor is an experience onto itself. Doctor Sean and his bumbling through most of the season brings the laughs. All of Pagong brings something to the table, especially Colleen and her awkward charming ways. There are no real casting duds on this season and the personalities are explored with great depth. By the end of Borneo, you feel like you really know most of this cast.

I will caution that Borneo is very slow-paced. At many points during the season, it feels more like a documentary about people living in the wild than it does a competition. Everything is very low-key and goes at its own speed. I find it fun to go back and see how different everything was but if you’ve got someone who has seen things like modern Big Brother or the Challenge, I would not recommend Borneo as a starting point.

Survivor: Marquesas

This is an important season for the show. It shows off emerging strategies to avoid having a tribe get Pagong’ed every season. While still very old school in feel, Marquesas moves at a great pace and doesn’t feel like the first three seasons. The coconut chop challenge is an all-time great Survivor moment and I feel like it would be a great hook for anybody who is interested in the social dynamics of the show.

If you’ve got someone who likes big characters, Marquesas can also offer that in spades. Though his presence on the season is limited, Boston Rob certainly provides plenty of quips during his maiden voyage. Sean Rector picks up the slack when Rob goes and is an excellent confessionalist and general presence on the show. Kathy Vavrick-O’brien is the mother of the “mother who is out of place but eventually settles in and does incredibly well” archetype. Her journey is especially compelling to watch because she was the first one to get an edit like she did. It’s no coincidence that going into Survivor: All-Stars, Kathy was one of the biggest names in the franchise.

Seeing the first rock draw play out is intense as well. It’s a departure from how the show used to handle ties and this is the best way for maximum dramatic effect. Kathy’s downfall is also heartbreaking to watch and any viewer is bound to feel reaction from that.

Survivor: The Amazon

By this point in the franchise, production was really getting into a groove when it comes to editing. They do a little bit too much with it this season (thought bubbles anybody?) but overall, this is the first season that is mostly told through someone’s perspective. That can be hit-or-miss but with Rob Cesternino, I would call this one a hit.

There are some definite flaws to address. A lot of the humor re: men and women has not aged very well. The same could be said about the peanut butter moment that was obviously a huge talking point back in the day. It’s hard to hear some of these jokes and understand how they could have ever made the air.

As well, the way the season is edited is bound to disappoint a lot of people watching. It did to most of us back in the day too. Most people were pulling for Rob to win and when he was cut at final three, there was a violent reaction of hostility towards Jenna Morasca. With time, people warmed up to her as a winner and started seeing moments where she did enough to get herself to the end, but it’s not going to be something most people pick up on a first watch.

Still, there’s a lot of good content in Amazon that I think works well as a hook. Matthew as a character is almost inimitable. His awkward interactions with everybody else, the way he comes off as both a serial killer and a robot, and especially his Dr. Frankenstein and his monster relationship with Rob. How all of that plays out is so perfect and fun to follow.

But of course, the main attraction here is Rob. He took the funny confessionals that Rudy and Colby gave and really made it into his own. He came in hot, actively looking to entertain both his tribe and the audience. Under the surface, Rob was also playing an extremely cut-throat and flip happy game the show had ever seen. Amazon is easily the most unstable of the early-Survivor era and it’s mostly because Rob is constantly yanking the majority out of thin air using minorities from different alliances. It makes fun an exciting first watch because it is very unpredictable.

Besides Rob, Heidi is another reason to watch Amazon. They never truly could cast another Heidi. She’s beautiful and supposedly very intelligent, but she has no EQ or self-awareness. The battles between the Heidi and Jenna duo versus Chrissy are legendary. So too is the fire that engulfs the camp late into the game. It reminds the audience that this is still very much a dangerous situation and adds great drama that can’t be manufactured from human interaction.

Of the early seasons, I would argue that this one is the highest risk but could yield the biggest reward. If you judge that whoever you’re going to show this to can hang on through the sexism, it does bear labor to some very nice fruit in the end.

Survivor: Pearl Islands

If you only have one episode to convince your friend to at least give one season a try, you have to go with Pearl Islands. We’re on season 37 but no season has come close to matching the Pearl Island premiere. It’s almost a perfect episode. The pirate theme, the music, Rupert stealing for da Drakes; right away, that episode should hook anybody into seeing how everything plays out.

Then you have the season as a whole. Jonny Fairplay is an iconic character and the dead grandma lie is to me, the single greatest Survivor moment in its 18 years of existence. Fairplay’s presence on the season is much like Rob C, only darker and more nefarious. It helps that Fairplay has two other Survivor icons as his greatest foils: Rupert and Sandra.

He’s become a joke within the community nowadays but everybody loves Rupert on a first watch. Few Survivor players can connect with a theme like Rupert does with Pearl Islands. There is no nuance or put-ons felt in his performance, Rupert is just there to play pirates and swim around for fish. Nobody else is as bad at the game while simultaneously appearing good at the game and it’s fun to watch. You can’t see a man proclaim his love for a “big hunk o’ lamb” and not fall in love with the guy.

And Sandra? She’s constantly serving the audience one liners. A first-time watcher won’t appreciate the intricacies of her game or that she was able to do it a second time, but they will be able to appreciate the sass and fire that she brings. If two players were ever made to share an island, it’s Sandra and Jon.

Pearl Islands isn’t perfect. The pre-merge can drag for a while, especially the first few episodes after the premiere. The outcast twist is admittedly brutal and might leave the person you’re introducing to Survivor think that this is a common surprise thrown onto the castaways. Similarly, Osten’s quit can leave some people with a sour taste and the belief that it happens commonly.

Still, the season is just so good. I haven’t even mentioned Lil, Savage, Burton, and their impacts on the season. The Rupert boot followed by the grandma lie is the best back-to-back set of episodes the show has ever aired. The Outcast, shitty as a game twist it may be, really finishes off the pre-merge in a strong way, and the finale and Jon’s downfall is perfectly crafted together. This is my personal all-time favorite season and I truly believe it could convert anybody into a Survivor fan.

Survivor: Palau

If you’ve got someone interested purely in the social dynamics of the show, this is a strong contender to choose from. The decimation of Ulong makes us spend a lot of time with the Koror tribe. During that time, we get especially invested in Tom, Ian, and Katie. It makes the endgame’s stakes feel incredibly high, no matter who you might be personally invested in as the winner.

I’ll say this: Ulong is an incredibly boring tribe. They get absolutely crushed and still, nobody except for Stephenie, and sure I’ll even include Angie, gets a lot of content. Watching them get taken down one by one can feel like a slog. The dominance itself can get a little boring. It’s like watching a terminally sick animal that should just be put down for its own good. Especially when we’re at the point where there are three times as many Korors sitting out of an immunity challenge than participating.

The payoff for sitting through the pre-merge is worth it for me. The story that plays out in the penultimate episode and the finale is something that not show can script. The complicated rivalry/friendship between Tom and Ian is really what sets this season apart. Ian’s moral dilemma going down the end is honestly very deep stuff. Seeing him feel completely broken by the game’s constructs feels realer than almost any other moment in the franchise.

Survivor: China

If any season can challenge Pearl Islands at the top of my own rankings, it’s China. For one, it feels like China is the last of its kind. We get seasons that focus on the location and its history after this but never to the extent of the early days. Given that China is such a cool location to shoot Survivor, it gets a lot of content as almost an extra player.

The beauty of China is that by this time, the show is far along enough to feature more complex strategy. Case in point, this is the first season on this list featuring hidden immunity idols but isn’t so far down the line where strategy is the only focus. There are plenty of great strategic moments in China but they don’t overshadow the characters. And boy does this season have some great characters.

It should bother me how stacked Fei Long was when compared to Zhan Hu but it doesn’t. Having the tribes the way they ended up being provided maximum entertainment at both camps. Zhan Hu is the incompetent tribe, led by an incompetent leader who is more focused on building the world’s most intricate fire pit than sheltering his friends. Fei Long is the dominant tribe that reluctantly keeps winning instead of turning on each other, despite obvious hatred between certain players.

Individual characters shine, like James’ unintentional hilarity or Courtney’s sarcasm, but the true beauty is the relationships they have with each other. The hatred between Jean-Robert and Courtney, while Todd struggles to keep dragging both of them along with him, is magical. Todd and Amanda bring out the best of each other as alliance partners. Peih Gee and her adversarial relationship with most of Fei Long makes for a great underdog story.

Honestly, China provides a nearly perfect blend of character-driven Survivor seasons with a feel for modern season storytelling. There are very few flaws or dry spells during the season and a first-time watcher should feel invested in seeing how the story plays out. The highs don’t reach the same level of Pearl Island’s best moments but it’s a more consistent level of quality that no season can really deliver.

Survivor: Gabon

Say your friend has no interest in the strategy aspects of the show and just wants to have fun. This is the season for that (or maybe Survivor: Panama but La Mina drags down that season so much). There are no masterminds, secret or otherwise, on this cast. Almost everybody is crazy for one reason or another and most of the season plays out based on the whims of a pin-up model who is almost certainly going through the process of grieving while playing a show that drains people down to their emotional core.

Nothing in Gabon makes sense. The old dude becomes the immunity beast. Some cranky and bitter man is a wedding photographer. A gold medal Olympian biffs challenge after challenge on her way to one of the worst challenge records in franchise history. One woman is seriously into elephant fecal matter.

Honestly, it’s the most fun you can have with a Survivor season if you don’t take it seriously. There are some dark moments here and there, but most of this season is very light-hearted and full of character. It doesn’t hurt that Gabon as a location is beautiful and that Survivor should FREAKING LEAVE FIJI OCCASIONALLY and go back to places like this.

Survivor: Tocantins

This one is a tough one. Personally, Tocantins rounds out my top three with Pearl Islands and China, but I also understand how a first-time viewer might be turned off. It all depends on how you think the person you’re referring the season to while feel about the Dragonslayer. Because let’s face it, above all else, Tocantins is about Coach Wade and Coach Wade only.

If your person is someone who likes outrageous, unbelievable caricatures, Tocantins will fit the bill perfectly. Few players have ever felt so keyed into the production of their own season. It’s like Coach sat down before the season, wrote down the key points he needed to materialize in the game, and steered the show into whatever direction he was always going to go. Coach is a master at soaking up the air time and producing line after line of quotable dialogue.

If your person likely won’t like Coach, it’s a tougher sell. Tyson is amazing but people will likely only like Tyson if they already like Coach. I find it unlikely that one would like one but not the other. Tyson plays off Coach so well that he needs him to be effective. Short of Coach, you’re mostly selling your person on the JT and Stephen storyline, which is great as a standalone story. It just depends on if it’s enough to carry a season for a non-Coach lover.

The pre-merge is very difficult at times. There are a lot of forgettable early boots and if Coach isn’t going to get you through the boring parts, you’re in for a long ride. You must be very careful in suggesting Tocantins to just anybody but for the right fit, it’ll hook people into the franchise for life. Like Amazon this is high risk, high reward.

Survivor: Samoa

Personally, I wouldn’t lead in with Samoa but I can understand why some people might. The comeback the Foa Foas manage to pull off against the Galus is crazy. The pre-merge story of Russsell Swan’s leadership arc, leading to his literal near death, is emotional if glossed over too much by the edit. There are some fun characters in the mix like Shambo, Danger Dave, and Laura Morett.

It’s just the other stuff I struggle to get through. Much of the cast is either boring or non-existent within the edit. Natalie’s story is barely told at all, you have to actively go back and search for crumb tales of her win, which is not something anyone is going to pick up on a first-viewing. Most of all, it’s the Russell Hantz of it all. Someone who soaks up so much screen time and has almost every storyline going around him. If your person might like his way of playing the game or presenting himself, Samoa is a huge hit, but if you actively dislike him like I do, it makes it very difficult to sit through. Like Tocantins, this is really a judgment call for the person referring another person to make.

Survivor: Philippines

I didn’t want to refer someone to a season with returnees, much less a season with a specifically incarcerated returnee, but Philippines is so good and a perfect representation of modern-Survivor at its best that it was impossible to avoid. Besides, it’s only three returnees which is manageable, and their stories are all explained to the audience early on.

Philippines has a little bit of everything. The strategy is well covered. There are a lot of moving parts in terms of alliances and the fluidity of the people within them. Amidst all that chaos, it’s still mostly Malcolm and Denise that dictate the action so it doesn’t become impossible to follow. It’s fun to watch a tribe that was unbeatable in the pre-merge come apart at its hinges at the merge and the reasons behind it. I will always support dysfunctional tribes on Survivor, they make everything better.

In terms of the storyline, Philippines has one of the strongest narratives in the franchise. I find this to be especially true pre-merge. Matsing’s eradication is one of finer pieces of storytelling the editors have ever constructed. They battle the elements and the other teams fearlessly but it still isn’t enough. Russell’s slow burn of a meltdown is fascinating, if sad to consider in terms of real life impact post-show. Malcolm and Denise coming together through the adversity to conquer the post-merge is also a great bit of narrative.

If I’m looking at it personally, Lisa’s storyline brings down the season because it’s a lot of “this time I am going to make a move” and then everything stays status quo. Lisa’s best part of the season is how she figures into Penner’s story, which is quite meta at times. He breaks the fourth wall to talk about Survivor: the television show, while playing Survivor: the game. I always found out that to be super compelling and for a first-time viewer, it gives insight into what these people are thinking while in the game.

Survivor: Cagayan

If Gabon had some elements of strategy in it, we might consider it something of a Cagayan. This is easily the messiest, in a good way, of the modern seasons. Everything that was tragic about Matsing exists within Luzon but with the characters on that tribe, it becomes funny instead. Their continuous losing despite the tribe being full of supposedly competent people is mystifying. On top of that, they have two absolute lunatics in Garrett and J’Tia on their tribes to drive the action after they do lose. First time watching or not, everybody is going to have a reaction to J’Tia and the rice.

Luzon aside, the reason everyone needs to see Cagayan is its winner. Tony is unlike any winner ever. In fact, he probably doesn’t win this season 99 times out of 100. We just happen to exist in the simulation in which the 1% occurred and I am thankful for it. Never have we seen such a ball of frenetic energy. It translates so well on the screen that he makes me jittery watching him. His plans should never work as well as they do and his antics should catch up to him but he always avoids death. Tony is a once in a lifetime character and while some may not love him, I think everyone agrees that he plays a huge role in Cagayan’s universally acclaimed acceptance into Survivor lore.

Having a good supporting cast around Tony is primordial. Spencer, Kass, Trish, and Woo all have big parts to play to help Tony carry the load and they all do their jobs wonderfully. This is another season like China that stays consistently excellent throughout the entire season. I can’t think of a reason not to watch Cagayan and that alone is enough to hook in most people.

Survivor: Kaoh Rong

Currently this remains my personal favorite seasons in Survivor’s 30s. Mostly because it has a lot of elements that go back to some of the older days gone by. A lot of the focus on this season is simply on the characters and the way the game played out happens naturally. Given its winner, it was inevitable because they needed to make the season exist in a world where Michele’s win was explainable.

People know my affinity for Aubry and her story. Tai is another player who almost immediately became a Survivor legend. Both people are huge characters who also have a major impact on the strategy of the season. There is a lot of idol action to follow, which might get confusing, but the editing does a nice job of explaining everything and it pays off in a big well with Scot’s vote out.

Scot is another reason this season is watchable. The best Survivor seasons need people you can cheer against and Scot and Jason make for great villains. They aren’t anti-heroes, they are strictly presented as the people you should be rooting against and they make it fun. People who aren’t afraid to come off the show disliked by most of the audience should be applauded.

Another reason this is a good season for a first-time viewer is that it allows for a debate with the winner. This is still hotly contested online, with both contenders having loud factions, but it allows for the viewer to realize the importance of the social game in the context of a show based on strategy. It can help paint a picture for other seasons they might watch down the line, like an Amazon and help explain those wins too.