Applicants vs recruits, it’s one of the most often debated topics among the Survivor fan community. It wasn’t always that way because for much of the show’s early run, most contestants had to apply directly to be considered. That isn’t to say that every player from the early days were all devout fans of Survivor but considering the pop culture phenomenon that it became, they were all at least aware of it.

The first two seasons featured only one recruit total and it was in Borneo. That recruit? The legendary Rudy Boesch. This makes sense in a lot of ways. Rudy was not exactly the kind of guy who would be on the lookout to apply for a show like Survivor. Nobody in his age group would be. If producers wanted to find someone like Rudy, they would have to go out and look for him. Thankfully they did a great job and Rudy became one of Survivor’s early icons and the first piece of evidence for recruits being a positive thing for the show.

Over the years, the show’s fame leveled off but the seasons kept coming. That forced production to find new ways to ensure they always have good personalities out there on the island. Because it was less popular with the general audience, the number of applicants also started to lessen in numbers. This wasn’t good news for producers because while everyone would like to say that their audition tape is top notch in quality, it is more likely that the majority of applicants could never be used on the show itself.

This is why during Survivor’s middle years, we started seeing a lot more recruits being thrown into the mix. Without enough quality applicants, the producers decided to go out on their own and find the people they would like on the show. Post All-Stars, the push for recruits became more and more obvious culminating in Fiji where, according to my list of referral, only one person was an applicant. The lone fan from that season was Gary Stritesky, otherwise known as Papa Smurf, who ended up quitting before ever attending Tribal Council.

Papa Smurf: surprisingly not fit for the game of Survivor

Going into the 20s, Survivor maintained a recruit heavy strategy with most of their seasons had more recruits than applicants. There was a noticeable shift in strategy for Survivor: Cagayan where only five of their players were recruited. That was extra fodder for the belief that casting recruits was hurting the show because in terms of general belief, most people see Cagayan as one of the best seasons the show has ever produced.

Post-Cagayan the producers seem to have settled on recruiting a handful of players every season but also going back to their pool of applicants. They have also taken to casting a token “super fan” or two every season to keep the diehard fans happy. Those are the players that many applicants often see themselves through much like the audience would see the Office through the eyes of Jim Halpert.

So is the right way to proceed by recruiting more players or taking those to apply? I don’t think that there’s a correct answer to that question. Of course, having people who understand how the show works is always important. If a season was 18 recruits who had never seen a minute of the show, we might get a rehash of Survivor: Borneo with modern day editing. That would mean a bunch of focus on strategy that is non-existent.

The flip-side to that argument is that casting too many super fans turns the show basically into an ORG, the online versions of Survivor that a lot of these fans play 365 days a year. That kind of season would be entirely focused on strategy with no real personal connections or human emotions. It would appeal to the hardcore strategy purists but would lose a large portion of its audience that watches because they care about the storylines.

One also has to consider that many recruits become legendary players themselves. Famously, Earl Cole was cast for Survivor: Fiji days before going out on the island and having never seen the show. He turned out to be naturally gifted for the game and ended up dominating it on his way to becoming the first unanimous winner and being one stray vote away from a perfect game. Since then, he has become a go-to answer for “who would you like to see again?” and is always brought up among the greatest players of all-time. If producers didn’t go out and recruit for themselves, Earl would have never applied for the show and we would have never heard of him.

Some of the show’s most important players were also recruits. Rob Cesternino was an applicant for Big Brother and set to appear on Big Brother 3 until he was replaced by a similar player. He was moved over to Survivor where he became one of the show’s biggest personalities. Jonny Fairplay was recruited at a gas station and had never seen a minute of the show before being asked to appear on it. Only then did he go back and watch the old seasons.

“Superfan” Jonny Fairplay

While I think there has to be some limitations to the process, recruiting is an important part of the show’s success. The problem with recruiting, in my opinion, is when producers start looking for specific types of people. I’ve written about archetypes before and producers do hold those dear to them because they help simplify people for the audience. The issue is when they start getting tunnel vision when it comes to recruiting because of it. Maybe they get a player they don’t necessarily love but he checks off all the boxes for the “strategist” of the season so they feel compelled to cast him anyways. That’s where it becomes an issue.

There is also the question of stunt casting. Survivor used to completely avoid doing this but started to stray over the years. It has never been major celebrities and more so people like Gary Hogeboom and Taj Johnson-George, a lesser known starting quarterback and a former pop star. People who were certainly not no-names but were not exactly popping off at the time of their casting. Eventually, some of these people’s storylines started becoming very central to the season’s overarching narrative. It was never truer than with Survivor: Philippines’s Lisa Welchel. She was a former child star trying to deal with readjusting to life after her time on television had past. Much of the season revolved around her difficulty with coming to terms with the strategy of Survivor and her morality. For some people, that was solid television, for others including myself, it was torture on an otherwise extremely solid season.

Lisa probably deciding whether or not to make a big move for the millionth time

Of course, casting super fans will not always be the right way to go either. Zeke Smith has had his chance to play the game twice and has both times flamed out by trying to make big moves for the sake of it. He has also been maligned by fans for being, outside of one obvious gigantic moment, a “gamebot”, a player who talks only about strategy both on the island and in confessional. Another recent super fan, Max Dawson (who was actually recruited), who teaches a university level course on Survivor didn’t even make it to jury. Everybody hopes that they would end up like Adam Klein were they cast on the show but the truth is that most of us would be early boots.

In terms of creating good television, recruiting is also sometimes very important. Most of the fans in both “fans vs favorites” seasons were devoid of personality and only there as extra fodder for the returning players to use as game pieces. Consider that in Micronesia, of the favorites only Cirie Fields, Candice Woodcock, Ozzy Lusth and Amanda Kimmell were applicants on their original season. Of that group, I would argue that only Cirie is truly capable of crafting funny and inviting confessionals. The other three have legacies of their own but none of them are what I would describe as “must watch television”.

Like most things in life, there will never be an absolutely perfect answer to the debate between recruits and applicants. As fans, our best interests are in the hands of the show’s producers who have been making these decisions for 17 years. Some seasons may have been sub-par but I think we can all agree that the majority have been compelling television. I know that some fans want to see more applicants because realistically, it heightens their chances of someday being cast. The way I see it, Survivor is first and foremost a television show meant to entertain. That means casting the best possible people to make people tune in every week and if that means having recruits in the mix, it’s something I will gladly accept. At the end of the day, I don’t care about anybody’s chances of playing the game are, I just want to be entertained by the product I am watching and for much of 34 seasons, Survivor has done that for me. Let’s just keep it going.