Probably not unintentionally, Rudy Boesch owns the distinction of being the first ever castaway to give a confessional as his tribe is paddling away to their beach. Rudy would go on to become the season’s go-to person for one-liners and funny quips and giving him that kind of camera presence early on was no mistake.

As the show evolved, so too did the confessionals. By the Australian Outback, Colby Donaldson had already realised that it was an opportunity to showcase some of his personality. He became a household name during his time on the show for his good looks and his quick wit. The looks were the easy part, the funniness mostly came from his ability to speak freely and easily in confessionals.

When people saw what Colby was doing, the confessional took on a lot more importance. For example, in Survivor: Marquesas, Boston Rob is not nearly as memorable without delivering his brutally honest and cutting confessionals.

Think back to this confessional as production was looking to cast Survivor: All-Stars. While Boston Rob may be a Survivor legend nowadays, pre-All-Stars he was just the scrappy kid who had gone pre-jury in Marquesas. There was no obvious reason that production should have been considering him for a return. Except Rob was masterful in confessionals and he knew what to say to get a reaction out of people. It’s probably the biggest reason he was given a second chance and the rest of Survivor history is forever changed.

There was another Rob who took advantage of confessionals to make a mark on his season. Rob Cesternino came into Survivor: the Amazon with hopes to win but especially to become a big character. He studied Rudy, Colby, and Boston Rob and came into his season with some lines ready to go. He treated every confessional as his own stand-up comedy special. And it worked wonderfully. Rob became one of the biggest Survivor names of the early days and certainly gained a reputation as both a great player and an even better entertainer.

It might shock you to realize but Rob is within decimals of averaging as many confessionals per episode as Russell Hantz did. The Amazon looking back is basically the Rob show from beginning to end and most people loved it because he knew how to spin a yarn. Russell himself didn’t want the fan favorite award two seasons in a row by accident. Yes, he benefited from having production forcing him down our throats but if he weren’t an effective speaker, it wouldn’t have mattered. We suffer from Russel fatigue now but back then, so many people were in love with what he was offering.

The difference between being good at confessionals and being kind of bland is huge. Look at two recent winners, Tony Vlachos and Sarah Lacina. They both played a game that involved a lot of betrayal and flipping back and forth between alliances. Tony is beloved by most of the fan base, Sarah is treated as a good player but a so-so at best character.

Why such a stark difference between two fairly similar players? Because Tony is an absolute goldmine of television comedy whereas Sarah came off on the show as kind of boring. They may have played in comparable fashion but Tony’s game was accompanied by a bunch of flash in front of the camera. Sarah was cool and steady, a more level-headed approach to the game, but not one that is going to earn you a bunch of fans.

It’s easy to make an impact when you get a lot of confessionals. Those that make a lasting impact are the players who are able to make a connection despite not getting as much camera time. Two prime examples of this are Tyson Apostol in Survivor: Tocantins and Courtney Yates in Survivor: China. These iterations of these two players are considered to be some of the funniest and best overall characters in Survivor history. Tyson got 22 confessionals during his season and Courtney received 23.

Despite getting less than players like Brendan Synnot and Erik Huffman, Tyson and Courtney were able to become legendary characters by using their limited time to good use. Almost every single confessional either of them gave included a line or two that was funny enough to make me laugh out loud. That’s being naturally charming and that’s the kind of person suited to handle Survivor confessionals.

Without confessionals, Survivor would be a messy story to tell. The confessionals allow players to tell a tale that producers can weave in together to form a fully fleshed out plot. Reality TV may have been born with under the concept of television without a beginning, middle, or an end but it’s since evolved. A lot of that credit can be attributed to Survivor who took what the Real World was doing, tailored it to their needs and helped transform the confessional into the premier storytelling device of an entire genre. Still, let’s remember our origins and credit the Real World for its original innovation. And while we’re at it, let’s not forget to thank the People’s Court too.