Survivor has been intriguing viewers with drama and thrills for over 40 seasons, spanning more than 20 years of production.
Although most viewers watch the show simply for the drama that goes on between contestants or to see who excels at maintaining themselves in the wild, fans who watch for complete authenticity may find that Survivor isn’t all that it promises the viewer.
The show does consist of real people competing for a real prize, but there is more going on behind the scenes than the television show shows the viewers at home.
Is Survivor Real?
No, Survivor is not completely real because the show has been known to use body doubles for contestants, and producers are known for manipulating which contestants get voted off the island against the contestants’ wishes.
The contestants are also at no risk of starving at any point in the competition.
Competitors are given rice from the production team and are expected to forage for the rest of their food, but this still takes a very real toll on their bodies.
The production team also keeps medical supplies including medications, feminine hygiene products, birth control, contacts, contact solution, and other personal medical belongings that the contestants submit in advance in a box in the woods.
All of the contestants have access to this box and are allowed to grab whatever supplies belong to them or are needed daily.
The box also includes sunscreen, bug spray, and vitamins that the production team has contestants use daily to limit the amount of bodily damage.
The contestants also have continual access to water throughout the competition in order to fight off dehydration caused by the intense heat and extensive physical activity, but the warm water turns contestants off after a few weeks of filming.
The grime that viewers watch build up on the contestants’ clothing is very real.
They are only allowed to bring a single outfit to wear during the 39 days that they spend outside.
Although the contestants often learn to tolerate the filth, they are often told by the camera crew when it is time to figure out how to clean their clothing.
Some contestants will use hand sanitizer found in their medical box, while other contestants will boil their clothing in the camp’s cooking pot.
Survivor may not be as cut-throat as viewers expected, but it still takes a toll on contestants.
Has Survivor Ever Removed A Contestant Completely?
The only time that Survivor has completely removed a contestant from the entire game was after Dan Spilo inappropriately touched members of the production team and cast.
Spilo was removed on day 36 after sexually touching a female producer’s thigh while on a transport boat.
Dan Spilo was a Hollywood agent who appeared on Survivor: Island of the Idols.
After he was caught inappropriately touching the producer’s thigh, he claimed that his contacts weren’t in properly and he lost his balance while trying to get on the boat.
However, this wasn’t the only time Spilo was caught touching someone.
The 48-year-old had also been accused of inappropriately touching fellow contestant Kellee Kim, who was sent home shortly after speaking against Spilo.
After his time on the reality show, Spilo went to People Magazine to release a public apology.
He understood how his actions portrayed him, but he hoped that his future actions would show the angry viewers at home what kind of man, husband, father, and friend he truly was.
Dan Spilo had planned to discuss the situation at the show’s live finale, but he was completely uninvited from any Survivor events.
However, fans still felt as if the show hadn’t done enough for Kellee Kim.
Kim had requested that Spilo quit touching her arm, hair, and legs multiple times, but he refused to take no for an answer.
Instead of her castmates or production crew listening to her concerns, she was voted off the island for seemingly trying to cause problems for Spilo.
The production crew decided to allow Dan Spilo to continue on the show, only giving the other contestants the vague warning that they should let someone know if they feel unsafe.
At the time of recording, the other contestants had no idea what this meant.
Did Caleb Reynolds Actually Nearly Die?
Yes, Caleb Reynolds nearly died from exhaustion and dehydration while filming a challenge in which two other contestants also passed out.
However, the doctor on set quickly discovered that Reynolds was in more critical condition when he began to lose all color in his face.
When asked about it in an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Jeff Probst considered the medical scare with Reynolds to be one of the scariest moments in the show’s history.
As an executive producer and host for the show, Probst was not about to have a contestant die while in his care.
It only took Dr. Joe Rowles and his medical staff a few seconds to understand how serious Reynolds’s condition had become, and they quickly called on every staff member on set to grab ice and water for the dehydrated, overheated, and exhausted contestant.
Even as director David Dryden was directing the camera, he held a bag of ice to Reynolds’s chest as the medical staff held an oxygen mask to the contestant’s face.
For nearly a minute, Caleb Reynolds was unresponsive to the oxygen mask.
Jeff Probst desperately stood there as he watched Reynolds’s face lose more color by the second.
Luckily, the contestant’s body began to respond to the oxygen mask, and his color came rushing back.
Once the medical and production staff had worked together to get Reynolds’s vitals stable enough for him to be transported, Reynolds was taken out of the game and was sent to a hospital in the United States in order to recover.
When recounting the horrible event, Jeff Probst can’t help but be proud of how quickly his team worked to get Caleb Reynolds to a safe point.
This moment was a testament to how important it is for the show’s staff to be prepared for medical emergencies.
Contestants Voted Off For Poor Behavior
Some contestants have been voted off by the collective decision between production and contestants due to their poor behavior.
While some contestants may find success in playing the villain of the season, others are sent home for their poor behavior.
In 2017, contestant Jeff Varner was voted off after he outed fellow contestant Zeke Smith as transgender.
Varner wanted to vote Smith off and used the fact that Smith hadn’t told anyone that he was transgender as something against Smith, with Varner going as far as to say that Smith was keeping a secret from the rest of his tribe and would do it again.
The rest of Smith’s tribe members came to his aid when Varner outed him, going as far as to explain to Varner why such behavior was completely inappropriate on television.
Fans of the show were upset that this moment aired on television until Zeke Smith explained that he allowed this scene to be shown and that production had worked alongside Smith for this scene.
Rather than voting Smith off, the tribe members all felt closer to Smith, and Smith felt that he could trust his tribe members to be respectful.
Instead, Varner was voted off unanimously.
Fans of the show also have theories as to what happened after Alexis Smith, James Clement, and Erik Reichenbach broke into the production team’s camp and stole their food.
The snacks that were stolen consisted of Gatorade and peanut butter, which the contestants had hidden in the middle box.
Fans speculate that the production team orchestrated their vote-offs, but this was denied by Erik Reichenbach.
However, the contestants did admit to being worried about being disqualified or not receiving their paychecks.
Fans may never know what the true repercussions of their actions were.
Did Jon Dalton’s Grandmother Actually Die?
No, Jon Dalton’s grandmother didn’t die during the production of Survivor: Pearl Island.
When his friend came and gave him the fake news of his grandmother’s passing, it was something that Dalton and his friend had already planned to do in advance to make the audience and other castmates more sympathetic towards the villainous Dalton.
At this point in the competition, Jon Dalton had played the reality game aggressively and hadn’t been one for making friends with the other contestants.
The season was done to their final three contestants: Jon Dalton, Andrew Savage, and Sandra Diaz-Twine.
While other contestants used their family time to connect with the loved ones that they missed most, Dalton planned for his friend to give him the news to earn sympathy from his final two opponents.
However, Dalton’s plan backfired because neither Savage nor Diaz-Twine cared about Dalton’s feelings and intended to win the competition regardless.
When asked about the “dead grandma lie” after appearing on the Survivor series twice, Dalton still feels that it was one of his greatest moves of all time and possibly the greatest move in reality television.
Although it didn’t win him any sympathy from Savage or Diaz-Twine, Dalton did achieve his goal of becoming a reality-TV villain.
Dalton wanted to bring an outside element to prove so that he not only earned the title of villain but loved every second of playing the villain.
While many of the previous Survivor “bad guys” preferred to blame their reflection in the show on crafty editing or storytelling, Dalton was fully ready to embrace the role.
Despite having a history in professional wrestling, Jon Dalton was not an actor by trade and still isn’t one to this day.
Instead, you’ll find him selling real estate in Virginia or hosting his reality television podcast.
Did Colton Cumbie Actually Have Appendicitis?
No, Colton Cumbie did not have appendicitis while on the set of Survivor, like the doctors on the show assumed.
Instead, Cumbie was suffering from a severe bacterial infection that occurred in the lining of his stomach and intestines.
Cumbie was first treated at a nearby hospital with antibiotics, but he was sent back to the United States for treatment once he was stable enough to endure the ride home.
Although the scene was shocking, Survivor fans and cast members weren’t sad to see this contestant go.
Colton Cumbie had a history of racist comments and not getting along with his fellow contestants from the first season he was on.
By the time he was brought back to the franchise, Cumbie had already made a new for himself as the typical reality show “bad guy.”
During his first season, Cumbie had referred to his African American castmate Bill Posley as “ghetto trash” and harassed Posley about “getting a real job” as Posley was trying to make amends with Cumbie.
His behavior was quickly brought up during the Tribal Council and the topic of race was brought up.
Cumbie defended his actions by explaining that he went to a private school in Alabama that didn’t have students of color.
He also explained that he couldn’t be racist because he had African American people in his life that he cared about.
When asked for examples of these loved ones, the only person that Cumbie could think of was his housekeeper.
Just as Jon Dalton had stated, Cumbie claims that the editing paints him in poor light and that he was uncomfortable during the filming of the show.
Cumbie claims that he is absolutely nothing like the way he is portrayed in the show and has vastly more friends than enemies in real life.
Did Pat Cusack Fracture His Spine?
No, the back pain that Pat Cusack felt was actually spinal compression deterioration.
This injury led to Cusack being the first person sent home during Survivor: David vs. Goliath, without even getting the chance to be voted off the show.
While taking a boat ride back to the island where the contestants were staying, the boat hit a hard wave that led to serious damage to his lower spine.
Without being able to move effectively, Cusack had no chance of being able to compete.
Despite the pain causing the contestant to shiver in agony, Cusack begged to stay in the competition through short sentences as he lay on the stretcher on the beach.
No matter how much he pleaded, the production team knew that Cusack needed medical attention if he never wanted to heal.
Although doctors on the island thought that Cusack had fractured his spine, he actually ruptured one of the liquid-filled sacs between his vertebrae.
This resulted in the deterioration of his spinal discs and continues to cause him minor pain.
Once he was back home, Cusack underwent physical therapy paired with spinal treatments to limit the amount of permanent damage.
He claims that he can still feel the pain if he lifts something too heavy or overexerts himself.
Pat Cusack wishes that he could have stayed in the competition longer, but he can’t be upset with the production team for pulling him from the season.
If he had stayed and continued to compete in the physically-extensive reality competition, his injury could have ended up much worse and caused him even more pain down the road.
Although some of his teammates complained that Pat Cusack could be a bit bossy, Cusack believes that he wouldn’t have changed his game plan except to work on his bossy tendencies.
Did Russell Swan Really Have A Medical Emergency?
Yes, Russell Swan was in such bad shape medically that he couldn’t even recall what happened during the recording session where he blacked out.
How the events were going in fan-favorite Swan’s mind were vastly different from how they were playing out in reality.
When Russell Swan was recording the infamous challenge, he felt that everything was going on as usual.
Although it had been a long day and the sun had been shining brightly, Swan had no sense of hunger, thirst, or tiredness.
Swan began to experience symptoms of extreme exhaustion and dehydration moments after Jeff Probst quit talking to the contestants.
According to what Swan remembered, he and his team were pushing a heavy ball before arriving at the puzzle station.
He remembered another teammate telling him to leave his side of the ball and stumbling around because he had been blindfolded.
The next thing he knew, he had hit his chin and Probst followed the medical team as they surrounded Swan.
At first, Swan was angry.
He thought that they were simply taking him out of the game because he was thirsty.
However, the contestant found out that it wasn’t the case after watching the episode.
Rather than being a productive member of his team, Swan watched himself stumble about and cling to the puzzle for balance before completely passing out.
He then watched as his eyes rolled to the back of his head when the production team had sat him upright.
Due to the state that he was in, Swan couldn’t remember what diagnosis the doctors had given him after he was taken off the set.
He remembered the doctors giving him fluids through IVs and there being some kind of talk about heart attacks.
Are The Relationships On Survivor Real?
Yes, most of the relationships that viewers see on Survivor are real.
Although not all of the Survivor couples have made it in the real world, the romances seen on the reality competition show are never scripted or encouraged by production.
Elizabeth Beisel and Jack Nichting of Survivor: Island of the Idols announced that they were dating on Instagram shortly after their season premiered.
The couple loves to post pictures of the adventures that they go on together.
Sebastian Lowe and Jenna Bowman met and fell in love even before landing on the island.
Although viewers couldn’t tell if they were just really good friends or if there was something more serious going on between the two contestants, Bowman and Lowe knew they were made for each other from the start.
The couple now lives with each other and has a traveling vlog channel on YouTube called “Tarzan and Jen,” in which the couple tour the country together.
It only took one 13-hour flight to get those lovebirds together.
Rob Mariano and Amber Brkich were the two finalists of their season, despite being extremely open about their blossoming relationship through the show.
Although Brkich was declared the Sole Survivor, Mariano was able to propose to Brkich before the votes were read.
The couple now has four children, with their youngest being their daughter who was born in 2014.
For more than a decade, this reality show couple has held a strong and authentic connection that has allowed them to compete as a pair in other shows like Amazing Race and Survivor: Winners at War.
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