EXCLUSIVE: If ever there was a TV pitch document that has stood the test of time, it’s the vision for Survivor. Written 30 years ago, it reads like it could be a sales brochure for any of the modern-day entertainment series that have followed in Survivor’s sandy footprints.
“The episodic nature of the show draws and holds viewers in the same way as a drama, but it retains the hard-edged authenticity and compelling unpredictability of reality programming,” says the document. “In the toughest conditions ever seen on TV, fifteen competitors will leave the island empty-handed. One will emerge triumphant, the sole survivor — and a millionaire!”
The author? A certain Charlie Parsons, the pioneering British producer, who shared the pitch with Deadline as he reflected on Survivor reaching 50 seasons on CBS. Knowing what we know now, the Survivor sales pamphlet looks like it must have been an easy greenlight on paper, but it offers a few clues about the show’s circuitous journey to the screen.
First of all, the title is Survive (one of four iterations the show would have over the years), and the document was drawn up for ABC, not CBS. ABC put development cash into the show after Parsons originally conceived of marooning people on a desert island for The Castaways, a segment on Channel 4 series Network 7 in the UK.
Parsons says he spent the best part of six months trying to convince ABC that Survive would become an enduring hit, but network executives at the time “couldn’t work out” if it was a documentary or an entertainment show. ABC passed, but allowed Parsons to keep the rights at his outfit Planet 24, which he later took to Sweden’s SVT as Expedition Robinson.
It was not until Parsons met Mark Burnett that his American ambition became a reality. The Apprentice producer was fascinated by Expedition Robinson, but had to convince Parsons that he was the right man to conquer the U.S. “Mark would diligently ring me every six months, if not more, saying, ‘I really want to produce that show.’ He’d not really done that much,” Parsons recalls. “I eventually gave in to Mark’s nagging.”
It was a shrewd decision for both men. Burnet raised the financing and sponsorship to create an attractive package for CBS, which Parsons says was an “ailing network” at the turn of the millennium. Using the blueprint Parsons laid down in his original ABC pitch, Survivor premiered on May 31, 2000, building its audience to a crescendo of nearly 52M viewers, putting it second only to the Super Bowl. “CBS took the risk — and all credit to them.”
For Parsons, though, it was never in doubt. He describes his younger self as “arrogant,” “determined,” and steadfastly convinced that Survivor could reshape unscripted television. He sees Survivor as both a window on the “human condition” and a sport, which has inculcated its own lore, right down to a pejorative inversion of the word “goat” (in Survivor, goats are considered easy prey, whereas in sport, it denotes the greatest of all time).
What makes Survivor so enduring? Parsons points to two ingredients. Firstly, he offers a generous herogram for Jeff Probst, who has presented the show for 26 years. Parsons says Probst produces himself “on the run” and has an “incredibly curious mind” that allows him to ask the right questions and cultivate relationships with contestants.
The British producer also sees echoes of foundational shows from earlier in his career. Readers in the UK will know that The Big Breakfast is woven into the nation’s TV history, and Parsons says his irreverent Channel 4 morning show provided lessons in putting “ordinary people on television in heroic situations.”
He continues: “Survivor was always a mirror to society. It’s always reflected a great range of different people. Even more so, you see people who just would not have been on TV before.” Parsons is not blind to contestants becoming more TV savvy over the years, or appearing on the reality circuit, but he believes the show still manages to surprise. He points to Eva Erickson becoming the first openly autistic person to play Survivor in Season 48, getting Probst emotional in the process.
Parsons has little to no involvement in the CBS series or any of the other 50 versions produced around the world. This is a source of some regret for him. “It’s the weirdest thing for me, because obviously, it’s my biggest success, and yet, it’s a show I never produced. If there’s one regret, it’s that I wish I’d produced it,” he says. “I wanted to give birth to this thing, but I had to have a surrogate. I’ve seen it grow up, and I’m very proud of it.”
The New York Times published a story last week in which it opined that “Survivor is America.” It resonated with Parsons, but he can’t resist pointing out a truth skipped over by The Times essay: Survivor may be America, but it took two Brits to will it into existence.
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