Words by: Maya Field (she/her)
CW: eating disorders, transphobia, sexual assault.
“Survivor is such a beautiful microcosm for the world,” said Ozzy Lusth, a contestant in May 2017. He may have said the word “microcosm” at least five times during the Survivor 34: Game Changers reunion, which was very “we live in a society,” of him. But Ozzy was right. Although it’s a reality TV Show, it still holds up as a social experiment with gameshow aspects.
Survivor works because it features everyday people—who would probably never meet in normal life—contending over real problems, like starvation, survival, and the $1 million prize. It’s not a reality TV show about drunken rich people, with sisters fighting over a Bentley or a housewife selling cardigans on HSN; it has real stakes, and a life-changing prize.
Because of the realism Survivor presents, feminism is inherent to the show, though this may not be apparent at first glance. When you consider the numerous instances of fairly vile behaviour, you realise it’s consistently directed towards female, POC, and/or queer contestants. In the earlier seasons these instances were presented by production as ‘fly-on-the-wall’ moments, allowing the showrunners to avoid intervening—as in a social experiment. Now, production loves to explicitly highlight the way dynamics in the show echo real-life issues. Survivor has always been political; it’s just recently the producers are drawing some sort of line in the sand.
Season Five had the first (aired) instance of truly awful in-game behaviour towards women. This was the first #MeToo Moment, which the show really tried to sweep under the rug (watch out for 2019). The barest bones is that, while they slept in the shelter, Ted Rogers Jr. grinded on Ghandia Johnson, without her consent, while lying next to her in the tribe. Ghandia pulled him aside, he apologised and explained that he was married, and mistook her for his wife. Initially, she accepted his apology. Thanks to some pot-stirring from season-winner, Brian Heidik, Ghandia revoked her acceptance, got more upset (totally justified), and was voted out for an ‘emotional breakdown’—just her screaming on the beach, letting out frustration at ‘petty drama’ that was actually sexual assault. Really icky stuff—pretty routine treatment of emotional women, especially emotional WOC, though.
Season 14 was the first time there’s been a Final Three comprised totally of African Americans. For some reason, that I can’t quite put my finger on, the jury (mostly comprised of white contestants) were very bitter towards the Final Three. One juror, Lisi Linares, asked the condescending question of “how many zeros are in a million dollars?” I like to think she asked this because she didn’t know
Ten Seasons after the Ghandia situation, we have Season 15. One contestant, Jean-Robert Bellande constantly sought out tribemates Courtney Yates and Amanda Kimmel to sleep next to, made inappropriate comments, and was just a total creep. He was creepy to both women, but he was also incredibly aggressive towards Courtney, so I’m focusing on her.
In a Zoom interview (can’t find the date, but it was either during or after Season 39) Courtney explained how she went to production, saying that she didn’t want to be there because of how uncomfortable she was. They asked her to “not ruin the show.” Jean-Robert was aggressive towards her in every sense of the word. Courtney fired back with humour and brilliant bitchiness, because that was the only way she could get her complaints heard. Her confessionals are legendary for her brutal wit. Her allies, Todd Herzog and Amanda, insisted that they cared about her, but kept Jean-Robert until Day 24, pandering towards him and his ego. Her other tribemates saw her as annoyingly spiteful and petty, rather than uncomfortable and unsafe.
Then, because it’s 2007, we have the eating disorder rumours. Articles questioned if Courtney was anorexic, and if it was responsible of Survivor to have her on-screen. At the Season’s reunion, Jeff blatantly asked if she had an eating disorder. She didn’t, she was just tall and thin. Survivor deprives you of basic nutrients, so obviously everyone’s bodies go through drastic changes. It’s kind of a given. Interestingly, no one checked in to see if ‘Big’ Tom Buchanan was suffering from an eating disorder, despite his weight loss still being the record, with 80 pounds lost in Season Three. Just saying…
On Season 34 (Game Changers), Jeff Varner outed Zeke Smith as transgender at Tribal Council. The rest of the contestants rushed to Zeke’s defence, unanimously voting out Varner. They didn’t even go to vote, they just kicked him out. If you’ve seen any stand-alone clip from Survivor, it’s probably this one. Not much more needs to be said other than don’t out people, and don’t paint trans people as deceptive. The following year, the show got a GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Reality Program, accepted by Zeke.
The so-called ‘unprecedented’ events of Season 39 are really gross. This label is also why I spent so long on Courtney Yates and Ghandia Johnson. Basically, Dan Spilo (someone who ‘works in Hollywood’) was very ‘touchy’ with the women. Kellee Kim and Molly Byman were particularly upset by this. Kellee and Missy Byrd bonded over their mutual discomfort around Dan. Kellee approached older tribemate, and Dan’s ally, Janet Carbin. Janet stepped outside of the game to talk to him about his behaviour.
Cue the most disgusting series of events: Kellee gets voted out, Missy (and her ally, Elizabeth Beisel) turn on Janet and say that they never had a problem with Dan, so Janet apologises and is targeted. Then, on Day 36 (out of 39 days), Dan is ejected for an off-camera incident with a crew member. Janet, the only one left to root for, is then voted off on Day 37. Survivor calls this season “unprecedented.” We’re just going to ignore Ghandia and Courtney, then? Fans tend to ignore this season, just because it’s so unpleasant. I don’t think we should act like this season doesn’t exist, but I also wish Dan never gets an ounce of attention, ever.
On Season 40 (Winners at War. The most awaited season ever), Sarah Lacina gave a stirring speech about how women are villainised for playing like men—lying, backstabbing, etc. She makes a good point, except that she did the exact same thing to Kass McQuillen in Season 28, going so far as to say that Kass was setting a terrible example to her daughter. She didn’t own up to her hypocrisy, but she is a cop. Surprise.
In Season 41, Host Jeff Probst switched from saying “come on in, guys,” to “come on in.” Why? To make a more welcoming environment for the young girls watching at home, obviously. It’s Survivor’s equivalent of corporate feminism, or Target’s Pride Collection. Conservative fans lost their minds at the wokeness, which was really funny.
Season 43 onwards highlights one of the most important, and shameful, parts of being a woman: you’re not always going to get on with other women. Cassidy and Karla were allies who turned on each other in Season 43. Season 45 saw Emily Flippen and Katurah Topps make the bold decision to complain about tribemates in their confessionals. I loved every minute of Katurah complaining about Bruce, and I adored Emily just disagreeing with everyone on her Lulu tribe. Emily’s face of disgusted confusion at the Pyramid conspiracy theories made my day. Season 46 had a great rivalry of Venus versus Soda, Venus versus Tiffany, Venus versus Tevin, Venus versus every man except Randen, Venus versus the Empire State Building.
Opinions on Venus were extreme: you either loved her and her snarky confessionals transcending the dogpiling on her, or you found her unwatchable. As a fan of contestants like Courtney Yates, Eliza Orlins, Parvati Shallow, and Kass McQuillen, I loved her. Her wit and hater-levels were refreshing in an era of less villains and Jeff Probst, the inspiring “you gotta dig deep” Dad-Host hybrid.
Season 46 was a big step in the right direction, in my opinion, as it highlighted the key social aspect of Survivor: you’re not going to like everyone, and not everyone is going to like you (and, unfortunately, you’re stuck on an island with them). Season 45 and 46 mark a change in the right direction, casting wise, especially with the female contestants. Hopefully, production is making changes in the right direction too.