‘Survivor’ returns with its 38th season
Staying power: In May 2000, a reality TV show about a group of strangers stranded on an island premiered to a little over 15 million viewers. When the finale aired in August of the same year, more than 51 million TV viewers tuned in. The show that sparked a decades-long TV craze has outlasted the competition and it’s back with a new season and a new twist.
Eighteen castaways embark on the adventure of a lifetime as they compete in “Survivor: Edge of Extinction,” premiering Wednesday, Feb. 20, on CBS. Jeff Probst returns once again to host the 38th season of the show, which pits competitors against each other in a grueling battle for a $1 million prize.
The show’s formula has been successful from the get-go as TV audiences have tuned in by the millions to see which player will outwit, outplay and outlast the others. At the beginning of each season, the competitors are stranded in an uninhabited area, usually on a beach, where they’ll have to work together to acquire fire and build a shelter. Divided into tribes, the castaways then compete in challenges throughout the season to win rewards and immunity from elimination at Tribal Council. Those who do face Tribal Council could be voted out of the game by their tribemates. In the end, only one player earns the title of Sole Survivor.
This season’s competition features 18 players in the running for the $1-million prize, including four returning players from past seasons.While not much has been revealed about season 38, the producers have promised a unique twist to the game. Host Probst has been tight-lipped about what’s in store for “Survivor” fans, but in a December interview with ew.com, he did talk about the inspiration for the new season.
“The inspiration for next season came from our desire to see if we can take the show even deeper,” explained Probst. “One thing that has become apparent over the last several years is that the yearning for adventure in our lives is a real thing. ‘Survivor’ already provides an amazing format for game play. So what would happen if we added another challenge to the experience? A question that simply asks ... How badly do you want this?”
The crew returned to the islands of Fiji for the seventh time in the show’s history to produce season 38. Other editions have been set in Australia, Thailand, Kenya, Samoa and other exotic locales. The new season was filmed over the course of 39 days between May and July 2018. Details about the “Extinction Island” twist have been few and far between, but many “Survivor” aficionados speculate that the show’s latest gimmick may provide eliminated players with an opportunity to re-enter the game at some later point. Such a concept would be a risky move considering that a similar plot twist in a previous season — “Survivor: Redemption Island,” season 22 — turned out to be panned by many critics.
Luckily, none of this season’s returning players hail from “Redemption Island.” Of the returning castaways, Kelley Wentworth has the longest history with the game. She first appeared in the 29th season of the show, “Survivor: San Juan del Sur,” which premiered in 2014. She went on to vie for the $1-million prize in “Survivor: Cambodia” in 2015 but only made it as far as fourth place.
Joe Anglim earned the moniker “Joey Amazing” for his appearances in both “Survivor: Worlds Apart” in early 2015 and “Survivor: Cambodia,” alongside Wentworth, later that same year. During his turn in “Cambodia” — the show’s 31st season — he made it to Day 32 and enjoyed a 29-day run of immunity.
Like Anglim and Wentworth, returning player Aubry Bracco has also played the game twice before. She made her “Survivor” debut in the 32nd season, “Survivor: Kaoh Rong,” in 2016. After 39 days of fierce competition, runner-up Bracco lost to that season’s winner, Michele Fitzgerald. Not one to give up, she made a comeback in 2017’s “Survivor: Game Changers,” making it to fifth place.
David Wright is the only returning castaway who’s only played the game once before. He made it to fourth place in “Survivor: Millennials vs. Gen X,” the show’s 33rd season, which premiered in September 2016. He made his mark in “Survivor” history by crafting the most authenticlooking fake immunity idol ever created on the show.
In “Survivor: Edge of Extinction,” these four veterans will face off against 14 new players, including morning news anchor Rick Devens from Macon, Georgia, and 25-yearold swap-meet vendor Wendy Diaz from Los Angeles. Experience in the game means the returning players will likely have an edge over their rookie counterparts, but they’ll also have targets on their backs as eager new players vie for their chance to become a part of “Survivor” history.
Watch the competition unfold as the first of 14 episodes kicks off “Survivor: Edge of Extinction,” beginning Wednesday, Feb. 20, on CBS. Tune in to find out why Time magazine has ranked “Survivor” among the 100 greatest television series of all time.