Most people would probably say “Yes” immediately if someone agreed to pay them a million dollars for spending time on an island. But what if you had to undergo challenges like eating beetle larvae, and be judged by a jury of your peers in order to get the money? Oh, also, finding a place to poop is not fun. That may not sound like your ideal vacation, but to the first-season contestants on Survivor, that was their reality for the 39-day duration of the show. And to the millions of people who were glued to the screen, they witnessed a seminal moment of television that helped define a genre and has continued to this day.

Ray teaches Rob about the first season of Survivor and how its creators and producers, Charlie Parsons and Mark Burnett, made their dream reality show an actual reality; why psychologists are essential to the casting of the show; Ray’s deep love for Mr. Jeff Probst, the show’s legendary host; moments of the first season that have become part of Survivor canon; the strong personalities that made up the show’s original sixteen-person cast; and how Survivor has innovated on its formula since the first season.

If you like what we’re doing, please support us on Patreon, or you can subscribe to our bonus content on Apple Podcasts. And we’d love to find even more listeners, so if you have time, please leave us a rating or review on Apple PodcastsSpotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts. And if you have any other thoughts or feedback you’d like to share with us, we’d love to hear from you - feel free to email us or send us a message on social media.

TEAM

Ray Hebel

Robert W. Schneider

Mark Schroeder

Billy Recce

Daniel Schwartzberg

Gabe Crawford

Natalie DeSavia


EPISODE CLIPS

Sue’s Famous Rat and Snake speech

Survivor Borneo Rudy Likes Rich Not in a Homosexual way

Survivor Borneo in 19 Minutes!

Survivor 1 Borneo Opening Credits High Quality

ADDITIONAL MUSIC & SOUND EFFECTS

“Happy...

Podden och tillhörande omslagsbild på den här sidan tillhör Robert W. Schneider. Innehållet i podden är skapat av Robert W. Schneider och inte av, eller tillsammans med, Poddtoppen.