History Trivia / Survivor

[[FanNickname/{{Survivor}} Fan Nickname]] and [[WhatCouldHaveBeen/{{Survivor}} What Could Have Been]] have their own page.

* QuoteSource: FingerWag and VotedOfftheIsland

* FanNickname: [[FanNickname/{{Survivor}} Has it's own page.]]

* WhatCouldHaveBeen:
** The hosting job for ''Survivor'' came down to Jeff Probst and [[Series/TheAmazingRace Phil Keoghan]]. Probst got it due to his live TV work and due to an interview on Access Hollywood where he flirted with Sandra Bullock. However, if Probst hadn't been chosen, imagine what both Survivor and The Amazing Race would be like with Phil as the Survivor host.
** ''Survivor'' beat out an attempted revival of ''Series/WhatsMyLine'' for a prime time slot. Imagine how different television would have been had CBS picked that up instead...
** Shane Powers was actually intended to return ''twice'', but both times, got replaced. He was intended to return in ''Micronesia'', but was replaced by Jonny Fairplay. Shane was ''also'' intended to return in ''Heroes vs. Villains'', but was replaced by Russell.
*** He also could have been voted into ''Cambodia'', but didn't get enough votes.
*** He also turned down ''Blood vs. Water'' because he didn't want to have to play against his son.
** Other people were considered to return for the show. Sandra was actually one of the people dropped at the last moment in ''Micronesia''. Tom Westman was asked to come back to ''Micronesia'', but he declined the offer.
*** Sandra was also asked to come back for ''All-Stars'', but she declined as she was recovering from parasites that she picked up from her time in ''Pearl Islands''.
** The original filming location intended for Season 4 was the country of Jordan, but due to [[UsefulNotes/TheWarOnTerror a certain event in America in 2001]], it was changed to Marquesas.
** A [[https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/survivor/images/a/a3/Unused_Palau_Merge_Buff.JPG/revision/latest?cb=20190702030125 green buff]] was made for, but not used in ''Palau''. Presumably, it would've been the merged tribe buff had [[FlawlessVictory Koror]] not've steamrolled Ulong.
** Season 11 was originally planned to be set in an Indian Ocean locale (UsefulNotes/{{Madagascar}}, [[UsefulNotes/{{India}} southern India]], and UsefulNotes/SriLanka were all scouted), but it was changed to Guatemala due to the Boxing Day tsunami.
** Some castaways, prior to being eventually selected for ''Survivor'', initially applied for ''Series/TheAmazingRace'' first. Some examples are [[Characters/SurvivorCookIslands Parvati Shallow]], [[Characters/SurvivorFiji Earl Cole]], [[Characters/SurvivorSamoa Natalie White]], [[Characters/SurvivorOneWorld Monica]] & [[Characters/SurvivorBloodVsWater Brad Culpepper]], and [[Characters/SurvivorSanJuanDelSur Kelley Wentworth, Jon Misch, and Jaclyn Schultz]].
** Richard Hatch was supposed to be on ''Heroes vs. Villains'' as well, but he was under house arrest at the time and wasn't able to get permission from the courts to leave the country to film it. Additionally, both Yau-Man Chan and Corinne Kaplan had to turn down coming back due to work obligations.
** [[Characters/SurvivorPanama Tina Scheer]] was going to be in ''Guatemala'' but her son died through a car accident and [[Characters/SurvivorGuatemala Amy O'Hara]] went on to replace her.
** ''Redemption Island'' was originally planned as Russell vs. Richard, with the tribes comprised of returning players chosen in a draft. After Richard was denied permission to leave the country again, the draft idea was scrapped and Boston Rob, Russell's rival from ''Heroes vs. Villains'', was chosen as Richard's replacement.
** ''Fiji'' is so far the only season with an odd number of players as well as the first with a gender imbalance, due to one of the players quitting and not being replaced.
*** Additionally it was rumored that this was supposed to have a similar tribe split as in Cook Islands, which is further hinted to by the fact there were 5 Caucasian-American castaways (Gary, Melissa, Rocky, Boo, and Jessica), 5 Hispanic-American castaways (Liliana, Lisi, Alex, Rita, and Edgardo), 5 Asian-American castaways (Sylvia, Michelle, Mookie, Yau-Man, and Stacy), and 5 African American castaways (Anthony, Erica, Cassandra, Dreamz, and Earl) though this was changed after Melissa dropped out. Given the UnfortunateImplications this created last time, this wasn't necessarily a bad thing.
** [[Characters/SurvivorAfrica Kelly Goldsmith]] was an alternate for the ''All-Stars'' season but was replaced with Shii-Ann at the last minute. She was also approached for ''Heroes vs. Villains'', but declined when casting wouldn't tell her the concept behind the season. She was approached a third time, for ''Blood vs. Water'', and had planned on playing, but had to decline when none of the loved ones she had chosen were able to play.
** [[Characters/SurvivorBloodvsWater Hayden]] [[Characters/BigBrother12 Moss]] was going to be on ''Nicaragua'' but they put Fabio on that season instead and they went on to put Hayden on ''Series/BigBrother''.
** [[Characters/SurvivorPhilippines Abi-Maria]] [[Characters/SurvivorCambodia Gomes]] was originally going to be on ''Tocantins'' but because of production feeling that she had a good layout of the land, they didn't put her on the season.
** [[Characters/SurvivorPhilippines R.C. Saint-Amour]] was originally going to compete in ''Blood vs. Water'' with her father, Craig. However, just before the game started, Craig's blood pressure shot up too high, and they were unable to compete. Instead, Candice and her husband John were brought in as a last minute replacement. In fact, the season's original theme was going to be "blood tribes" vs. "water tribes" before they were pulled out and the theme was switched to "returning players vs. their families". This makes ''Blood vs. Water'' something of an ArtifactTitle. She was also asked for ''Cambodia'', but declined.
** Two players have left ''San Juan del Sur'' just before filming, resulting in the "redemption island" twist being played axed altogether, and forcing the players to have a gender imbalance for the first time since Fiji. Probst confirmed this in an interview, and did not state why they had to leave. (Fans assume something similar to what happened to Craig Saint-Amour or in [[Series/TheAmazingRace The Amazing Race 24]].) One of the supposed players, So Kim, then eventually competed in the following season.
** According to Jeff Probst, some players declined to return for ''Cambodia'', including Greg Buis from ''Borneo'', Elisabeth Hasselbeck from ''The Australian Outback'', Ian Rosenberger from ''Palau'', Brett Clouser and Shambo Waters from ''Samoa'', Jeff Kent and RC Saint-Amour from ''Phillipines'', and Josh Canfield from ''San Juan Del Sur''. CBS contacted Jon Misch, also from ''San Juan Del Sur'', about participating, but he missed the call and didn't check his voicemail in time.
*** Speaking of ''Cambodia'', it has been confirmed that had Mike Holloway not invalided himself by winning ''Worlds Apart'', he would have made the roster of the season.
** [[Characters/SurvivorMillennialsVsGenX Adam Klein]] and his mother applied to be on ''San Juan Del Sur'' but had to withdraw due to her cancer diagnosis. He was given a standing invitation to appear on a later season.
** [[Characters/SurvivorSanJuanDelSur Natalie Anderson]] was supposed to come back for ''Game Changers'', however, she suffered a serious concussion just before she was due to fly out to Fiji and was forced to pull out as a result.
** [[Characters/SurvivorDavidVsGoliath Davie Rickenbacker]] was never originally intended to be on ''David vs. Goliath'', but on the following season. Instead, somebody else cast for that season left during the pre-season press interviews for unknown reasons, causing Davie to take his spot at the very last minute.
** [[Characters/SurvivorIslandOfTheIdols Dan Spilo]] was originally cast for ''Edge of Extinction'', but broke his foot a few days before he was supposed to leave for Fiji, and so was bumped to the following season. Yeah, let's just say the girls on ''Edge'' may have dodged a ''huge'' bullet there...
** Similarly to ''Palau'', there was also an [[https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/survivor/images/5/50/S39_Unused_Frog_Buff.png/revision/latest?cb=20201020035814 unused green buff]] in ''Island of the Idols''. Judging by the seasons before it; it would've most likely been used for a third auxiliary tribe like Angkor or Ikabula.
** ''Fiji'' winner Earl Cole declined to return for ''Winners at War'' because it would've meant missing the birth of his child.
** Production wanted Ethan to be on Heroes vs. Villains but he was going through chemotherapy at the time, he and Jenna were asked to be on South Pacific as captains but they declined as they didn't want to compete against each other so Coach and Ozzy were asked instead, he was once again asked to come back for Game Changers but had to turn it down becuase he would only arrive home two days before his wedding.
** ''Survivor 41'' was going to be called ''Dawn of a New Era'' before they decided to stop using sub-titles for this season and beyond.

* FanNickname:
** "Pagonging" is when, after tribes merge, the one with the majority systematically eliminates the other (named for the Pagong tribe of ''Borneo'', the first victim of this). As many of the players don't feel a need to ''immediately'' break the original tribal alliances upon merging, pagonging is attempted rather often. (It often leads to a BoringButPractical strategy if one thinks about it; because removing the opposing alliances at merge means you can waltz undefeated to the finals.)
** "Ulonging" is similar; only the tribe gets utterly destroyed ''before'' the merge by losing challenges. Named for the Ulong tribe in ''Palau'', who lost ''every single Immunity challenge''. They went down in history as the only tribe to be completely eliminated before the merge (except for Stephenie). In fact, there was no official merge in that season because of this.
*** "Matsinging", named for the tribe from ''Philippines'', is similar but refers specifically to a losing tribe in 3-tribe seasons since those seasons have different dynamics. Interestingly, those dynamics tend to put the survivors of these in favorable positions after their tribe is inevitably dissolved.
** "Loser Lodge" is a popular term for the Ponderosa, the nearby complex at which Jury members are sequestered before the Final Tribal Council.
*** "The Mayor of Ponderosa" is a nickname given to the first member of the jury.
*** The name "Ponderosa" comes from another long-running TV show; it's the homestead ranch featured in Series/{{Bonanza}}.
** "Mactor" is a {{Portmanteau}} of "model" and "actor", [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin referring to the large number of models and wannabe actors who've been cast over the years]]. It's implied to mean in a cynical way that said mactor doesn't care about being on ''Survivor'' and is only on the show for the exposure (as opposed to an "applicant" who is more likely to have watched previous seasons).
** "Gamebot" is a player whose entire focus is on winning the game and maximizing their success at winning the game at the expense of everything else (such as, you know, maybe enjoying the experience, or [[ImNotHereToMakeFriends remembering that this is a social game too]]). They are differentiated from most players (who also want to win) by their total disinterest in anything that doesn't advance them further in the game. A good example of this is Amanda and Danielle during ''Heroes vs Villains'' when they went along with Colby to the home of Creator/RobertLouisStevenson on reward. Amanda even ''said'' out loud that she didn't care about the reward itself, and just wanted a clue to the next hidden immunity idol.
** "Advantagegeddon" refers to the final 6 Tribal Council in ''Game Changers'' where 3 immunity idols and a legacy advantage were played, sending Cirie out of the game as the only person not immune. By extension, it refers to any theoretical scenario where the same can happen.
** Here's a few other popular (or once popular) fan nicknames for alliances featured on the show:
*** "Boran Boys Club" (Lex, Big Tom, and Ethan during ''Africa'')
*** "The Rotu 4" (John, Tammy, Robert Decanio, and Zoe during ''Marquesas'')
*** "Twigs and Sticks" (Jenna and Heidi during ''The Amazon'')
*** "The Fat Five" (Lea, Bubba, Chris, Chad, and Rory during ''Vanuatu'')
*** "Crazy Casaya" (Shane, Courtney, Danielle, Aras, Cirie, Bruce, and Bobby during ''Panama''. This is an exception in that it describes the entire tribe instead of a specific alliance.)
*** "Aitu 4" (Yul, Sundra, Ozzy, and Becky during ''Cook Islands'')
*** "Black Widow Brigade" (Parvati, Amanda, Cirie, Natalie, and Alexis during ''Micronesia'')
*** "The Onions" (Marcus, Charlie, Corinne, [[ICouldaBeenAContender Jacquie]], later [[{{Turncoat}} Randy]] and Bob during ''Gabon'')
*** "The Ometepe five/six" (Andrea, Natalie, Grant, Phillip, Ashley, plus Rob when it's six, during ''Redemption Island'')
*** [[FunWithAcronyms CRABS]] ('''C'''oach, '''R'''ick, '''A'''lbert, '''B'''randon, and '''S'''ophie during ''South Pacific''.) After '''E'''dna [[SixthRanger joined]], the acronym got changed to BRACES.
*** "Stealth R Us 2.0" in ''Caramoan'' (Phillip, Andrea, Cochran, Dawn, Malcolm, and Corinne initially, later [[SixthRanger Sherri, Erik, and Brenda]] join after the latter two defect.)
*** "Cool Kids Club" in Caramoan (Reynold, Eddie, Allie, and Hope. Later it becomes Malcolm, Reynold, Eddie, Corinne, and Michael.)
*** The "Three Amigos" alliance in ''Caramoan'' (Malcolm, Reynold, and Eddie.)
*** "The Witches Coven" (Kelly Wentworth, Ciera, and Abi-Maria in ''Cambodia'')
*** "Cool Kids 2.0" (Taylor, Jay, Michelle, Will, Figgy, later joined by Michaela and Hannah (who defected)) and "Nerd Voting Bloc" (Adam, Zeke and Hannah) on the Millennials side of ''Millennials Vs. Gen-X''.
*** On Gen-X, there was "Paul's Posse" (Paul, Chris, Bret, Sunday, Jessica and Lucy) but after a swap, losing its members, and making the merge with the outcasts, they formed together and became "The Gen-X Alliance" (Chris, Bret, Sunday, David, Jessica and Ken).
** "CG-I", to refer to a player with an OutOfFocus edit to the point that they seem almost digitally inserted into the show halfway through the season. In a similar vein, thanks to Purple Kelly's OutOfFocus edit in ''Nicaragua'', people have referred to OutOfFocus contestants as "Purple ______" as well as those types of edits being referred to as "Purple Edits" in general.
** Shortly after she was voted out first ''again'', Francesca gained nicknames such as "Anti-Sandra," or "Reverse-Sandra," etc.
** The "idol with special powers" in Cagayan is referred to as the "Tyler Perry idol", since the idea came from a text message from Tyler Perry to Jeff Probst.
** "WesternAnimation/TheSmurfs tribe", the post-shuffle Escameca in ''Worlds Apart'' due to the tribe having blue ColorMotif and TheSmurfettePrinciple being blonde and an original member of said blue tribe.
** The term "Big Move-itis", often used when somebody makes a big move just for the sake of making a big move, despite it being more or less a bad move to make at that point in the game.
** After [[Characters/SurvivorTocantins Stephen]] [[Characters/SurvivorCambodia Fishbach]] incorrectly referred to [[Characters/SurvivorSanJuanDelSur Missy]] as Muffin on Podcast/RobHasAPodcast, several fans started doing the same.
** The eleven people who were not voted to play on ''Cambodia'' are often referred to by fans as the Bitter Eleven.
** Many fans have taken to referring to Ghost Island contestant Chris Noble as The Noble One.
** Donald Glover for Wendell Holland (aka the winner of ''Ghost Island'') thanks to how similar looking they are.
** The term "Island Hot" is used to describe players who are considered to be becoming more attractive the longer they stay in the game as they lose weight, get more tanned, and, in the case of the men, grow beards.
** "Goats" are people who are intentionally taken to the end of the game by other players with the knowledge that none of the jurors will vote for them to win. It has been [[AscendedMeme ascended]] as the show went on, but the original term of this came from [[https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/survivorsucks/the-fox-the-bear-the-goat-and-the-bunny-t10101.html#.VWHKukYUt8E a post]] on ''Survivor Sucks''.
** ''Heroes vs. Healers vs. Hustlers'' has been called "Triple H" by fans.

** "Casuals" and "Superfans" are often referred to by the fandom, the former often taking the show as just an hour of television while the latter often dive into the full story and are way more active in the Survivor fandom.

** "Goats" are people who are intentionally taken to the end of the game by other players with the knowledge that none of the jurors will vote for them to win.

* DevelopmentHell: From 2020 until further notice, the coronavirus pandemic prevented future seasons from being filmed until it becomes safe again. The last season's finale had to be done virtually instead of the usual studio audience, removing a lot of the suspense and ambiance in exchange for a rather hasty end to the festivities.

** Jeff Probst doesn't like quitters in general as he pretty much forbids them from coming back for another time (Jenna Morasca is the only known exception so far as she got asked to return for ''Heroes vs. Villains''). In particular, Colton probably gets the worst treatment out of the quitters as Jeff pretty much gives a huge ReasonYouSuckSpeech when Colton quits ''Blood vs. Water''.

** Jeff also doesn't like Jonny Fairplay that much due to a NoodleIncident that happened between Probst and Fairplay in the ''Vanuatu'' reunion afterparty to the point where Fairplay is banned from any event that Jeff Probst participates in[[note]]Allegedly, Fairplay got into a pretty aggressive argument with Jeff Probst’s brother at the after-party.[[/note]] Fairplay asking to be voted out in ''Micronesia'' doesn't help much as Jeff Probst would end up labelling Fairplay as a quiter that is extremely unlikely to return for a third season.

* CreatorsPest: Ironically, despite accusations of Russell Hantz being a CreatorsPet, Jeff stated [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kuRIbXXmcmg in this interview]] that Russell is his least favorite contestant.

** After one episode of ''Gabon'', there was a brief message stating Rudy's wife, Marge Boesch, passed away.

** Two players have left ''San Juan del Sur'' just before filming, resulting in the "redemption island" twist being played axed altogether, and forcing the players to have a gender imbalance for the first time since Fiji. Probst confirmed this in an interview, and did not state why they had to leave. (Fans assume something similar to what happened to Craig Saint-Amour or in [[Series/TheAmazingRace The Amazing Race 24]].) One of the supposed players then eventually competed in the following season.

** "CG-I", to refer to a player with an OutOfFocus edit to the point that they seem almost digitally inserted into the show halfway through the season. In a similar vein, thanks to Purple Kelly's OutOfFocus edit in ''Nicaragua'', people have referred to OutOfFocus contestants as "Purple ______" as well as those types of edits being referred to as "Purple Edits".

** "CG-I", to refer to a player with an OutOfFocus edit to the point that they seem almost digitally inserted into the show halfway through the season. In a similar vein, thanks to Purple Kelly's OutOfFocus edit in ''Nicaragua'', people have referred to OutOfFocus contestants as "Purple ______".

** The term "Big Move-itis" often referred to as when somebody makes a big move just for the sake of making a big move despite it being more or less a bad move to make at that point in the game.
** After [[Characters/SurvivorTocantins Stephen]] [[Characters/SurvivorCambodia Fishbach]] incorrectly refer to [[Characters/SurvivorSanJuanDelSur Missy]] as Muffin on Podcast/RobHasAPodcast, several fans start calling Missy by Muffin.
** The eleven people who were not voted to play on ''Cambodia'' is often referred by fans as the Bitter Eleven.
** "Casuals" and "Superfans" are often referred by the fandom for when the former often takes the show as a hour of television while the latter often dives in the full story and are way more active in the Survivor fandom.
** Many fans have taken to referring Ghost Island contestant Chris Noble as The Noble One.

** Goats are referred to people who are intentionally taken to the end of the game by other players with the knowledge that none of the jurors shall vote for them to win.

*** Additionally it was rumored that this was supposed to have a similar tribe split as in Cook Islands, which is further hinted to by the fact there were 5 Caucasian-American castaways (Gary, Melissa, Rocky, Boo, and Jessica), 5 Hispanic-American castaways (Liliana, Lisi, Alex, Rita, and Edgardo), 5 Asian-American castaways (Sylvia, Michelle, Mookie, Yau-Man, and Stacy), and 5 African American castaways (Anthony, Erica, Cassandra, Dreamz, and Earl) though this was changed after Melissa dropped out. Given the UnfortunateImplications this created last time, this wasn't necessarily a bad thing

** "CG-I", to refer to a player with an OutOfFocus edit to the point that they seem almost digitally inserted into the show halfway through the season. In a similar vain, thanks to Purple Kelly's OutOfFocus edit in ''Nicaragua'', people have referred to OutOfFocus contestants as "Purple ______".

** Vecepia was asked to come back to ''All-Stars'', but she couldn't as she was pregnant at the time.
*** Though Vecepia herself has claimed that she was never contacted, so...

* ''Heroes vs. Healers vs. Hustlers'' has been called "Triple H" by fans.

* BigNameFan: Mario Lanza, creator and owner of the extremely popular fan site [[http://www.funny115.com The Funny 115]], and writer of (among many others), the popular fanfics ''All-Star Survivor: Hawaii'', ''All-Star Survivor: Greece'' and ''All-Star Survivor: Alaska''. He's also considered to be one of the most prominent and knowledgeable experts on the show.

* RomanceOnTheSet: "Boston" Rob and Amber during ''All-Stars'' is the most obvious. There's also Amanda and Ozzy in ''Micronesia'', Keith and Whitney in ''South Pacific'' (to the point that she left her husband for him), and Colleen and Greg all the way back in ''Borneo'' (although they insisted it was [[JustFriends only friendship]]). Julie Berry from ''Vanuatu'' once dated Jeff Probst himself. However, most players wisely avoid this, at least overtly - nothing says "unbreakable alliance" like two players making out.