I’ve watched every season of Survivor. I’m not a SuperFan, but I’m passionate about the show and deeply curious about how it’s produced. I ordered this book in November and waited with genuine anticipation. My only response now that it’s in my hands: what a missed opportunity.
What’s Here
The vast majority of the content is comprised of photos. Many are full-page images, and the best of these are true behind-the-scenes shots that clarify just how crowded those “deserted” Survivor beaches are during a game. Those moments are the book at its best.
They’re also few and far between.
Too many of the remaining images are grainy, low-definition photos that look smeared or out-of-focus in print. And too many are odd cut-ins — close-ups of mouths, necks, feet, mosquito bites, lips drinking water — bland, generic images that take up page after page while photos of actual players remain unclear, blurred, and rare.
Very few pages feature any text at all. The best of them appear to be images from a personal journal Jeff Probst kept during production. That’s exactly the kind of content I’d hoped to see throughout. There are four or five of these pages in the entire book.
Other texts include some genuinely engaging anecdotes — including a compelling story about how the crew handled the hottest production day on record, when three players went down and one almost died. But someone’s chosen to be stingy with the very content Survivor‘s most faithful viewers are hungry for. I read every single word in this book in under fifteen minutes.
What Happened Here
I don’t know for certain, but I have a theory.
Someone in an executive suite recognized that the fiftieth season and twenty-fifth anniversary was an opportunity to cash in. Some poor souls were charged with pulling as many images as possible, as quickly as possible — with very little time, research, or cooperation. Someone assembled what they could of the Survivor story with a few pages from Jeff’s journal and a phone call or two.
What This Should Have Been
A celebration. Interviews with Jeff Probst. Commentary from players. Behind-the-scenes features on how the show is actually produced. The details of what players experience that we don’t see at home. Meditations on what it means to have been part of a genuine cultural phenomenon.
Instead, this book is a soulless, hastily-assembled collection of mostly forgettable photos with an anecdote or two wedged in for good measure.
If you love the show, you’ll get more out of re-streaming your favorite moments than you will from this $40.00 hardbound book.
The tribe has spoken: you just don’t need this book.
