Survivor: The Official Companion

The summer of 2000, a new phenomenon hit the airwaves. A reality based TV show called "Survivor" made its debut. The premise was simple, on a basic level, almost silly. Take sixteen adventurous individuals, drop them in the South China Sea and strand them for 39 days on a remote tropical island to fend for themselves, scheme against each other and develop an "every man for himself" attitude. One by one, they would be forced to vote each other off until one sole survivor remained. That cunning individual would walk away with $1,000,000.

I laughed when I heard about it. Surely this would go down in history as the biggest television fiasco of all time. Yet, CBS took a huge gamble on its success, banking on attracting rerun weary viewers. So, out of curiosity, I watched. What I had expected to be a superficial popularity contest turned out to be a fascinating glimpse into the human psyche. What made these people tick? And, more importantly, how far would they go to win the million? Like millions of others, I sat riveted to my TV every Wednesday night as a group of diverse individuals competed to "Outwit, Outplay, Outlast."

And then they were down to four. By now, CBS had a certified hit on its hands. The final episode, expected to draw 40 million viewers, actually garnered 51 million, or 44% of all people watching TV that night. The contagion was undeniable. America had "Survivor" fever and they had it bad.

If you count yourself among the millions of fans, if you’re already caught up in the excitement of "Survivor II: The Australian Outback," then you’ll definitely want to read how it all began. While Survivor: The Official Companion, written by Executive Producer, Mark Burnett, doesn’t reveal any juicy details, it does offer some backstage insight into each of its key players.

Divided into "Evolutions," Survivor: The Official Companion breaks the drama down into day-by-day synopses. You’ll learn what pre-psychological testing revealed about the players. You’ll see how cast and crew lived while filming the series. You’ll glimpse at Mark’s personal sentiments regarding each of his star participants. And you’ll discover, step by step, how Richard Hatch, a corporate trainer from Rhode Island, said "the million dollar check’s got my name written all over it" on the very first day, then made fifteen other hopefuls eat those very words.

It was a long shot, but CBS hit the nail on the head. Reality TV had become a mania. But, while many shows have tried, none has yet duplicated the magical blend inherent in "Survivor." In the summer of 2000, "Don’t vote me off the island" became the new catch phrase, replacing "Is that your final answer?" as the quote of the day. "Survivor’s" unexpected success changed the face of television history forever.

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