Have you ever heard and watched the reality show called Survivor ? Well, to me personally, it definitely ranks among the best. This series caught my eyes for the first time back in my college time, aired in Indosiar station. Since then I’ve become the avid fans of it, but couldn’t do much since Indosiar decided not to continue airing the series after the Australian Outback season (I reckon it’s the second season of Survivor!). Not until I get to know Torrents lately that I started to get fond of this series again. You might think that I still can access the survivor’s official site to watch it or even @ YouTube!, but trust me, it’s a different story and much enjoyable if you watch it not through streaming, given the internet quality in Indonesia.
The concept of the game itself is quite simple. Contestants start the series in two tribes and they must compete against the other tribes in series of challenges, competing for both prizes and the survival in the game. It takes 39 days to a full series to conclude the winner who will take away a staggering USD 1 Million! FYI, in those 39 days, the contestants live in a very minimal condition, including shelter and food. That’s why it’s called Survivor! To survive the conditions and at the same time, try to win the game. There are two types of challenge, i.e. Prize Challenge, and Immunity Challenge. For the former, if the tribe win the challenge, it’s entitled to valuable prize such as fishing tools, food, hunting utensils, etc (imagine you can use those tools to strengthen your survival), while in Immunity Challenge, the loser team needs to go to Tribal Council and votes off one of its member to be eliminated and sent home. When number of contestants reduced to 10 (if I’m not mistaken), the tribes are merged into one. Starting from this stage, each contestant is fighting for him/herself, competing in the Individual Challenge where the winner can’t be voted off.
To my surprise, this interesting game has gone all the way to its 17th season, taken place in Gabon, a country in Africa hailed as the Last Eden in the world. Up till now, I’ve watched 7 episodes of it and can’t wait for the upcoming ones.
Palau Islands, one of the locations where Survivor! takes place
The reason why I’m so fond of this game is contributed to not only the interesting challenges and some spectacular scene of nature presented in the game, but also the plot of the game in order to become to sole survivor. You need to outwit and outlast. You’ll see during the show, how people forming alliances, betrays the pledge, playing politics, just in order to stay in the game. It involves a lot of twist and tricks and sometimes you’ll see people are in cahoots to eliminate certain members. Backstabbing act might also occurs in some stages. Very interesting indeed. The most interesting part is that the winner of the game is not decided by yourself. But instead, it’s decided by the jury formed of voted-off contestants! Wowwww… That means while you need to keep yourself in the game, you’ll also have to have a good relationship with other members so that they will vote you as the winner! What a game!
Having said that, I think there’s also criticsm for this game. To some extent, I think the challenges in the show are somewhat too “physical” which are a bit unfair to the elderly and some women (without being a sexism). As such, it’s normal that you’ll see many elderly and weaker women are voted-off early.
Tribal Council - Voting off one of your tribe member...
How to win the game ? Hmm.. that’s quite a question. While you need to show what you’re capable of, at the same time you also need to keep a low profile, unless you’re so confident that you can win all the individual challenges. People tend to eliminate weak members at the start of the game, but as the game goes along the way, if people see you as a threat, you are likely to be eliminated as well. So, my advice would be show your contribution to the tribe, keep a low profile yet prove your worths and keep a good relationship with other contestants. Sounds easy, but I know, it’s extremely difficult. One thing for sure, i think backstabbers will not have any chance to win the competition. You’re relying those whom you have backstabbed to vote for your victory ? Not a chance! So, don’t play much with politics!
Wondering what if I become a Survivor’s contestant.. Will I outwit, outlast and stay in the game for an honorable period of time of will I get vote-off very early ? hehehe…
You can find complete information and update about Survivor! on CBS site here.
Unofficial footages of Survivor! can also be found here.
Hendro Santoso's Hut 