Hartley Jafine

Do I start at season one and then I got like 10 years of TV ahead of me?

Do I do them piecemeal like only the best seasons?

How do I get into a show?

The volume of work is baffling.

You've got two approaches.

One, you start from the beginning and you go 1 to 50 and see it sequentially in order to get that understanding, that narrative arc of how the show has evolved.

If you don't want to do that and you want to watch less TV, I would recommend jumping in.

Season 37 is an amazing season.

As someone who is new to the show,

and wants to get into it, it just has everything.

So season 37, David versus Goliath is the theme of that season.

And then also I have to put a shout out to season 42, a modern era season that has the winner is from McMaster University, my home pride.

So season 42 is also a great season to watch.

All right, big picture here.

Has Survivor just entertained us across these 50 seasons?

Or has it shaped how we think about competition, identity, what it means to outwit, outplay, outlast in real life?

Absolutely.

The course is called Surviving Survivor, Insights from Reality TV for Real Life.

And that's what I think the show is.

It really is a window into how we live our lives and really is reflective of what we see in our daily lives.