The best Survivor seasons, ranked
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Here at Pop Culture Happy Hour, we watch a lot of movies, so we have some opinions about movie theaters. I'm Linda Holmes. On the latest Pop Culture Happy Hour bonus episode, Aisha Harris and I talk about our favorite local cinemas and what makes them great. You can listen to all our Plus bonus episodes by signing up for Pop Culture Happy Hour Plus at plus.npr.org slash happyhour. When Survivor premiered in 2000, it was an instant sensation that helped usher in a new era of reality television. Now it's an institution that's airing its 50th season.
So we thought this was a good time to look back on the show's five greatest seasons as chosen by some weird nerd. It's me. I'm that weird nerd.
You sure are. I'm Linda Holmes. It's just the two of us today here at NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour. Now, Stephen Thompson, before we get to your ranking, for those who have remained unaware of Survivor's core concept, it's a reality competition in which a bunch of people are marooned in a theoretically exotic location where they vote each other out one by one until a single winner remains. But the game has evolved substantially from From its roots as a survival competition, now it involves complex social strategy, ever-shifting alliances, and so many twists, gimmicks, immunity idols, advantages. This is sort of what has alienated me from this show, which I'm sure we will talk about. Survivor is currently airing an all-star season.
It's called Survivor 50 In the Hands of the Fans.
Okay.
That's the last thing we need. It's the last thing we need. Stephen, you used this round number milestone as an excuse. And I want to stress, I didn't make you do this. Nobody made you do this. This was voluntary, I promise. This was voluntary. You used this milestone as an excuse to write a full exhaustive ranking of all 50 seasons that will go up on NPR.org later this month. But we thought it would be fun to talk about the five best seasons as you ranked them.
What historical impact did Survivor have on reality television?
They are all available right now via Paramount+. Let's kick it off with the season that you have at number five.
Well, I didn't intend the ranking to work this way, but it has worked this way. That in fifth place is a season where I think if you were Survivor curious, but maybe you haven't watched Survivor since that first season, maybe the first couple of seasons, The first episode of this season, I think, is a perfect place to start. In fifth place, I picked Survivor Pearl Islands, which is the seventh season of the show. It is, I think, the best of the kind of early iterations of Survivor, kind of old school Survivor. You get several iconic scenes. Yeah, absolutely. You have a kind of all-time survivor villain in this guy who calls himself Johnny Fairplay and envisions himself as kind of a pro-wrestling style heel.
Some very notorious gameplay.
What are the criteria for ranking the best Survivor seasons?
One of the first major season-altering twists happens in this season, so it's kind of setting the table for a lot of Survivor to come. And it really does kick off with, I think, one of the best individual episodes of Survivor ever. The stage setting that goes on in this season, I think, is really excellent.
It's very interesting that this is the first one we're talking about because I cannot stand this season. Wow. I thought this season was so not my speed for this show. Interesting. You know that I do not like Rupert. You know that I find Rupert's entire shtick exhausting. I find Johnny Fairplay's shtick exhausting. To me, this is the season where the show begins to circle the, we're going to make it all about self-defined bad guys and self-defined heroes. And... That, to me, has always been deeply and profoundly boring. And I will say the episode that you are praising, the opening episode, where Rupert, I think it is, decides to steal everyone's shoes. Like, what? Why? Why? It's like a pirate-themed season.
And he takes being a pirate like very seriously in this kind of self-important, I'm a pirate now. I can't stand this season. Wow. Can't stand it. Well, listen, I may not agree with you, but maybe I'll agree with you on something later in the list.
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Chapters
5 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:00–2:08
2
What historical impact did Survivor have on reality television?
2:08–3:20
3
What are the criteria for ranking the best Survivor seasons?
3:20–10:03
4
Which Survivor season is ranked fifth and why?
10:03–22:00
5
What makes Survivor Cook Islands a controversial yet great season?
22:00–24:49