The firstSurvivorcrew slept tent-less on a beach covered in rats and snakes.
And then it got worse.
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Well,Mark Burnettmight have known the executive producer who sold theSurvivorconcept to CBS was never short on self-confidence.
In Emily Nussbaums new bookCue the Sun!
Excerpt from Cue the Sun!
The Invention of Reality TV'
Survivorbegan filming on March 13, 2000.
Under strict orders not to interact with one another, the cast flew to Borneo.
Finally, they boarded a schooner to the island, Pulau Tiga, a four-hour ride.
Only then were the rules against fraternization finally lifted.
Gervase Peterson gave Ramona Gray, the only other Black contestant, a nod.
Sue spoke with Gretchen, her fellow practical tomboy.
Gretchen should just quitSurvivor, Richard told her.
The game was going to have only one winner: him.
Jeff Probst, the shows host, announced that they had sixty seconds to grab any tools or equipment.
It was a brutal marathon to shore, which was more than two hours away.
The castaways were vomiting and panicking, but Feist felt over the moon with excitement.
The casts behavior felt thrillingly real and uncontrived, full of raw emotions that couldnt be faked.
Unfortunately, there was a catch.
They told him to go ahead.
And I go, Where do they sleep?
They go, In the tents.
And I go, What tents?
Headquarters put him on hold.
Feist wound up sleeping on the beach for three days, side-by-side with cameras that cost $125,000.
Rats scampered in the sand, running from the snakes.
These conditions would get worse for both the cast and the crew over the next thirty-eight days.
But theSurvivorproduction was simultaneously understaffed and under-budgeted, made by people who were underslept and starving.
Not everyone was okay with this bargain.
Right away, one member of the Pagong tribe, the sixty-four-year-old business tycoon B.
B. Andersen, wanted out.
Feist told him that was impossible: If B.
B. wanted to leave, he had to be voted off.
B. could be voted out.
The traditional CBS demo would have to root for someone else.
The producers had given each tribe mosquito netting, canned food, and one sack of rice.
To eat, they had to fish or forage in the jungle.
Water was a mile away.
Both tribes struggled to light a fire (in Pagongs case, they used magnifying eyeglasses that B.
B. had snuck in as his personal item.)
Rats crawled over them while they slept in leaky, makeshift shelters.
Pulau Tiga itself was full of dangers.
I love the outdoors.
Used to.Survivorbeat that out of me, joked Shelly.
Show that you were a leader?
Or was the game about something else?
It wasnt clear, at first.
And I was like, You are the most useless military man ever.
And he was like, Well, I was a Navy SEAL.
We werent supposed to build fires… .
We werent supposed to beseen.
I just came in and killed people!
And I was like, Okay, point taken.
Neither tribe was truly alone.
Some experiences were undeniably real, however.
Seated at a table, each tribe was presented with a bowl of live, squirming grubs in dirt.
If they didnt eat one of them, their tribe would lose the competition.
Thats when I thought, this is not going to be some little thing.
This is going to be crazy, people have never seen anything like this before.
Excerpted from Penguin Random HousesCue the Sun!
The Invention of Reality TVby Emily Nussbaum.
