There's merchandise, of course. Mattel plans a Survivor board game for fall. The network's Orwellian Big Brother , which monitors 10 contestants in a makeshift house, premieres July 6. Not surprising for a show whose pull seems stronger than heroin addiction. Winners get anything from waterproof matches to immunity.
Losers have to dump a teammate.
When two contestants are left, the winner will be chosen by the last seven kicked off. I wanted to change the channel, but something base inside me wouldn't let me. I was fighting it, but the show won. Most agree they wouldn't watch if not for the intrigue of who gets sent home at each episode's end, a kicker that makes the show more irresistible than its MTV forebear, The Real World . Television and voyeurism were destined to be married.