Simvivor

***Simvivor*** is a reality-based competition show, based on the U.S. television series, *Survivor*. It premiered January 19, 2021, and is currently hosted by Sundai Rebane.

## History

*Simvivor* has complicated origins. The Producer of *Simvivor* originally used to run BrantSteele simulators for fun, later making note of the outcomes and re-casting returning players for future seasons. This later led to the idea of casting brand new players and utilizing the same BrantSteele simulators to generate unique outcomes.

Before BrantSteele came into the picture, the Producer had created fantasy seasons of Survivor with Sims created in The Sims 4 and wrote fictional outcomes in Word. Using Excel sheets to track the voting charts, about thirty seasons of what is known as "Simvivor 0.5" had been created, but all of the work was lost on an old computer, circa 2015. The process was time-consuming and often lacked originality, as specific players were frequently favored by the Producer and twists were recycled fairly often.

"Gen 1 Simvivor" started in November 2019. The goal was to follow through each canon season of Survivor with brand-new casts created in The Sims 4, but with all of the outcomes simulated using BrantSteele. At first, everything was once again just saved to Word documents and Excel sheets and later turned into its own Fandom page for better record-keeping purposes. This transition to its own Fandom Wiki took place nearly thirty seasons into what ended up becoming a fifty-one season franchise, and as a result, not all of the information was recorded as well as the Producer had hoped.

Just over a year after "Gen 1" had started, the Producer decided to start over with *Simvivor* once again, but this time focus on making it Wiki-centric. The goal for the second generation of *Simvivor* was to keep track of nearly everything on a Wiki, but also have the ability to expand to other reality competition shows such as Big Brother and Drag Race.

The start of the "Simvivor Network" Fandom page was escalated prior to the first season of "Gen 2 Simvivor" starting its own production. Once the Wiki was functional, *Lunar Lakes* came into the picture.

In a universe set nearly one thousand years after the first generation, former "Gen 1" legend Merissa Horvath emerged from the shadows with an ambitious pitch to a fledgling television network just getting started in the industry. When the concept proved to be a hit with executives, a first set of seasons was greenlit and history was made.

## Format

Sixteen or more players, split between two or more "tribes", are whisked away from their daily lives, placed in an isolated location somewhere within the greater Sims franchise universe, and are forced to live off the land with meager supplies for 39 days. These "castaways" are tested in frequent challenges, which determine whether a team wins rewards, such as food or luxuries, or immunity, forcing the other tribe to attend Tribal Council, where they must vote off one of their tribemates.

At indeterminate points (depending on the season), about midway through the game, the remaining sum of the castaways will merge into one tribe. At this point, the castaways begin to compete for Individual Immunity. The Tribal Councils will still continue, with players being voted off one by one until just two (or three, in later seasons) remain. Most players that are voted out after the merge form the game's "jury". After the game reaches its conclusive point of remaining castaways, the Final Tribal Council commences, where the jury must deliberate with each other and the finalists to determine a Sole Survivor. The jury then votes for which of the finalists they believe deserves to win the season, earning show's grand prize of §1,000,000.

Multiple twists exist within this basic format across every season of *Simvivor*. *Simvivor'*s main difference from real-life Survivor is that it focuses on The Sims universe, allowing Sims of various life status to compete, such as Aliens, Mermaids, and Vampires, as well as featuring home-worlds for every Sim and taking place in unique locations never seen before on the real show. Ultimately, *Simvivor* is about fulfilling a fantasy rather than sticking to reality.

## Production

Each season of *Simvivor* follows a basic production outline. First, the season is planned based on a location that exists within the Sims franchise. Then, it is determined which BrantSteele simulator will be used for the season, so this is where cast size, number of tribes, and twists are locked in. Typically, the cast size will never be larger than 20 Sims, but thanks to the Australian Survivor simulators, there remains a possibility of expanded casts.

The Producer will then create Sims, generating short biographies that read like an introductory piece to understand who the player is first and foremost, then understand who they are in their daily lives. Typically, they are generated with a full name, age, homeworld, career, and life state. Then, they are created within The Sims 4 game and have their official cast photos taken.

The simulation process will take place only after all of the above steps have been met. The Producer tries to have the Wiki up-to-date prior to simulating a new season, but Wiki updating is very time-consuming, so often times there will be multiple seasons produced before the Wiki is updated with any information.

As *Simvivor* falls within the Simvivor Network, it also follows a strict filming timeline to keep track of the year and contestant ages for continuity purposes. Often times, Simvivor will "film" between early June and late August of every year, filming two seasons back-to-back. Production will usually take place on an odd-numbered season, immediately followed by an even-numbered season in a filming cycle. In real life, this process can take upwards of five days.

### Locations

*Simvivor* has filmed in locations that exist in various iterations of the Sims series. However, all of the cast photos are taken within Sims 4, but usually are done on different lots or in unique styles to prevent repeats. As of *Simvivor: Pharaoh's Curse*, there have been fourteen unique production locations for *Simvivor*.

## See also

* Official *Survivor* website
* *Simvivor* Generation 1 Wiki
* Official *Survivor* Fandom page
* Official The Sims 4 website
* Official The Sims 4 Fandom page
* BrantSteele, used to simulate all seasons of *Simvivor*