Real Survivor: Borneo

***Survivor: Borneo*** is the first season of the American CBS competitive reality television series *Survivor*. It was originally broadcast under the name ***Survivor*** but its official title was changed to ***Survivor: Pulau Tiga*** to distinguish it from subsequent installments of the series, and then changed again to *Survivor: Borneo*. The show filmed from March 13, 2000 through April 20, 2000 and premiered on May 31, 2000. Hosted by Jeff Probst, it consisted of 39 days of gameplay with 16 competitors. It was set in the South China Sea on the remote Malaysian island of Pulau Tiga in the state of Sabah, about 6 miles off the north coast of Borneo, Malaysia.

The sixteen contestants were initially separated into two tribes, named Tagi and Pagong, which represented the names of their beaches. When ten players remained, the contestants merged into one tribe, named Rattana. While Tagi and Pagong's names and makeups were picked by the producers, Rattana was named because of a large amount of Rattan wood on the island.

On August 23, 2000, the *Survivor: Borneo* finale received the highest ratings of any *Survivor* episode to date with an average of 51.7 million viewers. Nielsen reported that 125 million people watched at least some part of the finale. The season was released on DVD on May 11, 2004.

The winner of this season was Greg Buis.

This season was followed by *Survivor: The Australian Outback* on January 28, 2001.

## Production

In 1998, CBS offered Mark Burnett the chance to present his idea of this reality show to producers. In October 1999, CBS held a casting call for a new reality show concept. The idea was *Survivor,* in which sixteen people would be stuck on an island 20 miles away from the mainland of Borneo. Ten main cameras were set on the island that would film the castaways every day. Every three days, a Tribal Council would be held in which one castaway would be voted off the island. The last castaway to be on the island would win $1 million.

Over 6,000 people applied for the show; 800 were then interviewed in sixteen cities. 48 people were then chosen, and after background checks and psychological evaluations done by the producers, the final sixteen contestants and two alternates were picked.

As the survivors awaited the game's start, *Survivor* crews prepared the island for reward and immunity challenges, removing any harmful items, checking for any harmful animals in specific locations, and building a Tribal Council set. Camera and other crews were sent to the island three weeks in advance for testing. On the opposite side of the island from the tribes, headquarters were set up for the producers and crew to live in on the island. This facility included many traditional trailers with running water, televisions, and one phone line. The Tribal Council set was built two hundred yards from the crew's facility. The Tribal Council set was 30 feet by 30 feet with no walls and only a platform. In the middle of the set was a fire lava pit providing fire for the torches, which represented the castaways' life in the game.

On March 7, 2000, the contestants were flown to Los Angeles, then to the city of Kota Kinabalu in Malaysian Borneo. From there, they were taken by boat to their island. Contestants were not allowed to speak to one another until they got on the boat headed towards their beaches. The two tribes shared the island of Tiga, which was divided by over 20 miles of forest. The castaways were surrounded by wildlife such as pythons, kraits, adders, monkeys, monitor lizards, and white-bellied sea eagles. The show was set to air in the summer of 2000.

## Contestants

There were sixteen contestants overall, divided into two tribes, Pagong and Tagi. After six contestants were eliminated, the tribes were combined, or merged, to form one tribe, Rattana. Seven contestants made up the jury, who ultimately decided who would win the game and the $1 million grand prize.