Simvivor

***Simvivor*** is a reality-based competition show, based on the U.S. television series, *Survivor*. It premiered March 25, 2022, and is currently hosted by Reese Montanez.

## History

*Simvivor* was started by The Producer, an individual who started out running simulations on BrantSteele.com for all of the previous seasons of Survivor. This later turned into a creative concept where The Producer would make brand new casts for each seasons of Survivor in The Sims 4. There were two entire "generations" of *Simvivor* prior to the current, both taking place in the same universe, just thousands of years apart. The current generation of *Simvivor* is completely unrelated and takes place in a separate universe from that one.

*Simvivor* was pitched to Power Aspiration Network executives by The Producer, the former of which greenlit ten seasons across five years for the series. Power Aspiration solely produces reality television shows, so *Simvivor* became its first official show in the network. The Producer was given free reign to create additional shows for the network in the future, so long as *Simvivor* remained the core show that had the network's focus.

The first season of *Simvivor* began production in the year 2000, shortly after host Reese Montanez was hired for the position. The casts for seasons one and two were finalized at the same time, occurring on the real-world date March 23, 2022. *Simvivor* officially premiered with *Felicity Island* two days later, on March 25, 2022.

## 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.

As *Simvivor* falls within the Power Aspiration 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 April and mid July of every year, filming two seasons back-to-back with a couple weeks in between. Production will typically take place for an odd-numbered and even-numbered season at the same time, but releasing the seasons happens separately. This mimics the real-life production/filming cycle for Survivor.

### Locations

*Simvivor* has claimed to film in locations that exist in various iterations of the Sims series, however, all cast photos are taken at locations that exist within The Sims 4 only. Different lots or locations are chosen depending on the season to offer an environment that is similar to the filming location.

## See also

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