Survivor in popular culture

The success of Survivor has led to several references across different forms of media in popular culture, particularly in American society, over the years.

Television

30 Rock

• In an episode titled "The Baby Show", Cerie becomes engaged to a man named Aris, an indirect reference to Survivor: Panama contestants Cirie Fields and Aras Baskauskas.
• In an episode titled "MILF Island", everyone becomes obsessed with a Survivor parody of the same name. The TGS crew also have to choose a scapegoat, mimicking a tribe discussing whom to vote orehut.
• In an episode titled "Don Geiss, America and Hope", Jack lists Rob Mariano as one of the reasons that Boston is the greatest city in the world.
• In an episode titled "Murphy Brown Lied to Us", Jack learns that American engineers only know how to build roller coasters and Survivor challenges.

9JKL

• In an episode titled "High Steaks", Josh ditches Judy on Survivor night, forcing Judy to watch with Eve. Later on, Josh and Judy watch the Final Tribal Council together.

The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius

• In an episode titled "Win, Lose and Kaboom!", Jimmy and his friends are forced into an intergalactic game show. They are forced to vote out a member of their team in a ceremony very similar to Tribal Council. The vote stood at 3-2-2, with foreign student Bolbi voting himself out.

The Amanda Show

• The segment "Stranded" is a parody of Survivor, featuring characters stranded in a strange location, including a car and a bathtub. The characters are forced to live with each other and outlast all the rest.

The Assistant

• In the third episode of The Assistant, the host, Andy Dick, eliminated two contestants, Nikeda Stanback and Ebony Boykins in a Survivor-themed elimination by with snuffing "their" torches (every elimination in the series is a parody of another reality television series). Andy successfully extinguished Stanback's, but not Boykin's, as the "snuffer" itself, and the garden the elimination was set in, got caught by fire (in the actual Survivor series, Jeff Probst would always half-fill the snuffer with water to effectively extinguish a torch).

Celebrity Death Match

• In season 4, the episode titled "Fandemonium IV" featured Survivor castaways from the first two seasons. The castaways were suspended from a rafter above the ring and would be voted in by the audience. The players who were voted in the ring included Sonja Christopher, Rudy Boesch, Colby Donaldson, Jerri Manthey, Kelly Wiglesworth, Susan Hawk, Michael Skupin, Keith Famie, Elisabeth Filarski, Colleen Haskell, Tina Wesson, and Richard Hatch. Gervase Peterson was also voted in the ring, but he and several other castaways suspended in the rafters were eaten alive by Richard. Tina ended up being the winner.

Curb Your Enthusiasm

• In an episode titled "The Survivor", the primary joke is that a rabbi says one of his friends is "a survivor", Larry assumes he means a Holocaust survivor, but it is actually Survivor contestant Colby Donaldson playing himself.

Degrassi: The Next Generation

• In an episode titled "Our Lips Are Sealed", Paige asks Emma and Manny if they are practicing to be on Survivor after observing how little they're eating for lunch.

Drawn Together

• The episode "The One Wherein There Is a Big Twist, Part II" briefly parodies Survivor. After crash landing on a deserted island, Jeff Probst appears before the cast, saying immunity is up for grabs. After the new intro featuring Strawberry Sweetcake plays, a title graphic reading Drawn Together II: Hawaii appears over a shot of the island, a reference to how Survivor series are titled with the name of the show followed by the location where that particular series is taking place. In one scene, the cast members are wearing green, "buff-style" articles of clothing.

Even Stevens

• In an episode titled "Luscious Lou", it is reported in the junior high school newspaper that the wood shop teacher has been cast on Survivor.

Family Guy

• In an episode titled "Screwed the Pooch", Peter cuts away to when he was a contestant on Survivor. After arguing with B.B. Andersen over the drinking water, Peter crashes into the set of The Price is Right with Bob Barker (voicing himself) and a contestant spinning the wheel. Colleen Haskell and Richard Hatch also appear in the cutaway.
• In an episode titled "Petey IV", Survivor is directly parodied in the opening, with the family voting Brian out. Jeff Probst voices himself. 

How I Met Your Mother

• In an episode titled "Natural History", Barney and Robin alluded to endurance challenges from Survivor when pulling a prank using an Egyptian Pharaoh.
• In an episode titled "Glitter", Barney lists many ways that Ted needs to tell his friend Punchy to leave. One of the many references to reality TV shows was "Punchy, the tribe has spoken."
• In an episode titled "Mystery vs. History", Lily apologized to Marshall for having watched Survivor without him.
• In an episode titled "The Stinson Missile Crisis", Jeff Probst appears in a cutaway scene. During the reward challenge for the castaways, he sponsored Dr. Barney's Breast Reduction Consultation.

Jackie Chan Adventures

• In an an episode titled "It's All In The Game," the macguffin of the day is used as the "Amnesty" idol on a Survivor-esque show.

The Joe Schmo Show

• Being a hoax-parody of typical reality shows, The Joe Schmo Show references Survivor numerous times.
  • All of the "contestants" (except for the titlar "Joe Schmo", who is a regular person) are all played by actors and are based on reality TV archetypes.
  • For Seasons 1 & 3, the "contestants" are voted off the show in an elimination ceremony. The winner is also decided by a "jury" of previously eliminated players.
  • Jerri Manthey cameos as herself in Season 1, playing up her villainous persona.
  • In Season 1, the character "Gina" mentions that she is a fan of Richard Hatch, and also gives a speech that was referential to Sue Hawk's "Snakes and Rats" speech.
  • In Season 2, original "schmo," Ingrid, was able to deduce the true nature of the program and was allowed to contine as an actress; she was given a storyline where her character was accused of faking a death in the family, in a reference to Jon Dalton from Survivor: Pearl Islands.

Life In Pieces

• In an episode titled "Swim Survivor Zen Talk", John creates an audition tape for Survivor. However, Tim attempts to use the video to showcase his own talents and get on Survivor himself. Ultimately when the tape reaches Jeff Probst, he is not interested in either John or Tim; but rather Clementine who accidentally ended up on the tape lounging by the pool.

Lizzie McGuire

• Survivor: Borneo was referenced numerous times in the Disney show Lizzie McGuire.
  • In an episode titled "When Moms Attack", the tribe names Pagong and Tagi were used as team names at an outdoor camp.
  • In an episode titled "The Election", Lizzie's mother, Jo, claims that she knew Richard Hatch would win the series.

Lost

• In an episode titled "Born to Run", Sawyer asks Michael if he is going to "vote him off" the raft.
• Survivor gave ABC producer Lloyd Braun the original idea for Lost.
• Shortly before the series finale aired, the main cast of Lost filmed a crossover video with Jeff Probst, jokingly suggesting that the entire series took place as part of the reality show.

MadTV

• There was a segment called Celebrity Survivor: Thousand Islands where seven idiotic celebrities compete for the one million dollar prize and the title of Sole Survivor. The spoof was hosted by Jeff Probst himself.
• There was another segment that parodied Survivor: Cook Islands where the tribes were divided by ethnicity just like the actual season. Throughout the parody, "Jeff Probst", who is portrayed by an actor, seems to favor the Caucasian tribe ("Team White Bread") the most, while he treats the African-American tribe ("Team Chicken and Waffles") very poorly. The Latino tribe ("Team Burrito") expanded in numbers by birthing several infants, while the Asian tribe ("Team Soy Sauce") appeared blatantly nerdy.
• There was a third segment, directly following the previous segment, that parodied Survivor: Gabon, called Survivor: Holy War, which, unlike the actual season, featured four tribes, separated by religion: Jewish tribe ("Team Moses"), Christian tribe ("Team Jesus"), Muslim tribe ("Team Mohammed") and Scientologist tribe ("Team Tom Cruise and His Far Out Space Nuts").
• There was a segment in which Bunifa Jackson (played by Debra Wilson) made an audition tape for Survivor: The Australian Outback.

The New Adventures of Old Christine

• In an episode titled "Get Smarter", Christine says that Russell Hantz' ability to locate three Hidden Immunity Idols without a clue is an accomplishment, and that she will go on record saying that it will never happen again.

The Office

• In an episode titled "The Alliance", Dwight forms a Survivor-esque alliance with Jim and Pam against the other employees amidst rumors of downsizing.
  • The line "Can I trust Jim..." was apparently a direct reference to the show and was a "last-second addition" according to producer Greg Daniels. In addition, Randall Einhorn, the camera man for the episode, was a camera man for Survivor.
• In an episode titled "Business Ethics", Ryan references Survivor: The Amazon contestant JoAnna Ward, claiming that he "hooked up with a girl that looked just like her" in New York City.

Parks and Recreation

• In an episode titled "Ron and Tammy", Ann mentions that Andy sent audition tapes to both "Survivor" and "Deal or No Deal." A cutaway follows of a Survivor-esque audition tape.

Riverdale

• In an episode titled "Chapter Three: Body Double", one of the comments on Chuck's social media post reads “Can we vote this ‘person’ off the island already?”

The Simpsons

• In an episode titled "Helter Shelter", The Simpsons end up stranded in the Amazon. They run into people with torn clothing who were abandoned by the crew from a reality show they were competing on that was similar to Survivor.
• In an episode titled "Bart vs. Lisa vs. 3rd Grade", the Simpsons watch a TV show titled "Animal Survivor," a spoof of Survivor.
• In an episode titled "Heartbreak Hotel", Homer and Marge compete on a show called "The Amazing Place", a mix of The Amazing Race and Survivor.

Supernatural

• In an episode titled "Malleus Maleficarum", the demon Astaroth describes murdering people as them getting "voted off the island".

Two and a Half Men

• In an episode titled "The Salmon Under My Sweater", when Jake is doing a book report on The Lord of The Flies, Alan asks him if he read the book and Jake lies saying he did. When Alan ask's what he learned from the book, Jake nervously replies "The first kid who got voted off the island".
• In an episode titled "Some Kind of Lesbian Zombie", Walden and his date are looking through his telescope and see Jeff Probst cooking bacon on the beach. The next night, Walden goes to her apartment and finds out she is now dating Probst (playing himself) and he is at her apartment cooking bacon wearing no clothing. After she closes the door, Walden says in annoyance "Damn you, Jeff Probst".

Total Drama

• In general, the Total Drama franchise is an animated parody of Survivor.
  • The cliff-jumping challenge in the second episode of Total Drama Island was similar to the Day 4 Reward Challenge in The Australian Outback.
  • The double elimination in the beginning of Total Drama Action is similar to the Day 2 double elimination in Palau, except it takes place before a schoolyard pick.
  • At the end of the second season, Total Drama Action, the winner is decided by a vote as a reference to the Final Tribal Council.
  • During the third season, Total Drama World Tour, Chris reads stamped passports, which count as votes, aloud by opening them as a reference to Survivor. This happens after the decimation of Team Victory, similar to the Ulong tribe in Palau.
  • Starting with Total Drama: Revenge of the Island, an item dubbed "McLean-Brand Chris Heads" functioned similarly to Hidden Immunity Idols. They were able to be played after the voting result was confirmed.
  • The first half of the fifth season, Total Drama: All-Stars, uses the Heroes vs. Villains theme to divide the contestants into teams. The first episode of the season was also titled "Heroes vs. Villains".

Whose Line Is It Anyway?

• In the fifth episode of the third season, Ryan Stiles, Colin Mochrie, Wayne Brady, and Greg Proops improvise a scene in a game called "Survival Show" where one was the host and the other three were contestants.

Film

The 40-year Old Virgin

• Andy routinely watches Survivor with the elderly couple in his apartment.

Halloween: Resurrection

• When Bill was annoying Jenna, she says "You are this close to getting voted off the island" and smacks him.

Into the Blue 2: The Reef

• During a volleyball game, Parvati Shallow and Amanda Kimmel (playing themselves) lose and one girl on the opposite team says to them "Survive that, biotch".

Komodo vs. Cobra

• Sandra Crescent (played by Jerri Manthey) says at one point "If there was ever an island you wanted to be voted off of - this one is it".

Scary Movie 2

• While performing an exorcism, a priest mentions Jerri Manthey getting voted out of Survivor: The Australian Outback.

Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins

• The title character's fiancé, Bianca Kittles, is a Sole Survivor of a fictional season set in Kiribati.

Print

Newspaper

Front page of the July 28, 2017 issue of New York Post, parodying Survivor.

• The front page of the July 28, 2017 issue of the New York Post features the headline, "Survivor: White House", with members of the Trump administration photoshopped over photos of former castaways, in a direct parody of the show.

Music Videos

• Destiny's Child 2001 music video "Survivor" is an entire parody of the show.
• Canadian singer Snow's 2001 music video "The Joke Thing" has him walking on a beach and at 1:50 seconds into the video, he walks by the filming of a TV show called "Stranded" which is a parody of Survivor.
• Eminem's 2002 music video "Without Me" features one scene at the 3:37-3:39 mark where Eminem and two girls (played by Jenna Lewis and Lindsey Richter) are on a log stranded in the middle of an ocean.

Video Games

"Rehab Island", a fictitious reality competition program inspired by Survivor.

• In Grand Theft Auto V, Survivor is parodied in a reality show called "Rehab Island" where drug addicts are stranded on an island in an attempt to withdraw from their addictions while forming alliances and voting each other out. A fictitious commercial of the show can be heard on the radio. Rehab Island is set locally, on a small island off the coast of Paleto Bay, San Andreas, a fictitious state inspired by southern California.