The Forgotten Reality Show That Inspired ‘Survivor’
What To Know
- Survivor’s influential reality TV format was created as Expedition Robinson.
- The Swedish series became a massive cultural phenomenon, with its finale watched by half the country’s population and inspiring international adaptations, including the U.S. version in 2000.
As Survivor debuts its 50th season on February 25, the series is once again being celebrated as one of the most influential shows in television history. What is often overlooked, however, is that Survivor was not an American original. Its blueprint was created years earlier with Expedition Robinson, later shortened to Robinson, the true starting point of the franchise.
Expedition Robinson premiered in Sweden on September 13, 1997, making it the first televised version of what would become the international Survivor format. The series was created by British television producer Charlie Parsons and developed through his production company Planet 24. While Parsons originally conceived the format in the United Kingdom in 1994, Sweden took the risk and brought it to air. That decision changed the trajectory of reality television.
Dennis Marsico/TV Guide/©CBS/Courtesy: Everett Collection
The premise was already fully formed: a group of strangers was placed in a remote location with limited supplies and no outside contact. Contestants were then divided into tribes and forced to build shelters, find food, and compete in physical challenges. Immunity determined who was safe, and elimination was determined by votes cast by fellow players. After a merge, the game became individual, continuing until a single winner remained.
The Swedish audience responded immediately. According to a May 24, 2001, report from BBC News, the finale of the first season was watched by roughly half of Sweden’s population. That made Expedition Robinson one of the most popular television programs in the country’s history at the time. By the early 2000s, the show had already produced multiple seasons and firmly established itself as a cultural phenomenon.
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The BBC also noted that the success of Expedition Robinson alerted television executives around the world to the appeal of watching ordinary people “fend for themselves in the wilderness.” International versions soon followed, including the American adaptation, which launched in 2000 under the name Survivor. Ownership of the concept remained with Parsons and Planet 24’s successor company, Castaway Television Productions, even after Planet 24 was sold in 1999. Castaway retained the rights to the format, allowing it to be licensed globally. In 2017, Castaway was acquired by Banijay Group, which now owns the underlying Survivor and Robinson format worldwide. The structure that began in Sweden has since generated dozens of international versions and hundreds of seasons.
Unlike many early reality shows that burned out quickly, the Swedish series has continued, with breaks and revivals, across several networks, including SVT, TV3, TV4, and others. As of 2025, the franchise has produced twenty-seven seasons, making it one of the longest-running survival competition series in television history. Recent seasons have continued filming in locations such as the Philippines and Malaysia while maintaining the core format introduced in the late ’90s. When Survivor arrived in the U.S., it refined its presentation and amped up its drama for American audiences.
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