MEDIA CONFERENCE CALL WITH "SURVIVOR: REDEMPTION ISLAND" 
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER MARK BURNETT

2.10.11

Transcript by SurvivorFever.net

Note:  Host/Executive Producer Jeff Probst was unavailable for the conference call.

Mark Burnett:  Looking back at season 3, I remember being on an escalator with Leslie Moonves and saying, "Wow, I can't believe we're making season 3.  Oh my gosh, it's unbelievable."  He said, "You know what, you're going to be making season 23."  I didn't take it seriously and I've just tried every year to keep it going and I'm almost there.  Part of the reason for that is the fact that we have kept it fresh.

 Our philosophy for this series, and it goes back to something, having moved to America from the U.K. and I used to get letters.  Everyone remembers hand written letters before so much email.  It was something special to get letters from my mom.  It was on a certain kind of stationary with her handwriting with a stamp, with a postmark.  I knew when it was delivered via U.S. mail in my early months in America, it was my mom, it was comforting, it was anchoring but what was always surprising was what she wrote.  It was always different news.  I've kept that philosophy in my core of Survivor.  I really, really have each year.  

There's a core value system to Survivor which is the envelope but the letter can change each season as long as you have the anchoring moment of the same stationary, the same handwriting and that's what we try to do.  We've done it in various ways.  I've made little shifts along the way.  The core values as you know, you can probably cheat and lie and steal your way, a long way along, in certain things in life and in Survivor.  But you really can't win and Survivor shows you that.  The only way you win Survivor is the very people that you had a hand in getting rid of turn around and give you the gift of a million dollars.  Someone who screws people over the whole way along can sort of get near the end, maybe to the final three but they're unlikely to be given the gift of a million dollars by the people that they screwed over.  It's just come through season after season.  

Really, Survivor is a morality play.  You also know how much I believe in Joseph Campbell and the essence of storytelling.  I've always believed that Tribal Council, metaphorically, was about death and rebirth.  It's always done at night, it's always firelit and we established from the first Tribal Council, that fire represents life.  When that fire is snuffed out your life is gone.  It's a metaphorical death.  When it's snuffed out Jeff doesn't give them a chance to say goodbye.  It was an immediate leaving.  Jeff pointed and said, "It's time for you to go".  Maybe one person will make a comment back to the people who voted them off but mostly they're in shock and leave.  They walk off into a blue light because that signifies death.  The music changes to funeralistic and they disappear into the trees.  It's almost like they're walking into the blue light.  We wait a second or two, we come back to the orange firelight which is a warm, life color and Jeff gives a parable, which is, what have you learned, what just happened.  And invariably Jeff either says or intimates, I'll see you tomorrow.  That is the rebirth of that tribe.  That tribe is dead, one is gone, the tribe can't live on as it was but it's reborn new.  That underlying death and rebirth is in the core of Survivor from the very beginning and important to me in the way we artistically tell our stories within the vein of a game.  

We've evolved obviously, season after season.  This season we've come to something very important to me, Redemption Island.  This is actually something that Jeff came up with the core of, four years ago.  We just couldn't figure out exactly how we'd do it.  Redemption Island takes it a stage further.  Yes, your tribe is killing you.  Yes, your flame is snuffed and you walk into a blue light but this time  you don't go home.  You go to Redemption Island.  The very first person goes to Redemption Island.  They're on Redemption Island, they live alone.  It's the same conditions, the same amount of food, almost nothing to live with except, even worse, they're completely lonely and alone.  They're waiting for what's going to happen next, which is Episode 2.  The next person is voted off by their tribe and are joining the first person at Redemption Island.  Now, in Episode 3, person 1 and person 2 compete in the first challenge of the episode.  That is a face to face duel.  Some of the members of their tribes who had voted them out get to come and be spectators and watch this one on one duel.  You've got this moment of people who have been blindsided, kicked out, unwanted, and revengeful, seeing.  The eye to eye contact is very dramatic.  The duel happens.  The winner of Redemption Island stays on Redemption Island, the loser actually now goes home.  Next week, week 4, another person is voted out, they join that person at Redemption Island.  Spectators come from the tribes, watch the duel, and it goes on.  Technically, you could be the very first person voted out, you could stay on Redemption Island, win these head to head, one on one challenges, week after week after week.  Relentless.  There's loneliness.   The people who got rid of you are starting to think, ut oh, this person may come back.  And this person is thinking, if they can keep their energy and survive Redemption Island, technically, that person could come back and win.  It really gives that value, that Joseph Campbell values of redemption, resurrection.  You actually can go away and come back, probably having learned a lot, you're really, really, challenge fit and you may come back and you may win the game.  Hopefully that explanation wasn't too long but I wanted to set the tone of the reason behind it 

Question:  How is Redemption Island going to change the Survivor strategy as far as it being perceived as a social game?

Mark Burnett:  It continues completely the social game because, now, once the first episode starts and people are told when they're voted out, Redemption Island exists, smart players start to realize the consequences of blindsides, the consequences of how you treat others.  In the past the only time that mattered was with the jury.  Right now from the very, very beginning, now you're starting to think, ut oh, what if I do this in an awful way.  What if this person wins Redemption Island duel and comes back? That really adds a layer to the social game.  What we do know, with so much feedback over all these 11 years of Survivor, our fans are really scientists of the game and really understand the game.  Look at us, we moved from unbeaten on Thursdays at 8 for a decade.  Got moved to Wednesdays.  I really was concerned but suddenly that fanbase managed to figure out, okay, it's moved to Wednesdays, and showed up with even more viewers.  It's a real loyal fanbase that understand the core principles and values of Survivor.  This Redemption Island adds a new layer of the social game. 

Question:  How will Boston Rob and Russell play into this?  They've kind of cornered the social strategy in different ways. 

Mark Burnett:  I think the two of them probably have an advantage.  In the first episode, as I recall it, when they arrive, it's a surprise to the tribe.  The tribes are there, there are 16 of them there.  They land on the beach and Jeff says, "By the way, there are two more players".  The helicopter lands and out steps Russell and Rob.  Their faces are like, oh my God, I can't believe these guys are back.  Then Jeff tells all of them including Russell and Rob that there's a twist this year. It's called Redemption Island, here's how it works.  You can see, everybody's faces, especially Russell's and Rob's, already calculating what this means.  There's 150 days of experience between Russell and Rob, I don't know the exact number, Jeff says, "Here, one player per tribe and you can get rid of them if you want or use them to your benefit.  Either use that experience to get you to the end or fear that experience and get rid of them.  It's up to you."

Question: What did you learn from Survivor: Nicaragua and how did you apply those lessons to Redemption Island? 

Mark Burnett:  Nicaragua just confirmed continually what I said earlier which is changing the letter inside the envelope each season is important...which is how it goes onto Redemption Island.  We didn't necessarily learn anything that applies to Redemption Island except for continually confirming human nature.  This is a game about human nature.  The end game is not to try to get to the final Tribal Council.  The end game is to get the gift.  The gift isn't coming from CBS or me, the gift is coming from the jury.  It did factor in our experience and all the work we've done for about 300 episodes of me and Jeff understanding what is it unique about people, strangers that meet, form these relationships.  It's almost like playing multi-level chess.  Many moves ahead of what you say to people, how you get ahead in the game, always knowing there's an end game.  If you go too far, I think the biggest lesson from that, in the past, has been Russell, who has managed to get himself to the final Tribal Council twice but the way he played the game never allowed him to be given the gift of a million dollars.  All these players on Redemption Island have all seen these other seasons.  No one shows up not knowing what it is.  It's an experiential level of producers and the players who know the game very, very well.  The trouble is, having a strategy is like being in the Superbowl.  A team can practice strategy over and over but when the game starts can you keep your cool and come through on the strategy?  Well, that's what Survivor's like.  You know how you're supposed to play but can you keep your wits about you when everything is going to sh*t?

Followup Question:  Has there been any word on Survivors past Season 22 and if Jeff Probst will continue to be the host?

Mark Burnett:  We've dealt with it.  We're just massively in post right now.  Based upon ratings it seems went up in Season 21 despite the move to Wednesdays and improved the timeslot for CBS.  The assumption is that we'll continue making Survivor because hit shows stay on and those that don't, don't stay on.  Logically, it seems like Survivor will stay on.  The biggest reason to feel that way is the move from Thursdays to Wednesdays.  That shows something.  There's a core fanbase of viewers who follow the show from night to night, which is kind of a difficult thing to achieve, I think. 

Question:  How do you respond to the accusations that Russell Hantz was leaking spoilers?

Mark Burnett:  I found out the same time you found out.  I read it online.  I have no idea about it.  Don't know if it's actually true because I honestly as of this minute, I still have not had a conversation with CBS or anyone even about it.  Actually I was thinking about this yesterday, I should probably call someone.  On the other hand, I couldn't be spending more time watching cuts of Redemption Island.  Jeff and I, yesterday, must have been on the phone discussing Episode 3 for 3 hours.  About edits, drama and stories, that's what I've been doing.  I've not even spoken to Jeff about the question you asked me.  I completely forgot, maybe I'll call him later. 

Question:  How frustrated were you by the quitters last time and what kind of affect do you think they had on the show. 

Mark Burnett:  I was frustrated, I think Jeff was more frustrated just because I'm producing the show, Jeff is actually on the show and living that journey.  It's surprising.  The biggest struggle we had was that based upon precedent and legally there was no way to kick them off the jury.  Even though, believe me, Jeff would have done that in 5 seconds and I would have approved that however, we are all smart and have been doing this for 11 years.  It's like a board game, right, with certain rules.  The analysis we quickly came to and CBS confirmed, which was, because people didn't start the game knowing that if you quit you would be kicked off the jury and because in the past someone, I forget who it was, quit and had been on the jury, there was a precedence.  Technically, had we kicked the two of them off the jury and the end game came, a loser could have said, "that's really not fair.  Whether they quit or not, they were my alliance, they were my two votes.  I would have won the game."  It really was a logical outcome.  As you also know, we've made a change going forward, if indeed someone were to quit, it would have to be pretty extraordinary circumstances for them to stay on the jury.  You know what, that's a mark of respect that we don't aim to allow people to have.  Part of the big reason as well, I don't know what the numbers are these days but 50,000 people a season try to get on this show.  Look at Jimmy Johnson, he applied for like 6 years to be on this show.  People really want to be on this show and therefore if somebody quits it means that someone else who spent years applying didn't get the opportunity.  It's disrespectful. 

Question:  Can you let us know if there are any other surprises or twists in store for the castaways on Redemption Island?  Are there any other surprise guests other than Russell and Boston Rob?

Mark Burnett:  Are there any guests?  Not off the top of my  head.  If you're asking me are we going to be bringing more ex-castaways, no. 

Followup Question: Are you going to continue focusing on making regular castaways into celebrities or do you think you'll add a new celebrity twist to Survivor in the future seasons?

Mark Burnett: Am I thinking of doing a Celebrity Apprentice version of Survivor?  No.  Has it ever come up in meetings with all of us?  Sure, everything comes up in meetings.  It's just that the game really, really works.  Certainly we have our own Survivor celebrities, there's Russell and there's' Rob, Rupert and Richard Hatch and many more.  Are there are  celebrities who we know personally are fans and half jokingly say, "I wanna do that."  Yeah, I guess Jimmy Johnson, I suppose.  So we have actually had a celebrity do it.  Would I be thinking about an all celebrity version?  For charity, yeah, if CBS wanted to and it was a really good reason and it was like a shortened version for charity, at some point. Yeah.  That wouldn't be such a bad thing. 

Question:  Do you feel you're getting better success lately with people who aren't so much big fans of the show.  Some of the people lately, they haven't really watched the show.  They get cast and they kind of go back and catch up on the seasons. 

Mark Burnett:  Mainly people who get on Survivor have watched for many years.  Occasionally there are people who will get on the show who aren't such experts of the game but we feel there's a reason that they should be given a shot to be cast.  All sorts of casting things come our way.  We just try to make the best balanced cast that we can.  You would probably think that somebody who really, really knows that game would be better at it.  It's like the best laid plans, like I said in the beginning about football teams and having plays and on the day, they don't necessarily work.  That's what Survivor is like.  It's one thing contemplating Survivor, a whole other thing being out there and not eating and being in that temperature.  It depends on how you deal with the actual conditions.  Predominately we tend to get people who have been watching the show for years and years and years and have applied over and over.