We all know Survivor is staged for TV, which means there are optimal staff on hand to make sure moments between contestants are caught on camera. Heck, we know even Jeff helps the cast stage certain moments so nothing is given away. However, it’s one thing to know a camera crew is on hand to film challenges and confessionals, not to mention everyday camp life, with the cast. It’s quite another to see the process in action.
Before a Survivor contestant can become an official $1 million winner, he or she must survive 26 days on the island (don’t get me started on the loss of 39 days), outwitting, outlasting and outplaying their peers. What we don’t typically see are the giant number of crew involved with making the CBS reality series happen. Sure, you might occasionally catch a glimpse of a camera person in a shot when someone is injured or something chaotic is going down, but this BTS video from All Winners Survivor about what filming the show is like while Jeff Probst is "letting the players play."
Some of these shots seem obvious, but others I'd honestly just taken for granted without thinking about how the show gets them before. I’m sure I’ve seen shots from a drone's vantage point many times without realizing it. Also, during water challenges, it makes sense they have some people filming in the water. But the sheer number of people on hand in some of these shots is still blowing my mind.
An AMA a while back from someone who worked on Survivor did mention that even when no challenges are occurring, multiple camera crews will be recording at once. That individual said that filming in the jungle is not for the faint of heart and shots can easily get ruined, so usually there are multiple crews on hand just to make sure as much is recorded in a way that can be used later as possible.
Sometimes a camera gets trashed, or humidity becomes a factor. You radio another crew to pick up shot for you, but often you are cross shooting with 1 or 2 other operators, and their audio so not much gets missed. If it is something huge and no one else is around, i.e. someone finds the idol, or gives the idol to someone, they would be asked to redo it. That is very rare though.
Interestingly, sometimes camera people will ruin shots, but that’s why we often see the challenges and camp shots from only one main angle – to keep up the pretense that there really aren’t that many people outside of the contestants around.
I’m not alone in thinking this number of crew is “incredible.” The same Survivor crew member also mentioned that anytime he notes how many crew are on location, they “find it incredible how many individuals it takes to make the show come together.” In the comments section of this new post, I’m finding the same thing is true of other Survivor fans.
- Why was I imagining like 5 dudes?
- I heard the chef for the crew say there’s 500 people on the film crew. Insane.
- It’s kinda amazing how many people it takes to make it look like there’s no people.
- That’s a huge production... wowsa
Ultimately, a few Survivor contestants did comment on the post and noted that once you are in the challenges, you’re hardly paying attention to the other people around, but as someone who has never been to the island, it’s still shocking to think about the sheer number of people who are there with Jeff and co. we never ever see. I’m generally impressed with some of Survivor’s edits every season, but now I know all the added challenges that are going into it, I’ll be sure to give the team even more props as Survivor Season 50 heads to the 2026 TV schedule.
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