Unfortunately, however, many female fans of the show (including myself) are disappointed by the lack of female winners--or as many compelling, smart female contestants for that matter.
I'm going to break down just HOW Survivor is unfairly rigged against female players so that they often do not win or are portrayed very poorly in comparison to the male castaways:
1.) Casting: Men are cast as types such as the "strong athlete" or "brilliant nerd," all of which possess qualities that make you likely to win Survivor. On the other hand, females are cast as eye candy for viewers at home--basically, they are "mac-tors" (model actors) who have been recruited, despite having no knowledge of the show, to look good in a bikini. It's no coincidence that fan favorites are always males because they are the brilliant, manipulative contestants, while the women are voted out early and lack a basic understanding of the game. (See: quitter Purple Kelly or abysmal player Morgan of Survivor: Cagayan, pictured below)
3.) Producers: Put simply, the producers don't spend time highlighting female players' strategic acumen. Strong male players are shown scheming in their confessionals, while women are typically shown crying, cooking rice (or complaining about how it should be cooked), getting involved in a "showmance" (a flirtation or romance that takes place on the show), arguing with their mom, quitting the game, or having emotional breakdowns. Also, the female players who are portrayed as strategic still get way less air time than their male counterparts and thus are never edited to seem like the masterminds of that season. (Pictured below: geeky mastermind Cochran breaking down his plans to the viewer, something females are rarely shown doing.)
4.) Jeff Probst: The worst element of Survivor is Jeff Probst's overt sexism. He blatantly favors male jocks who play the game, always referring to them by their last name as a sign of respect and praising them for their challenge dominance. It is clear that Jeff values game play from an athletic standpoint as opposed to a strategic standpoint. In recent seasons, as Jeff becomes more overly confident in his hosting abilities, he even inputs his often problematic commentary into game play. For instance, at tribal councils, he often hints at his favorite male players to vote a certain way in order to help them win, and he also unfairly showers praise on them during challenges, which can bias viewers. Perhaps worst of all, there was a very problematic exchange during the first season of Survivor: Blood vs. Water in which Candace Cody rightfully accuses Brad Culpepper of sexism. Brad's wife Monica ends up getting a clue to a hidden immunity idol, but Brad demands that she throw it in the fire, and she does. Later, when Candace's husband John gets a clue, Candace also tells John to throw it in the fire, and Jeff proceeds to make fun of him for being "whipped" by his wife. Such is the double standard of Survivor thanks to Jeff Probst.
Fortunately, there are female players who have broken away from the tiresome tradition of male strategic dominance on Survivor.
The first is none other than Parvati Shallow, winner of Survivor: Micronesia and runner-up of Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains. Parvati is infamous for creating an all-female alliance and picking the boys off one by one to win her season, and she often flirted with the men in order to make them think they were safe and want to align with her. Parvati showed that you don't need a "strong guy" to get you to the end, and that the women can often out-manipulate the men. Parvati also revolutionized idol play, constantly finding hidden immunity idols, giving them to key allies, and tricking her opponents in order to take down majority alliances with her idols when she was in the minority. Parvati is especially memorable because she is able to control and manipulate everyone, but she is so sassy, charismatic, and charming that everyone still wants to be her best friend and doesn't want to vote her out.
The second is my personal favorite player, Kim Spradlin. Kim played the most flawless Survivor game of all time in Survivor: One World, as she was able to successfully control every vote and straddle multiple alliances while she picked every male player off one by one. However, despite the fact that she ruled her camp with an iron fist, she was so subtle about her dominance that everyone still delusionally thought they could beat her at the end and never turned on her. Kim was also an incredibly dominant athlete who won challenge after challenge, and she smartly never got angry with others, lost her cool, or showed any emotion. She's basically a Survivor game-bot. Kim is also a great female role model to Survivor viewers because she never played up her sexuality or acted dramatic on camera to get more air time. By refusing to play to the audience, Kim went out there and did what most players should do: Ignore the cameras, forget about TV ratings, and go win a million dollars.
And the third is Denise Stapley, the winner of Survivor: Philippines. Denise is an incredibly strong and powerful woman who was on a losing tribe that did not win a single immunity challenge. Despite the fact that her entire time essentially got picked off before the merge, she always survived the vote because she was so much stronger and more athletic than the other men on her tribe and was thus more integral to winning challenges. Then, once she made it to the merge, although she was Target #1 and vastly outnumbered on her new tribe, she managed to find cracks in the majority alliance and get everyone to turn on each other one by one until she was the only one left. Denise cleverly used her psychology background to convince people of her viewpoint or position on each vote, and she was charismatic and agreeable and worked hard at camp so that she was well-liked by everyone and no one wanted to vote her out.
Unfortunately, strategic ladies like these are nowhere to be found in recent seasons of Survivor, which seem to have regressed to Season 1 Survivor. There have been male winners for the past 4 seasons in a row, and it appears that the winner of this current season will also be a male. (There are NO strong female players at all--just models and beauty queens.) Let's hope that some Survivor producer magically finds this blog post and decides to stop casting female models and start casting FEMALE SUPERFANS OF THE GAME so that women have just as good of a chance to win as men. Oh, and while the producers are at it, they can make the challenges during the first half of the season less strength-based so that women aren't the obvious targets early on.
Until then, I'll be watching Survivor on my couch, sadly rooting for male players who are the only ones showing any strategic prowess.
FEMINIST FILM/TV RECOMMENDATION OF THE WEEK: THELMA AND LOUISE
Check out this classic film about the power of female friendship in which Susan Sarandon and Geena Davis embark on a dangerous road trip after deciding they've had enough of the controlling and abusive men in their lives. You're guaranteed to shed a few tears during the ending.
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