It is hosted by Jeff Probst, who is also an executive producer along with Mark Burnett and the original creator, Parsons.

Survivor places a group of people in an isolated location, where they must provide food, fire, and shelter for themselves.

Sixteen or more players, split between two or more "tribes", are taken to a remote isolated location (usually in a tropical climate) and are forced to live off the land with meager supplies for 39 days (42 in The Australian Outback, 26 in post-COVID seasons).

[a] Frequent physical and mental challenges are used to pit the teams against each other for rewards, such as food or luxuries, or for "immunity", forcing the other tribe to attend "Tribal Council", where they must vote off one of their tribemates.

Once the group gets down to two or three people, a Final Tribal Council is held where the remaining players plead their case to the jury members.

The jury then votes for which player should be considered the "Sole Survivor" and win the show's grand prize.

These changes have included tribal switches, seasons starting with more than two tribes, the ability to exile a player from a tribe for a short time on "Exile Island", hidden immunity idols that players can use to save themselves or others at Tribal Council, special voting powers which can be used to influence the result at Tribal Council, the chance to return to regular gameplay after elimination through "Redemption Island", "Edge of Extinction" or "The Outcast Tribe" twists, special advantages to help players in the game like an extra vote, steal a vote, idol nullifier, or a shot in the dark and a final four fire-making challenge as of season 35.

Parsons formed Planet24 with Bob Geldof to produce the show and tried to have the BBC broadcast it, but the network turned it down.

[25] Mark Burnett intended to be the person to bring the show to the United States, though he viewed the Swedish version as a bit crude and mean-spirited.

Burnett retooled the concept to use better production values, based on his prior Eco-Challenge show, and wanted to focus more on the human drama experienced while under pressure.

Burnett spent about a year trying to find a broadcaster that would take the show, retooling the concept based on feedback.

[25] The American version of Survivor has been shot in many locations around the world since the first season, usually favoring warm and tropical climates.

The reunion show continued to be filmed at CBS Television City from Philippines to Island of the Idols.

The exceptions to the above outlined live reunion were for Survivor: Island of the Idols, which was filmed in front of a live studio audience but taped four hours in advance due to the controversy surrounding contestant Dan Spilo's behavior,[26] and Survivor: Winners at War, where a video conferencing event was used during the broadcast of the final episode due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

As part of this, up through Survivor: Cagayan, the production of the last part of the recorded final Tribal Council showed Probst taking the urn or container containing the votes and traveling with it by some means, transitioning this to the live show and suggesting a type of continuity between events; for example Survivor: The Amazon appeared to have Probst jet-ski from the Amazon rainforest directly to New York City where the live show was held.

Probst acknowledged that Kelly Kahl, the current president of CBS, had been a significant proponent of the show.

When Survivor had launched, Kahl, then vice-president of scheduling, took a risk and moved the show's second season to Thursdays in competition with NBC's Friends.

[40] Seasonal rankings (based on average total viewers per episode) of the United States version of Survivor on CBS.

[173] Most recently, proceeds have gone toward The Serpentine Project, a charity founded by Jeff Probst, dedicated to helping those transitioning out of foster care upon emancipation at 18 years of age.

Today, fans can find innumerable items, including computer and board games, interactive online games, mugs, tribal-themed jewelry, beach towels, dog tags, magnets, multi-function tools, DVD seasons, Survivor party kits, insider books, soundtracks, and more.

Seasons of Australian Survivor were also added to Paramount+ in the United States and Australia after CBS acquired Network 10 in 2017.

Survivor was added to Pluto TV, ViacomCBS's free Internet television service, as a standalone channel along on September 1, 2020.

[202] An 'interactive review' was created specially for the game, and features interactive comments like "The Survival periods are about as much fun as" followed by a drop-down menu, "watching paint dry/throbbing hemorrhoids/staring at air/being buried alive.