For “Survivor” fans, this is the kind of week that would have seemed unthinkable a few years ago. Parvati Shallow, one of the show’s most popular players and one of the undeniable faces of the franchise, is in striking distance of a second victory in her fifth time competing on the show. (Many a fan will be quick to point out that it should be her third victory, if the “Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains” jury had done its job properly in 2009, but that’s another conversation.)
The biggest threat standing in her way is Cirie Fields, another fan-favorite contestant who was one of Parvati’s closest allies in the infamous Black Widow Brigade alliance that propelled her to win “Survivor: Micronesia” in 2008. It’s a reunion, a comeback story, and the kind of magical moment whose sports equivalent would be Tiger Woods winning the 2019 Masters or Tom Brady winning his seventh Super Bowl with the Buccaneers.
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Seeing these two women return to the jungle of Samoa to dominate the competition together again isn’t just a historic reality TV event: It’s also a rebuttal against the idea that it’s impossible for larger-than-life players to keep winning “Survivor.” 2020 saw the show experience its own “Avengers: Endgame” moment with a season comprised entirely of previous winners, but fans watched in agony as many of the show’s biggest names were systematically voted off first by less decorated winners eager to burnish their own legacies. To many, the takeaway was clear: Sometimes players become too famous and beloved to win what often amounts to a popularity contest, and seeing your old-school favorites return in the 2020s was destined to amount to disappointment.
But “Survivor: Australia V The World,” which airs its finale this Sunday night, has been the kind of throwback all-star season dominated by elite gameplay that many “Survivor” fans have been craving for decades. Produced for the Australian Network 10, the season features decorated contestants from the show’s various international franchises competing for the global championship. And Shallow has dominated the season with a performance that feels like watching Michael Jordan in his prime, utilizing a lethal combination of social manipulation, bold strategic moves, and dominance in endurance challenges that serves as a reminder that “Survivor” really is a game of skill — and that she might be more skilled than anyone to ever put on a buff. It’s the kind of team-up that international “Survivor” fans have craved for years, but few thought would actually happen. The only problem? There’s no official way to watch it in America.
While the CBS show hosted by Jeff Probst remains the flagship “Survivor” product, the format (in which a series of strangers is stranded on an island, competing in challenges and voting each other off until a jury of shunned castaways decides which finalist to award a million dollars to), has been licensed to TV networks around the world. There are locally produced “Survivor” shows airing across Canada, Europe, Africa, South America, and Asia (technically, “Survivor” is an adaptation of the Swedish reality show “Expedition Robinson,” but the branding and iconography of the American show dominates the international spin-offs).
In the eyes of many fans, “Australian Survivor” stands above the rest for its high production value, grueling physical challenges, longer length (castaways are often stranded for over 50 days, as opposed to 26 on the current iteration of the American show), and charismatic Australian host Jonathan LaPaglia. It was a natural home base for an international all-star season, but the viewing options are not particularly friendly to international audiences.
There is no official way to watch “Australian Survivor,” a fact often lamented by American fans who became hooked on the show when it was available to stream (along with seasons of “Survivor New Zealand” and “Survivor South Africa”) on Paramount+ for a few short weeks in early 2022. The shows were quickly removed from the service, and have not found streaming homes in America ever since. People always find workarounds, and “Survivor” fan communities online are still dominated by discussions of the new season, but it’s hard not to feel like all parties are leaving money on the table by not leaning into the fan excitement over such a buzzy global event.
A source confirmed to IndieWire that Paramount does not have streaming rights to any of the international spin-offs at the moment, but the boring answer to any question about why a show isn’t streaming in a particular market is usually that no American company has made an offer that the show’s producers deem appealing enough. (When asked for comment, a Paramount spokesperson provided the following statement: “Paramount+ continues to super serve ‘Survivor’ fans with the latest season and 500 hours of programming with 700 episodes from all the past seasons and even more clips. With ‘Survivor’ 49 premiering on Sept 24 and ‘Survivor’ 50 coming next year, the best is yet to come!”)
But regardless of which side is holding out, it’s hard to see how anybody benefits from shutting such a major market out of consuming a product with so much built-in fan interest. Watch parties of dubious legality for this weekend’s finale are popping up at bars around America, but think how much revenue could be captured if someone was able to charge us to watch this.
American “Survivor” has never done much to acknowledge its international siblings, but “Australia V The World” isn’t just a spin-off made for Australian audiences. It features three of the most popular American players (Shallow, Fields, and two-time winner Tony Vlachos), frequently references and shows clips from past American seasons, and even sets up the upcoming 50th American season, which will feature Fields returning to play once again. “Survivor: Australia V The World” should be the kind of advertisement that most franchises would kill for, a celebration of a game’s global appeal and continued success that has turned into one of the most riveting seasons in recent memory. No matter who is making the decision to keep it in the dark, the entire global “Survivor” community is worse for it.
The finale of “Survivor: Australia V The World” airs Sunday, August 7 on Network 10 in Australia.
