Caution: Spoilers Ahead
Though Alone and Survivor often appeal to different audiences, the shows are similar enough that many viewers tune in to both. These reality TV series satisfy a human desire to watch other humans think outside the box, react to uncomfortable situations, and cope with psychological and physical stress.
Both shows have also changed dramatically since their first seasons. Survivor has become more intricate and more cutthroat, while Alone has increased the difficulty of the competition and pushed its contestants to the extreme.
If you are looking for an honest glimpse into the hardships and difficulties of living on your own in the wild, however, only one of these reality TV series makes the cut. While Survivor leans heavily into the conflict between players and the psychological warfare they play against each other, Alone relies solely on the harsh realities of survival to make exciting television.
'Survivor’ Is About Creating Drama
Like all reality TV franchises, Survivor thrives on conflict and drama. Contestants are split into two tribes (a problematic term, but let’s move on) and must live off of the land with scarce supplies. Jeff Probst, who has amassed $40 million as the show’s host, then leads the contestants through physical and mental challenges, pitting the tribes against each other.
From watching just a few episodes of Survivor, many viewers quickly realize that contestants aren't cast on the show for their skills alone. Outgoing, funny, and attractive players thrive on this series, as they are more likely to create conflict and polarize viewers. Cast members who are less skilled or resourceful also bring entertainment to the series and make the socially intelligent, strong, and crafty contestants all the more impressive. In later seasons, however, producers on Survivor have made an effort to value skill over appearance by recasting successful competitors from previous seasons.
Survivor is also well known for its romantic side plots. Some contestants created “showmances” to gain an advantage in the competition while others seem to have truly fallen in love. In fact, plenty of couples that met on set have been together for over a decade. Though some Survivor couples have not stayed together, the show’s emphasis on romance has transformed the competition into a sequence of psychological games rather than a true survival series.
Producers Don’t Need to Create Drama on ‘Alone’
In the world of Alone, psychological games with other competitors do not exist, but psychological stress is heightened to an extreme. Contestants are truly on their own as they film, hunt, forage, fend off predators, and survive by themselves. They are socially isolated from everyone and everything and must cope with the physical tolls of finding food and the mental tolls of loneliness.
There is another key difference between Survival and Alone: on Alone, the audience roots for every player, even if fans pick favorites. The players are, in a sense, competing against themselves, as they never come in contact with other players during production.
On Survival, however, audiences tend to develop negative feelings toward certain competitors depending on how those competitors play the game and how producers portray those players. This points to a certain amount of manipulation behind the camera on Survival as producers try to create more conflict and drama by placing the competitors in certain situations.
The production team on Alone does not have to create any further obstacles or challenges for the competitors; surviving alone for 100 days is more than enough of a challenge.
'Survivor’ and ‘Alone’ Have Other Unfortunate Similarities: Racism, Sexism, and Anti-LGBTQ+ Behaviors
As with many reality TV series that have become popular in America, Survivor and Alone struggle to form diverse casts. Season 7 of Alone featured only one person of color in its ten-person cast. Survivor has had to recruit certain competitors as 80 percent of the show’s applicants are white, according to The Tartan.
Survivor in particular has come under fire for racial stereotyping, micro-aggressions experienced by POC, and sexual harassment. Kellee Kim, a woman of color and contestant on Season 39, for instance, was eliminated after experiencing sexual harassment from a castmate.
“From the very beginning of her season, Kim voiced her discomfort with the way fellow contestant Dan Spilo was treating her, including, but not limited to, regular, non-consensual physical touch,” wrote Hannah Rimm for Refinery29. “Kim tried to rally her tribemates to vote him out, citing his sexual harassment as evidence, but instead, they voted her out. A few episodes later, Spilo was removed from the show by producers after another, off-camera incident occurred involving a crew member.”
On Season 34 of Survivor, audiences witnessed another ugly display: contestant Zeke Smith got publicly outed by another cast member, Jeff Varner. Varner claimed at the time that Smith was deceptive by not telling his teammates he was a transgender man.
Unfortunately, Survivor and Alone have a long way to go in terms of racism, sexism, and anti-LGBTQ+ behavior on the series. Fans and former cast members all agree that diversity in the production teams, especially in higher-up positions, would help to solve many problems.