I was 12 years old when I discovered Survivor . My mom and I were flipping channels, and we paused to watch some cranky people arguing about where to build a shelter and a fire. Corporate trainer and eventual winner Richard Hatch was trying to organize the group, much to self-proclaimed redneck Sue Hawk’s chagrin.
"Corporate world ain’t gonna work out here in the bush," she complained. It was a new show called Survivor , my mom explained, where people lived on an island and competed to win $1 million. By the end of the episode, I was a fan.
I'm 36 now, and as obsessed as ever. I’ve spent years discussing the game in forums, listening to podcasts breaking down each episode, trying to divine the winner of each season based on "edgic" ("logic from the edit") and competing in Survivor fantasy leagues. I've often pondered applying, wondering if I could dig deep enough to actually be on this show I love more than almost anything, but 26 days of minimal sleep and food isn't for me.
What if I could get a little taste somehow? On Jan. 31, 2023, the Survivor gods smiled on me. At the coffee shop, fetching his daily cortado, my husband noticed a casting flier for Surviving Bloomington , “a four-day live game based on the TV show Survivor.
” Applications closed that day. I hastily filmed an audition video. A few months later, I found myself in a heavily wooded Bloomington, Ind.
, backyard, meeting my tribe as the production crew filmed us with their iPhones. Outwit, outplay, out.