Survivor Sucks
Encyclopedia
Survivor Sucks is an internet forum
located in the Yuku
message board system. The slogan for Survivor Sucks is "Outspoil, Outbump, Outflame," a parody of "Outwit, Outplay, Outlast." There are various forums where users freely spoil (which in this context means to reveal the outcome before the show airs), discuss and ridicule the reality television
show Survivor as well as other reality television
programs such as The Amazing Race
, Big Brother, American Idol
, The Apprentice
and any "Other Show That Sucks." In 2006, the website expanded its reach into non-reality programming when a forum for the ABC
TV series
Lost
was opened.
, SurvivorSucks.com which was a spinoff of the website, RealWorldBlows.com which is now known as PlanetSocks.com (Originally known as PlanetSucks.com). All of these websites were created in the spring of 2000 to lampoon the television series Survivor during its first U.S. season.. When the original site's servers buckled under the heavy traffic at the beginning of the second season
, the site's creator and owner, Paul Sims (known by the moniker "DogStalker") , moved the Sucks discussion forums to ezboard
on February 14, 2001. Sims no longer handles the daily affairs of the board, having divided control among a handful of appointed administrators. However, he remains the system owner of record and occasionally makes an appearance. On August 9, 2007, the site moved to Yuku
, ezboard's new message board system, retaining all of its existing data. With the move to Yuku the SurvivorSucks.com URL was set to redirect to the Yuku based community, which was not possible when the board ran on ezboard
.
The tone of the board is combative, sarcastic and caters to those who ridicule the Reality TV genre in its entirety. Several Sucks members have also successfully applied as participants in one reality show or another including Susie Smith, the runner-up of Survivor: Gabon
, Rafe Judkins, the third placer in Survivor: Guatemala
and Todd Herzog
, winner of Survivor: China
. Like many open forums, in-jokes and clique
s are prevalent, and a significant portion of member entertainment is derived from flaming newbie
s and taunting established community outcasts.
However, the membership also includes avid fans and reality television celebrities. Those who are sensitive to criticism of their favorite shows or characters are welcome to participate but will quickly become aware that criticism is not censored. Very little is censored on Sucks and foul language often prevails. Images exhibiting genitalia are not permitted but in general the site should be considered not safe for work.
broke new ground in American television programming. Survivor
set the standard for what is now called Reality Television
, and dominated in the ratings. Described as a "sociological pseudo-Machiavellian human experiment"., Survivor was designed to be the antithesis of the traditional game show. The winner would be rewarded based, not on what they knew, but upon their ability to navigate the sharply structured social pecking order of the other contestants. This would become the hallmark of the Survivor television show and establish a signature tactic for future winners.
The game itself was, by necessity, played, filmed and edited months before being broadcast on television. This meant that the game play and the ultimate outcome was determined well before the series actually aired. Survivor
producer Mark Burnett
heightened production security to ensure that episode details and outcomes were kept secret before airing. For example, contestants and staff were asked to sign confidentiality contracts that specified multi-million dollar fines for disclosing any information about the show.
Survivor Entertainment Group (SEG) edited Survivor
to increase the suspense and lead to a surprising, but pre-known, conclusion. Avid fans of the program are generally divided into two groups. Those who wish to enjoy the suspense and surprise of the game play, and those who find further enjoyment by searching for clues which will prematurely reveal the outcome. This second group of people migrated together through the availability of websites like Survivor Sucks, and gave the name of "spoiling" to the hobby of prematurely revealing the results of Reality Television
. Clues to the programs outcome can be found by carefully examining previews and commercials, by searching information through websites, by communicating with some "inside" source, and through other means. The news media did not fail to pick up on this new trend and some users of the Survivor Sucks website began to call themselves "Sucksters" and "Spoilers."
Before the airing of the first season of Survivor, a forum user, using the moniker "7o62x39", created an online game in which other board members could speculate on the weekly outcome, and earn points. When publicity photos promoting the first episode were released, some game players noticed beard growth, particularly on contestants Greg Buis and Rudy Boesch, which appeared to be from future episodes of the show. Realizing that CBS had released previews and photographs which were from future episodes, the forum members began an attempt to discover or "spoil" the outcome.
Online conversations regarding contestants longetivity, based on logic and assessments of various amateur forensic examination of clips, quickly became a central point of the website. For example, in the show’s opening montage for episode 1, contestant Greg Buis was identified with a full beard, confirming he continued on the show through at least a few more episodes. SurvivorSucks forum users began an elaborate chronology of the contestants campsites, tools and reward objects and clothing. Some forum users also noticed Survivor contestants wearing clothing previously belonging to others, suggesting that the original owner had been eliminated from the show. As new publicity pictures and previews were released, screen captures were matched against these chronologies and dated. Using these clues, the SurvivorSucks users were able to correctly predict the eliminations through Episode Seven.
SurvivorSucks is described as "the Internet site CBS loved to hate" since it both provides publicity for the Survivor television program and "ruins" the surprise and suspense the producers are trying to maintain. An interesting example of this is the "Gervase-X" spoiler, which was believed by many to show Gervase Peterson
as the Survivor: Borneo
winner. A SurvivorSucks user going by the moniker "CAPLOCK" found a picture on the CBS website which contained an "X" through the face of each contestant except Gervase Peterson. This generated more publicity with North American newspapers reporting the "spoiler" of Gervase Peterson being the first Survivor winner. However, Gervase finished in seventh place, and the national news painted this CBS produced a "planted" picture as a victory over the spoilers at SurvivorSucks. There are other incidents of Survivor show producers manipulating images in the program to disguise future events and throw the SurvivorSucks users off the spoiler track.
Notwithstanding these efforts, SurvivorSucks users have continued, through the various seasons of Survivor, to discover accurate information about the outcome of the show. For example, in 2001's Survivor: The Australian Outback
, a user known as "AtlantaFatMike" was able to determine the fate of contestant Michael Skupin when he discovered pictures on Skupin's business website showing Skupin post-show with bandaged hands. This led users to speculate that an accident involving Michael Skupin had occurred during filiming which proved to be true when an episode aired showing Skupin falling, hands first, into the campfire.
During 2003's Survivor: The Amazon
, a user known as "ChillOne" provided descriptions of the yet to be aired season, including the final four contestants of that season. This information was obtained from locals during a vacation to the filming area. ChillOne later published a book about his travels and his experience as a SurvivorSucks "spoiler", and has gone on to collect similar spoilers in the same fashion for subsequent seasons.
Entertainment sites tout SurvivorSucks as the "GoTo" place for fans of the show to find "spoiler" information, but advise, "Don't Go If you don't want to know".
viewers in 2005 when contestant Scott Savol
outlasted other, supposedly more popular contestants, due to fan attempts to deliberately sway the show's results. VFTW made headlines when Savol ended up in the top five over Constantine Maroulis
during season 4. The media again took notice when VFTW helped Kevin Covais
into the top 12 over Gedeon McKinney during season 5, although Covais' run on the show was short-lived.
Season six of American Idol became a turning point for the website due to its support of contestant Sanjaya Malakar
. Sanjaya went on to last 6 more weeks in the competition, becoming a cultural phenomenon and gaining momentum along the way with support from celebrities such as Howard Stern.
The website also credits itself for the victories of season 5's Taylor Hicks
(though he was long favored to win), and season 8's Kris Allen
SurvivorSucks achieved the distinction of being ranked number fourteen of twenty five sites named by Entertainment Weekly
's "Best Of the Web".
Internet forum
An Internet forum, or message board, is an online discussion site where people can hold conversations in the form of posted messages. They differ from chat rooms in that messages are at least temporarily archived...
located in the Yuku
Yuku
Yuku Yuku Yuku (which comes from an Australian aboriginal word for "tree" is the latest version of ezboard, Inc.'s internet forums. Yuku describes itself as "Message Boards 2.0"...
message board system. The slogan for Survivor Sucks is "Outspoil, Outbump, Outflame," a parody of "Outwit, Outplay, Outlast." There are various forums where users freely spoil (which in this context means to reveal the outcome before the show airs), discuss and ridicule the reality television
Reality television
Reality television is a genre of television programming that presents purportedly unscripted dramatic or humorous situations, documents actual events, and usually features ordinary people instead of professional actors, sometimes in a contest or other situation where a prize is awarded...
show Survivor as well as other reality television
Reality television
Reality television is a genre of television programming that presents purportedly unscripted dramatic or humorous situations, documents actual events, and usually features ordinary people instead of professional actors, sometimes in a contest or other situation where a prize is awarded...
programs such as The Amazing Race
The Amazing Race
The Amazing Race is a reality television game show in which teams of two people, who have some form of a preexisting personal relationship, race around the world in competition with other teams...
, Big Brother, American Idol
American Idol
American Idol, titled American Idol: The Search for a Superstar for the first season, is a reality television singing competition created by Simon Fuller and produced by FremantleMedia North America and 19 Entertainment...
, The Apprentice
The Apprentice (U.S. TV series)
The Apprentice is an American reality television show hosted by real estate magnate, businessman and television personality Donald Trump, created by Mark Burnett and broadcast on NBC...
and any "Other Show That Sucks." In 2006, the website expanded its reach into non-reality programming when a forum for the ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
TV series
Television program
A television program , also called television show, is a segment of content which is intended to be broadcast on television. It may be a one-time production or part of a periodically recurring series...
Lost
Lost (TV series)
Lost is an American television series that originally aired on ABC from September 22, 2004 to May 23, 2010, consisting of six seasons. Lost is a drama series that follows the survivors of the crash of a commercial passenger jet flying between Sydney and Los Angeles, on a mysterious tropical island...
was opened.
History
The board takes its name from the earliest incarnation of the websiteWebsite
A website, also written as Web site, web site, or simply site, is a collection of related web pages containing images, videos or other digital assets. A website is hosted on at least one web server, accessible via a network such as the Internet or a private local area network through an Internet...
, SurvivorSucks.com which was a spinoff of the website, RealWorldBlows.com which is now known as PlanetSocks.com (Originally known as PlanetSucks.com). All of these websites were created in the spring of 2000 to lampoon the television series Survivor during its first U.S. season.. When the original site's servers buckled under the heavy traffic at the beginning of the second season
Survivor: The Australian Outback
Survivor: The Australian Outback is the second season of the United States reality show Survivor. Filming took place at Goshen Station in northern Queensland during 2000 and aired from January 28, 2001 to May 3, 2001 on CBS...
, the site's creator and owner, Paul Sims (known by the moniker "DogStalker") , moved the Sucks discussion forums to ezboard
Ezboard
ezboard, Inc., based in San Francisco, California, United States, is a provider of free and paid hosted Internet forums.-Description: was a provider of a free hosted message board for use by webmasters and message board administrators who have little to no experience running a web site...
on February 14, 2001. Sims no longer handles the daily affairs of the board, having divided control among a handful of appointed administrators. However, he remains the system owner of record and occasionally makes an appearance. On August 9, 2007, the site moved to Yuku
Yuku
Yuku Yuku Yuku (which comes from an Australian aboriginal word for "tree" is the latest version of ezboard, Inc.'s internet forums. Yuku describes itself as "Message Boards 2.0"...
, ezboard's new message board system, retaining all of its existing data. With the move to Yuku the SurvivorSucks.com URL was set to redirect to the Yuku based community, which was not possible when the board ran on ezboard
Ezboard
ezboard, Inc., based in San Francisco, California, United States, is a provider of free and paid hosted Internet forums.-Description: was a provider of a free hosted message board for use by webmasters and message board administrators who have little to no experience running a web site...
.
The tone of the board is combative, sarcastic and caters to those who ridicule the Reality TV genre in its entirety. Several Sucks members have also successfully applied as participants in one reality show or another including Susie Smith, the runner-up of Survivor: Gabon
Survivor: Gabon
Survivor: Gabon — Earth's Last Eden is the seventeenth season of the American CBS competitive reality television series Survivor. The premiere aired September 25, 2008, with the first two episodes screened back-to-back....
, Rafe Judkins, the third placer in Survivor: Guatemala
Survivor: Guatemala
Survivor: Guatemala — The Maya Empire, commonly referred to as Survivor: Guatemala, is the eleventh season of the American CBS competitive reality television series Survivor. The season was filmed in the Yaxhá-Nakúm-Naranjo National Park near the more popular Tikal National Park, located in...
and Todd Herzog
Todd Herzog
Todd Herzog is the $1,000,000 winner of the 15th season of Survivor, Survivor: China. He is also the second openly gay male contestant to win Survivor, following Richard Hatch's win in Survivor: Borneo.-Survivor: China:...
, winner of Survivor: China
Survivor: China
Survivor: China is the fifteenth season of the American CBS competitive reality television series Survivor. The premiere aired September 20, 2007. Host Jeff Probst claimed the show was the first full American TV series to be filmed entirely within China...
. Like many open forums, in-jokes and clique
Clique
A clique is an exclusive group of people who share common interests, views, purposes, patterns of behavior, or ethnicity. A clique as a reference group can be either normative or comparative. Membership in a clique is typically exclusive, and qualifications for membership may be social or...
s are prevalent, and a significant portion of member entertainment is derived from flaming newbie
Newbie
Newbie or noob is a slang term for a novice or newcomer, or somebody inexperienced in any profession or activity. Contemporary use can particularly refer to a beginner or new user of computers, often concerning Internet activity, such as online gaming or Linux use...
s and taunting established community outcasts.
However, the membership also includes avid fans and reality television celebrities. Those who are sensitive to criticism of their favorite shows or characters are welcome to participate but will quickly become aware that criticism is not censored. Very little is censored on Sucks and foul language often prevails. Images exhibiting genitalia are not permitted but in general the site should be considered not safe for work.
Spoiling History
The production of the first season of SurvivorSurvivor (U.S. TV series)
Survivor is an American version of the Survivor reality television game show, itself derived from the Swedish television series Expedition Robinson originally created in 1997 by Charlie Parsons. The series premiered on May 31, 2000 on CBS...
broke new ground in American television programming. Survivor
Survivor (U.S. TV series)
Survivor is an American version of the Survivor reality television game show, itself derived from the Swedish television series Expedition Robinson originally created in 1997 by Charlie Parsons. The series premiered on May 31, 2000 on CBS...
set the standard for what is now called Reality Television
Reality television
Reality television is a genre of television programming that presents purportedly unscripted dramatic or humorous situations, documents actual events, and usually features ordinary people instead of professional actors, sometimes in a contest or other situation where a prize is awarded...
, and dominated in the ratings. Described as a "sociological pseudo-Machiavellian human experiment"., Survivor was designed to be the antithesis of the traditional game show. The winner would be rewarded based, not on what they knew, but upon their ability to navigate the sharply structured social pecking order of the other contestants. This would become the hallmark of the Survivor television show and establish a signature tactic for future winners.
The game itself was, by necessity, played, filmed and edited months before being broadcast on television. This meant that the game play and the ultimate outcome was determined well before the series actually aired. Survivor
Survivor (U.S. TV series)
Survivor is an American version of the Survivor reality television game show, itself derived from the Swedish television series Expedition Robinson originally created in 1997 by Charlie Parsons. The series premiered on May 31, 2000 on CBS...
producer Mark Burnett
Mark Burnett
Mark Burnett is a British television producer and executive producer, based in the United States. He currently is the executive producer of five network television series with seven hours of network programming. Works with which Burnett is associated have won multiple awards and recognition...
heightened production security to ensure that episode details and outcomes were kept secret before airing. For example, contestants and staff were asked to sign confidentiality contracts that specified multi-million dollar fines for disclosing any information about the show.
Survivor Entertainment Group (SEG) edited Survivor
Survivor (U.S. TV series)
Survivor is an American version of the Survivor reality television game show, itself derived from the Swedish television series Expedition Robinson originally created in 1997 by Charlie Parsons. The series premiered on May 31, 2000 on CBS...
to increase the suspense and lead to a surprising, but pre-known, conclusion. Avid fans of the program are generally divided into two groups. Those who wish to enjoy the suspense and surprise of the game play, and those who find further enjoyment by searching for clues which will prematurely reveal the outcome. This second group of people migrated together through the availability of websites like Survivor Sucks, and gave the name of "spoiling" to the hobby of prematurely revealing the results of Reality Television
Reality television
Reality television is a genre of television programming that presents purportedly unscripted dramatic or humorous situations, documents actual events, and usually features ordinary people instead of professional actors, sometimes in a contest or other situation where a prize is awarded...
. Clues to the programs outcome can be found by carefully examining previews and commercials, by searching information through websites, by communicating with some "inside" source, and through other means. The news media did not fail to pick up on this new trend and some users of the Survivor Sucks website began to call themselves "Sucksters" and "Spoilers."
Before the airing of the first season of Survivor, a forum user, using the moniker "7o62x39", created an online game in which other board members could speculate on the weekly outcome, and earn points. When publicity photos promoting the first episode were released, some game players noticed beard growth, particularly on contestants Greg Buis and Rudy Boesch, which appeared to be from future episodes of the show. Realizing that CBS had released previews and photographs which were from future episodes, the forum members began an attempt to discover or "spoil" the outcome.
Online conversations regarding contestants longetivity, based on logic and assessments of various amateur forensic examination of clips, quickly became a central point of the website. For example, in the show’s opening montage for episode 1, contestant Greg Buis was identified with a full beard, confirming he continued on the show through at least a few more episodes. SurvivorSucks forum users began an elaborate chronology of the contestants campsites, tools and reward objects and clothing. Some forum users also noticed Survivor contestants wearing clothing previously belonging to others, suggesting that the original owner had been eliminated from the show. As new publicity pictures and previews were released, screen captures were matched against these chronologies and dated. Using these clues, the SurvivorSucks users were able to correctly predict the eliminations through Episode Seven.
SurvivorSucks is described as "the Internet site CBS loved to hate" since it both provides publicity for the Survivor television program and "ruins" the surprise and suspense the producers are trying to maintain. An interesting example of this is the "Gervase-X" spoiler, which was believed by many to show Gervase Peterson
Gervase Peterson
Gervase Peterson was a contestant on Survivor: Borneo, the first edition of the popular CBS reality television series Survivor, which premiered in May 2000, and was the highest rated American series during the summer of that year...
as the Survivor: Borneo
Survivor: Borneo
Survivor: Borneo is the first season of the United States reality show Survivor. It was originally broadcast under the name Survivor but its official title was changed to Survivor: Pulau Tiga to distinguish it from subsequent installments of the series, and then changed again to Survivor: Borneo to...
winner. A SurvivorSucks user going by the moniker "CAPLOCK" found a picture on the CBS website which contained an "X" through the face of each contestant except Gervase Peterson. This generated more publicity with North American newspapers reporting the "spoiler" of Gervase Peterson being the first Survivor winner. However, Gervase finished in seventh place, and the national news painted this CBS produced a "planted" picture as a victory over the spoilers at SurvivorSucks. There are other incidents of Survivor show producers manipulating images in the program to disguise future events and throw the SurvivorSucks users off the spoiler track.
Notwithstanding these efforts, SurvivorSucks users have continued, through the various seasons of Survivor, to discover accurate information about the outcome of the show. For example, in 2001's Survivor: The Australian Outback
Survivor: The Australian Outback
Survivor: The Australian Outback is the second season of the United States reality show Survivor. Filming took place at Goshen Station in northern Queensland during 2000 and aired from January 28, 2001 to May 3, 2001 on CBS...
, a user known as "AtlantaFatMike" was able to determine the fate of contestant Michael Skupin when he discovered pictures on Skupin's business website showing Skupin post-show with bandaged hands. This led users to speculate that an accident involving Michael Skupin had occurred during filiming which proved to be true when an episode aired showing Skupin falling, hands first, into the campfire.
During 2003's Survivor: The Amazon
Survivor: The Amazon
Survivor: The Amazon is the sixth season of the United States reality show Survivor. It was filmed in 2002 and 13 episodes aired weekly in the United States on CBS from February 13 - May 11, 2003....
, a user known as "ChillOne" provided descriptions of the yet to be aired season, including the final four contestants of that season. This information was obtained from locals during a vacation to the filming area. ChillOne later published a book about his travels and his experience as a SurvivorSucks "spoiler", and has gone on to collect similar spoilers in the same fashion for subsequent seasons.
Entertainment sites tout SurvivorSucks as the "GoTo" place for fans of the show to find "spoiler" information, but advise, "Don't Go If you don't want to know".
Vote for the Worst
SurvivorSucks is the origin of the "Vote for the Worst" (VFTW) movement. Created by the user "thefunnystone", the VFTW movement enraged American IdolAmerican Idol
American Idol, titled American Idol: The Search for a Superstar for the first season, is a reality television singing competition created by Simon Fuller and produced by FremantleMedia North America and 19 Entertainment...
viewers in 2005 when contestant Scott Savol
Scott Savol
Scott Thomas Savol is an American singer and was the 5th place finalist on the fourth season of American Idol.-Personal life:...
outlasted other, supposedly more popular contestants, due to fan attempts to deliberately sway the show's results. VFTW made headlines when Savol ended up in the top five over Constantine Maroulis
Constantine Maroulis
Constantine James Maroulis is an American rock singer, actor, and writer from Wyckoff, New Jersey. He was the sixth-place finalist on the fourth season of the reality television series American Idol, and lead vocalist of the hard rock band Pray for the Soul of Betty...
during season 4. The media again took notice when VFTW helped Kevin Covais
Kevin Covais
Kevin Patrick Covais is a fifth-season American Idol finalist from Levittown, New York. He was the second finalist eliminated from the competition on March 22, 2006, making him the eleventh-place finalist. He is also an actor in the movie College....
into the top 12 over Gedeon McKinney during season 5, although Covais' run on the show was short-lived.
Season six of American Idol became a turning point for the website due to its support of contestant Sanjaya Malakar
Sanjaya Malakar
Sanjaya Joseph Malakar is an American singer of Indian origin, who was a finalist on the sixth season of American Idol. He gained national attention on the series, controversially advancing to 7th place with public votes, despite being poorly received by the show's judges, particularly Simon...
. Sanjaya went on to last 6 more weeks in the competition, becoming a cultural phenomenon and gaining momentum along the way with support from celebrities such as Howard Stern.
The website also credits itself for the victories of season 5's Taylor Hicks
Taylor Hicks
Taylor Reuben Hicks is an American singer who achieved fame in 2006, when he won the fifth season of American Idol. Hicks got his start as a professional musician in his late teens and performed around the Southeastern United States for well over the span of a decade, during which he also released...
(though he was long favored to win), and season 8's Kris Allen
Kris Allen
Kristopher Neil "Kris" Allen is an American musician and singer-songwriter from Conway, Arkansas, and the winner of the eighth season of American Idol...
Culture and current events
SurvivorSucks remained online during the September 11 attacks, and a thread discussing that day's events became an invaluable source of information and emotional support for many users who did not have a television nearby and/or could not access news websites due to the tremendous internet traffic. The thread was archived, unedited, and provides an emotional, play-by-play, frozen in time "picture", chronicling the events of that day as information about the attacks progressed. The thread is featured in a special memorial forum opened each year on the anniversary of the attacks.SurvivorSucks achieved the distinction of being ranked number fourteen of twenty five sites named by Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
's "Best Of the Web".