After an absence of almost four years, Survivor South Africa returned to screens
in January 2014 on pay channel M-Net, with the tagline Champions applying to
team leaders, contestants and crew involved in the production.
According to Anton Burggraaf, head of entertainment television at Endemol, the
company tasked with bringing Survivor to local screens, new production
elements were introduced to make this the most exciting season yet about
castaways battling for the R1 million prize money.
Commenting on the success of the gruelling shoot, which took place in South
East Asia during October 2013, Burggraaf says: “The reason the production ran
so smoothly is that we had the cream of the industry working on the show. We
had a lot of involvement on a multinational level, including crew who worked on
the American versions of Survivor, and had the opportunity to use top-of-the-
range equipment supplied out of Los Angeles.’
Post-production on the island
Burggraaf says that about 120 crew members ensured that the 27-day, non-
stop shoot was executed with precision. “We had an incredible technical set-up
on the island, as we were able to do post-production for the first time on
location.’ This innovation made the head of content’s work much easier and
shaved time off filing the vast volumes of material which came in on a daily basis.
In another first, the series was recorded in 5.1 surround sound on the island
and taken through into final mix. Regarding the editing process, which started on
the island, and the Baselight grading programme was fully integrated with Avid
allowing editors to cut on the same timeline, saving on time and resources.
Challenges
Although logistics proved to be a challenge at times, no major glitches occurred
thanks to careful orchestration. However, the weather in South East Asia,
unpredictable in nature, behaved particularly well, with the only surprises being
two days of rain and the expected long stretches of heat hovering around the
31°C mark.
Another consideration was to ensure that the natural surroundings remained
undisturbed. “As the shoot took place in a marine park, a lot of care had to be
taken to be mindful of the wildlife there, not disturbing the natural ecosystem,’
comments Burggraaf.
Filming in a malaria-free area contributed to health and safety precautions
(despite the onslaught of mosquitos armed only with buzzing abilities) and five
medics were on hand in case of emergencies.
“By far the most challenging aspect was keeping up the morale of the core team
members who worked 27 days without significant breaks,’ says Burggraaf – and
that is where their stamina matched that of the contestants.
Strategic move
Introducing South African sporting legends Corne Krige, former Springbok rugby
captain, and Mark Fish, who played soccer for the national team and at club level
internationally, was a strategic move on the part of M-Net. “It was a great idea
to do a fit with another genre such as sport. You don’t have to be an avid sports
fan to realise how very similar the game play of Survivor is to sport,’ continues
Burggraaf.
“The captains did a wonderful job in uniting their respective teams. Krige and
Fish know how to play a strategic game and both are sensational for their own
reasons and bring completely different characters to the audience. As they are
also competing for their own separate prize of R50 000 with the added bonus of
immunity, it is interesting to see how their different value systems surface and in
which ways they get their respective teams “to follow the leader’,’ he says.
Upping the game
Burggraaf says that Survivor has grown tremendously in stature and maturity
and he thinks South African audiences are going to be pleasantly surprised with
the level of intelligence at which the game is played. “Audiences will be
impressed with the diversity of people and how well equipped they are to play
Survivor South Africa: Champions. Contestants make real choices with
assuredness and authenticity which shifts the entire series into a new gear.’
He emphasises that Endemol is upping the game in entertainment reality
television by finding the most essential ingredient: the right characters for the
series. “Our goal was to find people who were unique and sincere, had lovely
personalities and would make audiences appreciate who they are.
“In terms of content development, unscripted reality television is a back-
engineered drama in that we are focusing on making it more meaningful for
people, especially on a level where they can empathise with contestants. We
succeeded in that, providing audiences with variety and integrity,’ Burggraaf
concludes.
