Survivor has brought us a great variety of tropical locations, but we would die to see some of these islands make an appearance in a future season.
When Survivor was introduced to the world in 2000, it took 16 Americans on an adventure to the South Pacific island of Pulau Tiga, off the coast of Borneo. With more than 125 million Americans watching at least part of the season finale, a global phenomenon was set in action. Now, more than 16 years later, the show has taken reality television’s greatest show to close to two dozen islands and tropical locations around the world.
However, as it seems to be the case, most of the Survivor locations chosen are placed South of the equator. Of course, there are always exceptions to the rule (such as Panama, Thailand, Palau, Guatemala, etc.), but CBS must be getting good deals or great hospitality with tourism boards or country representatives in that region for the show to constantly film around those islands.
Survivor usually focuses on aspects of the game, but sometimes the location is as much a character on a season as the Phillip Sheppard’s or Russell Hantz’s of the world. Here are some interesting Survivor location ideas that the show should seriously consider for the future.
Survivor Okinawa
Location: Okinawa Islands, Japan
One of my favorite island Survivor locations of all time happens to be China. Not only did the remote rural location provide a thematic shift from its surrounding seasons, but CBS really leaned into the history of the land. While James was busy holding two idols, Jean-Robert was playing a “strategy” to be a slob, and Peih-Gee was just trying to stay alive, Jeff Probst was offering rewards that emphasized the respect and traditions of the country.
Survivor China offered viewers and castaways the opportunity to peek into a world so different from what we’ve seen on the show before, and I think Survivor Okinawa would be able to do the same. Perhaps Tourism Japan may not be as accommodating to CBS, but if they can pull this off, we could expect a visual observation of both feudal and wartime history relating to both the United States and Japan.
Anything depicting the clash of lifestyles between the Far East and the United States will make for interesting television.