Of all the episodes of television that have come out of the 2000s, Survivor’s season 1 finale makes the top 10 list from The Ringer’s pop culture panel.
The golden age of television may be on the way out, but there are a ton more options now than there has ever been in any year. Not only that, there are still great series’ from the turn of the century producing content to this day, with Survivor being one of those franchises. In many ways, it helped pave the way for reality television and the shows that followed today.
Its importance in the 21st century cannot be overstated, as pop culture website The Ringer produced its lengthy list of the best 100 episodes of the 2000s. While many such lists contain mostly dramas and comedies, as well as multiple entries from the same show, this list only contains one episode from each series and includes even cooking shows.
As you go down the list and see inclusions from the likes of Laguna Beach, The Jersey Shore and Keeping Up With the Kardashians, it felt like eventually, we would get to Survivor right before the very top of the list. Surprisingly, Survivor not only placed well but secured a spot in the top 10 with “The Final Four;” the first season finale.
Looking back, it may be one of the most compelling television episodes in the show’s history, even more so than the likes of “Trial By Fire” (Skupin’s evacuation) or “The Great Lie” (Fairplay’s grandma lie). It set the stage for the rest of the series, had great social and strategic gameplay, broke down the competitors’ spirits with a grueling endurance challenge and the most enigmatic, important monologue in reality television history.
It meant Survivor placed seventh in the entire list, sitting among the greats such as L O S T, The Wire, Chappelle’s Show, Game of Thrones, Mad Men and others. The entire list is a fantastic deep dive into the best shows and their most representative episodes, so I implore you to check it out.
Perhaps one day we’ll have to provide our own episode rankings. One day!