The Simpsons heavily referenced Survivor last night

Marge and Homer Simpson compete in an island-based reality competition on The Simpsons, making references to Survivor, The Amazing Race and more.

Right off the top, it should go without saying; The Simpsons after season 13 is barely watchable, and hardly retains its flashes of excellence between seasons 10 and 13. I commend anyone for sticking through with it for two decades after it’s been excellent, however, as it allows friends to tip me off that Survivor was a heavy influence for the most recent episode.

Last night, The Simpsons aired episode number 641 in the series (good lord), “Heartbreak Hotel,” amalgamating a ton of different references to reality television, creating a reality Frankenstein’s monster led by the influence of Survivor. The premise follows Marge’s obsession and intrigue in competing on “The Amazing Place;” a reality show on an island with coupled teams that have bare necessities and compete in complicated challenges.

They even show a challenge that hasn’t been done since season 22, “Beauty vs. Sexy,” referencing the Brains, Beauty, Brawn seasons of Survivor. There are plenty of callbacks to the show, including bandanas that look like buffs, a black woman destroying her camp and spilling the rice like J’Tia, showing a terrible CD-Rom game, Chief Wiggum tries out as the typical “nude fatso” who’s “not here to make friends” in his audition, and the casting lady says “I think we just found our Boston Rob!” when agreeing to bring Marge onto the show.

There’s even a really cool reference to the behind-the-scenes details of how Survivor handles its contestants about a third of the way in, but you need to watch the full episode to get a feel for what’s going on. A bigger plot is at stake, and there’s even a parody of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf somewhere in the middle.

It’s clear that a contingent of The Simpsons’ writing crew are fans of such shows as Survivor and The Amazing Race, as the level of detail and accuracy present (outside of the jokes, of course) is pretty solid for what could have easily been a simplistic allusion.