Controversies and legal action
In February 2001, Stacey Stillman filed a lawsuit claiming that producers interfered in the process of Survivor: Borneo by persuading two members of her tribe (Sean Kenniff and Dirk Been) to vote her off instead of Rudy Boesch.
During a reward trip on Survivor: The Australian Outback, Colby Donaldson removed coral from the Great Barrier Reef and, on the same trip, a helicopter involved with the production crew flew around protected seabird rookeries. Both acts violated Australian law and the incidents could have resulted in fines up to A$110,000. Mark Burnett, the executive producer, issued an apology on behalf of Donaldson and the Survivor production team.
At the tribal immunity challenge for the final four players on Survivor: Africa, host Jeff Probst asked which female player in their season had no piercings. Kim Johnson answered Kelly Goldsmith, got the point, and went on to win the challenge, which put her through to the final three and ultimately (after winning another immunity challenge) the final two. Unbeknownst to the producers, another contestant on "Africa", Lindsey Richter, also had no piercings. Lex van den Berghe's answer had been Lindsey, but the show did not award him a point, which could have significantly changed the outcome of the challenge and the overall game. CBS later paid van den Berghe and Tom Buchanan, who had finished in fourth place, a settlement.
Paul Winter sued Russell Landau (composer of the Survivor theme song) and Mark Burnett (series producer) for $800,000 in 2001. Winter stated that he did not agree to have samples of the song "Kurski Funk" from his Earthbeat album to be used in the official Survivor theme song, called "Ancient Voices." Landau said to Entertainment Weekly that the song is "...part of an ancient Russian folk song that I've totally bastardised." The case was later settled out of court. Landau is a former member of Winter's band, the Paul Winter Consort, which won a Grammy in 1995 for Best New Age Album.
In the fifth episode of Survivor: All-Stars, a naked Richard Hatch put his hands behind his head and thrust his genitals towards Sue Hawk, saying "you want some?", after she blocked his path during an immunity challenge. Hatch was voted out that day for other reasons, but Hawk quit the game two days later as a result of what had happened. Hawk considered filing a lawsuit against the parties involved, but she appeared with Hatch on The Early Show the morning after the sixth episode aired, stating she opted out of legal action because CBS had helped her "deal with the situation".
In January 2006, Richard Hatch, the winner of the first season of Survivor, was charged and found guilty of failing to report his winnings to the IRS to avoid taxes. He was sentenced to four years and three months in prison.
In the beginning of Survivor: Cook Islands, the tribes were grouped according to their race. Probst claimed the choice came from the criticism that Survivor was "not ethnically diverse enough", but several long-term sponsors, including Campbell's Soup, Procter & Gamble, Home Depot, and Coca-Cola dropped their support of the show shortly after this announcement, leading to speculation that the decisions were in response to the controversy. Each company has either denied the link to the controversy or declined to comment.
The selection process for the 14th season came under fire when it was revealed that, of the entire Survivor: Fiji cast, only Gary Stritesky had gone through the application process for the show; the rest of the contestants were recruited. Probst defended the process, citing finding diversity of cast as a reason.
At the Survivor: China reunion show, Denise Martin told producers and the audience that she had been demoted to a janitor from a lunch lady due to the distraction she was to students from her appearance on the show. Because of her misfortune, Burnett awarded Martin $50,000. But Martin would later recant her story after the school district she worked for publicly stated that she had taken the custodial position before appearing on the show. Martin then decided to donate the $50,000 to charity.
A brief uncensored shot of Marcus Lehman's genitals during the premiere episode of Survivor: Gabon led to the show and network being asked to apologize for the incident.
Jim Early (aka Missyae), who was a user on one of the fan forums for Survivor, was sued by Burnett, his production company, and CBS in August 2010, for allegedly releasing detailed spoiler information for Survivor: Samoa and Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains. Early revealed that he was getting his information from Russell Hantz, a contestant on both seasons, through both phone calls and emails. Early complied in the lawsuit by providing such evidence, eventually leading to its dismissal in January 2011. Although legal action was never taken against Hantz, the contract for a player in Survivor includes a liability of up to $5 million for the premature revealing of a season's results. Hantz has stated that the claim is false.
Contestants who did not make the jury in Survivor: Caramoan were not allowed on stage for the reunion show. While Jeff Probst claimed that the new stage could not accommodate all of the attending contestants, the format change was panned because the show's fans and fellow contestants felt that it was unfair for them to be left out in the audience. Erik Reichenbach, who finished 5th and did not even get a chance to speak at the reunion, called out the producers for their treatment of the contestants. Calling it a farce, he criticized how the reunion show left so many unanswered questions about the other contestants and his own evacuation during the season finale. He also criticized how the pre-jury members were completely left out in favor of featuring the show's former contestants, like Rob Mariano and Rudy Boesch.
In the sixth episode of Survivor: Game Changers, Jeff Varner revealed at Tribal Council that fellow contestant Zeke Smith was a transgender man. This caused an immediate uproar amongst his tribemates and host Jeff Probst, which led to Varner's immediate elimination. The incident was covered by various news outlets, with fans heavily criticizing Varner's actions. Varner explained himself following the episode's airdate and expressed regret for his actions. Varner was also fired from his real estate job after the episode aired.
Before the premiere of Survivor: David vs. Goliath, contestant Alec Merlino posted a photo of himself on Instagram with fellow contestant Kara Kay containing the caption "F*** it". This action broke Merlino's NDA with the show and he was consequently stripped of all appearance fees and banned from the live reunion show. Merlino did not have to pay the standard $5 million penalty for breaking the agreement, however.
In the eighth episode of the 39th season Survivor: Island of the Idols, contestant Dan Spilo was issued a warning by producers for inappropriately touching fellow contestants including Kellee Kim. Contestants Elizabeth Beisel and Missy Byrd came under fire for exploiting the situation as a strategic tool in voting out Kim later that episode. This moment has since been criticized by various news outlets for the reactions of Beisel and Byrd as well as the handling of the situation by producers. Beisel and Byrd later apologized, along with fellow contestants Lauren Beck and Aaron Meredith. Jeff Probst, CBS, and MGM released a statement about what happened and the production's reaction as well. Spilo was later removed from the game at the end of episode 12 after "a report of another incident, which happened off-camera and did not involve a player". This is the first time a contestant has been ejected from the show by production. Spilo apologized to all involved for his behavior following the finale's broadcast. Because of the incident, the season's finale was not shown live but instead from an earlier live-to-tape recording, the first time since the live finale format was introduced. Further, CBS and Survivor announced they will revamp the show's rules and production to focus more on earlier detection and prevention of this type of inappropriate behavior, and strict penalties for castaways that engage in it, to be fully in place by the 41st season (the first season produced following the airing of Island of the Idols).
During the pre-game sequester period of Survivor 49, two original cast members were discovered to have been colluding. The situation escalated to the point that both were removed from the game before it officially began. They were subsequently replaced by alternates Jason Treul and MC Chukwujekwu. Additionally, third place finisher Sage Ahrens-Nichols alleged that two other castaways, Jake Latimer and Sophi Balerdi, also engaged in pre-game scheming; these claims were corroborated by fellow castaway Annie Davis who was on the same starting tribe as Latimer and Balerdi.
In the finale of Survivor 50: In the Hands of the Fans, Probst brought out Rizo Velovic and began speaking with him about his fire-making abilities. During the discussion, Probst accidentally spoiled the outcome of the challenge before it aired by referring to Velovic as the final member of the jury. After returning from the commercial break, Probst acknowledged the mistake and later admitted that he and production had gotten ahead of themselves.
