The summer sensation of 2000 is over. Not since Kathy Lee Crosby plugged JR Ewing with buckshot has America been so captivated by a television event.
But unlike “Dallas,” the final episode of CBS’s “Survivor” — indeed, the entire program — told us something about where we are today as a society. It demonstrates in no uncertain terms how strong the promise of a million dollars is to the average American, and just how far some people will go to get it. Along the way we saw relationships exploited, reputations dashed, and neighbors sacrificed for the eternal buck. But wasn’t that the whole point?
In the end Richard Hatch — sort of a cross between Larry Hagman and Richard Simmons — walked away with the million-dollar prize. Conniving and manipulating his teammates at every turn, the Machiavellian Rich created something called the Tagi Alliance early in the game. The Alliance hijacked the sport of “Survivor,” putting politics in place of physical endurance.
The Alliance voted as a pack, ruthlessly evicting castaway after castaway until there were only three left: Rudy Boesch (a crusty 72 year-old Navy Seal), Kelly Wiglesworth (a 23 year-old raft instructor with a name worthy of Dickens), and Richard Hatch (an openly gay corporate trainer, and occasional nudist).
For most viewers the moral drama playing just beneath the surface was the real attraction of “Survivor.” Millions tuned in each week to watch these human beings unravel, and on a deeper level, grapple with their own consciences. As their tactics became more malicious, and the offings more unpleasant, ethics and decency were evicted from the game.
By the final installment, the lying and vicious backbiting had taken its toll. Sue, a truck driver who had been double-crossed by Miss Wiglesworth (what a name!) unleashed a hateful diatribe exposing the hurt feelings that were experienced by many of the participants. Later, in a post-yoga moment of introspection, Kelly (one of the perpetrators) finally confessed to the camera, “There have been some moral low points for me on this island.” Oh yeah? You don’t say!
In many ways “Survivor” and the whole Reality TV genre represents a “moral low point” for Americans. No longer content to entertain ourselves with fiction, we now desire to watch “real people” squirm and humiliate themselves for sport — for our entertainment pleasure.
In truth, there is no reality in Reality TV. Edited from weeks of footage, each “Survivor” episode moved with the tightly scripted feel of a nighttime drama. This was television’s answer to “The Blair Witch Project.” They simply stuck a bunch of mismatched individuals in the woods with a loose concept and watched the fur fly.
The real heroes of “Survivor” are the editors who artfully dramatized normal people doing normal things. By highlighting certain character traits they created a cavalcade of villains and victims. But these were not “real people.” These were shadows of real people.
Willing to trade their very beings for the lure of big payola, the castaways handed their identities over to a team of television editors (and a hungry public) who shaped them as they saw fit. Held up to ridicule and judgment in the public court and caricatured to within an inch of their lives, all the castaways were losers in a way because they lost their human dignity.
By all rights, Rudy should have been declared the “Survivor.” Of the final castaways, he alone showed himself to be a true sportsman and man of honor. Even after Rich played him like a fiddle, the grizzled Navy man was true to his word, supporting Hatch even in the 11th hour. “We had an alliance to the end and I’m going to fulfill that obligation,” he said as he cast his final vote. It was one of the votes that gave Rich his prize.
Yes, the anti-hero, the man everyone loved to hate, took home the prize. Rich Hatch is now enjoying a cool million dollars and front-page headlines across the continent. Perhaps he deserves it. After all, he played the villain to the hilt and entertained the rabble more than any of the others. Rich represents what we loathe to encounter but love to watch: a Richard III for our times. It will be a hard image for him to live down.
Rich must now become the man he played on TV. He must become the caricature. And that will difficult.
You see, Rich’s personal life is a bit more complicated than the shrewd schemer we saw on “Survivor.” In reality, Rich Hatch is fighting charges of child abuse back home in Rhode Island. He allegedly woke his (adopted) overweight son for jogs at 4:30 am. When the boy resisted the exercise he reportedly humiliated him and pressed the boy’s head into the ground causing bruises.
No one knows how all this will play out. But it shows that victories ignobly won exact a price — usually a personal one — from the victor himself. As the host of “Survivor” reminded the castaways from time to time: “what goes around comes around.” But “Dallas” and old JR Ewing taught us that nearly twenty years ago.
