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While Jeff Probst may be the face Survivorone of the people most responsible for what viewers see on screen, has spent 50 seasons behind Viewer. John Kirhofer has been with the show since its inception as co-executive producer, overseeing the signature challenges that have become one of the most defining and enduring elements of the series.
He also created one of Survivors Most Enduring Tradition: The Dream Team.
For starters, a dream team is a rotating group of 20 people who experience challenges before the castaways. If you’ve ever seen mysterious knees or rogue legs in a challenge preview, those legs likely belong to the Dream Team. Kirhofer originally created the group so that he, Probst, Mark Burnett and the other producers wouldn’t have to manage the obstacles themselves. What started as a practical solution has since evolved into a training ground for young creatives hoping to break into television production.
per day Survivor 50 I set off, Hollywood Reporter We caught up with Kirhofer, who shares the origins of the Dream Team, why Burnett may be the most competitive person alive and why he – like Whitney Houston – believes “children are our future.”
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How did the dream team idea come about?
“In the first season, we had all these ideas [for challenges]. We would go to a park in Los Angeles, any park we could find, and put together makeshift versions of these games that we would make and test. It was very primitive, to say the least. Then we went out on site and started setting them up and we realized, Wow, we don’t have 16 specific people. I do it. Mark Burnett does it. Jeff Probst does it. And immediately I was like, We need certain people. We’ve been testing all these games, and no one has seen them. This is part of the problem, we have to watch it to learn.
So we said, If we do it again, we need specific people. So the next season (Season 2 in Australia), we went out and scouted and came back – and I’m talking to the money guys saying, “Hey, I need a specific team of people to test, guys. They should just be production assistants, and then they can also help other people and cameramen and so on.” We never thought it would turn into the mentoring apprenticeship it turned into. We just need bodies. So, for those first 10 seasons or so, we would go wherever we were locally and bring kids on vacation from all over the world.
We weren’t flying anyone out. We would bring anyone we could bring. I used to go to youth hostels and put up signs like: Required for X number of weeks, $200 per week, plus all your meals. That’s how it started, and then we decided we needed to give them a name. My friend Kevin McManus goes, What about the Olympic basketball team, the Dream Team? Let’s call them the dream team. So they were called the Dream Team, and they have been the Dream Team ever since.
Joining the dream team is not easy
“Hudson Smith, a collaborator on our show, and Matt Van Wagenen, our extension actor, saw the mentoring potential in the dream team and wanted to focus on film school and get the best of the best — bring them in, let them work with professionals and watch them rise through the ranks.” Supervising Producer Chris Marchand [nicknamed ‘Milhouse’ by the crew] And I do most of the checking. Matt and Hudson would then go to colleges, talk to students, give them our information, and then write to us. I’ve spoken at schools, and anyone is interested in listening to someone Survivor The conversation will come. But we go through the film and television sections.
We only have about 25 positions, which is usually the same number of representatives. We get a few hundred requests. I have 175 people a year that I turn down. We don’t advertise but people hear about it through word of mouth. Also, everyone [on the crew] He has a niece, a daughter, a son, a nephew, a cousin – a friend they want who is coming of age and would be perfect. So you have to take everything into consideration. But every year, there are a few people I’ve never met who have no connection to anyone else. They just came because they heard about the opportunity and they got it.
Being a member of the Dream Team is just the first step
“The art and challenges department are like brother and sister. Most of the time, when the Dream Team, especially the new Dream Team, isn’t out testing stuff, they’re painting and helping load and unload the trucks. They’re out in the field putting things together and helping the props and construction workers. And then we also have shadowing. Every season at the beginning of the season, we bring everyone in one by one to ask, ‘ What are you interested in? I always tell them up front, First and foremost, just be a good dream team member. But as you go along, if you see something in TV production, say, “Hey, I’m really interested in camera, I’m really interested in sound, I’m interested in art.” I want to become a producer. Let us know.
Brittany [Crapper] It is a perfect example of the situation. She is a co-executive producer. She was a member of the dream team. Now she’s on my level, we’re completely contemporary. She has worked with me for many years. Her husband, Riley, was a member of the Dream Team. Then he became our master, we became friends and I was at their wedding. I’ve been to six different dream team weddings. Brittany and Riley have three ’80s Survivor The kids there are people who met on the show and had a family.
The dream team legacy
“I think the legacy of the Dream Team is finding talent where you weren’t looking for it to begin with. We were just looking for bodies to do something, and then you realize that no one aspires to be a production assistant their whole life. We have these young kids and they all have desires and passions and talents. We don’t look at them as a herd of labor, but as a pool of individual potential stars. I don’t want anyone to be a production assistant for many years. Move up, move up, move up.”
I believe it is the responsibility of every person who is a boss or manager to the people under him, not only to keep good people where they are, but to nurture them. As soon as possible, reinforce them. I see people who don’t want to get rid of their production assistants because they are good assistants. It’s like, No, move them forward, move them forward, move them forward. Another crop of goodness will come. I think the legacy of the Dream Team is, to quote Whitney Houston, I believe that children are the future. Treat them well and let them lead the way“.
Compete Challenge with Mark Burnett
“One of my favorite stories from Season 1 — it’s been a long time since I’ve talked about this — but we had a challenge where we had to swim and dive down and get a heavy box. We called it ‘From the Depths,’ and we were on a sandbar in the ocean. At the time it was probably 12 feet deep or so. We had to swim and dive to a really heavy box filled with bullets. There were two teams side by side and six handles. You go down, pick it up, and then walk as far as you can under the water, get up Dropping it when you run out of breath, get some air, then get back down and keep going.
At that time, 26 years ago, I was a 35-year-old surfer. I was a diver. I was in very good shape. I consider myself a water man. And Mark Burnett is the most competitive person I’ve ever met. Mark and I are on one team, and some of our other friends are on another team.
We got down, picked it up, headed down the beach and got to the halfway point. And I should step up and leave it. We pop up and Mark goes, What happened? I He goes, What? He goes, What’s wrong? Are you well? Yes. Well, why did you stop? I’m out of breath. He goes, You’re kidding me. We have to win this thing.
We were going down and I was just dying. Finally, after three more steps, I felt my head hit the surface of the water and I could breathe. We rose and won. And I realized, Oh my God, when you’re competing with Mark Burnett, you don’t stop. You just don’t stop at all. That was so much fun.
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SSurvivor 50 Very good episodes are being broadcast It airs on Wednesdays at 8pm on CBS, and streams on Paramount+.
