10 Scripted TV Shows You Should Watch If You Love ‘Survivor’

When Survivor planted its flag in 2000, no one had ever seen anything like it on TV. Game shows had been around since television’s inception, and The Real World launched the genre of reality TV, but neither had ever been produced at this scope. No one knew what to make of this “Robinson Crusoe”-Agatha Christie lovechild of a concept before its debut, and some viewers even wondered if the competition would end with literally only one contestant left standing.

Since it’s highly anticipated premiere, Survivor has proven to be a multifaceted television game-changer. Part strategy game, part social experiment, and part wilderness challenge, Survivor lives at the crossroads of multiple television genres. It has spawned many competition series in its wake, but while juries, alliances, and advantages are now mainstay concepts, no other series has been able to match the scope and stakes of Survivor. Some 0spects of the series have proven just too difficult to recreate in reality, so Survivor lovers looking to capture the magic of the marooning may find more luck turning to scripted series. For Survivor fans who simply can’t outlast the wait between seasons, here are the 10 best scripted series to curb the hunger.

1 ‘The White Lotus’ (2021-Present)

Created by Mike White

Even though he placed second on David vs Goliath, Mike White‘s The White Lotus is the winning-scripted alternative available to Survivor fans. As the only series explicitly based on the competition show, written by someone who knows the experience first-hand and featuring cameos by other Survivor alumni, The White Lotus is truly Survivor‘s premium cable offspring. With its first two seasons scoring massive ratings and multiple Emmy’s, The White Lotus has also followed in Survivor‘s sandy footsteps as a cultural phenomenon.

White Lotus‘ appeal to Survivor fans goes beyond the pedigree of its creator and the occasional glimpses of other former castaways. As a series set on an island featuring multiple factions aligning with and betraying each other in the quest for money and power, The White Lotus is Survivor. Season 1, set in Hawaii, even features a David vs Goliath dynamic among the characters. The third installment, set in Thailand and expected to air in 2025, may even feature tribe swaps and immunity idols.

2 ‘Squid Game’ (2021-Present)

Created by Hwang Dong-hyuck

Anyone disappointed that Survivor doesn’t take the concept of the “sole survivor” literally will love Squid Game. Just about as conceptually similar to Survivor as a series can get, Squid Game brings a group of strangers onto a secluded island for a (secretively) televised competition to win a massive cash prize. But while not every Survivor contestant sees the money as the primary motivation to play, dire financial circumstances are the only reason anyone would agree to participate in Squid Game.

Squid Game has the mix of challenges, alliances, and betrayal that Survivor fans love, all with much higher stakes. The contestants in Squid Game don’t need to win immunity just to stay in the game; they need it to stay alive. For Survivor viewers who wished the series included a dash of The Hunger Games‘ depravity, Squid Game delivers by exploring how the financially desperate are forced to fight for the death for the entertainment of the rich. And if the scripted version isn’t enough, the South Korean series has its own reality spinoff, Squid Game: The Challenge, featuring a few Survivor alumni. Tragically though, this version doesn’t result in death.

3 ‘Yellowjackets’ (2021-Present)

Created by Ashley Lyle and Bart Nickerson

In the early days of Survivor, before immunity challenges largely consisted of balancing an object on a pole or an obstacle course ending in a puzzle, the challenges resembled actual survival tactics needed when stranded in the middle of nowhere. The classic attempt to use distress signals to attract the attention of passing planes is just one of the strategies employed by the characters in Yellowjackets, a girls’ soccer team whose plane crashes in an isolated mountain range en route to a tournament.

The 1996 timeline of Yellowjackets shows the teenagers facing many of Survivor‘s moral conundrums to a devastating degree. Choosing to sacrifice an ally for one’s own protection comes with greater consequences than a lost jury vote, and the frequent debate on Survivor over whether to kill and eat the chickens seems quaint once the girls’ desperation reaches a tipping point that puts cannibalism on the table. An unexpected twist in the story implies that supernatural elements may be involved, making this series of particular interest for Ghost Island fans, assuming those exist.

4 ‘Lost’ (2004-2010)

Created by J.J. Abrams, Damon Lindelof, and Jeffrey Lieber

Survivor was early in its run when Lost exploded onto the scene with its own group of strangers stranded on an island. While this eclectic batch of castaways didn’t sign up for the marooning and were promised no prizes, they nonetheless had to figure out how to build a life together on an island where surprises both dangerous and benign lurked behind every palm tree. J.J. Abrams et al. and Survivor host Jeff Probst are kindred spirits in their love of treasure hunts and unexpected twists (that aren’t always well-received by the fandom). Any new discovery on the mysterious island could easily be considered a Beware Advantage.

Survivor fans would also get their fix when it comes to the character dynamics. Via flashbacks, the Lost castaways were each revealed to hold secrets they kept hidden from their fellow survivors. On the island, their precarious bonds of trust, clashes over leadership, and devastating betrayals made for ideal tribal council material. Once CBS figures out how to unleash a polar bear in the jungles of Fiji, Lost and Survivor will practically be the same show.

5 ‘Silo’ (2023-Present)

Created by Graham Yost

The dystopian series Silo demonstrates that a deserted island isn’t the only isolated location in which a community must figure out how to rebuild society. After an unnamed disaster has left the world toxic and uninhabitable, the last remaining 10,000 humans have evacuated into an entirely self-contained city buried thousands of feet underground. Over the course of the first season, however, a rebellious engineer discovers that the leadership may be hiding secrets about the Silo’s origin.

When it debuted in 2000, Survivor branded itself as a show about a group of strangers stranded together on an island, where they must find a way to work together and build a new society for themselves. Fans who are nostalgic for the early days of Survivor, before it became better known as a beachy strategy game, will appreciate the world building and interpersonal dynamics of Silo. The residents of the Silo also employ a method of banishment that makes Exile Island look like a five-star resort.

6 ‘The Last of Us’ (2023-Present)

Created by Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann

Fans most drawn to the “survival” aspect of Survivor will love The Last of Us, a series where survival skills aren’t just helpful; they’re essential. After a pandemic leaves most of the population as reanimated zombie corpses, quarantine zones, small towns enclosed as fortresses, and lawless nomads are all that remains of civilization. The tribal lines drawn in Survivor have nothing on the level of distrust these groups have for outsiders.

The series focuses on a disillusioned smuggler as he tries to escort a young girl thought to be immune to the virus across the country to a group who may be able to use her to develop a cure. The pair form a father-daughter dynamic that rivals any of the great duos in Survivor history. As they traverse a decimated United States, encountering dangerous foes and false friends along the way, the two frequently find themselves “playing from the bottom,” and Survivor fans will love watching them dodge certain demise with clever plays and killer blindsides.

7 ‘The Wilds’ (2020-2022)

Created by Sarah Streicher

Similarly to Lost, The Wilds features a group of strangers stranded on an island after a plane crash, except this group of survivors are all teenage girls en route to an empowerment retreat called Dawn of Eve. As the girls try to get to know each other while struggling to survive, distrust and disagreements over leadership begin to unfold. Any Survivor fans who have been yearning for a sequel to the Black Widow Brigade are gifted an entire slew of all-women’s alliances.

The Wilds‘ Lord of the Flies premise is a perfect thematic fit for Survivor‘s “Outwit, outplay, outlast” mantra. But unlike some other Survivor-esque scripted series, The Wilds’ similarities with the reality show go beyond its face-value premise. Like Survivor, The Wilds doesn’t reveal all its tricks and twists until later in the season.

8 UnREAL (2015-2018)

Created by Marti Noxon and Sarah Gertude Shapiro

Survivor fans who are particularly interested in the “reality” aspect of the reality competition series would salivate over unREAL, a series that delves into the dark side of the production of a reality show similar to The Bachelor. When it comes to a competition series, whether to win love or the title of Sole Survivor, it can be easy to forget that the contest ultimately comes second to the televised entertainment. UnREAL doesn’t shy away from exposing just how far producers will go to capture high-quality drama.

Survivor fans who have gotten frustrated over perceived producer interference in recent seasons–with the overabundance of advantages and unforeseeable twists potentially interfering with the players’ ability to strategize their way through the game–might find some catharize in UnREAL. Some viewers may not realize that, when it comes to manipulating the players, Russell Hantz doesn’t hold a candle to the suggestive prowess of a reality show producer. UnREAL has the potential to disillusion some fans who want to believe in the purity of “reality,” but for those who want a peek behind the curtain, no scripted series offers a better view.

9 ‘La Brea’ (2021-2024)

Created by David Applebaum

Mid-City Los Angeles doesn’t seem like the setting for a series reminiscent of Survivor, until a massive sinkhole opens under the La Brea Tar Pits, plunging dozens of people into a prehistoric landscape thousands of years in the past. Even those among the unlucky travelers with the most well-honed survival skills aren’t prepared to defend themselves against volcanoes and sabertooth tigers.Jeff Probst’s most diabolical twists don’t hold a candle to the unpredictability of the land below LACMA. Like the hourglass twist from hell, the laws of time don’t even work as expected in this primitive world.

In a stark difference from Survivor and similar shows, La Brea‘s band of outcasts aren’t all strangers. The series focuses on the Harris family, who find themselves split in half by a spontaneous disaster. While others among them engage in the typical Survivor tribe dynamics of leadership grudge matches and precarious levels of trust, the driving force for the Harris family on both sides of the sinkhole is to reunite. Their desperate journey promises a reunion that makes Survivor‘s loved ones visit look like it has all the emotion of a parent-teacher conference.

10 ‘Gilligan’s Island’ (1964-1967)

Created by Sherwood Schwartz

Before there were 18 Americans, 39 days, and one survivor, there were 7 castaways, a 3-hour tour, and one ambiguous ending. Unlike other series that share qualities with Survivor, Gilligan’s Island makes the daring assertion that being stranded on an island can be fun! When the SS Minnow, on an excursion from Honolulu, is blown off course by a storm, the 2-person crew and 5 tourists end up on a deserted island. Rather than alliances, backstabbing, and blindsides, this group of castaways was better known for their hijinks, mishaps, and well-intentioned blunders.

Despite Survivor being best known for shrewd gameplay and scorned allies, it also has plenty of cartoonish characters and sitcom-worthy moments. The novice outdoorsmen on Survivor are bound to display their share of incompetence, and the convergence of different walks of life leads to multiple instances of bewildering cultural clashes. Fans who are drawn to the comical side of Survivor could find Gilligan’s Island to be their own Sanctuary: Where good things happen.

Keep Reading: Every Season of ‘Survivor,’ Ranked