The Winner of CBS’ ‘Survivor’ Is Still a Secret--for Now

Can you keep a secret?

If not, just follow the example set by CBS and almost everyone involved with its summertime smash “Survivor.”

With much more than the grand prize of $1 million at stake, the network has gone way out of its way to keep everything about the series, and especially the outcome of the South China Sea competition, as hush-hush as humanly possible.

And then some.

When, for example, we asked a top CBS executive the other day what seemed like an innocent question--namely, when filming of the truly bizarre reality show had actually wrapped up--he went silent for a second or two before offering an answer.

“I don’t know if that’s public information,” he said.

Actually, that much is.

While there’s very little known about “Survivor” that CBS doesn’t want us to know, the network’s senior vice president of communications, Chris Ender, is willing to say that production of the 13-week phenomenon wrapped at the end of April.

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Which means that someone everyone’s been watching has already been declared the winner.

And that there are plenty of people who know the survivor and could ruin the secret.

But we won’t know the winner, if CBS has its way, until the final episode is broadcast in August.

With the island slugfest just hitting the halfway point, revealing the winner now could sink the series, a summer ratings juggernaut drawing more than 20 million viewers a week.

That’s why CBS took some precautions.

Before any of the 16 so-called castaways came aboard, they signed on to some contractual agreements (as did the production crew and reporters who visited the island off the coast of Borneo).

“They have to clear all their conversations with the media through CBS,” said Ender, mentioning that any and all conversations you’ve seen or heard with jettisoned competitors are “chaperoned” by CBS.

Why? Because the wrong kind of talk is anything but cheap.

Should one of the now nationally known stars let something leak, they’ll forfeit their winnings (awarded on an escalating scale that begins at $2,500), and they could be subject to punitive damages, Ender said.

Like $5 million worth, he said.

In that respect, “Survivor”--a kind of “Wheel of Fortune” meets “Gilligan’s Island”--is no game.

But Ender said that even under the instant fame, intense scrutiny and considerable temptation to spill the beans, “all of us at CBS have been really impressed with how all 16 of these castaways have banded together to keep it a secret. It’s gone far beyond a contractual situation. They want to be part of something that’s special and successful, and they recognize that sort of bunkering down and not giving out the information is part of that.”

Fair enough.

But what’s really surprising is who else has been willing to play along.

Though one over-the-top reporter from an outdoor magazine tried and failed to crash the island, you would think the National Enquirer at the very least would, given the chance, make sure it splashed news of a winner all over its front pages at its earliest opportunity.

Not so, said a top editor at the notoriously bottom-dwelling tabloid.

“It’s not that we haven’t tried to find out, and I’m not saying we don’t know who it is, actually,” said Enquirer editor Julia Coates, calling from the paper’s Lantana, Fla., headquarters.

“The fact of the matter is there’s nothing worse than somebody who spoils a good ending. We love ‘Survivor.’ Our readers love ‘Survivor.’ They watch it weekly. Most of the employees here watch it every week. So out of our own curiosity and because it’s in our blood--we have to know--we have, of course, obtained information that could really ruin the fun for our readers.” (And there have been plenty of pieces about the personal lives of the castaways.)

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They’ve had the big scoop for several weeks, Coates said.

“It was surprising that it wasn’t that difficult to obtain. However, we would not spoil it. Never. Never.”

This isn’t an unprecedented situation for the Enquirer, either.

“We try to give the readers what they want, and the big picture here is we believe the readers really don’t want [to know] the ending.”

That approach holds true for the legitimate press, as well.

Still, Brian Toolan, editor of the Hartford Courant, has to think a moment when asked whether, given the chance, he would publish the name of the “Survivor” winner while the show was still in midstream.

“I think it would be something to talk about,” said Toolan, mulling it over. “On one hand, we’re not beholden to the company or the show or the network in any way. On the other hand, would it be just a churlish, petulant thing to do that ruins it for our readers who happen to be viewers? So I guess I’m not angry at myself for not having a clear-cut answer. It’s an interesting question.”

On further consideration, he concluded, “Off the top of my head, forced to give an answer now, I’d say we would choose not to publish it . . . in the same way we don’t ruin movies for potential viewers by giving away all of the plot line. In the same way we try to do literary reviews without making the book uninviting for potential readers. However, if the circumstances were just deliciously enticing or the circumstances were newsworthy in some way, then I could have a different answer.”

Some publications have already claimed to know the answer.

CBS loves the attention brought about by the guessing game but prefers to keep the interest alive by not confirming or denying any report.

“When someone says that they are going to report so-and-so is off the island and so-and-so is the winner, we will not confirm or deny the report,” Ender said. “And we let them know that we are allowing the press to run inaccurate information--and there is a tremendous amount of inaccurate information out there already. There’s been at least half a dozen reports of winners.”

Did any of those stories actually get it right, though?

“I will not confirm or deny whether they were accurate or inaccurate,” he said, with just a hint of a satisfied chuckle.