Unknown ‘Survivor’

Rancho Santa Margarita adventure journalist and author Martin Dugard had no idea what he was getting into in March when he agreed to write his latest book.

Sure, he knew he’d be flying to Borneo and he’d spend 39 days on an island with a group of castaways making a “reality” game show for CBS.

But he had no clue he’d be witnessing TV history in the making and playing a peripheral role in a cultural phenomenon.

Dugard is co-author, with “Survivor” executive producer Mark Burnett, of “Survivor: The Ultimate Game” (TV Books). The illustrated trade paperback offers a behind-the-scenes account, written in Burnett’s voice, of filming the 13-week series whose two-hour finale was a ratings smash.

As with the TV show, the book’s contents were kept under wraps.

“Survivor” hits bookstores today. It went to the printer the day after the final episode aired Aug. 23.

“They used a printing company that prints top-secret manuals,” Dugard said.

But, you say, you’ve had enough of Rich, Rudy, Sue, Kelly and company?

“What you saw on TV is only a small part of what’s in the book. This is the whole picture,” Dugard said.

Readers, Dugard said, will get to know each castaway: He goes into their backgrounds “and we hear their voices, their hopes and dreams and whether they’re happy or sad to leave the island.”

Dugard, 39, wrote the 237-page book on the island. “I’d write 10 hours a day. I knew if I stopped writing, I’d get homesick.” He e-mailed his manuscript to his publisher in New York before leaving the island.

Before he accepted the assignment, Dugard received a call from Burnett, whom he’s known since 1992.

“Look,” the producer said, “I really want you to come, but it’s a big commitment. Take a night to think about it; talk to your wife.”

Recalled Dugard, the father of three sons: “We’re both family men and he knew how important my family was.”

Although Dugard had reservations about being gone for six weeks, his wife, Calene, encouraged him to take the assignment, saying she felt something good would come from it.

Dugard flew from California to Borneo on March 10. The next morning, he left for Pulau Tiga, an island about 40 miles off the coast of Borneo.

He was in one of the camera boats filming the 16 original castaways when they boarded bamboo rafts that had been lashed to the sailing ship that dropped them off a mile and a half from shore.

The island--it’s only a mile wide and about three miles long--was divided into two halves: The castaways had one side and the crew, numbering from 40 to 60 people at a time, had the other. A mile of jungle separated them.

While the castaways slept on the beach under bamboo shelters they had made, Dugard and the crew slept in two-person hooches on stilts that he describes as “pretty primitive.”

The shower consisted of a plastic pipe sticking out of the wall. Electricity was supplied by a pair of generators, but they lost power during big storms. Worse, the roof leaked and, Dugard said, “The rats came in at night.”

While the castaways foraged for food (with a minimal rice ration to prevent malnutrition), crew members’ meals ranged from local cuisine--rice and fish heads--to occasional Big Macs and fries delivered via helicopter from Borneo.

Each day, Dugard would spend an hour or two with the castaways, observing and interviewing them. Sometimes, when they were doing a challenge such as running an obstacle course on an off-shore sand spit, he might be with them for 12 hours.

He’d often hang out with Jeff Probst, the show’s host, and crew members would regularly stop by as he sat working at his laptop computer.

“We were just fascinated by the castaways’ lives,” Dugard said. “We’d chat about what the castaways were doing, what the dynamics were, what the strategy was, who we thought was going to leave the island next. So it was really kind of like watching our version of ‘Melrose Place’ in real life.”

Although Dugard said the island was a rough place to live, his time there “was definitely worth it. It was just a really beautiful, wild, one-of-a-kind place.”

While the castaways’ strongest memories may be of eating beetle larva and rats, Dugard will always remember swimming in the ocean at night (“The luminescence was just gorgeous”) and the “phenomenal” sunsets (“They were 10 times better than anything I’ve seen in Hawaii”).

As did everyone who stepped foot on the island, Dugard had to sign what he refers to as “a thick legal document from CBS” agreeing not to discuss anything related to the show with anyone until after the final show aired.

“Even if we hadn’t signed it we would have kept the secret,” Dugard said. “It was just that vital to us. Why ruin it? It was fun; it made the game better.”

Dugard continues to be amazed by the popularity of “Survivor.” While he was on the island, he said, “I just thought it was kind of a neat little adventure. We thought people would enjoy the show, but we had no idea it would become a phenomenon. It’s kind of like somebody took the home movies of your very best family vacation and they became a national craze.”