‘Survivor’ team talks about series’ own survival skills

“Survivor” creator Mark Burnett remembers riding a hotel escalator with CBS Corp. Chief Executive Leslie Moonves during a TV press tour for “Survivor: Africa” and remarking, “Wow, Season 3!”

Without missing a beat, Moonves responded: “We’ll be doing Season 23 before you know it.”

Before you know it is, well, here. “Survivor” is celebrating its 10th anniversary and its 20th season by pairing favorite heroes and villains and letting them duke it out for $1 million, beginning Thursday.

“It’s hard to believe it’s 20 seasons, but we’ve lasted because of the connection,” Burnett said, commenting on the show’s domination of the 8 p.m. Thursday time slot for nearly a decade. “I suppose in the end we’re making television, right? But we don’t look at it that way. We spend so much time together in the outdoors. We look at it as a social experiment. It affects our lives. It affects the lives of the players and it affects the viewers’ lives.”

The Times gathered Burnett, host and executive producer Jeff Probst and casting director Lynne Spillman for a round table discussion about the secret weapon of the influential franchise, which was originally based on a Swedish game show: its remarkable casting.

What do you remember about casting Season 1?

Spillman: We didn’t have a lot of time. I didn’t even know they were going to be doing challenges. What Mark explained was it was supposed to be a shipwreck and anybody could have been on this ship. We barely got any submissions.

Burnett: The value system on “Survivor” is: Can you catch a fish? Are you easy to be around when you’re cold and tired and hungry? . . . . And very important to this day: You look at the cast and it’s not “90210.” This is not trying to find a bunch of good-looking 23-year-olds to play on a TV game. It’s network television with a real group of Americans who would ordinarily not even cross the street and meet each other.

Has the proliferation of reality TV impacted the casting pool?

Spillman: I think that’s what causes us to have to recruit more. We started noticing that the audition tapes people were sending in could apply to any show. We want people that know the game, that will be game-changers, that don’t just want to be on TV.

And people underestimate how difficult it really is.

Burnett: It takes a sense of character to play this game. You’ve got to be upbeat when you’re cold, tired and hungry. Not a weak person who blames others and wants to cry. Some people shut down and are weak within. And other people rise to the occasion and care for others and can operate.

Probst: What’s most interesting to me about casting is that we have an expert at finding people, we have psychological profiling, . . . but at the end of it all, it really comes down to a person sitting on a couch, talking about life. And you can tell -- 90% of the time we’re right -- by the way they tell you a story about what they did for lunch if they’re going to be compelling.

Lynne: We don’t care who’s going to win and who’s going to be the best at surviving. . . . Jonathan Penner, probably one of the best narrators we ever had on the show.

Probst: There are three favorite moments for me in casting: When someone walks through the door and you know before they sit down they’re on the show. . . . You just look at them and you see them on the beach. . . . You see them at tribal council and you just want to start.

The second favorite moment for me is when casting is done and Mark and Lynne have the [casting] cards and . . . Lynne will start talking and Mark just keeps moving cards and they decide just like that who they’re going to present to CBS.

And the third favorite moment is the marooning, when these people who were just little cards are now in the flesh and it’s time to see. . . . Who’s gonna rise up and be a hero? Who’s gonna be a little punk? There’s no going back to CBS. You’re on the show, like it or not.

Looking back, has anyone turned out differently than you expected?

Probst: Coach [Benjamin Wade] was great in the room. He was phenomenal on the show. We never saw that. Girl’s soccer coach, conducts an orchestra, says he’s been on a lot of adventures. A bit misogynistic in the room. He was a little full of himself.

Spillman: Oh, he thought he was gorgeous. He thought he was God’s gift to women.

Probst: The other side of the story is the people that disappoint. The worst thing that happens is somebody gets on the show and is too nice and too self-aware. Those two together are deadly combinations.

Jeff, who’s made you the angriest?

Probst: Nobody really makes me mad. What does irritate me is when people quit without digging deep. And we will use psychological warfare on them by challenging them to stay in the game. But really what we’re saying is, “You have more inside you.” The toughest people we’ve had out here have struggled on days 5, 6 and 7.

What’s so tough about day 7?

Probst: They get over it and there’s no relief. People at home watch “Survivor” while they’re eating a bag of Doritos or having dinner. These guys aren’t. And by day 4 and 5 and they wake up and there’s still no food or fire.

Burnett: The novelty wears off. They played in the challenges, they didn’t get voted out, and they’re still here. Nothing different is happening. They’re still hungry and still a long way to go.

Probst: I always say to people imagine missing lunch. Just lunch. You’re irritable by dinner. And you tell everybody I didn’t get lunch today. Imagine not getting breakfast, lunch, or dinner or any snacks or our favorite soda or chips for a month.

Or a shower! That would be the hardest for me.

Probst: No, it wouldn’t. It would be the food and water. You’d get over it. But your belly would be screaming.

maria.elena.fernandez @latimes.com