On ‘Survivor,’ the Clothing Choices Are More Deliberate Than You May Think

Earlier than then, every contestant had been permitted a knapsack of clothes objects, together with some survival gear. However for “Pearl Islands,” the gamers, who included Mr. Boneham, had been shocked to enter the competitors with considerably fewer objects than they’d labored with producers to pick out.

As soon as solid members arrived on the taking pictures location, Mr. Probst mentioned, they had been requested to decorate in sure outfits they’d dropped at put on for press images that might be used to advertise the present. Mr. Boneham wore his tie dye. Lillian Morris, a Boy Scout chief, wearing a full scouting uniform. Shawn Cohen, an promoting gross sales govt, was in an Armani go well with.

However as an alternative of going to a photograph shoot, solid members had been plunged instantly into the sport, carrying solely the garments on their backs.

“A few of the most iconic seems of ‘Survivor’ got here from that season,” Mr. Probst mentioned.

Sandra Diaz-Twine, the winner of “Pearl Islands,” mentioned she was shocked when she realized that many of the garments the manufacturing crew had accepted for her to deliver couldn’t be used.

“I had charged like $500, $600, on my bank card,” mentioned Ms. Diaz-Twine, 49, who lives in Fayetteville, Ark., and has appeared in a number of subsequent seasons of the present. “I needed to make it possible for I had a distinct clear outfit like every single day. After which they are saying you’re leaping off the boat with simply the garments in your again. I used to be like, Oh my god, I charged all these items to my bank card.”

Since then, “Survivor” has gone backwards and forwards on what clothes — and the way a lot of it — contestants could deliver. “We at all times hearken to gamers,” Mr. Probst mentioned. “It’s a give and take.”