Jack Quaid Gushes About The 'Champagne' Of Reality Shows | Sorry Not Sorry
When people use the word champagne as an adjective, it's usually because the thing they're referring to is extra special in some way. In terms of television, the word is often used to describe a series that has an exceptional premise and outstanding acting. However, this can be oddly subjective, as evidenced by Jack Quaid's guilty pleasure rewatch pick.
WATCH: Jack Quaid Gushes About The 'Champagne' Of Reality Shows
Speaking to JustWatch, while promoting the final season of Prime Video's The Boys, Quaid used the word when talking about Survivor. "I just got into Survivor," the actor revealed. "I started watching old seasons. I never really watched it before. I wanted to catch up as best I could for the current season. Season 50. And I'm obsessed with it. I think it's like the champagne of reality shows."
It's an interesting way to frame a reality show since it's one of the cheapest, most mind-numbing genres of television. But since the show is currently in its 50th season, it's definitely got something going for it. If you can get past how producers actively manipulate the so-called reality by casting specific personality types and editing conversations to create drama, the premise can piqué one's interest.
The show tosses a group of strangers into an isolated location and essentially tests how they behave when every comfort is stripped away, and social order has to be rebuilt from scratch. And the winner gets a pretty large cash prize. The format didn't begin in the U.S. It traces back to Robinson (originally Expedition Robinson), a Swedish reality series that first aired in 1997.
The concept itself had been developed earlier in 1994 by Charlie Parsons for Planet 24, inspired in part by survival stories like Daniel Defoe's 1719 novel Robinson Crusoe and Johann David Wyss' 1812 novel, The Swiss Family Robinson. The idea eventually became one of the most exported television formats in the world, with the American version debuting on CBS in 2000.
'Survivor' Rewrote The Rules Of Reality TV
Across various global versions of Survivor, the structure of the show has remained consistent. Early in the game, the contestants are divided into tribes and compete in challenges for rewards (like pizza and chocolate) and immunity. Losing often leads directly to the Tribal Council, where players vote each other out. At a certain point, the tribes merge into one group. From there, survival becomes secondary to strategy, and elimination continues until only one person remains.
The winner is decided by players who were voted out along the way. That structure is sort of special because it's doing several things at once. It's a physical survival game, a social experiment, and a competitive elimination system that constantly changes where the power lies (the tribe, the individual, or the jury). Very few reality formats redistribute authority that deliberately.
Survivor is also part of a much longer evolution in reality television. Candid Camera (1948) focused on capturing unscripted reactions. An American Family (1973) introduced the idea of observing the real lives of actual families. And The Real World (1992) built the modern "strangers living together" structure. Survivor took a piece of all of them and added rules that actively force social breakdown.
Survivor has also maintained a rare kind of longevity for a reality competition series. It helped establish the genre as a major force in American network television in the early 2000s, consistently ranking among the most-watched programs during its early run and earning multiple Emmy nominations and wins. Jeff Probst, who has hosted since its debut, has also become inseparable from its identity.
Why To Watch 'Survivor' (And What To Watch After)
Even now, more than 50 seasons in, Survivor continues to keep things fresh while remaining anchored to the same foundational idea it began with in 1997. That's where the champagne comparison starts to make sense, even for non-fans. Unlike other reality shows that tend to chase immediacy, Survivor lets its systems interact long enough for behavior to reveal itself rather than forcing it into place.
If Survivor is your thing, the next obvious reality show to add to your watchlist is The Traitors UK (2012) or The Traitors (2023). It's the closest modern cousin to Survivor in terms of psychological pressure. The only thing the show is missing is physical deprivation. The premise is simple but volatile. A group of contestants enters a secluded castle, where a small number are secretly designated as "traitors" while the rest are "faithfuls" trying to identify them.
Each day ends in a roundtable vote where someone is banished, and each night the traitors eliminate another player in secret. It's essentially paranoia as a format, and its best moments come when players start second-guessing not just others, but their own instincts. For something closer to the endurance side of the equation, Alone (2015) pushes the survival concept in the most literal direction possible.
The premise places individuals in remote wilderness locations, where they document (by themselves) their attempt to outlast everyone else with minimal gear and no contact. There are no tribes, no alliances, and no social safety net. As a counterpoint to Survivor, it's almost starkly anti-social, but it shares the same underlying questions about what happens when structured life is stripped away.
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