Survivor Sucks

Survivor Sucks (aka Sucks) is an internet forum located in the Yuku message board system. The slogan for Survivor Sucks is "Outspoil, Outbump, Outflame," a parody of "Outwit, Outplay, Outlast." There are various forums where users freely spoil (which in this context means to reveal the outcome before the show airs), discuss and ridicule the reality television show Survivor as well as other reality television programs such as The Amazing Race, Big Brother, American Idol, The Apprentice and any "Other Show That Sucks." In 2006, the website expanded its reach into non-reality programming when a forum for the ABC TV series Lost was opened.
History
The board takes its name from the earliest incarnation of the website, SurvivorSucks.com which was a spinoff of the website, RealWorldBlows.com which is now known as PlanetSocks.com (Originally known as PlanetSucks.com). All of these websites were created in the spring of 2000 to lampoon the television series Survivor during its first U.S. season. When the original site's servers buckled under the heavy traffic at the beginning of the second season, the site's creator and owner, Paul Sims (known by the moniker "DogStalker"), moved the Sucks discussion forums to ezboard on February 14, 2001. Sims no longer handles the daily affairs of the board, having divided control among a handful of appointed administrators. However, he remains the system owner of record and occasionally makes an appearance. On August 9, 2007, the site moved to Yuku, ezboard's new message board system, retaining all of its existing data. With the move to Yuku the SurvivorSucks.com URL was set to redirect to the Yuku based community, which was not possible when the board ran on ezboard.
The tone of the board is combative, sarcastic and caters to those who ridicule the Reality TV genre in its entirety. Several Sucks members have also successfully applied as participants in one reality show or another including Susie Smith, the runner-up of Survivor: Gabon, Rafe Judkins, the third placer in Survivor: Guatemala and Todd Herzog, winner of Survivor: China. Like many open forums, in-jokes and cliques are prevalent, and a significant portion of member entertainment is derived from flaming newbies and taunting established community outcasts.
However, the membership also includes avid fans and reality television celebrities. Those who are sensitive to criticism of their favorite shows or characters are welcome to participate but will quickly become aware that criticism is not censored. Very little is censored on Sucks and foul language often prevails. Images exhibiting genitalia are not permitted but in general the site should be considered not safe for work.
Spoiling History
The production of the first season of Survivor broke new ground in American television programming. Survivor set the standard for what is now called Reality Television, and dominated in the ratings. Described as a "sociological pseudo-Machiavellian human experiment"., Survivor was designed to be the antithesis of the traditional game show. The winner would be rewarded based, not on what they knew, but upon their ability to navigate the sharply structured social pecking order of the other contestants. This would become the hallmark of the Survivor television show and establish a signature tactic for future winners.
Survivor Entertainment Group (SEG) edited Survivor to increase the suspense and lead to a surprising, but pre-known, conclusion. Avid fans of the program are generally divided into two groups. Those who wish to enjoy the suspense and surprise of the game play, and those who find further enjoyment by searching for clues which will prematurely reveal the outcome. This second group of people migrated together through the availability of websites like Survivor Sucks, and gave the name of "spoiling" to the hobby of prematurely revealing the results of Reality Television. Clues to the programs outcome can be found by carefully examining previews and commercials, by searching information through websites, by communicating with some "inside" source, and through other means. The news media did not fail to pick up on this new trend and some users of the Survivor Sucks website began to call themselves "Sucksters" and "Spoilers."
Before the airing of the first season of Survivor, a forum user, using the moniker "7o62x39", created an online game in which other board members could speculate on the weekly outcome, and earn points. When publicity photos promoting the first episode were released, some game players noticed beard growth, particularly on contestants Greg Buis and Rudy Boesch, which appeared to be from future episodes of the show. Realizing that CBS had released previews and photographs which were from future episodes, the forum members began an attempt to discover or "spoil" the outcome.
Online conversations regarding contestants longetivity, based on logic and assessments of various amateur forensic examination of clips, quickly became a central point of the website. For example, in the show’s opening montage for episode 1, contestant Greg Buis was identified with a full beard, confirming he continued on the show through at least a few more episodes. SurvivorSucks forum users began an elaborate chronology of the contestants campsites, tools and reward objects and clothing. Some forum users also noticed Survivor contestants wearing clothing previously belonging to others, suggesting that the original owner had been eliminated from the show. As new publicity pictures and previews were released, screen captures were matched against these chronologies and dated. Using these clues, the SurvivorSucks users were able to correctly predict the eliminations through Episode Seven.
SurvivorSucks is described as "the Internet site CBS loved to hate" since it both provides publicity for the Survivor television program and "ruins" the surprise and suspense the producers are trying to maintain. An interesting example of this is the "Gervase-X" spoiler, which was believed by many to show Gervase Peterson as the Survivor: Borneo winner. A SurvivorSucks user going by the moniker "CAPLOCK" found a picture on the CBS website which contained an "X" through the face of each contestant except Gervase Peterson. This generated more publicity with North American newspapers reporting the "spoiler" of Gervase Peterson being the first Survivor winner. However, Gervase finished in seventh place, and the national news painted this CBS produced a "planted" picture as a victory over the spoilers at SurvivorSucks. There are other incidents of Survivor show producers manipulating images in the program to disguise future events and throw the SurvivorSucks users off the spoiler track.
Notwithstanding these efforts, SurvivorSucks users have continued, through the various seasons of Survivor, to discover accurate information about the outcome of the show. For example, in 2001's Survivor: The Australian Outback, a user known as "AtlantaFatMike" was able to determine the fate of contestant Michael Skupin when he discovered pictures on Skupin's business website showing Skupin post-show with bandaged hands. This led users to speculate that an accident involving Michael Skupin had occurred during filming which proved to be true when an episode aired showing Skupin falling, hands first, into the campfire.
During 2003's Survivor: The Amazon, a user known as "ChillOne" provided descriptions of the yet to be aired season, including the final four contestants of that season. This information was obtained from locals during a vacation to the filming area. ChillOne later published a book about his travels and his experience as a SurvivorSucks "spoiler", and has gone on to collect similar spoilers in the same fashion for subsequent seasons.
Entertainment sites tout SurvivorSucks as the "GoTo" place for fans of the show to find "spoiler" information, but advise, "Don't go if you don't want to know".
Vote for the Worst
SurvivorSucks is the origin of the "Vote for the Worst" (VFTW) movement. Created by the user "thefunnystone", the VFTW movement enraged American Idol viewers in 2005 when contestant Scott Savol outlasted other, supposedly more popular contestants, due to fan attempts to deliberately sway the show's results. VFTW made headlines when Savol ended up in the top five over Constantine Maroulis during season 4. The media again took notice when VFTW helped Kevin Covais into the top 12 over Gedeon McKinney during season 5, although Covais' run on the show was short-lived.
Season six of American Idol became a turning point for the website due to its support of contestant Sanjaya Malakar. Sanjaya went on to last 6 more weeks in the competition, becoming a cultural phenomenon and gaining momentum along the way with support from celebrities such as Howard Stern.
The website also credits itself for the victories of season 5's Taylor Hicks (though he was long favored to win), and season 8's Kris Allen
Culture and current events
SurvivorSucks remained online during the September 11 attacks, and a thread discussing that day's events became an invaluable source of information and emotional support for many users who did not have a television nearby and/or could not access news websites due to the tremendous internet traffic. The thread was archived, unedited, and provides an emotional, play-by-play, frozen in time "picture", chronicling the events of that day as information about the attacks progressed. The thread is featured in a special memorial forum opened each year on the anniversary of the attacks.
SurvivorSucks achieved the distinction of being ranked number fourteen of twenty five sites named by Entertainment Weekly's "Best Of the Web".
Survivor is not the only show were "spoiling" occurs. Since the creation of the internet, the doors were opened to allow for groups to come together to bring together their collective intelligence. "American Idol" is another show in which the die hard fans come together, analyze snipets of the show for clues, and develop hypotheses for who they think will be voted off the show. Another area in which spoiling occurs is in the political arena. When an issue is presented in the media, it becomes a hot topic of discussion for those on the internet. Websites that allow for one to create "blogs" allow for groups to debate issues, analyze all the information out there about any political topic, and talk amongst each other about the issues. This, in turn, has served to move away from the "narrowcast" of information offered by the major television networks (who one undoubtedly knows more than likely has a political agenda of its own) and moves it to a "broadcast" which allows all the information to be presented to the reader/viewer in order for them to make their decision on the issue. . As technology continues to improve, be it through cellular phone applications, faster and more reliable access to information, and the like, it will allow this collaboration amongst group members to grow.

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