How the workplace helps you win Survivor

The Indicator from Planet Money

NPR

Business

4.7 • 9.5K Ratings

🗓️ 14 April 2026

⏱️ 8 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

With the 50th season of Survivor underway, three former Survivor winners tell us how some of the skills they learned in their careers helped them win the show.

There’s game theory, social engineering, and learning how to get along with a group of castaways who have a $1 million incentive to vote you off the island.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	NPR.
0:02.0	Here's how Yoliquan usually introduces himself in social situations.
0:16.0	Just usually say I work at Google.
0:19.0	And if they ask me more questions, I don't know.
0:21.4	I kind of feel weird about saying what I do.
0:24.5	If they really press me on, like, I don't know, what is your title?
0:27.4	It's like, well, I'm like a VP there.
0:29.7	Yeah, I mean, Jung says he's a pretty introverted guy.
0:32.9	And that actually might be surprising for people who know him from something he did back in 2006.
0:38.3	It comes down to one vote left.
0:42.3	The winner of Survivor Cook Islands.
0:47.8	That's right.
0:48.8	Yul Kwan is one of 47 people on the planet who have won the legendary reality TV show, Survivor.
0:57.3	This is legendary economics podcast, The Indicator from Planet Money.
1:01.6	I'm Waylon Wong.
1:02.7	And I'm Darien Woods.
1:03.9	Survivor is roughly halfway through its 50th season.
1:07.9	And one way to look at this long-running reality TV series is as a microcosm of the
1:13.0	workplace. Sometimes there's collaboration and sometimes there's scheming. Yes, there are complex
1:19.4	social dynamics at play and plenty of game theory. So today on the show, three previous
1:25.7	survivor winners tell us about the careers before the show and the skills they learned on the job that helped them come out on top.
1:36.3	If you've never seen Survivor before, here's the basic premise.
	...

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