They say to write what you know, so Stephen Fishbach wrote the book on enduring reality television with his debut novel, “Escape!”
However, the two-time fan-favorite “Survivor” castaway didn’t directly pull from his own experiences in Tocantins and Cambodia for the book. Instead, he cast a wider net to open things up to the entire genre — including horror stories from his fellow CBS alumni.
“First of all, nothing’s non-fiction from my own experience. I did interview a lot of producers and contestants from other shows, and there’s a lot of little details that I got in there that are actually from stories I’ve heard,” Fishbach told TheWrap ahead of Tuesday’s release day.
“I tried to capture the emotional experience of being a reality contestant without it being anchored to any specific thing I went through. So hopefully it feels real, but I don’t think it’s non-fiction. Of course, the charity events are obviously something that exist and are ludicrous and I felt completely free to ridicule,” he added. “They do raise money for great charities, great causes, but the actual culture of the event itself, especially from the contestants’ point of view, is inherently absurd. Really, it’s these people who were famous for six months just desperately holding on.”
“Escape!” follows former reality show winner Kent Duvall as he attempts to reclaim his glory days on a similar new survival series. However, his story is offset by that of Beck Bermann, a docuseries producer who needs some redemption of her own.
“My whole life, I imagined I would be a writer. I just kept waiting for a novel to burst out of me. Actually, it was ‘Survivor: Cambodia’ where I sort of had this epiphany moment in the middle of this crazy monsoon rainstorm. I hadn’t eaten in days, I got violently stomach sick, as many people know: #severegastrointestinaldistress,” the author recalled, poking fun at himself.
“Everybody around me was having the worst night of their life — they were shivering, they were crying, we were getting absolutely dumped on. And I was having an even worse night, because I would have to strip off my clothes to, like, preserve them as damp instead of completely soaked,” he continued. “I realized, I am doing all this and experiencing this for reality television, but I can’t write a book? Like, what I really want to do, I’m not. So I came home committed to writing a book.”
“It honestly was not necessarily going to be about reality TV, but it was only as I was writing other things that I realized I had access to this world, which is really interesting and that I’d never really seen before in a way that I felt was true in fiction,” Fishbach further noted. “I’ve read books about reality, often being scathing satires. I just wanted to capture the truth of it. Sometimes it’s satirical, sometimes it’s ridiculous, but I also wanted there to be like a humanity and a depth to the characters.”
Plus, the Pushcart Prize-winning writer has the unique distinction of seeing both of his No. 1 allies win their “Survivor” seasons, which means he understands how to build a strong alliance — even in fiction.
“That tension between the personal relationships and the strategic demands is sort of the heart of the book,” Fishbach shared. “That’s one of the things that I find most exciting about reality TV. That tension between reality producers, brilliant storytellers who are creating a story in three act-structure out of the total chaos of people acting erratic in the jungle — you couldn’t pick a more chaotic environment — and yet you have these geniuses over on the other side who are literally crafting it into narrative. I think that’s just so neat.”
The release date also comes amid heavy anticipation around “Survivor” Season 50: In the Hands of the Fans, which premieres next month and features Fishbach’s Tocantins co-star, Benjamin “Coach” Wade: “I feel like Coach is gonna really bring the Coach. He’s been waiting 27 seasons to Coach out again, and I think he’s going to Coach out so hard. There’s going to be all kinds of slaying quotations and great references to the masters of the past.”
“Truly, meeting this person… this is one of the reasons I’m happy to have done reality TV, getting to experience this human being up close, because I’ve never met somebody like him in my daily life,” Fishbach added. “That is the best part about reality TV, meeting people you otherwise would never have met.”
Ultimately, Fishbach is still proud to be a part of the “Survivor” legacy 25 years in.
“I love it, because I get to have this beautiful moment of my life exist in amber and people continually rediscover it,” he concluded. “It’s fun getting to talk about it, but it’s also, like, it truly was just a month of my life. It’s fascinating.”
And remember: In the end, “Everybody gets the story arc they deserve.”
“Escape!” is now available through Dutton Books and Penguin Random House wherever you get your books.
