Mark Burnett

Mark Burnett (born July 17, 1960, London, England) is an English author and television producer and director, best known for introducing Survivor (2000– ) and several other successful reality television shows to the United States.

Burnett, whose parents were both factory workers, grew up in Essex. He enlisted in the British army when he was 17 years old. After completing missions with the British Parachute Regiment in the Falkland Islands and Northern Ireland, Burnett moved to Los Angeles, where his jobs included working as a nanny and as a T-shirt salesman on nearby Venice Beach. Seeking to combine his desire for wealth with his taste for high adventure, in the early 1990s Burnett conceived of the Eco-Challenge, an international extreme-sports competition. First broadcast in 1995, the Eco-Challenge television series featured mixed-sex teams in arduous multisport competitions emphasizing esprit de corps and environmental consciousness. In 2000 Eco-Challenge: Morocco won a Sports Emmy and a Banff Rockie Award.

In 1998 Burnett purchased the American rights to Survivor, a European show that offered, like Eco-Challenge, dramatic settings and featured competitors under harsh conditions. Contestants, who are sequestered in a remote, exotic location and compete for a cash prize, are initially divided into two “tribes” and are expected to build shelter and find food with a minimal number of tools. The “tribes” occasionally compete against each other in “challenges.” The show debuted in 2000 and was an immediate hit. Many credited it with creating the genre of reality television in the United States. With Burnett serving as executive producer, Survivor was consistently one of the most-watched programs in the country.

After a series of shows that struggled to find an audience—including The Restaurant (2003–04), which chronicled the turbulent life of a Manhattan eatery—Burnett found success in 2004 with The Apprentice. The program revolved around ambitious candidates competing for a full-time job with Donald Trump, who was billed as a billionaire real-estate tycoon. It was popular with viewers—as was Trump’s “You’re fired” catchphrase—and in 2008 Burnett created The Celebrity Apprentice, which featured well-known entertainers and other public figures, such as comedian Joan Rivers and journalist Piers Morgan, as contestants.

Burnett continued to produce a slew of shows, including Rock Star: INXS (2005), a search for the new lead singer of the band INXS; The Contender (2005–09, 2018), which followed a group of young boxers as they competed against one another; Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? (2007–19), a game show hosted by comedian Jeff Foxworthy where the contestant had to correctly answer questions typical of elementary-school quizzes; and Sarah Palin’s Alaska (2010–11), which chronicled the outdoor pursuits of the 2008 Republican vice presidential candidate. Shark Tank (2009– ) featured entrepreneurs competing to secure financial backing from investors. The Voice (2011– ) was a singing competition coached and judged by a panel of professional musicians, including, at various points, Christina Aguilera, Cee Lo Green, Shakira, Gwen Stefani, Usher, and Pharrell Williams. Many of the reality programs produced by Burnett received Emmy Awards.

Burnett moved into scripted drama with the television miniseries The Bible (2013),A.D. The Bible Continues (2015), and Messiah (2020). The Bible was edited and released in theatres as Son of God (2014). He also published a number of books—Survivor: The Ultimate Game (2000), Survivor II: The Field Guide (2001), and the autobiographical Dare to Succeed: How to Survive and Thrive in the Game of Life (2001). Jump In!: Even If You Don’t Know How to Swim (2005) was an inspirational volume of professional anecdotes.