Survivor Winner Revealed By Bad Web Site Coding?

We got a number of submissions about this. The Tribal Council Voting History page for the CBS TV show Survivor apparently contains a bug that lets you see which contestants have been kicked off the show before their names appear on the site, sort of like the Slashdot bug (now fixed) that sometimes let you see our stories before they appeared on the main page. The clearest instructions I saw for exploiting the "Survivor Spoiler" bug were here. I'm sure CBS will fix this soon, but you could still pull the trick as of 6:40 a.m. (US EDT) this morning. Do you think this is a true bug, or is CBS doing it on purpose (with the "wrong people" crossed out) to increase interest in the show?

Comments

The Real Ending

[Jim Tyre]

Gervase may be the last of the current crop, I don't know, but the show won't end there.

Just as he's being rescued, the S.S. Minnow, out on a three hour tour, somehow will run ashore, giving viewers a new cast of the Skipper, Gilligan, the Professer, Mr. and Mrs. Howell, Ginger and Marianne.

The Professor will build a beowulf cluster from coconuts, Marianne will get the idea to connect to AOL using all those disks she's been collecting as coasters. The Skipper will activate his GPS system, newly installed since his last charter.

Yet, despite all that's been learned over the years, they'll always just miss being rescued, at least until they've supplied the public with another 20 years of rerun fodder.

Elections for the masses

[CaNuK]

I've got an idea. You could use the Survivor format to elect your next President, except having the public vote who'll be 'off the island'. No doubt it would raise public interest in the event. Just imagine what you could get them to do in the challenges.

Your challenge is, move amongst these children, pick the one you think is an orphan, and make him laugh with any of these three items.

• The Declaration of Independance
• Ross Perot's hat
• The purse Monica Lewinski made from Tom Green's parents bed matress

This is for immunity.

Re:For the few who haven't watched it...

[drix]

This show is pure ratings whorage at its basest form.

I definitely have not & will not ever watch a minute of it :)

--

I looked at the modification times on the images

[btempleton]

And they show, very roughly, the order as well. There are inconsistencies, but the modification time order is too correlated with the kick-off order not to mean something.

It shows the same winner as the "X" error.

The final four are him, Rudy, Jenna and Richard.

Full details at this page

Re:Offtopic

[acidrain]

Because the top few stores are much more active than the rest, and if they posted them all at once it would disperse the loci of conversation. That and they have certain /. addicts loading the main page every 15 min instead of whenever they post everything.

Web administrator screw-up

[Takatsuki]

Ive often wondered, as a wed administrator, how _badly_ is it really possible for a web admin to screwup. I mean its not like a construction company or a lawyer or a doctor or other well-paid professionals that screw-up and u _know_ it, and are liable for vast amounts of damage.

If this isn't handled well, it could be a big screw-up. To think of all the NDA'd staff who are in on the secret and have done such a good job of keeping it, imagine that a web admin blows it...


--

Re:Web administrator screw-up

[StatGrape]

Ive often wondered, as a wed administrator...

So you're, what, a Justice of the Peace?

CBS Survivor Poll

[ekmo]

What is interesting is that, at the time of this post, Gervase had the fewest votes in the poll when asked: "With whom would you most likely form an alliance?". (Although I expect the results to change quite rapidly as word spreads.)

Deliberate?

[p3d0]

Do you think this is a true bug, or is CBS doing it on purpose (with the "wrong people" crossed out) to increase interest in the show?

I know it's hard to believe, people, but sometimes big companies do dumb things. Yes, it's true. Remember Coke Classic?

Survivor is #1 in the ratings. They have no particular need to increase interest in the show, and even if they did, making people think they know how it ends would certainly not increase their viewership.

CBS stands to loose boatloads of cash if people think they know who will win. IMHO it's extremely unlikely that this was deliberate.
--
Patrick Doyle

Re:Deliberate?

[MrPlab]

You have to think about this though. People have the tendancy to prove that they're right - they're going to watch the show regardless of if they know what's going to happen or if they think they'll know what's going to happen. It's a win-win situation for CBS regardless of what might happen.

Consider the ratings - as long as CBS keeps pumping out what people want to see, they're going to remain high in the ratings, it's that simple. A website that has only been seen by 20% of the shows viewers (and I'm saying that being entirely optimistic) is not going to see 20% drop in viewers, maybe 2%, if the shit hits the fan.

Win-win - why can't more things be like that.

With plastic wrap issues,
Matthew
_____________________________________

spoiler

[ARColeslaw]

Richard wins. He got into a bar fight after he got off the island, was imprisoned, and could not claim his prize until he got out.

Histroy repeats itself

[RIP]

This happened the first time Survivor ran in Sweden too.

Re:Histroy repeats itself

[Anonymous Coward]

http://cbs.com/network/tvshows/mini/survivor/image s/show/tc/tc_bg_gervase.gif

Re:Histroy repeats itself

[RIP]

UPDATE: It was a fake back then... My guess is that this is too.

That forum...

[Anonymous Coward]

makes Slashdot look like a Mensa meeting. I guess you shouldn't expect too much from people that sit around and talk about a stupid tv show.

Re:this probably means nothing

[Fred Ferrigno]

Richard with an X (who hasn't been cast off yet)

Gervase without an X (done only by replacing "richard_VH.gif" with "gervase_VH.gif")

As well, it seems very likely that the website was completed some time ago; it would be a waste of time to have the webteam make an X-image every time a show aired. If the images are gone or changed when you see this, take my word for it (or just read the board).

For the few who haven't watched it...

[Carnage4Life]

For the non-Americans who haven't seen the show or people like me who don't watch TV here's a very good episode guide from Salon. The show actually seems very interesting, the interplay of personalities and double dealing as well as how low people will go for money is entertaining in a surrreal kind of way.

I'll definitely give the next show a try.


WHY C SUCKS
-----------
int i =0;
i = i + 1;

Possibly disproved

[The Original Bobski]

Here

Re:Possibly disproved

[jackmama]

Not really, they've all got an X picture in that area.

Making those images publicly readable has got to be one of the most bone-headed design flaws I've seen in a long time. Granted, the website needed to be set up, and able to go on with little maintenance, but how hard would it have been to copy the "X" pictures over from an inaccessible directory as needed? It's not a life and death situation, but it's another case where security though obscurity fails. Whether you're being targeted by a filthy, anti-social hacker, or just some obsessed fan, you shouldn't underestimate the amount of free time they have to find weaknesses in your system.

Re:Possibly disproved

[asdfasdfasdfasdf]

I'm trying not to be bitter about my post not making it (I wrote in yesterday at 11am about this) Anyway, here's a MUCH better explanation about the x's vs. no x's. It may be a bit more confusing for less intelligent folks, but it's more comprehensive

Re:Possibly disproved

[CalmCoolCollected]

But they don't have "x pictures" ready for everybody in the _VH.gif set. That's true for the tribal council set, but not the "voting history" set.

Sure they do, that's what this whole controversy is about. There's a _VH picture with an X for everyone except Gervase.

Yes, exactly. There is a {name}_VH.gif picture for each of the 16, and only one of those is "clean" : Gervase's.

Where would they put the picture of Gervase without an X anyway? What exactly is it's use? I would find this whole theory much more credible it there was NO gervase_VH picture at all.

They would put it at the top of the final column on the Voting History Grid. There are sixteen slots. Last slot is for the winner even though it is marked "voted off." (and yes that discrepancy bothers me a tad).

Why do the other Gervase pictures, used in different areas on the site, have an X version?

The one other place that there is a picture of Gervase with an "x" is in the Tribal Council pictures. There, you need two sets of pictures -- one set without x's that you are going to use a lot: they are used to show how people voted and who got votes. Then there's a second set : the x'd set that you reference to show the person in the upper left corner who got voted off. In putting this page together, it's convenient to generate two full sets first and then use them as necessary in all the various spots. You are going to end up with one picture you don't use.

The top row of the Voting History page is different. You need only one set of pictures to show the results of the voting, and it is in this single set of pictures that you have 15 red x's and 1 picture that is clean.

It's so much more believable that it was simply an error in putting an X on the one picture.

Not if this was all done with full knowledge of the results and the assumption that people just wouldn't call up the {name}_VH.gif files that hadn't been posted to the top bar of the Voting History chart yet.

Offtopic

[QuoteMstr]

Why *wouldn't* Slashdot want to post stories as soon as they were available?

Why does it delay them?

Re:Offtopic

[chris.dag]

If they post stories too fast then they will cycle down the front page so fast that very few people will get a chance to read/comment/etc.

But the scandinavian version was better

[Snaller]

And incidently we invented it, they are licensing the idea :) Anyway place everybody on a warm remote island...naturally all the women would run around in very little ;-)
(Hey we are not as uptight as the americans, sensuality is ok, violence is bad, not the othe way around :)

--

Re:But the scandinavian version was better

[kadath23]

Fuck you! I'll kill you if try to take away my violence! ;) Violence is perfectly fine. I'm sick of hearing how we should be more sensitive and how evil is violence. Bullshit! I'd rather be friends with two blokes in a bar with too much to drink and pounding the the shit out of each other but who pat each other on the back afterwards than a smarmy dogooder who'd prop my eyes open for sensitivity training from the Hawaiian Topic girls! I'm against doing wrong to another, but not the catch-all war against our violent natures. Damn! --and you guys used to raise Vikings!! Or maybe it's the boredom talking...

Checkout this link.

[Ice Station Zebra]

While surfing around the CBS web site I found this link which shows a script for a future version of Survivor. It would seem that the cast aways find themselves trapped at the Microsoft campus when their VW bus is run off the road by an obnoxious guy with the license plate "vb rulz" (Bill Gates???). They are then led through a wild trip and discover that Microsoft employees have all been transformed into oompa loompas.

Katz reviews Survivior

[jacks0n]

It shouldn't surprise anyone that the corpratists at CBS are finding sucess with an anti-geek show like Survivor. The very theme of the show is lifted from Lord of the Flies, which many of us remember with horror, as we identified with the weak, chubby, emasculate, glasses-wearing anti-hero. The book's message was that Civilization is fragile. Lord of the Flies judges the survivors, and declares them evil. But in Survivor, we have a celebration of a culture that is anti-cooperative, machiavellian, and uncivilized. You can see the effect of this culture as the TV show makes it's way into High Schools everywhere, where you can hear jocks and other popular types saying to geeks, "I'm voting you off my island" then laughing. Often they are too busy laughing to engage in beating or wedgieing the geek, which is their usual practice. The rise of geek culture was bound to engender a backlash, and this is only the beginning. Network Television, fearing for its life from internet-savvy-geeks, will encourage the backlash. We will be seeing televised death camps within a year, you wait and see.

Stand by for Congress to get involved.

[phil reed]

Next thing you know, CBS execs will be in front of Congress, using this as an excuse to call for an extension to the DCMA making it illegal for anybody to access a web site in any way other than the author intended.


...phil

Why?

[SamHill]

Just what is the attraction of shows such as Survivor anyway?

Where I live now, we have a channel that shows ``Real Life TV'', and it looks awful! I have a life, thank you, and I'm not especially interested in hearing other ``real'' people argue about meaningless topics, fight over who'll get the last slice of bread, debate which of two kinds of music (both of which I despise) is the greatest, have babies, get married, survive on an island (with a huge television crew watching their every move), or anything else!

What happened to having to write shows? To having intelligent people think about ideas and create a dramatic presentation? Oh, yes, it's expensive. It's much cheaper to throw together some people no one would even talk to if they didn't already know them, force them to interact under surveillance, and broadcast the results.

If you want to watch some ``reality'' television that still has some educational and entertainment value, I recommend Junkyard Wars (originally Scrapyard Challenge in Britain), now airing on The Learning Channel.

Wouldn't it have been easier and safer...

[namlhaz]

for the web designers to make one common series of pictures for the participants, plus one 'overlay' image which would be a transparent gif with just the 'X' in the corner?

More information from HTML file...

[ecktech]

Here is some text from the HTML file for that main page... this is the scripted part that caches the images for the players (for mouseovers, I suppose). Take notice of the order of the names, even though it doesn't perfectly work out:

if (document.images) {
// on states
gervaseon = new Image(); gervaseon.src = "/network/tvshows/mini/survivor/show/images/gervas eR.gif";
gervaseoff = new Image(); gervaseoff.src = "/network/tvshows/mini/survivor/show/images/gervas eB.gif";

jennaon = new Image(); jennaon.src = "/network/tvshows/mini/survivor/show/images/jennaR .gif";
jennaoff = new Image(); jennaoff.src = "/network/tvshows/mini/survivor/show/images/jennaB .gif";

rudyon = new Image(); rudyon.src = "/network/tvshows/mini/survivor/show/images/rudyR. gif";
rudyoff = new Image(); rudyoff.src = "/network/tvshows/mini/survivor/show/images/rudyB. gif";

richardon = new Image(); richardon.src = "/network/tvshows/mini/survivor/show/images/richar dR.gif";
richardoff = new Image(); richardoff.src = "/network/tvshows/mini/survivor/show/images/richar dB.gif";

gregon = new Image(); gregon.src = "/network/tvshows/mini/survivor/show/images/gregR. gif";
gregoff = new Image(); gregoff.src = "/network/tvshows/mini/survivor/show/images/gregB. gif";

seanon = new Image(); seanon.src = "/network/tvshows/mini/survivor/show/images/seanR. gif";
seanoff = new Image(); seanoff.src = "/network/tvshows/mini/survivor/show/images/seanB. gif";

gretchenon = new Image(); gretchenon.src = "/network/tvshows/mini/survivor/show/images/gretch enR.gif";
gretchenoff = new Image(); gretchenoff.src = "/network/tvshows/mini/survivor/show/images/gretch enB.gif";

susanon = new Image(); susanon.src = "/network/tvshows/mini/survivor/show/images/susanR .gif";
susanoff = new Image(); susanoff.src = "/network/tvshows/mini/survivor/show/images/susanB .gif";

colleenon = new Image(); colleenon.src = "/network/tvshows/mini/survivor/show/images/collee nR.gif";
colleenoff = new Image(); colleenoff.src = "/network/tvshows/mini/survivor/show/images/collee nB.gif";

kellyon = new Image(); kellyon.src = "/network/tvshows/mini/survivor/show/images/kellyR .gif";
kellyoff = new Image(); kellyoff.src = "/network/tvshows/mini/survivor/show/images/kellyB .gif";

joelon = new Image(); joelon.src = "/network/tvshows/mini/survivor/show/images/joelR. gif";
joeloff = new Image(); joeloff.src = "/network/tvshows/mini/survivor/show/images/joelB. gif";

dirkon = new Image(); dirkon.src = "/network/tvshows/mini/survivor/show/images/dirkR. gif";
dirkoff = new Image(); dirkoff.src = "/network/tvshows/mini/survivor/show/images/dirkB. gif";

ramonaon = new Image(); ramonaon.src = "/network/tvshows/mini/survivor/show/images/ramona R.gif";
ramonaoff = new Image(); ramonaoff.src = "/network/tvshows/mini/survivor/show/images/ramona B.gif";

staceyon = new Image(); staceyon.src = "/network/tvshows/mini/survivor/show/images/stacey R.gif";
staceyoff = new Image(); staceyoff.src = "/network/tvshows/mini/survivor/show/images/stacey B.gif";

bbon = new Image(); bbon.src = "/network/tvshows/mini/survivor/show/images/bbR.gi f";
bboff = new Image(); bboff.src = "/network/tvshows/mini/survivor/show/images/bbB.gi f";

sonjaon = new Image(); sonjaon.src = "/network/tvshows/mini/survivor/show/images/sonjaR .gif";
sonjaoff = new Image(); sonjaoff.src = "/network/tvshows/mini/survivor/show/images/sonjaB .gif";

}

Good but...

[G-Man]

..you need to work "post-Columbine", "interactive", and "the New Media" in there somewhere. Variations are allowed and encouraged so long as they convey the establishing of a new "paradigm" or the destruction of an old one. For a recent addition, "Old Fartism" wouldn't hurt either. Oh yeah, never forget, you can never use "geek" too often! ;-)

Geek Survivors!

[Trunt]

Heh... check it out... Geek Survivors