That was the underlying paradox of Mark Burnett’s success: Unlike early reality auteurs, writers like Allen Funt and Chuck Barris, or producers and directors like Craig Gilbert, Jon Murray, Mary-Ellis Bunim, and John Langley, Burnett’s Hollywood career had basically emerged in reverse order. At heart, he was a shrewd, passionate marketer with a product to sell: adventure racing. The best way to fund that product was to find sponsors. The best way to get sponsors was to give them a media platform. And television—which Burnett once described as “a necessary evil”—was the sturdiest media platform
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