Looks like Fishbach found a big name publisher for his novel and got
Dalton to write an article about it. _____________________________________________________________________
Read an excerpt from Stephen Fishbach's Survivor-themed novel, Escape! (exclusive)
What happens when a faded winner and a disgraced producer try to find redemption on reality TV?
By Dalton Ross
January 16, 2026 11:15 a.m. ET
Sometimes, real life is more dramatic than fiction. But only sometimes.
Because the things that go down in Stephen FishbachrCOs debut novel are pretty damn dramatic. Of course, Escape! draws heavily from FishbachrCOs real-life experience as a reality television contestant who competed
twice on Survivor during the Tocantins and Cambodia seasons. So art is indeed imitating art.
However, Fishbach rCo who already won the prestigious Pushcart Prize for a short story that would eventually be folded into Escape! rCo has only used his time on Survivor as a jumping off point to tell the absolutely engrossing tale of a rCLfaded reality show winnerrCY and a disgraced producer, both attempting to find salvation in the only place they know
how to find such things rCo back on reality TV.
The novel, which is available for pre-order now and goes on sale Jan.
27, is a wild ride that will keep readers glued to the page the same way they are glued to their screens during their favorite reality
competition shows. And werCOve got an exclusive excerpt you can read right here and right now.
Want to be kept up with all things Survivor? Dig deep and sign up for Entertainment Weekly's free Survivor Weekly newsletter to have all the latest news, interviews, and commentary sent right to your inbox.
In the excerpt below, we see down-on-his-luck realty champion Kent
making what he hopes will be his triumphant return to television. But
hopes donrCOt always turn into dreams. At least not good ones. Before you enjoy the excerpt, which shows KentrCOs arrival on his TV redemption tour, check out the official description for Escape!
Kent Duvall, a faded reality show winner, just wants another chance at
glory rCo to find his way out of his depressing life and back to his highlight reel. When a scandal is captured on camera at a charity event,
he gets his shot, on a new jungle survival show with seven other contestants. Each of them has been cast as a type rCo Ruddy the bully, Miriam the nerd, Ashley the love interest rCo but everyone is more than
they appear.
The contestantsrCO goals seem simple rCo survive the wild, build a raft, win treasure. But Beck Bermann, a reality producer who suffered her own
public shaming, sees them as characters in her redemption arc.
As the schemes and strategies spiral out, breakout camps sabotage each
other and rival producers struggle to control the storyline. Soon the question becomes less about who will win than who will make it out in
one piece.
Excerpt from Escape! by Stephen Fishbach
As the bright yellow Zodiac shivers across the choppy waves, KentrCOs already thinking about how herCOll describe it in his interviews. I was
like an explorer, herCOll say. Adventuring into an uncharted world. The island beckons to him, a tropical paradise, palm trees belly dancing at
the edge of a white sand beach straight from a Corona ad. Two cameramen
race up and down the shore, their rigs gripped against their shoulders.
Two sound engineers balance their boom mikes on their heads. A drone
swoops through the air. He feels like herCOs rocketing into a myth, like herCOs writing himself into the pages of Treasure Island. The spray is in his face. He shakes his machete into the sky and lets out a giant whoop, which is echoed by the scream of a red-and-green bird that flashes
upward from the jungle.
There are nine of them clutching the ZodiacrCOs rubber edge, speeding
toward the show. Eight contestants and Erika, a skinny producer with the look of a furious terrier glaring at them from a handbag. The boatrCOs driver, a bearded maniac who reeks of body spray, whoops as he steers
into the swells, launching them skyward and crashing back. AshleyrCOs next to him, dolled up in a red wrap mini thatrCOs breathtakingly,
spectacularly impractical for the outdoors. Across the boat, a young guy with thin lips and a sweater tied around his shoulders leans back and
splays his legs. He looks like the asshole boyfriend from every teen
movie. The older lady who was muttering to herself in casting is there.
A nerd girl with Coke-bottle lenses pulls her lab coat close. The
sexpot. The villain. The battle-ax. The nerd. And hererCOs Kent Duvall.
The alpha male.
He never thought of himself as an archetype before his first season on Endure. He was Kent. He worked construction. He went out with the guys. Dated a bit, but never a ladiesrCO man. He waited until he was eighteen to lose his virginity because he wanted to find the right girl. Kind of a screwup at times. HerCOd once been detained by the police when he and some buddies drunkenly sprayed fire extinguishers across the thirty-third
floor of a Vegas hotel. An average guy, he figured. Then fifteen years
ago, he was walking through the hallways of the Kimpton Hotel Santa
Monica, paired with two other broad-shouldered rough-handed men as they moved between meetings with casting associates and network execs. The
three of them sat side by side outside hotel room doors waiting to be interviewed, forbidden from speaking, clearly competing for the same
spot. They werenrCOt the only group. Three leathery older women stalked through the halls. There were three nerds, in different varieties of nerdinessrCoa skinny nerd with glasses, a chubby nerd with a Captain
America T-shirt, and a biker with pierced eyebrows and a tattoo sleeve,
who would gaze at KentrCOs trio with yearning every time they passed in
the hallways, like somehow he got misfiled into the wrong group.
At first Kent hated how quickly herCOd been reduced to a tick on a demographic survey. Like finding out yourCOre a clone, you start to wonder which parts of yourself are authentically you and which parts have been mass-imprinted by the social machinery. The trio would use the hotel gym
at the same time, each guy adding another couple of plates to the bench press when it was his turn. At some point the third guy wasnrCOt there.
Then Kent was the only one. He was the alpha male of alpha males. This morning, when Erika gave each contestant a single survival item, he got
the machete.
He leaps off the boat before it even stops moving, holding the blade
aloft like a flag. HerCOs wearing a lavalier mike disguised as a beaded necklacerCothey all arerCobut the necklaces are supposedly waterproof, and the transmitters are in small waterproof pouches clipped to their
underwear. Behind him the boat motors to a stop. The wind stills. The
heat presses in, warping the air. The other contestants climb off the
Zodiac and follow him toward shore. Kelly-Anne sashays up the beach in full-on vamp, like sherCOs on a Sports Illustrated photo shoot. An older man, aggressively spray-tanned with a pronounced gut and dyed black hair thatrCOs swept backward along his neck, looks like he might be carried
away by the tide. Carl roars again and again as he splashes in, like a childrenrCOs toy with only one button.
They gather on the shore and give each other excited hugs. The last one
off the boat is the nerd. They all watch as she hesitates on the
gunwale. rCLYou can do it, Glasses!rCY shouts Ashley. The girl takes a tentative step forward, stumbles, and face-plants into the waves. The
group exchanges little looks. Kent can practically hear the clown music. rCLI hope they let us vote people off,rCY says the bro. Kent starts to laugh but glances quickly at the cameras. He doesnrCOt want to be the bully.
When the sopping girl has joined them on the beach, one of the producers separates from the huddle of production personnel. rCLWelcome to Escape!,rCY he says.
Excerpted from Escape! by Stephen Fishbach, published by Dutton, an
imprint of Penguin Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House, LLC. Copyright (c) 2026 by Stephen Fishbach.
Source: https://ew.com/stephen-fishbach-survivor-themed-novel-escape-exclusive-excerpt-11886681
On 1/16/2026 4:52 PM, Brian Smith wrote:
Looks like Fishbach found a big name publisher for his novel and got
Dalton to write an article about it.
_____________________________________________________________________
Read an excerpt from Stephen Fishbach's Survivor-themed novel, Escape!
(exclusive)
What happens when a faded winner and a disgraced producer try to find
redemption on reality TV?
By Dalton Ross
January 16, 2026 11:15 a.m. ET
Sometimes, real life is more dramatic than fiction. But only sometimes.
Because the things that go down in Stephen FishbachrCOs debut novel are
pretty damn dramatic. Of course, Escape! draws heavily from FishbachrCOs
real-life experience as a reality television contestant who competed
twice on Survivor during the Tocantins and Cambodia seasons. So art is
indeed imitating art.
However, Fishbach rCo who already won the prestigious Pushcart Prize for
a short story that would eventually be folded into Escape! rCo has only
used his time on Survivor as a jumping off point to tell the
absolutely engrossing tale of a rCLfaded reality show winnerrCY and a
disgraced producer, both attempting to find salvation in the only
place they know how to find such things rCo back on reality TV.
The novel, which is available for pre-order now and goes on sale Jan.
27, is a wild ride that will keep readers glued to the page the same
way they are glued to their screens during their favorite reality
competition shows. And werCOve got an exclusive excerpt you can read
right here and right now.
Want to be kept up with all things Survivor? Dig deep and sign up for
Entertainment Weekly's free Survivor Weekly newsletter to have all the
latest news, interviews, and commentary sent right to your inbox.
In the excerpt below, we see down-on-his-luck realty champion Kent
making what he hopes will be his triumphant return to television. But
hopes donrCOt always turn into dreams. At least not good ones. Before
you enjoy the excerpt, which shows KentrCOs arrival on his TV redemption
tour, check out the official description for Escape!
Kent Duvall, a faded reality show winner, just wants another chance at
glory rCo to find his way out of his depressing life and back to his
highlight reel. When a scandal is captured on camera at a charity
event, he gets his shot, on a new jungle survival show with seven
other contestants. Each of them has been cast as a type rCo Ruddy the
bully, Miriam the nerd, Ashley the love interest rCo but everyone is
more than they appear.
The contestantsrCO goals seem simple rCo survive the wild, build a raft,
win treasure. But Beck Bermann, a reality producer who suffered her
own public shaming, sees them as characters in her redemption arc.
As the schemes and strategies spiral out, breakout camps sabotage each
other and rival producers struggle to control the storyline. Soon the
question becomes less about who will win than who will make it out in
one piece.
Excerpt from Escape! by Stephen Fishbach
As the bright yellow Zodiac shivers across the choppy waves, KentrCOs
already thinking about how herCOll describe it in his interviews. I was
like an explorer, herCOll say. Adventuring into an uncharted world. The
island beckons to him, a tropical paradise, palm trees belly dancing
at the edge of a white sand beach straight from a Corona ad. Two
cameramen race up and down the shore, their rigs gripped against their
shoulders. Two sound engineers balance their boom mikes on their
heads. A drone swoops through the air. He feels like herCOs rocketing
into a myth, like herCOs writing himself into the pages of Treasure
Island. The spray is in his face. He shakes his machete into the sky
and lets out a giant whoop, which is echoed by the scream of a red-
and-green bird that flashes upward from the jungle.
There are nine of them clutching the ZodiacrCOs rubber edge, speeding
toward the show. Eight contestants and Erika, a skinny producer with
the look of a furious terrier glaring at them from a handbag. The
boatrCOs driver, a bearded maniac who reeks of body spray, whoops as he
steers into the swells, launching them skyward and crashing back.
AshleyrCOs next to him, dolled up in a red wrap mini thatrCOs
breathtakingly, spectacularly impractical for the outdoors. Across the
boat, a young guy with thin lips and a sweater tied around his
shoulders leans back and splays his legs. He looks like the asshole
boyfriend from every teen movie. The older lady who was muttering to
herself in casting is there. A nerd girl with Coke-bottle lenses pulls
her lab coat close. The sexpot. The villain. The battle-ax. The nerd.
And hererCOs Kent Duvall. The alpha male.
He never thought of himself as an archetype before his first season on
Endure. He was Kent. He worked construction. He went out with the
guys. Dated a bit, but never a ladiesrCO man. He waited until he was
eighteen to lose his virginity because he wanted to find the right
girl. Kind of a screwup at times. HerCOd once been detained by the
police when he and some buddies drunkenly sprayed fire extinguishers
across the thirty-third floor of a Vegas hotel. An average guy, he
figured. Then fifteen years ago, he was walking through the hallways
of the Kimpton Hotel Santa Monica, paired with two other broad-
shouldered rough-handed men as they moved between meetings with
casting associates and network execs. The three of them sat side by
side outside hotel room doors waiting to be interviewed, forbidden
from speaking, clearly competing for the same spot. They werenrCOt the
only group. Three leathery older women stalked through the halls.
There were three nerds, in different varieties of nerdinessrCoa skinny
nerd with glasses, a chubby nerd with a Captain America T-shirt, and a
biker with pierced eyebrows and a tattoo sleeve, who would gaze at
KentrCOs trio with yearning every time they passed in the hallways, like
somehow he got misfiled into the wrong group.
At first Kent hated how quickly herCOd been reduced to a tick on a
demographic survey. Like finding out yourCOre a clone, you start to
wonder which parts of yourself are authentically you and which parts
have been mass-imprinted by the social machinery. The trio would use
the hotel gym at the same time, each guy adding another couple of
plates to the bench press when it was his turn. At some point the
third guy wasnrCOt there. Then Kent was the only one. He was the alpha
male of alpha males. This morning, when Erika gave each contestant a
single survival item, he got the machete.
He leaps off the boat before it even stops moving, holding the blade
aloft like a flag. HerCOs wearing a lavalier mike disguised as a beaded
necklacerCothey all arerCobut the necklaces are supposedly waterproof, and >> the transmitters are in small waterproof pouches clipped to their
underwear. Behind him the boat motors to a stop. The wind stills. The
heat presses in, warping the air. The other contestants climb off the
Zodiac and follow him toward shore. Kelly-Anne sashays up the beach in
full-on vamp, like sherCOs on a Sports Illustrated photo shoot. An older
man, aggressively spray-tanned with a pronounced gut and dyed black
hair thatrCOs swept backward along his neck, looks like he might be
carried away by the tide. Carl roars again and again as he splashes
in, like a childrenrCOs toy with only one button.
They gather on the shore and give each other excited hugs. The last
one off the boat is the nerd. They all watch as she hesitates on the
gunwale. rCLYou can do it, Glasses!rCY shouts Ashley. The girl takes a
tentative step forward, stumbles, and face-plants into the waves. The
group exchanges little looks. Kent can practically hear the clown
music. rCLI hope they let us vote people off,rCY says the bro. Kent starts >> to laugh but glances quickly at the cameras. He doesnrCOt want to be the
bully.
When the sopping girl has joined them on the beach, one of the
producers separates from the huddle of production personnel. rCLWelcome
to Escape!,rCY he says.
Excerpted from Escape! by Stephen Fishbach, published by Dutton, an
imprint of Penguin Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random
House, LLC. Copyright (c) 2026 by Stephen Fishbach.
Source: https://ew.com/stephen-fishbach-survivor-themed-novel-escape-
exclusive-excerpt-11886681
I guess I'm not sure why anyone would want to read this.-a Given all the real-life people who have been on and continue to be Survivor and talk
about their experiences, why invest time in reading an essentially
fictional account?-a I realize he is drawing on his real-life
experiences. so this is probably at least partially autobiographical,
but I think I would still prefer reading actual accounts from actual
people.
On 1/16/2026 3:12 PM, Rick wrote:
On 1/16/2026 4:52 PM, Brian Smith wrote:
Looks like Fishbach found a big name publisher for his novel and got
Dalton to write an article about it.
_____________________________________________________________________
Read an excerpt from Stephen Fishbach's Survivor-themed novel,
Escape! (exclusive)
What happens when a faded winner and a disgraced producer try to find
redemption on reality TV?
By Dalton Ross
January 16, 2026 11:15 a.m. ET
Sometimes, real life is more dramatic than fiction. But only sometimes.
Because the things that go down in Stephen FishbachrCOs debut novel are >>> pretty damn dramatic. Of course, Escape! draws heavily from
FishbachrCOs real-life experience as a reality television contestant
who competed twice on Survivor during the Tocantins and Cambodia
seasons. So art is indeed imitating art.
However, Fishbach rCo who already won the prestigious Pushcart Prize
for a short story that would eventually be folded into Escape! rCo has
only used his time on Survivor as a jumping off point to tell the
absolutely engrossing tale of a rCLfaded reality show winnerrCY and a
disgraced producer, both attempting to find salvation in the only
place they know how to find such things rCo back on reality TV.
The novel, which is available for pre-order now and goes on sale Jan.
27, is a wild ride that will keep readers glued to the page the same
way they are glued to their screens during their favorite reality
competition shows. And werCOve got an exclusive excerpt you can read
right here and right now.
Want to be kept up with all things Survivor? Dig deep and sign up for
Entertainment Weekly's free Survivor Weekly newsletter to have all
the latest news, interviews, and commentary sent right to your inbox.
In the excerpt below, we see down-on-his-luck realty champion Kent
making what he hopes will be his triumphant return to television. But
hopes donrCOt always turn into dreams. At least not good ones. Before
you enjoy the excerpt, which shows KentrCOs arrival on his TV
redemption tour, check out the official description for Escape!
Kent Duvall, a faded reality show winner, just wants another chance
at glory rCo to find his way out of his depressing life and back to his >>> highlight reel. When a scandal is captured on camera at a charity
event, he gets his shot, on a new jungle survival show with seven
other contestants. Each of them has been cast as a type rCo Ruddy the
bully, Miriam the nerd, Ashley the love interest rCo but everyone is
more than they appear.
The contestantsrCO goals seem simple rCo survive the wild, build a raft, >>> win treasure. But Beck Bermann, a reality producer who suffered her
own public shaming, sees them as characters in her redemption arc.
As the schemes and strategies spiral out, breakout camps sabotage
each other and rival producers struggle to control the storyline.
Soon the question becomes less about who will win than who will make
it out in one piece.
Excerpt from Escape! by Stephen Fishbach
As the bright yellow Zodiac shivers across the choppy waves, KentrCOs
already thinking about how herCOll describe it in his interviews. I was >>> like an explorer, herCOll say. Adventuring into an uncharted world. The >>> island beckons to him, a tropical paradise, palm trees belly dancing
at the edge of a white sand beach straight from a Corona ad. Two
cameramen race up and down the shore, their rigs gripped against
their shoulders. Two sound engineers balance their boom mikes on
their heads. A drone swoops through the air. He feels like herCOs
rocketing into a myth, like herCOs writing himself into the pages of
Treasure Island. The spray is in his face. He shakes his machete into
the sky and lets out a giant whoop, which is echoed by the scream of
a red- and-green bird that flashes upward from the jungle.
There are nine of them clutching the ZodiacrCOs rubber edge, speeding
toward the show. Eight contestants and Erika, a skinny producer with
the look of a furious terrier glaring at them from a handbag. The
boatrCOs driver, a bearded maniac who reeks of body spray, whoops as he >>> steers into the swells, launching them skyward and crashing back.
AshleyrCOs next to him, dolled up in a red wrap mini thatrCOs
breathtakingly, spectacularly impractical for the outdoors. Across
the boat, a young guy with thin lips and a sweater tied around his
shoulders leans back and splays his legs. He looks like the asshole
boyfriend from every teen movie. The older lady who was muttering to
herself in casting is there. A nerd girl with Coke-bottle lenses
pulls her lab coat close. The sexpot. The villain. The battle-ax. The
nerd. And hererCOs Kent Duvall. The alpha male.
He never thought of himself as an archetype before his first season
on Endure. He was Kent. He worked construction. He went out with the
guys. Dated a bit, but never a ladiesrCO man. He waited until he was
eighteen to lose his virginity because he wanted to find the right
girl. Kind of a screwup at times. HerCOd once been detained by the
police when he and some buddies drunkenly sprayed fire extinguishers
across the thirty-third floor of a Vegas hotel. An average guy, he
figured. Then fifteen years ago, he was walking through the hallways
of the Kimpton Hotel Santa Monica, paired with two other broad-
shouldered rough-handed men as they moved between meetings with
casting associates and network execs. The three of them sat side by
side outside hotel room doors waiting to be interviewed, forbidden
from speaking, clearly competing for the same spot. They werenrCOt the
only group. Three leathery older women stalked through the halls.
There were three nerds, in different varieties of nerdinessrCoa skinny
nerd with glasses, a chubby nerd with a Captain America T-shirt, and
a biker with pierced eyebrows and a tattoo sleeve, who would gaze at
KentrCOs trio with yearning every time they passed in the hallways,
like somehow he got misfiled into the wrong group.
At first Kent hated how quickly herCOd been reduced to a tick on a
demographic survey. Like finding out yourCOre a clone, you start to
wonder which parts of yourself are authentically you and which parts
have been mass-imprinted by the social machinery. The trio would use
the hotel gym at the same time, each guy adding another couple of
plates to the bench press when it was his turn. At some point the
third guy wasnrCOt there. Then Kent was the only one. He was the alpha
male of alpha males. This morning, when Erika gave each contestant a
single survival item, he got the machete.
He leaps off the boat before it even stops moving, holding the blade
aloft like a flag. HerCOs wearing a lavalier mike disguised as a beaded >>> necklacerCothey all arerCobut the necklaces are supposedly waterproof,
and the transmitters are in small waterproof pouches clipped to their
underwear. Behind him the boat motors to a stop. The wind stills. The
heat presses in, warping the air. The other contestants climb off the
Zodiac and follow him toward shore. Kelly-Anne sashays up the beach
in full-on vamp, like sherCOs on a Sports Illustrated photo shoot. An
older man, aggressively spray-tanned with a pronounced gut and dyed
black hair thatrCOs swept backward along his neck, looks like he might
be carried away by the tide. Carl roars again and again as he
splashes in, like a childrenrCOs toy with only one button.
They gather on the shore and give each other excited hugs. The last
one off the boat is the nerd. They all watch as she hesitates on the
gunwale. rCLYou can do it, Glasses!rCY shouts Ashley. The girl takes a
tentative step forward, stumbles, and face-plants into the waves. The
group exchanges little looks. Kent can practically hear the clown
music. rCLI hope they let us vote people off,rCY says the bro. Kent
starts to laugh but glances quickly at the cameras. He doesnrCOt want
to be the bully.
When the sopping girl has joined them on the beach, one of the
producers separates from the huddle of production personnel. rCLWelcome >>> to Escape!,rCY he says.
Excerpted from Escape! by Stephen Fishbach, published by Dutton, an
imprint of Penguin Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random
House, LLC. Copyright (c) 2026 by Stephen Fishbach.
Source: https://ew.com/stephen-fishbach-survivor-themed-novel-escape-
exclusive-excerpt-11886681
I guess I'm not sure why anyone would want to read this.-a Given all
the real-life people who have been on and continue to be Survivor and
talk about their experiences, why invest time in reading an
essentially fictional account?-a I realize he is drawing on his
real-life experiences. so this is probably at least partially
autobiographical, but I think I would still prefer reading actual
accounts from actual people.
Maybe the book is based on people he's played against and he's fictionalizing things to protect them and himself. I noticed in the
article that Dalton said Fishbach has won a writing prize. If he's a
good writer some people might just buy the book for the story regardless
of how fictional it is. Isn't Rob's book going to be fictional?
On 1/17/2026 11:59 PM, Brian Smith wrote:
On 1/16/2026 3:12 PM, Rick wrote:
On 1/16/2026 4:52 PM, Brian Smith wrote:
Looks like Fishbach found a big name publisher for his novel and got
Dalton to write an article about it.
_____________________________________________________________________
Read an excerpt from Stephen Fishbach's Survivor-themed novel,
Escape! (exclusive)
What happens when a faded winner and a disgraced producer try to
find redemption on reality TV?
By Dalton Ross
January 16, 2026 11:15 a.m. ET
Sometimes, real life is more dramatic than fiction. But only sometimes. >>>>
Because the things that go down in Stephen FishbachrCOs debut novel
are pretty damn dramatic. Of course, Escape! draws heavily from
FishbachrCOs real-life experience as a reality television contestant
who competed twice on Survivor during the Tocantins and Cambodia
seasons. So art is indeed imitating art.
However, Fishbach rCo who already won the prestigious Pushcart Prize
for a short story that would eventually be folded into Escape! rCo has >>>> only used his time on Survivor as a jumping off point to tell the
absolutely engrossing tale of a rCLfaded reality show winnerrCY and a >>>> disgraced producer, both attempting to find salvation in the only
place they know how to find such things rCo back on reality TV.
The novel, which is available for pre-order now and goes on sale
Jan. 27, is a wild ride that will keep readers glued to the page the
same way they are glued to their screens during their favorite
reality competition shows. And werCOve got an exclusive excerpt you
can read right here and right now.
Want to be kept up with all things Survivor? Dig deep and sign up
for Entertainment Weekly's free Survivor Weekly newsletter to have
all the latest news, interviews, and commentary sent right to your
inbox.
In the excerpt below, we see down-on-his-luck realty champion Kent
making what he hopes will be his triumphant return to television.
But hopes donrCOt always turn into dreams. At least not good ones.
Before you enjoy the excerpt, which shows KentrCOs arrival on his TV
redemption tour, check out the official description for Escape!
Kent Duvall, a faded reality show winner, just wants another chance
at glory rCo to find his way out of his depressing life and back to
his highlight reel. When a scandal is captured on camera at a
charity event, he gets his shot, on a new jungle survival show with
seven other contestants. Each of them has been cast as a type rCo
Ruddy the bully, Miriam the nerd, Ashley the love interest rCo but
everyone is more than they appear.
The contestantsrCO goals seem simple rCo survive the wild, build a raft, >>>> win treasure. But Beck Bermann, a reality producer who suffered her
own public shaming, sees them as characters in her redemption arc.
As the schemes and strategies spiral out, breakout camps sabotage
each other and rival producers struggle to control the storyline.
Soon the question becomes less about who will win than who will make
it out in one piece.
Excerpt from Escape! by Stephen Fishbach
As the bright yellow Zodiac shivers across the choppy waves, KentrCOs >>>> already thinking about how herCOll describe it in his interviews. I
was like an explorer, herCOll say. Adventuring into an uncharted
world. The island beckons to him, a tropical paradise, palm trees
belly dancing at the edge of a white sand beach straight from a
Corona ad. Two cameramen race up and down the shore, their rigs
gripped against their shoulders. Two sound engineers balance their
boom mikes on their heads. A drone swoops through the air. He feels
like herCOs rocketing into a myth, like herCOs writing himself into the >>>> pages of Treasure Island. The spray is in his face. He shakes his
machete into the sky and lets out a giant whoop, which is echoed by
the scream of a red- and-green bird that flashes upward from the
jungle.
There are nine of them clutching the ZodiacrCOs rubber edge, speeding >>>> toward the show. Eight contestants and Erika, a skinny producer with
the look of a furious terrier glaring at them from a handbag. The
boatrCOs driver, a bearded maniac who reeks of body spray, whoops as
he steers into the swells, launching them skyward and crashing back.
AshleyrCOs next to him, dolled up in a red wrap mini thatrCOs
breathtakingly, spectacularly impractical for the outdoors. Across
the boat, a young guy with thin lips and a sweater tied around his
shoulders leans back and splays his legs. He looks like the asshole
boyfriend from every teen movie. The older lady who was muttering to
herself in casting is there. A nerd girl with Coke-bottle lenses
pulls her lab coat close. The sexpot. The villain. The battle-ax.
The nerd. And hererCOs Kent Duvall. The alpha male.
He never thought of himself as an archetype before his first season
on Endure. He was Kent. He worked construction. He went out with the
guys. Dated a bit, but never a ladiesrCO man. He waited until he was
eighteen to lose his virginity because he wanted to find the right
girl. Kind of a screwup at times. HerCOd once been detained by the
police when he and some buddies drunkenly sprayed fire extinguishers
across the thirty-third floor of a Vegas hotel. An average guy, he
figured. Then fifteen years ago, he was walking through the hallways
of the Kimpton Hotel Santa Monica, paired with two other broad-
shouldered rough-handed men as they moved between meetings with
casting associates and network execs. The three of them sat side by
side outside hotel room doors waiting to be interviewed, forbidden
from speaking, clearly competing for the same spot. They werenrCOt the >>>> only group. Three leathery older women stalked through the halls.
There were three nerds, in different varieties of nerdinessrCoa skinny >>>> nerd with glasses, a chubby nerd with a Captain America T-shirt, and
a biker with pierced eyebrows and a tattoo sleeve, who would gaze at
KentrCOs trio with yearning every time they passed in the hallways,
like somehow he got misfiled into the wrong group.
At first Kent hated how quickly herCOd been reduced to a tick on a
demographic survey. Like finding out yourCOre a clone, you start to
wonder which parts of yourself are authentically you and which parts
have been mass-imprinted by the social machinery. The trio would use
the hotel gym at the same time, each guy adding another couple of
plates to the bench press when it was his turn. At some point the
third guy wasnrCOt there. Then Kent was the only one. He was the alpha >>>> male of alpha males. This morning, when Erika gave each contestant a
single survival item, he got the machete.
He leaps off the boat before it even stops moving, holding the blade
aloft like a flag. HerCOs wearing a lavalier mike disguised as a
beaded necklacerCothey all arerCobut the necklaces are supposedly
waterproof, and the transmitters are in small waterproof pouches
clipped to their underwear. Behind him the boat motors to a stop.
The wind stills. The heat presses in, warping the air. The other
contestants climb off the Zodiac and follow him toward shore. Kelly-
Anne sashays up the beach in full-on vamp, like sherCOs on a Sports
Illustrated photo shoot. An older man, aggressively spray-tanned
with a pronounced gut and dyed black hair thatrCOs swept backward
along his neck, looks like he might be carried away by the tide.
Carl roars again and again as he splashes in, like a childrenrCOs toy >>>> with only one button.
They gather on the shore and give each other excited hugs. The last
one off the boat is the nerd. They all watch as she hesitates on the
gunwale. rCLYou can do it, Glasses!rCY shouts Ashley. The girl takes a >>>> tentative step forward, stumbles, and face-plants into the waves.
The group exchanges little looks. Kent can practically hear the
clown music. rCLI hope they let us vote people off,rCY says the bro.
Kent starts to laugh but glances quickly at the cameras. He doesnrCOt >>>> want to be the bully.
When the sopping girl has joined them on the beach, one of the
producers separates from the huddle of production personnel.
rCLWelcome to Escape!,rCY he says.
Excerpted from Escape! by Stephen Fishbach, published by Dutton, an
imprint of Penguin Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random
House, LLC. Copyright (c) 2026 by Stephen Fishbach.
Source: https://ew.com/stephen-fishbach-survivor-themed-novel-
escape- exclusive-excerpt-11886681
I guess I'm not sure why anyone would want to read this.-a Given all
the real-life people who have been on and continue to be Survivor and
talk about their experiences, why invest time in reading an
essentially fictional account?-a I realize he is drawing on his real-
life experiences. so this is probably at least partially
autobiographical, but I think I would still prefer reading actual
accounts from actual people.
Maybe the book is based on people he's played against and he's
fictionalizing things to protect them and himself. I noticed in the
article that Dalton said Fishbach has won a writing prize. If he's a
good writer some people might just buy the book for the story
regardless of how fictional it is. Isn't Rob's book going to be
fictional?
You can judge for yourself if you think Fishbach is a good writer.-a To
my eye, the writing style in the extract is pretty amateurish.
I thought Rob's book was an actual memoir of his experiences in the
game.-a I didn't think it was also fiction.
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