The audition video, according to the people who watch them.

There is no secret to the audition video, and the people who run casting have spent two decades saying so in interviews nobody reads. This is those interviews, read.

Three minutes. Thirty seconds.

Probst says he knows within 30 seconds whether someone’s going on the show. Tannenbaum looked at Kaleb Gebrewold’s tape and thought “this guy’s a star” inside the same 30. Allison Grodner, who runs Big Brother, tells open-call hopefuls that really it’s the first 30 seconds. Cirie Fields, who has played six times: they’re looking at thousands of tapes, so your first line is your shot.

Three shows, one number. Whatever the most interesting thing about you is, it goes first — not after your name, your hometown, your job and a joke about the lighting.

The one instruction everyone gives

Be yourself. Probst has admitted the phrase is perplexing to everyone — applicants keep asking what it means, and he doesn’t have a better one. But listen to how the casting directors elaborate, and it stops being mysterious:

• Tannenbaum: they want to see your facial expressions when you tell a story.
• Spillman: if you say you’re competitive, give examples.
• Kass: show them your personality — don’t just tell them who you are.
• Grodner: whatever’s on the tape should be what your friends and family see in you.
• Malcolm Freberg, who played three times: it isn’t about what you’re saying at all. It’s how you’re saying it.

Put those together and “be yourself” means: tell stories, be specific, and talk the way you talk. The failure isn’t being boring. It’s describing yourself in adjectives — “I’m competitive, I’m loyal, I’m a leader” — instead of telling the one story that shows it.

What the good ones looked like

The model tape, according to Spillman, was Elisabeth Hasselbeck’s for season 2: uncensored, unscripted, off the cuff.

Dean Kowalski filmed himself walking through Chelsea in selfie mode — “hey guys, I’m Dean Kowalski, I’m twenty-eight” — then asked a construction worker and a pizza guy why he’d win. Casting called that day. He came second on season 39.

Nick Fiorito and his brother sent five polished tapes over seven years. The one that got them on The Amazing Race was Nick, on his phone, walking to his car, just saying how badly they wanted it.

Chelsea Walker’s first tape, at 21, was gimmicky. It got over 100,000 YouTube views and no call. Six years and three finals later, her tape had her in tears, unpolished. That one got her on season 39. Her advice now: turn on your camera and just talk. They want storytellers, not something edited and produced.

MC Chukwujekwu went from alternate to season 49 on the strength of her energy and one specific story — being told, as an athlete, that she was too muscular.

Emily Flippen applied angry, the morning after a finale she disagreed with. Callback the same day.

Yam Yam Arocho, who won season 44: be yourself, keep it under 3 minutes, and don’t bullet-point your life. Danny Massa: be genuine, but genuine on level 10. Carolyn Wiger: give raw emotion, and don’t replicate who you think they want.

Notice what none of these have. A costume. A script. A drone shot.

What to talk about

The official video tips for all three shows ask the same questions: how will your life experience help you win, how will you interact with the other people, where are you from, what do you do — and they ask you to cite real examples. They love a story.

Spillman’s open-call version: think of three reasons you’d be good for the show, and give an example for each. Natalie Negrotti from Big Brother 18: talk about the things you’re passionate about, because that’s when your personality shows.

What not to spend the three minutes on: what you’d do with the money (Spillman’s specific complaint), or a strategy monologue. Backstage reports that a common failure is a tape that’s entirely about how you’d play the game and tells casting nothing about who you are.

A shape that works

Nobody official has published a template, so this is the one casting’s own instructions imply. The open-call handout at a 2024 Survivor call asked for: name, age, job, hometown, your life story, why you’re applying, and something surprising — in 60 seconds. The video gives you three minutes to do the same thing with room to breathe.

Your name, age, where you live and what you do, in the first ten seconds. Then the interesting thing. Then one or two stories that show, rather than say, who you are. Then why now. Stop before three minutes. Shorter is fine — Yam Yam says so, and he won.

For The Amazing Race, all of that times two: who you each are, how you know each other, and how you argue.

The coaching question

Kaleb Gebrewold hired a former player as a casting coach before season 45. He got cast anyway, and Tannenbaum’s comment was: don’t hire anybody to help you through the casting process. Probst goes further — if someone needs coaching to apply, they won’t get in. Dan Gheesling, who wrote a book about getting cast, says the tape’s only job is to get you to the next round, and you shouldn’t spend money on it.

Take that seriously. The entire process is designed to find the version of you that someone else didn’t write.

The gambles

Dee Valladares applied in December, posted her tape on Instagram, and had her friends mass-tag the casting director. It worked; she won. Robyn Kass, meanwhile, said for years that the best people get on the show, not the ones who run online campaigns. Different show, different decade, different casting director. The rule is that there is no rule, and a stunt is a coin flip you can’t see the other side of.

Scott Stoll ate a tarantula on camera for a tape in 2021. CBS made him an official Survivor Superfan and used his videos in promos. He has never been cast.

Craft, in one paragraph

Your phone is enough. Horizontal — the video will be watched on a TV. Daylight, or a lamp in front of you, not a window behind you. Somewhere quiet enough to hear you. One sitting, if you can. No filters, no cue cards. Watch it back before you send it — Kass says tapes arrive with no audio. Under 3 minutes and under 50 MB, or the form won’t take it. One video per cycle. The details are in Filming it.