Why is "Survivor" still popular after all these years in the same CBS time slot?

On its front-page, the NYT analyzes this ratings mystery.

“I’m not going to lie and say I wouldn’t love for more people to start watching ‘Survivor,’ but I’m not making it to attract a new viewer,” [show host Jeff] Probst, who is also an executive producer, said in an interview. “I’m making it for the people who have kept us on the air.”

It's "Survivor." It survives.

[Probst] said the low point was Gabon, which was broadcast in 2008. He said he felt burned out and was also a little self-conscious... “My Achilles’ heel for a lot of my life was that nobody saw me as a storyteller, that they saw me as a white guy with dark hair who was just a game show host,” Mr. Probst said. “And that in terms of my own self-image was the thing that could gut me. It was like a kidney punch.”

Him thinking about himself as a white guy who's just a game show host was like a kidney punch?