You’re close, but it’s not just a matter of self-selection among auditions, it’s the types of people the producers choose to be on the show. It’s a very conscious decision that comes from industry beliefs about how audiences respond differently to Men and Women.
Think about TV and you’ll notice that most shows that center around “doing something” feature men or are hosted by men. I’m talking about things like Cake Boss, Ink Master, Storage Wars, etc. Female led shows (or shows that skew female in viewership) tend to be more experiential or based on spectacle. You watch things happen to women. Shows like Say Yes to the Dress or the Bachelor(ette) are all about fantasy fulfillment, while (Basketball/Mob/Real House-) Wives shows play towards spectacle.
To put it another way, Male characters are our gateway to entertainment, but Female characters are the entertainment. We don’t have to identify with them; we just have to react to their antics, the bigger the better. This all boils down to a “rule” about making TV: Audiences don’t like to watch women do stuff.
THEREFORE, when casting for shows like Survivor, producers are selecting women based on looks first, drama-potential second, and everything else last.
TL;DR: There’s plenty of granola-crunching, survivalist women auditioning for Survivor, but we’re pretty sure you won’t want to watch them.
It's fairly messed up, but unfortunately these assumptions are borne out by ratings. Whether that’s a function of America’s tastes or the result of self-fulfilling prophesy, I can’t guess.
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