There are few reality series with the cultural cachet—and longevity—of Survivor. For 26 years, Survivor has been the ultimate social experiment, in which contestants must literally survive the elements while navigating a complex web of strategy, trust, and, inevitably, betrayal among one another. Even if you aren’t tuning into the series year after year, there’s enough awareness around it to inspire animated parodies and movies starring fictional superfans. But every so often, Survivor builds up to a season that will be put under the microscope. Folks, Survivor 50 is upon us.
The first all-returnee season since Winners at War, Survivor 50 is both a celebration of the show’s history—however you shake it, 50 seasons of television is an incredible feat—and, for some members of the fandom, an unfortunate reminder that this one-of-a-kind competition has seen better days. But whether you’re a Survivor completist or a casual fan dipping back into the series, Survivor 50 raises enough questions—about its premise, its contestants, and the state of the franchise itself—to require a little unpacking before any torches get snuffed. This is the Survivor 50 FAQ.
Does Survivor 50 have a theme?
Yes. The full title of the season is Survivor 50: In the Hands of the Fans. The framing isn’t just about celebrating the fandom for helping Survivor stay on the airwaves for over two decades, but also about giving them a say in how the game is played. During the airing of Survivor 48, fans could vote on certain game mechanics and production choices for Survivor 50, such as whether there should be idols, tribe switches, a final four fire-making challenge, or a live reunion revealing the winner in Los Angeles. (The new-era seasons, which started with Survivor 41, have announced the winner and conducted the aftershow from Fiji.) While Jeff Probst confirmed that the live reunion will return, the results of the rest of the fan votes won’t be revealed until the season airs.
Our first trailer for Survivor 50 also gave us a glimpse of what else viewers can expect, and it appears that our intrepid host will be competing in a challenge:
There’s also talk of something called a “Billie Eilish Boomerang Idol” (??), Jimmy Fallon affecting a player’s fate in the game (???), and an on-island appearance by YouTuber MrBeast, who brings a briefcase—
Wait, MrBeast is coming on the show?
… yeah. MrBeast has also entered the reality competition series space with Prime Video’s Beast Games, which seems like in-universe programming from an episode of Black Mirror. It’s worth noting, however, that Probst showed up in a special Survivor-themed episode of Beast Games’ second season, so that could explain the crossover.
… you watched Beast Games?
God, no, but I have watched the clip of Probst throwing shade at MrBeast’s hosting skills more times than I can count.
In any case, he’s going to be on Survivor—as will the aforementioned celebs and Zac Brown of Zac Brown Band, who’s briefly seen in the trailer with a large fish slung over his shoulder.
Does that mean Survivor fans got a say in whether celebrities would influence the game, and they willingly voted for MrBeast?!
Not exactly. The celebrity cameos were a surprise—and a controversial one at that, even drawing backlash from former player Kelley Wentworth. Probst, for his part, defended the decision by insisting that he was featuring only celebs who are genuine Survivor fans. “We thought sprinkling a few of them in with their own unique twists felt like a fun way to make the game even more unpredictable,” Probst explained in an interview with Variety. “It definitely caught the players off guard in some really exciting ways. … A lot of the players said, ‘I’ve always dreamed of being in a MrBeast video.’”
Did he name any of the players who dreamed of being in a MrBeast video?
No.
Is he lying?
Probably.
So Survivor 50 isn’t really in the hands of the fans™?
Well, yes and no. I’m glad that the fans had a say in some aspects of Survivor 50, even if some of us aren’t going to agree with all the choices voted on by the majority. But the celebrity cameos are symptomatic of Probst not always being in sync with what fans actually want from Survivor. Many of my favorite Survivor seasons kept the twists to a minimum and allowed the players’ clever gameplay to be the main attraction. One would hope that Survivor 50 doesn’t get in its own way, but the new era has, thus far, been heavy on production-related tinkering.
Speaking of which, what’s the general vibe around Survivor’s new era?
At best, it’s a mixed bag. After Winners at War and a pandemic-induced production delay, Survivor kicked off its 41st season with some changes to the game: Contestants play for 26 days instead of 39, are broken up into smaller tribes, are offered more advantages, and film in Fiji. The idea was that the increased “pace” would up the game’s ante, or, as Probst described it in an interview with Entertainment Weekly, that there is “no twist too big, too scary, too controversial.”
Has that actually borne fruit? At the end of the day, the most important element of a compelling Survivor season is the casting. While the villains have been lacking, the new era has given us some good contestants—namely, the cast of Survivor 44. The gameplay, however, hasn’t been revolutionary; instead, it’s grown a bit stale. For starters, spending 26 days in the wilderness means that contestants are so focused on speedrunning through the game that there’s little room for tribal interplay. Yes, cunning strategy makes for good television, but so is learning how a tribe handles the actual survival elements.
The other problem is the setting. Yes, Fijian islands are an ideal Survivor backdrop, but one of the show’s greatest virtues was how transportive it could be; the locations were characters unto themselves. (One of my favorite seasons, Survivor: China, incorporated unique themed challenges and food rewards that doubled as once-in-a-lifetime cultural experiences.) I actually think that the new era is on to something good—especially with the longer running times and impressive production values—but Probst, who says he never wants to leave Fiji, has lost sight of the fact that Survivor should live at the intersection of clever gameplay and cultural immersion. One area where Survivor will never overstay its welcome, however, is bringing back familiar faces.
OK, so who are the returning players in Survivor 50?
In all, Survivor 50 is bringing back 24 contestants, the most we’ve ever had in a single season. The cast is divided evenly between old-school and new-era players. Some notable names from the old-school era: Colby Donaldson (The Australian Outback, All-Stars, Heroes vs. Villains), Cirie Fields (Panama, Micronesia, Heroes vs. Villains, Game Changers), Ozzy Lusth (Cook Islands, Micronesia, South Pacific, Game Changers), Benjamin “Coach” Wade (Tocantins, Heroes vs. Villains, South Pacific), Angelina Keeley (David vs. Goliath), and Mike White (David vs. Goliath).
And from the new era, we have the likes of Jonathan Young (Survivor 42), Dee Valladares (Survivor 45), Quintavius “Q” Burdette (Survivor 46), Kamilla Karthigesu (Survivor 48), Kyle Fraser (Survivor 48), and Savannah Louie (Survivor 49).
The casting feels … random. Were there any controversial omissions?
Quite random! There are 50 seasons of Survivor, so it’s kind of confounding to have three players from the same season—three times! (I have no complaints about the David vs. Goliath trio, as they’re all iconic. May Angelina Keeley beg for another tribe mate’s jacket.) Of the old-school players, I would’ve liked to see a chaos agent like Abi-Maria Gomes (Philippines, Cambodia) or Amanda Kimmel (China, Micronesia, Heroes vs. Villains), the latter of whom reportedly pulled out because of scheduling issues. Other last-minute omissions that might ruffle feathers were Jerri Manthey (The Australian Outback, All-Stars, Heroes vs. Villains) and Jonathan Penner (Cook Islands, Micronesia, Philippines).
On the new-era side, it’s downright sacrilegious that Carolyn Wiger (Survivor 44) didn’t make the cut, especially amid reports that it was because she competed on The Traitors. As for why Cirie could appear on The Traitors and stay in Survivor’s good graces? Probst says that it’s because she’s “Hall of Fame” (?), which is true, but how can someone like Carolyn elevate to HOF status if she’s being punished for growing her reality TV profile? Elsewhere, it’s a shame that a cunning strategist like Omar Zaheer (Survivor 42) or human golden retriever Andy Rueda (Survivor 47) isn’t competing. (Probst believes that Survivor 48 is an “all-time great” season, and yeah, well, you know, that's just like, uh, your opinion, man.)
Perhaps the Survivor 50 cast announcement was always going to come under scrutiny from fans—there’s decades’ worth of seasons to comb through, after all. But now that the dust has settled, the real intrigue is what this particular group of players can do with another shot.
Do we know how the tribes will be split up?
The Cila Tribe: Joe Hunter, Savannah, Christian Hubicki , Cirie, Ozzy, Emily Flippen, Rick Devens, and Jenna Lewis-Dougherty.
The Kalo Tribe: Jonathan, Dee, Mike, Kamilla, Charlie Davis, Tiffany Nicole Ervin, Coach, and Chrissy Hofbeck.
The Vatu Tribe: Colby, Genevieve Mushaluk, Rizo “RizGod” Velovic, Angelina, Q, Stephenie LaGrossa Kendrick, Kyle, and Aubry Bracco.
The photo shoot is wholesome.
Any interesting dynamics to look out for?
I can’t even begin to imagine what a conversation between Savannah and Christian will be like. If any tribe is liable to implode early, I’m putting my money on Vatu, especially when you factor in that Q voted Moriah Gaynor off in Survivor 46 because she reminded him of Aubry. And now … they’re on the same tribe.
So after all that, who’s actually in the best position to win this season?
Bear in mind that I could be totally wrong, but some players appear to have a much harder path to becoming sole survivor than others. Given that Dee and Kyle are the only two winners the contestants know about—Savannah won Survivor 49, but the season hadn’t aired by the time they filmed, so Rizo would have to spill the beans on her for anyone else to find out—they will have a huge target on their backs. Ditto for legends like Cirie, one of the greatest players to never win the game. Extra attention might also be paid to anyone who worked together in previous seasons, as Mike and Angelina did in David vs. Goliath. (This is another reason it seems like Kyle is DOA: The strength of his game was a stealthy alliance with Kamilla, who will surely want to distance herself from him.)
So where does that leave us? If Survivor 50 follows the script of Winners at War—in which the older generation of players was picked off by the newer one—then I could see a new-era winner. My pick would be Genevieve, a savvy strategist—one of the architects behind Survivor 47’s infamous Operation: Italy blindside—who could slip under the radar amid so many big names. By the same token, Tiffany has a very low profile and could be an unexpected winner, not unlike Sarah Lacina in Game Changers. Conversely, if someone with Tony Vlachos’s reputation could still come out on top in Winners at War, then perhaps Christian’s infectious charisma will prove to be more of a blessing than a curse.
The fate of this season’s chaos agents could go either way—Q screams first boot but he could also go on a run. (If a Q-Coach alliance forms at some point, I will ascend into a higher plane of existence.) For entertainment value alone, I need Angelina to stay in the game as long as possible.
What are the odds that Survivor 50 lives up to the hype—and where will the show go from here?
Put me down as cautiously optimistic that Survivor 50 will meet the moment. Survivor has a strong track record with all-returnee seasons; Heroes vs. Villains, Cambodia, and Winners at War are all-timers. Provided that celebrity cameos like the [sigh] Billie Eilish Boomerang Idol don’t overshadow the gameplay, Survivor 50 should be able to lean on the strength of its returning players to put on a show.
Survivor’s future is a different story. I doubt that I’ll ever quit watching, but I do fear that Survivor will struggle if the new era doesn’t find new ways to shake up the formula. (Is anyone else sick of seeing the players roll up to the same beaches season after season?) Like I said before, even though Survivor has planted a flag in Fiji, it would behoove the show to give us new locations—hell, just bring us back to some of the old stomping grounds we’ve visited only once. It seems unlikely, though, that Survivor will go back to globe-trotting, given the cost savings and government incentives involved with staying in Fiji.
There are other matters that Survivor can take into its own hands. While it might be difficult to find new themes for future seasons, the show could use a revamp in how it casts players. Nowadays, it seems like too many contestants are cut from the same cloth—hailing from corporate America and approaching the game as if they all studied from the same playbook. “More and more as I watch the show, I feel like everybody’s become a little bit homogenous, because sure, everybody has their own personality, but they’re all playing Survivor almost in a very similar way,” South Pacific’s Sophie Clarke told Entertainment Weekly—and that was before the new era kicked off, which has only exacerbated the issue.
Ideally, Survivor could cast a wider net in terms of who plays and, more crucially, find some willing villains. Whether it’s a casting issue or the fact that contestants are wary about social media backlash, Survivor has lacked memorable heels in the new era—if it’s the former, the show should understand that we don’t need reality stars to reflect our values as long as they’re responsible for good television. Basically, don’t be afraid to cast another Russell Hantz or Jonny Fairplay.
Either way, Survivor isn’t going anywhere, and even if it’s no longer at its peak, there’s nothing else quite like it. Long may the show continue.
Let’s fast-forward another 25 years. Will we get to Survivor 100?
Assuming that humanity hasn’t been eradicated by extreme climate change, nuclear holocaust, or artificial intelligence, I have no doubt that, in 2051, a group of contestants will be standing on the beaches of Fiji, preparing for a grueling challenge as MrBeast says those immortal words: Wanna know what you’re playing for?
