The 50th season of Survivor promises to be the best yet, thanks in part to the stellar cast of returning players from years past.
Jeff Probst revealed the cast for season 50 during an appearance on CBS Mornings on Wednesday, May 28. After revealing the star-studded lineup, Probst hinted that two players from the upcoming season 49 will return for season 50 — but will remain a mystery for the time being.
The cast includes White Lotus creator Mike White, who previously competed on season 37, and Survivor legend Cirie Fields. Season 1’s Jenna, season 2’s Colby, season 10’s Stephenie, season 13’s Ozzy, season 18’s Coach, season 32’s Aubry, season 35’s Chrissy, season 37’s Christian and Angelina, season 38’s Rick, season 42’s Jonathan, season 45’s Dee and Emily, season 46’s Q, Tiffany and Charlie, season 47’s Genevieve and season 48’s Kamilla, Kyle and Joe.
Earlier this month, the official Survivor Instagram account hinted that the cast announcement was coming soon. The clues began on May 19 when a post about season 48 contestant Shauhin Davari ended with a slide featuring the Survivor 50 logo, which includes the phrase, “In the hands of the fans.”
Later that day, the fun continued with a clip of season 48’s Kamilla Karthigesu flashing the word “cast” as it concluded. In a follow-up post, the last slide read, “Wednesday,” leading some fans to believe that the announcement would take place during the season 48 finale on May 21.
However, the Survivor Instagram account clarified in a May 20 post that the reveal would occur on May 28.
In a series of Instagram Story posts that same day, the account joked that a “Survivor intern” chose May 28 as the announcement date rather than May 21, adding, “Sorry for the blindside ???? .”
Season 50 is scheduled to film in Fiji in early June and will feature the first cast of returning players since season 40, which aired from February to May in 2020. The “Winners at War” season saw two tribes of 10 winners from past Survivor seasons competing for the $2 million prize. Fan favorites such as Rob and Amber Mariano, Parvati Shallow, Sandra Diaz-Twine and Ethan Zohn returned for season 40, with Tony Vlachos ultimately winning.
Although season 49 of Survivor has yet to air, fans were able to vote on certain game elements of season 50 during season 48. The milestone season has been appropriately dubbed “in the hands of the fans.”
In February, Probst — who has hosted Survivor since its May 2000 series premiere — opened up about honoring the show’s fans by letting them make decisions for the 50th season.
“I wanted it to be a thank you to the fans because that’s the whole reason we’ve been on so long is their loyalty of sticking with us,” Probst, 63, told Entertainment Weekly at the time. “Even if they don’t love every idea, they don’t quit on us. The fans will have a chance to either in one way go back to our roots, but in another way move us into the future. And I’m really curious where that is going to go because we’re going to give you some choices to make.”
