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Seven years ago, when a randomly accosted man told Billy Eichner that he still watched Survivor, Eichner cocked his head in confusion: “Still?” he asked. Yes, still! For both superfans and casuals, Survivor, far removed from the days when it was the No. 1 show in America, remains a fascination. It began with a simple premise: 16 players on an island vote one another out until a single player remains. Now, after 46 seasons, the game is virtually unrecognizable with countless twists added to the format, but the passion remains. Entire cottage industries have sprung up around the show, chronicling strategic plays, and during the pandemic it scored a revival among young viewers owing to its endless watchability. With this much lore, even the most dedicated fans (and likely host Jeff Probst) can find it difficult to keep track of what exactly happened and when. Below, a timeline of all of Survivor, divided by eras.
Seasons 1–8
The Golden Age
Spring 2000–Spring 2004
Survivor debuts, not as a sure thing but as experimental reality-TV, in late spring 2000. By the end of the summer, it takes over the nation. The first eight seasons are the series at its most world-conquering, catering to everybody and their not-dead grandma. Throughout this time, players are constantly building upon each other’s work season to season, slowly developing Survivor into a game of complex strategy. In the inaugural season, Richard Hatch beginning the first alliance is controversial, and audiences prefer the quippy Colleen Haskell or stubborn Rudy Boesch; by season two, even fan faves Colby Donaldson and Tina Wesson know it’s necessary. Production, meanwhile, tests out twists (season three, Africa, introduces the idea of a “tribe swap”) and reifies its casting archetypes, from the “mom” to the “strategic gay guy.” By season seven, the game is at a strategic high point with Sandra Diaz-Twine and Johnny Fairplay both innately understanding the fluid nature of Survivor gameplay (unlike beloved Rupert’s staidness). Season eight caps off the first era with vitriol: The show’s first All-Stars season brings back a variety of characters, both beloved and forgotten, and the audience watches in horror as the forgotten triumph.
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MVPs
(Winners in bold.)
Richard Hatch (S1, S8), Sue Hawk (S1, S8), Rudy Boesch (S1, S8), Tina Wesson (S2, S8), Jerri Manthey (S2, S8), Amber Brkich (S2, S8), Colby Donaldson (S2, S8), Ethan Zohn (S3, S8), Lex van den Berghe (S3, S8), Vecepia Towery (S4), “Boston Rob” Mariano (S4, S8), Rob Cesternino (S6, S8), Kathy Vavrick-O’Brien (S4, S8), Sean Rector (S4), Rupert Boneham (S7, S8), Jonny Fairplay (S7), Sandra Diaz-Twine (S7)
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Defining Moments
Season 1: Sue Hawk, the first-ever bitter juror (eliminees brought back at councils), delivers an angry speech, known as “Rat and Snake,” to her ex-friend Kelly Wiglesworth, who must sit and listen as Hawk tells her, “If I were to ever pass you along in life again and you were laying there dying of thirst, I would not give you a drink of water. I would let the vultures take you and do whatever they want with you with no ill regrets.” A series-high 51.7 million people watch.
Season 2: Mike Skupin falls in the fire and has to be medically evacuated, upping the stakes forever.
Season 2: If Richard Hatch was the first anti-hero, Jerri Manthey becomes the show’s first true villain. At the All-Stars reunion, when she tries to speak, she gets booed.
Season 3: The producers initiate the first ever tribe-swap pre-merge, dooming Silas Gaithe to be sent home and shaking up the game for the first time.
Season 4: Sean Rector works with Kathy Vavrick-O’Brien to convince Paschal English, Neleh Dennis, and Vecepia Towery to turn on their alliance and vote out the people who would be voting them out down the line, marking the first ever flip.
Season 6: Rob Cesternino changes the game by flip-flopping between alliances, becoming the first contestant to ever “play the middle” effectively.
Season 7: Johnny Fairplay convinces a friend to come on the show during the visits from home and tell him that his grandmother died. Fairplay’s grandma is alive; he simply told his friend to lie for him to curry favor. Fairplay uses her fake death to win the challenge and later swears on her grave that he will be honest.
Season 8: Boston Rob promises to take care of Lex van den Berghe if he saves Amber Brkich (Rob’s future wife), then betrays him.
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Don’t Skip: Season 7 (Survivor: Pearl Islands)
Seasons 9–14
The Identity Crisis
Fall 2004–Spring 2007
The series pivots from being part of the national conversation to being for fans. Season nine, Survivor: Vanuatu, repeats Survivor: Amazon’s gender-split theme, while ten, Survivor: Palau, gains its narrative by allowing one tribe to dominate another in the pre-merge so intensely that Stephenie LaGrossa is left as the sole member of Ulong. Survivor: Guatemala, the mostly forgotten 11th season, debuts the show’s most iconic twist: the hidden immunity idol, an advantage that blocks other players’ votes. (It takes producers until season 14, Survivor: Fiji, to figure out that immunity idols need to be asked for before the votes are read.) The show is still popular, but it’s no longer the center of water-cooler talk—that honor goes to American Idol; during season 12, the show leaves the year-end top ten on Nielsen for the first time in its run. Most of this era is a mixed bag — Survivor: Cook Islands, season 13, introduces five future returnees but is also divided by race.
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MVPs
Chris Daugherty (S9), Eliza Orlins (S9), Ami Cusack (S9), Tom Westman (S10), Stephenie LaGrossa (S10, S11), Shane Powers (S12), Cirie Fields (S12), Yul Kwon (S13), Ozzy Lusth (S13), Candice Woodcock (S13), Yau-Man Chan (S14), Dreamz Herd (S14)
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Defining Moments
Season 9: Chris Daugherty sets the gold standard for a final-tribal-council performance by a potential winner. He flatters, cajoles, and charms the women he’s sent home (including Eliza Orlins) until he arrives at the win by lying straight through his teeth.
Season 10: After her entire initial tribe gets sent home, Stephenie LaGrossa makes fire by herself on Ulong Beach — the first tribe of one..
Season 12: Cirie Fields pulls off one of the most strategic moves in the show’s early history: the 3-2-1 vote. With six players left, she pits them against one another and misdirects votes, sending Courtney Marit home with only three votes.
Season 13: The season begins by dividing the tribes by race. But, in a mid-game twist, the players are given a chance to “mutiny” and switch tribes. Two white contestants, Candice Woodcock and Jonathan Penner, both leave their otherwise POC-filled tribe to join one that included more white players. Ultimately, those left behind (the “Aitu Four”) go on to win the game.
Season 14: Yau-Man Chan gives Dreamz Herd the truck he’s just won in exchange for immunity later in the game. Dreamz agrees but goes back on his word.
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Don’t Skip: Season 13 (Survivor: Cook Islands) & 12 (Survivor: Panama: Exile Island)
Seasons 15–20
The Renaissance
Fall 2007–Spring 2010
Perhaps the most-discussed era, this is the show’s greatest run. For these five seasons (including season 17, Survivor: Gabon, one of the weirdest*), there is something for everyone: Memorable characters like Amanda Kimmel, James Clement, Courtney Yates, J.T. Thomas, and Russell Hantz all debut and return; the player strategies are both savvy and hard-core but not yet too meta; there are enough twists to keep everybody on their toes, but they never overwhelm the game. Season 16 brings together the iconic Black Widow Brigade, where returnees Parvati Shallow, Cirie, and Amanda join forces with newcomers Natalie Bolton and Alexis Jones to become Survivor’s most dastardly grouping. The great casting culminates in the show’s second fully returnee iteration, Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains, with players brought back from all previous eras for what is still considered the franchise’s best season.
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MVPs
James Clement (S15, S16, S20), Courtney Yates (S15, S20), Amanda Kimmel (S15, S16, S20), Todd Herzog (S15), Cirie Fields (S16, S20), Parvati Shallow (S16, S20), Erik Reichenbach (S16), Natalie Bolton (S16), Sugar Kiper (S17, S20), J.T. Thomas (S18, S20), Benjamin “Coach” Wade (S18, S20), Tyson Apostol (S18, S20), Russell Hantz (S19, S20), Sandra Diaz-Twine (S20)
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Defining Moments
Season 15: James Clement is the biggest, strongest guy in the game and has two hidden immunity idols. His tribe mates blindside him and send him home with both idols in his pocket.
Season 15: Todd Herzog puts on a masterful final tribal performance where he admits to all of his sneaky gameplay.
Season 16: Ozzy Lusth makes a fake idol by carving a smiley face on a stick and hiding it where the real immunity idol was hidden. Jason Siska later finds it and offers it to Eliza Orlins. When he gives it to her, she says “It’s a fucking stick” (an iconic line) and plays the idol at tribal, which gets a big laugh out of everyone. This ends up being Ozzy’s downfall.
Season 16: The Black Widow Brigade alliance of Cirie, Parvati, Amanda, Alexis, and Natalie blindsides Ozzy and persuades Erik Reichenbach to give up his immunity necklace, then votes him out. They run the game so well they make future players afraid of “women’s alliances.”
Season 17: During one tribal council, pretty much everyone gives a memorable speech: Sugar Kiper calls Randy Bailey a loser with the finger L; Randy notes, “This vote is not strategic. It is strictly personal”; and Crystal Cox speaks so loudly the entire group can hear her say, “Forget you, go home, good-bye!”
Season 18: Coach goes to Exile Island, says he has a spiritual experience, comes back recharged, and promptly loses the immunity challenge while screaming.
Seasons 19 and 20: Russell Hantz finds a bunch of idols and uses them perfectly; he plays a super-aggressive social game and threatens rivals and alliance members; he basically goes goblin mode. No one ever does it like him again.
Season 20: Parvati, too, plays a near-perfect game by teaming up with Russell and also managing to keep close alliances among the Villains. She convinces Russell to give her his idol while also keeping it secret that she has her own idol. Her former friend–alliance member from season 16, Amanda Kimmel, tries to set a trap for her, but Parvati sniffs it out and plays two idols, swinging the game in favor of the Villains.
Season 20: Near the end, Russell’s grip on the game starts to loosen and he spirals. During one of his rants, Russell tells Sandra Diaz-Twine, “You’re with me or against me.” Sandra says, “I’m against you, Russell.” She later throws his hat in the fire and beats both Russell and Parvati at Final Tribal Council, becoming the show’s first two-time winner.
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Don’t Skip: Season 16 (Survivor: Micronesia) & 20 (Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains)
*In the middle of this string of perfect seasons comes 17’s Gabon, an absolute clusterfuck and one of the most singular entries in the Survivor canon. None of the contestants that should do well ultimately do; instead the misfits dominate. It’s the funniest season the show has made yet.
Seasons 21–26
The Dark Ages
Fall 2010–Spring 2013
Immediately following its best era, Survivor struggles to create an entertaining show. They try bringing back Boston Rob, Russell, Ozzy, and Coach, but the magic is gone — and all of these men except Coach (who somehow begins a Christian cult) have diminishing returns as characters. During these seasons, typically one tribe wins out and dog-walks the other to the finish. The twists don’t pan out, the casting is subpar, and it’s oddly uncompetitive (Boston Rob and Kim Spradlin dominated their seasons), making for Survivor’s most boring era.
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MVPs
NaOnka Mixon (S21), Phillip Sheppard (S22, S26), Boston Rob (S22), Sophie Clarke (S23), Coach Wade (S23), John Cochran (S23, S26), Ozzy Lusth (S23), Brandon Hantz (S23, S26), Kim Spradlin (S24), Malcolm Freberg (S25, S26), Denise Stapley (S25)
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Defining Moments
Season 21: NaOnka Mixon and “Purple Kelly” Shinn both quit in one episode; Survivor edits the latter so poorly that the “Purple Edit” becomes online shorthand.
Season 22: Boston Rob finally wins, but even that jury hates him.
Season 23: Sophie Clarke beats out Coach and Ozzy at the end, calling Coach “a little girl” and refusing to participate in his Christian cult.
Season 24: Kim Spradlin wins, finishing off the most dominant game ever by always deciding where the vote is going, being just about everybody’s No. 1 ally, and out-maneuvering every other contestant with ease.
Season 25: Denise Stapley and Malcolm Freberg reunite after losing their entire tribe pre-merge and go on a winning streak together through the final four, ingratiating themselves into all groups and dominating the season.
Season 26: During final tribal council, a spurned Brenda Lowe forces Dawn Meehan to take out her false teeth on national television, then still refuses to vote for her to win the game.
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Don’t Skip: Season 25 (Survivor: Philippines)
Seasons 27–32
The Re-Renaissance
Fall 2013–Spring 2016
Producers start leaning into new and more intensely themed tribe separations to distinguish the seasons. They introduce “Blood vs. Water” seasons, where people who know each other in the outside world compete against each other, and continue the trend of lots of seasons with returnees. On the player side, the juries start a push toward wanting to see “big moves” with a focus on identifiable “résumés” — meaning moves that are identified with one single player that they can flaunt at final tribal council — and respecting the people who bested them. Players also decide to now vote in smaller “voting blocs.” It is not the first time this happens (season seven features the same thing), but it is the first time it is named and becomes the standard. Casting, meanwhile, refocuses on typical archetypes (see golden boy supreme Joe Anglim), while expanding on the nerds in a post-Cochran game. By season 31, a returnee season known as Survivor: Second Chances, contestants acknowledge that their moves are not made to further their place in the game but to “play Survivor.”
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MVPs
Ciera Eastin (S27, S31), Tyson Apostol (S27), Spencer Bledsoe (S28, S31), Kass McQuillen (S28, S31), Tony Vlachos (S28), Kelley Wentworth (S29, S31), Jeremy Collins (S29, S31), Keith Nale (S29, S31), Natalie Anderson (S29), Shirin Oskooi (S30, S31), Joe Anglim (S30, S31), Tai Trang (S32), Aubry Bracco (S32)
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Defining Moments
Season 27: Hayden Moss makes Ciera Eastin realize that she is on the bottom of Tyson Apostol’s alliance and has no chance of winning, so she changes her vote during the final six, leading to a tie and rock draw (Survivor’s chance-based punishment elimination that only occurs if the players aren’t able agree on an eliminee). Tyson risks his game and draws rocks instead of changing his vote; Katie Collins goes home, and he retains the numbers. It is the first rock draw since season four and shows a new willingness, by Ciera, to give up your immediate game if it means success in the long term.
Season 28: J’Tia Taylor is told by her tribe, including Kass McQuillen, Spencer Bledsoe, and Tasha Fox, that they’re going to vote her out after she performs poorly in every challenge. She then pours the tribe’s rice into the fire while everybody’s discussing voting her out.
Season 28: Tony Vlachos plays the game at a million mph and somehow wins.
Season 29: Natalie Anderson walks up to Jeff Probst to reveal she has a hidden idol and asks another player, Jaclyn Schultz, “Did you vote for who I told you to vote for?” After Jaclyn says “yes,” Natalie saves her from going home. Meanwhile, Baylor Wilson, who helped Natalie find her idol, goes home after only Jaclyn and Natalie vote for her. This cements Natalie’s win.
Season 30: Shirin Oskooi and Will Sims II get into one of the show’s nastiest fights. It results in Will telling Shirin, who suffered from parental abuse in her childhood, “Nobody even likes you. I can guarantee there’s nobody at home in the United States right now who misses you. We all have loved ones at home who love and care about us and you’ve got nothing. You have nothing. You have no family, you have nothing.”
Season 31: Kelley Wentworth, an idol queen, finds two of them and plays them perfectly, idoling out Andrew Savage when she was at the bottom of the vote and saving herself at the final six — even if she can’t quite beat out Jeremy Collins at the end.
Season 32: Aubry Bracco convinces Tai Trang that Scot Pollard and Kyle Jason don’t have his best interest at heart. Tai (through a complicated series of maneuvers involving idol twists) turns on his macho allies in order to join the alliance of girlies, reminding everybody that Survivor is not a game of pure chess — it’s a game of emotions.
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Don’t Skip: Season 28 (Survivor: Cagayan — Brawn vs. Brains vs. Beauty)
Seasons 33–40
The Worst Themes
Fall 2016–Spring 2020
These seasons’ themes get more and more ridiculous (Survivor: Heroes vs. Healers vs. Hustlers) until they’re ultimately garbled messes. The producers introduce twists that cause wider shock waves within the game, but players learn to anticipate them emotionally, even as the game trends more and more toward luck over strategy. Attempting to value some version of control, the players continue to push hard to make big and flashy moves, often just for the sake of making moves or even to their own detriment. The great celebrity player, Mike White, is on during this time and plays a delightful losing game (he’ll later feature his fellow contestants on The White Lotus). For the viewers, this era is alternately thrilling (Survivor: David vs. Goliath) and maddening (Survivor: Game Changers). Continually throughout it, Survivor attempts to grapple with social change and botches it: In season 33, Survivor: Millennials vs. Gen X, it casts an all-time high (to that point) number of women of color, but every one of them gets voted out pre-merge — note how there’s only one female winner (Sarah Lacina) and only one non-white winner (Wendell Holland) in this eight-season span; in season 34, one contestant, Jeff Varner, outs another contestant, Zeke Smith, as trans during tribal council; during season 39, there’s a Me Too scandal that gets turned into a strategy play.
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MVPs
Zeke Smith (S33, S34), David Wright (S33, S38), Sarah Lacina (S34, S40), Ben Driebergen (S35, S40), Chrissy Hoffbeck (S35), Tony Vlachos (S34, S40), Domenick Abbate (S36), Wendell Holland (S36, S40), Mike White (S37), Angelina Keeley (S37), Rick Devens (S38), Kellee Kim (S39)
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Defining Moments
Season 33: Zeke Smith and David Wright’s makeshift alliances battle each other at the final ten. Despite their shaky foundation, the players are so dedicated to their games that they go to a rock draw, ultimately sending the unwitting Jess Lewis home.
Season 34: At the final six, multiple people play idols, and, ultimately, despite having no votes cast against her, Cirie Fields goes home because everybody else is immune. This caps off a Survivor career in which Cirie was never sent home under normal circumstances. The show tries to bill it as a “great moment,” but fans are outraged, arguing producers have broken the game.
Season 35: The show again overtwists itself. After Ben Driebergen protects himself at three consecutive tribals with immunity idols, Chrissy Hoffbeck, Devon Pinto, and Ryan Ulrich expect to be able to send him home at final four, where idols can no longer be played. Instead, Survivor springs its all-time worst twist: At final four, the immunity-challenge winner chooses one person to join them in the final three, while the other two battle it out in firemaking. Ben, who has survived the last three tribals with no alliance and idol plays, wins firemaking owing to this twist and goes on to win the game.
Season 36: Allies Dom Abbate and Wendell Holland make it to the final three together and, for the first and only time, receive the same number of jury votes. Laurel Johnson, the third member of the final three, must choose a winner alone.
Season 37: After sending fellow contestant Natalie Cole home during the pre-merge, Angelina Keeley asks her over and over as she leaves if Natalie will give her her jacket. Natalie ignores Angelina.
Season 38: Chris Underwood returns at final six after being voted out third, having been coached on how to win the season by his fellow eliminees. At final four, he gives up his immunity necklace to compete in fire making against the biggest threat, Rick Devens, and wins.
Season 39: Kellee Kim links up with other women to vote out Dan Spilo, whom she finds creepy and inappropriately touchy. The women agree with her that he is being inappropriate, , but decide that Kellee will not expect it if they blindside her. They vote out Kellee instead of Dan. He is later removed from the island for allegedly inappropriately touching a crew member, which he denied. The whole thing is considered an all-time low point for Survivor.
Season 40: Tony Vlachos becomes the second two-time winner.
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Don’t Skip: Season 37 (Survivor: David vs. Goliath)
Seasons 41–43
The New Era 1.0
Fall 2021–Fall 2022
During COVID, as the series is enjoying a streaming bump and exposure to a younger generation, producers do a hard reset in line with CBS’s new diversity initiative. Casting director Lynne Spillman is fired in 2019, and when the show returns in fall 2021, they introduce us to the “New Era.” What’s new? Well, CBS begins its new diversity initiative, requiring 50 percent of the cast to be POC/queer. This era’s winners are two women of color plus one idiot white guy. The show also shifts to 26-day seasons, down from 39, speeding up the pace of the game (perhaps for the worse). And producers throw twists at the wall — some stick (like idols requiring steps to get), while some are abandoned owing to fan criticism (like an hourglass that makes it so the winners of an immunity challenge don’t actually win). During this time, there’s a new focus on Survivor as a life-changing experience, and fan meta-narratives arise. It plays like a closing of ranks among viewers and contestants: You’re either in as a superfan or you’re out.
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MVPs
Shan Smith (S41), Ricard Foyé (S41), Maryanne Oketch (S42), Jonathan Young (S42), Omar Zaheer (S42), Mike Gabler (S43), Jesse Lopez (S43)
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Defining Moments
Season 41: Jeff Probst asks the contestants if “Come on in, guys” needs to change to be more inclusive; nobody says anything. The next day, Ricard Foyé tells Probst he thinks it should be altered and promptly receives widespread hate online.
Season 42: Maryanne, an ebullient well of positivity (which many on the island consider annoying) and the season’s most outlandish character, cuts her best ally Omar Zaheer at final six and goes on to win the game, becoming the first Black woman to win since season four.
Season 43: At final six, there are three threats left in the game (Jesse Lopez, Karla Cruz Godoy, and Cody Assenmacher), and they all go out one after another, leaving a final three of “goats.” Ultimately, Mike Gabler wins, marking the second season in a row where the strangest person in the entire cast wins the game.
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Don’t Skip: Season 42
Seasons 44-46
The New Era 2.0
Spring 2023–Present
Survivor now settles into the New Era — the twists are no longer really twists, just once again expected parts of the game. The players know they’ll have to “earn the merge” and that advantages will be doled out via “journeys.” They talk near constantly about the need to make “big moves” and have “Survivor -résumés,” but all of the winners are instead social players without huge plays to their names. The New Era itself stands in a strange place: All three of these seasons are well received by fans, yet nobody seems to like the New Era on principle — including players from previous seasons, who don’t appear to take the New Era players seriously. The fans want 39-day games back and for the show to let go of its sillier twists (some even want to get rid of Jeff Probst). Still, the seasons mostly works thanks to strong casting — season 47 star Jon Lovett has big shoes to fill.
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MVPs
Yam Yam Arocho (S44), Carson Garrett (S44), Carolyn Wiger (S44), Emily Flippen (S45), Dee Valladares (S45), Austin Li Coon (S45), Q Burdette (S46), Maria Shrime Gonzalez (S46), Liz Wilcox (S46)
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Defining Moments
Season 44: After being decimated in the pre-merge, the last three members of Tika (Carolyn the now-sober wacky mom, Yam Yam the giggly bear, and Carson the nerdy twink) make the final four, despite being one of the strangest alliances ever.
Season 45: A besotted Austin Li Coon tells Dee Valladares about his plan to blindside her No. 1 ally Julie Alley. Dee leaks the information back to Julie, getting her to play her idol. The next episode, Dee blindsides Austin’s No. 1 ally Drew Basile without telling Austin, her new boyfriend, and goes on to win the game.
Season 46: Q Burdette wins an Applebee’s reward and, though given three separate chances to bring along other players, never chooses Liz Wilcox, who is allergic to everything on the island and goes to Applebee’s every week with her daughter, to join his crew. Liz, pushed to the brink, screams, in front of Probst, “I’m pissed!” The following week, Maria Shrime Gonzalez forces Liz to rock-paper-scissors with Q for reward, and Q wins.
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Don’t Skip: Season 46
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