Survivor: Winners at War is the 40th season of the American competitive reality television series Survivor. This season, filmed in May and June 2019, is the eighth consecutive season to be filmed in Fiji. Celebrating the show's twentieth anniversary milestone, the season featured twenty returning winners from past Survivor seasons competing for a prize. It was won by Tony Vlachos by a 12–4–0 vote over Natalie Anderson and Michele Fitzgerald, becoming the second two-time winner in Survivor history. The season aired on CBS in the United States from February 12, 2020, to May 13, 2020.
Format
Survivor is a reality television show based on the Swedish show Expedition Robinson, created by Mark Burnett and Charlie Parsons. The series follows a number of participants isolated in a remote location, where they must provide food, fire, and shelter. One by one, a participant is removed from the series by majority vote, with challenges held to give a reward (ranging from living- and food-related prizes to a car) and immunity from being voted out of the series. The last remaining player receives a prize of $2,000,000.
Contestants
20 previous winners competed on this season of Survivor. Notably the cast features a married couple in Rob & Amber Mariano, with this relationship being the first familial relationship featured in ‘’Survivor’’ outside of a ‘’Blood V Water’’ edition of the show.
+List of Survivor: Winners at War contestants Contestant Age From Tribe Main game Edge of Extinction Original Switched Merged Finish Day Finish Day (Returned to game)1st voted outDay 2 2ndreturneeDay 35 The Australian Outback &All-Stars40Pensacola,Florida 2nd voted outDay 3Lostchallenge Guatemala43Shawnee,Kansas rowspan="2" 3rd voted out2nd jury memberDay 6 Africa & All-Stars45Hillsborough,New Hampshire4th voted out3rd jury member Day 9 (Returned to game)5th voted outDay 111streturneeDay 19 43Pensacola,Florida rowspan="2" 6th voted out4th jury memberDay 14LostchallengeDay 35 Cook Islands, Micronesia &Heroes vs. Villains36Los Angeles,California7th voted out5th jury memberDay 16 44Riverview,Florida rowspan="3" 8th voted outLeft gameby raising sailDay 16 Cook Islands44Los Altos,California rowspan="2" 9th voted out6th jury memberDay 18LostchallengeDay 35 Ghost Island35Philadelphia,Pennsylvania rowspan="13" 10th voted out7th jury memberDay 21 Millennials vs. Gen X28Los Angeles,California 11th voted out8th jury memberDay 23 Tocantins, Heroes vs. Villains &Blood vs. Water39Mesa,Arizona rowspan="3" 12th voted out9th jury memberDay 25 South Pacific29Santa Monica,California13th voted out10th jury memberDay 28 One World36San Antonio,Texas rowspan="2" 14th voted out11th jury memberDay 29 San Juan del Sur & Cambodia41Foxborough,Massachusetts15th voted out12th jury memberDay 31 David vs. Goliath28Williamsburg,Kentucky16th voted out13th jury memberDay 34 Philippines48Marion,Iowa rowspan="2" 17th voted out14th jury memberDay 36 Heroes vs. Healers vs. Hustlers36Boise,Idaho rowspan="2" 18th voted out15th jury memberDay 37 Cagayan & Game Changers34Cedar Rapids,IowaEliminated16th jury memberDay 38 Kaôh Rōng29Hoboken,New Jersey rowspan="2" 2nd runner-upDay 39 San Juan del Sur33Edgewater,New JerseyRunner-up Tony VlachosCagayan & Game Changers45Jersey City,New Jersey Sole Survivor
Future appearances In 2022, Sandra Diaz-Twine subsequently competed on Australian Survivor: Blood V Water with her daughter, Nina Twine. In 2025, Parvati Shallow and Tony Vlachos represented the USA on Australian Survivor: Australia V The World.
Outside of Survivor Natalie Anderson competed on the thirty-sixth season of MTV's The Challenge. Wendell Holland competed on the discovery+ special Beach Cabana Royale. Michele Fitzgerald competed on the thirty-seventh, thirty-eighth, thirty-ninth, and fortieth seasons of The Challenge, and also on the second season of The Challenge: USA.
In 2022, Ben Driebergen, Sarah Lacina and Tyson Apostol competed on the first season of The Challenge: USA. That same year, Kwon was a contestant on the USA Network reality competition series, Snake in the Grass.
In 2023, Driebergen and Lacina competed on The Challenge: World Championship.
In 2024, Diaz-Twine and Shallow competed on the second season of the Peacock reality TV series The Traitors. Rob Mariano joined NBC's new spin-off, Deal or No Deal Island, as a contestant.
In 2025, Holland appeared as a designer on Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. Shallow competed on the second season of Deal or No Deal Island. Mariano, Vlachos, and Collins competed on the third season of the Peacock reality TV series The Traitors. Danni Boatwright and Diaz-Twine competed on 99 to Beat.
In 2026, Anderson competed on the fourth season of The Traitors. Apostol competed on the third season of House of Villains. Spradlin-Wolfe competed on the HGTV show Rock the Block. Holland competed on the NBC show Destination X.
In 2027, Fitzgerald will compete on the sixth season of The Traitors.
Season summary
Twenty former winners were divided into two tribes of ten: Sele and Dakal. Players with heavy connections outside of the game were targeted first, including Natalie (aligned with Jeremy) and Amber (married to Rob). The "old-school" players fared poorly early on; even after a tribe swap, every winner from the first half of Survivor's season history was eliminated before the merge. They were all sent to the Edge of Extinction to compete in challenges for the chance to earn fire tokens and sell advantages to players still in the game. The lone exception was Sandra, who raised the white flag and declined to remain on the Edge for a chance to earn her way back into the game.
On Day 19, Tyson rejoined the game in the first battle-back challenge and the tribes merged. Tyson joined players like Tony, Jeremy, and Ben in an effort to keep the big targets (the "lions") together to eliminate the more under-the-radar players (the "hyenas"). Tony felt threatened by Sarah and Sophie's growing connection, fearing that Sophie and Sarah would become a power duo. Tony led the charge of Sophie's blindside. However, the alliance of Tony and Sarah (self-dubbed "Cops R' Us") reconciled, and with free agents Ben and Nick controlled the majority of the votes post-merge, with Nick getting blindsided before the Edge of Extinction competition.
On Day 35, Natalie rejoined the game in the second battle-back challenge and found herself and Michele on the outside of a foursome including Tony, Sarah, Ben, and Denise. Natalie managed to survive thanks to two idol plays and a final immunity win, assisting in voting out Denise and Ben and forcing Tony to eliminate Sarah in an emotional firemaking challenge.
At the Final Tribal Council, most of the jurors had positive things to say to all three of them. Natalie was praised for her dominant Edge of Extinction gameplay, using multiple advantages and social connections to further herself in the game. Michele was praised for being an underdog, having many relaxed social connections with the jurors, and winning two immunity challenges when she needed to save herself. Tony was praised for being in Cops R Us with Sarah, having personal connections with multiple people, orchestrating multiple blindsides, and winning 4 immunity challenges. Even though Jeremy was mad at Tony for directly blindsiding too many people, Tony was awarded the title of Sole Survivor in a 12–4–0 vote over Natalie and Michele. +Challenge winners and eliminations by episodesEpisode Challenge winner(s)Eliminated No. Title Air date Reward Immunity Tribe Player1"Greatest of the Greats"February 12, 2020 colspan="2" Natalie Amber 2"It's Like a Survivor Economy"February 19, 2020 colspan="2" Danni 3"Out for Blood"February 26, 2020 colspan="2" Ethan 4"I Like Revenge"March 4, 2020 colspan="2" Tyson5"The Buddy System on Steroids"March 11, 2020 rowspan="2" rowspan="2" Rob 6 "Quick on the Draw" March 18, 2020 colspan="2" rowspan="2" Parvati Sandra7"We're in the Majors"March 25, 2020 rowspan="2" Yul8"This is Where the Battle Begins"April 1, 2020 Tyson Denise rowspan="13" Wendell Jeremy 9"War is Not Pretty"April 8, 2020 Ben,Kim, Michele,Sarah, (Nick),Sophie Kim Adam 10"The Full Circle"April 15, 2020 Tony Tyson 11"This Is Extortion"April 22, 2020 Ben, Kim,Nick, Sophie Tony Sophie12"Friendly Fire"April 29, 2020 rowspan="4" Denise Kim Tony13"The Penultimate Step of the War"May 6, 2020 Nick Jeremy Michele Nick14"It All Boils Down to This"May 13, 2020 Natalie Michele Denise Michele[Denise, Sarah] rowspan="2" Tony Ben Natalie[Michele] Sarah
Episodes
Voting history Original tribesSwitched tribesMerged tribeEpisode 12345 67891011121314Day23691114161821232528293134363738Tribecolspan="2" colspan="2" EliminatedNatalieAmberDanniEthanTysonRobParvatiSandraYulWendellAdam TysonSophieKimJeremyNick DeniseBenSarahVotes7–2–16–3–18–14–3–17–1–14–13–21–03–19–38–2–1 5–2–04–3–25–33–2–04–20–04–03–2Voter Vote ChallengeTonyKimTysonDeniseWendellAdam TysonSophieKimJeremyNickNatalieDeniseMicheleNatalieDeniseBenDeniseBenMicheleDeniseDanniEthanWendellYulAdamAdam TysonSophieJeremyBenDeniseBenDeniseBenSarahKimTysonRobWendellNickDeniseTysonMicheleKimMicheleNickNatalieBenBenNatalieDanniEthanRobWendellAdam TysonJeremyKimJeremyNickNatalieDeniseMicheleDeniseNatalieDanniEthanSandraWendellNickcolspan="2" JeremyJeremyMicheleNickNatalieNickAmberKimParvatiYulAdamAdam TysonSophieKimJeremyDeniseJeremyAdamDanniEthanDeniseWendellAdamcolspan="2" SophieKimBenKimAmberTysonDeniseWendellAdam SophieMicheleJeremySophieKimTysonRobWendellAdam DeniseJeremyTysonAmberNickWendellAdam SophieAdamNatalieDanniParvatiRobWendellSarahWendellAmberTysonParvatiYulAdamYulAmberTysonParvatiWendellSandraAmberTysonDeniseParvatiNatalieDanniAdamWendellRobNatalieDanniAdamSarahEthanNatalieDanniAdamDanniNatalieParvatiAmberNick Jury voteEpisode 14Day39 Finalist Tony Natalie Michele Votes12–4–0 JurorVote Sarah Ben Denise Nick Jeremy Kim Sophie Tyson Adam Wendell Yul Parvati Rob Ethan Danni Amber Notes
Production The season's theme and players were announced at the finale of Survivor: Island of the Idols on December 18, 2019, revealing that the season would consist of 20 winners from past Survivor seasons. The winner would receive $2,000,000, the largest cash prize ever given out in American reality TV history since The X Factor.
In addition to the larger grand prize, the payouts for all contestants were increased for this season only: whereas in previous seasons the first contestant eliminated received with increasing payouts for subsequently eliminated contestants, each returning player in Winners at War was guaranteed a minimum payment for participating in the season.
Due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, the typical live reunion show following the two-hour finale episode did not take place, but instead, the finale ran for three hours, with the final segments featuring Probst video chatting with the final three to announce the winner. Probst's segments were recorded on a small makeshift set in his home garage. All 20 contestants also appeared on screen together via video chat at the beginning of the finale from their homes.
Casting