Survivor 44 is the forty-fourth season of the American competitive reality television series Survivor. This season, filmed from June 5 through June 30, 2022, is the twelfth consecutive season filmed in the Mamanuca Islands in Fiji. It premiered on March 1, 2023, on CBS in the United States and Global in Canada.

The season concluded on May 24, 2023, when Yamil "Yam Yam" Arocho was named the winner of the season, defeating Heidi Lagares-Greenblatt and Carolyn Wiger in a 7–1–0 vote.

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 $1,000,000.

Contestants

The cast was announced on January 31, 2023, and consists of 18 new players divided into three tribes: Ratu, Soka, and Tika. The name of the merged tribe is Va Va, a name coined by contestant and eventual season winner Yamil "Yam Yam" Arocho from the Fijian term va, meaning "four" (Va Va being 4-4, as is Survivor 44). The cast included former Seattle Seahawks fullback Brandon Cottom.

+List of Survivor 44 contestants Contestant Age From Tribe Finish Original Switched None Merged Placement Day 46 Warwick,Rhode Island Medically evacuated Day 1 28 Brooklyn,New York 1st voted out Day 3 29 San Francisco,California 2nd voted out Day 5 25 Brooklyn,New York 3rd voted out Day 7 27 Chicago,Illinois 4th voted out Day 9 43 Columbus,Ohio Quit (Injury) Day 11 34 Atlanta,Georgia rowspan="2" rowspan="12" 5th voted out Day 13 27 San Francisco,California rowspan="11" 6th voted out Day 14 30 Newtown,Pennsylvania rowspan="2" rowspan="2" 7th voted out Day 15 25 Saskatoon,Saskatchewan 8th voted out Day 17 23 Cambridge,Massachusetts rowspan="2" rowspan="3" 9th voted out Day 19 32 Bronx,New York 10th voted out Day 21 35 Mesa,Arizona rowspan="2" 11th voted out Day 23 31 Mont Belvieu,Texas rowspan="2" 12th voted out Day 24 20 Atlanta,Georgia rowspan="2" Eliminated Day 25 35 Hugo,Minnesota 2nd runner-up Day 26 43 Pittsburgh,Pennsylvania Runner-up 36 San Juan,Puerto Rico Sole Survivor

Future appearances Bruce Perreault returned for the following season, Survivor 45.

Outside of Survivor, Carolyn Wiger competed on the third season of The Traitors in 2025. In January 2026, Yamil "Yam Yam" Arocho competed in the fourth season of The Traitors, and later, in October of that same year, participated in Juego de Villanos, a Spanish-language adaptation of House of Villains.

Kane Fritzler competed on the fourth season of The Traitors Canada.

Season summary

Eighteen new castaways were divided into three tribes of six: Ratu, Soka, and Tika. Tika became the underdogs after losing most of the immunity challenges, but a core alliance of Carolyn, Carson, and Yam Yam outlasted their tribemates. Their position became powerful at the merge when the Ratu and Soka alliances went to war, as they navigated between the two sides to eliminate threats from each.

Former Soka Heidi, the last non-Tika left, won the final immunity challenge and chose to face Carson herself in the fire-making challenge. The gamble paid off as she joined Carolyn and Yam Yam in the final three with a record-breaking firemaking performance. However, it was not enough to win over the jury as Yam Yam's social game and taking strategic credit for Tika's decisions won him the title of Sole Survivor.

+Survivor 44 season summary Episode Challenge winner(s)Journey Eliminated No. Title Air date Reward Immunity Tribe Player 1 "I Can't Wait to See Jeff" March 1, 2023 Bruce rowspan="3" rowspan="2" rowspan="3" Maddy 2 "Two Dorky Magnets" March 8, 2023 colspan="2" rowspan="4" rowspan="2" Helen colspan="2" 3 "Sneaky Little Snake" March 15, 2023 colspan="2" rowspan="2" Claire colspan="2" 4 "I'm Felicia" March 22, 2023 rowspan="2" rowspan="2" rowspan="3" Sarah 5 "The Third Turd" March 29, 2023 rowspan="3" rowspan="2" rowspan="3" Matthew 6 "Survivor with a Capital S" April 5, 2023 Brandon, Carolyn, Carson,Frannie, Jaime, Matt rowspan="10" Josh 7 "Let's Not Be Cute About It" April 12, 2023 Frannie[Carolyn, Carson,Danny, Heidi, Kane] rowspan="9" Matt Brandon 8 "Don't Get Cocky, Kid" April 19, 2023 rowspan="2" Lauren Brandon 9 "Under the Wing of a Dragon" April 26, 2023 Frannie Kane 10 "Full Tilt Boogie" May 3, 2023 Frannie[Carolyn,Heidi, Lauren] Carson Frannie 11 "I'm Not Worthy" May 10, 2023 Yam Yam Danny12 "I'm the Bandit" May 17, 2023 Carson, Lauren, Lauren Jaime13 "Absolute Banger Season"May 24, 2023 Carson Carson Lauren Heidi[Carolyn,] Carson

Episodes

Voting history +Survivor 44 voting history Original tribes Switched tribes No tribes Merged tribe Episode 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Day 1 3 5 7 9 11 13 14 15 17 19 21 23 24 25 Tribe colspan="2" Eliminated Bruce Maddy Helen Claire Sarah Matthew Josh Matt Brandon Kane Frannie Danny Jaime Lauren Carson Votes Evacuated 1–0 3–1 4–0 Quit 7–3–1 3–2 4–0 5–3–1–1 5–2–1 4–2 3–1–1 Voter Vote Challenge Yam Yam Helen Josh Josh Matt Frannie Kane Frannie Danny Jaime Heidi Heidi Claire Josh Brandon Kane Danny Carson Jaime Lauren Carolyn Helen Sarah Kane Brandon Kane Heidi Danny Jaime Lauren Carson Helen Josh Frannie Kane Frannie Danny Jaime Lauren Lauren Josh Frannie Heidi Frannie Heidi Carolyn Jaime Josh Matt Frannie Heidi Heidi Frannie Heidi Carolyn Danny Claire Josh Brandon Kane Frannie Carson Frannie Claire Josh Brandon Jaime Heidi Kane Brandon Yam Yam Frannie Danny Brandon Maddy Yam Yam Matt Frannie Matt Josh Claire Sarah Matthew Quit Sarah Josh Claire Helen Carolyn Maddy Brandon BruceEvacuated Jury vote Episode 13 Day 26 Finalist Yam Yam Heidi Carolyn Votes 7–1–0 Juror Vote Carson Lauren Jaime Danny Frannie Kane Brandon Matt

Production CBS renewed Survivor for its forty-third and forty-fourth seasons on March 9, 2022. As with every season since season 41, Survivor 44 features 26 days of gameplay, pitting eighteen contestants against one another in three initial tribes. Filming began on June 5, 2022, and concluded on June 30, 2022.

Reception Survivor 44 received positive reviews; praise was directed toward the cast, their camaraderie and the level of strategic play, while some criticism was directed toward the abundance of twists and advantages in the pre-merge portion of the season as well as the predictability of the post-merge portion. Entertainment Weeklys Dalton Ross ranked this season 20th out of 44, praising the cast, particularly Carolyn and Yam Yam for being "an all-time great character" and "one of the most delightfully funny narrators in the show's history" respectively, but criticized the season for lacking "jaw-dropping moves or moments along the way that stood out." The "Purple Rock Podcast" ranked this season 11th out of 44, stating that the season's cast "came to play" and that the season has "a little something for many different types of Survivor fans: strategy, comedy, romance, and satisfying narrative arcs." Although Andy Dehnart of Reality Blurred criticized the season for having "some lamentable decisions and frustrating episodes", he praised the cast and their gameplay, which he states is "the best we can ask for in this new era." Martin Holmes of Inside Survivor had mixed feelings towards the season. Although he praised the Tika three and their arc throughout the season, he also criticized that said alliance's overexposure "resulted in gaps in the narrative and took away the emotional impact and investment when it came to those players' eliminations." He also viewed the finale as predictable, stating that it went "pretty much as expected, with very little in the way of surprises." In 2024, Nick Caruso of TVLine ranked this season 20th out of 47.

References

External links