Survivor 49 is the forty-ninth season of the American competitive reality television series Survivor. It premiered on September 24, 2025, on CBS in the United States. It was the seventeenth consecutive season to be filmed in the Mamanuca Islands in Fiji.

The season ended on December 17, 2025, when Savannah Louie was voted the Sole Survivor, defeating Sophi Balerdi and Sage Ahrens-Nichols in a 5–2–1 vote. Louie became the fifth winner of Asian heritage, following Yul Kwon from Survivor: Cook Islands, Natalie Anderson from Survivor: San Juan del Sur, Erika Casupanan from Survivor 41, and Rachel LaMont from Survivor 47.

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 18 castaways were officially announced on August 20, 2025. Notable cast members include Annie Davis, lead singer of the band Trashy Annie; former Marvel Studios executive Nate Moore; and former WANF news reporter Savannah Louie. +List of Survivor 49 contestants Contestant Age From Tribe Finish Original Firstswitch Secondswitch Merged Placement Day 26 Philadelphia,Pennsylvania rowspan="4" 1st voted out Day 3 49 Austin,Texas 2nd voted out 35 St. Albert,AlbertaMedically evacuatedDay 6 39 Toronto,Ontario 3rd voted out 52 St. George,Utah rowspan="2" rowspan="2" 4th voted out Day 8 32 Santa Ana,California 5th voted out 27 Boston,Massachusetts rowspan="2" 6th voted out 47 California rowspan="11" 7th voted out 29 San Diego,California rowspan="2" 8th voted out 26 Washington,D.C. 9th voted out 28 Los Angeles,California 10th voted out 31 New York City,New York rowspan="3" rowspan="3" 11th voted out 35 Denver,Colorado 12th voted outDay 23 35 Edmond,Oklahoma 13th voted outDay 24 25 Yonkers,New York rowspan="2" Eliminated8th jury memberDay 25 30 Olympia,Washington 2nd runner-upDay 26 27 Miami,Florida rowspan="2" rowspan="2" Runner-up 31 Atlanta,Georgia Sole Survivor

Future appearances Savannah Louie and Rizo Velovic returned for the following season, Survivor 50: In the Hands of the Fans.

Season summary

Eighteen castaways were divided into three tribes: Hina, Kele, and Uli. Kele lost every challenge before the first swap, and their strongest member Jake was evacuated due to a freak occurrence. Surviving members Alex and Sophi managed to fly under the radar through two swaps due to the Hina and Uli alliances going to war, and Sophi found new life with Uli majority members Rizo and Savannah.

Despite losing their ally Nate at the first merged vote, Rizo and Savannah took control of the game, reaching the final four with Sophi and outsider Sage. Sophi won the final immunity challenge and took Sage to the end; Savannah easily defeated Rizo at fire, and her firm control of the game throughout earned the jury's respect and the victory in a 5–2–1 vote over Sophi and Sage, respectively.

+Survivor 49 season summary Episode Challenge winner(s)Journey Eliminated No. Title Air date Reward Immunity Tribe Player1 "Act One of a Horror Film" September 24, 2025 rowspan="3" rowspan="3" Nicole colspan="2" colspan="2"2 "Cinema" October 1, 2025 rowspan="2" colspan="2" rowspan="3" Annie colspan="2" 3 "Lovable Losers" October 8, 2025 colspan="2" rowspan="4" Jake colspan="2" rowspan="2" Jeremiah colspan="2" 4 "Go Kick Rocks, Bro" October 15, 2025 colspan="2" Matt5 "I'm a Wolf, Baby" October 22, 2025 rowspan="2" colspan="2" rowspan="2" Jason 6 "The Devil's Shoes" October 29, 2025 rowspan="7" rowspan="2" Shannon 7 "Blood Will Be Drawn" November 5, 2025 Nate, Rizo,Sophi, Sophie,Steven, [Sage] Sophie rowspan="9" Nate 8 "Hot Grim Reaper" November 12, 2025Savannah[Alex, Kristina, Sophi, Steven] MC9 "If You’re Loyal to All,You’re Loyal to None" November 19, 2025Alex, Kristina (Jawan),Savannah, Sophie Savannah Alex Steven 10 "Huge Dose of Bamboozle" November 26, 2025 Sage, Sophi,Sophie, Steven Sophie Jawan 11 "Cherry On Top" December 3, 2025 Steven[Kristina, Rizo] Steven Steven Sophie 12 "The Die Is Cast" December 10, 2025 Savannah[Rizo, Sophi] Savannah rowspan="3" Steven 13 "A Fever Dream" December 17, 2025Savannah[Sage]Savannah Kristina Sophi[Sage] Rizo

Episodes

Voting history +Survivor 49 voting historyOriginal tribesFirst switch SecondswitchMerged tribe Episode 1 23 4 5 6 7 8 910 11 1213 Day356810121415171921232425 Tribe colspan="2" Eliminated Nicole Annie Jake Jeremiah Matt Jason Shannon Nate MC AlexJawan Sophie Steven Kristina Rizo Votes 5–1 4–1 Evacuated 2–0 5–1 3–1 7–4 4–1 6–2–15–3–1 6–1 4–1 4–1 VoterVote ChallengeSavannah Jason Jason Steven Alex Jawan Jawan Sophie Kristina Sophi Nicole Annie Jeremiah Jason Jason Steven AlexJawan Sophie Steven Kristina Sage Shannon Nate MC AlexSavannah Sophie Steven Kristina Rizo Matt Jason Steven MC AlexJawan Sophie Steven Kristina Kristina Nate SophiRizo Sophie Steven SageSteven Shannon Nate SophiSavannah Sophie SophiSophie Nate MC AlexJawan SavannahJawan Matt Jason Shannon Nate MC AlexSavannahAlex Nicole Annie Jeremiah Nate RizoMC Nate SophieNate Matt Jason StevenShannon JawanJason Matt RizoMatt NateJeremiah Nicole Annie AlexJake Nicole AnnieEvacuatedAnnie Nicole SophiNicole Annie

Jury vote Episode 13 Day 26 Finalist Savannah Sophi Sage Votes 5–2–1 Juror VoteRizo Kristina Steven Sophie Jawan Alex MC Nate Notes

Production On December 15, 2023, Manoa Kamikamica, the Fijian Minister of Commerce, Trade, Tourism and Transport, announced that the Fijian Parliament had renewed its contract with Survivor for an additional two years. A preview trailer for the season was released on May 21, 2025, right after the finale of Survivor 48 aired. Like in the previous season, Survivor 49 and The Amazing Race 38 retain the 90-minute runtime; the premiere episode of Survivor 49 ran for two hours.

The American broadcast of the finale was interrupted by an address by President Donald Trump. The broadcast of the finale was not interrupted internationally, with the finale airing regularly in Canada, where the series airs on Global, and in Australia, where the finale aired on 9Go! as a special daytime airing alongside the intended American East Coast airing.

Reception Survivor 49 received a mixed reception from both fans and critics. While the personalities of Savannah and Rizo, Savannah's winning gameplay, and the entertainment value of the post-merge section were praised, the gameplay of the other castaways as well as the edit and the pre-merge section were criticized. Many also felt that the "new era" format of the show had begun to feel repetitive and uninteresting.

Controversy During the pre-game sequester period at Ponderosa, two of the original cast members were caught colluding with each other. The situation became so severe, that they were ejected from the game before it even started; they were ultimately replaced by Jason Treul and MC Chukwujekwu, both alternates for this season. Additionally, third place finisher Sage Ahrens-Nichols alleged that two other castaways, Jake Latimer and Sophi Balerdi, also engaged in pre-game scheming; these claims were corroborated by fellow castaway Annie Davis who was on the same starting tribe as Latimer and Balerdi.

References

External links