Happy Holidays, Inside Survivor readers!
Another year of Survivor has come and gone, and it was a mixed bag of offerings from across the world. In the United States, the new era format really started to overstay its welcome, with both Survivor 48 and Survivor 49 going through the motions. Meanwhile, in Australia, after Brains V Brawn II failed to match the highs of 2024’s incredible Titans V Rebels, the show attempted to spice things up with the first-ever Australia V The World.
Now, it’s time for you to decide the biggest moments and best characters of the year in the annual Inside Survivor End of Year Awards.
YEAR IN REVIEW
Australian Survivor kicked off the year, premiering on February 17 with its second iteration of the Brains V Brawn format. The season had an uphill battle from the start, coming off two highly regarded seasons, Titans V Rebels and Heroes V Villains. While it never quite matched the highs of those seasons, Brains V Brawn held its own with a lively cast of characters, including Myles Kuah, AJ Antonios, Logan Johannisen, Paulie Michael, and Karin Gunatilake.
The usual downsides of Australian Survivor were as present as ever: the lopsided editing, non-elimination twists, and weird vagueness over Ben Bylett’s departure. However, from a wide-eyed view, the season delivered a great underdog story, with the “Jungle Rat” Myles going from outcast to Sole Survivor, with plenty of blindsides and entertaining gameplay along the way.
Survivor 48 was up next, premiering on February 26, and faced an uphill battle in its own right, coming after Survivor 47, which was regarded as one of the best new era seasons. The pre-merge showed promise, with a fun enemies-to-frenemies arc between Sai Hughley and Mary Zheng, Cedrek McFadden’s hilarious voting record, a stellar move by Kyle Fraser and Kamilla Karthigesu to eliminate Thomas Krottinger, and, of course, the highly emotional moment between Joe Hunter and Eva Erickson.
The post-merge, however, is where the season ground to a halt. Losing Sai so early, combined with the underediting of personalities like Star Toomey, really slowed things down. It became a season dominated by a majority alliance, with a slow, plodding march to the end. Some appreciated this old-school vibe, particularly the focus on Joe’s conflicted emotions, while others found the episodes a slog. While the season ended with a satisfying winner in Kyle, the journey to get there was a struggle.
Australia V The World followed on August 17, delivering the franchise’s first-ever international showdown. There was a lot of hype going into this shortened edition, as fans anticipated battles between some of the best from Australian Survivor, Survivor US, Survivor South Africa, and beyond. For the most part, the season delivered on the hype, especially in the first half, with Parvati Shallow and Cirie Fields getting up to their old tricks on the World tribe and Kirby Bentley working her charm on the Australia tribe.
The latter half of the season couldn’t quite keep up the pace, though it remained fun seeing personalities like Parvati and Shonee Bowtell interact. After Kirby’s elimination, there was a real lack of jeopardy, as the crosstribal alliance of Parvati, Cirie, Luke Toki, and Janine Allis essentially dominated the remainder of the season. There were still great moments along the way, but the shortened 16-day format and 14-player cast started to show its pitfalls.
Survivor 49 capped the year off, premiering on September 24. Much like Survivor 48, the season fell into a very old-school pattern of unanimous votes and few shake-ups. The pre-merge was marked by yet another disaster tribe, followed by a swap that did little to switch up the dynamics. Meanwhile, the new-era staples of fight for supplies, journeys, and beware advantages really showed how tired the format has become.
The post-merge started with a little promise, with a shift in dynamics that put Savannah Louie, Rizo Velovic, and Sophi Balerdi at the bottom of the tribe. This kicked off the trio’s underdog comeback, using their immunity wins, advantages, and social wiles to outmaneuver their fellow castaways. Yet, even this from-the-bottom comeback couldn’t shake off the majority votes and overall lack of excitement. The season perhaps also suffered from the shadow of Survivor 50 and widespread spoilers, making Savannah’s (strong) victory feel all but inevitable
THE NOMINEES
It’s now time to honor Survivor in 2025. As usual, most of the categories are Survivor US-focused, since that’s the edition most of our readership is interested in. However, there are categories for Best International Character, Best Season, and Best International Move.
Over the past few days, the Inside Survivor contributors and Patrons nominated their favorite episodes, characters, and moments from Survivor 48 and 49, plus their favorite International characters and moves from Australian Survivor. There are four nominations in each category, except for Best Character, which includes eight.
Now, you, the Inside Survivor readers, can vote on the overall winners from each category below.
BEST SEASON
BEST EPISODE
BEST CHARACTER
BEST MOVE
FUNNIEST MOMENT
MOST SHOCKING MOMENT
BEST INTERNATIONAL CHARACTER
BEST INTERNATIONAL MOVE
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