Fans have been speculating how Survivor will mark its milestone 50th season, which will be filmed next summer, and now, thanks to Jeff Probst, we know it will feature returning players.
The host and executive producer revealed the news at a “For Your Consideration” event for the show in Los Angeles on Saturday night (April 27) and shared a video of the announcement on Instagram.
“We just decided, thanks to all the fans that were in attendance at the FYC event here in Hollywood, that Survivor 50 will be returning players, and you all are a part of it,” Probst said before turning the camera to the cheering crowd of fans.
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This will mark Survivor’s first returning players season since season 40’s Winners At War, which saw the return of 20 former Sole Survivors to battle it out for an unprecedented $2 million. After that, the show ushered in its “new-era,” featuring reduced days, less food, new twists, and a renewed focus on diversity in casting.
Bruce Perreault is the only castaway to have returned in the new era; he was invited back for Survivor 45, having been medically evacuated just 12 hours into the game on Survivor 44. Besides that, every season since Survivor 41 has been made up of brand new players and looks to stay that way through Survivor 47 to 49.
It’s not yet known what type of returning players season Survivor 50 will have or if it will even include a theme, another element the show dropped in its new-era. Past returning player themes have included All-Stars, Heroes vs. Villains, Game Changers, and Second Chance.
“We have not come up with our idea for 50 yet,” Probst said in a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly. “Obviously, we think about it. We still have 47, 48, and 49, and you might think I’m deflecting, but I don’t. To me, those are stress-inducing problems. What are we going to do in 47? What are we going to do in 48? What are we going to do in 49?”
“Then, if we get to 50, what are we going to do?” he continued. “And how do you top Winners at War? What is the idea that would be fun to do? I don’t know. We’re working on it, dreaming about it a lot. Don’t have the answer yet.”
What theme would you like to see for Survivor 50? And which returning players should come back? Let us know in the comments below.
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Wish 47 or 48 was a “half returnee season” but I will take anything…
SURVIVOR 50:
Chrissy (35), Domenic (36), Christian (37), Angelina (37), Nathalie Cole (37), Devens (38), Elaine (39), Kellee (39), Dean (39), Shan (41), Xander (41), Omar (42), Cody (43), Jesse (43), Carolyn (44), Emily (45), Kaleb (45) + several from 46!
Soo many storylines already
Good news and long overdue…. 46 is finally kicking off and is great at the moment. Hopefully they can take some 46 players to come back for 50 but I would also love some 35-39 players. They never had a chance to come back.
Perhaps they can include the lackluster winners (not their fault:) Maryann, Yam Yam and Erika. Dee should also come back
Julia Sokolowski
I think it should be 20 players with 2 each from 39 and 41-49 one male and 1 female
Dean(don’t think any male from this season should return)
Xander
Johnathan
Jesse
Carson
Kaleb
Hunter (tentative)
Elaine
Shan
Dre
Cassidy
Carolyn
Emily
Kenzie or Tiffany (depends if one of them wins)
The ones for now
They should make survivor 50, 50 returning players perhaps consisting of 1 player in the top 4 for each of all 50 seasons. No player have ever played against any other contestant in this group. They play under new survivor rules (lose flint etc) but old survivor game length. 50 players, One soul survivor, 39 days for 2.5 million.
You said yourself that Jeff said “We just decided, thanks to all the fans that were in attendance at the FYC event here in Hollywood, that Survivor 50 will be returning players, and you all are a part of it.” so we already know it would be a fan voted season….which hasn’t happened since Second Chance (season 31).
I believe he just meant they were part of him making the announcement.
Boston Rob needs to come back for sure.
I still have three seasons to shoot, but I think it’s too early to release it early.
How do you catch people who are pregame allies?
Not sure how to feel about this… Why tell us already? Players now have years to create pre game alliances…
Besides that, when they do backstab one another, it will be better and more emotional than ever.
BRING BACK CODY. Can’t believe he hasn’t been back after that brutal betrayal by Jesse
Bring back all the players that went home with an idol
In their pocket
Cody please… If anyone deserves a second chance, it’s him
Season 50 should be some of the 1st ones voted out and never really got to play for what ever reason
Boston Rob for sure. He’s iconic and now on Deal or No Deal Island show. He really keeps it spicy and everyone guessing.
I hope the 49th season will be in the 30s vs 40s concept.
I hope we can do 50 seasons as the runner-up season.
Why not call it Season 50 “It begins again”
Honestly, you’re not going to top Winners at War as a “theme”, so don’t try to. I would love for them to bump the cast up to 20 or 24 (more episodes please?) and do just a New Era All-Stars from say, HHH and up, the seasons that haven’t HAD a chance to have players come back (not counting WaW.) Give us Chrissy, give us Dom, give us Davie or Christian (or both), Janet and Lauren… I would say Kellee, but she would never come back, and I don’t blame her.
I don’t want something like a battle of the eras or anything like that. As much as I loved seeing the really old school players like Amber and Ethan coming back to play again in WaW, the complete decimation of the early era players just shows how much the game has changed from when they played. I don’t want to see my old favorites come back just to get annihilated. Let me remember them for how great they were back in the day, not Survivor 50 second boot because they just can’t keep up with the game now.
Shan and Cody and Carolyn should be locks.
Also Chrissy and Domenic, Angelina and Christian.
So many great one time players to choose from
C h r i s s y , the robbed queen. We never had an older female player dominate both physically and strategically.
Survivor 50 first in last out:
20 contestants 10 of whom have been voted out 1st of their seasons and last out runners up from their seasons I think that would be cool
Almost exactly what I was thinking! (Doesn’t have to be 20, though.)
And first boots at their tribe. so people we’ve probably seen play a few episodes. First boot at the very first tribal would be a bit too restrictive.
It would be fascinating to see whether the first boots include good players that were robbed or just unlucky, and for the non-winner finalists to see if the included goats step up their game, and if the close-but-no-sigar finalists can repeat what they accomplished earlier.
Take only the first voted and call it “The Misfits”. Usually it seems they were odd players who did something either weird or were just a little bit too sneaky.
ake only the first voted and call it “The Misfits”. Usually it seems they were odd players who did something either weird or were just a little bit too sneaky.
As long as they don’t bring back Rupert and Rob, Jerri and Colby etc
We want new stars! They tried for a while with Malcolm, Andrea, Wentworth, Aubry and Joe.
Can we get Angelina, Christian, Devens, Chrissy, Shan, Cody and Carolyn back please.
Personally I love the older players from Season 1-40. I’ve been trying to catch up on the newer seasons, but there is something missing. Maybe less days caused me to lose interest NOTE: Tony should be recognized as the “King” as he won twice. Rub that into Sandra’s face. Tony deserves the title. What about the players who won the most challenges or the players that won some type of title return for Season 50!!!!
I like the idea of players that left with an idol in their pocket.
Excellent!
And they get to bring that idol along if they still have it!
I have been thinking about this and put together my cast of 20 if we only consider S41 and on. I do of course want people prior to that, but the exercise is easier right now to consider new era only. My personal top choices that I absolutely want back pre-41 would be Dom, Devins, and Christian. I am not considering winners for this list [Maryanne, Yam Yam, and Dee would be the most I’d want back right now]
Ricard
Jonathan
Cody
Jesse
Carson
Kaleb
Drew
Austin
Charlie
Q
Shan
Frannie
Lauren
Carolyn
Sabiyah
Emily
Tiffany
Kenzie
Maria
Liz [I would leave Liz off, but the Applebees episode almost guarantees a return]
I could put many honorables [Evvie] and factors like how I want to have Omar in the list, but there was alleged drama with him and another cast member, no idea if that kind of thing stops them from being under consideration as much. Obviously, we have multiple seasons to go, and several can and will get bumped off of here.