Survivor is an American reality television show, based on the Swedish program Expedition Robinson. Contestants are referred to as "castaways", and they compete against one another to become the "Sole Survivor" and win one million U.S. dollars. First airing in , there currently have been a total of 47 seasons aired; the program itself has been filmed on five continents.
Contestants usually apply to be on the show, but the series has been known to recruit contestants for various seasons. For Survivor: Fiji, the producers had hoped to have a more racially diverse cast, and hoped that a more diverse group would apply after the success of the racially segregated Survivor: Cook Islands. When this did not happen, the producers turned to recruiting and in the end, only one contestant had actually submitted an application to be on the show.[1] For the most part, contestants are virtually unknown prior to their Survivor appearance, but occasionally some well-known people are cast.
A total of participants (castaways) have competed so far (as of Survivor 47). of those participants have competed in multiple seasons: 75 of them have competed in two seasons, 23 have competed in three seasons, six have competed in four seasons, and Rob Mariano has competed in five seasons of the show. Two contestants, Russell Hantz and Sandra Diaz-Twine, have competed on international editions of the series (in both cases Australian Survivor). Fourteen seasons have featured returning players: five with all-returnees (Survivor: All-Stars in , Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains in ,[2]Survivor: Cambodia in , Survivor: Game Changers in , and Survivor: Winners at War in ),[3] six with one to four returning players on tribes with new players (Survivor: Guatemala in , Survivor: Redemption Island and Survivor: South Pacific in ,[4][5]Survivor: Philippines in , Survivor: Edge of Extinction in and Survivor 45 in ),[6] two with a tribe of ten returning "Favorites" facing off against a tribe of ten "Fans" (Survivor: Micronesia in and Survivor: Caramoan in ), and one featuring a tribe of ten returning players playing against a tribe of their family members (Survivor: Blood vs. Water in ).
On two occasions, contestants have been cast but ultimately withdrew before the game began without being replaced: a 20th contestant, model agency owner Mellisa McNulty, was originally cast in Survivor: Fiji, but dropped out and returned home the night before the show began because of panic attacks,[7] while in Survivor: San Juan del Sur, the 19th and 20th contestants, sisters So and Doo Kim, were removed just before filming due to a medical emergency.[8] So would later appear on the following season Survivor: Worlds Apart. Fiji and San Juan del Sur proceeded with an uneven gender balance. But because Fiji had only one player withdraw, it is the only season in the history of the show to start with an odd number of players.
Table key:
&#;&#;Contestant played the game for a second time.
&#;&#;Contestant played the game for a third time.
&#;&#;Contestant played the game for a fourth time.
&#;&#;Contestant played the game for a fifth time.
Jenna Lewis, Survivor: Borneo and Survivor: All-Stars
Rudy Boesch, Survivor: Borneo and Survivor: All-Stars
Jerri Manthey, Survivor: The Australian Outback, Survivor: All-Stars and Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains
Nick Brown, Survivor: The Australian Outback
Elisabeth Filarski Hasselbeck, Survivor: The Australian Outback
Rob Mariano, Survivor: Marquesas, Survivor: All-Stars, Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains, Survivor: Redemption Island and Survivor: Winners at War
Tammy Leitner, Survivor: Marquesas
Brian Heidik, Survivor: Thailand
Jenna Morasca, Survivor: The Amazon and Survivor: All-Stars
Rupert Boneham, Survivor: Pearl Islands, Survivor: All-Stars, Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains and Survivor: Blood vs. Water
Jonny Fairplay, Survivor: Pearl Islands and Survivor: Micronesia
Sandra Diaz-Twine, Survivor: Pearl Islands, Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains, Survivor: Game Changers and Survivor: Winners at War
Eliza Orlins, Survivor: Vanuatu and Survivor: Micronesia
Jolanda Jones, Survivor: Palau
Stephenie LaGrossa, Survivor: Palau, Survivor: Guatemala and Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains
All information is accurate as of the time the season was filmed, and thus may vary from season to season for returning players.
Danni Boatwright, Survivor: Guatemala and Survivor: Winners at War
Dan Barry, Survivor: Panama
Cirie Fields, Survivor: Panama, Survivor: Micronesia, Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains, and Survivor: Game Changers
J.P. Calderon, Survivor: Cook Islands
Parvati Shallow, Survivor: Cook Islands, Survivor: Micronesia, Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains and Survivor: Winners at War
Ozzy Lusth, Survivor: Cook Islands, Survivor: Micronesia, Survivor: South Pacific and Survivor: Game Changers
Yul Kwon, Survivor: Cook Islands and Survivor: Winners at War
Yau-Man Chan, Survivor: Fiji and Survivor: Micronesia
Earl Cole, Survivor: Fiji
Ashley Massaro, Survivor: China
Jean-Robert Bellande, Survivor: China
Todd Herzog, Survivor: China
Ken Hoang, Survivor: Gabon
Jessica "Sugar" Kiper, Survivor: Gabon and Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains
Robert "Bob" Crowley, Survivor: Gabon
Tyson Apostol, Survivor: Tocantins, Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains, Survivor: Blood vs. Water and Survivor: Winners at War
Debra "Debbie" Beebe, Survivor: Tocantins
Benjamin "Coach" Wade, Survivor: Tocantins, Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains and Survivor: South Pacific
Tamara "Taj" Johnson-George, Survivor: Tocantins
Russell Swan, Survivor: Samoa and Survivor: Philippines
All information is accurate as of the time the season was filmed, and thus may vary from season to season for returning players.