These are the most famous Survivor celebs, per social media followers
An advertising group in the UK says people with 30,000 followers or more on social media are considered celebrities. These Survivor castaways qualify.
There have been many people with various levels of fame to have played Survivor after becoming famous. Depending on who you ask, among the celebrities to compete on the show are Baseball Hall of Fame nominee Jeff Kent, pro wrestlers John Hennigan and Ashley Massaro (rest in peace), football coach/analyst Jimmy Johnson, actress Lisa Welchel, gaming content creator Mari Takahashi and more.
Rarer is it that people will receive a level of fame after playing Survivor. The show’s greatest legends and most well-known people came due to the fact that the show became such a spectacle in the news back in its origins in the early 2000s. Richard Hatch, Sue Hawk, Colleen Haskell, and Rudy Boesch were among those who became overnight celebrities back in the day.
How I define “fame” is different than you or the next person, but the Advertising Standards Authority in the UK, per The Telegraph, states anybody with 30,000 social media followers or more counts as a celebrity. That means the Survivor players below are considered celebrities by these standards (rounded to nearest thousand followers).
- Chase Rice: 2.03M followers via Twitter and Instagram
- John Hennigan: 1.53M followers via Twitter and Instagram
- Mari Takahashi: 1.28M followers via Twitter and Instagram
- Chelsea Meissner: 692k followers via Twitter and Instagram
- Elisabeth Hasselbeck: 480k followers via Twitter and Instagram
- Michael Yerger: 458k followers via Twitter and Instagram
- Caleb Reynolds: 429k followers via Twitter and Instagram
- Ashley Massaro: 315k followers via Twitter and Instagram
- Taj George: 275k followers via Twitter and Instagram
- Ron Clark: 226k followers via Twitter and Instagram
- Joe Anglim:177k followers via Twitter and Instagram
- John Cochran: 166k followers via Twitter and Instagram
- Boston Rob Mariano: 155k followers via Twitter
- Malcolm Freberg: 143k followers via Twitter and Instagram
- Rodney Lavoie Jr.: 124k followers via Twitter and Instagram
- Jay Starrett: 121k followers via Twitter and Instagram
- Jean-Robert Bellande: 116k followers via Twitter and Instagram
- Parvati Shallow: 109k followers via Twitter and Instagram
- Lisa Whelchel: 109k followers via Twitter and Instagram
- Andrea Boehlke: 100k followers via Twitter and Instagram
- Hayden Moss: 99k followers via Twitter and Instagram
- Kelly Wiglesworth: 92k followers via Instagram
- Kelley Wentworth: 90k followers via Twitter and Instagram
- Rob Cesternino: 88k followers via Twitter and Instagram
- Ken Hoang: 85k followers via Twitter, Instagram, and Twitch
- Spencer Bledsoe: 84k followers via Twitter and Instagram
- Cydney Gillon: 76k followers via Twitter and Instagram
- Bi Nguyen: 70k followers via Twitter and Instagram
- Aubry Bracco: 67k followers via Twitter and Instagram
- Jenna Morasca: 64k followers via Twitter and Instagram
- Zeke Smith: 62k followers via Twitter and Instagram
- Russell Hantz: 61k followers via Twitter and Instagram
- Lauren O’Connell: 58k followers via Twitter and Instagram
- Stephen Fishbach: 57k followers via Twitter and Instagram
- Rupert Boneham: 55k followers via Twitter and Instagram
- Ozzy Lusth: 55k followers via Twitter and Instagram
- Adam Klein: 54k followers via Twitter and Instagram
- Rachel Ako: 53k followers via Twitter and Instagram
- Tyson Apostol: 51k followers via Twitter and Instagram
- Rick Devens: 49k followers via Twitter and Instagram
- Ciera Eastin: 48k followers via Twitter and Instagram
- Billy Garcia: 48k followers via Twitter and Instagram
- Christian Hubicki: 46k followers via Twitter and Instagram
- Natalie Anderson: 40k followers via Twitter and Instagram
- Jaclyn Misch: 40k followers via Twitter and Instagram
- Ethan Zohn: 39k followers via Twitter and Instagram
- David Wright: 39k followers via Twitter and Instagram
- Nick Wilson: 38k followers via Twitter and Instagram
- Corinne Kaplan: 38k followers via Twitter and Instagram
- Wyatt Nash (then Matt Elrod): 38k followers via Twitter and Instagram
- Hannah Shapiro: 37k followers via Twitter and Instagram
- Michaela Bradshaw: 37k followers via Twitter and Instagram
- Reed Kelly: 35k followers via Twitter and Instagram
- Mike Holloway: 34k followers via Twitter and Instagram
- Kat Edorsson: 34k followers via Twitter and Instagram
- Woo Hwang: 34k followers via Twitter and Instagram
- Gabby Pascuzzi: 33k followers via Twitter and Instagram
- Jonathan Penner: 32k followers via Twitter and Instagram
- Angelina Keeley: 32k followers via Twitter and Instagram
- Kara Kay: 32k followers via Twitter and Instagram
- Dan Rengering: 31.6k followers via Twitter and Instagram
- Kim Spradlin: 31k followers via Twitter and Instagram
- Wendell Holland: 31k followers via Twitter and Instagram
- Jessica “Figgy” Figueroa: 31k followers via Twitter and Instagram
- Michele Fitzgerald: 30k followers via Twitter and Instagram
- Abi-Maria Gomes: 30k followers via Twitter and Instagram
If you’re still reading this piece after seeing how many Survivor players count as celebrities, you can see how the ASA definition is more of an advertising safeguard than an indicator of fame. Several winners, including the most (in)famous person of 2000 in America, Richard Hatch, don’t have enough followers to reach that arbitrary 30,000 number. Same goes for the only person as of season 38 to win twice: Sandra Diaz-Twine.
Who do you think of when someone asks you about the most famous Survivor player? Do you count castaways as celebrities? Is 30k social media followers not enough to be considered a celebrity? Let us know!