Last night broke the hearts of many fans as Cirie Fields got her torch snuffed for the fifth time in American Survivor history as she updated her Survivor resume to read “144 days played.” And while we’re so sad to see such a fan favorite, iconic legend take the jury bench instead of finally making it to the other side of a Final Tribal Council, she’s sharing that she had the absolute best time on Survivor 50 and is happy with how her game played out.
In a new, exclusive interview with Entertainment Weekly’s Dalton Ross, Cirie reveals that she believes Survivor 50 to be the best season she’s ever played—and we couldn’t agree more. She worked her social strategy down to the nub as she managed everyone’s games for 23 days straight until Aubry Bracco was able to convince the remaining castaways that she was a bigger threat to win.
“When I get the title of ‘the best to have never won,’ all I hear is those first two words, the best. And that’s good enough for me.” - Cirie Fields
And now, after 20 years of playing the game, she’s looking back fondly on it all. “I had zero regrets about the game I played,” she says, adding, “I left again with more than I bargained for. I met new people. I’ve learned more things about myself.” And in the end, she was honored to join the anniversary season, even if she knew everyone would come for her before she even set foot in Fiji.
“I don’t think I’m gonna make it past the first or second episode,” Cirie told her family, yet she made it all the way to day 23 with only a couple of votes aimed at her—9 in total, including episode 11’s revote. But she goes as far as saying this season was “the top of the ladder” as far as her overall history of gameplay goes. This was the first time in Survivor history that she’s played a season where every week someone was after her and she was able to use her social skills to deflect the vote until there just weren’t enough numbers left in her favor.
Overall, she’s proud of her game and believes the edit showed it how it happened, but there is one moment that made the cutting room floor that she was super proud of. “I am so upset that they did not show my prowess when it comes to preparing meals. I cooked the hell out of them chickens,” she says in reference to the reward chickens her tribe won that just suddenly disappeared. “Jonathan will tell you…I mean, finger-licking good chicken on the island! And none of it was shown.”
But the moment she’ll remember most of all, as a player and a fan, was when Rick Devens flipped the MrBeast Super Beware Advantage coin: “I bet everybody’s mind just, they’re still picking up pieces off the floor as we speak.” It was a huge moment not just for the season, but for the show’s entire history and Cirie was thrilled to bear witness to it. However, there was a different celebrity twist this season she would make some changes to.
“Me and Billie Eilish gonna have to have a talk…” she starts when discussing the Billie Eilish Boomerang Idol, which she thought was a good idea except for one part. “You can’t use it on other people. Why not? Why is it only specific to that person? Yeah, that’s the only part I didn’t like.” And fans definitely agree, with many wondering why there was only one standard idol in the game this season and no one else could really protect their allies the way they usually could—making the show more dynamic and the outcome truly unsure.
And as far as if she’ll ever return to the game, she previously told Dalton Ross—before the season started—that this was going to be her last time playing Survivor. When he asks if she still feels that way, she replies, “I absolutely feel that way…I have received so much more than I bargained for from this 20, 21 year experience…I don’t really need to prove anything.”
And while we’ll miss seeing the legend out in Fiji, this isn’t necessarily the end of her reality competition show journey. “There may be a couple of things…” she laughs when discussing other possible show appearances.
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