Jonny Fairplay has officially thrown his hat in the ring forSurvivor 50. According toEntertainment Weekly,Jonny Fairplay shared the news in an interview following the death of his iconic grandma.
Jonny Fairplay revealed his grandma, Ellen Jean Hauser, passed away on Feb. 7, 2025. This is, in fact, the same grandma who Jonny Fairplay claimed died during his first time playingSurvivor,Survivor: Pearl Islands.
It's been dubbed by Jeff Probst and others as one of the greatest lies in the history of reality TV. For those who don't recall, Jonny Fairplay, embracing the villain role in the seventh season of the series, concocted a plan with his Dan during the loved ones' visits. Dan revealed to Jonny Fairplay that his grandma had passed away. It scored tons of sympathy points with the other players, but it was all a lie. Almost 25 years later, it's still one of the most iconic villain moments in the history ofSurvivor. It's a moment that transcends the game. Even non-Survivorfans remember this diabolical moment.
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly about his iconic grandma, Jonny Fairplay used the opportunity to publicly campaign for a spot inSurvivor 50, the biggest upcoming season inSurvivorhistory. It's the most Jonny Fairplay thing that you could possibly imagine.
Here's what he said about his grandma's wish to see him continue onSurvivorand other reality shows, via EW:
"Her dying words were something like, 'Jonny, I want to see you on Survivor 50, The Traitors, and Deal or No Deal Island.' I had no idea she had so many streaming services."
The last time we saw Jonny Fairplay was onSurvivor: Micronesia, which was season 16. He was the first player voted out after basically quitting the game. It's safe to say production was not happy about including Jonny Fairplay only for him to bail on the season.
Since then, he's starred inHouse of Villainsand a few other reality shows, but Jonny Fairplay has not been included in the big, recent competition shows, including the ones he listed,Survivor, Deal or No Deal Island,andThe Traitors.
Overall, I have to imagine the chance of Jonny Fairplay being included in theSurvivor 50cast is pretty much nonexistent. While he's one of the biggest personalities from the franchise, it's been a pretty bad relationship. While both parties have seemed to move on lately, there still doesn't seem much incentive fromSurvivorto revisit some of the players with controversial histories with the franchise.
For a while, Jeff Probst has been echoing thatSurvivor 50will be a celebration of the game. In the fall of 2024, Jeff also shared withEntertainment Weeklythat the show is not interested in casting players who are "looking to settle a score." There are a few players who come to mind when hearing that, and Jonny Fairplay may or may not fall into that category. I just don't think that he's going to be a good fit, especially given howSurvivorcontinues to focus less on big personalities and more on superfans of the game when it comes to casting. We're definitely going to see favorites return forSurvivor 50,but I'm expecting to see favorites who also bring a lot to the table in terms of social play, strategy, and physicality. I don't know if Johnny Fairplay checks those boxes, but we'll see.
With production onSurvivor 50starting later this year, we have to assume that we'll learn the cast of the biggest season in the show's history very soon. We'll let you know if the cast will include Jonny Fairplay when we know more. Stay tuned!
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