Survivor 49 premiere date, time, episode schedule, cast, and more

Survivor 49 is right around the corner. We're officially a few weeks away from the Survivor 49 premiere, and it feels great to be here after the incredibly long summer break.

I always forget truly how long that break feels for Survivor over the summer. By the time Survivor 49 premieres, fans will have waited more than four months between seasons. That's basically twice as long as the winter break for the series. For Survivor 47 and 48, there was only like two months between seasons.

That wait is almost over, so let's talk about Survivor 49! We shared everything fans need to know heading into the new season of the hit CBS series hosted by the man, the myth, the legend, Jeff Probst.

Survivor 49 premiere date and time

The Survivor 49 premiere is on Wednesday, Sept. 24, at 8 p.m. ET / 7 p.m. C on CBS and Paramount+. Survivor fans on the West Coast will be waiting until 8 p.m. PT to watch the new episodes.

The Survivor 49 premiere is a two-hour episode, as usual, followed by 90-minute episodes for the rest of the season heading into the finale. It will be followed by new episodes of The Amazing Race.

This premiere is also about a week later than we thought it would be. We were expecting Survivor to premiere during the opening week of fall TV, when Dancing with the Stars, High Potential, and some of the other returning shows. Instead, we have to wait a week.

Survivor 49 release schedule

By now, Survivor fans are used to the release schedule. After the premiere, we usually get one new episode every week for 12 or 13 straight weeks. Most seasons of the new era consist of 13 episodes. Survivor 47 is the outlier with 14 episodes, including a split, two-part finale.

We shared the release schedule for Survivor 49. Obviously, the dates are subject to change.

If all goes according to plan, and there's not a two-part finale, the Survivor 49 finale should air on CBS and Paramount+ on Wednesday, Dec. 17.

Cast

CBS announced the Survivor 49 cast ahead of schedule! We have a lot longer to meet these new players before they hit the beach in Fiji in the season premiere, and I'm really interested to see how that impacts this season!

We shared the cast of Survivor 49 below. If you want a more in-depth breakdown of each new player and pictures, we have you covered! We also shared the tribes of all 18 new players.

Two of these players actually were not supposed to be a part of the Survivor 49 cast. Let's talk about them!

Who were the Survivor 49 alternates?

Jason Treul and Michelle "MC" Chukwujekwu were the alternates for Survivor 49, but they are also players on the new season of the series.

So, as you know, Survivor always brings two alternates out to Fiji for a total of 20 potential players. They have been informed they are the alternates, and they are just waiting in the wings, but going through the process, just in case someone gets sick, injured, panics, or just can't play. Normally, we don't find out who the alternates are until they get cast on a new season, like Rachel LaMont on Survivor 47 or Shauhin Davari on Survivor 48.

Well, we found out who the Survivor 49 alternates were for a very surprising reason.

For the first time in Survivor history, two players were kicked off the Survivor 49 cast for breaking the rules at Ponderosa before the game started, according to EW. Players are not supposed to interact in any way before production officially begins, and it has been revealed that's just what those two players were doing.

Jeff Probst revealed Jason and MC were brought into the game just 12 hours before filming started. What a turn of events!

Jeff Probst says Survivor 49 is one of the hottest seasons ever

Not only is Survivor 49 making history when it comes to two alternates making the cast, but it's also setting temperature records, as well. According to Jeff Probst, Survivor 49 is one of the hottest seasons in Survivor history. He compared it to China, and he even mentioned there is a quick cognitive decline of these players because it's just that hot to start the game.

Here's what Probst told Gold Derby:

""What was unique about this season in terms of Fiji was, it was hot. This ranks is one of the hottest seasons we've ever done. It's like China hot. I'm sweating through my shirts, I'm having trouble remembering things. We're just now starting to edit it, but I think it's going to come out in the show that additional cognitive decline is fast. And you'll see it at Tribal. When I say to somebody early on, what's your name? And they say, 'Uh, don't tell me, I know.' I wondered as it was happening, are they just kind of losing their minds, and is that why they're just so funny? But there's definitely a fun sense of humor."

That's going to be be tough to watch, honestly! I wonder how it will affect gameplay early in the season. It's hard to care about anything when it's that hot, you know?

Luckily, Probst did mention it cools down later in the season. Hopefully, that leads to an epic ending of Survivor 49.

Where to watch Survivor

There are two places to watch Survivor 49, but there are multiple ways to get there. So, new Survivor 49 episodes will be available to watch on CBS and Paramount+.

The easiest way is to watch live on CBS with your cable/satellite provider, like Dish or DirecTV, or through streaming services, including YouTube TV, Fubo, SlingTV, Hulu with Live TV, and more! You have to make sure your local CBS affiliate is offered through those plans.

If you don't watch a lot of TV, though, there's a cheaper way to watch Survivor 49, and that's through Paramount+. You have a few options for Paramount+ plans, but we recommend the Paramount+ Premium account to watch Survivor 49 live.

Here's a breakdown on the two Paramount+ plans:

The main difference between the two plans for Survivor fans is the price and whether or not you can watch Survivor live. Obviously, the Essential bundle is cheaper than the other option, but you can't watch the new episode. Instead, you have to wait until the next day to watch the new Survivor episode. With the Premium plan, you can watch the new episodes live.

When does Survivor 50 premiere?

And, last but not least, there's a pretty big season of Survivor featuring two Survivor 49 players coming right up after Survivor 49. While we already determined the Survivor 49 finale will air in December, Survivor 50 premieres pretty quickly after that.

CBS has not announced the Survivor 50 premiere date yet. They have confirmed Survivor 50 will premiere in February 2026. Most likely, it will premiere on the third or fourth Wednesday in February. That will be Wednesday, Feb. 18 or Wednesday, Feb. 25

There's a slim chance that it could premiere sooner or run a little bit later simply because there are 24 players on that season. We're either going to see multiple players voted out in each episode, or we're going to see a supersized season. We still don't know yet.

So, that's what we know about Survivor 49 right now. We'll be sharing more news about the upcoming season as we find out!

Watch Survivor 49 beginning on Wednesday, Sept. 24, on CBS and Paramount+.