Survivor 50 is the most highly anticipated season of the series in a long time, and it's already making history and breaking tradition in some key ways.
We all know the Survivor 50 cast is the biggest cast in Survivor history, with 24 returning players, but there's one key detail about the season 50 cast that's relatively overlooked at this point.
Months after Jeff Probst and CBS announced the Survivor 50 cast, we only know, officially, 22 of the 24 players in the Survivor 50 cast. There are still two mystery players left to be announced, and that's because they are part of the Survivor 49 cast, which was just announced in August 2025.
This is the first time in the 50-season history of the show that a Survivor cast was announced with two mystery players. That feels like a big deal!
I didn't realize it at the time, but in Mike Bloom's recent interview with Jeff Probst, it was pointed out that this is the first time we've seen mystery players. And that's a pretty shocking development.
Sure, things got a little dicey with those fan voting seasons with who was going to get to play vs. which players were staying home, but we have never entered a season of Survivor with this much mystery.
There are a few reasons, of course. We know those two players on the Survivor 50 cast are from Survivor 49. We also know, based on reports, who those players are. We've discussed the Survivor 49 players' inclusion at length at Surviving Tribal. I'll share who we think those Survivor 49 players playing Survivor 50 are soon. Again, I just want to emphasize how rare this is.
I understand why CBS doesn't want to announce those players yet. They obviously don't want to spoil the season, but by not announcing the players, it's starting to make fans think that one of those Survivor 49 players actually wins Survivor 49. If they don't, why not tell the fans who they are?
In the interview, Probst revealed that the Survivor 49 players were not automatic locks to be a part of the season 50 cast. Instead, Probst insists those players earned their spot because production and casting needed them to be on Survivor 50. Then, instead of taking two spots of the 18 players they were already eyeing for season 50, it opened up four additional spots because Survivor 50 went from 18 players to 24 players.
Here's what Probst said:
“What we agreed to as a group was, ‘If somebody makes a big impression, we’re going to want them on 50. So let’s go into 49 with our own state of flux. And what happened was two players impressed us.”
Probst also continued:
“We landed on 24 in part because we saw these two players on 49 and said, ‘We got to have them. But what does that mean for our math? Does that mean we can invite more people onto 50? So it was really a win-win. But it was not guaranteed. We were never going to put somebody on just to have 49 represented.”
We've seen players compete on back-to-back seasons of Survivor quite often. I mean, it's still rare, but it's not all that notable given how much player movement there was with returning players in the late 30s seasons. We just haven't seen it recently because we haven't seen a returning player on Survivor for eight seasons, and nine if you include Survivor 49.
Spoilers for Survivor 50 cast ahead!
Who are the Survivor 49 players on Survivor 50?
So, according to Inside Survivor, the two Survivor 49 players in Survivor 50 are Rizo Velovic and Savannah Louie. That was known well before the Survivor 49 cast was officially revealed.
There's also a lot of chatter that one of those players will win Survivor 49, but nothing has been proven yet. It likely won't be until much, much later.
There are a couple of kickers with this Survivor 49 season leading into Survivor 50. Obviously, the first thing is that the Survivor 49 players will be going into Survivor 50 on short rest. Production on Survivor 49 started this spring in late April through mid-May. Then, there was a break of what appears to be three-ish weeks before production on Survivor 50 started. So, there's potentially going to be some tired players when they hit the beach again for Survivor 50.
The other thing I'm worried about with these players is that they'll also be complete strangers to the rest of the cast. Will those Survivor 49 players have an advantage in Survivor 50? Or, will that work against them?
Honestly, I lean toward it working against them, especially with how many players are not familiar with their game. I would be more afraid of the player I don't know than the player I do know in Survivor, especially when there are a lot of players on this cast who are not the legends, masterminds, and icons. Sure, there are some, but there's just a lot of solid, solid players.
Enough about Survivor 50 for now! We have Survivor 49 this month, and we can't wait to watch these new players hit the island.
Watch the Survivor 49 premiere on Wednesday, Sept. 24, on CBS and Paramount+.