A true, original fan-favorite, Jenna Lewis-Dougherty has a lot of game to reclaim in Survivor 50: In the Hands of the Fans. As a player from season one, she was setting the foundation for what the show would become and as she was getting her footing post-merge, she was blindsided simply because the majority chose to vote people out in alphabetical order.
Then during her All Stars redemption lap, she aligned herself well and strategized herself to the end, only to be blocked out by a showmance. She has a lot to prove this season—namely, that she’s always had what it takes to win—and after all these years, fans are ready to see it happen for her!
Jenna’s Quick Stats
Survivor Career:
- Survivor: Borneo (8th Place)
- Survivor: All-Stars (3rd Place)
Total Days Played: 65 days
Total Votes Against: 15 votes
Individual Immunity Challenges Won: 0
Individual Reward Challenges Won: 0
Immunity Idols Played: 0
Advantages Played: 0
Survivor: Borneo
Jenna started the game on the Pagong tribe and while she wasn’t the most popular, due to her talkative nature, her tribemates sent others home over her as they navigated how they felt the game should be played and what worked best on an inaugural season for an unprecedented show.
Midway through the game, Jenna was selected to represent her tribe on a summit alongside a member of the Tagi tribe. The two were tasked with choosing a name for the merged tribe and designing a tribe flag. When Jenna returned to camp, she informed her tribemates they had two minutes to grab their personal items as they were moving to Tagi’s camp for the remainder of the game.
Once merged, the former Pagong members started voting based on their conscious and personal preferences, while the former Tagi members stuck together and kept to a strategy, which partially included Sean Kenniff’s alphabet method—literally just voting off players outside his alliances in alphabetical order.
That is what ultimately got Jenna. After 27 days in the game—which included the famous moment when she was the only castaway who didn’t receive a loved ones tape—she was voted out simply because of her name, becoming the second member of the jury.
At Final Tribal Council, she voted for Kelly Wiglesworth whom she’d bonded with post-merge—though Kelly narrowly lost to Richard Hatch in a 4-3 vote.
Survivor: All-Stars
Jenna returned ready to win the first season to feature returning players. She and fellow Survivor: Borneo castmate Rudy Boesch started on the Saboga tribe, where the two aligned with Rupert Boneham and Jerri Manthey in an attempt to target the former winners on their tribe, Tina Wesson and Ethan Zohn.
Saboga lost the first immunity challenge, but her strategy forged ahead and her alliance successfully voted out Tina. But when they continued to lose, Jenna had to target Rudy who was not a challenge asset for the tribe. They managed to live the next few days in safety after this.
Then on day 13, Jeff announced that the last tribe to finish at the reward challenge would be dissolved and split between the two winning tribes. Saboga lost, sending Jenna and Rupert to Chapera, where they quickly became a part of Rob Mariano and Amber Brkich’s majority alliance. Due to a string of wins and one player choosing to quit, Jenna didn’t attend another immunity challenge until after the merge—even with a tribe swap occurring on day 23.
Once merged, Jenna chose to stay with Rob’s alliance, which kept her safe in the game through the next few votes. But once it came down to the Final Five, Jenna and Rupert felt their alliance separate from Rob and Amber’s with Tom Buchanan acting as the swing vote in the middle, deciding who would go home that night. But Rob chose to team back up with Jenna and Rupert, blindsiding Tom instead.
When Amber won the Final Four immunity challenge, Jenna now found herself as the swing vote between her alliance with Rob and her alliance with Rupert. Not wanting to risk the vote coming down to a rock draw tiebreaker, she chose to vote out her day 1 ally, Rupert.
At Final Three, after Rob won immunity, it was clear Jenna was voting for Amber and Amber for Jenna, with Rob as the tiebreaker. In addition to his relationship with Amber being strong, Rob claimed he feared Jenna would win over him at Final Two and voted her out.
Jenna congratulated both the finalists at Final Tribal Council, but ultimately, she voted for Rob to win, respecting his hands-on gameplay. She was one of three votes he received, one short of winning in a 4-3 vote where Amber was named Sole Survivor.
Survivor 50 Predictions: How far will Jenna go?
There are two ways that others will perceive Jenna from the start: either that she’s not a threat, or that because she’s the only returning player from season 1, she’s the biggest potential jury threat. Neither of those are grounds to send her home in the early game, but the second one could be a potential issue for her post-merge if she hasn’t built the right relationships for herself.
She’s always been good socially—and I think her social strategy actually fits in better with the new era players than it did when she first played—so I could see her making it to the final five or six before people turn on her worried about jury votes. But she also has the power to get to Final Tribal Council. In fact, our AI Survivor 50 simulator predicted that she’d take home second place, just last summer.
Jenna Lewis-Dougherty Survivor 50 Player Score
Jenna’s an underdog at the top of her game. She’s ready now more than she’s ever been to play Survivor and I have a feeling it’s going to show very soon just how different things are going to be for her this time around. The name of the game will be “adapt” and if anyone can do that, it’s Jenna.
Outwit (Social Game): 8/15
Outplay (Physical Game): 4/15
Outlast (Strategic Game): 5/15
Wildcard Factor: 3/5
Total Player Score: 20/50
So will Jenna prove that an OG should be the true final face of such a historic season? We can’t wait to see when Survivor 50 premieres Wednesday, February 25 at 8 p.m. ET on CBS and Paramount +!