From the moment that viewers found out that Survivor 50: In the Hands of the Fans would be a landmark season, there has been a lot of excitement about it. As a result, there has been seemingly endless discussions about the upcoming season, including some talk about which players fans would be shocked to see win.
Since there is so much anticipation for Survivor 50, it was remarkable when Benjamin "Coach" Wade trolled fans by pretending to spoil the season. On top of Coach having some fun, others seem to have been doing the same thing by claiming to have spoiled the season. However, there is a basic reason why the supposed spoilers about who won Survivor 50 almost certainly can be ignored by fans.
Unless voters have let us down, Survivor 50 winner spoilers should be complete garbage
In July 2025, fans got the chance to go on an edition of The Postgame Cruise that allowed them to vacation with several Survivor icons. Some of the past competitors who were on the cruise included legends like Sandra Diaz-Twine, Richard Hatch, Jerri Manthey, Todd Herzog, and Courtney Yates. As an Entertainment Now article details, after the cruise ended, rumors began to spread about someone on the cruise spoiling that Stephenie LaGrossa-Kendrick won Survivor 50.
At first glance, it makes some sense to take that supposed spoiler seriously. After all, there was a who's who from the Survivor world on that cruise, so their insights have gravity. Another reason to take a spoiler like that more seriously is that it is well-known that some former Survivor players socialize.
As a result, it certainly seems possible that someone on the cruise could be friends with one of Survivor 50's jury members or finalists, which could theoretically lead to them knowing who won the season.
However, there is a basic reason to think that any spoilers about who won Survivor 50 almost certainly should be disregarded. Unless the majority of fans who took part in the voting process for Survivor 50 made a shocking choice, even the jury members and finalists should be incapable of spoiling the winner, even if they wanted to.
During the first round of voting for the upcoming season, fans were given the chance to bring the live reunion back for Survivor 50, or stick with the aftershow format that has been around during the "new era." As a huge fan of the show, I can't imagine why anyone would vote to stick with the aftershow format, since the reunions are so much more interesting. As such, like most fans, I have long assumed that Survivor 50 will have a live reunion.
If Survivor 50 does have a reunion, the winner should be announced live, like it was before the "new era" began.
It seems almost certain that none of Survivor 50's players could possibly know for sure that Stephenie won the season. Perhaps, they could have strong suspicions if the jury members all spoke about who they voted for, but they couldn't possibly know that the jury members were telling the truth.
Even if enough fans voted for the aftershow format, the likelihood of a player leaking who won Survivor 50 should be very small, even though a former player was accused of doing that in the past. After all, if a player spoiled the season, they would be opening themselves up to the possibility of facing a major lawsuit from CBS.