We're only weeks away from Survivor 50: In the Hands of the Fans, the biggest Survivor season of all time. For fans who have been watching since Richard Hatch won the first season in the summer of 2000, we all know that this incredible run of 50 seasons was never inevitable.
In fact, there were a lot of question marks heading out of the first season and just how long Survivor could stick around. Granted, I was just a kid at the time, but looking back, you never know what's going happen after a smash hit first season.
So many shows, especially reality shows, have succeeded out of the gates, only to flame out after the next season or so. And, that's why it was so important that Survivor knocked it out of the park in its most important season so far, Survivor: The Australian Outback, which premiered 25 years ago on Jan. 28, 2001.
Survivor's second season featured its highest-rated episode in the show's history
Survivor: The Australian Outback premiered after the Super Bowl in 2001, and it was watched by a staggering 43.5 million viewers. That's by far the biggest episode in Survivor history.
The only other episode that came close was Survivor: All-Stars, which premiered after the Super Bowl in 2004. It was watched my almost 34 million viewers.
While it's awesome how many people tuned in for the season 2 premiere, it also meant that there were seriously high stakes. Can you imagine if more than 40 million people were watching your show and it sucked? Everything was on the line in Survivor season 2, and Jeff Probst's show absolutely delivered.
The second season of Survivor sent the series on an entirely different trajectory, and the show is still riding that wave.
The Australian Outback introduces several Survivor legends and took gameplay to another level
If the first season of Survivor introduced fans to a wild, new social experiment, The Australian Outback leveled up every aspect of the game from the cast to the gameplay to the blindsides.
Looking at the cast of Australian Outback, it's full of players who went on to become massive, beloved stars. Runner-up Colby Donaldson, who returns for Survivor 50, charmed audiences around the country. He showed just how impactful you can be if you can win almost every immunity challenge.
Winner Tina Wesson, who did the same, is one of the pioneers of social and strategic gameplay. There's a strong argument that Tina's strategy formed the base needed for other players to build their strategy.
Jerri Manthey, one of the show's first "villains," was also introduced in Australian Outback. Survivor: All-Stars winner Amber Brkich, who married Survivor legend Boston Rob Mariano years later, was also a huge part of the season.
So many of these season 2 players returned for other seasons, including Michael Skupin, Alicia Calaway, Jeff Varner, and Kimmi Kappenberg. Elisabeth Filarski married NFL quarterback Tim Hasselbeck, and then she became a star TV host.
While I would argue that the gameplay in the early seasons of Survivor is not nearly as impressive as what we saw in the decades later, The Australian Outback definitely improved the game in almost every way.
Overall, Survivor: The Australian Outback is just an iconic season of the series, but it was also so important for the success of the show, as a whole. Had Survivor not totally crushed it with this season, who knows if the show is stilll on today?
Watch Survivor 50 on Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2026, on CBS and Paramount+!