In honor of the 25th year of Survivor, I'm enlisting as many of my friends to hop on the fandom train so that I have a whole crew to excite over season 50 with when it releases early next year. And in taking on this great responsibility, I've also taken on the task of basically rewatching all the best seasons of Survivor. (Though I'm not complaining.)
And after a few months of Intro to Survivor, we've finally gotten to the pinnacle season of the original era of the show: Winners at War.
A truly iconic season—in a ridiculous amount of ways—where 20 previous winners came together to fight for the chance to be crowned a two-time (or three in the case of Sandra Diaz-Twine) Survivor champion and take home the highest prize in television history: $2 million.
I remember watching it back in 2020 and thinking that it wasn't possible for Survivor to get any better than this. And looking back five years later, that statement still rings true. Of course, so much of Survivor has changed since then and we've yet to get a "gimmick" season in the new era, so there won't be anything new to compare it to until Survivor 50 airs at the beginning of 2026, but even then, the drama that came with having a pool of previous winners battle it out was so different than anything we'd seen on the show before. It really can't be matched.
This was the second season where the Edge of Extinction was in play, which meant that essentially all players had the opportunity to work to stay in the game for the entire season. In the end, 19 of the original 20 castaways participated in a historically large Final Tribal Council; 3 finalists and 16 jury members, with only Sandra Diaz-Twine having raised the sail at the Edge leaving the game indefinitely.
A few of the most memorable moments include:
Natalie Anderson's Epic Journey
As the first boot of the season, Natalie could have thrown in the towel, but she went on to dominate every challenge sent her way on the Edge of Extinction ultimately earning herself enough fire tokens to get the advantages and fuel she needed to win the final comeback challenge and secure a spot back in the game. Not only that, but she then used two idols and the most important immunity challenge win to ensure a spot at the Final Three instead of getting sent right back to the jury, which was everyone else's plan. There really is no better comeback story in Survivor history.
Ethan Zohn's Log Challenge Perseverance
During one of the most grueling challenges contestants had ever experienced 20 years on Survivor, the few players at the Edge of Extinction were tasked with transporting a pile of logs from the top of the mountain back to the camp before sunset, one log at a time. Mid-way through the challenge, Ethan collapsed and the set medic advised him to take it easy, but said he could keep going as long as he didn't feel faint again. He pushed through the pain and the emotion and on his last trip, the rest of the Edge castaways walked with him in support as he finished the challenge.
Sandra Getting Blindsided by Her Own Idol
Early in the game, Sandra had used her fire token to buy an immunity idol, but decided the tokens would ultimately be worth more since she was in the majority alliance and was safe. So she struck a deal with Denise Stapley, who was on the bottom, where she'd sell her immunity idol for two fire tokens. Denise agreed and gave Sandra one token before Tribal Council and promised the other after it was confirmed the idol was legit. However, Denise already had an idol in her pocket, so that night at Tribal Council, she used both idols to save herself and her ally Jeremy Collins and blindside Sandra.
The Loved Ones Visit
For the only time in Survivor history, players got to see their whole families, not just a single loved one. And on top of that, they didn't have to compete in a challenge to earn time with them, every single castaway got to go back to camp for a meal and a moment with their families.
Even the players out on the Edge of Extinction were surprised when a huge boat arrived carrying all of their family members in for some quality time to remind them who they were on that island for.
Even with all the hype surrounding Survivor 50, we'll see if it holds a candle to the original anniversary season, Winners at War. And of course Survivor 49 is already starting to shape up to be a pretty exciting season, so we'll stay tuned to see what's in store for our current castaways as well!