Castaway

Castaway
Survivor Gameplay
Description	The contestants that survive to claim the million dollar prize
Appearances	Every season

Castaways (also known as contestants, players, or survivors) refer to the people who compete on Survivor.

About

Contestants are either applicants who submitted audition tapes or went to casting calls or were recruited by casting producers. Aspiring castaways must have an American to apply. Beginning in Survivor: Island of the Idols, Canadians have been allowed to apply. As of Survivor 41, the minimum age requirement for applicants is 16 years-old.

In some cases, applicants from other CBS reality competition series such as The Amazing Race and Big Brother are encouraged to apply for Survivor instead. Applicants would be narrowed down to a shortlist.

Once the cast is selected, production has the contestants fill out several visa applications to conceal the actual country they will be filming at. Once at the filming location, the contestants would be sequestered to Ponderosa until filming begins. The castaways commit to the experience for a total of 46 days, 39 being the game proper, 6 for sequester, and 1 for the day after the Final Tribal Council. In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, health protocols called the castaways to have a mandatory 14-day quarantine, thus reducing the game period from 39 days to 26.

Each season of Survivor ranges from having 16 to 20 castaways, each competing to become the Sole Survivor. Each castaway would be assigned on a tribe (either by the production's choice or by Schoolyard Pick by the contestants themselves), although there are times that tribes are not assigned on the first day, and there is an instance in Survivor: Palau where two castaways, Jonathan Libby and Wanda Shirk, were eliminated before tribes were assigned.

The castaways have to compete and avoid elimination. The castaways compete in challenges, either for reward, where the tribe, a single or a group of castaways could win creature comforts, or immunity where castaways compete for exemption from Tribal Council.

On the final day of the competition, the remaining or few face a jury of recently eliminated castaways eliminated in the game in Final Tribal Council, where the jury chooses who wins the title of Sole Survivor.

Castaways usually carry in the game clothes and a bag, in which they may be allowed to carry a Luxury Item. The castaways are also instructed to wear their Buffs all the time to make viewers distinguish easily what tribe each castaway is assigned to.

All-Stars, Guatemala, Micronesia, Heroes vs. Villains, Redemption Island, South Pacific, Philippines, Caramoan, Blood vs. Water, Cambodia, Game Changers, Edge of Extinction, Winners at War, and Survivor 45 all featured castaways from seasons past. They are known as returning players.

Cast Gallery

Survivor: Borneo cast.

Survivor: The Australian Outback cast.

Survivor: Africa cast.

Survivor: Marquesas cast.

Survivor: Thailand cast.

Survivor: The Amazon cast.

Survivor: Pearl Islands cast.

Survivor: All-Stars cast.

Survivor: Vanuatu cast.

Survivor: Palau cast.

Survivor: Guatemala cast.

Survivor: Panama cast.

Survivor: Cook Islands cast.

Survivor: Fiji cast.

Survivor: China cast.

Survivor: Micronesia cast.

Survivor: Gabon cast.

Survivor: Tocantins cast.

Survivor: Samoa cast.

Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains cast.

Survivor: Nicaragua cast.

Survivor: Redemption Island cast.

Survivor: South Pacific cast.

Survivor: One World cast.

Survivor: Philippines cast.

Survivor: Caramoan cast.

Survivor: Blood vs. Water cast.

Survivor: Cagayan cast.

Survivor: San Juan del Sur cast.

Survivor: Worlds Apart cast.

Survivor: Cambodia cast.

Survivor: Kaôh Rōng cast.

Survivor: Millennials vs. Gen X cast.

Survivor: Game Changers cast.

Survivor: Heroes vs. Healers vs. Hustlers cast.

Survivor: Ghost Island cast.

Survivor: David vs. Goliath cast.

Survivor: Edge of Extinction cast.

Survivor: Island of the Idols cast.

Survivor: Winners at War cast.

Survivor 41 cast.

Survivor 42 cast.

Survivor 43 cast.

Survivor 44 cast.

Survivor 45 cast.

Survivor 46 cast.

Survivor 47 cast.

Trivia

• There are currently 715 castaways who have played Survivor (355 male castaways, 358 female castaways, 2 non-binary castaways).
  • Of all the castaways, 104 have participated in multiple seasons, with 74 castaways competing twice, 23 castaways competing three times, 6 castaways competing four times, and 1 castaway competing five times.
  • Of all the castaways, 38 of them have been evacuated due to an emergency, voluntarily removed themselves from the game, or ejected for repeated rule violations. Four players (Jenna Morasca, Susan Hawk, Colton Cumbie, and Sandra Diaz-Twine) quit on their subsequent attempts at the game, while four other players, Jonathan Penner, James Clement, Erik Reichenbach, and Terry Deitz, were evacuated on their subsequent attempts.
• If certain information from the outside world is urgently needed to be relayed a castaway (e.g. death of a family member), the contestant must be pulled out from the game before knowing the said information, as seen in Survivor: Cambodia, when Terry Deitz was rushed home to be with his critically ill son.
• Host Jeff Probst explained that the increase in number of contestants from 16 to 18-20 is to provide more "wiggle room" (i.e. to have less pre-empted Immunity Challenges and Tribal Councils) in case of quits or medical evacuations.

See also

• List of Survivor (U.S.) contestants