As long-time fans of Survivor, Season 40 will be an all winners cast. 20 winners in Survivors’ history are coming back to play in the biggest season of all time. Here is what we know about the season so far. 

• There are two tribes, a blue tribe named Sele and a red tribe named Dakal.
• A new twist with coins and buying advantages has been confirmed.
• The Edge of Extinction has been confirmed. This twist is where players who have been voted off go to an island where they will have two different chances to get back into the game.
• And this season, there will be 2 million dollars instead of the usual 1 million for the win. 

The following is a reminder to people who may have joined Survivor in later seasons (this includes me) of what each winner did, how many challenges they won, and how they won their season. 

Sele Tribe:

Ethan Zohn

One Time Player

Age: 46

Advantages: None

Winner of Season 3: Africa

Total Immunity challenges won from the season: 1

Ethan Zohn was never really known for being a challenge beast as he only won 1 immunity challenge, which was a memory challenge. He was on the right side of the votes for every tribal he went to. He voted the correct way, every time. Ethan was in a 3-way alliance with Lex and Tom and when this alliance hit the merge, they seem to stick together to the top 4. But Kim J (the one on the outs) won final 4 and 3 and the alliance turned on Tom at 4. And at final 3, Kim chose to vote off Lex, taking Ethan to the end. 

The final vote was 5 votes Ethan, 2 votes Kim.

Danni Boatwright

One Time Player

Age: 44

Winner of Season 11: Guatemala

Advantages from the season: None

Total Immunity challenges won from the season: 2 

Danni wasn’t known as a challenge beast, but she won the final 3 which she secured her the win. During the pre-merge, she voted with the majority and made it to merge fine. Then Danni fell into the minority alliance as she watched a few people she worked within early merge get voted off. But she managed to break into the majority and broke up that majority afterward. The major alliance was Rafe and Stephenie, they trusted Danni and went to the top 3, Danni won final immunity and they voted Rafe off. 

The final vote was 6 votes Danni, 1 vote Stephenie.

Parvati Shallow

Three Time Player

Age: 37

Winner of Season 16: Micronesia

Advantages from the season: None

Total Immunity Challenges won from the season: 1

Going into the season, Parvati was on the favorites tribe but was not seen as a threat, which allowed her to join an alliance with Amanda, Ozzy and James. This alliance took out Yau-Man. Several days later Ozzy told Parvati and the rest of the alliance that he found the idol. When they got to merge, Eliza and Parvati attempted to control the votes, and Parvati won and sent Eliza home. Afterwards, Parvati blindsided Ozzy as he would become a threat down the line.

The final tribal vote was 5 votes Parvati, 3 votes Amanda. After that, at final 6, they attempted to vote off Amanda, Parvati’s number 1 ally, but Amanda played an idol and the 2 vote off Alexis. Afterwards, one of the most iconic final 5 vote offs happened, where the girls somehow convinced Erik to give up his immunity, and which the 4 women vote him off. Natalie was voted off afterwards. At this point it was Parvati vs Cirie, Amanda won final immunity and voted Cirie off.   

The final vote was 5 votes Parvati, 3 votes Amanda. 

Rob Mariano 

Four Time Player

Age: 44

Winner of Season 22: Redemption Island

Advantages from the season: 1

Total Immunity Challenges won from the season: 4

The twist of the season was that popular players Rob and Russel would return to compete on separate tribes. You may have forgotten this as Russel was voted off at 8 after a revote where his team sent him packing. Rob got into several alliances, but at the first vote he barely controlled the vote with it ending as a 4 – 3 – 2. Rob formed a power alliance with Phillip as nobody liked him and he brought him to the end, he was sure to win. Rob’s next target was Matt, which he got out easily. After this, Rob lost control of his team as he wanted Phillip out but Kristina went instead. When they got to merge, Matt came back into the game and for some reason didn’t join the other team alliance, so Matt went first. Then they eliminated one by one the entire other team. Rob kept this alliance until final 6, but then it was all of his old team turned on Andrea. After that, Grant was next, Andrea came back into the game only to get voted off again, Rob even played in idol on himself to prove he was safe. Ashley was the last one voted off. At the end the jury praised Rob for controlling his entire team and merge.

The final vote was 8 vote Rob, 1 vote Phillip, 0 votes Natalie.

Denise Stapley

One Time Player

Age: 49

Winner of Season 25: Philippines

Advantages found from the season: None 

Total Immunity Challenges won from the season: 1

Denise started on the Matsing Tribe out of 3 tribes, her 6 person tribe went to tribal council 4 times. She made close alliances, but it didn’t matter when all of them were out in the first four votes. Then she went to her new team Kalabaw and guess what happened? Kalabaw lost the next 3 challenges and she survived all of those as well. Denise should be in a horrible state, but she joined yet another new alliance that she hadn’t even met until merge and managed to make it another great thing that happened. They kept her safe at the final 7 vote of Penner vs Denise, where her other Matsing tribe member Malcolm, herself, Michael and Lisa form a 4 person majority that goes to the final 4. After this the two remaining Matsing members, Malcolm and Denise had the best chance at winning, Michael won immunity, took Denise over Malcolm, and Denise destroyed Michael and Lisa at the final 3.  

The final vote was 6 votes Denise, 1 vote Lisa, 1 vote Michael. 

Natalie Anderson

One Time Player

Age: 33

Winner of Season 29: San Juan del Sur

Advantages found from the season: 1

Total Immunity Challenges won from the season. 

Natalie played in the Second Blood vs Water with her sister Nadiya, if the name sounds familiar, the sisters have competed in the Amazing Race a few times. Sadly this wasn’t a sister event as Nadiya was voted out first. Natalie was shaken and disturbed by this, but forced herself to play harder. She grew hatred towards John, who had led the vote off for her sister, John was voted out the same night. She went to one tribal on her new swap tribe where Drew was easily voted off. Natalie’s main alliance consists of old and new, but the vote offs showed all of the new Hunahpu Tribe getting booted off one by one. Eventually, Natalie was the last one of this but this seemingly unfazed her. Two major vote-offs were her tieing the vote 2 – 2 – 2 and getting her target out John in the revote. Then she played an idol on Jaclyn and sent her home with 2 votes. At the final 4, Jaclyn and Natalie targeted nice guy Keith, which he was then voted off in a 3 – 1, Natalie wasn’t even targeted that vote. At the final 3, Natalie was praised for playing a power-hungry game.

The final vote was 5 votes Natalie, 2 votes Jaclyn, 1 vote Missy

Jeremy Collins

Two Time Player

Age: 41

Winner of Season 31: Cambodia 

Advantages found from the season: 2

Total Immunity Challenges won from the season: 1

Jeremy came into a high stakes season as this was Survivor Second Chance, a fan picked season of 20 players that never won and only played once. Jeremy only went to one tribal where Monica was voted off in a 3 – 2 – 1, which he had voted for Monica. When he reached merge he had a close alliance with several power players such as Kass, Andrew and Stephen, none of them making top 8. At the final 10, he played an idol correctly on Stephen and Ciera was sent home, however Stephen was sent out at final 9. Stephen started up a new 3 person alliance with Spencer and Tasha. They targeted and got out Joe and Abi at 8 and 7. The final 6 tribal happened and the only way I can put it is this was deciding the winner right here. Two alliances of 3 went head to head. Jeremy played an idol and Kelly played one as well. In the end the alliance of Kelly Kimmi and Keith had to turn on each other. Afterwards Keith went at 5 and Kelly at 4. Jeremy played a pretty well-rounded game, with 2 successful idol plays and a great story.

The final vote was 10 votes Jeremy, 0 votes for Tasha or Spencer

Michele Fitzgerald

One Time Player

Age: 29

Winner of Season 32: Kaôh Rōng

Advantages found from the season: 1

Total Immunity Challenges won from the season: 2

Michele started off on the second brains vs brawn vs beauty. She had one of the easier beginnings in Survivor history as she walked into the top 10 because she was always safe. When she was not immune several people were acting like big threats which allowed her to go further. She and Tai seemed to not get along as they both tried to get each other out and both failed. Michele managed to go to the top 3 with little issue. Then there was one final challenge at final 3 where the winner could eliminate someone from the jury, Michele won and took out Neal, one of Aubry close allies. She used her underdog story and it worked, she won.

The final vote was 5 votes Michele, 2 votes Aubry, 0 votes Tai

Adam Klein

One Time Player

Age: 29

Winner of Season 33: Millennials vs Gen X

Advantages found from the season: 1

Total Immunity Challenges won from the season: 1

Adam went into the season thinking he was gonna play very well. Unfortunately, his first tribal didn’t do so well, his number one ally Mari was voted off. It was likely if they lost another challenge that he was next. But he was able to make it to merge without going to tribal again. Adam joined the majority at the merge and for the first 3 vote offs he was safe. Until the final 10, it was 2 ties in a row which meant rocks were next, Adam went to rocks and was safe. Then at final 9 he played an idol on the right person, however Will flipped so Zeke was going regardless. Afterwards, Will was voted off for being a flipper, and the next few vote off was just the final 4 voted together until final 5, Adam tried to backstab David but failed and Bret went in a 3 – 2. At this point of the game it was Adam or David winning. Ken won the final 4 challenge and for the first time all season, Ken backstabbed his number one ally David, with him going in a 3 – 1. Adam gave a heartwarming and emotional speech along with a list of fighting upwards in the game. 

The final vote was 10 votes Adam and 0 votes for Ken or Hannah.

Ben Driebergen

One Time Player

Age: 37

Winner of Season 35: Heros vs Healers vs Hustlers

Advantages found from the season: 3

Total Immunity Challenges won from the season: 0

Ben started off the season on the hero’s tribe, he joined a majority with Chrissy, Ashley and Alan, they took out Katrina. Later, Ben was placed onto a new tribe with him being the only hero. It was very likely that if the new Hustler tribe ever went to tribal council, he was the one getting voted off. He ended up making it to merge where he joined a majority and started knocking out the Healer tribe members until the JP blindside, where the whole pace of the season changed. Afterwards, Joe was blindsided and Ben started taking control of his fate.  At final 7, Ben shocked the other 6 players with an idol play, since both alliances wanted him out they all voted for him. So he was the only vote cast towards Lauren. Ben won the final 6 Immunity so he was safe. Ben played another Idol at 5 and again, he was the majority vote. At final 4, it was revealed that final 4 was working different this season, two people have to go to fire making, Ben beat Devon in firemaking and went to the final 3. Ben won thanks to his story, great idol plays, and his really solid social game. 

The final vote was 5 votes Ben, 2 votes Chrissy and 1 vote Ryan

Dakal Tribe:

Amber Mariano

Two Time Player

Age: 41

Winner of Season 8: Allstars

Advantages found from the season: 0

Total Immunity Challenges won from the season: 1

Survivor All-Stars began with Amber having an easy start until the fourth tribal, She joined an alliance with Rob and Big Tom and they took out the other Rob. The tribal before merge, Amber and Jerri went for each other, but Amber praviled. Amber then joined a close alliance with Rob, Jenna, and others. One by one they were all voted off, at the final 5 Tom was backstabbed. Followed by Rupert blindside at final 4. Rob wins the final 3 challenge and takes Jenna out. At the final tribal, Rob and Amber were ripped apart for playing a mean, heartless game. But the heart seemed to be for each other, before the votes were read live, Rob Proposes to Amber and Amber says yes. 

The final vote was 4 votes Amber, 3 votes Rob

Yul Kwon

One Time Player

Age: 44

Winner of Season 13: Cook Islands

Advantages found from the season: 1

Total Immunity Challenges won from the season: 0

The season started with 4 tribes of different backgrounds. His main claim to fame is finding the hidden immunity idol which kept the target off his back. Afterward Yul joined a 4 person majority with Ozzy, Becky, Sundra. This 4 would go all the way to the top 4. Becky and Sundra went to fire making and Becky won. Yul was able to use his charisma to edge him over Ozzy in the end.

The final vote was 5 votes Yul, 4 votes Ozzy, 0 votes Becky

Sandra Diaz Twine

Three Time Player

Age: 37

Winner of Season 7: Pearl Islands

Advantages found from the season: 0

Total Immunity Challenges won from the season: 0

Sandra had a simple, yet genius strategy. As long as it’s not me, I don’t care. She had alliances but didn’t always vote with them, if she disagrees with what they wanted. She went to 4 tribals in a row and voted correctly every single time. Lillian got back into the game at merge, over the season, the two became close and looked out for each other, maybe not always voting with each other, but never going for each other. One player, Jon, managed to mess with most of the cast, but Sandra never believed his words. At final 3, Lillian won, and took Sandra to the end, where Sandra won the game.

The final vote was 6 votes Sandra, 1 vote Lillian

Sandra also won

Winner of Season 20: Heroes vs Villains

Advantages found from the season: 1

Total Immunity Challenges won from the season: 0

Sandra came back to Heroes vs Villains and was put on the villains tribe. She acted more as an anti-villain, where the heroes wanted to work with her. She early on tried to get Russel out, but quickly learned there was no way she would get him out. Sandra started working with Parvati and off handedly Russel. And it paid off well. She voted correctly for most of the merge. At final 6, she played an idol on herself, but she only received two votes, the rest were for Rupert. Afterwards she joined Russel and Parvati and voted for the last two people at 5 and 4. In the end, both Parvati and Sandra played great games, but Sandra was the one who took the win.

The final vote was 6 votes Sandra, 3 votes Parvati, and 0 votes Russel

Sophie Clarke

One Time Player

Age: 30

Winner of Season 23: South Pacific

Advantages found from the season: 0

Total Immunity Challenges won from the season: 3

Sophie starts off the season lost with being in the minority vote and not seeming to have any control. She joined coaches alliance with Albert and Brandon. This group would go on and off to tribal the whole pre merge. Then at merge, it was them voting together all the way to the first final 5. Brandon gives his immunity away even though his boat was in the hot seat. Sophie survived by one vote. Again was almost voted off at final 5, she then goes to the top 3 with Coach and Albert. Although Coach did play a good strategic game, Sophie’s respect and timing got her the win over Coach and Albert.

The final vote was 6 votes Sophie, 3 votes Coach, and 0 votes Albert

Kim Spradlin

One Time Player

Age: 37

Winner of Season 24: One World

Advantages found from the season: 0

Total Immunity Challenges won from the season: 4

Kim started off the game with many girls alliances, she was one of the best at them. She went to 1 tribal council where Nina got voted off by a mostly tribe choice. When it got to merge, she led a crusade to vote off 3 strong men in a row. She lost control of the final 9 votes where she almost got voted off, but people flipped on Leif. Afterward, everyone turned on Kat again thanks to Kim. And by the time of final 5, she purged all the men off the cast. Sabrina and Chelsea joined her on the last two-vote offs and they went to the final 3. Although some players consider her game almost heartless and some people felt really hurt by the vote offs, she managed to gain most of their respect.

The final vote was 7 votes Kim, 2 votes Sabrina, and 0 votes Chelsea

Tyson Apostol

Three Time Player

Age: 40

Winner of Season 27: Blood vs Water

Advantages found from the season: 1

Total Immunity Challenges won from the season: 3

Tyson had a bad start, he was not in a majority, broke an arm and was being gunned by the other tribe. His power threw and managed to turn his game around. He found an idol and managed to hold onto it for a long while. When he made it to merge, he formed a close 5 with Gervase, Monica, Ciera, and Hayden. This group went all the way to the top 5, Hayden got voted off in a 3 – 2. Afterwards Tina returned into the game, Tyson played an idol on Gervase, not only to make sure he stays in, but to secure his alliance. Ciera went next and at final 4 Tina gets voted off. Tyson destroyed the final 3 as neither played a game close to what he did.

The final vote was 7 votes Tyson, 1 vote Monica, 0 votes Gervase

Tony Vlachos

Two Time Player

Age: 46

Winner of Season 28: Cagayan

Advantages found from the season: 3

Total Immunity Challenges won from the season: 0

This season was the first Brains vs Brawn vs Beauty, Tony was a brawn and never won a challenge. Tony went to one premerge tribal where he wanted Cliff out, and just barely managed to do so. When Tony got to merge, he had already found an idol, and he found another idol, plus the super idol. He used fear tactics, lies to players and does all kinds of stuff to gain more and more control. He took Sarah out whole seemed to be some high-level competition. As merge progressed he built a very close relationship with Woo. Later it was revealed that it would be a final 2. He managed to bluff the whole cast to make them think he was immune at final 4 when he never was immune. He lost the final 3 challenge to Woo. Now this was his best move, somehow he managed to convince him to bring him to the final 2 even though if he didn’t, Woo would have won. Tony was mocked and people did not like how he treated players, but since Woo played such a weak, follower game, he was able to take the win with ease.

The final vote was 8 votes Tony, 1 vote Woo

Sarah Lacina

Two Time Player

Age: 36

Winner of Season 34: Game Changers

Advantages found from the season: 2

Total Immunity Challenges won from the season: 0

Speaking of Sarah,  she was given the chance a few seasons later to play again, and she played well. She started off on the winning tribe for both the first and swap tribe. She also was safe the full time. Similar to Tony she did not have any main loyalties. She jumped between several alliances. When Sarah got to merge, she first was not on the right side of the numbers. She flipped and took out Ozzy, and Debbie afterwards on a close 6 – 5 vote. At the final 9, Sierra promised if she got out she would give Sarah her Legacy advantage, Sarah did a masterful blindside on her, and she got the legacy advantage. At the final 7, Sarah gave her steal a vote to Cirie, Cirie attempted to blindside her but Cirie didn’t read the full description of advantage. This advantage was non transferable. Sarah took it back and voted Cirie number one allie out Michaela. After that the final 6 happened, Brad won immunity, and everyone pulled out what advantages they had in order to save themselves. Cirie was the only one who wasn’t immune. Afterwards Aubry and Tai were voted off at 5 and 4. At the final 3 tribal council, Sarah was fought out for her destructive game. Brad had an even worst social game, and Troyzan did nothing. In the end, Sarah big plays gave her the win.  

The final vote was 7 votes Sarah, 3 votes Brad, 0 votes Troyzan.

Wendell Holland

One Time Player

Age: 35

Winner of Season 36: Ghost Island

Advantages found from the season: 1

Total Immunity Challenges won from the season: 2

Wendell started off the game with a weird start with him on his swap tribe attempting to take control of the vote, and failing.  He built a close alliance with Domenick, another very strong player. With these two they went into the merge. They brought Lauren, Donathon and Sebastian into the alliance. The first big move was getting nearly everyone to backstab Chris, Domenick’s rival in the game. There was a split tribal after that, and Wendell made a big move getting Micheal out when none of them really wanted to. Afterwards, the majority he was in started falling apart, Sebastian stopped listening and Donathon was blowing up tribals and camps. At final 6 they  got Sebastian out, and at final 5, Wendell played his idol on Laurel, making their alliance even closer. They went all the way to top 4, Domenick won immunity and sends Wendell to firemaking, and he won. At final 3 these two power houses sat, both with great, thought out games. It was so even that it was a tie, there was 10 jury members, and it split, 5 votes Wendell, 5 votes Domenick, which meant Laurel was the final member of the jury. She decided who was the next winner, now you see why Wendell taking care of her was important.

The final vote was 6 votes Wendell, 5 votes Domenick

Nick Wilson 

One Time Player

Age: 29

Winner of Season 37: David vs Goliath

Advantages found from the season: 2

Nick was almost the first boot, that is not a joke, Nick played way too hard off the bat and everyone was saying it was him. Pat had to be medically evacuated, giving Nick some time to fix things.  He did, and Nick managed to point out that Jessica was a problem and barely got her out. The David’s Tribe then went to a swap, the next tribal he went to, he voted out the eldest player Natalie. He then built a close bond with Mike and they got Lyrsa out afterwards. He then was in merge, at final 12, the vote seemed to be Christian or Angelina, and idols were played on both of them. Davie, Christian and Nick threw 3 votes at John, and he was sent home. Then Nick used his steal a vote on Alison and they all voted Dan, but he played an idol, but it didn’t matter. The idol nullifier was used to make Dan’s idol useless. Nick was left out of Carl’s blindside even though he would have done it. Nick was made so he focused his efforts to get out Christian and Davie, which he did. This left Nick as the final David vs 4 Goliaths. Nick won the last 2 challenges, got into the final 3. Although Mike had some good parts, Nick played the best game from the 3.

Total Immunity Challenges won from the Season: 3

The final vote was 7 votes Nick, 3 votes Mike, 0 votes Angelina