Leader of American reality TV shows, Survivor had its season finale for the 49th edition recently on Wednesday, December 17, 2025. The highly successful survival franchise will celebrate a landmark golden anniversary with its 50th season and its trailer premiered following the finale.
As the winner was announced, so were the Survivor 49 players who would be returning for the upcoming season. This came as a surprise because CBS had not previously disclosed that any season 49 players would also be competing in season 50. This is on track for the landmark season as the franchise is set to bring back players from previous eras of the show according to Men’s Journal. Read on to discover who won Survivor 49 and the premiere date for Survivor 50.
The winner of Survivor 49: Meet Savannah Louie
On December 17, at the end of the three-hour season finale which saw a historic all-female stand-off between Sophi Balerdi, Sage Ahrens-Nichols and Savannah Louie saw the latter crowned the Sole Survivor. Louie not only won the grand cash prize of $1 million but is also set to return to Survivor 50 alongside fellow castaway Rizo Velovic. This announcement was made through the trailer for season 50.
Savannah Louie is a 31-year-old former reporter from Walnut Creek, California, who is currently working as a marketing strategist according to Entertainment Weekly. She is the sixth woman in the show’s history to win four individual Immunity Challenges in a season.
What we know about Survivor 50
Survivor 50 will premiere on Wednesday, Feb 25 2026 at 8 PM ET/PT and will stream on CBS and Paramount+ according to Men’s Journal. The golden anniversary edition of the show will be filmed back to back with season 49 and will thus offer little respite to the most recent participants who will be rejoining.
With a total number of 24 players, the cast for the upcoming season have been revealed to be:
Jenna Lewis-Dougherty
Colby Donaldson
Stephenie LaGrossa Kendrick
Cirie Fields
Ozzy Lusth
Benjamin “Coach” Wade
Aubry Bracco
Chrissy Hofbeck
Christian Hubicki
Angelina Keeley
Mike White
Rick Devens
Jonathan Young
Dee Valladares
Emily Flippen
Q Burdette
Tiffany Ervin
Charlie Davis
Genevieve Mushaluk
Kamilla Karthigesu
Kyle Fraser
Joseph Hunter
Savannah Louie
Rizo Velovic