The Single Best <em>Survivor</em> Contestant Ever Is Back for the 50th Season. It's Not Who You Think.
When people find out I love Survivor (meaning, when someone gets stuck with me at a party or social gathering and I inevitably bring it up), they often ask which season is the best to start with, for someone coming in completely cold. There are reasons to start with Season 1, Borneo , simply because it's the first. Or even Season 7, Pearl Islands , because the cast is incredible and produced a ton of fan favorites (I still love you, Andrew Savage ) who went on to play the game multiple times .
But I have never wavered in recommending Season 37, David vs. Goliath , thanks to one incredibly special contestant, who transforms in the first episodes from potentially one of the most annoying Survivor players ever to one of the most surprising and lovable underdogs we've seen play this game. No, I'm not talking about Mike White , the now extremely famous creator of The White Lotus , who sneaked into that season basically unknown by his castmates and finished in second place. I'm talking about Christian Hubicki , a neurotic robotics engineer who embodied all the best things about Survivor : He had a blast on the show, he made friends (including with a professional wrestler ), he gained confidence, and he left graciously, even more comfortably himself than when he arrived. I often wondered how Christian was doing, after his season concluded. I followed him on Twitter, hoping to keep our parasocial relationship going, but then I closed my account due to all the Nazis and bots, thus severing my only tenuous tie to the player. Occasional Google searches didn't yield much—until this morning, when it was made official that Christian will be part of Survivor 50 , the show's 50th season, airing next spring and featuring all returning players . In fact, as I type this, Christian is probably on a plane to Fiji to start filming—along with a couple of his season mates, true piece of work Angelina Keeley and Mike White, the latter of whose newfound notoriety may introduce an entirely new (highbrow?) audience to the show.
Despite my documented irritation with Survivor ’s “new era,” I haven’t quit watching. And to its credit, over the past two seasons, the show has gotten a little more grounded and less impressed with itself. Jeff Probst's performative wokeism—for example, saying his signature “C'mon in, guys!” amid claims of noninclusiveness—has been dialed down, and players seem to have more at stake again than purely personal and emotional development. Season 48 just wrapped, and although there was a focus on representation and plenty of emotion, there was also, in a return to form, genuine gameplay: People lied ! Probst brought back the infamous Simmotion for the final immunity challenge! The guy I wanted to win actually won !
Still, there wasn't much actual surviving on the most recent Survivor , and that's what I hope is part of 50 . The season will have the biggest cast ever—24 players, some of whom have appeared on the show multiple times already; about half are from the old days, when the rain was basically a fellow cast member and the misery of being permanently damp was its own kind of ongoing challenge. I hope for firemaking drama and some high-stakes foraging for food. I hope that shelter construction is a through line of multiple episodes and campsite maintenance a constant stressor. I wouldn't mind a controversial showmance ! Do I wish they would ditch Fiji for someplace more inhospitable, like Guatemala (Season 11), with its swarms of mosquitoes and jungle? I do! (I know. I'm sick.) But I accept that that's not happening. Seriously, I'd be delighted for some arguments over who is hogging the coconuts and how they'll be punished for their trespass.
There are a few other big-name survivors returning for 50 , notably Cirie Fields, who lost Survivor multiple times only to win the first US season of The Traitors ; I am an OG Cirie fan, but this latest return feels like maybe she's jumped the shark. Stephenie LaGrossa was also on The Traitors , which probably makes her a bigger draw than she would have been otherwise; still, her time on Season 11 (the aforementioned Guatemala ) was one of a kind—she played so hard on a losing tribe that she eventually became a team of one . And is anyone not groaning at the return of Ozzy Lusth , who was great in his first appearance, during Season 13, but turned into a sexist egomaniac and sore loser in later appearances? (Still, maybe this is an opportunity: If he hasn't been reformed, Probst will be on him!)
All of this is to say, I would have chosen a different cast for Survivor 50 —but so would any other longtime watcher of the game. I'd happily have swapped farmer sweetheart JT for basic sports bro Colby and cast the diabolical anti-feminist Jenna Morasca from The Amazon —a season of so many horrors no one ever talks about it. Still, I'm delighted to know I'll be reunited next year with Christian, my first Survivor love and the kind of weirdo we don't get enough of on this show anymore. He's odd, confident, adorable, earnest, and brilliant, just totally himself. I'm ready for this 50 . As Probst would say (as I cringe): Let's get it on!
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