‘Survivor’ Season 46 Cast Revealed — And Two Will Return for Season 50

CBS has unveiled the 18 contestants heading to Fiji this fall to compete for $1 million and the title of Sole Survivor. Season 49 kicks off Wednesday, September 24 with a two-hour premiere before shifting into a 90-minute format starting October 1.

New players include a rocket scientist, a musician, a correctional officer, a former reporter and more. The network also revealed that two castaways from this season will return for the show’s landmark 50th season in spring 2026. Their identities won’t be revealed until later.

“Every season of Survivor is unique, and that is definitely the case for Survivor 49,” longtime host and showrunner Jeff Probst told Entertainment Weekly in May. “This is a very likable and quirky group of players that are going to encounter a Fijian summer so sweltering it feels like the jungle is breathing on you.”

The cast also entered the game knowing that Survivor 50 loomed just around the corner and that their performance in Fiji might position them for a return. “The other thing that’s interesting about 49 is they were aware because they asked me, ‘Have you finished casting 50 yet?’ And I said, ‘No, it’s in a state of flux.’ And you could see all of them almost at the same moment go, ‘I got a shot. I could be on 50,'” he teased earlier this month in an interview with Gold Derby. I think that added obviously a little incentive to go for it. It’s a hard run for them in the beginning. It evens out a little later, the weather dies down. But I think fans are going to really like this group. And then it’s a setup for 50 because we’ve announced that two of these players end up on 50.”

Survivor is currently nominated for four Primetime Emmy Awards, including an Outstanding Host and Reality Competition Program nomination ­for Probst.

Below, meet the 18 new castaways competing in Survivor‘s 49th season.