Nothing beats a tropical getaway, doesn’t it? Unless you’re foraging for food and building your own shelter, of course – some would argue that is kind of the point. Since 2000, Survivor has taken contestants to some of the most stunning remote locations on Earth, only to pit them against one another. Getting on Survivor, however, is no mere feat – you have to survive a grueling process. With thousands of hopefuls submitting their videos every season, the process to make it to the island is sometimes as intense, if not more, as the game itself.
Host and showrunner Jeff Probst says the show isn’t just looking for anyone willing to eat rice and get sunburned on TV. Casting is about finding the right mix of personalities who can thrive in the harsh environment, in social chaos, and tell the story of their season. So, what exactly does it take to make it on Survivor?
In how Probst looks at it, there are three key things producers look for. Here’s how it all breaks down — with a few behind-the-scenes casting stories from contestants who made the cut.
Do you really want it? Like, REALLY?
The first thing Probst looks for is rather simple. It is the drive. But it’s not just about wanting to be on TV or loving the show — you need to need this. He explains,
Sometimes people apply and even though they say and do all the right things, you can tell the drive just isn’t there. If we don’t sense a real need to be on this show, then we know it’s not the right time for you.
Take Brandon Donlon, for example. He’s been dreaming about being on Survivor since he was 11 years old (yes, really). As a kid, he even sent in audition tapes before he was legally eligible to compete. As soon as he could, he started applying every year without hearing a peep back from casting. “I knew I had the sauce, but Survivor did not care about my sauce,” Brandon jokes.
That didn’t stop him from trying. He even made it to the final stages of casting for Big Brother in 2019, which gave him some extra confidence when he finally got his first Survivor callback for season 44. But even then, Brandon didn’t make the final cut.
Instead of giving up, he kept pushing. A year later, he finally got the call that he’d made it onto Survivor 45. His drive to play the game — and years of persistence — had paid off.
Do you know who you are?
Probst’s second must-have – self-awareness. “Do you know who you are?” he asks. This is where some hopefuls trip up, especially if they try to copy someone else they’ve seen on the show. Probst warns against this though.
If you haven’t spent time reflecting on who you are, or if you don’t have a circle of friends who will tell you, you need to know how you see yourself. And it really helps if you have an idea of how the world sees you, because they’re not always the same. If you try to anticipate what you think we’re looking for, or if you see somebody on a season that was really popular and try to emulate what they did, it’s not going to work.
For Survivor 45’s Dee Valladares, self-awareness (and maybe a little audacity) set her apart. She submitted her audition video months late but decided to get creative to grab the casting’s attention. “I posted my audition video on Instagram and told everyone I knew to tag [casting director] Jesse Tannenbaum,” she admits.
Her plan worked… almost too well. Tannenbaum’s phone blew up with notifications, and he wasn’t exactly thrilled. “I was like, ‘Oh my God, I hate her,’” he recalls.
But Dee knew who she was — and she wasn’t afraid to own it. “I told Jesse, ‘Dude, I’d be annoyed if I were you. I’m sorry, but I’m not sorry.’” Despite questionable tactics, arguably still suited for the modern world, her confidence and energy shone through, and Probst loved her right away.
Can you tell a great story?
Last but probably one of the most important parts of showbiz, Probst says Survivor needs people who can talk. And not just talk — you have to be able to tell a story in a way that’s clear, entertaining, and dramatic.
You have to be able to tell a story because we task the players with a giant responsibility. They are the narrators for their season.
Kaleb Gebrewold from Survivor 45 is a perfect example. Kaleb’s audition video stood out immediately, and Tannenbaum knew within seconds that he was a star. Probst agreed, describing Kaleb as “charming” and full of swagger.
Kaleb’s storytelling skills also came through in his interviews. Probst recalls Kaleb showing up to their first Zoom call with his shirt unbuttoned and oozing confidence. “He was walking around his apartment basically just saying, ‘Jeff, I slay in life,’” Probst laughingly recalls.
You’re going to be narrating the season. And we’re looking for people who can do that in a way that feels authentic, entertaining, and real.
So, how do you go from a standout audition video to actually being on Survivor? The casting process itself is a marathon.
A Survivor of its Own & The Wild Card
Every season, Survivor gets around 25,000 applications. Casting producers like Tannenbaum and his team go through thousands of audition videos to find the ones that stand out. From there, a smaller group gets multiple rounds of interviews, background checks, and psychological evaluations.
At the final stage, about 30 people per season head to Los Angeles for in-person meetings with producers, casting execs, and CBS higher-ups. By the end of it, only 18 contestants (plus a few alternates) make the cut. It’s a grueling process, but that’s by design.
If a player is going to panic, this is the stage where it happens. The pressure ratchets up when the room is full of producers and CBS executives. If you drop the ball at this stage, you probably won’t get on the show this season.
Even then, timing plays a role. Some hopefuls get the dreaded “not this time” call, even if producers love them. That happened to Brandon and Kaleb before their Survivor debuts, but persistence (and patience) paid off.
Not every Survivor journey, however, starts with stepping onto the beach as an official castaway. For some, it begins behind the scenes as an alternate — the “just-in-case” players flown out to Fiji, prepared to jump in if another contestant can’t compete. That’s exactly how Survivor 45 player Kellie Nalbandian got their first taste of the game.
Kellie Nalbandian first packed her bags for Survivor in April 2021 as an alternate for season 43. She’d done all the work — sent in a standout video, survived casting finals, and made it to Fiji. She spent five days at Ponderosa, observing the cast, likely thinking of potential allies and rivals. But when no other women were subbed out before filming began, Kellie flew home, never stepping foot on the beach. Kelly admits,
I was obviously upset about it. Anyone who wants to play Survivor would be a little sad — and would not be a good Survivor player if you didn’t want to play.
But this wasn’t the end of her Survivor journey — just a detour. Kellie’s decision to apply stemmed from her experiences as a critical care nurse in New York City during the COVID-19 pandemic. “It was after a really scary experience for me,” she explains. “Coming out the other side made me realize that I should just go for whatever I wanted to do and that I’m capable of a lot more than I thought.”
With a nudge from her girlfriend (now fiancée), she recorded her casting video on New Year’s Day 2022, highlighting how long shifts and extreme conditions had prepared her for Survivor. The timing wasn’t perfect, but the video caught the attention of casting producer Caitlin Moore, who reported back to casting director Jesse Tannenbaum. “I remember specifically when Caitlin called me about Kellie,” Tannenbaum recalls.
She’s like, ‘This girl is a force of nature. She was dealing with being a nurse during the height of the pandemic while in grad school at Yale. She’s funny, charming, competitive.’ She kind of reminded Caitlin of an East Coast version of [Survivor legend] Parvati. And when she said that to me, I was like, ‘Sold.’
While there wasn’t room for Kellie in seasons 43 or 44, the producers were intrigued. When Kellie eventually spoke with Jeff Probst, she blew him away. “F—ING HOME RUN!” Probst wrote in his notes.
Ultimately, Probst and the team decided to hold Kellie for season 45, but she was sent to Fiji as an alternate for season 43 to be ready in case anything happened. While preparing as an alternate, she sized up the cast and even made mental notes about who she’d want to align with. “My two people I wanted to work with the most were Cassidy and Owen,” she says. Further adding,
Owen was sitting near me and looking at me a lot. Very smiley. He’s kind of bro-ey, but also kind of nerdy, and that’s totally my vibe. And I just liked Cassidy’s vibe. She gives off this very positive flower girl aura.
But Kellie never got the call to join the game. Once the official cast photo was taken, she knew her role as an alternate was over. When casting opened for seasons 45 and 46, Kellie was quickly brought back. She skipped many of the interviews she had already completed the year before and flew straight to Fiji in 2023 as an official contestant. This time, she wasn’t an alternate.
The experience of being an alternate gave Kellie an edge. “It was nice for me to have an idea of the pacing of the week and what things entailed,” she says. “I wasn’t shocked by ‘Oh, we have to wake up at three in the morning to get on a boat.’ I was prepared to sit in this hot, sweaty tent for eight hours while I waited to go talk to Dalton [Ross] for a press interview.”
Probst agrees. For him, they’ve seen the pace and the process, and they know how to examine other people and take notes. They’ve refined their process. Clearly, there’s a lot of upside.
Where, What, and How of Survivor
For nearly two decades, the production has been based in Fiji, specifically in the Mamanuca Islands. Before settling there, however, Survivor hopped around the globe—from Borneo (Season 1) to Africa, the Amazon, and even China.
Fiji became a permanent home partly because of its stunning scenery and favorable filming conditions. The government also gives the show tax incentives (yes, even Survivor loves a good deal). Despite the paradisiacal backdrop, don’t be fooled— it is not exactly your dream vacation.
You’d think sticking a bunch of people on a deserted island would be cheap though, but Survivor isn’t cutting corners. Each hour-long episode of Survivor reportedly costs about $2 million, with almost half of it going to production. And then there’s the $1 million prize (not to mention the runner-up cash and consolation prizes).
Once the game starts, contestants are completely cut off from the outside world. No phones, no internet, no letters. Part of the game’s challenge is dealing with isolation and homesickness. In many seasons, however, players compete for a “family visit” reward where loved ones fly out to the location for an emotional reunion. Even then, the time together is brief, and it’s back to scheming as soon as the hugs are over.
Part of the magic of Survivor is how raw it feels. The alliances, and the blindsides—it’s a quick run-down on human behavior. Whoever came up with this concept must have thoroughly enjoyed William Golding’s Lord of the Flies.
