Survivor 45 is the forty-fifth season of the American competitive reality television series Survivor. It was the thirteenth consecutive season to be filmed in the Mamanuca Islands in Fiji, and premiered on September 27, 2023, on CBS in the United States.
The season ended on December 20, 2023, when Dee Valladares was voted the Sole Survivor, defeating Austin Li Coon and Jake O'Kane in a 5–3–0 vote. Valladares—who is Cuban-American—became the fourth Hispanic castaway to win, following two-time winner Sandra Diaz-Twine from both Survivor: Pearl Islands and Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains, and Yamil "Yam-Yam" Arocho from Survivor 44.
Format
Survivor is a reality television show based on the Swedish show Expedition Robinson, created by Mark Burnett and Charlie Parsons. The series follows a number of participants isolated in a remote location, where they must provide food, fire, and shelter. One by one, a participant is removed from the series by majority vote, with challenges held to give a reward (ranging from living- and food-related prizes to a car) and immunity from being voted out of the series. The last remaining player receives a prize of $1,000,000.
Contestants
The cast of 18 contestants was announced on September 6, 2023. Notable cast members include singer-songwriter J. Maya and Bruce Perreault; the latter had briefly competed on the previous season but was medically evacuated after sustaining an injury in the first episode. +List of Survivor 45 contestants Contestant Age From Tribe Finish Original Switched None Merged Placement Day 33 Baltimore,Maryland rowspan="4" Quit Day 3 26 Sicklerville,New Jersey 1st voted out Day 5 28 Jacksonville,North Carolina 2nd voted out Day 7 35 Provo,Utah 3rd voted out Day 9 23 Seattle,Washington 4th voted out Day 11 24 Los Angeles,California rowspan="2" rowspan="2" rowspan="13" 5th voted out Day 13 30 O'Fallon,Illinois rowspan="12" 6th voted out Day 14 29 Vancouver,British Columbia rowspan="2" 7th voted out 29 New York City,New York rowspan="3" 8th voted out Day 16 30 Steamboat Springs,Colorado 9th voted out Day 17Survivor 44 47 Warwick,Rhode Island 10th voted out Day 19 28 Laurel,Maryland rowspan="2" 11th voted out Day 21 23 Philadelphia,Pennsylvania rowspan="2" 12th voted outDay 23 49 Brentwood,Tennessee 13th voted out7th jury member Day 24 35 Brooklyn,New York rowspan="2" rowspan="2" Eliminated8th jury member Day 25 26 Boston,Massachusetts 2nd runner-up Day 26 26 Chicago,Illinois rowspan="2" Runner-up 26 Miami,Florida Sole Survivor
Future appearances Dee Valladares and Emily Flippen returned to compete on Survivor 50: In the Hands of the Fans.
Outside of Survivor, Drew Basile competed on Jeopardy! in 2024 and qualified for the season 41 Tournament of Champions. Sifu Alsup competed on Beast Games. Valladares competed on The Challenge: Vets & New Threats in 2025. Valladares also competed on season 28 of Big Brother. Kellie Nalbandian competed on the second season of 99 to Beat.
Season summary
Eighteen new castaways were divided into three tribes of six: Belo, Lulu, and Reba. Lulu got off to a disastrous start, and the tribe was marred further by two of its starting members quitting. The first tribe swap of the new era resulted in Lulu outsider Emily finding new life with Reba majority members Austin and Drew.
At the merge, the Reba majority (also including Dee and Julie) took strategic control of the game. They stayed intact until the final 6, at which point Dee and Julie joined surviving Belo members Jake and Katurah in blindsiding Drew. Jake defeated Katurah in the firemaking challenge to join Austin and Dee in the end, but his lack of strategic control led to him receiving no votes to win. Austin and Dee each pled their case with the moves they made, and Dee's argument that she made moves not revealed to Austin beforehand won over the jury's favor, and she was named the Sole Survivor in a 5-3-0 vote over Austin and Jake.
+Survivor 45 season summary Episode Challenge winner(s)Journey Eliminated No. Title Air date Reward Immunity Tribe Player 1 "We Can Do Hard Things" September 27, 2023 rowspan="2" rowspan="2" rowspan="2" Hannah 2 "Brought a Bazooka to a Tea Party" October 4, 2023 rowspan="2"colspan="2" rowspan="3" Brandon colspan="2" 3 "No Man Left Behind" October 11, 2023 rowspan="4" rowspan="2" Sabiyah 4 "Music to My Ears" October 18, 2023 rowspan="2" rowspan="2" Sean 5 "I Don't Want to Be the Worm" October 25, 2023 rowspan="2" colspan="2" rowspan="3" Brando colspan="2" 6 "I'm Not Batman, I'm the Canadian" November 1, 2023 Austin, Bruce, Drew,Julie, Kendra, Sifu[Katurah]rowspan="4" J. Maya 7 "The Thorn in My Thumb" November 8, 2023 Dee[Austin, Jake,Julie, Kaleb,Katurah] Kellie rowspan="9" Sifu Dee Kaleb 8 "Following a Dead Horse to Water" November 15, 2023 Bruce Kellie 9 "Sword of Damocles" November 22, 2023 Bruce, Julie,Kendra Bruce Austin,Emily,Katurah Kendra 10 "How Am I the Mobster?" November 29, 2023 Emily[Dee, Julie,Katurah] Austin Bruce 11 "This Game Rips Your Heart Out" December 6, 2023 Drew[Austin, Jake] Drew Emily Emily 12 "The Ex-Girlfriend at the Wedding" December 13, 2023 Austin[Dee, Katurah] Deerowspan="3" Drew 13 "Living the Survivor Dream" December 20, 2023 Austin[Jake] Austin Julie Dee[Austin] Katurah
Episodes
Voting history +Survivor 45 voting history Original tribes Switched tribes No tribes Merged tribe Episode 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Day 3 5 7 9 11 13 14 16 17 19 21 23 24 25 Tribe colspan="2" Eliminated Hannah Brandon Sabiyah Sean Brando Sifu Kaleb Kellie Kendra Bruce Emily Drew Julie Katurah Votes Quit 3–0 2–1 3–2 10–1 5–1 4–2 5–3 6–1 4–3–1 1–0 4–2 Voter Vote Challenge Dee Sifu Kaleb J. Maya Kaleb Kellie Kendra Jake Julie Drew Katurah Austin BrandoAustin chose to sacrifice his vote in order to extend the lifespan of his Immunity Idol, but used the Goodwill Advantage to restore his vote. colspan="2" Kaleb Kellie Kendra Jake Julie Julie Julie Jake Kaleb J. Maya Julie Kendra Bruce Julie Drew Dee Katurah Kaleb J. Maya Kaleb Jake Bruce Julie Drew Julie Julie Sean Kaleb J. Maya Kaleb Kellie Kendra Bruce Emily Drew Jake DrewBrando Kaleb J. Maya Sifu Kellie Kendra Jake Julie Julie Emily Brandon Sabiyah Brando Kaleb J. Maya Sifu Kellie Bruce Julie Bruce Kaleb J. Maya Sifu Kendra JulieKendra Drew Kaleb J. Maya Sifu Jake Jake Kellie Kaleb J. MayaSifu Jake Kaleb Brandon Sabiyah colspan="2" Julie Sifu Sean Kaleb J. MayaBruce J. Maya Sean Kaleb Emily Brando Drew Sean Brandon Kaleb Dee Sabiyah Brandon HannahQuit
Jury vote Episode 13 Day 26 Finalist Dee Austin Jake Votes 5–3–0 Juror Vote Katurah Julie Drew Emily Bruce Kendra Kellie Kaleb Notes
Production On February 21, 2023, CBS renewed Survivor for its forty-fifth and forty-sixth seasons. Season 45, which was the fifth aired since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, continued to observe the strict safety protocols introduced in season 41, thus it continued to feature the reduced 26 days of gameplay, with 18 contestants starting in three tribes, as with every season since then. A sneak peek for the season was aired at the finale of the previous season, where it was revealed that Bruce Perreault, a contestant who was medically evacuated in the previous season, would return for the forty-fifth season. Previously, host Jeff Probst had offered an open invitation to Perreault to return for a future installment of the show, citing that he "didn't think that Bruce got his fair share of Survivor".
As a result of the ongoing 2023 Writers Guild of America strike, this season, along with The Amazing Race 35, aired 90-minute long episodes to fill the timeslots left vacant by scripted shows. This marks the first time in which the show had regular episodes that exceed the regular 60 minutes allotted for the show.
Reception Survivor 45 received mainly positive reviews. Praise was directed toward the season's strong cast, character-driven storytelling, strategic gameplay, and the shift to longer 90-minute episodes that revived the show's classic feel. Entertainment Weekly'''s Dalton Ross ranked the season 20th out of 45, praising the season's unpredictability, cast, and editing. In 2024, Nick Caruso of TVLine'' ranked this season 23rd out of 47.
References
External links