For 20 years, Survivor was appointment viewing for me. Starting with Season 2, The Australian Outback, I made sure to either be home or to DVR (yep, it was in those days) each episode and watch them as soon as I could. The show, which just premiered Season 49 on the 2025 TV schedule, was one of my most anticipated hours of the week. I fell off after Season 40, but now, with Season 50 on the horizon, I’m back in. Here’s my Survivor story.
Season 39 Was Great, But Covid Changed My Viewing Habits
Season 39, Winners At War, aired in the early days of the pandemic, and, like everyone else in the world, I was stuck at home watching a lot of TV. That season, which featured 20 past winners of the iconic reality show, was still one of my favorite shows to watch. Then came Season 41, and a lot had changed.
You see, the pandemic changed a lot of my TV viewing habits. I started watching less sports programming on TV, for example. I was never a big reality TV viewer, but I watched basically none while at home in lockdown, aside from Survivor in those early months. By the time Survivor returned with Season 41 in September of 2021, something had changed. I watched a few episodes and found I just didn’t care much anymore.
I can’t pinpoint exactly what it was, but it didn’t grab me anymore. So I stopped watching religiously. I still would tune in from time to time, usually on a weekend day when I was doing work around the house and chores, with the show on in the background. I stopped reading about the show and was generally far less invested than I was in my peak viewing years.
I’ve Rediscovered My Love For It Now
With all the news about Season 50, which will likely be coming to CBS’s primetime lineup next Spring, being an All-Star season, my interest was once again piqued. I started reading here on CinemaBlend about the returning contestants, and saw a lot of my favorite players, like Ozzy Lusth (and a few of my favorites who wouldn’t be on it, like Pavarti Shallow), and I knew I would want to watch with full gusto again.
That meant I needed to catch up. So I’m all in on Season 49, and taking some time to really rewatch the eight seasons I hardly paid attention to with my Paramount+ subscription. I cruised through Season 41 and have started in on Season 42 already.
Only time will tell if I reach the levels of fandom I had 10 or 15 years ago, but for now, I can say I’m excited to be closely following the new season and can’t wait for new episodes of Season 49 to air. It’s just like old times. And I’m really excited to see what Season 50 of the venerable show brings.
