I’ve played ‘Survivor’ 3 times. Here are the answers to 10 burning questions fans always ask me.

This one’s oddly tricky to answer. It’s never a lot, but it tends to vary by season.

My first time out, each tribe started the game with a single bag of rice, plus whatever slim supplies we could salvage from the boat that marooned us on the island. But on my second round, there was no traditional “marooning,” and on my third, the boat we arrived on had significantly more supplies.

On some more reason seasons in Fiji, contestants aren’t given anything to start. 

You’re encouraged to eat whatever you can find on your beach, of course. Fishing rarely produces meaningful results unless you have Ozzy Lusth on your tribe.

You can occasionally win big meals through challenges, but only late in the game. And there’s usually a chance to earn chickens — I’ve never won them, but I did inherit some after a tribe swap and immediately feasted. 

The point is: Yes, you don’t eat much on “Survivor” and it’s common to lose a huge amount of weight.

It’s not the environment, the starving, or the lack of real beds or creature comforts you’re used to at home. The worst part of “Survivor” is the downtime.

You spend so much time sitting around camp doing nothing, especially early on in the game. Challenges come only every few days. You can spend only so much time building shelter or talking strategy with other castaways.

Hell, you’re not even allowed to sing because of copyright laws. After the first week, everyone’s tired, cranky, and bored.

Every former castaway is going to have a wildly different answer to this. Some casts remain best friends for years, while others loathe each other and barely interact. 

For context, I am an introvert. I used to chat with almost everyone from my seasons, at least in the months following the game. There’ll be a handful from each season that I hang out with socially in the short term — and then we just drift apart, minus occasional check-ins via text and social-media comments.

We all lead very different lives, often thousands of miles apart. This reminds me that I owe Denise Stapley a call.

This question is always asked in a judgmental tone, usually by a CrossFit junkie or outdoorsy sportsman who wants to know why we’re not head-to-toe in the latest, greatest gear available to face the elements.

Although rules may have changed, when I played, we didn’t get to choose what we wore. Contestants were dropped off in an outfit that they’d realistically be wearing if their plane or boat crashed on a deserted island.

We’d have some back-and-forth with the producers about clothing before the game started, but not much. 

Fun fact: Assigned outfits can cause drama on the island. Jackets are a bonus for those allowed to bring them — even a sport coat is a huge boost on cold nights.

Contestants get salty when someone else is perceived to have a more advantageous wardrobe. I’m still furious about getting only shorts my first season — I was destroyed by bugs from knee to ankle every night for 38 days.

This is the most popular question on the street after, “Is ‘Survivor’ real?”

Every former contestant has a different answer — though most, in my experience, trend toward yes. When you think about it, CBS basically rings you up and offers you a chance to win $1 million by playing a fun game in one of the most beautiful places on earth.

But the answer is colored by real-life situations. Players’ lives change in the years between their first time out and the invite to return. When I first applied, I was bartending nights at a club in Los Angeles and living with several roommates in a cheap beach house.

Now, I’ve got the dog, partner, and a semblance of a career. So it’s difficult to simply say yes when the call comes, but it’s always hard to say no.

This story was originally published on October 25, 2021, and most recently updated on September 30, 2024.