Survivor is not an easy game. Producers dump castaways on a deserted beach with minimal resources and force them to compete in brutal physical challenges. They are starving, suffering from bug bites and other ailments, and are subject to harsh weather conditions. So it doesn’t come as a surprise that numerous players have quit over the show’s 44 seasons. But do the Survivor contestants still get paid if they forfeit their spot in the game?
‘Survivor’ castaways get paid for being on the show despite their placement
Every Survivor fan knows that the Sole Survivor gets paid $1 million (before taxes) for winning their season. But what the CBS reality competition series doesn’t disclose on air is that producers pay the other contestants just for being on the show.
CinemaBlend reports that the first boot receives $3,500, and the total rises as the placement increases. The third-place finisher earns $85,000, and the second-place finisher gets $100,000.
Plus, producers pay contestants an extra $10,000 for attending the Survivor reunion (a thing of the past in the “new era”).
The ‘Survivor’ producers decide whether or not a quitter is paid
Even though producers intend to pay each Survivor contestant after a season finishes, that’s not always the case.
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Following Survivor: Nicaragua, which featured two players quitting back-to-back, host Jeff Probst revealed that CBS amended the Survivor rulebook. He claimed that if a contestant quit the game, the producers reserve the right to decide whether or not they receive compensation for appearing on the show. And if they leave during the jury phase, they can decide whether or not they deserve a spot on the jury.
So the answer to whether or not CBS pays Survivor quitters isn’t black and white. Sometimes they receive money for competing on the show; other times, they get nothing since they deliberately left the game. And it could depend on whether or not the quit results from injury or illness.
How many castaways have quit ‘Survivor’?
Over Survivor‘s 44 seasons, 14 players have quit the game. And that’s not accounting for the Edge of Extinction or when someone asks their tribe to vote them out.
The quitters are:
- Osten Taylor — Survivor: Pearl Islands
- Jenna Morasca — Survivor: All-Stars
- Sue Hawk — Survivor: All-Stars
- Janu Tornell — Survivor: Palau
- Gary Stritesky — Survivor: Fiji
- Kathy Sleckman — Survivor: Micronesia
- NaOnka Mixon — Survivor: Nicaragua
- Kelly Shinn — Survivor: Nicaragua
- Dana Lambert — Survivor: Phillippines
- Colton Cumbie — Survivor: Blood vs. Water
- Lindsey Ogle — Survivor: Cagayan
- Julie McGee — Survivor: San Juan del Sur
- Bi Nguyen — Survivor: David vs. Goliath
- Matthew Grinstead-Mayle — Survivor 44
It should be noted that many of these quits resulted from medical emergencies. Sometimes the medical team doesn’t believe an injury or sickness is severe enough to warrant an evacuation, but the castaway puts their health first and pulls themselves from the game. And Jeff Probst even claimed that he doesn’t view Matthew’s exit from Survivor 44 as a quit, even though he left of his own volition.
Survivor is available to stream on Paramount+. And new episodes of Survivor 44 air Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET on CBS.
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