Survivor 48 is the forty-eighth season of the American competitive reality television series Survivor. It premiered on February 26, 2025, on CBS in the United States, and was the sixteenth consecutive season to be filmed in the Mamanuca Islands in Fiji.
The season ended on May 21, 2025, when Kyle Fraser was voted the Sole Survivor, defeating Eva Erickson and Joe Hunter in a 5–2–1 vote. Fraser became the sixth black castaway to win, following Maryanne Oketch in Survivor 42, Wendell Holland in Survivor: Ghost Island, Jeremy Collins in Survivor: Cambodia, Earl Cole in Survivor: Fiji, and Vecepia Towery in Survivor: Marquesas.
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 18 castaways competing on Survivor 48 were officially announced on January 29, 2025, with the castaways divided into three tribes: Civa, Lagi, and Vula. The name of the merged tribe is Niu Nai, a name coined by contestants David Kinne and Mary Zheng from the Chinese term Niu Nai, meaning "milk". Notable castaways include frequent Today Show contributor Dr. Cedrek McFadden. The cast also includes Eva Erickson, the first openly autistic person to compete in the history of the show. +List of Survivor 48 contestants Contestant Age From Tribe Finish Original Switched None Merged Placement Day 37 Brooklyn,New York rowspan="3" 33 Livermore,California 29 Winthrop,Massachusetts 34 Los Angeles,California rowspan="2" 32 Arlington,Virginia 33 St. Petersburg,Florida rowspan="13" 29 Simi Valley,Californiarowspan="2" rowspan="3" rowspan="12" 46 Greenville,South Carolina 8th voted out 54 Chicago,Illinoisrowspan="2" 9th voted out Day 15 38 Buena Park,Californiarowspan="3" 10th voted out Day 17 27 Augusta,Georgia11th voted out4th jury memberDay 19 30 Philadelphia,Pennsylvania12th voted out5th jury memberDay 21 37 Costa Mesa,California13th voted out6th jury memberDay 23 34 Waco,Texasrowspan="2" 14th voted out7th jury memberDay 24 30 Foster City,California rowspan="2" Eliminated8th jury memberDay 25 45 West Sacramento,California rowspan="2" 2nd runner-upDay 26 23 Providence,Rhode IslandRunner-up 30 Brooklyn,New York Sole Survivor
Future appearances Kyle Fraser, Joe Hunter, and Kamilla Karthigesu returned to compete on Survivor 50: In the Hands of the Fans.
Season summary
Eighteen new players were divided into three tribes of six: Lagi, Civa, and Vula. Vula lost the first three immunity challenges and went through interpersonal conflicts. Duos formed on Lagi (Joe and Eva) and Civa (Kyle and Kamilla), though both tribes avoided Tribal Council. Following a tribe switch, Kyle and Kamilla kept their alliance hidden and, despite being outnumbered at first, took control of the tribe after Kyle successfully played a Hidden Immunity Idol. After an emotional immunity challenge, old adversaries Eva and Star set their differences aside, and Star gave her the Hidden Immunity Idol after Eva helped decipher the clues.
Following the merge, the strong players (David, Eva, Joe, Kyle, and Shauhin) formed an alliance based on strength and loyalty, but the other four betrayed David. Kyle spent the post-merge navigating between his majority alliance and secret alliance with Kamilla. Despite being on the bottom throughout the merge, Kamilla repeatedly survived due to bigger threats emerging and Kamilla having Kyle in her corner. At the final six, Kyle moved against Joe and Eva, as he worked with Kamilla to manipulate the two to take out their ally Shauhin.
At the final 4, Kyle won the final immunity challenge and chose to pit Kamilla against Eva in the fire challenge, as he felt he had a higher chance of winning with Kamilla not in the final three; Eva defeated Kamilla in the challenge. At the Final Tribal Council, Eva and Joe refused to campaign against each other and differentiate their games, while Kyle pointed out the relationships he formed and how he orchestrated Shauhin's blindside. Ultimately, Kyle was awarded the win over Eva and Joe in a 5-2-1 vote, respectively, due to his strong social and strategic games.
+Survivor 48 season summary Episode Challenge winner(s) Journey Eliminated No. Title Air date Reward Immunity Tribe Player 1 "The Get to Know You Game" February 26, 2025 rowspan="3" rowspan="3" Stephanie colspan="2" colspan="2" 2 "Humble Traits" March 5, 2025 colspan="2" rowspan="2" rowspan="3" Kevin colspan="2" 3 "Committing to the Bit" March 12, 2025 colspan="2" rowspan="2" rowspan="3" Justin colspan="2" 4 "The House Party’s Over" March 19, 2025 colspan="2" rowspan="7" rowspan="2" Thomas colspan="2" 5 "Master Class in Deception" March 26, 2025 rowspan="2" Bianca 6 "Doing the Damn Thing" April 2, 2025 Chrissy, David,Kamilla, Kyle,Mary, Star[Saiounia] Kyle Charity 7 "Survivor Smack Talk" April 9, 2025 David[Cedrek, Kamilla,Kyle, Mary,Shauhin] Joe rowspan="9" Saiounia David Cedrek 8 "A Rift Between All of Us" April 16, 2025 David, Eva,Joe, Mary Eva Kamila,Mitch,Shauhin,Star Chrissy 9 "Welcome to the Party" April 23, 2025 Joe[Eva, Mitch, Shauhin] Joe rowspan="2" David 10 "My Enemies Are Plottin'" April 30, 2025Kyle[Eva, Kamilla, Shauhin] Joe Star 11 "Coconut Etiquette" May 7, 2025Kamilla[Eva, Mitch] Kamilla Eva Mary12 "Icarus Time" May 14, 2025Shauhin[Joe, Kyle]Joe rowspan="3" Shauhin 13 "Only One of Yous Can Win" May 21, 2025 Kamilla[Eva] Kamilla Mitch Kyle[Joe] Kamilla
Episodes
Voting history +Survivor 48 voting historyOriginal tribesSwitched tribesNo tribesMerged tribe Episode 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Day357911131415171921232425 Tribecolspan="4" colspan="2" Eliminated Stephanie Kevin Justin Thomas Bianca Charity Saiounia Cedrek Chrissy David Star Mary Shauhin Mitch Kamilla Votes 4–1 3–0 1–1 1–1Consensus 3–0 2–1–1 7–5–1 5–0 5–1 8–1 6–3 5–3 6–1 4–2 4–1 Voter VoteChallenge Kyle Thomas Thomas Charity Cedrek Chrissy David Star Mary ShauhinMitch Eva Saiounia Saiounia Chrissy David Star Mary ShauhinMitch Joe Kyle Charity Saiounia Chrissy David Star Mary ShauhinMitch Kamilla Thomas Charity Cedrek Chrissy David Mary Mary MitchMitch Mitch Saiounia Saiounia Saiounia Chrissy David Mary Mary ShauhinKyle Shauhin Kyle Saiounia Cedrek Chrissy David Star Mary Mitch Mary Saiounia colspan="4" Charity Cedrek Chrissy Mitch Star Joe Star Charity Saiounia Mitch Mary David Saiounia Cedrek Chrissy Mitch Chrissy Bianca Charity Saiounia Shauhin Cedrek Stephanie Kevin Mary Saiounia SaiouniaJustin Bianca Charity Shauhin Saiounia Stephanie Kevin MaryJustinJustin Chrissy Cedrek Charity Saiounia Bianca Thomas Kyle Justin Stephanie Kevin colspan="4" Kevin Stephanie Saiounia Stephanie None
Jury vote Episode 13 Day 26 Finalist Kyle Eva Joe Votes 5–2–1 Juror Vote Kamilla Mitch Shauhin Mary Star David Chrissy Cedrek Notes
Production On December 15, 2023, Manoa Kamikamica, the Fijian Minister of Commerce, Trade, Tourism and Transport, announced that the Fijian Parliament had renewed its contract with Survivor for an additional two years. A preview for the season was released on December 18, 2024, right after the finale of Survivor 47 aired. Survivor 48 and The Amazing Race 37 retain the 90-minute runtime; the premiere episode of Survivor 48 ran for two hours.
Reception Despite Jeff Probst calling it "one of [his] all-time favorite seasons", Survivor 48 was not well-received by fans or critics. Dalton Ross of Entertainment Weekly ranked the season 26th out of 48, citing several episodes where not much happened but praising the pre-merge and the dynamic between Kyle and Kamilla. Nick Caruso of TVLine ranked this season 33rd out of 48. Andy Dehnart of reality blurred wrote that "great people alone do not make for great strategic competition reality television. And when there are 90-minute episodes, sometimes only one challenge that's so generic it blends together with all the other challenges, and producer meddling in the form of journeys and advantages that go nowhere, you have a recipe for a dull entry into the 48-season history of this great show." Brian Moylan of Vulture called it a lackluster season with a satisfying ending. Cher Thompson of Screen Rant called the season lackluster and boring. Julien D'Alessandro of Collider called it "one of the more boring seasons in recent memory". Mack Rawden of CinemaBlend wrote, "It had some moments here and there, but best case scenario, it's near the bottom of the New Era rankings. I didn't like it." Matt Hambidge of FandomWire wrote, "Survivor 48 was a wildly frustrating season. A fairly strong start, followed by a rough post-merge. It really wasn't until the penultimate episode that things got moving, and that is far too late to fully save a season. It's enough to keep it out of the bottom of the new era seasons, but that’s about it."
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