The Survivor 50 cast know a thing or two about what it takes to play the game — so no one was taking their comeback preparations lightly.
Many contestants relied on the usual training methods prior to returning to the show, like going to the gym, practicing their fire-making techniques and time spent swimming in a pool. Others, however, opted for some, shall we say, out-of-the-box techniques. Survivor 46 alum Quintavius “Q” Burdette, for example, exclusively tells Us Weekly that he “stood on nails” to “train” his body “to deal with pain.”
“The pain tolerance version of it, it speaks to your brain so you can teach your brain to deal with pain. Like a bed of nails — you walk across the bed of nails. I just stood on [them for] 26 minutes,” Q explains. “It doesn’t pierce your foot, but it hurts. I mean, it hurts like crap.”
Genevieve Mushaluk, for her part, prepared for her time on Survivor island by eating all her favorite foods, bulking up in the process. The Survivor 47 alum tells Us that her go-to treat was “pierogies.”
Survivor 50: In the Hands of the Fans premieres with a three-hour episode on Wednesday, February 25, at 8 p.m. ET on CBS. The series will then go to its normal 90-minute format beginning March 4.
Keep scrolling to see how the Survivor 50 stars prepared for milestone season:
Rick Devens
Rick Devens exclusively tells Us that he did “lots of swimming training” before traveling to Fiji for season 50. The Edge of Extinction alum adds that making sure his family, which includes wife Becca and their two kids, were “squared away.”
Charlie Davis
Charlie Davis, surprisingly, took the opposite approach for Survivor 50 by preparing “a lot less” compared to season 46.
“I was just out there, and I think with that experience, I learned what was helpful and what wasn’t helpful or just something maybe I don’t need to do again,” the Survivor 46 runner up tells Us. “I think, before 46, I memorized, like, 10 different puzzles and that was useless.”
While Charlie jokes that it would be “hilarious if some of those puzzles” ended up making an appearance on season 50, he wanted to spend his time focusing on the bigger tasks at hand.
“My basics for getting ready for Survivor are: make sure you’re in decent enough shape, make sure you’re comfortable with being uncomfortable and just watch some Survivor seasons,” he says. “Listen to a few podcasts, get yourself in the right headspace, and that’s all you can really do.”
Angelina Keeley
Angelina Keely tells Us that becoming a mother to her two daughters was a “transformative” experience that helped her prepare for Survivor 50.
“I’m more patient, I’m more aware, I’m more just everything. I’m even more confident,” the David Vs. Goliath alum explains. “I just feel like everything in my life right now is aligned.”
Aubry Bracco
Aubry Bracco is no stranger to returning to Survivor, but the multi-time player tells Us she’s been putting in the work since her last appearance on 2019’s the Edge of Extinction.
“I’d say I’ve been preparing since the Edge of Extinction ended. I’ve done a lot of work on myself,” she says. “I’ve had a baby. My perspective on life … I’m a lot more grounded. I’ve done a lot of self reflection.”
On top of the mental preparation, Aubry has also hit the gym and did her research on the competition.
“I’ve been working out, meditating, listening to a hell of a lot of podcasts about all these characters,” she explains. “I’ve been studying. I’ve been [doing] my survivor homework. It took a little break, but I caught up and I’m ready to go.”
Christian Hubicki
Christian Hubicki did a “fair bit” of physical preparation for Survivor 50 in case any grueling tasks from the New Era were thrown his way.
“I did a lot of running. I hate running normally, but I did it for this damn show,” the David Vs. Golliath alum tells Us. “My concern was that they were gonna do some kind of Sweat or Savvy thing they’ve been doing the past few seasons and we have to run around and get endurance.”
The robotics professor jokes that Survivor’s New Era can get “strange” and “very complicated.”
Cirie Fields
While getting ready for Survivor 50, Cirie Fields knew what would be the best use of her time.
“What’s the only thing I could do differently? I really don’t know that it would affect my game as much, or it might make me a little more threatening. Is to be more physically fit, right? I can’t. I’m never going to be an Olympic swimmer. I do know how to make fire better than I ever had before,” she exclusively tells Us. “So outside of that, I don’t really know how to prepare.”
Benjamin ‘Coach’ Wade
After Benjamin “Coach” Wade ended his Survivor retirement to return for season 50, his first move was to watch some of the eshow’s previous seasons. Coach shares that he started with Borneo during the pandemic and after completing Winners at War he “stopped.” Once he got the call for Survivor 50, he started “cramming” the New Era, which kicked off with season 41.
“So I really started cramming, and then I was just overwhelmed. And I was, like, just let me look at the Cliff Notes on these players so I can understand them,” he tells Us. “I did watch season 46 because a friend of mine, Ben Katzman, was on that season. I started watching 48, didn’t watch the home stretch, [I] tried to catch up on the other players. So, yeah, I had to do a little bit of homework.”
Dee Valladares
Dee Valladares’ preparation for Survivor looked a little different compared to her last time around. Instead of studying “the game,” the Survivor 45 winner wanted to prioritize “mentally prepping” and putting on some weight.
“I gained 10 pounds, but because of life, not because of one month [that] I had to prep,” she tells Us, adding that she was also “working out a lot” because she was “about to be in the most uncomfortable position in [her] life.”
Colby Donaldson
Before Colby Donaldson got confirmation he made it on Survivor 50, he knew he “needed to prep” by studying the seasons he “missed.”
“I’m still just as big a fan as I was when I sent in my first [Survivor] application, but there were some years that I missed, and I need to go back and study tape on that,” he tells Us. “But in preparation, if you’re gonna scout a team and prepare yourself for battle, you need to know your opponent, but you also have to go back and watch tape on yourself and look at some of the mistakes you’ve made.”
Colby adds that he knows what went wrong during his last appearance in Heroes Vs. Villains, which aired in 2010. Just like Survivor, Colby is in a new era himself.
“That’s what’s exciting about getting a chance to come back and play again. Not only has the game evolved, but I’ve also evolved,” he explains. “I’m not gonna play the same game that I did the last time.”
Genevieve Mushaluk
One thing that Genevieve Mushaluk focused on before returning to Survivor 50 was “bulk up.”
“I did a lot of eating, all the things I love,” the Survivor 47 alum tells Us, adding that she wasn’t focusing on the vanity elements that she did in her previous season. “The first time I came out, I was so, like, worried about the cellulite on my thighs and my unibrow growing in. And this time, I’m like, ‘What the hell? I’m just here to play and I’ll look how [I look.]’ But you know, a million dollars [is] gonna look great on me, so I’m not gonna worry.”
In addition to eating, Genevieve worked on her puzzle skills.
“One of the challenges, I got zero pieces on a puzzle. It’s like, I think a new record of horrible. So I have practiced puzzle making,” she says. “But I think the real kicker is gonna be, can my brain still work when I’m stressed, over-tired, starving? … And I’ve been working out, obviously, not as much as, like, Joe [Hunter] and Jonathan [Young] have been.”
Jenna Lewis-Dougherty
Jenna Lewis-Dougherty tells Us that she typically stays “in shape” but added more Survivor elements to her workout routine.
“I have some balance beams now built in my backyard,” she says. “I practiced my fire making.”
Joe Hunter
Joe Hunter’s biggest priority for season 50 was working on his “weaknesses.”
“I think a lot of people come into this game focusing on what they can do well and certain strategies. I try to break down my weaknesses, emotionally and mentally,” he tells Us. “Focus on that and don’t hide behind it, but try to improve those weaknesses. So I really just spent a lot of time in my own growth of what I need to improve on as a person.”
Jonathan Young
Jonathan Young tells Us that he didn’t need to do much “physically” to prepare for his return, because he works out “almost every day.” He did, however, study his fellow competitors.
“I’ve studied the players. I know what they’ve done, why they’ve done it, at least as much as I can,” he says, adding that listening to host Jeff Probst’s “On Fire” podcast was part of his study material. “I’ve been listening to ‘On Fire with Jeff Probst’ and three of [the previous cohosts] are here. There’s Rick Devens, Charlie [Davis] and Dee [Valladares,] all three of them are here, and all three of them are big targets.”
Kamilla Karthigesu
Kamilla Karthigesu hasn’t stopped preparing for her comeback since she wrapped season 48.
“I did not stop going to the gym since coming back from 48,” she tells Us. “That was mostly because I found out that I enjoyed lifting things and putting them down.”
Kamilla adds that while she decided to forgo running prior to the show, she used that time to focus on fire making.
“I even made fire [at], like, 11 p.m. the night before I flew out,” she quips.
Mike White
Mike White shares that working on his fitness was his top priority before starting Survivor 50.
“I think I’m in better shape than I was last time. I feel like I had to get in good shape because [Survivor is] just so physically draining,” the White Lotus creator tells Us. “I was like, ‘I gotta figure this out. I gotta prepare like an athlete prepares for an athletic event.”
Ozzy Lusth
While Ozzy Lusth has spent most of the time “opening a restaurant in Mexico,” he knew he needed to cut back on his vices — like “drinking and smoking” — and take his training seriously before his Survivor return.
“Once I heard from Jeff [Probst,] I got back on the program and started running up mountains, doing push ups and mentally preparing for the games ahead,” he tells Us.
Quintavius ‘Q’ Burdette
Quintavius “Q” Burdette took extreme measures to get ready for Survivor 50 after not putting in any preparation prior to his debut on the show.
“The first time I played, I didn’t work out, believe it or not … I didn’t do anything, puzzles, anything Survivor related. I just kind of lived my life until the day we left, and I left, and I came out here and I was in for a treat. So this time around, I started to work out,” he tells Us. “I worked out every day. I ran, I jogged, I [lifted] weights, I did puzzles. I stood on nails.”
Not only did Q stand on nails, he also “sat in 35 degree water for eight minutes every single day” and had daily sauna time.
“It does nothing for the challenge, right? It’s just all the mental — tapping into my mental, knowing when things will start to go away up here,” he explains. “And how do I control that? How do I just sit through it? How do I fight? How long can I go feeling pain? How long before pain stops? Because a lot of folks don’t understand when something hurts, when you’re standing on nails, yeah, eventually it gets to a point where it just doesn’t hurt anymore.”
Rizo ‘Rizgod’ Velovic
Unlike the other competitors, Rizo “Rizgod” Velovic had less than two weeks to get ready for Survivor 50. However, the Survivor 49 alum tells Us that being a “super fan” helped him get in the right mindset.
“I live, breathe Survivor and all that. So when it comes to, like, mentally preparing and emotionally preparing,I’m 100% ready to go,” he said, adding that the physical effects of playing Survivor 49 wouldn’t stop him. “I lost a lot of weight, and I was already a pretty skinny guy, so I didn’t gain my weight back in nine days, but I feel physically fine. I just weigh a lot less than I did when I started 49.”
