List of Survivor (American TV series) contestants

''Survivor'' is an American reality television show, based on the Swedish program ''Expedition Robinson''. Contestants are referred to as "castaways", and they compete against one another to become the "Sole Survivor" and win one million U.S. dollars. First airing in 2000, there currently have been a total of 47 seasons aired; the program itself has been filmed on five continents.

Contestants usually apply to be on the show, but the series has been known to recruit contestants for various seasons. For ''Survivor: Fiji'', the producers had hoped to have a more racially diverse cast, and hoped that a more diverse group would apply after the success of the racially segregated ''Survivor: Cook Islands''. When this did not happen, the producers turned to recruiting and in the end, only one contestant had actually submitted an application to be on the show. For the most part, contestants are virtually unknown prior to their ''Survivor'' appearance, but occasionally some well-known people are cast.

A total of 715 participants (castaways) have competed so far (as of ''Survivor 47''). 105 of those participants have competed in multiple seasons: 75 of them have competed in two seasons, 23 have competed in three seasons, six have competed in four seasons, and Rob Mariano has competed in five seasons of the show. Two contestants, Russell Hantz and Sandra Diaz-Twine, have competed on international editions of the series (in both cases ''Australian Survivor''). Fourteen seasons have featured returning players: five with all-returnees (''Survivor: All-Stars'' in 2004, ''Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains'' in 2010, ''Survivor: Cambodia'' in 2015, ''Survivor: Game Changers'' in 2017, and ''Survivor: Winners at War'' in 2020), six with one to four returning players on tribes with new players (''Survivor: Guatemala'' in 2005, ''Survivor: Redemption Island'' and ''Survivor: South Pacific'' in 2011, ''Survivor: Philippines'' in 2012, ''Survivor: Edge of Extinction'' in 2019 and ''Survivor 45'' in 2023), two with a tribe of ten returning "Favorites" facing off against a tribe of ten "Fans" (''Survivor: Micronesia'' in 2008 and ''Survivor: Caramoan'' in 2013), and one featuring a tribe of ten returning players playing against a tribe of their family members (''Survivor: Blood vs. Water'' in 2013).

On two occasions, contestants have been cast but ultimately withdrew before the game began without being replaced: a 20th contestant, model agency owner Mellisa McNulty, was originally cast in ''Survivor: Fiji'', but dropped out and returned home the night before the show began because of panic attacks, while in ''Survivor: San Juan del Sur'', the 19th and 20th contestants, sisters So and Doo Kim, were removed just before filming due to a medical emergency. So would later appear on the following season ''Survivor: Worlds Apart''. ''Fiji'' and ''San Juan del Sur'' proceeded with an uneven gender balance. But because ''Fiji'' had only one player withdraw, it is the only season in the history of the show to start with an odd number of players. Provided by Wikipedia