As we know, to be successful at the game of Survivor, you need to be the perfect combination of brains, beauty, and brawn, and previous winners have exemplified this perfectly.
With challenges granting castaways immunity time and time again, the physical aspect of the beloved competition series is arguably the most important, due to the fact that winning an immunity challenge guarantees the champion another day of safety.
Beginning Survivor divided into tribes, the more athletically-gifted contestants tend to keep their respective tribes afloat (in regards to winning challenges), before proceeding to dominate in the individual portion of the game.
On the other side of things, some physical threats tend to be voted out pre-merge, because their fellow castaways do not want to compete against them one-on-one — how flattering is that?
With 44 seasons of Survivor in the books (and the highly-anticipated 45th season right around the corner) the game has seen professional football, basketball, baseball, hockey, and soccer players compete for $1 million and the title of “Sole Survivor,” in addition to some other athletes.
With some contestants placing first and some contestants placing last, keep scrolling to see every professional athlete who has competed on Survivor in order by season — some of them may shock you!
Ethan Zohn — Professional Soccer Player
Seasons: Survivor: Africa, Survivor: All Stars, and Survivor: Winners at War
Places: 1st, 11th, and 18th
Gary Hogeboom — NFL Player
Season: Survivor: Guatemala
Place: 7th
J.P. Calderon — Professional Volleyball Player
Season: Survivor: Cook Islands
Place: 17th
Ashley Massaro — WWE Wrestler
Season: Survivor: China
Place: 15th
Crystal Cox — Track and Field Olympian
Season: Survivor: Gabon
Place: 6th
Tyson Apostol — Professional Cyclist
Seasons: Survivor: Tocantins, Survivor: Heroes vs Villains, Survivor: Blood vs Water, and Survivor: Winners at War
Places: 8th, 15th, 1st, and 11th
Steve Wright — NFL Player
Season: Survivor: Redemption Island
Place: 10th
Grant Mattos — NFL Player
Season: Survivor: Redemption Island
Place: 8th
Jeff Kent — MLB Player
Season: Survivor: Phillipines
Place: 10th
Julia Landauer — NASCAR Driver
Season: Survivor: Caramoan
Place: 13th
Brad Culpepper — NFL Player
Seasons: Survivor: Blood vs Water and Survivor: Game Changers
Place: 15th and 2nd
Cliff Robinson — NBA Player
Season: Survivor: Cagayan
Place: 14th
John Rocker — MLB Player
Season: Survivor: San Juan Del Sur
Place: 16th
Tyler Fredrickson — NFL Player
Season: Survivor: Worlds Apart
Place: 7th
Scot Pollard — NBA Player
Season: Survivor: Kaôh Rōng
Place: 8th
Katrina Radtke — Olympic Swimmer
Season: Survivor: Heroes vs Healers vs Hustlers
Place: 18th
Alan Ball — NFL Player
Season: Survivor: Heroes vs Healers vs Hustlers
Place: 15th
Bi Nguyen — MMA Fighter
Season: Survivor: David vs Goliath
Place: 17th
John Hennigan — WWE Wrestler
Season: Survivor: David vs Goliath
Place: 12th
Tom Laidlaw — NHL Player
Season: Survivor: Island of the Idols
Place: 16th
Elizabeth Biesel — Olympic Swimmer
Season: Survivor: Island of the Idols
Place: 9th
Danny McCray — NFL Player
Season: Survivor 41
Place: 6th
Noelle Lambert — Track and Field Paralympian
Season: Survivor 43
Place: 8th
Brandon Cottom — NFL Player
Season: Survivor 44
Place: 10th
Survivor 45 will premiere on CBS on September 27, followed by weekly episodes from 8pm to 9:30pm ET/PT every Wednesday.
With unprecedented 90-minute episodes, this season is sure to be one for the books — mark your calendar!