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 40 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 ', 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'. 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 590 participants have competed so far. 103 of those participants have competed in multiple seasons: 73 of them competed in two seasons, 23 of those have competed in three seasons, six have competed in four seasons, and only one player competed in five seasons of the show. Thirteen seasons have featured returning players: five with all-returnees, five with two to four returning players on tribes with new players, two with a tribe of ten returning "Favorites" facing off against a tribe of ten "Fans", and one featuring a tribe of ten returning players playing against a tribe of their family members. On two occasions, contestants have been cast but ultimately withdrew before the game began: a 20th contestant, model agency owner Mellisa McNulty was originally cast in ', but dropped out and returned home the night before the show began because of panic attacks, while in ', the 19th and 20th contestants, sisters So and Doo Kim, were removed just before filming due to a medical emergency. In both cases, the removed contestants were not replaced. Fiji and San Juan del Sur proceeded with an uneven gender balance. This occurrence made the show's fourteenth season, Fiji, the only season in the history of the show to start with an odd number of players.
Contestants
All information is accurate as of the time the season was filmed, and thus may vary from season to season for returning players. ;Table key:
