Top 10 Survivor Players Who Never Won

In order to win the game of "Survivor," everything has to fall perfectly into place; it's half gameplay, half fate. Ask anyone on this list of the best players who have never won CBS' long-running reality competition show that tosses a handful of strangers into the wilderness and asks them to turn on each other constantly to win the title of Sole Survivor and the $1 million prize. Even some of the show's actual winners have caused debates over the years, like the self-professed "queen" of "Survivor," Sandra Diaz-Twine, who became the first person to win twice ... and who also spent two of her seasons sitting on the sidelines during immunity challenges. That said, some of the show's best winners, like Parvati Shallow, Tony Vlachos, Amber Brkich, John Cochran, and "Boston" Rob Mariano, earned their titles, but which great "Survivor" players can't say the same?

Now, there's one important thing to be said here. As of this writing, the landmark 50th season of "Survivor" has not yet aired, and several of the former players on this very list will be returning for the occasion. Still, there's a reason that the massive milestone season, comprised entirely of returning players, features so many players who deserve another shot at the million bucks. From some of the show's biggest villains to lovable players who narrowly missed out on a million dollars to one of the show's most notorious (and adored) non-winners, here are 10 major "Survivor" power players who have never been crowned as the Sole Survivor. (Also, tread carefully: Spoilers lie ahead!)

Let's be super clear about one thing. Russell Hantz is, by any metric, a bad person — or at least, the "Survivor" persona he adopts is a bad person. Hantz's turns on "Survivor: Samoa," "Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains," and "Survivor: Redemption Island" mostly proves that he's an odious, cruel, and callous player who is vindictive and, honestly, unpleasant to watch; the only reason that he didn't manage to do that on "Redemption Island" is because he gets voted out second and never got the opportunity to radically piss anyone off.

Right out of the gate in "Samoa," Hantz lies about being a firefighter who saved lives during Hurricane Katrina to gain brownie points from his fellow players, and then goes on to stab everybody in the back. After becoming the runner-up to Natalie White, he tries to bribe her for the mere title of Sole Survivor and spends most of the aftermath of her win grousing about how he deserved it more. He does that exact same thing as the second runner-up in "Heroes vs. Villains," losing to runner-up Parvati Shallow and winner Sandra Diaz-Twine, and throughout that season, he gleefully betrays anyone and everyone in his path to the title and million dollars. Hantz isn't a bad player, necessarily, but he is difficult to watch in action because he's just so abrasive. Did he deserve to win at one point? Maybe. Is he fun to watch? Usually, no.

It's been a pretty long time since Rob Cesternino has played any iteration of "Survivor," but thanks to his post-"Survivor" career, his name is basically synonymous with the CBS show. Cesternino first shows up on the show's sixth-ever season, "Survivor: The Amazon," alongside other favorites like Jenna Morasca (the season's winner), and even though he does his fair share of double-crossing and lying, his affable nature makes him a pretty popular guy. Cesternino also earns the distinction of being one of the show's earliest players to flit from alliance to alliance instead of remaining loyal, though this was partly because he just played the game really early. He ends up placing third in the season behind  Morasca and her opponent at the final tribal council, Matthew von Ertfelda.

Two seasons later, Cesternino earned the honor of competing in "All-Stars," the first season to bring back returning players. Once again, the $1 million and title of Sole Survivor proved elusive, but even more so this time; after his fellow players realize just how sneaky he was from watching "Amazon," they send him home as the third person to be voted out, but in the years since, he's made a name for himself thanks to "Survivor." Cesternino hosts "Rob Has a Podcast," one of the most popular podcasts about the series, so while he may deserve to win "Survivor," he's doing just fine.

Charlie Davis, the most famous Swiftie on "Survivor" to date, is a pretty recent addition to the franchise — but he's one of the returning players set to appear in season 50, so there's no question that he made his mark during his debut season, "Survivor 46." Davis ended that season as the runner-up behind winner Kenzie Petty — and ahead of second runner-up Ben Katzman, with whom Davis has remained friends if their social media posts are any indication. After the "Survivor" Season 46 finale aired, plenty of fans felt like Davis would have been a more deserving winner than Petty, thanks in large part to his shrewd social game and surprising dominance in physical challenges.

One seriously notable thing about Davis is that, despite his lack of "obvious" physical strength, he does quite well during later immunity challenges, including an endurance challenge that requires him to hold a bucket containing 25% of his pre-"Survivor" body weight above his head without moving. (In a confessional after that particular challenge, Davis says that he made sure to specifically work on his grip strength, which ended up helping him immensely.) Beyond that, Davis' close friendship and alliance with Maria Shrime Gonzalez, with whom he started the game on the Siga tribe, is a great example of his smart social and strategic game; when push comes to shove, Davis sacrifices Gonzalez, crushing their relationship but confirming that he understands the nature of "Survivor." Hopefully, Davis can score the title of Sole Survivor in a future appearance.

No matter how you feel about Oscar "Ozzy" Lusth, you can't deny that he's one of the greatest physical powerhouses who's ever played on "Survivor" — but he clearly can't depend on brawn alone. Across four separate outings on "Survivor," Lusth, who made his debut on the 13th season "Survivor: Cook Islands" as the runner-up to winner Yul Kwon, has absolutely dominated physical challenges; in fact, he personally chooses Kwan to sit with him during the final tribal council of "Cook Islands," sealing his fate. 

During season 16, "Survivor: Micronesia," Lusth once again makes his mark as a physical competitor — especially in challenges where a lot of swimming and diving is required, which always makes Lusth look like he's half-human, half-fish — but can't strategically best the all-female Black Widow Brigade and is ousted 10th, becoming the second member of the jury. To be super fair, Lusth makes his mark on "Micronesia" by planting a fake idol that was eventually discovered by Jason Siska, prompting his ally Eliza Orlins to clock the crudely carved piece of wood and infamously tell Siska, "It's a f***ing stick!"

Lusth fares slightly better during the show's 23rd season, "Survivor: South Pacific," where he makes it to the last tribal council before the main event and becomes the final jury member; in season 34, "Game Changers," he's identified as a social and physical threat and is voted out ninth, joining the jury second once again. Maybe Lusth's day will come eventually, but at this point, he's struck out four times, swimming talents be damned.

At a certain point, you have to ask yourself: Is Amanda Kimmel actually good at the game of "Survivor," or is she just really tall? Jokes aside, Kimmel is, indisputably, a great "Survivor" player despite one big distinction. Kimmel played in back-to-back seasons — "Survivor: China" and "Survivor: Micronesia," the 15th and 16th seasons — and during both of those, she won the final immunity challenge, allowing her to choose the person (or people) who sat by her side during the final tribal council. At the end of "China," Kimmel was the second runner-up behind runner-up Courtney Yates and winner Todd Herzog; again, she chose to bring Yates and Herzog with her. At the end of "Micronesia," Kimmel did the exact same thing again, inviting power player Parvati Shallow to join her at the final tribal council over the largely beloved Cirie Fields, and Shallow took home the title of Sole Survivor and $1 million.

To be perfectly frank, Kimmel was screwed no matter what between Shallow and Fields, because the former was such an undeniably great player and everybody loves Fields. (We'll circle back to Fields. Don't worry.) When Kimmel returns for the 20th season, "Heroes vs. Villains," she becomes the 12th person ejected from the game and the fourth member of the jury, so at least she didn't hand someone a third check for a million dollars. Still, she's a great player — and while Shallow was the undisputed champ of "Micronesia," one could argue that Kimmel deserved the crown for "China."

On the one hand, out of all the players who made their debut in the "new era" of "Survivor," the season 44 winner Yamil "Yam Yam" Arocho is seriously beloved ... but there's also no question that his second runner-up, Carolyn Wiger, has amassed a solid fanbase as well. 

When we first meet Wiger in the season, she seems like a bit of a space cadet, and nobody, including the audience, takes her particularly seriously; as it turns out, Wiger, who works as a drug counselor and life coach and is proud when she speaks about her own sobriety journey, was quietly the smartest person on the show. Right out of the gate in the season's second episode, Carolyn finds a key to an idol cage and snags it, leaving her fellow tribemates at Tika mystified, and then, she sets a trap for the next person to try to find the idol by making fake "X" marks around the camp. It's ... brilliant.

Wiger's strategic and social games are extremely strong, which is why it's weird that she isn't participating in "Survivor 50." During a discussion about the series, host and executive producer Jeff Probst indicated that he gets "territorial" about "Survivor" veterans competing on other reality TV shows, seemingly shutting Wiger out after her participation in season 3 of the American version of "The Traitors." In any case, Wiger is a wily, brilliant, and unbelievably fun "Survivor" player who deserves another shot at the million dollars.

Before the merge in the 18th season of "Survivor," subtitled "Tocantins" (for its location in the Brazilian wilderness), Stephen Fishbach, originally a member of the Jalapao tribe, was already in a strong alliance with his fellow players Tamara "Taj" Johnson-George and James "J.T." Thomas Jr. — and between the three of them, they also had a hidden immunity idol. Even though Fishbach and Thomas ultimately betray Johnson-George when they vote her out before the final tribal council, likely correctly assuming that affection for Johnson-George runs deep throughout the jury, the two guys manage to accomplish something really impressive on "Survivor." Specifically, they make it through the game remaining pretty well-liked, no matter how many times they stab people in the back.

Thomas goes on to win the season with Fishbach as his runner-up, and the fact that Fishbach receives zero jury votes to win the game is, frankly, really frustrating; Fishbach is a great player whose physical prowess and shrewd strategy are present in equal measure. Though Fishbach did return for "Survivor: Cambodia" at the request of fans looking to help their favorites get "second chances," Fishbach is the victim of a weird split-vote situation during that season and, because another player has an immunity idol, he's sent to the jury as its fifth member — and the 12th person voted out — with only four votes (even though nine players remain). Fishbach is just a classic "Survivor" character thanks to his affable presence and considerable skill, and he definitely deserves the title of Sole Survivor.

At first glance, Mike White doesn't really look like he belongs on the superpowered Goliath tribe in season 37, "David vs. Goliath" — but as Jeff Probst told New Yorker writer Kelefa Sanneh in February 2025, looks can be deceiving. As Probst put it in a profile about White, "There were a couple of people who said, 'Is he a David or a Goliath?' I said, 'Are you kidding? Good luck winning an argument with Mike White.'" Probst is spot on here. What White does during "David vs. Goliath" is, frankly, a sight to behold; the "Survivor" superfan who also wrote "School of Rock" and "Enlightened" manages to adopt a totally unassuming persona while quietly bringing his enemies down with his social game and strategy. (A perfect example: After the merge, White notices a crumbling David faction and manages to boot several former Davids out of the game with the help of his Goliath allies.) 

White may not have won "David vs. Goliath" — he's the runner-up behind winner Nick Wilson, who begins the game as a David and not a Goliath — but there's little question that "Survivor," with its intricate social trickery, inspired White's Emmy Award-winning series "The White Lotus." White, like a few other people on this list, is returning for season 50, but a strong argument can be made that he should be returning as a former winner, because he did ultimately play a better and more interesting game than Wilson.

Two seasons after debuting the "Blood vs. Water" concept that pairs up family members on "Survivor," the show's 29th season, "Survivor: San Juan del Sur," recycled this idea, but this time, it didn't bring back returning players and throw their non-"Survivor" family members into the mix. In "San Juan del Sur," all the players are brand new, and that's when we meet Kelley Wentworth. Honestly, Wentworth doesn't make a huge impression in "San Juan del Sur" and is voted out fifth (her dad, Dale Wentworth, goes home in the following episode), but when she comes back for "Survivor: Cambodia," she really takes advantage of the opportunity.

In "Cambodia," Wentworth becomes the final member of the jury, and she does so through some truly masterful gameplay as a backstabber. Not only is she instrumental in ousting returning player Andrew Savage, who's desperate to make the most of his second chance after "Pearl Islands," thanks to her hidden immunity idol, but Wentworth and her alliance, known as "the Witches," are extremely powerful in the late stages of the game. 

Wentworth uses yet another hidden immunity idol to make it to the very end, but ultimately, Spencer Bledsoe and Jeremy Collins' game-long alliance holds, sending her to the jury. In "Edge of Extinction," Wentworth is viewed as a threat and is eliminated 11th, becoming the seventh jury member. Despite a lackluster debut, Wentworth is definitely a "Survivor" legend now, and she should have the title of Sole Survivor.

You simply cannot talk about great "Survivor" players who haven't won and not bring up Cirie Fields. She's widely recognized as the all-time best "Survivor" competitor who's never taken home the title of Sole Survivor. We first meet her in "Survivor: Panama," where she's immediately targeted for elimination simply because she's older than most of the other contestants, but true to form, Fields doesn't take that lying down. Instead, she rallies a few allies and takes out other players before making the merge and, incredibly, dodging multiple attempts to take her out of the game until she finishes in fourth place — due to a firemaking challenge, not a vote — and becomes the second-to-last member of the jury. 

"Micronesia" is, without question, Fields' most fascinating and successful season, even though she becomes the final member of the jury after Amanda Kimmel chooses to bring Parvati Shallow to the final tribal council instead. Throughout "Micronesia," Fields plays a genuinely masterful social game, drawing players into her web and tricking them into believing her before shoving a knife between their shoulderblades; in fact, she's the one who comes up with the idea to have her all-female alliance, the Black Widow Brigade, trick Erik Reichenbach into giving up his hard-won immunity idol, at which point the poor kid gets blindsided. 

Fields is correctly seen as a massive threat in "Heroes vs. Villains" and is voted out fourth, but then, in "Game Changers," something wild happens. During a late-game tribal council, every single player has an advantage or idol except for Fields, who's forced to leave without receiving a single vote and makes "Survivor" history in the worst way possible. Fields is returning for "Survivor 50," and here's hoping that, after five seasons and multiple decades, she finally walks away with a win.

Every episode of "Survivor" is streaming on Paramount+ now.