The 49th season of “Survivor” is well underway, and with every new season comes a brand new batch of hopeful castaways for fans to meet, analyze and root for. While hardcore fans devote plenty of time to picking apart each contestant’s gameplay, strategic prowess, and chances of winning, others hone in on an often overlooked aspect of new players’ introductions: their wardrobe.
That’s where “Survivor” superstar and fan favorite castaway Kelley Wentworth comes in. After appearing on “Survivor: San Juan del Sur” alongside her father Dale in 2014, the player more commonly known to fans as “Wentworth,” has celebrated subsequent appearances on the series, including “Survivor: Cambodia – Second Chance” in 2015 and “Survivor: Edge of Extinction” in 2018.
Since then, Wentworth has established herself as a social media mogul on platforms like TikTok and Instagram, offering fans in-depth breakdowns of new “Survivor” episodes as well as spilling plenty of behind-the-scenes secrets about the show and how it’s made. Most recently, Wentworth took to TikTok to address the reality competition series wardrobe process after fans questioned why so many “Survivor 49” castaways chose to spend (up to) 26 days stranded on a desert island wearing jeans.
Castaways’ Clothing Must be Pre-Approved by ‘Survivor’s Wardrobe Team
After just two episodes of “Survivor 49” fans noticed that as many as four castaways, including the likes of Jason Treul, Savannah Louie, Jake Latimer and Sage Ahren-Nichols, arrived to the island wearing some sort of denim jeans or jean shorts. While a versatile and comfortable choice in everyday life, wearing jeans on a show like “Survivor,” where players are frequently challenged with crawling through mud and outlasting savage tropical storms, seems like an odd choice.
That being said, the onus does not lie entirely on the castaways’ shoulders. As Wentworth explained in an October 4 TikTok video, “There is a ‘Survivor’ Wardrobe team, and yes, they do decide what you are going to wear [on the show.]”
“When you go on ‘Survivor,’ you have to submit multiple clothing options,” Wentworth explained. “Usually four or five [options] from head to toe. Everything from underwear, jewelry, hats, shoes. You have to submit everything.”
From there, she revealed, “Wardrobe decides what your outfit is going to be.”
As to why some players got stuck with jeans as opposed to athletic bottoms or shorts, Wentworth said it’s partially to do with keeping them uniquely identifiable to viewers.
“They can’t have every single person wearing the exact same thing,” she said. “Everybody has to look a little bit different.”
Clothing Choices Often Play Into Predetermined ‘Archetypes’
While some players end up wearing jeans, or other unconventional clothing items like suits, sundresses, or even platform sandals on “Survivor” to keep them identifiable, others are saddled with a less-than-desirable wardrobe as a result of their predetermined “character archetypes.”
“Your clothing is typically based on your lifestyle, your occupation,” said Wentworth in a TikTok video from January 2025. “Think about a yoga instructor. They’re going to get to wear very comfortable workout style clothing. Now, you might have a lawyer, that might be someone who [Wardrobe] say, ‘We want you in a suit.’”
Kelley, specifically, reported that she was “type-cast” as the “farmer’s daughter” during her first appearance on “Survivor: San Juan del Sur.”
“For me, when I went out there for the first time, I was with my dad, and we were in the ‘farmer’ category. So my dad was the farmer and I was the farmer’s daughter, so we had plaid shirts and jean shorts,” she explained.
CBSWhen she was invited back to compete on “Survivor: Cambodia – Second Chance,” Wentworth added that the show’s wardrobe team dressed her in similar clothing to her first appearance “because they wanted me to look familiar to the audience.”
The most prominent example of recycling a former contestant’s “look” for later seasons is undoubtedly “Boston Rob” Mariano’s iconic Red Sox baseball cap, which featured as a part of his wardrobe on all five of his “Survivor” seasons.
‘Survivor’ Get More Clothes Now Than They Did on Prior Seasons
Wentworth similarly revealed that new era “Survivor” players are provided with more clothing options than “old school” players were.
During her first two appearances on the show, Wentworth reported that she was given two outfits for the duration of the then 39-day game, including a “Press Day” outfit and an in-game outfit. According to Kelley, the Press Day look is the outfit players show up to the first Marooning challenge wearing, which includes one pair of underwear, one pair of socks, shoes, a shirt and bottoms. Prior to Season 36 (“Survivor: Ghost Island”), players’ in-game outfits were typically just a bathing suit or bikini and an extra pair of shoes.
CBSAfter Season 36, however, bathing suits were removed from “Survivor” entirely. Since then, players have been given additional clothing to make up for the loss. Kelley, for example, who competed on the show both before and after the removal of bathing suits, reported that she was given three pairs of bottoms and three tops to wear throughout her appearance on Season 38, “Survivor: Edge of Extinction.”
Despite the extra clothing, however, Wentworth revealed that players are still restricted to a single pair of underwear per season.
“As a lady myself, I can tell you that having access to one pair of underwear that you have to go and scrub in the ocean with sand, well, let’s just say it’s not ideal,” she added in a separate video.
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