The record-breaking cast of CBS’s upcoming “Survivor 50: In the Hands of the Fans” features 24 iconic returning players from throughout the entirety of the series’ 25-year history on the primetime network.
Players returning for a second – or in some cases third, fourth, or even fifth – shot at walking away with the coveted title of “Sole Survivor” stretch as far back as the show’s first ever season with former castaways like “Survivor: Borneo” star Jenna Lewis-Dougherty on the cast.
Meanwhile, others like Rizo Velovic and Savannah Louie, who just weeks ago were still competing on “Survivor 49”, had just nine days to prepare for their return to the milestone season after filming wrapped on their original installment last summer.
For one Season 50 castaway, however, the journey to making “Survivor” history as part of the landmark installment has been 15 years in the making.
Benjamin ‘Coach’ Wade Campaigned for 15 Years to Play on Season 50
CBS/Getty“The day after I lost ‘South Pacific,’ I started playing this game,” said Benjamin Wade, better known to fans as “Coach” or “the Dragonslayer,” in Entertainment Weekly’s all-access first look at the upcoming season. “In the chance that I was going to come back here, every single interview I’ve ever given, I’ve sandbagged it, saying ‘I can’t win this game’ while at the same time thinking about the mistakes that I made and how I could play this game differently. I’ve never stopped playing.”
Season 50 will mark Wade’s fourth “Survivor” appearance, following his debut appearance on 2009’s “Survivor: Tocantins” where he finished the competition in 5th place.
Wade subsequently appeared on the cast of “Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains” in 2010, where, despite being instrumental in eliminating major threats like “Boston Rob” Mariano, celebrated his worst series performance to date, sweeping up a middle-ground 12th-place finish.
The following year, however, The Dragonslayer nearly snatched the title of “Sole Survivor” on the series’ 23rd season, “South Pacific,” sweeping a second-place finish following a 6-3-0 Final Tribal Council vote in favor of Sophie Clarke.
In order to avoid the same mistakes and finally take home the win, Wade revealed he’s been venturing out of his “zen den” specifically to make social rounds to stay on the CBS casting radar in hopes of landing a spot on a season like “50” – even when it meant mingling with former castaways he’d rather stay away from.
“I don’t like most people. I don’t like Boston Rob and any of these people where [‘Survivor’] has become their identity,” Wade told EW. “So I don’t like most people, but I talk to all of them because I know that it’s going to give me a foothold.”
Jenna Lewis-Dougherty Waited Even Longer for Her ‘Survivor’ Return
CBS/GettyThe only Season 50 castaway who’s waited longer than Coach to return to the competition is Jenna Lewis-Doughterty, who competed on the series’ very first season – “Survivor: Borneo” – all the way back in the summer of 2000.
With her appearance on “Survivor 50” Jenna set the new record for the longest break between their original season and a return, now set at an impressive 26 years (49 seasons)!
While the OG castaway didn’t play the long con in the same way that Coach did to secure a spot on the milestone season, she did open up about how much the game has changed during her hiatus.
“I was there for the very first iteration of bringing people back,” she told EW, referring to her most recent appearance on “Survivor: All-Stars” in 2004. She went on to explain that players’ reactions to being eliminated from the game have changed drastically since her time on the first-ever all-returning-players season.
While new era players might be able to smile as Jeff Probst snuffs their torch, let bygones be bygones, and just appreciate the opportunity to play “Survivor,” Lewis-Dougherty explained that that wasn’t always that case for the show’s early contestants.
“When you took someone down, it wasn’t like, ‘Od, dude, you got me.’ It was murder. It was a murder and there was blood on your hands and people hated you,” she told EW. “There are relationships that have never been healed from ‘All-Stars.’”
See how Benjamin “Coach” Wade and Jenna Lewis-Dougherty adjust to the game’s “new era” format when “Survivor 50: In the Hands of the Fans” makes its grand three-hour debut on Wednesday, February 26 at 8:00pm ET, exclusively on CBS.
