In September, 18 brand new castaways began the adventure of a lifetime as they set their sights on winning Season 49 of “Survivor.” With $1 million on the line and players willing to lie, cheat and steal to earn the coveted “Sole Survivor” title, 13 of them have been ushered off the island after having their torches snuffed by longtime host Jeff Probst.
CBSNow, just five castaways remain: Rizo Velovic, Savannah Louie, Sophi Balerdi, Sage Ahrens-Nichols and Kristina Mills.
On Wednesday, December 17, this season’s finalists will battle it out in an “explosive” three-hour finale episode, where one of them will walk away, not only a newly-minted millionaire, but the latest castaway to be inducted into the “Survivor” Hall of Fame.
But who will emerge victorious? Here’s a closer look at each finalists’ stats from this season to help fans place their bets.
Rizo Velovic
The last man standing and the youngest player in the high-stakes competition, 25-year-old Rizo Velovic has spent the season calling himself “the man, the myth, the legend, RIZGOD, baby!”
While some fans found the self-made moniker “cringey” early on, Rizo’s social savvy, which has allowed to to not only celebrate one of the best “underdog” storylines of “Survivor”s new era, but also to hold on to a very public Immunity Idol for nearly the entirety of the post-Merge, Velovic’s “cha-riz-ma” is now undeniable.
Even two-time “Survivor” champion Sandra Diaz-Twine has agreed to refer to Velovic as “Rizgod” after his outstanding performance during the Final 6 Tribal Council ceremony, where he managed to blindside his nemesis Steven Ramm with a unanimous vote.
With an idol still in his pocket, Rizo will almost definitely survive the first Tribal Council of the finale episode, though with both of his allies – Savannah and Sophi – still in the game, the trio’s chances of sitting next to one another at Final Tribal are looking more and more likely.
Savannah Louie
Joining Velovic in the finale is 31-year-old former reporter Savannah Louie.
As an original member of the Uli tribe, Savannah’s physical prowess helped her avoid attending Tribal Council until a Day 7 tribe swap foiled her undefeated streak.
That being said, once the tribe’s merged on Day 13, Louie emerged as a force to be reckoned with, winning three of the season’s six individual immunity challenges. With two immunities challenges still to be seen in the finale, Savannah could possibly go down in “Survivor” history as the first woman to win five times in a single season.
Her straight-forward gameplay has earned her plenty of enemies throughout the season, as well as the title of the new era’s first-ever “villain” – with Probst even comparing her to Parvati Shallow on his “On Fire” aftershow podcast.
If Savannah is able to secure victory in the coming immunity challenges, it seems unlikely that she’ll be defeated by any of the other finalists at Final Tribal Council.
Sophi Balerdi
After starting the season on the disastrous Kele tribe, 27-year-old Sophi Balerdi attended five consecutive Tribal Councils, contributing to the eliminations of players like Nicole Mazzulo, Annie Davis, Jeremiah Ing and Jason Treul before making it to the Merge.
Once there, Sophi turned on her last remaining Kele tribe member, Alex Moore, instead joining forces with Rizo and Savannah, an alliance now referred to as the “Tres Leches” alliance.
In the post-Merge, Balerdi and her allies worked together to blindside castaways like Jawan Pitts, Sophie Segreti and, most recently, Steven Ramm, sending each of them to the Jury in quick succession.
While Sophi had discovered the notoriously hard-to-play Knowledge is Power advantage early in the season, she failed to use the power correctly during the Final 6 Tribal Council.
At present, she seems to be on the bottom of her three-person alliance, and, if she does manage to go all the way to the end with them, will likely end up a zero-vote finalist despite pulling off strategic moves all season long.
Sage Ahrens-Nichols
After turning on her ally Steven Ramm at the last Tribal Council ceremony, 30-year-old Sage Ahrens-Nichols has to gain some ground on the Tres Leches alliance if she wants to earn herself a spot at Final Tribal.
Like most of the finalists – barring Sophi – Sage spent the majority of the pre-Merge not having to worry too much about strategy, avoiding elimination by dominating in Immunity and Reward challenges alongside her original Uli tribe.
That being said, once Sage did start casting her vote, she took “personal vendetta” to a whole new level, eliminating players like Shannon Fairweather and Sophie Segreti for annoying and betraying her – even when it meant allowing her number one target, Savannah, to live another day in the game.
Coming into the finale, Sage remains the only player likely to prevent Savannah from sweeping the remaining Immunity challenges.
Can she manage to pull out a win and plead her case to the jury? Or will she be the next player to fall to the Tres Leches alliance’s seemingly unstoppable run?
Kristina Mills
Rounding out this season’s finalists is 36-year-old MBA coach Kristina Mills.
While Kristina originally described herself as the second-coming of “Survivor” legend Cirie Fields, her gameplay has been far less memorable. Though her ability to socially maneuver around ever-shifting alliances has landed her a spot in the finale, her chances of taking home the million are perhaps the lowest out of anyone in the Final 5.
However, that’s not to say that Kristina hasn’t made some big moves this season. Like Sage and Savannah, Kristina was protected from elimination until the Merge, where, in her very first Tribal Council ceremony, she participated in the blindside vote that sent Nate Moore to the Jury.
That being said, after turning on her ally Steven Ramm at Final 6 and an unsuccessful Idol play, coupled with the fact that she has had fewer confessionals throughout the season compared to any of her remaining competitors, Kristina will, more than likely, finish the season as one of the Jury’s final members.
Regardless, she’ll always be remembered for coining Jeff Probst’s controversial “Uncle Jeff” nickname.
Find out which of the Final 5 will become the next “Sole Survivor” when the “explosive” three-hour finale of “Survivor 49” hits CBS screens nationwide this Wednesday, December 17 at 8:00pm ET.
And be sure to stay tuned after Jeff Probst awards this season’s million-dollar prize for a special sneak-peek preview of “Survivor 50: In the Hands of the Fans,” set to make its grand CBS debut on Wednesday, February 25, 2026.
