When most Survivor fans think about the reality TV show, they envision the best or worst seasons, think of the most successful players, and Jeff Probst comes to mind. However, fans who are no longer wondering which season to watch first will know there is much more to the game than that.
Unfortunately for Survivor players, the game can be very dangerous in many different ways, as evidenced by the fact that players get medically evacuated. One of Survivor’s most serious dangers is mother nature itself. With that in mind, it is fascinating to look at which Survivor seasons featured the worst weather conditions.
9 Survivor: Millennials vs. Gen X
The 33rd Season
How many Survivor: Millennials vs. Gen X players were medically evacuated?
A season that could have been left off this list if it wasn’t for the events when it started, most of the weather during Survivor: Millennials vs. Gen X was gorgeous. However, the weather was so brutal at one point that Survivor’s production team did something they’d never done before at that point.
After the game had already started, all the players were evacuated because of the weather conditions. In September 2016, Jeff Probst explained what led to the decision to evacuate the tribes during Survivor: Millennials vs. Gen X.
“[Safety expert, Greg] informed us that it was still heading toward us, so we got our team together and formed our plan should we need to evacuate. The next morning, Greg showed me a map with the storm pointed directly at our island. We made the call to evacuate.”
8 Survivor: Samoa
The 19th Season
How many Survivor: Samoa players were medically evacuated?
- Mike Borassi
- Russell Swan
Since Russell Hantz cast such a large shadow over Survivor: Samoa, some fans forget how brutal the weather was. However, as a November 2021 Screen Rant article about Survivor weather outlined, the amount of rain severely affected Survivor: Samoa. At points, the rain was so overwhelming that the players were all soaked and huddled together so they couldn’t strategize.
7 Survivor: The Australian Outback
The 2nd Season
How many Survivor: The Australian Outback players were medically evacuated?
- Michael Skupin (Unrelated to the weather)
During Survivor: The Australian Outback, the weather played a major role in the season. After all, one of the tribe’s camp was completely flushed away after the area was flooded. It also has to be noted that the locale provided so little food that the player now known as Elisabeth Hasselbeck became so malnourished that her hair began to fall out.
6 Survivor: Cambodia
The 31st Season
How many Survivor: Cambodia — Second Chance players were medically evacuated?
- Terry Deitz (Unrelated to the weather)
Very similar to Survivor: Samoa, Survivor: Cambodia — Second Chance also featured a staggering amount of rain. Things got so bad that even when the players huddled together, that didn’t do much to improve things for them. Instead, the skin on the players’ hands and feet became so waterlogged that they almost looked like they could fall off.
5 Survivor: Africa
The 3rd Season
How many Survivor: Africa players were medically evacuated?
After Survivor: Africa, the show never returned to a location that had similar conditions ever again. That certainly doesn’t seem like a coincidence, since there were several reasons why filming in Africa made the season difficult. For example, the climate was very dry but the water wasn’t safe to drink and it was so hot that it made doing anything more difficult for the players. Of course, the abundance of dangerous wildlife also made the season hard on everyone.
4 Survivor: Marquesas
The 4th Season
How many Survivor: Marquesas players were medically evacuated?
The thing that made Survivor: Marquesas brutal for the players was they were constantly being bitten by no-no flies. While no-no flies aren’t part of the weather, that still counts since the weather has to be ideal for them to multiply in numbers that are high enough to torment the players. While it may not seem like being bitten by flies would be that big of a deal, the above clip shows how miserable it was.
3 Survivor: Guatemala
The 11th Season
How many Survivor: Guatemala players were medically evacuated?
When Survivor: Guatemala was filmed, the show’s producers made a decision that had horrible repercussions because of the severe weather. Before the game could begin, the tribes had to make a 15-mile trek to their camps through the jungle. On top of the wildlife making that dangerous, the heat made the situation so much worse. At one point, the player, Bobby Jon Drinkard, was in such a bad state that his legs began cramping uncontrollably. Sadly many of the other players were so overheated they were vomiting and suffering.
2 What Made Survivor: Kaôh Rōng’s Weather So Severe?
The 32nd Season
How many Survivor: Kaôh Rōng players were medically evacuated?
- Caleb Reynolds
- Neal Gottlieb
- Joe del Campo
During Survivor: Kaôh Rōng, the brutal heat caused the scariest scene in the show’s history. After a lengthy challenge in the unforgiving heat, three players found themselves feeling the effects. For example, Debbie Wanner needed a few moments to collect herself and to cool down while Cydney Gillon was in severe distress for several minutes. Worse of all, Caleb Reynolds suffered a heat stroke so badly that he had to quickly be medically evacuated by helicopter.
1 Survivor: David vs. Goliath
The 37th Season
How many Survivor: David vs. Goliath players were medically evacuated?
The second season which involved tribes having to be evacuated because of a cyclone, the situation was even more serious in this situation. It is also worth noting that in October 2018, Jeff Probst told Entertainment Weekly that life was hard on the tribes when they were evacuated.
“Our production team back at base camp had already set up temporary housing for each tribe. They stayed separated and slept in very basic units with no comfort. They might argue it was worse in some ways because what little control they had on their beach was taken away as they were under a “no talking” lock down.”
On top of being evacuated, a lot of what happened during Survivor: David Vs. Goliath was dictated by the hard weather conditions. For example, Angelina Keeley infamously tried to get Natalie Cole’s happened because the latter player was so cold that she was desperate for warmth. On top of that, Pat Cusack was evacuated from the game because the water was so choppy while his tribe was traveling by boat that he was thrown and his back was badly injured.