The 50th season of Survivor, meant to be a milestone celebration of the show’s longtime loyal fans, is falling short of its promise ahead of its release set for Feb. 25, 2026.
The trailer released for Survivor 50: In The Hands Of The Fans revealed an upcoming season nobody asked for. Fans critical of the show’s decision to leave out iconic fan-favorite players, while including castaways from recent seasons, are now up in arms to find out Survivor 50 might include celebrity cameos from the likes of MrBeast, Billie Eilish, and Jimmy Fallon.
People looking forward to Survivor 50 are confused and disappointed by the show’s trailer, which seems to hint at a season very out of touch with the fan perspective.
Although fans got to vote for tribe colors and powers ahead of production, social media users reacting to the news said the celebrity cameos are unnecessary and criticized executives’ confusing choices.
Some pointed out that the inclusion of celebrities popular with younger audiences reveals that Survivor’s oldheads are no longer the show’s target demographic.
Spicy take from Survivor contestant Kelley Wentworth
Survivor contestant Kelley Wentworth reacted to the Survivor 50 promo in a TikTok video shared on Dec. 18, 2025. She had a lot of questions for the show’s producers. “Why is MrBeast putting a briefcase on a table?” Wentworth asked, “Not to mention, Christian saying Jimmy Fallon may determine my fate in this game…What are we doing?”
@kelleywentworth_ JIMMY FALLON WHAT? BILLIE EILISH BOOMERANG IDOL? WHAT THE? 😂😂😂 #survivor ♬ original sound – Kelley Wentworth
Incredulous, Wentworth continued, “Do we really need to add in these things for Survivor 50?… I thought we were done with the Tyler Perry idols of it all.” The Survivor contestant assured viewers she will “stay positive.” “I’m trying. I’m really trying,” she said.
Survivor 50: In The Hands of the Executives
Survivor fans commenting on Wentworth’s post echoed her concerns.
Reddit users replying to a meme about public reactions to the season 50 teaser went off on a thread captioned, “Can’t say I blame any of you 🤷.”
“In the Hands of the (Celebrity) Fans,” wrote u/Klondike307. “Well, at least us commoners got to pick important stuff like Buff colors.”
On TikTok, users echoed more of the same.
“This feels like a joke. Survivor doesn’t need celebrity appearances. This may single-handedly ruin season 50 for longtime fans,” said @achasse02.
“As a huge fan, I’ve been soo excited for Survivor 50, I dig the cast, but all the celeb references make me wanna not watch,” wrote @khealey.
@kylemclemore wrote, “Survivor is so out of touch they genuinely think this is what we want.”
“What fans voted to allow this cause it wasn’t me,” added @eden_daphne.
“I’m so embarrassed I’m not even going to try to get my friends to tune in,” wrote @liljackpot. “Rip Survivor.”
On X, the reactions were even more harsh:
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