‘Survivor’ Winner Reveals New Strategy for Season 50 Return

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On December 17, castaway Savannah Louie was declared the winner of “Survivor” Season 49.

The latest in a long line of champions, Savannah walked away from the hit reality competition series $1 million richer and having tied the series record for most Individual Immunity challenge wins secured by a woman in a single season.

Moments after her victory, in recognition of her impressive physical and strategic performances on the installment, Louie was revealed as one of two “Survivor 49” castaways who were invited to return for the show’s milestone 50th season, coming to CBS in February 2026.

While Savannah won the recently-wrapped season in a landslide, defeating fellow finalists Sophi Balerdi and Sage Ahrens-Nichols in a 5-2-1 vote, the “Sole Survivor” has since opened up about how she changed her social strategy before returning to Fiji to film “Survivor 50: In the Hands of the Fans.”

With just nine days of free time between filming the back-to-back seasons, Savannah Louie was still reeling from becoming a newly-minted millionaire when Jeff Probst invited her to return for “Survivor 50” alongside her No. 1 Season 49 ally Rizo Velovic.

Though Louie will enter the milestone season with a leg up on her competitors – given that none of them will be able to predict her gameplay, having not seen her original season – she is now opening up about how she altered her strategy between installments in hopes of pulling off the series’ first back-to-back victories.

“Regarding my approach to season 50, a big wake-up call for me in season 49 was my social game,” Savannah said in a December 19 interview with The Hollywood Reporter.

Louie referred specifically to the moment the title of “Sole Survivor” nearly slipped through her fingers when she was unable to answer fellow castaway Kristina Mills’ Final Tribal Council question asking her to name one familial rInn or partner of each member of the Jury.

While Mills has since faced backlash from fans and fellow players alike for allegedly targeting Louie specifically, Savannah’s inability to answer the question only lost her one vote in the final tally. That being said, the recent winner said she’s adapting her gameplay in Season 50 to avoid a similar situation.

“I’m going into 50 trying to remember this person’s name, their daughter’s name,” she said. “Use the daughter’s name in a sentence and really try to get it ingrained in you and create those genuine relationships. My relationships in 49 were also genuine, but I really felt a lot of pressure to remember all the little details in 50.”

Savannah Louie Opens Up About Her Decision to Return to ‘Survivor’

In addition to joining her “Survivor 49” ally Rizo Velovic on the upcoming season, Savannah will similarly play alongside – and against – legendary former castaways like Cirie Fields, Benjamin “Coach” Wade and Jenna Lewis-Doughtery, as well as former series champions Dee Valldares (“Survivor 45”) and Kyle Fraser (“Survivor 48”).

Speaking further on her decision to return, Savannah told THR: “My question wasn’t yes or no, it’s more like, ‘How can I make this work again?’”
Find out if Savannah Louie is able to make history as the show’s first-ever two-time back-to-back winner when “Survivor 50: In the Hands of the Fans” makes its grand three-hour debut on Wednesday, February 26, 2026 on CBS.