It’s already time for Survivor Season 43. Starting at 8/7c on Wednesday, September 21, 18 new contestants will begin the long journey to earning the title of Sole Survivor. And players’ ability to outwit, outplay, outlast will be stunted at every turn with the shortened game full of new plot twists. Jeff Probst previously told TV Insider the Survivor Season 43 cast will be easy to love. Now, you can meet them in this TV Insider exclusive clip of the first reward challenge of Survivor 43.
In the video, above, the tribes Baka, Coco, and Vesi send players to race into the jungle to grab two heavy wooden crates. They can bring the crates back on their own and display their strength, or they can show their ability to work as a team by working with their teammates to carry them back to the beach. Sami from Tribe Baka returns solo with his crate first, followed by Tribe Coco’s Ryan and Tribe Vesi’s Cody and Jesse.
The next leg of the race is aquatic. The second round of players must jump into the water, unclip loaded boats, and drag them back to shore. Baka stays in the lead in the water, but can they hold onto it?
Being Survivor fans, this cast already knew what changes came with the shortened game, first introduced in Season 41 and nearly mimicked in Season 42. And even knowing that they have to earn necessities like flint, machetes, and rice, there’s no way of knowing what other curveballs Probst and the team have up their sleeves. The host says to expect the unexpected.
“Uncertainty is the only thing you need when designing a season of Survivor. It doesn’t necessarily matter if there are a lot of advantages or idols, or if the twists are new or familiar. It’s the uncertainty that keeps the players off balance.
Coming off Survivor 41 and 42, we knew the players would have no idea what to expect in Survivor 43, so we factored that into our game design. Will it be the same as 42, or will it be radically different? That’s the question they will be pondering every second of every day, and the results are fun!”
Survivor, 2-Hour Season 43 Premiere, Wednesday, September 21, 8/7c, CBS
:quality(85):upscale()/2026/04/20/723/n/1922564/80d8b98269e6527f642929.34142853_.jpg "Kendall Jenner's Dog Accessory Was the Highlight of Her Coachella Outfit")
:quality(85):upscale()/2026/04/13/934/n/1922564/03fde3dd69dd5f3329e5d5.08160835_.png "We Channeled the '90s in Guess For Coachella Weekend – Starting at")
