18 Highs, Lows, And Plateaus In "Survivor" LGBTQ+ History

***Spoilers below***

Survivor, the CBS reality TV show which maroons strangers together on a deserted island just to watch them vote each other out one by one, has been a queer show from the very beginning — the first player voted out was gay. The first winner was gay. And over the following 41 seasons, some of the show's most notable players to get their torches snuffed — challenge beasts, strategists, heartthrobs, and animal rights activists — have been part of the LGBTQ+ community. 

While the show has always felt undeniably queer, it hasn't always embraced its queerness like it does today. In its first few seasons (which aired in the early 2000s), it was evident that casting directors saw LGBTQ+ castaways as little more than opportunities to produce "button-pushing" TV, bringing on one or two (typically white) gay men in hopes of getting a brawl or, better, an unlikely friendship à la Rudy Boesch and Richard Hatch. 

But as Survivor evolved with the times and eventually committed to including 50% people of color in its casts, the representation of its LGBTQ+ castaways became more diverse too. Rather than there being one white gay male interacting with a field of straight castaways, today we have queer BIPOC, nonbinary, and transgender people all interacting and proving that the community isn't a monolith.

And then, of course, there are the fans. It has been well documented that Survivor has one of the most passionate online queer cult followings around. Some will say these fans have been drawn in by a quality more intrinsic to the show's gameplay and strategy. Others will simply attribute it to the volume of hot people in bathing suits. Whatever the case, I can anecdotally say that the number of gays I know who have watched all 42 seasons is incredibly high. They can quote Sandra and Sue. They can tell you which seasons included a tribe swap or a "fake merge." And they will tell you that Courtney Yates desperately needs to be on another season. 

So for this Pride, I decided to take a walk down memory lane, looking at the most important LGBTQ+ moments from the past 42 seasons — the highs, lows, and plateaus (rainbows? Borneos? Boston Rob Marianos?) of it all. I'm examining why they are powerful, what they meant, and how they spoke to larger movements happening in queer history. 

So as Jeff would say, "Survivors, ready! Go!"

It's an odd bit of poetry that on the first-ever season of the show, the two openly LGBTQ+ players came in first and last. Survivor would quickly discover that while it aimed to cast a cross-section of America, that castaways past a certain age were easy cannon fodder pre-merge and so it began skewing its cast younger. The first season, however, included three 60-plus year-old castaways including Sonja Christopher, who at age 63, was the oldest woman (and remains the oldest woman ever to play). Struggling in the first challenge, she was targeted immediately and sent home in a 4-3-1 vote at the end of the first episode. While her sexuality wasn't highlighted on the show (barely anything was highlighted aside from her age and ukulele playing ability), she remains a historic part of the show and proves that it's been queer all along. 

While the show has grown to focus predominantly on strategy, in its early seasons, Survivor (like The Real World and Queer Eye for the Straight Guy) trafficked heavily in watching different worlds collide. Nowhere was that more apparent than in the relationship between eventual winner Richard Hatch, an often naked gay New Englander, and Rudy Boesch, a retired Navy SEAL. The two formed an unlikely bond (and one of the game's earliest effective alliances) despite Rudy openly disagreeing with Richard's lifestyle. While Richard is far from a perfect queer spokesperson (he went to jail for tax evasion and was involved in a sexual assault incident on All-Stars), and Rudy's brand of acceptance is far from what we'd expect today, the pair proved that those with vastly different beliefs could become friends. "I like him...not in a homosexual way," Rudy finally declared. 

Would the trajectory of Survivor have been the same if the first season was less gay? Who is to say, but Richard winning season one as a "fat naked f*g" (as Sean labeled Richard, and repeatedly went uncensored) certainly pushed the show to evolve in ways that it wouldn't have otherwise. Richard, due in part to being gay on a television show that became popular on network television that was beamed into plenty of anti-gay houses, became the villain of the original season. He formed an alliance, voting out the naive unsuspecting competitors one after another. He was unapologetic of his sexuality and body. He was as Sue put it "a snake." Perhaps in some ways he would not have been the queer community's first choice for a representative (as his later controversies would attest to), and either due to him as a person, or his edit, or casting, the gay players that followed (John, Ami, Ricard, Hai) were often painted as scheming and villainous. BUT, Richard's win proved that a "villain" can win Survivor and that there is no real right or wrong way to play. His win gave tacit approval for future castaways to play hard and to strategize, the thing that has kept the show in business for 20-plus years. Had we gotten a "nicest person wins" season to start, I think the show would have fizzled, but because a villain won (and I think Richard was classified as such in many ways because he was gay), the show was allowed the room it needed to grow. So I'm not sure if Richard was the best winner for the LGBTQ+ community, but he definitely was for Survivor. 

While the Richard/Rudy magic was never recreated, the show continued to cast one or two LGBTQ+ castaways each season, no doubt hoping for a similar odd couple to materialize. In the show's third season Brandon Quinton, a young gay bartender, and Frank Garrison, an outspoken, conservative army veteran were placed on the same tribe. The pair were instantly at odds, with Frank openly expressing anti-gay points of view while Brandon targeted his alliance. In a humorously ironic twist of fate, the pair won a movie date reward challenge much to the delight of their fellow castaways. Unlike Rudy, however, Frank never warmed to Brandon, concluding after the reward it "still doesn't mean I'd go to coffee with him" and that being with a gay person at all was "difficult enough for me personally." While players who made anti-gay comments in later seasons were villainized by both the show and fellow castaways (Shannon in Nicaragua is a good example), this early, Frank's intolerance is still shown matter-of-factly as a legitimate viewpoint held by many Americans that queer people just needed to work around. 

We all love Boston Rob Mariano. He is one of (if not the) most beloved and iconic castaways ever to play Survivor. That being said, he really is not winning any GLAAD Awards for his first season. Frustrated that he wasn't in the majority alliance, Rob ambushed tribemate and nurse John Carroll, who was not yet out to his fellow players, asking if he was gay and calling him a "big time queer" in confessional. While anti-gay rhetoric went largely unchecked in 2002 when the season was filmed due to more widespread anti-gay sentiments (in Guatemala, another fan-favorite Stephenie LaGrossa uses "gay" as an insult), outing someone on national television has always been cruel and dangerous. Rob has since apologized for the comments, but the moment stands as extremely problematic in hindsight as Rob had no way of knowing if John was out to his friends and family outside of the game. John's voting Rob out of the game shortly after is karmic retribution, but sadly this wouldn't be the last time someone was outed on the show. 

After a few seasons of little to no LGBTQ+ representation, Survivor cast not one, but two out lesbians on the Men vs. Women season Vanuatu (a dated concept that ignored nonbinary people, and was thankfully axed). Since the all-women's alliance took control of the game post-merge both Ami Cusack and Scout Lee Cloud made it to the family visit reward challenge. While gay castaways had survived to that point in the game before, this was the first time a same-sex significant other appeared on the island as both Ami's girlfriend Christy and Scout's life partner Annie greeted their loved ones. Since Ami and Scout hadn't discussed their sexuality much on the season, it was exciting to see both of them in loving gay relationships. It must be said, however, that both couples exchanged kisses that were cut from the episode because producer Mark Burnett "wanted to protect [his] franchise" and "didn’t think it was right to show both lesbian kisses at 8 o’clock." This kind of backwards thinking was common for network TV at the time (with Modern Family needing two seasons and a petition to get its gay leads an onscreen kiss six years later), and shows that even many of Survivor's more progressive moments were repressive to the LGBTQ+ community looking back. 

While gay castaways like Coby (Palau) and Rafe (Guatemala) popped up in the next few seasons, no one quite as commanding appeared until China when Todd Herzog, the 22-year-old gay Mormon flight attendant became the second (and most recent to date) openly LGBTQ+ winner. Todd's final tribal council performance is one of the best in Survivor history, and his dominant strategic performance made him one of the more impressive winners. Off-screen, Todd is also notable for briefly being in a relationship with fellow gay Survivor player Spencer Duhm, making them the first (and only) gay Survivor relationship that I know of. I would like to make a request for more LGBTQ+ Survivor winners and showmances please. 

Speaking of Spencer Duhm, the 18-year-old college student and (at the time) youngest player ever became a piece of LGBTQ+ Survivor history well before he started dating Todd. During his short run on Tocantins, Spencer came out to the audience in his confessionals but stated he didn't want to come out to his tribe for fear that anti-gay feelings would make him an easy target. When Sydney asks him about dating at college, he says he likes being single but that there are attractive girls at school. While anti-gay sentiments are obviously still very present around the world, it's encouraging to see how far we've come since 2009 when this season aired. 

What is the difference between allyship and tokenism? That is the question at the center of Corinne Kaplan's "you know I love to play with a gay" comment in her second season. Corinne, the liberal, foul-mouthed pharmaceutical rep from LA, was best known in her original season Gabon for repeatedly roasting her fellow castaways with scathing insults. That, and loving gay people. When she returned, she continued to do both. But whereas she and her original GBF (gay best friend) Charlie Herschel were immediately placed on the same tribe, it took her some time to find Michael Snow post-swap. While Corinne's effusive comments about gay people could be viewed as problematic today, her outspoken pro-LGBTQ+ stance was certainly not universal in 2008 when she played originally (one season before Spencer Duhm). Corinne is endlessly entertaining and should be brought back. If she needs a gay to play with, I volunteer as tribute (even though we will inevitably lose due to her horrific strategy). 

When Brice Izyah arrived on Survivor, he was heralded as the first openly gay Black castaway on the show...14 YEARS INTO FILMING. The fact it took so long is baffling and highlights Survivor's glacially slow embrace of intersectional casting. Not only were there far too few LGBTQ+ BIPOC cast during this period (and well after), but when they were, the show often didn't know how to depict them as people outside their minority status. If you don't remember Brice, that's probably because he was booted at his first Tribal Council by an otherwise all white, all straight tribe. This speaks to a larger problem the show is only just now beginning to grapple with: that of minority players being eliminated early due to implicit bias from the majority (i.e. BIPOC and LGBTQ+ players often go early). This is even more common for castaways with intersecting identities. The first Black LGBTQ+ castaway, Jolanda Jones, was the first Tribal Council boot of Palau. The first Asian LGBTQ+ castaway, Brad Virata, was voted out pre-merge by a majority-white tribe in Cook Islands. And, Vince Moua would be eliminated third on Island of the Idols. 

While Josh and Reed were not the first gay partners on a season together (we're all trying to forget the agent of chaos that was Colton Cumbie), they were the first pair to actually play and strategize together. Josh Canfield and Reed Kelly were Broadway actors who fell in love, and yet despite being gay were both Christians (something that seemed antithetical in 2014). While they have since broken up, their onscreen relationship provided a nice bit of representation in the slew of straight couples on both Blood vs. Water seasons. They were strategic, physical threats and Josh in particular was intent on breaking stereotypes for gay people (especially those cast on the show). He baulked at being labeled "one of the girls" and proved that there are many ways to be gay beyond the femme versions we often see. You can be an athletic, religious, masculine man and still be gay. Would love to see them back on the show. Exes season, anyone? 

If the Richard-Rudy relationship was indicative of the dynamics between straight and gay men in 2000, one of wary, much caveated tolerance, then the relationship between Tai Trang and Caleb Reynolds is indicative of something more modern. While the two were clearly opposites with Tai being a kindhearted, gay pacifist, and Caleb as a burly, straight Army (and Big Brother) veteran, the two struck up a friendship absent of "he's good for a queer" sentiments. They flirted harmlessly, almost had a brief kiss, and illustrated the idea that gays and straights have more in common than you think. It's just a shame that Caleb's medical evacuation in Kaoh Rong and early elimination from Game Changers (which Tai was begrudgingly involved in) kept them from really playing together. Perhaps third time's a charm. 

Until recently, Survivor rarely cast more than one (or sometimes two) token LGBTQ+ people on a season. Because of that we've rarely seen queer friendships emerge on the show. In Millennials vs. Gen X, however, the show cast both Zeke Smith, a nerdy Brooklyn "hipster," and Bret LaBelle, a burley Boston cop. While Bret's sexuality remained a secret (even to the audience) most of the season, when he won a reward with Zeke post-merge he took this as an opportunity to come out. The two then shared a conversation about the differences in their coming out journeys with Bret, of Gen X, lamenting how unaccepting the attitudes toward LGBTQ+ people where while growing up and expressing joy that Zeke didn't have to endure as much hardship. The moment really stands as a microcosm of what being gay on the show has looked like over the years with Bret's relationship to being gay mirroring those of players like Richard Hatch, John Carroll, and even Spencer Duhm. Look at how far we've come...

And yet not nearly far enough. Not one season later, we find ourselves at one of the most horrifying examples of discrimination in the show's history. As we'd come to find out, Zeke Smith had actually made history back in Season 33 by being the first ever transgender player on the show. He had chosen not to come out as trans, because he "wanted the show to desire [him] as a game player and an eccentric storyteller, not as 'The First Trans Survivor Player.'" On his second season, post swap, however, Zeke was cruelly outed at Tribal Council by Jeff Varner, himself a gay man although that wasn't expressed openly on his original season, The Australian Outback. With his back against the wall Varner called out the "deception" of the tribe and then asked Zeke "Why haven't you told everyone you're transgender?" The moment makes me sick to my stomach every time I watch it, as Zeke, Jeff Probst, and the rest of the tribe reacts in horror. The thought of being publicly outed on national television is excruciating, and the magnitude of Varner's decision becomes immediately clear to everyone (including Varner himself). The moment will live on in infamy as one of the darkest moments on the show, and the tribe (including Varner) unanimously move to eliminate him from the game without a formal vote. While acceptance of mostly white, mostly upper-class gay men may have expanded, the fight for LGBTQ+ rights is ongoing especially for the transgender members of the community. 

Few LGBTQ+ players make it to the Final Tribal Council, so it's always exciting when a member of the Alphabet Mafia makes it to the end. In Season 37, Mike White's role was much more as famous, wealthy, Hollywood elite than it was as a queer man. Pre-White Lotus, he had still written, acted, and directed in plenty of films and TV shows and competed on two seasons of The Amazing Race after all. His boyfriend Josh visited during the family visit, something that hasn't happened as often as you'd think. Perhaps his best moment, however, was during his final tribal speech when he stated he was looking for something to "stand for" that would be "something worthy in [his] battle to win" and then focused on the illustration of the rainbow. While giving a million dollars to a millionaire certainly isn't that exciting (and is probably part of the reason Mike didn't win), seeing a member of the LGBTQ+ community is important for representation. Final Tribal losers can be gay too!

Perhaps in light of disastrous sexual assault charges that came on Island of the Idols. Perhaps in light of the early eliminations of every BIPOC and LGBTQ+ houseguest in Big Brother 21 and Big Brother 22. Perhaps in light of the BLM movement and the pandemic shooting break. And perhaps as a combination of all these factors and definitely in light of a petition to make the show more inclusive, Survivor committed to a cast of 50% people of color. Along with that, seems to have come a choice to cast more diversely in across the gender spectrum as Seasons 41 and 42 have included many more LGBTQ+ cast members including Evvie Jagoda, who made history as the first non-binary player. While Evvie was ultimately outmaneuvered post-merge in the split Tribal Council, they were a strategic force in the early game and a prominent narrator for the season. We have certainly not seen the last of them. 

Playing along with Evvie on Survivor 41 was Ricard Foye, a gay man and ruthless strategist whose threat loomed large over the game and was taken out at the final five after a series of immunity wins. Foye, however, made history by speaking up early in the season regarding Jeff Probst's classic "come on in guys" catchphrase. While the castaways initially gave permission to Jeff to continue using "guys" in the phrase, Ricard, who has two children with his transgender husband, requested that the "guys" portion be retired as it's not inclusive to the full spectrum of gender identities. Jeff happily agreed to remove the "guys" and now just says "come on in" before challenges, a phrase that can apply to men, women, and non-binary players. Thanks Ricard!

Survivor 42 made history by being the queerest season to date with five LGBTQ+ castaways (none of whom were white cis men). Two on this season were Hai Giang and Romeo Escobar, both gay men, although from very different backgrounds. (You could say this season delivers "Hais, lows, and Romeos" of queer Survivor.) After being on separate tribes for the first half of the game, the two linked up post-merge where they connected over their journeys. Hai, nearly 10 years younger, felt more able to live as an openly gay man with his boyfriend, whereas Romeo, with a more religious family, wasn't yet out to his whole family. It was Hai who helped empower Romeo to come into his sexuality more fully, and Romeo acknowledged this in his moving Final Tribal Council speech. This is what Pride is all about. We're here to help one another embrace who we are and live our best lives, even when that best life involves only eating a scoop of rice every day and competing in complicated obstacles courses.