Opinions abound! The Survivor 49 cast reveals if they actually want to go on a journey

Opinions abound!

The Survivor 49 cast reveals if they actually want to go on a journey

Opinions abound!

By Dalton Ross

California Dreams was better than Saved by the Bell. There, I said it.

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September 3, 2025 8:45 a.m. ET

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Annie Davis, Rizo Velovic, Nicole Mazullo on 'Survivor 49'. Credit:

Robert Voets/CBS (3)

Reality TV is often described by the players and producers that make it as a "journey." But *Survivor* took the trope one step further when they introduced actual journeys into its new era of the franchise. These journeys involve contestants from different tribes meeting up on a beach and then having to take part in some sort of game that could either offer them an advantage, saddle them with a disadvantage, or leave them in the exact same position in which they arrived.

The value of journeys has always been a bit suspect, due to the time absent from camp as bonds are being forged as well as the natural suspicion directed at anybody who returned from one. But their merit has especially come under question after players on *Survivor 48* were sometimes forced to go on them and then not given the option to opt out from the game.

With all this in mind, we asked the cast of *Survivor 49* in Fiji before filming began if they wanted to go on a journey during their season. Now *you* can take the journey of reading their answers, while gleaning some insights into each contestants' strategic and social thinking along the way.

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Rizo Velovic

Rizo Velovic on 'Survivor 49'.

Robert Voets/CBS

That's a loaded question, Dalton. Because I think for the super fan, with the new era it's like: Why go to a journey? Look at *Survivor 48*. Bianca and Justin go on a journey and they have no say of what game they're playing. They lose their vote and they're f---ed. So I'm hoping it's not forced chance.

But my mindset is this: *Survivor* is all about information and where powers are. What journeys have is the most important thing in the game. So for me, as someone that's a student in the game, I'd rather go to a journey and know what's there than having someone come to me and make a bulls--- story that I know is not true... I'd rather be the first one to go and whoever goes next or the time after, try to talk with them and see if we can come up with the story together.

Obviously, I haven't seen from the edit, but I'm surprised not a lot of other people have done that. So do I want to go? Yes. Not because I'm power hungry, but I want the information.

Nicole Mazullo

Nicole Mazullo on 'Survivor 49'.

Robert Voets/CBS

Nope. And I'm going off of recent journey experiences that I've seen. They've been a bit more roulette as opposed to poker. And that's not a dig, it's just my observation. And while I love roulette, compared to poker, let's be honest, I would rather be playing poker for whatever the outcome of the journey is. So I think you have a lot more variability with a journey. There are more unknowns, and I just want to stay weary of it because, also, I want someone else to go on a journey so that I can weaponize that against them.

Jawan Pitts

Jawan Pitts on 'Survivor 49'.

Robert Voets/CBS

Hell to the no. I think just watching *48*, I'm like, that's my worst nightmare, dog. It just feels like a horror movie. It's the guy that's like, "Oh, I'll be right back, bro." You're not coming back, dog. It's over. But I think I'll go. I mean, obviously if the other tribe volunteers me to go, but I'll never be raising my hand unless I feel like I'm on the bottom. I love the way Mary was like "Let's retry!" That's me. I'm going if I need to and my back's against the wall, but I think nine times out of 10, I'm not getting on that boat.

Savannah Louie

Savannah Louie on 'Survivor 49'.

Robert Voets/CBS

I want to go on a journey, but *will* I go on a journey? Will I sign up for one? That's maybe a different answer, because in my normal life I say yes to every adventure possible. In the game of *Survivor*, even if I want to go on a journey and I'm curious and I want to see what obstacle or challenge is on the other side, I don't know that that's going to be the best decision.

And I think lately in the past few episodes, especially of season 48 that I was able to watch, more often than not, it seems like people would come back from a journey shooting themselves in the foot. And I don't know that I want that to be me. So as I'm not officially in the game yet, I say maybe to a journey, but I'm sure when I go out there, I won't be able to say no.

Matt Williams

Matt Williams on 'Survivor 49'.

Robert Voets/CBS

Absolutely! As the couch commentator, nothing angers me worse than people out here. Now I have a deeper respect or a greater understanding of what it takes to get here. And now you're here and you find something and you pick it up and it says "BEWARE." You go, "Oh no, not me." And you put it back down. Why are you even here? I want to do everything. I don't care if it makes me a target, I'll work around that. I'm not going to opt out of anything while I'm here. I'll do it all.

And I hope everybody else doesn't want to. That way it doesn't look like I'm fighting for it. It's like, "Oh, I'll take one for the team. I'll fall on my sword for you guys." It'll work out perfectly. We'll see what happens. But no, I'm not going to put down a Beware Advantage because I need my vote. I'll find some other way. I want to suck the marrow out of the bone and I'm going to suck the marrow out of this game.

Sophi Balerdi

Sophi Balerdi on 'Survivor 49'.

Robert Voets/CBS

No, I want to avoid journeys at all costs. I mean, you watch people and the outcome of their game and I feel like going on journeys is, it's not advantageous. You lose your vote. I think before you had the option to play these games where you're risking your vote, but now they're forcing you to play it and it's all down to chance. And I hate that about *Survivor* now. It's like 50 percent adaptability, 50 percent luck, And I don't like that it's a game. I feel like if you're playing a game, you should be able to have a lot of control. But that's *Survivor*.

So I would say no for the short answer, because what am I going to win, an extra vote? It's just not worth it for me. Maybe if what you're playing for is an idol, something more worth it. But I don't need an extra vote. I don't need a Block a Vote, which is the same thing. So I would say no.

Jason Treul

Jason Treul on 'Survivor 49'.

Robert Voets/CBS

Yes, but I do NOT — put this in all caps in the interview — do NOT want to go on the first journey. That is a death sentence. You don't even get anything. That's so stupid. Why would you even go? You get to miss out on the most important piece of *Survivor*, which is the beginning. And honestly, even living through Ponderosa, the beginning of Ponderosa was kind of the most important part.

The people that are looking at each other at the end of Ponderosa, a lot of them are the people that looked at each other first. So it's like, why would you do that if you aren't even getting anything out of it? You're just getting a pot and a machete. It's like, if I could tell Jeff, "Hey, they're forcing me to go, I don't want to go. F--- the pot, f--- the machete. Just don't give it to us. We don't need it." I would rather all six of us starve than put me on the f---ing thing. Even if I come back a hero, I'm going to be a hero that gets voted up first,

But I said yes because once we get past that part, once the die is cast and everyone has settled in, I think that *Survivor* is about advantages. I think that on *Survivor*, you either need one because you're on the bottom or you need to protect it because you're on the top. If you're on the top, you want to be on those journeys to stop all the riffraff from getting them.

It's all about knowing what your spot in the game is. I think that you can go on a journey defensively to protect your spot. I think that you can go on a journey aggressively in order to shake things up. I think that it's a matter of being able to figure out where you are and play for the journey for the right reason.

Kristina Mills

Kristina Mills on 'Survivor 49'.

Robert Voets/CBS

That's always so tricky. I think I do though. Because you just never know when you're going to need some type of advantage in the game. Granted, you could lose your vote and it could be a horrible thing, but at the end of the day, you also get to connect with other people from other tribes. And worst-case scenario, if I don't like my tribe, then at least I'll have some allies that can look out for me on the other ones.

Jake Latimer

Jake Latimer on 'Survivor 49'.

Robert Voets/CBS

Me personally, I do not. It's a numbers game. You take yourself away from the tribe, especially right off the bat, the two people fighting for camp supplies, you're leaving five guys to talk amongst themselves. You don't even know any of their names yet, and you're going away on this journey. You might get the camp supplies, but that's four or five hours of nonstop talk. So you're already at the bottom. So no, I do not want to do one. If I have good enough alliances that I could trust leaving the camp for a little bit, I'd think about it. But I'd let someone else go first.

Annie Davis

Annie Davis on 'Survivor 49'.

Robert Voets/CBS

I would love to go on a journey. I don't want to go on the *first* journey because nobody who's ever gone on the first journey has ever won. Because those early stage relationships for people like me that want to hit the beach and start playing the first minute — you got to get that stuff going early, because if you're gone for a day or however long they send you out there, people are just getting to know each other and get those early stage vibes. We've not been able to talk to each other for three days. Everybody's got this pent-up thing to just say they want to say. If you miss that on day one, I think you're behind the eight ball. If I get forced, I'll do it, but that's the only way I want to go on that.

Nate Moore on 'Survivor 49'.

Robert Voets/CBS

No. I think they just put a target on you. And certainly season 48's journeys are also games of chance and you didn't even get to choose... So I'm like, wait! It's one thing to be like, I'll try. It's another thing to be like, "You didn't choose this. Go roll some dice." That's literally my worst-case scenario, losing your vote because, arbitrarily, you got picked to go on a thing you didn't want to go to and then had to roll dice. That's crazy to me.

It doesn't seem fair. Back in the day you could get sent to Exile and maybe the idol was there, but that's like, "Can you find the idol?" Well, I have a little agency to find it or be like "Oh, someone's found it." That's also information I can take back. This is just like, "I told you I didn't get a thing," and you're like, "Yeah, you did." And then it's like, "Oh, I'm f---ed."

Sophie Segreti

Sophie Segreti on 'Survivor 49'.

Robert Voets/CBS

I think no. The downside of the journey is way too much. Also, a pure chance journey. The die one, throw that away, get rid of that. I thought we were done with the time-turner BS. That's infuriating to me that I'm rolling dice. Shot in the Dark is one thing, but this rolling your dice to lose your vote for a journey? I hated that. I hated that so much. Didn't seem to be in the spirit of the game of Survivor, and you can lose your vote also, then you're in this position of "What do I tell my tribe?"

And sometimes when people tell the truth, it screws them. Or when they lie, it screws them. It's just kind of a no-win situation for me. And they're often so early in the game. Are those advantages swinging the tide? I don't think so. I just don't think what you get out of the journey ever positively impacts your game.

Alex Moore on 'Survivor 49'.

Robert Voets/CBS

I've kind of been under this mentality of: Why not me? And so it's like: Why not me going on *Survivor*? Why can other people do it and not me? So I applied, and I take that into account for when it comes to advantages. Why would I want anyone else to have that over me when I could have the power? I could do what I want with that. And I'm not, of course, going to tell anybody. We've seen in season 48, it's kind of going to backfire. People are just going left and doing all sorts of different things. But I want to go on the journey and I want to not tell anyone what happened and I'll lie. I'm going to be lying about my career. I can lie about other things, too. I'm not worried about lying in the game.

Sage Ahrens-Nichols

Sage Ahrens-Nichols on 'Survivor 49'.

Robert Voets/CBS

I would prefer not to. I have FOMO, so I would prefer to be where the people are. However, if it's a Rachel situation where it's like luck of the draw, I am all about it. I'll go out there. I really believe that the universe is intentional. It takes me where I'm meant to be. So if I'm meant to be on a journey, I'll end up there even if I don't want to be initially. Sue said it in her interview last year and it really stuck with me, be where your feet are. So wherever my feet are, I'm going to make do.

Jeremiah Ing

Jeremiah Ing on 'Survivor 49'.

Robert Voets/CBS

Yes, I do want to go on a journey. I feel like the dice journey from season 48 would scare everybody from going onto a journey, so I feel like it's going to be a good journey. That's just my gut.

Shannon Fairweather

Shannon Fairweather on 'Survivor 49'.

Robert Voets/CBS

So I would go on a journey, but probably not too early. I've been studying the game a lot and just from this past season, it was just such a huge liability time and time again — be it Justin, or it kind of got Thomas in trouble., and it got Bianca in trouble. So I think it's just too much of a risk.

Ideally, you have the choice. I think the situations where you go out there and you don't have a choice is kind of anti-*Survivor*. You shouldn't go out there and not have a choice. The whole concept of the game is adapting and this is your moment. What do you do with it?

Steven Ramm

Steven Ramm on 'Survivor 49'.

Robert Voets/CBS

No, probably not. Early on, I think that it takes a lot of valuable time away from the rest of the tribe. Especially in a game pre-merge, when things are moving quick, having that time back with the tribe to really be forming connections, forming bonds is really helpful. I would rather trust the person that's going on a journey to feel like I'm working with them. So when they come back, we're kind of in cahoots on what happened, and if they come back and lie to everyone else, but tell me the truth, all the better. But I just feel like it puts a target on your back because even if you're a hundred percent truthful, there's always one person that's going to be wondering, "Was it the full truth?" Even myself, if my own ally came back, I'd be like, "Was he being truthful?"

Michelle "MC" Chukwujekwu

Michelle 'MC' Chukwujekwu on 'Survivor 49'.

Robert Voets/CBS

I would love to go on a journey. I want to do anything *Survivor* related. Anything that's on a *Survivor* bucket to-do list, I'm down for it. I know that it can paint you as a target, but you can also get an advantage. And you usually go on that journey with people and that's a great time to get to know someone on a different tribe and try to build alliances for when that merge comes. I'm here for adventure. I'm not going to hold back on anything. If there's something I can do, put me in, coach.

*This interview has been edited for clarity*.

*Survivor 49* premieres Sept. 24 on CBS.

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