Survivor: Where Was the Season 1-40 Filmed?

of Survivor: Where Was the Season 1-40 Filmed? Varun Patel
Updated August 1, 2022
"Just Go for It" - Janet Carbin, Dean Kowalski, Elaine Stott , Dan Spilo, Tommy Sheehan, Noura Salman and Lauren Beck on the Thirteenth episode of SURVIVOR: Island of Idols airing Wednesday, Dec. 11th (8:00-9:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network. Photo: Screen Grab/CBS Entertainment ©2019 CBS Broadcasting, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

When one thinks of a long-running television series, they would usually imagine it to last anywhere between 15 to 20 seasons. However, ‘Survivor’ begs you reconsider. The reality television series is in its forties when it comes to the number of seasons that it has survived for!

Competitive reality television series have enjoyed tons of popularity over the years and a subset of such shows are ones revolving around survival. Living in the wild, without modern luxuries has been quite a common characteristic in reality shows. ‘Survivor’ has somewhat been a torchbearer for shows with a survival theme. As a matter of fact, ‘Survivor’ is a media franchise that has seen countless adaptations in numerous countries across the world. It is even more staggering to know that just the American version has completed 40 seasons.

The show follows a bunch of contestants whose main goal is to survive in the wilderness and be the last person to be eliminated. All the contestants are divided into two tribes and assigned different camps to live in. As a team, they must look for food and water, build shelter and protect themselves from natural elements. The tribes compete against each other in various challenges for game-related advantages like immunity or items of necessity/luxury.

As the competition goes on, each tribe has to vote out a contestant from their own team who gets eliminated. Eventually, the tribes are merged into one. Then, a jury (comprised of eliminated contestants) decides who the winner is when three contestants remain.

Survivor Filming Locations

Many of you might be wondering where ‘Survivor’ is filmed. The series takes place on exotic locations that are practically untouched by humanity. This is a requirement for the format of the series.

To begin with, ‘Survivor’ used to change its location and setting almost on a season-by-season basis previously. On most occasions, a tropical location is used as the setting. The location selected is generally an island. However, the show has stuck to a single location since season 33.

Mamanuca Islands, Fiji

Since the thirty-third season of ‘Survivor,’ the show has been mainly set and filmed at the Mamanuca Islands in Fiji. It is also the location for the fortieth season of the show, titled ‘Survivor: Winners at War.’ The Mamanuca Islands are a group of twenty dotted islands on the Pacific Ocean. They boast of lush rainforests, clear waters, stunning coral reefs and picturesque beaches. The setting is simply ideal for ‘Survivor.’

The show’s host, Jeff Probst has expressed his desire to film all the future seasons of ‘Survivor’ at the Mamanuca Islands in Fiji. Apart from having thoroughly enjoyed filming at the Mamanuca Islands, he provides another reason for his stance: “The real truth of the world is, when we started Survivor 18 years ago, there were lots of places we could go. It’s been two decades. It’s a different world. There are not as many places we can go for lots of reasons — the economy, population, political unrest, weather patterns.”

The reality show’s love for Fiji has also been witnessed in previous seasons. For instance, Vanua Levu was the location for the fourteenth season of the show.

Here is a complete list of all the places where the show had been filmed, arranged season-wise in descending order.

Seasons 33-40: Mamanuca Islands, Fiji
Seasons 32 and 31: Koh Rong, Cambodia
Seasons 30 and 29: San Juan Del Sur, Nicaragua
Seasons 28 and 27: Cagayan, Philippines
Seasons 25 and 25: Camarines Sur, Philippines
Seasons 24 and 23: Upolu, Samoa
Seasons 22 and 21: San Juan Del Sur, Nicaragua
Seasons 20 and 19: Upolu, Samoa
Season 18: Tocantins, Brazil
Season 17: Estuaire, Gabon
Season 16: Koror, Palau
Season 15: Jiangxi, China
Season 14: Vanua Levu, Fiji
Season 13: Aitutaki, Cook Islands
Season 12: Pearl Islands, Panama
Season 11: Peten, Guatemala
Season 10: Koror Palau
Season 9: Shefa, Vanuatu
Seasons 8 and 7: Pearl Islands, Panama
Season 6: Amazonas, Brazil
Season 5: Satun Province, Thailand
Season 4: Marquesas Islands, French Polynesia
Season 3: Shaba National Reserve, Kenya
Season 2: Queensland, Australia
Season 1: Sabah, Malaysia

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