Read on to experience their personal, funny, touching, and emotional responses.
And then come back soon as we examine the flip side and learn theirworstmemories.
Each set of pots represented a Survivor.
Robert Voets/CBS/Getty Images; Timothy Kuratek/CBS/Getty Images; CBS/Getty Images
When your pots were crushed, you were out.
Big Tom won, I sucked, and Im confident his goats would have performed better than I did.
But Probst and I had a moment.
CBS
What was I thinking?
Im not even supposed to be talking to him let alone challenging him to some silly man duel.
We had these battling rams that we were to use to whack each other into the water with.
CBS/Getty Images
I started licking her feet!
The shows evolved from reality TV programming into something better described as a pseudo-sport.
But while youre out there, the highlight moments are rarely the splashy strategic plays.
Monty Brinton/CBS/Getty Images
Now break that sentence down: helicopter ride Id never done that in my life.
Private yacht not likely to happen again.
Whale shark diving I didnt even know that was a thing.
Monty Brinton/CBS/Getty Images
CBS doesnt take chances like that.
I had held onto a secret for 20+ days and unleashed it at the exact moment I needed to.
As the votes kept coming, ‘Wentworth.
CBS
Wentworth’ it just made the idol play that much sweeter.
SHANE POWERS:Season 12 (Survivor: Panama Exile Island)
This was easy.
That was something very few people get to share, and I’ll never get to experience again.
Monty Brinton/CBS/Getty Images
It was very special to me and I’ll get to keep that memory forever.
I couldnt help but obnoxiously celebrate my unexpected victory with the least intimidating display of shadowboxing in recorded history.
I can still remember how the immunity idol smelled when we received it after winning.
Monty Brinton/CBS/Getty Images
He was so excited because the airline bumped him up to first class on the way to Brazil.
I remember him saying, ‘Jen, they gave me slippers and caviar in first class.
I was wearing slippers and I never wear slippers and eating caviar and I hate caviar!’
Monty Brinton/CBS/Getty Images
It was the best.
He was so proud of me and felt so honored he got to experience part of it with me.
DAVID WRIGHT:Season 33 (Survivor: Millennials vs. Gen X)
It was night 37.
Monty Brinton/CBS/Getty Images
We were waiting to walk into Tribal Council.
Suddenly, from the darkness of the Fijian jungle, drifted the sound of a choir.
Somewhere inside that harmony was a peaceful feeling of togetherness.
Monty Brinton/CBS/Getty Images
I felt entirely present in a way that I never have before or since.
In the end, I chose the one where I felt truly exuberant.
It was day 2 of my first season,Redemption Island.
Monty Brinton/CBS/Getty Images
Our tribe hadnt been given a flint and we had no fire, so we hadnt had water yet.
That moment when the spark finally set the coconut husk on fire was PURE JOY.
We were never as united as a tribe as we were in that moment.
Monty Brinton/CBS/Getty Images
Ill never forget it.
I remember walking into the challenge seeing two slippery slides and a puzzle at the end of the challenge.
Everyone else’s job was to slide down the slide and retrieve the puzzle pieces to me.
Monty Brinton/CBS/Getty Images
The best part was actually when we all got back to camp and everyone just got along.
But this is about one moment, so here you go.
We had a quickly made, low-grade shelter that clearly illustrated our lack of time and talent.
Robert Voets/CBS/Getty Images
The rain was coming, slowly and sporadically, so we thought our palm fronds would do the trick.
But then the rain kept coming faster and harder, along with more and more wind.
We were huddled like newborn kittens, literally clinging to each other for warmth and trying to stay semi-dry.
Monty Brinton/CBS/Getty Images
Now, remember, this is our first night.
We barely knew each other.
But that didnt stop us from using each others bodies to get comfortable.
Bill Inoshita/CBS/Getty Images
There was no sleep, but there was a lot of laughter.
Though we were suffering through what would become a cyclone, no one complained.
And we actually worried about the Millennials.
Monty Brinton/CBS/Getty Images
I think it was fair to say from the edit that they were NOT having fun.
The sun did rise, though the rain never stopped, and we moved on to day two.
(Sorry, Tyson).
Monty Brinton/CBS/Getty Images
But the vote wasnt just a numerical victory.
Note: I was basically a skeleton by that point.
No reasonable person would choose to sleep next to me.
Timothy Kuratek/CBS/Getty Images
But through whatever subconscious influence that power exerts, my tribemates were clamoring to be physically close.
I had started the season sleeping on the edge of the shelter literally at the margins of the tribe.
It was a wonderful moment in the game, and a fascinating insight into human dynamics.
Monty Brinton/CBS/Getty Images
for multiple boot iterations knowing that John was still on Redemption Island kicking butt and taking names.
I was so proud of him.
Like eyeball hearts bursting emoji proud.
Monty Brinton/CBS/Getty Images
He is a sick puzzle solver and incredibly athletic so I knew he wasn’t coming home anytime soon.
His undoing was the pole standing challenge.
Jeff told them to keep their shoes on!!?!
Monty Brinton/CBS/Getty Images
Never listen to Jeff.
Them: little(er).
It was an immunity challenge no one ever saw on TV because they didn’t air it.
Monty Brinton/CBS/Getty Images
Joel and Rich represented each tribe and had a long bamboo pole across their shoulders.
Then, all of a sudden.
he fell in the ocean and lost.
Robert Voets/CBS/Getty Images
Pagong cheered with excitement!
We won the first and second challenge inSurvivor.
We were undefeated and we definitely were in Tagi’s head about who the best tribe was.
Monty Brinton/CBS/Getty Images
We nicknamed Joel the All-American Male and celebrated the well-deserved victory.
Where’s the real challenge?
But then something happened.
Monty Brinton/CBS/Getty Images
He lost the plot, giving Cirie and Bruce a chance to solve the puzzle.
And just like that our fortunes flipped.
We had pulled out the impossible.
No Exile Island, no Tribal Council.
Ill never forget the experience of pure joy that day.
The challenge win and ensuing reward celebrations somehow managed to heal the tribe’s divisions.
Monty Brinton/CBS/Getty Images
It was as if the nastiness of the night before had never happened.
We went into the merge six strong, and we never broke."
Favorites)
Survivor: Vanuatu.
Robert Voets/CBS/Getty Images
Before the challenge, we each get to say a quick hello and I’m already in tears.
My mom, Susan, is my loved one and I miss her so much.
We all compete in a memory challenge, which I win in a tie-breaker against Julie.
Monty Brinton/CBS/Getty Images
Jeff says, Okay, Eliza, are you ready to go have a little chat with your mom?
Or would you rather your mom came (sic) out here and chatted with you?
Susan, come on out!
Meanwhile I’m screaming ‘NO!
ARE YOU KIDDING ME?
The air smells of salt and anticipation.
Greg Gayne/CBS/Getty Images
I am a mix of nerves, awe, and disbelief.
I feel like a cat about to pounce on its prey.
And then those immortal words, Survivors ready……. go!
Robert Voets/CBS/Getty Images
And before you know it, we have won the first immunity challenge.
It would be 15 days before Rotu would sit at Tribal Council.
One of my favorite moments ever.
Monty Brinton/CBS/Getty Images
The animosity between Upolu and Savaii before the challenge was palpable.
The ‘Dragon Slayer’ vs the jungle man!
And the J&J challenge was the culmination of this war.
Monty Brinton/CBS/Getty Images
We all knew; the winner would gain the numbers and the loser would be Pagonged.
I cannot pick just one moment so I have a 1a.
She whispered in my ear the baby was fine and he’s a boy!!!
is from the season finale episode of season 31.
The final four was competing in the final immunity challenge and it came down to Spencer and myself.
It felt like an out of body experience and I couldn’t control my emotions.
It was a rollercoaster and a feeling I will never forget.
On Day 29, I won the challenge about who knows the most about their tribe.
At first, let’s face it, I was completely s— scared.
But the most exquisite moment came after a night of shivering in the pouring rain.
My entire 39 days on thePearl IslandsI was never invited on a reward.
My stomach had never growled so bad until we were headed to the reward.
We couldn’t get there quick enough and I remember pigging out on all things chocolate.
Favorites), andSeason 25 (Survivor: Philippines)
Favorite moment onSurvivor?
I was literally crying with relief and frankly pride and amazement.
So it really was my last great moment.
Jeff was that for me in Cambodia and Fiji.
Running to get a Jeff hug fix that far into the game was just what the doctor ordered.
InGame Changers, I finally won individual immunity after 12 losses.
Celebrating an immunity win on lucky number 13 AND hugging Jeff within seconds of each other?
It’s hard to narrow it down to just one, but I think I can and have.
Everything leading up to that moment was the great unknown.
Certain smells, tastes, sounds, and sights will all still remind me of those first moments inTocantins.
We received letters from our family members and a huge spread of food.
It was the most beautiful place Id ever seen.
I was also in love with Keith, which made everything extra special.
The merge came a few days later, so our happy family was soon torn apart.
ERIK REICHENBACH:Season 16 (Survivor: Micronesia Fans vs.
Favorites) andSeason 26 (Survivor: Caramoan Fans vs. On the way to the challenge, my fellow Dabu castmates kept asking me rookieSurvivortrivia questions… Who wonThailand?
Which player has the most challenge wins?
When was the first season with three tribes to begin?
I knew all the answers to their questions, but played dumb and realized, Holy crap.
I ended up winning the trivia challenge (the winning question involved a season Cirie was actually on!)
and winning an incredible overnight spa reward complete with shower, dinner, and dessert.
That may be the hardest I’ve ever laughed in my life.
I was kinda good at everything, but not great at anything.
You asked for a favoriteSurvivormemory, and that is it: finding out what my 100 percent effort is.
That’s my favoriteSurvivormemory.
