Think ‘Survivor’ is not the hardest game on TV?
Listen to these 35 accounts of terror and misery from people that lived to tell the tale.
And, as we know, nothing onSurvivoris easy.
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My most painful memory is actually a couple days worth of misery.
It was my last season, the originalBlood vs Water.
It started the day Rachel was voted out.
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My fears were realized as I watched Rachel walk into Redemption Island Arena.
She ended up going home that day after losing a very tough challenge in the extreme heat.
I went back to camp angry at the other tribe and bothered with myself for not protecting her better.
Robert Voets/CBS/Getty Images
I spent the day gathering and regrouping.
we both might actually still be in the game and I wouldn’t have a hurt shoulder.
It was a handful of sad days feeling regret for not switching places with Rachel.
Monty Brinton/CBS/Getty Images
When my shoulder started feeling better and as my place in the game improved, so did my spirits.
In the end, it all worked out okay.
I had a pretty good run onGabon, once my head was in the game.
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My worstSurvivormoment wasn’t in Gabon; it came inHeroes vs. Villains.
There was a moment before our first Tribal where he couldn’t look me in the eye.
That might be the actual moment.
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Everyone was constipated, but for a different amount of days.
I went the longest.
Let’s just say sticks, finger, and blood was involved.
Robert Voets/CBS/Getty Images
I told my tribe it felt like I passed the state of New Jersey through the Holland Tunnel.
Now let me get a little sappy…Survivor(temporarily) changes you.
The starvation and loneliness jumble your value system.
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This is, by the way, what I think makesSurvivorso difficult!
By the time of the family visit, youre no longer the person who didnt come to make friends.
Youre the person who screw the money!
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just wants to hug their dad.
And it just plain sucks when 10 seconds and a quick plea for banana bread is all you get.
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The first few days ofSurvivorare among the most stressful.
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Its easy for me to see the humor in the situation now.
They were right to be bitter.
It was strictly gameplay for me and not at all personal.
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I thought they would understand that.
It was very short-sighted of me.
My thinking at the time was that Becky and Yul were a fierce and inseparable strategic pair.
Stephen Fishbach in ‘Survivor: Cambodia — Second Chance’.Monty Brinton/CBS/Getty Images
They had begun to talk about reuniting with Brad and Jenny at the merge to give us numbers.
At the time, the core “us” was Becky, Yul, Jonathan, and myself.
This made Jonathan and me uncomfortable because it would put us at the bottom of the new alliance numbers-wise.
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Jonathan and I had talked through our contingency plan to ensure numbers after the merge.
The plan was to reunite with our former tribe mates Parvati and Adam and to add Nate and Sundra.
Yul bested Jonathan and me in the end.
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I played my cards too soon.
They made me pay!!
IthoughtI was ready forSurvivor.
Monty Brinton/CBS/Getty Images
The hike took us close to six hours, without water, and 120 degree heat.
It was a horrible feeling not being able to will myself forward.
My face must have gone white because a producer came up and asked for a medic.
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The little voice in my head saidyou are about to get pulled from the game.
The worst moment for me is when onSurvivor: Amazonour camp burned down.
People don’t know that we were very cold at night in the Amazon.
Timothy Kuratek/CBS/Getty Images
When your body fat keeps disappearing, the weather feels more and more brutal as the days go by.
It was such a blow to all of us emotionally at the most inopportune time.
The morale of everyone, including myself, was crushed.
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I was not sure that we would be able to bounce back from it.
It was like theSurvivorgods laughed in our faces and wanted to shake us up.
It was a brutal blow at the worst time.
Robert Voets/CBS/Getty Images
We survived though, because that’s what we do.
That’s who we are.
ERIK REICHENBACH: Season 16 (Survivor: Micronesia Fans vs.
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Favorites) and Season 26 (Survivor: Caramoan Fans vs. Brandon seemed straightforward, honest, and excited to be playingSurvivoragain.
And I actually developed a camaraderie with Brandon.
The Specialist) began badgering and berating Brandon.
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It all came to a head one night following a horrendous tropical storm.
I think ultimately he is a good guy, but his demons get the better of him.
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Survivor Micronesia: Fans vs. Day 24, Airai and Malakal had just merged and I knew I was in trouble.
Jeffrey R. Staab/CBS
I basically had no one left.
But then Jason confided in me that he had the hidden immunity idol.
Fast forward to the hard-fought underwater immunity challenge between Jason & Ozzy.
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Jason pulled out a win.
Tribal Council was approaching, and I was getting increasingly nervous because Jason not yet given me the idol.
They nodded and proceeded to follow me.
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I should’ve known something was up.
Anyhow, I dig into my bag and pull out what Jason had put in.
Thats when I started to feel #severegastrointestinaldistress.
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And since this wasSurvivor, even as I was violently ill, I was also worrying.
What did this mean for my game?
Would I be pulled by medical?
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Would my opponents use this as a reason to vote me out?
The cameras were all up in my business capturing this embarrassing moment where I couldn’t get it open.
I felt very rusty in my coconut opening skills and was ashamed and started to get very emotional.
Jeffrey R. Staab/CBS/Getty Images
(Yes, this is silly, but you’re starved on an island losing your mind.)
I found out later the coconut was super old and other people had trouble opening it as well.
So, all that drama for nothing.
Robert Voets/CBS/Getty Images
We were live bait for any predator lurking in the trees.
I vividly remember thinking What The f— did I just get myself into?
I was in a complete panic and my mind body and spirit was entering survival mode.
Timothy Kuratek/CBS/Getty Images
I had a moment.
You all know what happens next.
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Trying to narrow down my least favoriteSurvivormemory isnt easy I had a rough time out there!
Bill Inoshita/CBS/Getty Images
But I have to go with my very first night on Redemption Island after being voted out.
It was cold, it was rainy, it was dark and I was alone.
I was also dehydrated, hungry, covered head to toe in mosquito bites, exhausted and pissed off.
Robert Voets/CBS/Getty Images
I remember feeling so helpless lying there.
I was freezing and miserable and getting rained on.
It was truly one of the worst experiences of my life!
Robert Voets/CBS/Getty Images
Favorites), and Season 25 (Survivor: Philippines)
Most painful memory?
Honestly, waking up after my surgery in Palau.
But they literally dont believe in palliative care (i.e.
Monty Brinton/CBS/Getty Images
Still delirious, I was in agony, and started screaming and thrashing around like a horror movie.
Finally, a nurse ran in and plunged a needle into my leg, knocking me out again.
Then the medical adventure REALLY began.
They were not at all happy I was on their team.
Well, I picked number 1, which I hoped was the easiest position in the challenge.
Thank the Lord the safety people cushioned the platform or I would have broken my jaw.
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Well, it was the truth, and I love Christa to death.
Both sides tried to flip players to their side, but both tribes appeared to remain tight.
Well, the first vote was 6-6.
Monty Brinton/CBS/Getty Images
Then, on the revote, Cochran decided to flip.
6 years later, my stomach still wretches thinking about that moment.
In that single moment, all my plans were shattered.
I immediately went from in control to a guy on death row.
Not only did it kill my game, but Cochran was my best friend out there.
We were cracking up all the time and having fun strategy talks.
I actually thought we would be good friends after the show.
That moment crushed me and my game all at once.
I just wish he would have let me know.
JOHN CARROLL: Season 4 (Survivor: Marquesas)
My most painful memory?
As most Survivors will tell you, we were one stinky bunch.
Some stunk worse than others.
(Yes, Boston Rob and Sean, I am talking about you.)
Combine that with crapping your pants at least once a week.
And oh, let’s not forget about #poopgate.
BTW, that threat shut my colon down for a good two weeks.
We had a reward challenge that day and it was a rainy day.
Flood jot down, gully washing rain!
But the nail in the coffin was we knew it was Thanksgiving day back home.
We had no shelter, no food, nothing!
Sometimes I still think about it, Like, what if?
But hindsight is 20/20.
Also, my first few days out in Africa I noticed a ton of mosquitoes.
Mosquito bites are terrible…little blood sucking tiny creatures that you might barely see all over Africa.
Malnourished and eaten alive not the greatest feeling.
just dont let Jeremy win.
Before the challenge began, Jeff paraded each of our loved ones out just 10 yards from us.
Emotions were running high and we all really wanted to get more time with our loved one.
This particular challenge was run in stages with someone getting eliminated after each segment.
Like most challenges that season, it came down to Terry and me in the final stage.
And I was planning on doing the just the same to him if I won.
Terry dropped his fish early in the final stage, forcing him to go back.
I had a lead and it was my challenge to lose.
I knew right away the challenge was over.
There was no way to recover from such a slip-up.
In that moment, I was absolutely gutted.
My fate was sealed.
I felt very well positioned to win that season had I gone.
I slept on rocks all night and fought off mosquitoes and slept with hermit crabs.
It was the longest night of my life.
So we may as well enjoy every bit of it.
As I laid in the shelter, something felt off with my right eye.
I thought maybe it had been my contact lens, but I had taken them out.
This may be gross, but I could feel goop building up in my eye.
It hurt, like I’d been hit.
By the next morning, there was no checking because everyone could see it.
I heard one of the producers yell, “Where’s Jessica??!!”
and the panic set in.
When she saw me, her immediate response was to, basically, quarantine me.
No one was to touch me or share anything with me.
Here was mine, presented on a silver platter.
No one could tell me what would happen and I was devastated at the thought of being sent home.
That horrible word medevac resonated through my brain.
I didn’t care about the condition of my eye, I was determined not to leave.
Needless to say, I was extremely worried about getting voted out if we lost.
Dr. Joe made the decision I could stay, but my tribe still needed to do the same.
The lead up to Tribal Council was excruciating.
Though I had been assured by my alliance that I was safe, I never felt like I was.
From there, our tribe was dead in the water, and it was just a Pagonging.
Fever and starving are a worse combo than Rodney’s chicken parm and tuna fish.
If I’d had Anglim-esque hair, he might have even held it for me.
DAVID WRIGHT: Season 33 (Survivor: Millennials vs. Gen X)
It was night 1.
We were about to go to sleep when, out of nowhere, the rain came.
Cold water leaked through our shelter and followed dangling palm fronds right down our backs.
Soaked to the bone, seconds passed like hours as we huddled together in a futile bid for warmth.
All we could do was hope that the sun came up soon.
