Survivor 45

Survivor 45 is the forty-fifth season of the American competitive reality television series Survivor. It was the thirteenth consecutive season to be filmed in the Mamanuca Islands in Fiji, and premiered on September 27, 2023, on CBS in the United States. The season ended on December 20, 2023, when Dee Valladares was voted the Sole Survivor, defeating Austin Li Coon and Jake O'Kane in a 5–3–0 vote.

Production
On February 21, 2023, CBS renewed Survivor for its forty-fifth and forty-sixth seasons. Season 45, which was the fifth aired since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, continued to observe the strict safety protocols introduced in season 41, thus it continued to feature the reduced 26 days of gameplay, with 18 contestants starting in three tribes, as with every season since then. A sneak peek for the season was aired at the finale of the previous season, where it was revealed that Bruce Perreault, a contestant who was medically evacuated in the previous season, would return for the forty-fifth season. Previously, host Jeff Probst had offered an open invitation to Perreault to return for a future installment of the show, citing that he "didn't think that Bruce got his fair share of Survivor".

As a result of the ongoing 2023 Writers Guild of America strike, this season, along with The Amazing Race 35, aired 90-minute long episodes to fill the timeslots left vacant by scripted shows. This marks the first time in which the show had regular episodes that exceed the regular 60 minutes allotted for the show.

Contestants
The cast of 18 contestants was announced on September 6, 2023. Notable cast members include singer-songwriter J. Maya (a.k.a. Janani Krishnan-Jha) and Bruce Perreault; the latter had briefly competed on the previous season but was medically evacuated after sustaining an injury in the first episode.

Future appearances
Outside of Survivor, Drew Basile competed on Jeopardy! in 2024 and qualified for the season 41 Tournament of Champions.

Season summary
Eighteen new castaways were divided into three tribes of six: Belo, Lulu, and Reba. Lulu got off to a disastrous start, and the tribe was marred further by two of its starting members quitting. The first tribe swap of the new era resulted in Lulu outsider Emily finding new life with Reba majority members Austin and Drew.

At the merge, the Reba majority (also including Dee and Julie) took strategic control of the game. They stayed intact until the final 6, at which point Dee and Julie joined surviving Belo members Jake and Katurah in blindsiding Drew. Jake defeated Katurah in the firemaking challenge to join Austin and Dee in the end, but his lack of strategic control led to him receiving no votes to win. Austin and Dee each pled their case with the moves they made, and Dee's argument that she made moves not revealed to Austin beforehand won over the jury's favor, and she was named the Sole Survivor in a 5-3-0 vote over Austin and Jake.

Voting history

 * Notes

Reception
Survivor 45 received mainly positive reviews; Praise was directed toward the cast and their personality, the gameplay of the winner, the 90-minute episode runtime and limiting the twists that were negatively received in past seasons after Winners at War. Entertainment Weekly's Dalton Ross ranked the season 20th out of 45, praising the season's unpredictability, cast, and editing.