After a season that started slow, picked up momentum and tore into the finale at break-neck speed, Survivor 49 finally has a winner.
Warning: Spoilers below for the finale of Survivor 49.
Savannah Louie earned the title of Sole Survivor on the Wednesday, December 17, season finale, defeating Sophi Balerdi and Sage Ahrens-Nichols in the final jury vote, 5-2-1.
The trio reached the final tribal council after voting out Kristina Mills in the final five. When Sophi won immunity at the final four, staging an unbelievable comeback in the process, she elected to take Sage with her to the final three, forcing Savannah, 31, and Rizo Velovic to square off in a fire-making challenge to determine the last finalist.
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After all three had their say, Savannah stood out for showing how she, as she said, dodged more bullets than anyone in the game. Targeted as a physical threat from the merge to the end of the game, Savannah never gave her opponents the opportunity to get her out of the game. As Steven Ramm said when he cast his vote for her, he went from writing her name down to get her out of the game to finally having to write her name down to win as the ultimate show of respect.
As the cherry on top, Savannah will go down in Survivor history as she tied the the record for most immunity challenge wins for a woman with four.
All five finalists had to earn their way to the end, and they did so in a season full of clutch challenge wins and game-changing moves — some strategically savvy and others that left us screaming at our TVs.
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Savannah had to win challenges to stay alive as her target grew with each passing vote. Rizo was playing games with his idol and slowly flying closer to the sun each time. Sophi seemingly torpedoed her chances at winning the game by trying — and failing — to steal Steven’s Block a Vote advantage, not knowing he had already played it.
“From a fan point of view, watching Savannah, Rizo and Sophi work their way through a disadvantage has been really fun,” host Jeff Probst told Parade in an interview published Wednesday, December 17. “And it’s a powerful reminder that you are not out of the game until your torch is snuffed. You can never forget that. There is often a way back in if you are clever enough and can find someone whose needs align with yours — even if just for one vote.”
On the other side, Sage developed into an adaptable strategic player who knew exactly where she stood and who she could trust after her ally Jawan Pitts was blindsided. Kristina entered the night as perhaps the least likely winner, but her story of perseverance and an endearing personality made her impossible to count out, not knowing what the jury would value.
Kristina also had one of the most memorable moments of the season, breaking down before a reward challenge as the physical and psychological rigors of the game left her missing her mom, who died several years ago.
“It wasn’t planned, it wasn’t prompted. It was just a human being carrying real grief, and the demands of this crazy game brought it all to the surface,” Jeff said, calling it his favorite moment of the season.
Each player entered the finale from a wildly different point of view, making for a final five that could have swung almost any way. The memorable ending also meant that no matter who took home the $1 million, there would be personalities to bring back for Survivor 50: In the Hands of the Fans.
CBS showed a sneak peak of the next season at the end of Wednesday’s finale, revealing what had long been rumored — Rizo and Savannah will be back on our screens in February. That means Savannah will have a chance to become just the third two-time Survivor winner in the show’s U.S. history and the first to ever win back-to-back seasons.
Survivor 50 premieres on CBS February 25, 2026, at 8 p.m. ET.
