Season 49 of Survivor is on the verge of wrapping on CBS in the 2025 TV schedule, with fans soon to learn how much money the castaways will make other than the winner and the usual $1 million. The finale will be a three-hour primetime event for the remaining competitors, but a last-minute change means that not all fans will get to watch all three hours straight through on December 17.
The Season 49 finale was originally scheduled for Wednesday, December 17 from 8 p.m. - 11 p.m. ET/PT on CBS, but the network has announced a change for the primetime lineup on the night. CBS News is broadcasting President Trump's address to the nation, which is scheduled for 9 p.m. ET/PT, and the broadcast will also air on CBS, CBS News 24/7, CBSNews.com/live, the CBS News app, and/or via Paramount+ subscription.
CBS isn't going to entirely bump Survivor from December 17, but viewers who are tuning in from the Eastern Standard Time and Central Standard Time zones are out of luck if they were hoping to stay in the game from start to finish without interruptions. The finale will start as usual at 8 p.m. ET before switching over to the presidential address at 9 p.m.
The finale will pick up where it left off following the address in ET and CT, so this won't be a case of viewers just having to miss whatever happens in the interim, and the finale will air in its entirety. But it does mean that viewers outside of the Pacific Standard Time zone either will have a presidential break in the middle of the three-hour event or have to wait and stream afterwards to watch without having to pause for President Trump.
The action will be broken up for ET and CT fans, which is likely going to be a bummer for plenty of people who have been excited for the final episode ahead of the milestone Season 50, which will premiere early in the 2026 TV schedule. Even if Jeff Probst believes nobody plays Survivor like they used to and fans have had problems with the villains of the new era, the finale is sure to draw a pretty sizable audience despite the presidential interruption..
The final five castaways are Sage Ahrens-Nichols from Olympia, Sophie Balerdi from Miami, Savannah Louie from Atlanta, Kristina Mills from Edmond, and Rizo Velovic from Yonkers. You can check out the finale on CBS at 8 p.m. on December 17, but ET and CT fans will just have to endure the break if they don't want to stream next day. As for Season 50, the milestone season will arrive on CBS on Wednesday, February 25.
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