Sitting at home and watching from the comfort of my own couch, I often feel bullish about what I could do in Fiji given the opportunity. I think I’d be solid in challenges and make a few key allies, and ride that wave until I couldn’t anymore. However, I’m not factoring in the lack of sleep from lying on the ground, or the incredible food deprivation that comes with saying “yes.” to host Jeff Probst. In fact, recent $1 million winner Savannah Louie just described what she did to prepare for Season 49, and I don’t think I could have done it.
I mean it when I say that. Louie opened up about her prep work for the CBS reality series before it hit the 2025 TV schedule recently, and she took it very seriously. She said she “did keep in mind a few things” and started her prep “about three months” before heading out to the island in Fiji. She’d do “one big fast” every week during that three-month window in order to prep for the game.
My goal with this was, ‘OK maybe it’ll help mimic almost what you’re going through when you’re playing Survivor and you’re not getting a lot of nutrients out there. And I’ll be used to working out in a very depleted state.' Now that I say that, it actually sounds insane, but this is what I did. So I would have like my ‘final meal’ or whatever on a Sunday evening and then I would workout Sunday night. I usually like hot yoga. Then, I would do two workouts on Monday, one workout on Tuesday, and then I might eat my returning meal on Tuesday night, or Wednesday morning.
I mean, that’s hardcore, and even Louie admitted it was "insane." I’m a gym girlie myself, but anyone who has ever worked out knows the hunger kicks in almost immediately after a lifting session or any intense cardio. OK, maybe not if you’ve just eaten a big meal, but Savannah was clearly not eating prior to these workouts. She confirmed in her Instagram post she was doing 48-60 hour fasts while doing activities like yoga several times a day!
Her diet changed before the game, too. She noted “electrolytes” became super important to her routine. In a more typical Survivor player move, a month before she left, she also cut“any coffee or caffeine” – a move she called “brutal.” She cut out sugar, except for “fruit sugar,” and cut out all alcohol, though she did note she wasn’t the “biggest drinker” to begin with.
A lot of Survivor contestants change their diets and cut caffeine and alcohol before the game, but Savannah’s prep was significantly more intense. In the past, there have been a lot of Survivor set stories highlighting hardships when people hit up the beach. Quitting nicotine right before you land on the beach is a common one contestants from Shane (famously) to Peih Gee (more low-key) have accomplished. To me, perhaps the hardest deprivation Louie successfully did was cutting water during her workouts.
I wouldn’t drink like any water during any of my workouts. I was like, ‘I want to try and get my body used to like working out without having any water, just in case we’re not allowed to in the game.’ So, yeah, that’s a little breakdown of what I did.
Survivor is an incredibly difficult game to play even when one is not factoring in the social play that makes it one of the best reality shows. Savannah Louie might have been criticized by Kristina during the final episode for the way she played her social game, but in other arenas, she was very much prepared for the game Probst and co. threw at her. It’s likely one of the many reasons she ultimately landed the title of sole survivor.
Savannah Louie will return as part of the already-iconic Survivor 50 cast, and I’ll be interested to see how her game evolves and hear about any changes she made to her prep the next time around. While we wait, CinemaBlend's own Mack Rawden already advocated for why Season 49 deserves a rewatch, and it's a good option while we wait for new eps.
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