PEOPLE Celebrates 50 Seasons of Survivor with Special Issue Packed Full of Nostalgia and Exclusives

Survivor has proven to be the show to outwit, outplay and outlast.

PEOPLE is marking 50 seasons of the groundbreaking CBS reality competition with a special issue celebrating the players, places and Probst — Jeff Probst, that is — that made it happen. In the special collector’s issue, available on Amazon and newsstands across the country, PEOPLE takes super fans behind the scenes with exclusive interviews, a glimpse at crew life in Fiji during production and nostalgic photos from Survivor‘s 26-year history of snuffing torches.

Of course, no “Rites of Passage” down Survivor memory lane is complete without a look at the winners, the show’s biggest moments ever and revisiting how the original season changed television (and even a look inside Probst’s journal from Borneo — including a note about there being “monkeys everywhere” — from his new book, Survivor: Forged by Fire).

But when Survivor premiered in 2000, no one fully grasped its staying power — not even Probst, who has hosted the show for the entirety of its run.

Speaking exclusively with PEOPLE in Fiji during the first days of filming Survivor 50 in June 2025, Probst says, “I didn’t understand the juggernaut that Survivor was out of the gate. I just thought it was popular, and that was cool, but I didn’t really understand the significance of the ratings and all that.”

It was only when Probst, 64, became showrunner and executive producer in 2010 that he recognized Survivor‘s resilience.

“I realize, ‘Oh, this show could run until all humans die,’ ” he says. “Because the format is so simple: take a group of strangers, force them to work together while conspiring against each other, and in the end, the jury decides who wins. It’s just what you do with it inside that little box.”

There’s also a look ahead of Survivor‘s 50th season, including exclusive interviews with all 24 all-star castaways, conducted just days before filming began.

From season one returnee and original all-star Jenna Lewis to the show’s most recently crowned Sole Survivor, Savannah Louie, PEOPLE got the scoop on who they want to work with, changes in their lives since the last time they played and even the gritty details of living on an island for up to 26 days.

“Don’t get me started on if you have to pee in the middle of the night…sorry, is this TMI?” Louie said.