After spending 26 days on an island and winning the 49th season of “Survivor,” Savannah Louie had roughly 10 days of rest and recuperation. Then, she hopped back on a plane to Fiji to take part in the show’s landmark 50th season.
Louie, who lives in Atlanta and is a former journalist, is one of 24 returning players from throughout the show’s 25 year history who will be competing for a shot at the top prize on the show’s 50th season. She was aggressive and physically dominant on her season, but coming into 50, she finds herself in a unique position.
The other contestants on Season 50 know each other, or have at least seen each other play on TV. But, they didn’t have a chance to watch back Louie’s winning season before beginning production for 50, leaving her a total mystery.
Rough Draft Atlanta caught up with Louie ahead of the premiere of Season 50, which airs Feb. 25 on CBS and Paramount+ at 8 p.m. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
This was obviously such a quick turnaround between Seasons 49 and 50, and I’m curious – you’re obviously at a physical deficit, and then have to make that up in a very quick amount of time. What was it like for you mentally then, coming into this after having done 26 days, turning right around and doing it all again?
Savannah Louie: Mentally, to be perfectly honest, I was all over the place. I had just lived through this crazy experience that I couldn’t really tell anyone about. I couldn’t tell anyone that I won. While a huge part of me wanted to celebrate and acknowledge that I was this winner, I wasn’t able to. I was also going into Season 50. I was honestly really scared to do it. I knew that a lot of the players in Season 50 already had these connections with one another, and I was kind of like the new kid on the block. Not only that, but these are players who have played once, twice, three times – more than that, in some cases. So it’s really intimidating! But I’m the kind of person too, where I always try to approach situations that make me scared or nervous as a sign that I need to go out and get uncomfortable and freaking do it! That was part of my mindset.
I’ve also talked a little bit about this paranoia that you get when you play “Survivor,” which is so interesting. I’ll give you a little bit of an example – I didn’t have time to decompress after 49, so I had kind of a paranoid state that I carried with me into Season 50. Maybe that’s a good thing, maybe not. But I had ordered a package on Amazon, the two day delivery, and it was supposed to be delivered at my apartment. I got a call from the Amazon delivery driver in the morning, and she left a voicemail. She goes,” Hey baby, I have your package. I can’t get into your apartment, so I have your package,” and that was it. Then she hung up.
When I heard this voicemail, my immediate reaction was, “Oh my gosh – this woman is taunting me! She has my package. She’s holding it hostage!” The package ended up being delivered later that day. But that just kind of illustrates you are out of the game with this mindset where you think everybody’s against you. And again, that might be a good thing. That might not be. You’ll just have to see [laughs].
In the pre-interviews leading up to this season, everyone has been talking about who they want to play with, who they’re wary of, etc. Obviously, you can’t say game play or spoiler-wise, but I’m curious, was there any one player who surprised you? Maybe personally, who was very different from how you expected?
Louie: I don’t know if I can say without spoilers. But yes. I will say, almost everybody on my starting tribe surprised me in some way or another. I mean, it ranges – whether it was from their gameplay and their strategy, to just how they acted in person and their personality.
For 50, you were coming off this rather intense final tribal. Kristina – infamously, I think at this point – asked you a pointed question about your social game. Obviously, you won, so it didn’t end up mattering that much. But I wonder if that was something that was on your mind, or was there anything else you wanted to do a little differently going into 50?
Louie: Girl, that question scarred me! Oh my god.
It scarred me secondhand.
Louie: I mean, you’re right. I went into Season 50 thinking, “Okay, I need to go out there, and I need to memorize everybody’s mom’s name, brother’s name, sister’s name, kids’ names.” I was trying to memorize everybody’s names. It’s so crazy, because I actually still do remember some of these people’s family member’s names. [Laughs] Kristina made a little impact on my Season 50 game! We’ll have to see how it works out.
Something I think you’ve gotten – and it came up during 49 and I’ve seen it come up a few times in these pre-interviews – is the Parvati Shallow comparison. On the one hand, I’m sure that’s a compliment – that’s how I would see it, at least. But I wonder when you hear that, how does that make you feel? Are you like, I should lean into this, or try to move myself away from it? How does the comparison affect your game?
Louie: I mean, that’s a great question. I will also say – huge compliment. Like, I love Parv [laughs]. But, that being said, Parv is a scary player. She’s someone who I would love to be compared to, unless I’m playing the game with the people who are comparing me to Parv! That being said, my mindset going into Season 50 was, I’m just gonna be myself. I’m gonna be as vulnerable as possible with these people, because they haven’t seen my game. They don’t know how I played. And, you know, one of the things that I kind of wished I had done differently in 49 was being more vulnerable and open with some of the people on my 49 cast. I did later in the game, and I feel like that served me well. So, when I was going into 50, I thought to myself, “All right – I need to be as open and vulnerable with these people as possible, so they’ll see me.” And maybe after being open and vulnerable, they’ll still see me as Parv. Maybe not. My hope is always that they see me as Savannah Louie.
That’s such a tricky line to walk, I think – being vulnerable, or being seen as a threat. Like, you want to appear strong, but not too strong.
Louie: I mean, honestly, I didn’t want to appear as anything. I wanted to appear as under the radar – let me flip flop through, and then you realize I’m there when it’s too late [laughs].
In the last returning players season, “Winners at War,” there was a very clear delineation between old school and new school. Did that surface again?
Louie: I think that whenever you’re playing “Survivor,” you’re gonna look for commonalities between yourself and other people, or you’re gonna look for ways that you can turn different groups against each other. So I think we’d be a little silly if we didn’t consider old school versus new school. But at the same time, when you’re playing a game for a million dollars, you cannot let something like the time when you played the game rule your alliances or rule your decisions. You have to be flexible. You have to be adaptable, because that is the name of the game, right? “Survivor” is all about being adaptable, no matter what era you played in.
I was reading an interview with you – I think it was a friend or foe thing, and they were asking you about different players. You were very gung-ho on a lot of the old school people as opposed to new school, which I thought was interesting. Also, when they brought up Cirie, you immediately were like, no – she’s gotta go. And this is something I have always felt. Everyone’s always like, “I can play with Cirie.” And I’m like, “She’s a killer!”
Louie: I mean, honestly – she’s an incredible player. There’s a reason why she’s gotten as far as she’s gotten so many times, you know what I mean? When I say foe like, I don’t mean in real life! I wanna be her best friend in real life! But I’m afraid I might like her too much.
But you know, what’s interesting about the old school, new school comparison is, when we were out there, I noticed that a lot of the new school players were kind of familiar with each other already, even if they weren’t talking. So, that’s what I was very wary about.
And the show’s been on so long, I assume there’s a bit of a fan element as well. Like, meeting Cirie, or Ozzy, being like, “I watched you on TV!”
Louie: Girl, not even that I watched Ozzy – I had a crush on Ozzy! It’s one of those things too where I had played the game, sure. A big part of “Survivor” is playing the game, but a huge part of “Survivor” is watching it air, and the experience that comes along when you watch that experience with the world. It is a totally different experience. So being out there, I did feel – I think I said this out there – but I felt like it was kind of like “Fans v. Favorites,” where I was literally the singular fan with all of my favorite people.
At the same time, it was a really cool experience. Everybody on my tribe – because they had all played before, and seen everything air from their seasons – they were so supportive of me and everything that had happened with 49. They gave such good advice for, “Hey, when it airs, think about this, do this, don’t do this.” It was so incredible to have those people there.
That’s great. I’m curious about the watching it back experience, because I can imagine – for me, it would be one, the secondhand anxiety of watching yourself onscreen, but then there’s the social media aspect of it, and the criticism. How was that for you?
Louie: Dude, it was hard. It was ruthless, honestly, because you hear a lot of good things, of course, but …
You remember the bad things more, I think.
Louie: Exactly. It’s so impactful. I mean, I was in therapy for a good part of the airing of 49. I think a lot of my cast was, as well. I will say, I like playing the game a lot better than I like rewatching it back with the world. There were tough moments, for sure.
Yeah, I guess you don’t really have a sense of how bad something like that can be until you’re experiencing it. It’s not something you can really prepare for.
Louie: Yeah, and you know, it’s hard too because anyone who plays “Survivor,” they’re putting themselves out there. You’re seeing them in such a vulnerable state. So to have the public criticize you when you’re being your most vulnerable self, it’s not something that typically happens to the everyday person. It was something I was not prepared for. I don’t think it’s something that most people are prepared for, and it’s really hard. But that said, you know, it’s part of the experience. Like, I’ll take that if I can play “Survivor” again. Absolutely.
