Alumnus Stephen Fishbach ’97 was one of the 20 former contestants on the reality show “Survivor” voted Wednesday night to return as a contestant on the show’s 31st season, “Survivor: Cambodia – Second Chance,” according to a CBS entertainment press release.
Fishbach was the runner-up on “Survivor: Tocantins — The Brazilian Highlands”, the show’s 18th season, making it to the finale before losing to J.T. Thomas, who won in a unanimous jury vote.
Fishbach was a fan-favorite on his first season and was nicknamed by his fellow contestants as “The Wizard” for his strategic play.
“Survivor” is a reality television show in which contestants are placed in a remote location and compete each week to remain in the game. Contestants are eliminated by vote and the last contestant wins $1 million.
Two weeks ago, during one of the show’s commercial breaks, host Jeff Probst announced the link to a CBS online poll that listed the names of 32 former contestants.
He said that the 10 men and the 10 women with the most votes would be given a second chance to compete for the $1 million prize that awaits the winner of “Survivor.” Fishbach was one of the 16 male contestants listed in the poll.
At the end of the live finale of the 30th season May 20, after this season’s winner was crowned, Probst announced that after two weeks of voting, he would reveal the 20 winners of the poll, who would leave the finale immediately by bus to begin filming for next season.
Fishbach, who has been blogging about “Survivor” for People.com since competing on “Tocantins,” won the poll for the men and left on the bus with the rest of the newly-announced cast. He is currently filming in Cambodia.