WARNING: Spoilers ahead are unmarked. You have been warned.
For the TV series:
- The hosting job for Survivor came down to Jeff Probst and Phil Keoghan. Probst got it due to his live TV work and due to an interview on Access Hollywood where he flirted with Sandra Bullock. However, if Probst hadn't been chosen, imagine what both Survivor and The Amazing Race would be like with Phil as the Survivor host.
- Survivor beat out an attempted revival of What's My Line? for a prime time slot. Imagine how different television would have been had CBS picked that up instead...
- Shane Powers was actually intended to return twice, but both times, got replaced. He was intended to return in Micronesia, but was replaced by Jonny Fairplay. Shane was also intended to return in Heroes vs. Villains, but was replaced by Russell.
- He also could have been voted into Cambodia, but didn't get enough votes.
- He also turned down Blood vs. Water because he didn't want to have to play against his son.
- Other people were considered to return for the show. Sandra was actually one of the people dropped at the last moment in Micronesia. Tom Westman was asked to come back to Micronesia, but he declined the offer.
- Sandra was also asked to come back for All-Stars, but she declined as she was recovering from parasites that she picked up from her time in Pearl Islands.
- The original filming location intended for Season 4 was the country of Jordan, but due to a certain event in America in 2001, it was changed to Marquesas.
- A green buff
◊ was made for, but not used in Palau. Presumably, it would've been the merged tribe buff had Koror not've steamrolled Ulong. - Season 11 was originally planned to be set in an Indian Ocean locale (Madagascar, southern India, and Sri Lanka were all scouted), but it was changed to Guatemala due to the Boxing Day tsunami.
- Some castaways, prior to being eventually selected for Survivor, initially applied for The Amazing Race first. Some examples are Parvati Shallow, Earl Cole, Natalie White, Monica & Brad Culpepper, and Kelley Wentworth, Jon Misch, and Jaclyn Schultz.
- Richard Hatch was supposed to be on Heroes vs. Villains as well, but he was under house arrest at the time and wasn't able to get permission from the courts to leave the country to film it. Additionally, both Yau-Man Chan and Corinne Kaplan had to turn down coming back due to work obligations.
- Sierra Reed was asked to join Heroes vs. Villains and said yes, but had to step down after getting engaged to a producer from her season.
- Tina Scheer was going to be in Guatemala but her son died through a car accident and Amy O'Hara went on to replace her.
- Redemption Island was originally planned as Russell vs. Richard, with the tribes comprised of returning players chosen in a draft. After Richard was denied permission to leave the country again, the draft idea was scrapped and Boston Rob, Russell's rival from Heroes vs. Villains, was chosen as Richard's replacement.
- Fiji is so far the only season with an odd number of players as well as the first with a gender imbalance, due to one of the players quitting and not being replaced.
- Additionally it was rumored that this was supposed to have a similar tribe split as in Cook Islands, which is further hinted to by the fact there were 5 Caucasian-American castaways (Gary, Melissa, Rocky, Boo, and Jessica), 5 Hispanic-American castaways (Liliana, Lisi, Alex, Rita, and Edgardo), 5 Asian-American castaways (Sylvia, Michelle, Mookie, Yau-Man, and Stacy), and 5 African American castaways (Anthony, Erica, Cassandra, Dreamz, and Earl) though this was changed after Melissa dropped out. Given the controversy this created last time, this wasn't necessarily a bad thing.
- Jerri Manthey and her sister were asked to compete in Blood vs. Water, but had to back out when Jerri's sister became pregnant.
- Kelly Goldsmith was an alternate for the All-Stars season but was replaced with Shii-Ann at the last minute. She was also approached for Heroes vs. Villains, but declined when casting wouldn't tell her the concept behind the season. She was approached a third time, for Blood vs. Water, and had planned on playing, but had to decline when none of the loved ones she had chosen were able to play.
- Hayden Moss was going to be on Nicaragua but they put Fabio on that season instead and they went on to put Hayden on Big Brother.
- Abi-Maria Gomes was originally going to be on Tocantins but ended up getting cut because she was from the filming area and production thought it would give her an unfair advantage.
- R.C. Saint-Amour was originally going to compete in Blood vs. Water with her father, Craig. However, just before the game started, Craig's blood pressure shot up too high, and they were unable to compete. Instead, Candice and her husband John were brought in as a last minute replacement. In fact, the season's original theme was going to be "blood tribes" vs. "water tribes" before they were pulled out and the theme was switched to "returning players vs. their families". This makes Blood vs. Water something of an Artifact Title. She was also asked for Cambodia, but declined.
- Two players have left San Juan del Sur just before filming, resulting in the "redemption island" twist being played axed altogether, and forcing the players to have a gender imbalance for the first time since Fiji. Probst confirmed this in an interview, and did not state why they had to leave. (Fans assume something similar to what happened to Craig Saint-Amour or in The Amazing Race 24.) One of the supposed players, So Kim, then eventually competed in the following season.
- According to Jeff Probst, some players declined to return for Cambodia, including Greg Buis from Borneo, Elisabeth Hasselbeck from The Australian Outback, Ian Rosenberger from Palau, Brett Clouser and Shambo Waters from Samoa, Jeff Kent and RC Saint-Amour from Phillipines, and Josh Canfield from San Juan Del Sur. CBS contacted Jon Misch, also from San Juan Del Sur, about participating, but he missed the call and didn't check his voicemail in time.
- Speaking of Cambodia, it has been confirmed that had Mike Holloway not invalided himself by winning Worlds Apart, he would have made the roster of the season.
- Adam Klein and his mother applied to be on San Juan Del Sur but had to withdraw due to her cancer diagnosis. He was given a standing invitation to appear on a later season.
- Natalie Anderson was supposed to come back for Game Changers, however, she suffered a serious concussion just before she was due to fly out to Fiji and was forced to pull out as a result.
- Davie Rickenbacker was never originally intended to be on David vs. Goliath, but on the following season. Instead, somebody else cast for that season left during the pre-season press interviews for unknown reasons, causing Davie to take his spot at the very last minute.
- Dan Spilo was originally cast for Edge of Extinction, but broke his foot a few days before he was supposed to leave for Fiji, and so was bumped to the following season. Yeah, let's just say the girls on Edge may have dodged a huge bullet there...
- Similarly to Palau, there was also an unused green buff◊ in Island of the Idols. Judging by the seasons before it; it would've most likely been used for a third auxiliary tribe like Angkor or Ikabula.
- Fiji winner Earl Cole declined to return for Winners at War because it would've meant missing the birth of his child.
- Production wanted Ethan to be on Heroes vs. Villains but he was going through chemotherapy at the time, he and Jenna were asked to be on South Pacific as captains but they declined as they didn't want to compete against each other so Coach and Ozzy were asked instead, he was once again asked to come back for Game Changers but had to turn it down because he would only arrive home two days before his wedding.
- As related by the man himself on his podcast, Jeff Probst's first concept for 41 involved money entering the Survivor society, with a currency system that would allow players to buy supplies and advantages from a shopkeeper. As part of the Survivor Retool, it would also have had a narrative introduction about Winner's at War "war" destroying the old Survivor society and a new one being born from the ashes. The concept was ultimately dropped for "not being fun enough".
- On Cambodia, had Kass made it to the family visit she would have brought on J'Tia as her loved one and Stephen wanted to bring JT as his loved one but production thought that having a past winner come back would have been an unfair advantage.
- In Philippines, the players originally wanted to name the merge tribe "Fuckinrayne" but the producers told them they had to change it as they would have to censor the tribe name. Allegedly, the production crew found it Actually Pretty Funny.
- Richard Hatch was considered for Winners at War, but was cut due to the Dan Spilo incident as he had (whether it was on purpose or an accident is still debated to this day) a similar incident with Sue Hawk in All Stars.
- Survivor 41 has plenty of What Could Have Beens:
- It was going to be called Dawn of a New Era before they decided to stop using subtitles for this season and beyond.
- Due to the COVID-19 Pandemic causing several travel restrictions, there was talk of shooting the season within the United States, with Hawaii and Georgia being considered. However, it was decided they would simply delay filming until the Fijian government would allow them to travel there again.
- Several contestants were cast on pre-COVID Survivor 41 before filming was suspended, and were pushed to future seasons. Erika Casupanan, Danny McCray, Heather Aldret, Brad Reese, and David Voce were retained for the post-pandemic 41, Zach Wurtenberger, Tori Meehan, and Jonathan Young were pushed to 42, Jesse Lopez and Cassidy Clark to 43, and Matthew Grinstead-Mayle and Bruce Perreault in 44.
- Lindsay Dolashewich from 42 was supposed to compete on post-pandemic 41, but contracted COVID and was replaced by Tiffany Seely. Coincidentally, another Lindsay, Lindsay Carmine, was cast for 42, but also contracted COVID and was pushed to 43.
- Shan Smith, who was on the Ua tribenote , was originally placed on Yase before Tiffany Seely took her place.
