‘You only live once’: Hundreds chase ‘Survivor’ dream at Cache Creek casting call
Jason Flick traveled roughly 2,000 miles, spent $600 and lost two days of work to attend his 35th in-person casting call for CBS’ hit reality show “Survivor.” When he arrived at Cache Creek Casino Resort at 1:30 a.m. Monday morning, he was roughly seven hours early. He was second in line.
By 7 a.m., still two hours before the first potential castaway would get their time on camera, more than 70 people were in line. More than 300 had checked in within an hour of the event’s beginning. Flick said this was standard, if not slightly lower attendance than the average call he has attended.
Flick’s pursuit to get on the show has taken him to 19 different states and included two pre-filmed auditions he sent in via VHS in 2001. Yet, Flick has never made it to the second stage of the “Survivor” casting process or gotten a call back from CBS producers, he said.
But that doesn’t look like it will stop the 51-year-old, who works as a camera manufacturer in North Aurora, Illinois, anytime soon.
“I don’t have forever to do this, and ‘Survivor’ is not going to last forever either, so I get out there and do it while I can. You only live once,” Flick said. “I believe if you keep doing it, it doesn’t matter how long it takes, you’ll eventually get to your goal. Some people have dreams and they don’t follow them. I’m taking my dream and turning it into a goal and trying to meet it.”
The dream is a long shot
“Survivor” received 16,000 auditions for the 2022 casting cycle — which produced Survivor 45 and 46 — through a combination of casting calls and online submissions, People reported. Only 18 have made the final cut on each of the last nine new-player seasons.
With the show’s 50th season — its first with returning players since 2020 titled “In the Hands of the Fans” — looming, competition for those spots is only increasing.
For someone over 50-years-old, like Flick, the odds are even lower. In the last four new-player casts — Survivors 46-49 — only four players above 50 have gotten their once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
The numbers don’t worry Flick. He was more worried about refining the narrative he used for his short chance to intrigue the producers and move him along in the process.
Each applicant gave their basic information and then was given roughly 90 seconds to answer a simple question: “Why do you want to be on the show?” An online application to the show doesn’t have a specific time limit, but the file-size restriction leads to roughly three-minute videos.
In a document shown to the potential contestants, producers advised them to be themselves, tell their stories and avoid vague phrases. Flick advised those in line to lead-off with a strong hook as producers can lose interest and click off videos within the first 15 seconds.
“Today’s approach was that my high school quote in my yearbook was, ‘If you always settle for mediocre, your life will be less than perfect,’ and I want to become more than mediocre,” Flick said. “I want ‘Survivor’ to take me to the next level.”
‘I can do that’
Herbert Reed III, 34, is a longtime reality TV fan who began watching “Survivor” recently during its “New Era” — seasons 41-49 — but has quickly fallen in love with the show’s social dynamics and strategic elements, which he contrasted with other competition shows like “The Amazing Race” and “The Challenge.”
“When you’re watching it, you think you know what’s going to happen and then there’s all these different loops and turns that take place. It’s like, ‘Oh, dang, I didn’t expect that,’ Reed said. “You’re at home watching it being the commentator at home, thinking, ‘Hey, I can do that.’ I have the chance to be like, ‘Yeah, let me see if I really could do that.’”
The casting call was Reed’s first time applying for the show in any form and he said he was encouraged to come by his boss, who allowed him to take the day off of work to give his dream a shot. He also said he felt an in-person video would give a more authentic representation of his personality compared to an edited submission.
Reed said he would be a good contestant on the show due to the adaptability he gained from his upbringing and his ability to socialize with many different kinds of people.
“To be able to adapt to life situations, you don’t have to think and have the same beliefs as me, but to be able to hear someone out and find some type of humanity, like where we can relate, that will help me on the show,” Reed said.
Twins want to change the game
Kristi Turner and Kelly Stinnett had an unusual application. Rather than applying individually, the two stood together in front of the camera as identical twins — despite the two admitting they no longer look the identical part — who are hoping to “mix up the game.”
The twins, who traveled from Arizona alongside Stinnett’s wife, are angling for a revolutionary twist where the two will be cast on the same season without the rest of the contestants knowing their relationship.
“Survivor” has cast contestants with their loved ones on two separate seasons, the most recent being “Survivor: San Juan Del Sur” in 2014, but have never intentionally cast a secret pregame relationship.
“They have not had something that’s like a secret, where the viewers might know, but the contestants don’t, and it would just be different,” Turner said. “It’d be such a dynamic change to the game.”
The two plan on keeping their relationship a secret that involves Turner winning “all of the challenges” and Stinnett playing a strong social game and forming tight bonds with their fellow players. Come the merge, the two have different philosophies with Stinnett saying Turner is “on her own” while Turner emphasized the pair’s secret alliance.
“We would be like two fan favorites,” Stinnett said. “Somebody’s going to associate with her and someone’s going to associate with me, because we’re different.”
Mom and daughter bond over fandom
Patti Phillips, 65, was content watching “Survivor” at home, or at the frequent watch parties she attends with her daughter Emily Hammerstrom, 31. Especially after Phillips won “a little bit of money” in the “Survivor” betting pool she has with her daughter and her friends after picking the winner of “Survivor 48” — Kyle Fraser.
But, after telling her daughter about the event, she was convinced to go with her and give it a shot.
“I’m like, ‘Oh, I’m too old for this. My knees aren’t good. I’m not good. That’s not a good thing.’ But I went in and did it,” Phillips said.
Phillips has watched the show since its first season and said it has been a great way to bond and socialize with her daughter, despite the two living roughly two hours apart. Phillips said her daughter would do a great job on the show and was happy to support her at the call.
“When she puts her mind to doing something she does it. Back in high school, she decided she wanted to do a marathon as a bucket list for her 18th year, and she trained for seven, eight months, and she ran a full marathon and did very well. She’s just got that competitive spirit,” Phillips said. “I think she’d do good. Me, probably not.”
Event created community
Despite thinking he “flubbed” the audition, Anthony Casanoba, 44, said he enjoyed the experience because he got to interact with many “Survivor” fans, discuss their favorite players or seasons, and get to know each other.
“To be a ‘Survivor’ fan and to relate and to converse with people that have the same perspectives on the seasons that you watched the falls or the triumphs that the individuals have as far as the characters on the show, is so cool,” Casanoba said. “Usually you just talk with your closest friends about it, but now you got random people that felt the same way you like, ‘I knew I was right.’”
After three players Flick met at a 2016 casting call made it onto the show — Sebastian Noel and Morgan Ricke of “Survivor: Ghost Island” as well as Ashley Nolan of “Survivor: Heroes vs. Healers vs. Hustlers” — he began having those he met in line sign his shirt before auditioning.
Flick said the shirt signings help him learn the stories of those around him, creating a community of “Survivor” fans and allows him stand out among the thousands of applicants.
“I learn about why they’re here, and that gives me more motivation to do these things,” Flick said. “If they met me and I actually made it on the show, then part of them gets to go on the show with me.”
This story was originally published June 3, 2025 at 5:00 AM.
CORRECTION: Twins Kristi Turner and Kelly Stennett traveled from Arizona with Stennett’s wife. An earlier version of the story incorrectly stated that Turner’s wife accompanied them.
