Monét X Change survives Survivor’s Fiji influencer special — and the Drag Race champ is already gearing up for her next challenge on The Traitors.
Monét X Change just added a new line to an already busy résumé: Survivor castaway. The Drag Race winner joined seven creators for the Survivor: Influencer Experience, a compact, 36-hour version of the game filmed on the same Fijian beaches where the long-running series tests its players. There was no million-dollar prize and no official Sole Survivor—but there was a real camp, real weather, a real Tribal Council, and one hard exit. Monét kept her torch. In a game that defines success by not hearing “the tribe has spoken,” that matters.
This special wasn’t cosplay. Over two days the group built a shelter, cooked rice, and learned—fast—how strategy feels when you’re wet, cold, and on camera. The format was streamlined but familiar: one tribe, a hidden idol in camp, a proper immunity challenge, and a vote that sent someone home. Compressing the arc into 36 hours stripped away the downtime and left the essentials: social read, risk tolerance, and whether you can still think straight after a night on bamboo.
Survivor Influencer 2025 Cast
Monét X Change — Drag artist, podcaster, and now Survivor alum. Charisma and timing translate well in the jungle; so does knowing when to speak and when to listen. Monét leaned into the experience, helped at camp, and kept her torch.
Hannah Kosh — Pop-culture host with a quick delivery and a big audience. Her strength is context; she knows how narratives form. The game’s one elimination landed on her—proof that even a short season can turn quickly.
Alyssa Amoroso — Beauty and lifestyle founder behind Publyssity. Comes from the “always on” school of content but dialled it down to handle the essentials. Kept perspective when the rain arrived, and the humour stayed dry even when the clothes didn’t.
Davis Burleson — The voice behind TikTok street interviews. Comfortable managing energy and reading strangers; less comfortable sleeping on bamboo. Smart enough to know what he doesn’t know, which is half the battle in a short game.
Karl Jacobs — YouTuber and MrBeast collaborator. A genuine Survivor fan who treated the beach like a long-imagined milestone. Enthusiasm can be a liability; here it made him a good teammate and an honest narrator.
Phaith Montoya — Fashion creator with a competitive streak and a clear will to stay. When pressure rose at Tribal, she produced the night’s twist: a hidden immunity idol that flipped the vote and kept her in.
Sean Klitzner — Producer of Beast Games stepping out from behind the monitor. Calm, practical, and focused on process—the kind of player who quietly keeps a camp running while everyone else debates strategy.
Tommy Scibelli (Tommy Smokes) — Barstool host and long-time Survivor watcher with the receipts to prove it. Knows the meta, respects the rhythm of the game, and came prepared to adjust when plans changed.
A fast game that still felt like Survivor
Short doesn’t mean soft. The overnight storm was the kind that turns a beach into a lesson. Fire takes longer when the air is heavy. Sleep is a rumour. People who are used to producing content on their own terms have to produce results they can’t control—shelter that holds, rice that cooks, a plan that survives first contact with the other seven people on your beach.
The challenge delivered the usual dose of grit and mud and forced cooperation. In a full season, those moments build trust (or rewire it). In 36 hours, they compress the timeline: you see who shows up, who hesitates, and who looks for an opening the moment the host says “Go.” Back at camp, the idol in play forced everyone to ask the right question: who is capable of surprising us tonight? Phaith had the answer. She played it, nullified votes, and the numbers snapped to a new target. Hannah’s torch went out. And with one snuff, the season ended; the rest of the tribe walked away technically still alive in the game.
Monet X Change on Survivor & The Traitors
Monét’s lane has always been performance under pressure. That doesn’t automatically translate to the bush, but the mindset helps. She managed the tone at camp, chose her moments at Tribal, and treated the discomfort like part of the brief. After the episode dropped, her summary was blunt and accurate: thirty-six hours, no food to brag about, plenty of bites, and a shelter that wouldn’t pass inspection—but a good experience, honestly earned.
The audience response was immediate. Drag Race fans who’ve never watched Survivor took a look. Survivor fans who only knew Monét by reputation got a clearer picture. The crossover made sense: both shows reward clarity, presence, and the ability to read a room. You can’t fake those on a wet tarp at 3 a.m.
And this isn’t the only arena on her calendar. Monét’s year is already full: an engagement announced this fall, and a slot on The Traitors next. That series suits her skill set—social deduction, limited information, a moving target. Add this Fiji stint, and you can see a pattern: she’s choosing formats that test different gears—wit, restraint, and endurance—in front of audiences that increasingly overlap.
Survivor Influencer Island, 36 Hour Game.
It would have been easy for this to feel like a brand exercise. It didn’t. The producers kept the core disciplines intact: build, endure, decide. The edit respected the audience’s literacy in the format—no need to over-explain the idol, the challenge mechanics, or why one bad read can put your name on parchment. The social spillover helped too. Each player documented their view without spoiling the beats: cold snapshots, mud-streaked selfies, and the kind of gallows humour that appears when everyone knows they signed up for the hard version.
For Survivor, this was a proof of concept that didn’t cheapen the brand. For the creators, it was reality unscripted in the oldest sense: nature, time, and other people. It’s not a substitute for a 26- or 39-day run, but it showed who has instincts you can’t install with an edit—who looks around, who locks in, and who keeps their head when the plan moves.
Monet X Change wins Survivor?
Did Monét “win” Survivor? There was no cheque and no confetti, but the frame is simple. In this game, you lose the moment your flame goes out. Monét’s didn’t. She left the beach with the same fire she arrived with, tied with the rest who outlasted the single vote.
If that rings familiar, it should. On Drag Race All Stars, she shared the crown with Trinity the Tuck—two winners, one season. Fiji ended with a different kind of tie: a handful of influencers still standing after the storm and the vote, Monét among them. No ceremonies, no title cards—just the measure that counts on this show. Lets call it a tie?
Call it what you like: survival, a draw, unfinished business. We’ll go with this: she didn’t get voted out, which makes her a winner, baby.
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