‘Survivor 48’ cast plays a game of Would You Rather?

Anyone who plays Survivor will be faced with a crucial and difficult decision that will have to be made — a decision that will chart and determine their fate in the game. There will be no waffling, no wavering, no middle road. They will have to pick a side and go.

With that in mind, we decided while in Fiji to warm up the cast of Survivor 48 (which premieres Feb. 26 on CBS) a bit by forcing them to make a difficult decision just days before the game began. And what better way to do that than by making them play a round of our favorite game: Would You Rather?

Of course, we had to do it Survivor-style by asking each contestant a seemingly simple, yet simultaneously diabolical, question: Would you rather win Survivor and get no money, or be voted out first and take home $1 million? So how did each cast member respond? Read on and find out.

Cedrek McFadden

I’m going with win and get nothing. Because part of the journey here is to experience all the things. I want the full treatment. I want the challenges, I want the hunger, I want the rain. One of my nurses told me this before I left; he always talks about, his brother was in the military and they had this phrase about “embracing the suck.” I want to just embrace that. And so I want the full experience, and that has to happen after 26 days, not after two or three days.

Charity Nelms

I’m going to be real. I’d rather get voted out first and get a million dollars. Because it’s not about just a title for me. The experience is what I’m here for. Of course I want to win. Of course I’m incredibly competitive. You wouldn’t be here if you weren’t. But at the end of the day, the pride of just like, “Oh, I have the title” — that’s not me. The million dollars to change my life and the lives of people around me — I would much rather take that and humbly bow out and go, “Okay, I’ll be first voted out.”

Thomas Krottinger

Oh, win Survivor 48 and get nothing. This entire experience for me is not about the money, and I keep forgetting that there’s this giant prize that would really impact my life. Because the reason I’m playing Survivor is because I have this great life. I feel like I’m one of the luckiest people to walk the earth. I have an amazing family, amazing husband, beautiful house dogs. I have this incredible job. I have a very diverse group of people, friends in my life supporting me.

I am so lucky, and I’m playing Survivor because I feel like I want to take myself out of this little castle that I’ve kind of built for myself where everything feels good and safe and have a real experience that brings me back down to the studs and see: Can I do it all over again? I built that off of being myself and figuring it out and kind of navigating this crazy world of being gay, working in music, and having family stuff we all do and built this great life.

Sometimes I have this imposter syndrome where I’m like: Are the inmates running the prison? Is this all good? Does this make sense in my life? And so now I’m in this place where it’s really just me, no phone, no support. They will not even know what my job is. I can’t even hide behind that. So I would rather win the game and have no money and prove to myself that I can do this all over again than go home first and have a million bucks.

Kamilla Karthigesu

Win Survivor and get nothing. I don’t really need the money. I always wanted the title for bragging rights within my family, and part of me coming out here is to prove them all wrong. Before they knew I applied to Survivor, they would always talk about it to my brother. They’d be like, “Oh, you should apply. You’d be so good. You’re so strong. People love you.” And to me they’d be like, “You should not apply. You can’t do any of those things. They’ll send you home first.” And so part of me coming out here is to prove them all wrong and be like, “Look, I’m the one you should have been hyping up the whole time, not Kenny.” So yeah, I just want the title. I don’t really want the money, and a million dollars is not going to do anything in California. I still can’t buy a house.

Joe Hunter

Okay, I’m going to say without a doubt, win and get no money. And here’s why. I truly believe in life — and this is no bulls—, even now to this day — the process is really the juice. It’s the entirety of your growth and really evolving as a human being. And there is no other situation on the planet that I can think of in a controlled environment where you can be pushed like this mentally, emotionally, and socially with people that you’d never meet outside of this environment in a competition on national television.

The growth in that alone, if anybody doesn’t see that or feel that, they’re lying to you. And I feel like I should be paying the show just for that experience. And then to say that you conquered that and mainly beat all the things in your brain telling you that you couldn’t do, which we all have. To have that title for my kids — alone, that would be worth it over the money.

Eva Erickson

I’d win Survivor and get nothing. Because I’m so competitive. I do not want to be a loser. When I was a kid, my dad would always be like, “Are you a winner or a whiner?” And I’d be like, “I’m a winner!” And I have that winning mentality. I don’t care if I would get nothing. I’m not doing this for the money, I’m doing it for the experience and to go compete.

Justin Pioppi

Oh, that is tough. I’m out here for my mother. She’s beaten cancer three times. I want to win the money so she can just finally retire. I want to just give her a big fat check and say, “Ma, you got tomorrow off. You got the rest of your life off. Go finish school, take that our class, go travel.” She loves volunteer work. She just hasn’t been able to do that.

But, man, I don’t want to be voted out first, though. This is something I’ve waited on for a long time, but also, I feel like I wouldn’t be out here without my mother. So I think I’d have to lean towards the former, as awful as that sounds. As a competitor and someone who loves this game and is so blessed to be out here and who wants to win and is playing to win, I’d have to go with the money.

Star Toomey

Wow! Dang, real talk. That’s real right there. Because you know the million dollars is why you come. But I noticed from previous Survivor players, after you’re in the game for a certain amount of time, you don’t even care about the money anymore. And it’s about the title. It’s about what you’re doing to the game to make yourself look better than all the others that play before you. My wife will probably kill me for saying this, but I would rather have the title of Sole Survivor. The money could be somewhere else. I’m good with it. I want the Survivor title. I want to be Sole Survivor. I want to be with the great Sandras, Maryannes, Robs, and Parvatis. I want somebody to say, “I want to win like Star.”

Shauhin Davari

I’d win and get nothing. I can do way more with the title of Sole Survivor than I can with a million dollars, especially for my community, for what I’m looking to do with my life. I think that I’m very, very fortunate that my family and I — a million dollars will make a difference, don’t get me wrong — but the title of Sole Survivor will give me an opportunity and a platform to make a huge difference. Persian men are not out here being represented super well. And I think that the only way that I can win this is by also representing myself super well.

I’m not this gold chain-wearing, Mercedes-Benz-driving Persian dude. Not that there’s anything wrong with either of those things, but I just want to show that our community of Persian people out there are a very diverse, very awesome, welcoming, badass community of super successful contributors. And I think that getting the title allows me to show that.

And then dude, the look on my mom’s face! If I brought home money — my mom would be mad at me for even saying this because mama wants the money — but mama has watched every single season of Survivor! And she deserves a beautiful sunset where she gets to be celebrated and gets to wear the dress to the event and gets to be my plus one. And that’s the dream. Let’s give mama that.

Stephanie Berger

These are terrible options. I’m not going to ask for more detail on the context. I find when people do that annoying. I think at the end of the day, I really want to win Survivor. I want to be the Sole Survivor. I want the title. I want to know that I can outwit, outplay, and outlast every other person here. I think that there would be something super gratifying. I am really lucky and blessed in my life. I have a great job. I know that being a millionaire is something I will eventually be. And to be fair, it’s not as much money as it used to be when this show started. Maybe they’ll decide to actually up the prize pot?

Kyle Fraser

I’d win Survivor and get nothing. If the hypothetical was be voted out second, fine, but I cannot be voted out first for so many reasons. I feel like I’m an athletic-presenting person. I don’t know if my previous athleticism will translate to the game. I hope it does. But if I got voted out first, that signals to the world that I am one of the bigger guys on this season, you would think that they would need me. So if I get voted out first, that means that I have just done something criminally wrong to the point where my tribe’s like, “He’s not even worth having around us.” So yeah, I would much rather have the title of Sole Survivor with the zero bucks than being voted out first. Not to mention that being the Sole Survivor would still be a fricking dream in itself.

Chrissy Sarnowsky

I would take the million and run. My mom’s struggling with money. I have friends that have deathly illnesses that can’t work anymore. The money to me doesn’t mean much, but to help others — which I do my whole life and that’s what I do for a living — to help my surrounding people is what I’m here for.

Kevin Leung

I would rather win Survivor and get nothing. Winning Survivor — the title, the moment where I can prove to myself and to my parents that yeah, I made it and I can do more things than just study and do well in school and do well at work. This is something that’s so outrageously abnormal, but I can succeed in it. I’d rather have that achievement than the money.

Bianca Roses

I’d win Survivor and get nothing. I literally yesterday said I’d be out here for a dollar. The money’s great. I want the money. I’m here to win the money. I want to invest in my business. I want to buy a house. I want to treat my family and friends to lavish, amazing experiences. A fully paid trip to Italy is what I’ve been manifesting. But at the end of the day, I’m fortunate to say it’s really not about the money, it’s about the experience. It’s about the title. It’s about proving to myself and my friends and my family, my clients, my future clients, that when I commit to something, I deliver. And I’m such a dedicated, ruthless, very scrappy, very just devoted human that I would fully rather win and get nothing than get voted out first for a million bucks.

Mitch Guerra

I would rather win the game and get no money. Because bragging rights are so much more than a million dollars. Honestly, you don’t even get that much in the end. So I’d like to win regardless of what I’m doing.

Mary Zheng

I’d rather win Survivor and get absolutely nothing, because then everybody in the world could see how cool I am. If you get voted out first, you don’t get any screen time. What the hell?

David Kinne

Oh, that is a very tough one. Here’s what I would say. I do not take the money, I take the win, I come back on season 50, I win that million and fair game. Done.

Sai Hughley

Okay, this is easy for me. I’ve made a good amount of money in my life, but that’s not the point. I think the title is more inspiring to me. Being a Sole Survivor is very much a small winner circle. And I think to be a part of the family, but not only be a part of the family, but say you won one of the most difficult games is much more inspiring than saying you got voted out first, but you walked away with money. You can go and get a new job. It’s just cool to be like, “I once survived here!”

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