Survivor: All-Stars premiered to 33 million viewers live on February 1st, 2004, right after the Super Bowl. The buildup to the show was huge, with advertisements running on the covers of many national and local magazines.

People were excited to see their favorites return!

Audiences could now root again for some of their most beloved castaways.

Plus her

And so prior to the airing of season 8, CBS and SEG released a summary of the first seven seasons. It was titled “Survivor: A look back” and at the end of the special, we heard from the All-Stars about what their favorite moments were from the first seven seasons. They spoke about proud moments and dumb moves and it was just a lot of fun to watch.

“Favorite moment in Africa was when I got to this little city of Womba, and when I was in this city I had my hackey sac, which was my luxury item and I started playing hackey sack with all these little Kenyan children and they were having the best time and I was having the best time of my life, and it was just a great moment for me.” – Ethan

“Favorite moment from my Survivor was probably when I got to go to the BBQ with Colleen. We just played this really rigorous game, it was about day 25, I’m starving, I get a letter from my kids after not gotten a video and me and my best friend from the show sitting and eating a BBQ while everyone is back starving. That. That felt like sweet justice.” – Jenna L

“That balloon ride that me and Lex took was….like…it was better than being home eating apple pie.”- Big Tom

“Winning was the best moment obviously. Turning that card over, three, three. Rich, Kelly, Rich, Kelly, Rich, Kelly…..Rich. Best moment hands down.” – Richard

“The one moment where in the challenge I sunk the Morgan’s second boat or when I got the cannon up onto the platform or when I held onto the rope 5 minutes longer than the toughest guy on the tribe. Those are a lot of my favorite moments and it’s where they’re all challenges where I was the man.” – Rupert

The returning players also talk about some moments of the show where they truly shook their heads in shock or couldn’t believe what they were seeing.

“You’ve got this super duper alliance of four people and they go to do that challenge and they knock everybody out right in the order that they’re gonna vote em out. That was like the dumbest thing. And they all deserved to get booted and I was so glad to see them all get voted out one at a time.” – Sue

“Banner name moments in Survivor history when it comes to bad moves is when Shii-Ann, Shii-Ann’s hasty assumption that a merge had occurred.” – Lex

“He had a superman body and he was such a wuss.” – Big Tom

“In the last seven seasons I have seen some really dumb things. Remember when they were over in Thailand and they didn’t tie the boat up and the boat floated away…I was like oh my God.” – Sue

“Oh yeah, there were things that I did that I was like that’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever seen, the dumbest thing I’ve ever seen anybody do. Like when I yelled at Rob C. I was like what was I thinking? And then I’m like crying ‘I’m so sick, I can’t do this’ like what was I thinking again?!” – Jenna M

“Older Kim from Survivor 3 in Africa. On the hike over to find their camp, they couldn’t carry everything and she suggests that they pour out the water. I’ve never heard of such a thing.” – Alicia

“Dump the water because it’s too heavy, oh my God. We were like that’s the dumbest thing.” – Sue

“I think we would agree you know, Colby handing the million dollars to Tina was just….uh…none of us could figure it out.” – Lex

And of course the special ends with some final words of wisdom from American hero, Rudy Boesch

“One of the worst moments was when I found out girls could run faster than I could.”

Anyway, it was a lot of fun to watch and reflect on. It’s always interesting to see how previous players look at and judge not only themselves but other seasons as well.

Welcome to Marooned Memories

And with that, I came to an idea. What are some truly beloved and well known moments? What are some overlooked gems that previous players really enjoyed? I reached out to former players on Twitter under my handle, @Survivorquotesx and asked them what their favorite moments in the history of the show were, whether it was from their season or not. I got responses from many different players, from many different seasons and I cannot wait to share them with you during this off season. Join us as we take a look back on Survivor and on some of it’s best moments, from the point-of-view of those who experienced it.

If you’re a previous player and want to partake in this, please let me know! It’s never too late.