Skip to content
All 751 castaways
Ethan Zohn
3 seasons · 69 days

Ethan Zohn

Africa's easygoing nice guy, who won on likability and a thrown challenge, then became everyone's favorite winner to target.

Sole Survivor

3
seasons played
69 days
on the island
1st
best finish
1
final tribal council

Known for

Ethan laid the groundwork for the Boran Alliance in Africa, teaming with Tom Buchanan and Lex van den Berghe, and when a swap shipped both of them to Samburu, he took charge of what was left. His boldest move: striking a deal with Samburu outsiders Frank Garrison and Teresa Cooper to deliberately lose an immunity challenge so Boran could vote out Silas Gaither. Boran hit the merge with the numbers and rolled to the final four, where Kim Johnson's immunity streak took out Tom and Lex. Kim chose Ethan for the finale, and the jury rewarded his warmth 5-2.

All-Stars treated him as a trophy to hunt. Saboga kept him around for his strength, Mogo Mogo absorbed him with a target already painted on, and after Colby Donaldson fell, his old friend Lex finally cut him. Winners at War started comfortably with Parvati Shallow, Rob Mariano and Danni Boatwright, but the new-school players blindsided Ethan to weaken Rob and Parvati. On the Edge of Extinction he collapsed during the first task, finished it anyway, and lost both return duels.

Background: Survivor Wiki

Season by season

  1. Ethan Zohn, Survivor 3: Africa
    1Survivor 3: Africaage 27, New York City, New York1st of 16 · 39 days
  2. Ethan Zohn, Survivor 8: All-Stars
    11Survivor 8: All-Starsage 30, New York City, New York11th of 18 · 21 days
  3. Ethan Zohn, Survivor 40: Winners at War
    18Survivor 40: Winners at Warage 45, Hillsborough, New Hampshire18th of 20 · 9 days · jury

Photos and logos: CBS

Seasons played, finishing positions, day counts, jury status, ages and hometowns come from the contestant table in each season's Wikipedia article, cross-checked against the series overview before publication.

Sources (5)

  1. “Survivor: Africa,” Wikipedia, accessed September 28, 2026, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Survivor:_Africa.
  2. “Survivor: All-Stars,” Wikipedia, accessed September 28, 2026, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Survivor:_All-Stars.
  3. “Survivor: Winners at War,” Wikipedia, accessed September 28, 2026, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Survivor:_Winners_at_War.
  4. “List of Survivor (American TV series) episodes,” Wikipedia, accessed September 25, 2026, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Survivor_(American_TV_series)_episodes.
  5. “Ethan Zohn,” Survivor Wiki, accessed September 28, 2026, https://survivor.fandom.com/wiki/Ethan_Zohn.

Which Survivor hot take do you actually agree with?