Breaking down everything we know about the Survivor Season 45 cast. There’s nothing that puts a bigger smile on my face than sitting down and talking with the newest players competing on Survivor. Well, that might be a little bit of an exaggeration, but these Survivor cast assessment articles are always so much fun. At this point, I’m 100% an expert when it comes to breaking down the cast of Survivor.
Survivor Survivor season 45 just recently started airing, and this will be a cast assessment where we’re diving into the darkest corners of the Internet to gather as much information on these players as we possibly can.
Don’t worry, and we’re avoiding spoilers and bootless for Survivor 45 and strictly talking with the players on the season using their Instagram, Twitter, Linked In, and even Tic Toks about Survivor.
This fall, a total of eighteen fresh competitors and one returning participant will be fighting for the $1 million prize and the famed Sole Survivor title.
Three lawyers, a school principal, a critical care nurse, a therapist, and a former marine who is now a truck driver are among the cast members. Bruce Perreault also makes a comeback this season after being medically evacuated from the previous one after hitting his head on an overhead structure during the first challenge.
It’s super exciting that Bruce from Survivor 44 will be returning and getting a second shot at redemption. Don’t worry, and we’ll be discussing him later in the article.
Survivor Season 45 Cast
Checking out the sneak peek at the logo for Survivor 45, it’s looking like Jeff Probst wants to stick with the numbers instead of a theme for the newest season. Remember, no bootless and no spoilers, simply the Survivor 45 cast assessment and who I think potential winner picks could be.
Nicholas Alsup
Without going in any particular order, we’re starting things off with Nicholas Alsup. Nicholas will most likely go by Nico, and he is 30 years old and from Illinois.
Currently working as a martial arts instructor, we can quickly notice from Nico’s Instagram account he loves living a healthy and strong lifestyle. I’m not going to lie. Nico reminds me exactly of Danny from Survivor 44.
Look for Nico also to be highly competitive in Fiji, helping his tribe to lots of victories early on in the game. I may be looking too much into it, but I don’t think he will be winning the $1,000,000 while already promoting his merch online.
Austin Li Coon
Next up, also from Illinois, we have Austin Li Coon. Austin is a 26-year-old business student from Chicago, IL, who loves photographing, traveling, and the outdoors. On the Jeff Probst podcast, he mentioned Survivor doesn’t cast based on archetypes. But a quick look at Austin’s Instagram, you can see this dude be the next jungle boy we’ll be seeing on Survivor.
Katurah Topps
Next on Survivor 45, Katurah Topps. Katurah Topps is a civil rights lawyer and uses her policies-centered approaches to dismantle racially discriminatory systems.
Kitura is 34 years old, from New York, NY, and already connected to the Survivor community. Ketura is followed by Maddie from Survivor 44 and Survivor All-Star Eliza on Twitter.
Being a lawyer is an interesting occupation for Survivor, as we’ve seen a fair amount of them compete on the show, but only twice have they been able to win the game with John Cochran and Nick Wilson.
Kellie Nalbandian
Talking about people from New York, we have Kellie Nalbandian. Kellie Nalbandian is a 29-year-old from New York, NY, who graduated from Yale as a grad student. Kelly’s LinkedIn tells us that she now works as a cardiothoracic surgeon critical care nurse.
From her Instagram account, we can see she’s a big fan of Halloween, and the exact kind of person you would think would love to play Survivor, as she has tons of posts being outdoorsy. And obviously, a Survivor superfan, she only has a couple of tweets, first saying “hi Twitter,” then possibly a “sneak peek” with how she’ll be playing the game, retweeting this photo from Survivor out of context.
Bruce Perreault
Jumping into the oldest dude on Survivor 45, we’re the only returning player on the season with Bruce Perreault. We don’t have much to go off of for Bruce, so let’s repeat what we saw for the Survivor 44 cast assessments.
Bruce is 45 years old from Warwick, RI, and is a Navy veteran and realtor. Right from his Instagram bio, he’s a dad with two kids and a devoted husband.
Now, obviously, we have a little more info on Bruce than the rest of these players, as he did compete on Survivor 44. We honestly still don’t have much. But what we do know is Jeff Probst saw crazy potential for Bruce, and that’s why he was invited back so soon as the first returning player in the new era of Survivor.
Maybe highlighting the type of Survivor player I would be. But I think it would be low-key hilarious if Bruce’s tribe would vote him out first on the season.
It’s going to be super interesting to see how Bruce performs playing him in back-to-back seasons of Survivor. If you are a regular viewer of this show, then you know another dude who played back-to-back Survivor was our arch nemesis, Russell Hanse.
Julie Alley
Going from the oldest male and Survivor 45 to the oldest female, the cast is 49-year-old Julie Alley. Julie is a few years older than Bruce and feels pretty old in a fairly young cast of Survivor players. It’s tough because we have nothing to go off of, with Julie Alley having zero social media.
But it’s always a toss-up on how older players will do going into Survivor. I could see Julie either being the 1st person voted out of the season or someone making the final five, like Heidi from Survivor 44.
Janani Maya
Moving from the oldest female to the youngest female of Survivor 45, we have Janani Maya. She is a 23-year-old singer from the California Bay Area. It’s definitely important to note that Janani Maya has the largest social media following of anyone on the Survivor 45 cast, with almost 100,000 followers on Instagram and 20,000 followers on YouTube.
With the biggest videos on our YouTube channel all being her official songs. She also has other videos simply breaking down her favorite books.
I like a lot what I see from Janani Maya, as it obviously takes tons of hard work to get to where she’s at in the music industry. However, I don’t like the fact that she’s coming into Survivor as a 23-year-old. If she was just a little bit older, I could have easily made her one of my winter picks.
Drew Basile
Next up is Drew Basile, and going from the youngest girl to the youngest dude, we see Drew is only 22 years old from Birmingham, MI, and is a grad student. This is literally all the information we have on Drew, as he is private on Instagram. But I’m going to give him a follow-up and see if we can get more information soon.
Brando Meyer
Surprisingly, moving from one 22-year-old with Drew Basil to another 22-year-old, we have Brando Meyer. We do have a little bit more info as he’s from Seattle, WA, and is a software developer. His Instagram bio reads, “Pizza enthusiasts.” So, hopefully, Brando gets a pizza reward on Survivor.
I can easily clump Brando and Drew together as the young Nerd Survivor superfan archetype on season 45. And if Carson is anything to go off of, or how these players will perform, we can expect them, or at least one of them, to make it deep into the game.
Brandon Donlon
Brandon Donlon is the next player on our list and is from Philadelphia, PA. Brandon Donlan is a 25-year-old content producer who is good friends with Randy Bailey in real life.
I’m hoping that starting the game, we won’t have Brando and Brandon on the same tribe, as I will get so confusing so fast. Brandon is obviously a huge Survivor super fan and is self-aware enough to make his Instagram bio “all aboard the bandwagon.”
Dee Valladares
We are officially crossing the halfway point of the Survivor 45 cast with Dee Valladares. Dee Valladares is a 26-year-old in sales development from Miami, FL. She’ll most likely be using the nickname Dee in the game and has an Instagram account with over 13,000 followers all about working out.
Assuming the new era Survivor format will be staying consistent with Survivor 45, I think it’s safe to say Dee will be making it to the merge with their physical strength.
Hanna Rose
Moving into Hannah Rose, who is a 32-year-old counselor from Baltimore. She is keeping things low-key before the start of Survivor 45 with no post on her Instagram account. But something about having pizza in her profile picture makes me think we’ll be seeing a pizza reward this season.
Kaleb Gebrewold
I’m excited to announce Survivor 45 that we’ll have a Canadian participant in the season. It may be a little conspiracy theory, but after the Canadian domination in the new era with back-to-back Canadian winners Erica and Mary Anne and having Kain make the merge in Survivor 44. I think it’s safe to say Kaleb Gebrewold would do really well on Survivor 45.
Kaleb is a 28-year-old sales and marketing coach from Port Cochlan, British Columbia. We don’t have much to go off of for Kaleb, only a single tweet saying, “Don’t waste your good stuff on me.”
Sabiyah Broderick
Sabiyah Broderick is a 27-year-old from Georgia. And a Funny Story: when the Survivor 45 cast was first leaked, Survivor fans on Twitter were complaining that we weren’t seeing enough average everyday people on the cast and that we needed more truck drivers on the season. Yet to announce Sabiyah Broderick, who is, in fact, a veteran as well as a truck driver.
Emily Flippen
The next player on the Survivor 45 cast is Emily Flippen, and this individual is an investor with Fool. Emily is a 28-year-old from Washington, DC, and works as a financial analyst. Emily’s goal is finding maximum upside growth opportunities, one investing as Fool’s Twitter account has over 800,000 followers.
Jake O’Kane
Next up is Jake O’Kane from Massachusetts. I just gotta pause for a second and say every season, I struggle with saying the word Massachusetts. Anyway, Jake O’Kane is a 26-year-old Law School grad who recently took the bar exam and got in great shape to play Survivor.
I’m not the biggest fan of how much of an emphasis is placed on physical strength early on in the new era of Survivor, but because I don’t think that will be changing going into this season, it’s safe to say Jake will be making it to the merge.
Kendra Mcquarrie
The last female we must talk about is also from Massachusetts, with Kendra Mcquarrie. Kendra is 30 years old and is a bartender from Massachusetts. The only social media I could find is her Twitter account, with a single tweet from 2011.
Sean Edwards
The final player on the Survivor season 45 cast is Sean Edwards, who is a 35-year-old school principal from Provo-Orem, Utah. He says that he has been watching the show since the start and always wanted to be a part of it, but he was too scared to put his name into the competition. But now he wants to face his fears and make up for all the lost time.
So that was all the contestants that we would be seeing in Survivor Season 45, and it definitely has a diverse cast in terms of age, race, and whatnot. But who do you think out of these seventeen contestants is more likely to win the show according to their description? Also, we are getting long episodes this season, so that’s something good as well.
