Since the show Survivor premiered in the year 2000, hundreds of people have competed on Jeff Probst’s beloved reality show. However, some of Survivor’s former players didn’t make that big of an impact on the show’s dedicated fans. That makes sense since every Survivor player can’t compete during a fantastic season while proving they are one of the great players on their way to becoming one of the show’s best winners. Thankfully, however, some Survivor players have proven how spectacular they are, even if they didn’t win that show.

Since The Traitors US premiered, several former Survivor players have competed on the show. On top of someone like “Boston” Rob Mariano going far when he competed on The Traitors, even a Big Brother legend who competed on The Traitors is a Survivor expert. With all that in mind, it makes sense that The Traitors Season 4 features three former Survivor players that were amazing in ways this article will explain.

Who Is The Traitors And Survivor Star Natalie Anderson?

When fans talk about the greatest Survivor winners ever, Natalie Anderson has to be part of the discussion. A true reality show warrior, Natalie has proven that she is extremely smart, she never stops working, and she has a truly impressive social game.

Before Natalie competes during the 4th season of The Traitors, fans of Alan Cummings’ show should know where her reality show journey began. Before she ever competed on Jeff Probst’s show, Natalie competed on The Amazing Race with her twin sister, Nadiya Anderson.

After coming in 4th place during The Amazing Race 21 and competing during The Amazing Race: All-Stars, Natalie and Nadiya both made the leap to Survivor. During her first time competing on Jeff Probst’s show, Natalie began building her legacy as one of the best Survivor players ever.

During Survivor: San Juan del Sur — Blood vs. Water, the players all had a loved one in the game. However, each player started the game in a tribe without their loved one. Unfortunately for Natalie, she never really got to play with her sister because Nadiya was voted out first. After that, Natalie’s top ally, Jeremy Collins, was voted out relatively early.

After suffering two huge setbacks, Natalie drew deep and used her resentment as fuel for the rest of the season. As great as that was, the truly impressive thing was that Natalie never let her mask slip during the game, so her tribemates had no idea how badly she wanted revenge.

Able to take control of the game throughout the rest of the season, Natalie masterfully played her tribemates and the advantages she was able to get. Natalie even hatched a scheme to cast a vote she knew would anger her allies, but passed it off as a mistake. Even though that cover story seemed hard to swallow, Natalie performed confusion so convincingly that her ruse worked. Ultimately, Natalie made it to the final tribal council and explained what she’d done well enough to win the season.

Natalie was so great during her first season that she was one of the 20 former Sole Survivors who got to play again during Survivor: Winners at War. Unfortunately for Natalie, she yet again suffered a huge setback when she was voted out first during Survivor: Winners at War. Despite that, Natalie used her incredible work ethic to keep fighting and almost won the season.

During Survivor: Winners at War, the Edge of Extinction twist was in effect. For anyone who doesn’t know what that means, players who were voted out could live on a separate beach where they could wait for a chance to fight their way back in the game. On the Edge of Extinction, the living situation was even starker than things were in the game. Despite how tough living on the Edge of Extinction was, Natalie stayed there for 33 days and worked tirelessly to win advantages that could help her win a final challenge. After showing how tireless she could be during those challenges, Natalie won it and earned her way back into the game.

As a result of working so hard on the Edge of Extinction, Natalie re-entered the game with an immunity idol she’d earned. Natalie used that idol to save herself and then won the final immunity challenge, which earned her a place in the final three. Even though she’d been voted out first, Natalie’s tireless determination earned her enough respect to become the runner-up. After playing Survivor twice, Natalie went on to compete during The Challenge: Double Agents and was only eliminated after being medically disqualified.

Who Is The Traitors And Survivor Star Yam Yam Arocho?

Fortunately for fans of The Traitors, they will soon get to see the truly delightful Yam Yam Arocho in Alan Cumming’s castle. A basic fact about Yam Yam that is important to note is that the letter y in his name is pronounced the way that English speakers typically pronounce the letter j.

In terms of what The Traitors fans should know about Yam Yam’s reality show history, the first thing to note is that he won Survivor 44. However, even though that fact is compelling, it only reveals a small fraction of the story.

One thing about Yam Yam’s path to becoming a Survivor winner was that fans should know is that he was part of the Tika Three. Yam Yam formed that alliance with Carolyn Wiger and Carson Garrett early in the season and even though the odds were against them, all of them made it to the final four. As impressive as that was, fans should also recognize that Yam Yam recognized how smart and formidable Carolyn is. When most of their tribemates wrote her off because of her mannerisms, Yam Yam was able to see something special in her that most couldn’t.

The next thing that fans should know about Yam Yam’s Survivor game was that he held a grudge. After a group of people voted against him early in the season, Yam Yam pledged to get revenge on them all, and he pulled that off by casting votes against all of them as they left. That fact is a double-edged sword. On the one hand, Yam Yam was patient enough and had a social game that was good enough to get his vengeance. On the other hand, Yam Yam taking votes against him so personally is a weakness that could be exploited.

Finally, The Traitors should know perhaps the most important fact about what makes Yam Yam so great. During Survivor 44, it was hard to overstate how lovable Yam Yam was.

Who Is The Traitors And Survivor Star Rob Cesternino?

Unlike Yam Yam Arocho and Natalie Anderson, Rob Cesternino has never won Survivor. With that in mind, some fans may wonder why Rob was chosen to compete during The Traitors Season 4. To understand the answer to that question, The Traitors fans need to recognize how Rob changed Survivor history in three main ways.

The first way that Rob changed Survivor history was by how he approached the game. When Rob played the game, he was the first superfan who got to actually compete on the show.

While talking to Parade about his favorite Survivor seasons in May 2025, Jeff Probst recognized Rob was the prototype of what became a Survivor staple.

More importantly, Rob completely changed the way that people perceived Survivor from a strategic point of view. After Richard Hatch became the first winner by making an alliance and sticking to it, every player tried to recreate that recipe for success. However, when he played during Survivor’s first season, Rob became the first player to jump back and forth between alliances. While talking to Parade for the aforementioned article, Jeff explained how influential Rob jumping between alliances was.

“His approach revealed how much movement the game could allow as he bounced between alliances without ever seeming lost. He made playing both sides seem not just possible, but smart. Rob was the first person to treat the game like a playground. He brought such a fun approach, flipping between groups, cracking jokes and turning the game upside down.”

Finally, Rob changed Survivor history by engaging with the show’s fans in a way that no other player had done before him. Since Rob truly was a Survivor superfan, he became a podcast host who talked about the show and other reality TV. On February 12th, 2010 Rob launched “Rob Has a Podcast.” Since then, Rob’s podcast empire has continued to grow and become a hub for former reality show stars and fans alike.

Not only has Rob made a career for himself and employed many people because of his podcast empire, he has accomplished something else truly special. By giving fans the opportunity to listen to former players talk about the game and their experience, Rob has evolved the way that many Survivor viewers think about the game and show. Rob’s podcast has also revealed how brilliant he is and that his strategic thinking is off the charts. So, if he can catch some lucky breaks, Rob’s The Traitors tenure could become very influential too.