The premiere of Survivor 48 has officially come and gone. With that, one castaway found herself getting her torch snuffed, ultimately heading to Ponderosa after mere days on the reality television series: Stephanie Berger.

Beginning as a member of the Vula tribe, Stephanie started her Survivor journey rather lackadaisically, failing to form strong connections with her tribemates — Kevin Leung, Justin Pioppi, Cedrek McFadden, Mary Zheng and Sai Hughley — right off the bat.

After the Vula tribe suffered their first Immunity Challenge loss, Sai and her allies decided to target Stephanie due to her poor performance in the puzzle portion of said challenge — and due to the fact that they did not feel connected to her — ultimately leading to her untimely exit during Episode one.

Undoubtedly butting heads with Sai — even exchanging some jabs with one another at Tribal Council — it looks like Stephanie did not mesh well with any of her tribemates, spilling the tea in an exit interview with Dalton Ross at Entertainment Weekly.

Keep scrolling for the nitty gritty details.

Who Is Stephanie Berger?

First and foremost, Stephanie is 38 years old and born and raised in the Big Apple, currently living in Brooklyn and working as a Tech Product Lead.

When she is not working, the “ambitious, outgoing and resilient” castaway enjoys talking, making elaborate Mardi Gras costumes and watching Survivor (of course).

“I love this game. You can only armchair quarterback for so long, when you’re as challenge-minded as I can be, before you realize you need to shut up and play. Fewer than 700 people have played this game, and fewer than 50 have won. I want to be one of them,” she said in her official biography ahead of her Survivor stint.

Unfortunately, she found herself unlucky.

“I Had A Hard Time Clicking With Almost Everybody”

As mentioned, Stephanie was the first boot on Survivor 48. While many have blamed her rocky relationship with Sai — or her poor performance in the puzzle portion of the Immunity Challenge — for her demise, the New York native herself confirmed that it was due to her overall inability to click with her tribe.

“Honestly, I had a hard time clicking with almost everybody — really having these what I would describe as fruitless conversations,” she told Entertainment Weekly, prior to delving into the details:

“I spent time with every single person, so I really felt like I was putting in the groundwork to get to know them, but I could never make any moves game-wise. That was really strange.”

“I couldn’t get over why no one would talk game with me. It wasn’t just Sai, it was basically everybody but Mary and Kevin that I couldn’t make inroads with.”

“You’re sitting there being like, ‘What did I do? What’s going on?'” she continued, explaining that her Survivor stint really took a hit to her confidence.

Nevertheless, Stephanie concluded:

“I just think the one variable you can’t prep for really in Survivor is people, and I get a lot of people exposure in my regular life, and I’ve been in a lot of different scenarios. I practiced fire, I went to swim lessons, I was at CrossFit, I pushed weights around, but you don’t know the five other people you’re going to get handed, and it just is what it is.”

Everything You Need To Know About Survivor 48

Although Stephanie will no longer be fighting for the title of “Sole Survivor” and the million-dollar prize, the show must go on, right?

After her untimely departure, 17 other castaways will continue competing on Survivor 48. The remaining castaways are as follows:

Who will outwit, outplay and outlast, though?

To find out for yourself who takes home the title of “Sole Survivor” and the million-dollar prize, tune into brand-new episodes of Survivor 48 each and every Wednesday via CBS, or stream them the following day via Paramount Plus.

After all, host Jeff Probst says it is certain to be a season for the Survivor history books!

Survivor

Release Date

May 31, 2000

Network

CBS

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