Rizo, Savannah, Sophi, Sage, and Kristina battled it out for a million dollars.

And the Survivor 49 winner is…

Rizo, Savannah, Sophi, Sage, and Kristina battled it out for a million dollars.

By Dalton Ross

Dalton Ross is a writer and editor with over 25 years experience covering TV and the entertainment industry. *Survivor* is kind of his thing.

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December 17, 2025 10:52 p.m. ET

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Sophi Balerdi, Sage Ahrens-Nichols, Savannah Louie, Kristina Mills and Rizo Velovic on 'Survivor 49'. Credit:

**Warning: This article contains spoilers from the *Survivor 49 *season finale*.***

The final five of *Survivor 49* were united last week in taking out Steven Ramm, the person they saw as the biggest threat to win the game. But with the $1 million prize now within reach, it became every person for themselves on tonight’s finale.

Kristina Mills, Rizo Velovic, Sage Ahrens-Nichols, Savannah Louie, and Sophi Balerdi were the last players standing, but standing between them and $1 million were two immunity challenges, a fire-making competition, and a date with the jury — who peppered them questions on why they deserved to win the loot and the title of Sole Survivor that went with it.

Rizo Velovic, Sage Ahrens-Nichols, Kristina Mills, Sophi Balerdi, and Savannah Louie on 'Survivor 49'.

Rizo had flashy idol moments at Tribal Council seemingly each and every week. Sage flipped the script with a huge post-merge move that reset the game board. Kristina had lots of Uli allies on the jury. And Sophi could claim being the ultimate Survivor after surviving her initial placement on one of the worst tribes of the new era.

But, in the end, it was the challenge-dominating spitfire Savannah who won the jury’s votes (if not their hearts) with her impressive and aggressive game as the former newscaster scored a 5-2-1 victory over Sophi and Sage. The fact that Savannah even made it to the end after being pegged as the biggest target at the merge was reason enough to give her the money.

Savannah Louie on 'Survivor 49'.

The finale began with a frantic hunt for a challenge advantage, which was eventually found once someone finally decided to look up. That person was Sophi, who was able to then skip half a stage at the next immunity competition. It did her no good, however, as Savannah won her fourth immunity contest, tying her with such luminaries as Kelly Wiglesworth, Jenna Morasca, Kim Spradlin, Chrissy Hofbeck, and Rachel LaMont for the most individual immunity challenge wins by a woman in a single season.

The first Tribal Council eventually came down to a decision between voting out Sage or Kristina. While Rizo preferred jettisoning the former, Savannah was scared of Kristina’s fire-making skills at the final four and prevailed upon her allies to join her in ousting the last original Uli in the game.

The 'Survivor 49' final 5 speak in exclusive finale interview

The 'Survivor 49' jury speaks in exclusive finale interview

At the final immunity challenge, Sophi once again was toiling in last place, before zooming from worst to first in the final table maze phase to give her a ticket to the final three as well as the power to choose who would sit next to her, and who would have to compete in a fire-making contest.

After saying seemingly *forever* that she knew she needed to make a move against Savannah and Rizo, Sophi finally did exactly that — putting her two allies against each other at fire. It was no contest, with Savannah easily beating her island BFF and advancing to the final three and what looked like an almost certain victory.

Savannah Louie and Jeff Probst on 'Survivor 49'.

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From that point on, there was only one speed bump on Savannah’s inevitable drive to victory, and it came in the form of an unusual juror request at the final Tribal Council. That was when Kristina, in an attempt to shed light on Savannah’s subpar social game and inability to make real personal connections, asked the finalist to name a family member or partner for every person on the jury.

“I don’t think I can do it,” Savannah replied.

“I would like for you to try it,” Kristina responded.

While Savannah seemed to only know loved one names for three of the eight jurors (Nate, Steven, and Rizo), that was never her game anyway, and the jury was impressed enough with the other aspects of her 26-day stay that they rewarded her with $1 million.

We will have tons more finale coverage, including our full finale recap, exclusive deleted scene, Jeff Probst react, and your first look at *Survivor 50. *Also make sure to check out our exclusive interviews with the final five and the *Survivor 49* jury.**

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Original Article on Source

Source: “EW Survivor”