With Danny and Evan TV exclusive ‘Survivor’ winner Chris Underwood reflects on controversial Season 38 win By Eric Todisco Published Sep. 24, 2026, 2:03 p.m. ET “Survivor” Season 38 champion Chris Underwood remains unbothered by the backlash to his controversial win seven years later.
“I feel good about it. I’m still one of the only people to take off an immunity necklace at final four,” Underwood exclusively told Page Six this week after his elimination from “The Challenge: Cutthroat.”
“That was a risk I took that paid off,” he said. “Huge win there.”
Underwood, 33, was the third person voted off “Survivor 38.” But thanks to the Edge of Extinction twist, he got back into the game and won the entire season — sparking massive fan backlash when the finale aired in May 2019.
Since then, Underwood has been considered the most controversial winners in “Survivor” history.
But now, Underwood told Page Six that “everyone has a whole new perspective” on Season 38, given Aubry Bracco won Season 50 earlier this year and Rick Devens is in the final four on “Big Brother” Season 28.
“We’ve been able to see Rick Devens blossom and Aubry blossom,” he shared of his Season 38 castmates. “I will say, 2026 has been a great year for Season 38.”
Despite the “Survivor” community’s harsh response to his victory, Underwood confirmed that he’d play the game again.
“It’s a [26]-day format. “It’s lot easier on the family and the kids,” the father of two explained. “Biggest thing for me is just time constraint. Like I would love to go play and compete. I’m a competitor.”
“Just, I can’t be gone for 10 weeks,” Underwood continued. “I got family and kids and other priorities.”
He added, “But’d love to play again. I don’t think you’ll ever be able to take that competitive spirit out of me.”
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Underwood also opened up about his “frustrating” exit from “The Challenge” Season 42, which he blamed in part on the triple disqualification caused by an alleged racial incident that left him as the only male on his team that could go into an elimination.
“I felt like I was playing such a flawless game and I did have a lot of things going for me, and to end it the way that it ended just really sucked,” he told us.
“But it’s like a bigger picture, kind of metaphor for life: Sometimes you can do everything right and just have everything going your way. And then, the outcome you desire like doesn’t happen because of 75 things outside of your control,” Underwood continued. “That’s life. Everyone has a story like that.”
The reality star also said he’s realized that his journey on “The Challenge: Cutthroat” “comes full circle” from his time on “Survivor.”
“If there wasn’t a twist where I got to stay in the game, I would have been third,” he noted. “So there is a lot of serendipity in success and failure. It’s frustrating and it is what it is. You gotta just keep moving.”
“The Challenge: Cutthroat” drops new episodes Wednesdays on Paramount+.
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