On a recent episode of The Pod Has Spoken, Survivor winners Tyson and Dee talked about Dee’s recent experience on Survivor 50. Dee, who was recently voted off the island, revealed she filmed the season shortly after getting eliminated from The Challenge.
Dee said (about 11 minutes into the interview) she had two months between filming Vets & New Threats and Survivor 50. She filmed The Challenge from February 2025 to April 2025. Then, she left to film Survivor at the end of May 2025.
Dee described the Challenge environment as “toxic” and said she’d wake up crying for about a month after she returned home. She didn’t even know why she was upset, but the show had taken a mental toll on her in a way Survivor didn’t.
Tyson was able to relate to the “toxic” experience from his time filming USA 1. He claims he would not do The Challenge again, but he revealed producers asked him to return to the show for about a year and a half after USA 1. He said he was invited to do Ride or Dies about a week after USA 1 wrapped, and he laughed in the producer’s face. He was also invited to do the World Championship and another flagship season.
Dee seems to be in a similar position as Tyson — she doesn’t want to return to The Challenge. She implied she might do it if the appearance fee is high enough, and Tyson claims he set his appearance fee unrealistically high. So, technically, producers could pay for him to return, but in reality, they won’t meet his pay demands.
After Survivor, Dee bounced back quickly. She climbed Mount Kilimanjaro about a month after season 50, so that seems like a better fit for her. Survivor didn’t come with the same mental anguish as The Challenge, so it seems we won’t see a Dee and Bananas reunion anytime soon.
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