The original cast of ‘Survivor 41’ features familiar faces from the following seasons, as well as a ‘Squid Game: The Challenge’ star

The COVID-19 pandemic changed the world as we know it, and naturally, our favorite television shows took a hit as well…

Following the home run of a season that was Survivor: Winners at War, the beloved competition series known as Survivor had grand plans for the season that was to follow, however, Survivor 41 changed entirely post-pandemic. With a cast ready to head to Fiji and compete for the title of “Sole Survivor” and the million-dollar cash prize, many of these castaways were moved to a later season, or even cut from the show entirely — how wild is that?

With the COVID-19 pandemic having come and gone, the cast that we saw embark on the adventure of a lifetime on our television screens during Survivor 41 was as follows.

• Brad Reese
• Danny McCray
• David Voce
• Erika Casupanan
• Heather Aldret
• Eric Abraham
• Sara Wilson
• Jairus “JD” Robinson
• Genie Chen
• Sydney Segal
• Tiffany Seely
• Naseer Muttalif
• Evelyn “Evvie” Jagoda
• Shantel “Shan” Smith
• Liana Wallace
• Ricard Foyé
• Xander Hastings
• Deshawn Radden

Instead, the cast that was supposed to compete for the title of “Sole Survivor” and the million-dollar cash prize on Survivor 41 prior to the COVID-19 pandemic was as follows.

• Brad Reese (Survivor 41)
• Danny McCray (Survivor 41)
• David Voce (Survivor 41)
• Erika Casupanan (Survivor 41)
• Heather Aldret (Survivor 41)
• Zach Wurtenberger (Survivor 42)
• Jonathan Young (Survivor 42)
• Tori Meehan (Survivor 42)
• Jesse Lopez (Survivor 43)
• Cassidy Clark (Survivor 43)
• Matthew Grinstead-Mayle (Survivor 44)
• Bruce Perreault (Survivor 44 and Survivor 45)
• Jimmy Kelleher (Squid Game: The Challenge)

Unfortunately, it is still unclear as to who the other five castaways who were a part of the original Survivor 41 cast were, however, these individuals have spoken out about their experience getting cast on the beloved competition series, confirming that they were indeed set to film in Fiji amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Could the other five castaways be from a different season of Survivor?
Could they be from a different show?
Could they be normal people who have not competed on reality TV just yet?

Who knows!

While the above contestants have all spoken out about their journey getting cast on the beloved competition series, there is one outlier on the list: Jimmy Kelleher from Squid Game: The Challenge.

In an exclusive interview with Trey and LeAnn Wilcox Plutnicki from Squid Game: The Challenge, the latter revealed to Rob Cesternino that Jimmy Kelleher was supposed to be cast on Survivor 41 — what a small world!

After talking about Jessica “Figgy” Figueroa, a castaway from Survivor: Millennials vs Gen X who competed on the inaugural season of Squid Game: The Challenge, Leanne admitted that “there was another person in the game who had been cast for Survivor during the pandemic, and that was the season they nixed… His name is Jimmy Kelleher.”

Jimmy is a 62-year-old sales and retail employee from Boston, Massachussets, and he was unfortunately eliminated during the Dalgona challenge after cracking his star cookie. Nonetheless, Survivor superfans are thrilled that another original Survivor 41 castaway has finally been revealed!

With Jimmy finally being added to the list, will we ever figure out who the final five castaways were? Only time will tell…