Jenna Lewis-Dougherty Is Back for 'Survivor 50'—and She’s Counting on Being Underestimated (Exclusive)

When Jenna Lewis-Dougherty steps onto the beaches of Fiji for Survivor 50, she knows exactly what most of her fellow castaways are thinking: She’s not a threat.

And that's exactly what she's counting on.

More than two decades after first appearing on Survivor’s inaugural season in 2000 — and later returning for All-Stars — Lewis-Dougherty, 48, is back for the franchise’s milestone 50th season with a clear-eyed understanding of how the game, the players, and the perception of “old-school” contestants have changed. She also knows how easily she can disappear into the background among new era winners, challenge beasts, and strategic legends. Rather than fight that narrative, she plans on leaning into it. "I came here to be underestimated,” she says.

When Men’s Journal spoke with Lewis-Dougherty on location in Fiji ahead of the season, she was equal parts reflective and razor-sharp. She talked candidly (and at breakneck speed) about what it means to return to the game after watching it evolve for 25 years, the surreal experience of playing alongside competitors who weren’t even born when Survivor premiered, and why her distance from the modern Survivor universe — premiere parties, charity events, off-season mingling — may actually be an advantage.

The New Hampshire native is acutely aware of the irony of her position. She helped define the early social strategy of Survivor at a time when the show was less about advantages and idols and more about human behavior under pressure. Now, she’s entering a version of the game dominated by résumé-building moves — where she believes perception still matters more than power.

Her approach to Survivor 50 isn’t about reliving the past or proving she still belongs. It’s about control. It’s about observation. And, perhaps most importantly, it’s about letting others believe they have the upper hand — right up until they don’t.

In the interview below, Lewis-Dougherty breaks down her mindset heading into Survivor 50 – which premieres on CBS Wednesday, Feb. 25 – why being overlooked is her preferred position, how she views the new-school era of advantages, and which players she’s already watching closely. She also reflects on her journey from Survivor’s first season to its 50th, what the game has taught her about herself over the years, and why — win or lose — returning to the island still feels like a full-circle moment worth experiencing.

Men’s Journal: How does it feel coming back for Survivor 50? Isn’t this crazy?

Jenna Lewis-Dougherty: It is crazy. Nobody knows who the f--k I am. It’s gonna be really good or really bad, right? But there are people here that were not born. They were not born. You would hope [they saw Season 1] but that was shot on VHS. I didn’t have to worry about cellulite being on TV then because you couldn’t see it. I actually kind of like that, because that’s what this is. We are not out here shaving in the back where nobody sees us, or getting food or using a porta-potty.

Men’s Journal: How long ago was All-Stars? How old are your kids now?

Jenna Lewis-Dougherty: 21 years ago. Almost 22. I have four [kids]. But the two that I left [during Survivor], I was like this single mom. I was 22. They are now 29. I have twin 29-year-olds, two identical twin 29-year-old girls. Like one is headed off to law school. When I get back, she will be starting like her first classes. They remember. So they were eight when I did All-Stars. So they remember me leaving and prepping them, and I could tell them at that time that I was leaving, but they couldn’t tell anyone. They knew that. But they remember very vividly. And they remember the after-party in New York, and they remember all of the sort of celebrity that we got. Survivor 1 was unbelievable. All-Stars was big, but nothing — nothing will ever compare to Survivor 1. Everywhere we went — we go to the People’s Choice Awards, we won, right? We stand up, we’re in the back, and Brad Pitt is assaulting us, like, "Who wins?" Jennifer Aniston is standing right there, and she is pissed, and he is there. Wherever I went, and you watch it start like a ripple through the room, and then everyone would collapse on me. I had to be ushered out of everywhere. We were bigger than celebrities. We were the first reality stars. People watched us eat rats and bugs and the whole world erupted. Everybody was like, what the hell are they doing?

Men’s Journal: Was it an easy yes for you?

Jenna Lewis-Dougherty: Always an easy yes. Couple different reasons. I mean, I think the same reasons that have you apply at the beginning: being a very competitive person, but also wanting adventure. And you’re sitting out here today — do you not feel like, even though there’s bugs, don’t you feel wonder? Brings me back in connection with, like, this ridiculously beautiful, ancient feeling of like, we should be outside more. We detach ourselves. You think the outside is like in a 10x12 patio, and you’re like, no, this the outside. That’s why I’m barefoot. This is why I’m here — to bring a sense of wonder, because you get used to your every day, and I don’t want it to be a vacation where I’m like, yay, let’s walk through the jungle barefoot with my kids in like one day. Like this brings me back in connection with wonder as a whole. Doesn’t have to be a jungle, but I go out into the world, and I realize my world right now, even though it’s phenomenal and beautiful, is small in comparison to this.

Men’s Journal: When you look around and see the other players — especially the old-school players — what’s going through your head?

Jenna Lewis-Dougherty: Do you want the rundown? So we have — let’s do just my first bit. I say a bit because this is what goes through my head, literally. I see them come out, and I’m like, oh my god, this is like a ragtag group of superheroes, right? Like, I’ve got Jonathan [Young] across from me — I’m like, okay, we’ve got Thor, obvious. Aquaman. We’ve got Q [Burdette] as Black Panther. We’ve got Captain America in Joe [Hunter]. We’ve got Black Widow in the new girl, Savannah [Louie] — I have thoughts on her, so she’s Black Widow. And then Captain Marvel is Stephanie [La Grossa Kendrick]. I have everybody planned out. Spider-Man is the tall new kid that has the floppy hair and can’t grow a mustache yet: Rizo [Velovic]. And I’m thinking, I get to take these people down. My favorite is, with [Benjamin] Coach [Wade], we also have our own dime-store Doctor Strange. Can’t you just see him as Doctor Strange, like, manipulating through Tai Chi and soccer somehow, space and time. So you see, this is exciting. I get to look at all these and be like, this is great. And I start to immediately think, but what’s their weaknesses? But I smile, and they’re probably thinking, oh my God, this is so cute. She’s so naive and sweet, and look at her.

Men’s Journal: That’s exactly what can help you — they may underestimate you.

Jenna Lewis-Dougherty: I have a written statement in my journal that says they are going to think I’m undeserving of this. But I did not come here to be irrelevant. I came here to be underestimated. I say irrelevant because I went on All-Stars, ran that shit. I mean, the second I stepped in, I started taking out the winners, yeah, because I actually cared. But I need people to vote with me a certain way. So I need a reason to cement other people to vote with me. That was just a strategy. What did I get out of it? I got rid of Tina Wesson — snake No. 1. And then did Ethan [Zohn] go next? He did not. And he was a winner, and he wouldn’t have gone next after that. It was simply a strategy. And so I just need to be able to go out there, see the players in our elements, and then be able to kind of read them. Because the other thing is, no matter how much I’ve seen them play in the past, every single person here is for a redemption story. So are they going to come and play the exact same? Even if they won, they can’t come in and play the exact same. They’re all coming here and telling you, I’m not playing the exact same. Guess who is? Me. Because they did not know how I played in All-Stars. I played phenomenal.

Men’s Journal: Are you bringing that same energy into Survivor 50?

Jenna Lewis-Dougherty: Oh no, that’s what I’m saying. People are here to celebrate. I’m here to celebrate my win. That’s what I’m here for. I need to be underestimated to do that. So when I step on the island, and even now, when I’m sitting across from them, all quiet smiles, and I have a f--king CD player. Of course I know how to do an MP3. I had to retroactively teach myself again with modern technology how to make CDs. But I wanted them to see me — the old-school player — embroidering on the plane with glasses and a CD player. Oh yeah, I’m not kidding. I have a CD player here. I’m listening to burned CDs with Chappell Roan. But I know that they’re watching. They don’t know what to think. I burned those month and a half ago. Of course I knew that as soon as they see me with my old-school CD player, are they gonna think, oh my God, she’s coming in cutthroat? No, they’re gonna be like, grandma needs to find her glasses.

Men’s Journal: Have you been keeping up with the show? Do you think they assume you haven’t?

Jenna Lewis-Dougherty: Do they think I don’t own a TV because I own a CD player? Which I didn’t just— on eBay you can get them. By the way, try it. I don’t know if you have children, but my 14-year-old son, I put it on him, and he thinks it’s the most retro, cool thing in the world. And then he goes, like, how do I carry it? I was like, this is why we had fanny packs. You had those neoprene things— there was a very slim era when you had MP3 discs before it got to the MP3 thing. So it was like a year that you were like, "Oh, my God, I need 17 songs. Now I can fit like 100 on this MP3 disc?" And then a blink of an eye and you’re like, iPod. So it was less than a year, but I had holders for my MP3 CD player, and was like running up the hills of L.A., like, "I got 100 songs on this bad boy." So are they gonna underestimate me? Yes. They’re already sitting across from me thinking grandma’s got a CD player. Do I need to vote her off first? Not really a threat, is she?

Men’s Journal: I was going to ask though: If you get close to the end, you do have a story — from Season 1 to Season 50. Does that matter?

Jenna Lewis-Dougherty: It does, actually. I said this in one of my things with CBS, one of their producers. They were like, "Everybody thinks that. Everybody has an ego so big. They’re here and they’re thinking the same thing, like, oh my god, I’m so good." But it’s funny when you say it, because when I say it, I sound egotistical. When you say it, you sound right. Because I’m going to sit up there and I’m going to be able to say, okay, I came out here not knowing. I didn’t have a blueprint the first time I played this game. I taught you guys how to play this game by my elimination. But I taught you. What did I do in the second iteration — the first time they bring people back, the best of the best — I make it to the final three. Like, I was cutthroat before cutthroat was a thing. I had Rupert [Boneham] wrapped around my finger from day one. When it comes to the final four, he’s like, I’m not putting your name down. I was excellent. Rupert gone.

Men’s Journal: What do you think about players like Cirie [Fields] and Colby [Donaldson]?

Jenna Lewis-Dougherty: None of these people are on my social media. I’ve not been — we want to throw back to the Marvel superverse or whatever — I’m not in the Survivorverse. All of these people attend the premieres. They go to all of these charity events. So they have built-in relationships, even if they didn’t play. Like Colby has probably been to things in L.A. where he’s met, you know, Mike White and all these people that may have played like 14 seasons ago. So they all know each other. They don’t know me. Like you said — detriment or asset, I’m not quite sure. It’s all in how I play it and who I’m playing with, but I don’t know that yet. But I’ve already started playing that game, sitting back there demurely asking for water. So when I perform well in challenges and then slip little things in strategically, they’re going to miss it, because they’ve already got their first impression of me.

Men’s Journal: Who are you getting good vibes from so far at Ponderosa?

Jenna Lewis-Dougherty: That’s a good question. I did mention Savannah as Black Widow. I like her, and my quip about that is Survivor 50 is not gen pop. This is death row. So to get here, you had to do some s--t. We don’t know what these two little lovelies did, but they did something to get here. It was either really good or it was really bad. But they did some s--t to get here. So we all got to be a little bit worried. We got to be on our back foot. We got to keep an eye on them. Because they didn’t get here because they were the cute newest thing. They could have torn each other apart at Final Tribal Council. One of them could be the winner. They could be boyfriend and girlfriend on the show. They could have gotten married. They could be brother and sister. We don’t f--king know. They can lie. And I think that’s brilliant, because that’s the game, isn’t it? We are all out there to lie. It comes down to, can I sell you my lie and let you think that it’s yours? Like, I need your story to think that it includes me. So that’s my job. My job is to convince you that you can beat me in the final three, and that I’m good for your game.

Men’s Journal: Do you think people may assume you’ll want to target the winners?

Jenna Lewis-Dougherty: That's exactly why I wouldn't. I told you I didn’t care about the winner specifically. I needed people to vote for me. So yeah, I can carry the moniker of like, "Winner Killer." I don’t care. It’s like Dragon Slayer — which I have another quip for that — Jesus Christ. I call him my dime-store Doctor Strange. But Winner Killer, no. I don’t care if they’re a winner or not. I care if I can really get a good read on what they want their game to be. And I don’t know these people yet. I don’t even know the old school people yet. They know each other. So many of these people have played in two-somes or three-somes in their season. I haven’t played with any of them. I played technically with Colby, but I never saw him. He didn’t make merge, fittingly.

Men’s Journal: Would you work with Coach?

Jenna Lewis-Dougherty: Coach calls himself the Dragon Slayer, right? Self-given moniker. Like, I don’t run around going, I’m the Winner Killer. But he’s the Dragon Slayer. Got it. Well, I am a 47-year-old woman who reads a lot of romantasy smut, and I am firmly in camp dragon. You know what I mean? Like, what is he thinking? They are ancient and majestic beasts. I don’t know why he wants to slay them, but he’s living in the wrong decade. All of it is fantasy smut right now, and they’re all involving dragons. So I am firmly team dragon.

Men's Journal: Is there anyone you wouldn't work with?

Jenna Lewis-Dougherty: Cirie. Everyone does that. Look at what you just did. That's my point. Because everyone goes like this, "Oh, but she’s good." No. Day one, if I get a chance, she’s out. She is the Tina in this season to me. She is the cockroach that will scurry under the next one and make it. And if she makes it, everyone will go, "Oh my God, she deserves it." Take her out, and quickly.

Men’s Journal: Are you worried about old school versus new school being a thing?

Jenna Lewis-Dougherty: It depends, because if it’s old school versus new school, they have a distinct physical advantage. I mean, we have Coach, Colby. Did you see Colby in the last one? He couldn’t bowl with a coconut. Maybe you'll get Australia Colby — bizarro Superman — but not really. You’re probably gonna get 51-year-old Colby, which I’m watching over there. He can’t sit. His knees hurt already. I’m not kidding. But the funny thing — we’re in the airport, and we’re all walking along the moving escalator thing, and he’s like, "I’m taking the stairs." And I’m like, he’s trying to prove his joints still work. He's playing the game. We are not allowed to talk, right? That does not mean I can’t watch people. I know every pair of shoes and who’s wearing them.

Men’s Journal: Any other early observations from other players?

Jenna Lewis-Dougherty: Genevieve [Mushaluk] would be interesting. We can go down through them. Old school: you’ve got Colby, Ozzy [Lusth], Cirie, Coach, me and Stephanie. So you’ve got seven of us. Colby, I've touched upon. Stephenie’s Captain Marvel. I think she’s great, but very little strategy. Ozzy, he’s great, very little strategy. So those are going to be people that I can wrap around my finger with my little mom strategy. And each one I like to get under my spell by giving them what I call conjecture flattery. So I take one thing that I think they probably think nobody notices about themselves, and then I put that in there.

So for instance, I watched Genevieve walk. Genevieve is tall. Genevieve walks with a grace. Genevieve was tall before all the other girls were tall, so Genevieve shrunk herself down, and now that Genevieve is a woman, she stands tall and walks with a dancer's grace. No one's commenting on that to Genevieve. So for Genevieve, I would be like, "Oh my god, I'm just watching you, and you're just so elegant. You're so graceful." She doesn't know it, but she's already appreciating that I'm around and it's something that nobody else compliments her on. Stephanie, she gets told she's beautiful and that her body's in ridiculous condition for having children. I want to compliment her on how smart she is. When she does something well, something really smart. You just build her up. It just cements them to you.

Men’s Journal: Are there any of the new-school players you’re getting good vibes from — or anyone you’re unsure about?

Jenna Lewis-Dougherty: It depends on Rizo. You know, there’s always that Oedipus-complex, sort of mommy-issue thing — there’s always one of those, the Charlies, the Malcolms. I think it could possibly work, but I don’t know yet. I’d have to see how he actually plays, and honestly, I don’t think any of us really know that yet. Nobody’s coming in here playing the exact same game they played before, so it’s all kind of a touch-and-feel thing. As for the Survivor 49 woman — I think she’s very cunning. She looks agile, like a gymnast or something, like she could be an Olympian. I mean, we’re coming up on an Olympic summer when this airs, so who knows? But I do think she’s got a little shrewdness to her. That cute little smile? She’s hiding something. I see something behind her eyes, and I like that.

Jonathan — this guy is a dumb bag of adorable rocks. He’s sitting over there trying to set his alarm clock, like that scene in Zoolander where they’re banging on the computer. We’re not allowed to talk, so I’m like, “Push the buttons, hold it, it goes up,” and I throw it back to him and he’s like, “Oh, buttons.” It’s going to be great. And with Jonathan, you do things like talk to him about that bro-chacho image he has. Like, “Don’t you want people to see a softer side of you, especially in this modern world where women care about consent and being understood? You don’t want to project toxic masculinity.” He comes to me for advice, but you have to deliver it the right way, because he can lean that way. But with one small move, he’s like, “Oh, mommy will take care of me.”

Men’s Journal: What about someone like Q — a little chaos?

Jenna Lewis-Dougherty: That’s exactly what I call him — Chaos Q. I have another theory about noble people, too. You have players like Joe who want to play “noble.” But what does noble even mean? That because you’re bigger and stronger, you somehow deserve it? Look at who’s actually winning. It’s not always the biggest or strongest people. So they play with nobility — great. I use the noble people to get rid of the chaos players. You lean into that nobility and say, “Oh my God, you don’t want to play with chaos. It would ruin your game. You’d have no control.” Great — use their nobility to take out the chaos. Then you turn around and use that same nobility against them, because they’re not willing to turn on you. And that’s beautiful.

Men’s Journal: So if you don’t win, Jenna, what do you want to get out of this experience all these years later?

Jenna Lewis-Dougherty: I think we touched on it a little bit. I’m excited to be here and introduce wonder again into my life and adventure — not an adventure like a vacation, but real, true, once in a lifetime, or three times in a lifetime sort of thing. Plus, I joke around: I’m writing my own epitaph right now. Like, you don’t get too many chances at something again this big, especially two decades later. Like, just to be a part of it is a goddamn honor, and I truly, truly feel that. Like, I’m all cutthroat and all that, but it is truly an honor to be here.

We all came out and we applied the first time because we are competitive and because we wanted to learn something about ourselves, and I left a very tiny town as a single mom of 22 year olds in a world where I did not think it had anything like this in it. And then my world became huge, big and beautiful and adventurous and full of wonder. And I got to introduce that to my young girls, and I got to take them along on the ride. Then I do it again, and I do even better. So what do I learn that time? I learned I have a voice. I learned that I could control the game, that I can come across as sweet, but I can control the game. I didn’t win. That f--king sucks, and it hurts, and if I don’t win, this one sucks. But do I learn lessons about myself? Yeah, I’ll learn something else, and I will introduce another great, big adventure and big bold, wondrous world.

The interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Related: Savannah Louie and Rizo Velovic on Survivor’s 9-Day Turnaround to Season 50 (Exclusive)