- - Jonathan Young shares the “Survivor” lessons Boston Rob gave him before season 50

Dalton RossFebruary 15, 2026 at 8:15 AM

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Jonathan Young of 'Survivor 50'

Robert Voets/CBS

There are many ways Survivor players sharpen their game for a return trip to the island. Some may go back and rewatch how they previously played to figure out what they can do better the second (or third… or fourth… or fifth) time around. Others may study game tape on the competition to prepare scouting reports on their future tribe mates. But for Jonathan Young, he studied at the feet of a certified legend.

The fourth-finisher of Survivor 42 enlisted the help of his buddy Boston Rob Mariano, peppering the All-Stars finalist and Redemption Island winner with questions about the game, so many questions, in fact, that the reality TV icon was relieved when his pupil finally left for Fiji for his return visit.

Read on to find out what lessons Boston Rob taught the 33-year-old Jonathan for Survivor 50 (which premieres Feb 25 on CBS).

(This is one of 24 deep-dive, on-location interviews with the Survivor 50 cast. Links to the other interviews will be posted at the bottom of this article as they become available.)

Jonathan Young on 'Survivor 50'

Robert Voets/CBS

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Start off by giving everybody an update on what you've been up to since you last played Survivor.

JONATHAN YOUNG: After Survivor, I went home, and I was really humbled being out here, being stripped from everything. It made me feel very blessed to have what I have back home. I met Boston Rob when my show was airing, and the past few years he has become a good friend of mine and he has helped me get ready for this upcoming season 50.

How so?

I've been talking, I bring it up all the time. He said his ears can finally stop bleeding. I talk to him about it all the time. I want to pick his brain, sit at the feet at one of the legends.

Why come back and do this again? Tell me why you're here.

It's not that I have unfinished business. I think I left the game well last time. I love the game of Survivor. I think it's one of the last strongholds of true reality TV. You're really starving. You really come to Fiji. You really live on an island with nothing. You're stripped bare. I don't think other reality TV shows are like that. I had an opportunity to go and be a gladiator on American Gladiator, but I would much rather do this.

It's been a few years. Have you changed as a person since then? And, if so, is that going to impact how you play this game?

Yeah, I've changed. Everybody's constantly changing the older they get, but I've started a nonprofit and we go down to Nicaragua. We're going to Honduras this year to build houses for the poor.

As for the game, I think that I'm going to play similar but not the same. Mr. Rob gave me a few things to remember when I'm playing this game, and it's a little different than how I played last time. Number one is to look at the game and try to see the game through your opponent's eyes. Number two is to smile. And number three is you can only control what you can control. Don't worry about the rest. Like if there's a tribe swap, there's nothing you can do about it. All you can do is what's in your power to do your best, and I think that's good advice. You can get overwhelmed in this game.

Any other advice he gave you?

It's been years of advice. I've been watching how he plays all these other reality TV shows and talking to him about why he does what he does. But I've come to the conclusion that I can't be Mr. Rob. I have to play as Jonathan, and I want to take stuff from all the people that I know. I want to take a little bit from my main man, Mike [Turner], I want to take something from Mr. Rob, take stuff from people that I've seen in the past, like Ozzy — all these people that I have admiration for.

Jonathan Young of 'Survivor 50'

Dalton Ross

Anything you regret on a personal level from the last time you played?

The one thing that I loved about Survivor is that I didn't have any regrets. All other aspects of my life, there's many regrets — many. But in Survivor, I felt like I played the best that I could.

That's amazing to have no regrets coming out of this. Why do you think that is?

Because I did everything I could do, and I believe that, and it's one of the only things in my life. Even when I broke the world record [for most chin-ups], I said, “Man, I could do more.” That's in me. But there was something about Survivor where I even told Mr. Jeff, I fought the good fight. I believed that.

You feel like you left it all on the island?

I know I left it all on the island, and I plan on doing it even more now because I'm more prepared.

In what way?

Well, having Mr. Rob for three years in my ear helping me — his words of wisdom are going to be humming in the back of my head. And I'm more prepared physically. I know what to expect. I've got players that have played and have done so good that I can point fingers at them and keep the attention off of me. Last time, I didn't have that privilege.

Now I have 23 legends. There are winners, and people that were hosting On Fire with Jeff Probst, people that have played four times. You have all these greats. You got Ozzy, who's a physical beast. He looks good, by the way. Ozzy looks good for being 40-whatever he is. And I think that's a really good thing for me to have in this game. I think I have many people to point at and say, don't look at me.

Jonathan Young of 'Survivor 50'

Robert Voets/CBS

Who wins at a swim off: you or Ozzy?

Me, without a doubt.

Look, you’re a guy who needs a lot of fuel and calories, and I know you could feel your body struggling last time without that protein you're used to. How do you plan to deal with that this time out there?

I'm a little more prepared for it. I didn't know what to expect. You can eat a little differently going into the game, and I just shoveled everything in. But you can progressively kind of wean off and I didn't do that. I just went cold turkey, didn't eat anything. And after day 20, I was cooked.

So tell me how you did it this time.

So even now, what I'm doing is, I'm going to ease off a little bit. Go off the food a little bit, then go off a bit more. Eventually your body has to get used to it in certain phases. It's like when you cut off caffeine, you don't have to just completely cut it off. If you're having four cups a day, you can do, “Well, let's try two today. Let's try two one more day, then we'll do one and then we'll do half a cup of coffee.” And then eventually you're off of it. There's a method to the madness of Survivor.

How do you think the other contestants see you as a player? If they're sitting here talking to me and I say, “What's your take on Jonathan?” What are they going to say?

In season 42, they didn't show my strategic game, and that's great for me. They're going to see me as a physical threat, but hopefully that's all. I hope everyone just sees that part of me because if we're just going based off that, last thing we saw was Joe. That was a week ago. We just saw Joe and we saw Kyle win and we saw Kamilla getting forth and they all made it to the end. So I believe they view me as a physical threat and somebody that's reliable. I think that's going to help me.

What do you think your biggest weakness is, if you're self-evaluating? What's the thing you need to work on the most to win the game this time around?

I think my weakness last time was that I didn't look through the opponent's lens. I didn't see things through their eyes. And this time I'm going to. It kind of goes back to primal, because I am a big guy. And when I speak, I have to be aware of that and the way that I have a deep voice that everything comes off a certain way to certain people. I think Miss Stephenie can handle it more than some of the new-era players. I can be a little more straightforward with Miss Stephenie, but I can't with the new school. I’ve got to tip toe around [them].

Jonathan Young, Dee Valladares, Mike White, Kamilla Karthigesu, Charlie Davis, Tiffany Ervin, Benjamin "Coach" Wade, Chrissy Hofbeck of the Kalo tribe on 'Survivor 50'

Robert Voets/CBS

How much pre-gaming did you do with the other players before you came out here?

Honestly, not a whole lot. I kind of keep to myself. I think that it's going to help me greatly in that I don't have anybody on my season.

Why do you think that helps you?

Well, most everybody has somebody, right? So that all automatically makes me different in a good way. That means that I haven't worked with anyone else and I'm a free agent. Everybody else is going to have that person. Let's take Q. Q had Tiffany and they were close. That's automatically in people's heads, I promise.

And you have four people from Heroes vs. Villains, and I'm pretty sure old-school players are going to want to stick together. New school, I don't know so much. I think they're so up and down that I don't know if they're going to work together. I think the fact that there are winners and all of these different types of players that have done so well is really going to keep the target off me.

Jonathan Young on 'Survivor 50'

Robert Voets/CBS

Who do you want to work with?

I'd like to work with Miss Stephenie, because she seems to be honest and real, and when she played, she seemed trustworthy. Same with Colby and Ozzy. Ozzy's pretty reliable. The last thing I saw at least. And I think it'd be good to play with Joe on the new-era side of things. And then Q for a little while, because Q scares me.

Why does he scare you?

Q scares me with how he played the game. It was very up and down. It wasn't straight and narrow and “These are my people. This is who I'm going to work with.” It constantly fluctuated. But I think for the first little while I can work with them.

Who are you most wary of in this cast?

Well, I'm not a Swiftie, and I think that Charlie is going to be hard to relate to. I can't relate to Charlie as much as I can other players. We're very different.

Anyone else?

I'm scared to work with Cirie because she's so smart and if you get too close to her, she can suck you in. It's like hypnotism, because she's that good at the game. It's Mama Cirie!

How do you handle these two season 49 players that you know nothing about?

Good question. The devil you know is better than the devil you don't. I've heard that forever since I was a little kid, and when I saw them, I knew exactly what it meant because it's very eerie to be around two players that were good enough to come back for season 50, and for us to know nothing about them, that's very eerie.

I think everyone feels that vibe from them because we have no idea. They could lie to us. They could say, “Oh, I was fifth out.” They could say anything! But they were good enough to be here, so we know something's up. Honestly, it could be another winner for all we know.

Are you ready to carry your entire tribe through the water again?

Oh, born ready. I hope they give me a ladder this season and everybody jumps on it.

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Other Survivor 50 deep dive player interviews:• Survivor 50 star Ozzy Lusth opens up about hitting 'rock bottom of my life'• Survivor 50 star Aubry Bracco opens up about the 'freedom when you fall from grace' • Colby Donaldson reacts to playing Survivor for the first time without Jerri• Angelina Keeley refused to do Survivor 50 unless they gave her a jacket• Survivor 50's Coach goes deep on evolving from an 'arrogant ass' into the… Tide Walker?• Survivor 50 star Jenna Lewis-Dougherty is 'here to f--- you over in every way, shape, or form'• Cirie Fields says winning The Traitors does not take sting out of Survivor loses• Mike White on how he is handling Survivor 50 castmastes angling for White Lotus cameos• Chrissy Hofbeck opens up about controversial season 35 finish and being bashed by previous cast• Rick Devens explains why he is a lunatic that wants to play with other lunatics• Stephenie LaGrossa Kendrick wants to prove that 'mom really is a badass'• Christian Hubicki wanted to tell Survivor 50 pre-gamers to 'f--- off'• Genevieve Mushaluk on why watching Survivor 50 will be more terrifying than playing it• Dee Valladares welcomes being one of Survivor 50's biggest threats: 'I want them to come for me'• Q Burdette reveals ridiculous things he did to prep for Survivor 50• Kamilla Karthigesu feared she would be cut from Survivor 50 for pregaming• Emily Flippen says 'If I win Survivor, something crazy has happened'

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