Where is Survivor filmed this season?

18 new castaways are brought to a remote island to compete in mental and physical challenges

Survivor is back with its 46th season, welcoming 18 new castaways to a remote island to compete in a series of challenges for the chance to win $1m (£794,000).

CBS’s long-running reality game show has filmed in various locations across the globe, such as Nicaragua, Malaysia, Thailand, Brazil, Panama and Samoa.

However, this season returns to the remote Mamanuca Islands of Fiji in the South Pacific Ocean, where the show has taken up semi-permanent residence since season 33.

“I hope we stay here forever,” longtime host Jeff Probst told Entertainment Weekly in 2017. “This is our home, and I hope we end our show here.”

Explaining why it’s easier for the show to stay in Fiji, he added at the time: “The real truth of the world is, when we started Survivor 18 years ago, there were lots of places we could go.

“It’s been two decades. It’s a different world. There are not as many places we can go for lots of reasons – the economy, population, political unrest, weather patterns.

“Fiji offers us everything that we want,” he continued.

(L-R): Randen Montalvo, Hunter McKnight, and Tevin Davis on ‘Survivor 46’ (CBS)

“Incredibly beautiful water that you can see down 30 feet, beaches that are amazing, a government that is working with us, local labor that loves to say ‘Bula!’ every day because they’re just happy you’re here. And our crew has never been as happy. We actually have decent accommodations to do this show out in the jungle. It’s a win-win-win.”

This season, which premiered on Wednesday (28 February), saw the new contestants arrive on the island already divided into three groups: Yanu (purple), Sega (green) and Nami (orange).

They competed in a series of gruelling physical and mental challenges to fight for rewards and immunity from elimination.

Ahead of the season debut, Probst teased this season as “one of the most vicious seasons ever”.

Survivor 46 will debut a second two-hour episode on Wednesday, 6 March, beginning at 8pm ET/PT on CBS before it returns to its traditional 90-minute format each week after that.