The Survivor 42 premiere introduced viewers to the all-new cast, which includes several Canadian players who are looking to take home the Sole Survivor title. For its first 38 seasons, Survivor exclusively cast contestants with American citizenship or permanent resident status. However, that policy changed before season 39, and former NHL player Tom Laidlaw became the first Canadian-born player to be cast on the show when he appeared on Survivor: Island of the Idols.
Survivor 41 then added more Canadians to the Survivor family. In fact, it's arguable that the season's two most important players were from Canada. Shan Smith, a pastor and influencer from Toronto, was the biggest character on Survivor 41 and is a shoo-in to return for a future All-Stars season. Shan ultimately fell short of winning the game, but her fellow Canadian Erika Casupanan became the show's first Canadian winner when she bested Xander Hastings and Deshawn Radden in a blowout jury vote.
The Canadian players competing on Survivor 42 include Ontario natives Maryanne Oketch and Omar Zaheer. Maryanne from Ajax, Ontario, is a 24-year-old seminary student, while Omar (a Whitby, Ontario resident) is a 31-year-old exotic animal veterinarian. Additionally, fitness consultant Drea Wheeler is from San Antonio, Texas, but she currently lives in Montreal, Quebec. Maryanne and Omar are both in the Taku tribe, and Drea is in Ika. It's unclear if Maryanne and Omar have a strong alliance in Taku, as most of the premiere's Taku content centered on the unconventional exit of Jackson Fox. On Ika, however, Drea was shown playing hard after gaining two secret advantages and working on a plan to vote out Rocksroy Bailey. She then decided to go with the rest of the tribe to eliminate superfan, Zach Wurtenberger.
The casting of Canadians introduces an interesting dynamic into Survivor casts. Fortunately, the casting team has chosen compelling and diverse personalities to represent Canada on the show, and it seems to be paying dividends thus far. Canada is known for its various cultural identities, so it will be exciting to see how Maryanne, Omar, and Drea fare in season 42. Fans also want to find out which types of players will join the show in future seasons. It's not impossible to imagine Survivor casting indigenous Canadians in seasons to come, or seeing Acadian, Quebecois, or Newfoundland-based Canadians bringing their unique points of view to the long-running CBS juggernaut.
Overall, Canadian representation on Survivor is a major positive for the show. Not only does it add some cultural diversity to reality TV's greatest social experiment, but it also gives the show the opportunity to cast a much wider net than it could in previous seasons. Survivor's applicant pool has likely grown considerably since the policy change, so the show now has an even better chance of finding the best possible potential contestants to test their mettle on the island.
Survivor airs Wednesdays at 8 p.m. EST on CBS.