With just two episodes left in its 48th season, Survivor is tightening the screws. CBS will air the penultimate chapter—titled Icarus Time—on Wednesday, May 14, at 8PM ET, as the final six maneuver through a high-stakes mix of emotional vulnerability and strategic subterfuge.
The 90-minute episode serves as a critical inflection point, with a sanctuary reward challenge delivering letters from home—fuel for loyalty, or leverage for manipulation. As the countdown to the finale accelerates, two players mount a convincing bluff, further fracturing already fragile alliances and forcing a choice between emotional connection and ruthless gameplay.
Now in its 48th cycle, the long-running franchise continues to lean into complex social strategy as much as survival instincts. While CBS hasn’t confirmed finale plans beyond this week’s airing, Season 48 has already delivered on late-game unpredictability, solidifying Survivor’s hold as a top performer in the network’s unscripted slate.
Season 48 launched with the standard group of castaways vying for the $1 million prize and the Sole Survivor title. As the endgame plays out, tribal dynamics—and carefully timed deception—could ends up in the final three.
Survivor remains a linchpin for CBS’s Wednesday lineup, anchoring the night ahead of dramas and delivering both broadcast and streaming returns for Paramount Global.
