Jerri Manthey is 'devastated' after being cut from 'Survivor 50' (2026)

Jerri Manthey is an icon of the early era of Survivor, but that icon will not be appearing on the highly anticipated Survivor 50, which begins filming soon and will air in early 2026. Host and showrunner Jeff Probst revealed the Survivor 50 cast on Wednesday’s episode of CBS Mornings, and Manthey’s name was one of the most notable omissions.

While Manthey had previously indicated she would not be part of the final cast by posting a silent video on social media of herself nodding no shortly before the official announcement, she has now posted a lengthy reaction on her Instagram account to being cut from the cast in the form of a Cameo to a fan named Nancy.

“I’m devastated as well, as you can imagine,” Manthey says in the video. “The outpouring of support and encouragement from everybody online has just been so helpful in helping me start the process of healing, but I’m not going to lie: I am pissed, I’m disappointed, I’m sad, and I sometimes am asking that very same question too: How am I going to get through this?”

The video, which Manthey says was recorded in the desert near Joshua Tree, goes on with the three-time player processing her grief over being a last-minute cut.

“I’ve also been sitting still with my own thoughts and processing what happened, and the utter disrespect for the fact that I have spent the past 25 years of my life, which is almost half of my life, involved in, supporting, being a part of making an effort to be a part of the Survivor community," she said.

The original Survivor black widow, Manthey popped off the screen on Survivor’s most-watched season ever, The Australian Outback (season 2). She was the first true franchise “villain,” although her antics (like accusing another player of smuggling in beef jerky) were positively tame compared to what would follow in future installments. Manthey then returned for Survivor: All-Stars, where she walked out of the live reunion episode after being booed by an unruly Madison Square Garden audience.

But the player experienced an almost complete turnaround in her third appearance on Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains, as she went from the contestant audiences loved to hate to one they simply loved, as viewers were drawn to her quirky flirtmance with tribemate Benjamin “Coach” Wade and she made it all the way to fourth place.

Manthey referenced some of those early struggles on her video. “I know what I’ve been through, and people that are old enough to watch season 2 when it was happening in real time —those people understand what I’ve sacrificed and what I’ve given up in my life for that show. Forgive me, it’s really hard to feel underappreciated on that level.”

The 54-year-old Survivor all-star also wondered out loud if age played a factor in her not being cast for a fourth appearance. “Being a woman in your 50s is already sometimes difficult enough, because I’ve always heard the saying that when you get into your 50s, you become irrelevant, nobody notices you anymore, and I can feel that. And this is actually proof that it is happening.”

Manthey continues and notes that her Survivor journey —of both playing and watching —is over.

“My Survivor chapters are closed," she said. "It was very clear that what Jeff Probst and [executive producer Matt Van Wagenen] thought was that I should be grateful because I am the only person to experience a three-season character arc. Oh! I should just be so grateful for that. But you know what? You know what’s even better than that? Watching someone come full circle."

"And that is what I was robbed of," she continued. "That is what was stolen from me. I don’t know what else to say other than I just need to figure out a way to get through this.… Personally, I am done watching it. I am not going to watch any of it anymore. I refuse to support a franchise that doesn’t support and get behind its pivotal people.”

And it was not just her own omission that Manthey saw as glaring — she also called into question some of the other women who were not on the final list.

“There are so many amazing women," she said. "Not just myself. But other people. Maria! Maria is an amazing strong woman who was robbed of her win and deserved another chance. Abi-Maria! Can you imagine if Abi-Maria and I were on the same season? That would be epic. Karla! Karla is another one. If you want to go new era, get the women who kicked f---ing ass! Come on! This is so upsetting! Not just because I am not on it, but because who is and who isn’t.”

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Probst was asked on CBS Mornings about how they went down from 750 players to just 24.

“We went from 200 on a list to 100, to 80, to 50,” he told host Gayle King. “And then those last 26, they were brutal cuts. And they still are. There are so many people we could have put out there but there are only so many people you can put on the show.”

Manthey was apparently one of those final cuts. And while Jerri’s Survivor journey may be over, her own is far from it. “Damn straight, I am not laying down,” she says near the end of her video. “And if anyone is going to end my story, it is going to be me, not Jeff and [Matt Van Wagenen] and the people at CBS. They do not get the right to end my story.”