Ethan Zohn is celebrating a number of milestones in 2026. Of course, we recently hit the 50th season of Survivor, the show that made him a million-dollar winner and a three-time player. But it also marks the 20th anniversary of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center’s "Cycle for Survival," a rare cancer fundraising program. It's an incredibly meaningful cause to the 52-year-old, given how the twists and turns of the past two decades have made him a survivor in more ways than one."In 2009 I was diagnosed with a rare form of blood cancer called CD20-positive non-Hodgkin's lymphoma," the Survivor: Africa winner tells Parade in an exclusive interview. "Trust me, I had never heard of it either at the time. I had to go through multiple rounds of chemotherapy, radiation, and then I ended up having two bone marrow transplants, which is a pretty stressful situation."
?Don’t miss our weekly Survivor newsletter! Sign up to get Mike Bloom’s exclusive interviews with the players and the latest news about the show right to your inbox.?He continues "But what was really scary is after my first transplant failed, all of a sudden, I was in a situation where I needed a specific drug to get my cancer determination long enough so I could go on to get this second stem cell transplant, which would hopefully save my life. And so this drug was exactly the type of drug that Cycle for Survival funds."To date, Cycle for Survival has raised more than $430 million to support MSK's pursuit to fight rare cancers. For the 20th anniversary, they expect 30,000 participants and 155,000 donors across all 2026 events. "Cycle for Survival is an indoor cycling event, so anyone can participate," Ethan explains. "You don't need to know how to ride a bike. You just have to know how to ride a stationary bike. They host these events all across the country, at Equinox gyms, and it's an incredible fun day. You ride your bike, there's music pumping. There's cameras, there's food, there's tons of people. And you're all riding for something much bigger than yourself: To fund rare cancer research."The final weekend of New York City events for Cycle of Survival will take place March 4 to March 8 across multiple Equinox clubs. For more information, and to register to ride, go to cycleforsurvival.org. Other events will also be held across the NYC tristate area over the next two weeks. Of course, in speaking with Ethan, Parade had to get his thoughts on the recent premiere of Survivor 50. He reflects on his cameo in the episode's epic opening montage, watching his former tribemate (and ex-girlfriend) Jenna Lewis-Dougherty become the first boot, and which Season 50 cast member he gave advice to before the season.
Related: Meet the Full Cast of Survivor 50
It's been over ten years since you've been cancer-free. How does it feel as we get further and further away from that date?It was interesting, because when Season 40 was announced, this was in 2020, I was a little nervous to be able to say yes to go out and play, because I had just survived cancer, and I wasn't necessarily in a place mentally, physically, spiritually, to go out there and play again. And I remember when I was in my stem cell transplant in 2010, I was watching Heroes vs. Villains. And I was watching all my buddies, all my friends, play one of the best seasons of Survivor of all time. And I'm like, "I'm here, stuck in a hospital room. If I ever get out of this transplant alive, I'm gonna get myself fit and ready to go play Survivor." Season 40 comes around, and it was difficult. Just knowing what I had been through, but understanding that I was in a good place, and that I shifted my gameplay a little bit to be happy with whatever happens out there. Because I'm now alive, I have a new lease on life. I'd been treated at Sloan Kettering, and I was funded by drugs that were funded by Cycle forSsurvival. So I was in a good spot when it came back to 40. And the more time I get away from my diagnosis, the initial diagnosis, the better I feel. And I'm just happy to be alive, happy to participate. Of course, I'd be remiss not to get your thoughts on this most recent returnee season, Survivor 50. Especially one person in particular in your former all-star, tribe member and girlfriend, Jenna Lewis-Dougherty. What was your reaction when you saw she'd be coming back for the first time since All-Stars?My initial reaction when I found out was like, "Why didn't you call me?!" You should have called me! You should have asked me, "What was it like?" Because I played in Season 40, and then, obviously, we're now a bunch of years later. But I know Jenna was out of the loop, and she hasn't played since 2004, and so I was surprised.But putting that aside, I was a little bit nervous for her coming into this game. Because I put myself in her position, because I felt I was in the same position when I went to go play 40. Completely out of the loop, don't know the other players. I'm not a pre-gamer; I want to show up, and I want to play. And I think that's the attitude that Jenna Lewis took when she was coming to play for Season 50 was a fresh start, not be influenced by this pregame situation. But we saw what happened out there. And I just think she went out a little too hard, a little too aggressive. And of course, she targeted one of the most beloved players of all time. Which is a smart move, but maybe just not that early.For what it's worth, when I asked her before the season who she wished was out there, she said you!Aww, that's nice of her. Having said that, I wasn't happy with my Survivor: All-Stars relationship with Jenna Lewis. Because the entire strategy for most of the players, including Jenna Lewis, was, "Let's get the winners off first." And she took a similar style this game, right? She's like, "Cirie's got a really good story," which she does. And then so she's targeting the big names, the big guns, kind of like what she did on All-Stars. "Let's not let a winner win again. They've already won. We don't need them in the game." And I think she just took a similar approach, and she could have read the room a little bit better. And I was hoping that the old schoolers would stick together: Ozzy, Cirie, and Jenna Lewis.You mentioned before about having to immediately adjust to how the game changed between All-Stars and Winners at War. And we're experiencing that now to an even greater extent with all of the "new era" players on Survivor 50. Do you feel like old-school players have to come in and immediately adjust?This new game, it's so fast. You've got to play fast and make big moves the second you hit the beach. And she did, and it just didn't work out. I played Season 40, which was, I guess, on the way to the new era, right? There was still 39 days, obviously had all the idols, clues, advantages. I think an old-school player does have to adapt in a major way. I mean, you, you saw it instantly where, Rizo, he's sitting around watching Colby lug logs and bamboo. And he's like, "Dude, we don't play that way anymore. The provider role, it doesn't matter. We don't care. We're gonna vote you off no matter what, no matter what you do for the tribe." So I thought that was very interesting. You got a new era player coaching an old school player like Colby on how to play the game, hen, in my mind, it should be the opposite. But the game is so different. The game moves fast, and I do think the old-school players are going to have to adapt and change their style of play to fit in with this new era game. The speed at which the game is played is warp speed. There was so much time in the old school days where you could really develop those relationships and the social game. Challenges had a little bit more weight than they do now. Idols had more weight. There's just so many different inputs.And luck is a big part of this game. How the tribes shake out, what you uncover. All of that is such a big part of the game that it's really hard to prepare. And with this new theme, "In the Hands of the Fans," I actually like it. I was totally against it. Like, "This is stupid." But as a player going out there knowing that you really can't prepare for anything and predict what may or may not come, because, in theory, the fans have already pre-decided. So for me, I would be a freeing moment knowing, "I've got to play in the moment. I can't look forward too much, and obviously I can't hang out in the past." So I think that's exciting. If I were playing now, I'd be excited about "In the Hands of the Fans."This season also sees the return of another fellow all-star in Colby. What was your reaction to seeing the energy he's bringing into Season 50?I love it. I absolutely love it. And I did have the opportunity to chat with Colby before he left. And he wasn't a sure thing. He got the call, and he was very unsure. Like, "I don't know if you even want to go out there and play and just get in the mindset where you leave your life, go play the game of Survivor," especially when he's been out of it for so long. I think he wanted a little bit of redemption. He watched his past seasons, he saw how he played, he saw how the fans responded to him. And I think he could have done better back then, and I think he realizes that. And just one of the big things that he talked about is just having fun. There's a weird thing when you come back to play the show again, is it's more of a business situation. The first time you play, it is new. Everything's exciting. It's unbelievable. You come back and you're like, "Oh, man, why am I on a beach again, starving, thirsty? Why am I doing this?" It just becomes more of a business opportunity in the sense that, "Let's get through this. Let's play as hard as I can." And — at least initially. It's been one episode, what do we know? But it just seems like he's enjoying it. He's having fun. I think the pressure of performing at such a high level is down a little bit, because he's an older dude. "I can't hear out of my left ear," all that stuff's happening. And I think that for him, it just gives him a blank slate to go out there, have fun and just do the best that he possibly can with no pressure. And I think that's going to change his game.
Ethan Zohn (L) with Cycle for Survival co-founder Dave Linn (R)Courtesy of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
Related: Colby Donaldson Is Back for ‘Survivor’ 50 — And Reveals Why He’s Ready for Redemption (Exclusive)What advice did you give Colby, considering you played more recently than him?That was the exact advice I gave him. "Go out there and have fun, because this is a really fun game." And I gave him the idea of, like, "Listen, you could have goals to achieve in the game." And for me, when I went out for 40, I had two sets of goals. I had my game goals, and then my life goals. In my game goals, yeah, I want a blindside. I want to win a challenge. I want to make it to the merge. I want to light a fire in the Final Four Firemaking challenge. Those are the game goals. And I also had life goals. Like, "Hey, I want to watch a sunset". I want to catch a fish. I want to sleep under the stars. I want to meet people and make friends that's going to last beyond 26 days or 39 days. And so no matter what happened in the game goals — which clearly for me, total debacle — I achieved the life goals, and I had a really successful, fun experience. And the other part of it was, just as Jeff says all the time, be authentic. Be who you are. Don't try to perform or make stuff up for the camera, or say stuff you think people want to hear you say. Just be yourself. This new era, these kids, these millennials, it just all comes out all the time. They can't keep a secret. They tell everyone everything. So kind of following that, the more you give of yourself, I think the more we'll come back to you. And people will trust you and gravitate towards an authentic leader.Besides Colby, who from the remaining Survivor 50 cast are you rooting for?I'm obviously leaning towards old school. I've got to do it. I'm sorry. Colby, Cirie, Ozzy, I would love to see them do well. I was really rooting for Kyle, to be honest. Those are the main people I want to see go far in the game. I do love a Christian. I think he's just a really fascinating character. And obviously he's got the mindset and the strategy and the data to make it through. And I hope to see him go really far, because I think he's non-threatening. It's the non threatening players that I think that people look over.Like Kamilla is really non-threatening. She's so adorable. She's wearing a little hood. She looks like a little meerkat; she pops up, makes a move, then disappears for a little while. So I'd love to see Kamilla go far. I just think she's an interesting people are going to overlook her maybe a little bit and not think she's threatening, and then she can kind of come back around and do damage. I think without Kyle, she's going to be freed. Kyle was holding her back.She told me as much before the season, that she felt in a way Kyle being out there was an anchor, considering how dangerous the idea of the two of them together would be.And I felt that a little that way on Survivor: All-Stars, because Lex, Tom and myself were on separate tribes. And I think there was an underlying nervousness that if we made it to the merge and link back up together, we are going to be a power threesome again. And so I think that was in Lex's mind, and probably Tom's mind. And so, when I got on the tribe with Lex, he instantly voted me off. I wouldn't have gone after Lex. I don't think it would have been a problem, in my opinion. If you see how that game shook down, I still probably would have been the first one voted out after the merge in that situation. So anyway, obviously, with or without Kyle there, Kamilla can play a much freer game.Finally, we got to see you as a part of the epic five-minute montage that kicked off the episode, highlighting some of the biggest characters and moments of the first 49 seasons. How did it feel to see yourself as a part of that, especially considering how much Survivor set your life on a completely different path?It was wonderful to be in the rewind. This show put me on a rocket ship and launched my life in a way that I can never, ever thank CBS and Survivor enough. And you hear a lot of us say that. But because of Survivor, I was able to start grassroots soccer. Because of Survivor, we are now in 65 countries, and we've graduated over 25 million kids from the program. And that's all because I played hacky sack in a little village in Wamba, delivering HIV kits. So this show has an impact. And just to bring that a little bit further, you heard me say it in Season 40, and it has to do with my cancer. But you know, back then, we formed a partnership between Stand Up to Cancer and Survivor to create "Survivor Stand Up to Cancer." And so the props for the show are auctioned off on eBay to raise money for cancer research through Stand Up to Cancer. And some of the money raised through Stand Up to Cancer funded the drug that saved my life. Wild, right?! I mean, think about that. Think about the impact a show has. It's literally saving lives. And I don't think people see that next level of the show, because it's really fun, it's entertaining. But the people that are on the show, it gives them an incredible platform to achieve goals once they're off. People talk about the pregame, they talk about the real game. I talk about the post-game. I think I won the post-game, and I'm proud of that. So if there's a prize for winning the post-game, please, Probst, send it my way!
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