‘Survivor’ Winner Ethan Zohn Opens up About Experience on ‘Winners at War’ (Exclusive)

Ethan Zohn is a Survivor veteran who won the third season of the show, which was in Africa in 2001-2002. He completed in Survivor: All-Stars in 2004, and was recently seen competing in Survivor: Winners at War. In the 40th season of the Survivor, which is currently airing Wednesdays on CBS, past winners on the show battle to win the grand prize of $2 million. Zohn came up short in Winners at War, as he was the fourth person voted off the show. PopCulture.com recently caught up with the 45-year old, and he admitted it took some time for him to adjust to the game, despite competing in two different seasons.

“I played a long time ago, he said. Back in the day, there wasn’t that many twists, advantages, clues and ways to get back in the game. We have this new currency called fire tokens and this place called the edge of extinction. Back then, there was none of that stuff.” Zohn won Survivor when the show was at its peak in terms of popularity. Now that the show is celebrating 20 years of being on the air, the New Hampshire native took on the challenge of learning how the new version of Survivor works.

“To get myself back up to speed on this new school game of Survivor, it was a little bit daunting, a little bit scary, but obviously exciting at the same time,” Zohn said. “I studied some of the people that I thought would be out there with me.”

Zohn also added the pace of the game is fast. Along with that, and physical demands the show puts on an individual, it was a tough task for Zohn to take on since he’s in a very different place in his life. He said: “It was tough. This is really tough. The game in general, whether you played back then or not, it takes a lot out of you. You are removed from everything you are comfortable with. I’m in a different place in my life. It was a real learning experience.”

Along with competing on Survivor, Zohn has also been on Fear Factor, Pitchmen, and The Amazing Race. When comparing those shows to Survivor, Zohn said it’s night and day because of what’s need to win. “Different show, different philosophy.,” he added. “It’s kind of a different mindset. In Survivor, you’re battling yourself a lot. You gotta deal with whatever’s going on with your head. You gotta build friendships with these people.”