‘Survivor,’ ‘Naked and Afraid’ Figure Reportedly Dies of Brain Cancer: RIP to Sean Foley

A beloved member of the Survivor and Naked and Afraid family has died.

Sean Foley, who worked on Survivor for 15 years before going on to executive-produce Naked and Afraid XL, died in November 2025 following a brain cancer diagnosis, according to a tribute post shared on Facebook by Naked and Afraid Executive Producer David Story.

“We lost one of the good ones this weekend,” Story wrote, in part, on his Nov. 30 post.

On Wednesday, Survivor also honored Foley with a title card that appeared at the end of the latest episode, which read, “In loving memory of Sean Foley, our friend and colleague.”

Foley was one of the original Survivor crew members, acting as an editor on the first eight seasons of the CBS reality competition show, which debuted in 2000, before going on to serve as main title designer and director of photography through Season 31 in 2015.

That same year, Foley transitioned to executive producing Naked and Afraid XL and later joined the teams of Naked and Afraid, Naked and Afraid: Last One Standing and Naked and Afraid: Apocalypse. His other TV credits include The Apprentice, Undercover Boss, and Shark Tank.

Foley’s Survivor contributions earned him five Emmy nominations for Outstanding Picture Editing for Non-Fiction Programming, and he received a sixth for his work on The Contender.

“We lost one of the good ones this weekend. Brain cancer has taken my colleague, my friend, my brother-in-arms Sean Foley away,” Story wrote on Facebook. “The world is a lesser place today than it was before.”

Story praised Foley as “clever, intelligent, and creative” — someone whose legacy went beyond successful shows. “It’s how he led and inspired everyone around him,” Story wrote. “One of our coworkers nailed it: ‘he was the perfect balance of taking the assignment of making great television seriously, without taking himself seriously at all.’ That’s so true.”

“He would sometimes drive us crazy delaying Zoom meetings by telling dad jokes or old production war stories,” the tribute continued. “And he never missed a chance to insert one of the stock Naked and Afraid narration bites—’If left untreated….’—into any conversation. But that geeky humor was just part of how he fostered such a creative, familial, friendly environment where everyone worked their tails off to match his storytelling skills.”

“When Sean believed in you, it turbo-charged you to be better at your work,” Story went on, adding, “He made a lot of our lives better, and how can you beat that as a legacy? I’m gutted he’s gone, as I’m sure a lot of people are. And, if it’s not obvious, f#*k cancer.”