6 Celebrities Who’ve Played ‘Survivor’

Not even celebrities can resist the urge to outwit, outplay, and outlast.

Across 50 seasons, plenty of prominent faces have signed up for Survivor, the iconic CBS reality series that features a group of contestants forced to fend for themselves in a remote location.

While there’s been tons of celebrities on the series, here are six of the most notable, based on how impactful (or embarrassing) their time on the series was.

Mike White

Obviously, White Lotus creator Mike White takes the first spot on the list—when you think of Survivor celeb appearances, he’s the first name that comes to mind. The Emmy-winning writer/director appeared on David vs. Goliath, the 37th season of the series, and ended up making it to the Final Tribal Council. While he ended up placing second and lost by a mere three votes, he got to the end and did so by winning a fire-making challenge. It’s easy to see why he’s returning for Survivor 50 next year.

John Rocker

Of course John Rocker was gonna be a disaster on Survivor. The former MLB reliever is mostly known for his extremely racist, homophobic and offensive views that constantly spew from his mouth like a leaky faucet. (He’s such a notorious prick that Danny McBride based his HBO series Eastbound & Down on Rocker’s life.) What made his appearance much funnier than anyone could have imagined is that he went on season 29 of Survivor and tried to pretend to be someone else, as if he wouldn’t get immediately recognized. Even better, his strategy was to threaten everyone on the series with physical violence—at one point, he tells a female contestant that “if you were a man, I would knock your teeth out.” Everyone unsurprisingly ended up hating his guts and then figured out who he was, prompting his tribe to blindside him and send him home with an idol in his pocket. Oops!

Jeff Kent

Somehow, Rocker isn’t even the most evil baseball player to appear on Survivor. That honor goes to Jeff Kent, the former second baseman and Baseball Hall of Fame inductee. Kent is famously such a jerk that the media outlet Complex started “The Jeff Kent Awards” as a sort of inverse of TIME’s Person of the Year to recognize people who are a public menace. Like Rocker, he somehow thought he could come on the series and no one could recognize him. Of course, he got discovered immediately. What separates Kent from Rocker is that Kent actually played a decent game—he made it past the merge on season 25, but was eventually voted out and served as a jury member.

Brad Culpepper

One of the few celebs to appear on Survivor twice, the former NFL defensive tackle turned Tampa-based attorney was a force to be reckoned with. While his first time on Survivor in season 27 failed spectacularly after he was blindsided by his tribemates, he returned in season 34 and made it to the finale by winning five of the last six immunity challenges. His fatal flaw in both instances? He wasn’t very good at the social game, and most of the final jury thought he was just kinda rude.

Jonathan Penner

Appearing on Survivor not once, not twice, but THREE times, actor and screenwriter Jonathan Penner might be more well-known at this point for his Survivor antics than for starring in The Nanny. While he’s never made it to a final five, he’s made it to the jury in two of his three seasons (and likely would’ve made it to a third had he not needed to be medically evacuated), so it’s safe to say he’s one of the better celeb players on the series.

Natalie Anderson

The only celeb to actually WIN on Survivor, Natalie Anderson is one of the best players in show history. (It feels kinda like cheating, since she got famous for being on The Amazing Race, another reality competition series.) With two appearances on the series in Season 29 and Season 40, she won her first season, then was the runner-up her second time around. A challenge threat, a social assassin, and an all-around dominant player.