Andy DehnartCambodia will host Survivor‘s 31st and 32nd season, which will film this spring and summer on Koh Rong, an island off the coast in the Gulf of Thailand that has been used by international productions of the series. Production on both CBS seasons will be from March through July.
Koh Rong is where Koh-Lanta, France’s Survivor, was filming when a contestant died during the first challenge. Later, the the show’s doctor committed suicide on the island. Last year, backpackers reported Bulgaria’s version of the show was being filmed there.
The spoiler known as Redmond first reported the Survivor 31 location earlier this week, having confirmed it with people on the island. Thursday, The Cambodia Daily reported that “Preah Sihanouk provincial governor Chhit Sokhon confirmed the rumor.”
The governor told the paper, “They are taking a long time to prepare because they have rented out houses of local villagers as they have to cover them up to make the jungle look untouched and are decorating in the forest and along the sea.” The police chief said, “A group of workers is coming soon and all their equipment has arrived. The crew here now is preparing by cleaning the places where they will film.”
A new place for the Survivor 31 location
This is the first time the CBS reality show will be filmed in Cambodia, and the first truly new location since season 25. Since season 19, the show has alternated production between the same three places: Samoa, Nicaragua, and the two places in the Philippines.
While there are several resorts on the island, it does look somewhat remote for a production that, over the past few years, has increasingly used accessible locations. Its location scout said they needed a place that is “extremely remote but still has about 180 rooms for our 300-plus crew.”
This video is a look at “Cambodia and especially the amazing island of Koh Rong seen through the eyes of the producers of the French survivor series Koh Lanta”: