Over 25 years, for 49 seasons and counting, CBS has graced us with the greatest reality competition show in the world: “Survivor.” And it has all been leading up to this ultimate 50th season.

This season there are 24 contestants battling it out for the prize of  $1,000,000 and the title of sole survivor, the most the show has ever seen. All of the contestants are iconic and span across all 50 seasons; there is Jenna Lewis (season 1: Borneo), icon Cirie Fields (season 12: Panama), the “dragon slayer” Benjamin “Coach” Wade (season 18: Tocantins) and Christian Hubicki (season 38: David vs Goliath) just to name a few. Most notably, half the cast comes from “Survivor”’s “new era,” which are any of the seasons following season 40. Icons from the new era include Genevieve Mushaluk (season 47), Jonathan Young (season 42) and the “RizGod” himself Rizo Velovic (season 49).

If you do not know how the game works, the contestants get split up into teams at the beginning, called tribes. This season the contestants begin the game in three tribes of eight. The tribes battle each other in challenges, most of the time competing for a reward whether that be fishing gear, food or comfort, but they also compete for what is called “immunity.” Immunity means you do not have to go to what is called “tribal council” where you have the unfortunate (or fortunate depending on who you ask) duty of voting one of your tribe members out. So, while the game is physically demanding, because you are starving and living in harsh island conditions, the game is also mentally demanding. It is inherently a social strategy game; to win you need to find an alliance in your group, make it the majority and trust that no one will betray you before you betray them. It is fascinating to watch and it will teach you all you need to know about society.

After you get to a certain portion of the game (usually around 12-13 contestants left), tribes are eliminated and it becomes an individual game. Each day you compete for individual immunity, which is your only guarantee of safety in the game. Everyone goes to tribal and someone is voted out, usually becoming a member of the “jury.” When you become a member of the jury, you return at each tribal council, not to speak but to watch, and you will have a final say on who wins the season. When there are three, sometimes two contestants left, they all go to a final tribal council where they pitch their case to the jury on why they deserve the $1,000,000 and the title of sole survivor. So, if you burn bridges along the way, good luck securing the votes you need to win.

The first episode of season 50 can only be described as absolute cinema. You got to watch contestants who competed decades ago like Colby Donaldson (season 2: Australia) give advice to contestants like Velovic, who just competed on the most recent season. The budding bromance of Hubicki and Rick Devens (season 38: Edge of Extinction) blossoms right before our very eyes. The rivalry between Wade and Ozzy Lusth (season 13: Cook Islands) is still fiery as ever almost a decade later. It is just so awesome to see all these eras collide and all these contestants play so hard.

What hurt was the first elimination as Lewis, from the very first season, was swiftly voted out after rubbing members on her tribe the wrong way. Lewis seemed so excited to come back to “Survivor” 20 years later and to boot her out like that is cold, but that is what makes this show so captivating. What hurt even more was Kyle Fraser’s (winner of season 48) elimination in the closing moments of the show. He did not get voted out, but he unfortunately tore his Achilles tendon during the first immunity challenge and had to get medically evacuated. This part of the game is frustrating because it is so unfair to see these contestants play so hard for their bodies to fail them. I hope we get to see Fraser return in a future season because he has one of the most well rounded winning seasons we have seen in a long time.

“Survivor” episodes come out every Wednesday at 8 p.m. on CBS and streaming on Paramount Plus. If you love competitions and social strategy games I highly suggest tuning in and you will find yourself sucked into the awesome world of “Survivor.”