The Real Reason Survivor Season 49 Honored Vince Costello
Survivor Season 49 opened with a heartfelt tribute to Vince Costello, a behind-the-scenes stalwart who helped shape the series for years. Here’s who he was and why the show honored his legacy.
If you stuck around through the credits on the Survivor Season 49 premiere in September 2025, you saw a quiet, gut-punch of a title card for Vince Costello. If the name does not ring a bell, you have definitely seen his work. He was one of the people who made modern Survivor look like a postcard.
"In loving memory of Vince Costello, forever in our hearts."
Who Vince Costello was
Costello was a native Fijian and the show’s Location Manager from 2016 to 2025, which covers Survivor’s entire Fiji era. He was 61. Before joining the show, he had already worked on 50 different productions, so this was not his first rodeo.
His job was the very definition of vital but invisible: he found and secured the Mamanuca Islands locations where everything happens — Tribal Council, tribe camps, and all those beach-and-jungle challenges that look effortless on TV. That is serious inside-baseball stuff, and he was excellent at it.
Why the tribute happened now
Costello passed away in 2025, shortly after production wrapped on Season 50. The show honored him at the end of the Season 49 premiere with that memorial card you saw. No cause of death has been publicly announced, but a GoFundMe organized by executive producer Jesse Jensen shared that Costello had been diagnosed with late-stage Hepatocellular Carcinoma (liver cancer). Following the diagnosis, he and his family temporarily relocated to Australia for treatment and support. Before the fundraiser closed, it raised AUD 86,482.
Family ties behind the scenes
Two of Costello’s kids were part of the Survivor machine too. His daughter, Aline (28), worked alongside him as a Location Assistant. His son, Patrick (21), started in post-production and later moved up to camera operator. In a People interview conducted before Vince’s passing, Aline said working with her dad turned out to be a great fit:
"We work really well together. We are a very tight family, so I feel like if anyone could do it, it would be us. It’s been good."
What he did, in plain terms
- Location Manager for Survivor from 2016 to 2025 (the Fiji era), and a native Fijian who knew the terrain.
- Scouted and locked down Mamanuca Islands sites for Tribal Council, tribe camps, and challenges.
- Joined Survivor after experience on 50 other productions.
- Honored with a title card at the end of the Season 49 premiere in September 2025.
- Died in 2025, shortly after production wrapped on Season 50.
- GoFundMe noted a diagnosis of late-stage Hepatocellular Carcinoma; family moved to Australia for treatment; AUD 86,482 raised before it closed.
- His daughter Aline worked as his Location Assistant; his son Patrick moved from post to camera operator.
About that season-number mix-up
If you saw conflicting notes elsewhere calling it a Season 48 premiere tribute, that is just a labeling hiccup. The in-episode memorial appeared at the end of the Season 49 premiere in September 2025. Chalk it up to Survivor’s rapid-fire production cycle and the show always having multiple seasons in different stages at once.
Bottom line: Vince Costello helped build the world Survivor lives in. The beaches, the coves, the way Tribal looks like a mythic cave — that was his canvas. The tribute was simple, and absolutely deserved.