How they got on the Dream Team
A Dream Team marooning rehearsal for 'Survivor,' Season 50.'
Robert Voets/CBS ©2025
-
Share on Facebook
-
Share on X
-
Google Preferred
-
Share to Flipboard
-
Show additional share options
-
Share on LinkedIn
-
Share on Pinterest
-
Share on Reddit
-
Share on Tumblr
-
Share on Whats App
-
Send an Email
-
Print the Article
-
Post a Comment
Logo text
Long before Jeff Probst shouts “Come on in!” to Survivor players at a challenge, another group has already leapt, belly-flopped, balanced and bruised their way through every step. They’re not contestants, but they are among the most vital players you’ve never seen on screen: the Dream Team.
Originally created so producers wouldn’t have to test elaborate obstacle courses themselves, the Dream Team has evolved into something far more integral to Survivor’s operation — a training ground, a backstage family and one of the show’s most reliable pipelines for behind-the-scenes talent. What began as a logistical workaround under co-executive producer John Kirhoffer has become a launchpad for future camera operators, producers and department heads.
Related Stories
TV
CBS Sets 'Late Show' Replacement: Byron Allen's 'Comics Unleashed'
Exclusive
On Set for That Bloody, Teary 'Survivor' Merge: A Deep Dive Into What the Cameras Didn't Catch
While in Fiji ahead of Survivor 50, The Hollywood Reporter spoke with current Dream Teamers Skylar Williams and Kevin Martinez, along with alumni Zach Sundelius (now a supervising producer), Brittany Crapper (co-executive producer), and brothers Tim (camera operator) and Chris Barker (Director of Aerial Photography), who now help capture the show’s signature scale and spectacle.
Find out what it takes to make the team, how the role has evolved and why one former Dream Teamer still calls it, “the best thing that’s ever happened to me.”
How they got on the Dream Team
Brittany: I started on the Dream Team. It’ll forever be the best job I’ve ever had. I found out through a family friend. It sounded like the best job in the world. I reached out to her and she gave me Kirhoffer’s email, I sent in my resume and applied. You have to make these videos — I don’t know if you’ve heard about them. Mine was atrocious. I still thank John to this day for giving me a chance despite that horrible audition. But I submitted it, got on, and it was literally the best thing that’s ever happened to me.
Kevin: I got into Dream Team through [supervising producer] Chris Marchand, who I’d worked with on Big Brother. He was there and started telling me about Survivor. I wasn’t sure about it; I’d never seen Survivor before but once I did, I was hooked.
Skylar: I heard about it through my uncle, a former producer on the show. He said, “There’s this thing called the Dream Team. I think you’d be good at it.” I played sports growing up; I love to travel and learn about new cultures. So I reached out to Kirhoffer and Marchand: “I’d be really interested in this. I think I’d be good at it. I want to go into TV. This is my dream job.” After two years of talking with them, I turned 21 and I was on. Finding out I made it was the most exciting day of my life.
Tim: I started on Dream Team in season 19. I got the job through a friend we lived with in Canada who worked in the challenge department with Kirhoffer. He got Chris [my brother] on the year before, and Chris said, “You gotta get a job on this Dream Team thing.” I was like, “Sign me up.”
Zach: I’ve been a fan since day one. When I was in college, Jeff did a behind-the-scenes video for Survivor: China about Dream Teamers, but there wasn’t a way to apply. I spent years sending emails and resumes to random CBS addresses, never getting any traction. At one point, I made a Twitter account called Future Dream Team and chatted with people there. I connected with Gordon Holmes, a writer who covered Survivor. He said, “Future Dream Team, huh?” I told him my story and asked if he could help. He said, “No promises, but I’ll send your stuff along.” A month later, I got a call from Kirhoffer and about a month after that, I was in Samoa on the Dream Team.
Dream Teamers Skylar Williams and Kevin Martinez. Photo by Terry Terrones.
What Dream Teamers actually do
Skylar: When we’re not testing challenges or helping on shoot days, like holding lights or moving gear, we’re in the art workshop painting challenges. Painting a single wooden post can take days. Our typical day starts around 7:30 a.m. or 8 a.m. — we help on set, then to art, lunch, do test blocks, rehearsals and tribal council prep. It’s an 11- to 12-hour day.
Brittany: We stand in at tribal councils, sitting where contestants do whil