‘Gaslight, Gatekeep, and Keep Moving’: Second Season of Harvard Survivor

The second season of “Harvard Survivor: Dating or Undateable” kicked off at the Science Center Plaza on Saturday morning despite rainy conditions. Said El Kadi Pauluan ’26 emerged as the victorious survivor, in a competition that ended at midnight.

Sixteen undergraduates competed in the second annual iteration of the game – a mini version of the “Survivor” TV show packed into one day. The game began by splitting contestants into “tribes” based on relationship status.

Challenges included bear crawling the length of a football field across the muddy Cambridge Common in the pouring rain and unscrambling the message: “No fear, no goals, anyone can join.”

Conor R. Meyer ’28, the president of the Harvard Undergraduate “Survivor” Club and a veteran, said that “Harvard Survivor” was originally created “with no club, no funding, and just a lot of passion and very poor filming.”

Meyer said “Harvard Survivor” is a “very personal project” for him as a fan of the TV show.

The episodes will be released on the “Harvard Survivor” YouTube channel. Meyer said the second season will be a family production – his younger sister, who is 12, served as the “challenge demonstrator” to show competitors the correct way to complete each challenge.

The second season was advertised on house mailing lists and reached many students looking to meet new people and unconventional experiences.

“I’m approaching the near end of my Harvard career, and I think I’ve really been looking for opportunities to connect with spaces at Harvard that I haven’t been connected with before – people that I might not know – and really branch out,” Hana R. O’Looney-Goto ’26 said.

“I also think that it’ll be a super fun story to tell,” she added.

Nicholas D. G. Apostolicas ’25, a senior at the College, said that “Harvard Survivor” seemed like a “fantastic opportunity” to step out of his comfort zone and “get all the bucket list items” crossed off.

The event even reached a previous contestant on the “Survivor” TV show and a friend of Meyer – Swati Goel ’26. Goel competed on Season 42 of “Survivor.” She said that Meyer encouraged her to join the Harvard version of “Survivor.”

When asked if she believed she had an advantage due to her prior experience, she said, “not at all.”

Ultimately, Pauluan won “Harvard Survivor.” He said his strategy was “gaslight, gatekeep, and keep moving.” After the competition ended, he immediately spent the $100 cash prize.

“I took the rest of the finalists out for food after and spent it all,” he said.

Pauluan added that he “will totally stay in contact” with the group as it was a “great group and a great day.”

Nicholas O. Branca ’26 said he was grateful for Meyer and his family for organizing and filming the entire day.

Meyer said that “everything got pulled off.”

“It wasn’t easy, but I was happy with how it all turned out,” he said.

—Staff writer Dionise Guerra-Carrillo can be reached at dionise.guerracarrillo@thecrimson.com.
—Staff writer Sophia Y. King can be reached at sophia.king@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @sophia_kingg.