Imagine this: you think you are registering for a picturesque little CBS brand vacation to Fiji, only to find yourself faced with machetes, torrential storms, and brick-like bamboo beds. This was Phaith Montoya’s reality. The plus-sized influencer and mental health activist, whose Instagram following is 4 million and growing, found herself immersed in Survivor School, a 36-hour crash course featuring starving through hunger, fighting off the chill, and forming alliances through some of the wildest storms ever to rage on the show.
On September 17, CBS even aired a 45-minute episode chronicling her journey, yet now she is revealing the unfiltered details on The Wayne Ayers Podcast. Spoiler alert: it was a blend of a dream come true and a personal hell.
From Florida State to Fighting for Fire
Prior to dodging insects off bamboo, Phaith was working her psychiatrist hustle. She majored in psych and biochem at Florida State, prepared to go to med school, and taught on the weekends. The pandemic swept through, and she shaved her head to make weekly hair growth videos, and kablam, eight months later, she has a million followers. Viral legend unlocked.
I continued to teach until I reached two million followers,” she chuckled. Iconic behavior.
And when CBS contacted her to do Survivor School, her mom knew sooner than she did because the group chat with her family was already freaking out. “It was like a full circle moment,” she said to Ayers. “Survivor was my thing and my mom’s thing since I was a little kid.
Survivor School Was Adorable until It Wasn’t
Get real: this was NOT a vibe. The restroom experience? Ocean dump and wipe with sand. The food? A bite-sized piece of coconut, and it somehow tasted like broccoli. The bed? Bamboo and it hurt her. The accommodation? Effectively built by gays (who she claims “did their big one”).
At one point, contestants were reduced to burning their socks just to maintain a fire. “I barely ate for 36 hours because I was refraining from being tempted to aqua dump,” said Phaith. So true.
And yet, she continued to appear with a calculated presence. She established a “Girls and Gays Alliance,” engaged everyone in intimate side conversations, and beamed like a child in a candy store when Jeff Probst scrutinized them at Tribal Council. “It was surreal, like stepping into my TV,” she remarked.
Mental Health in the Middle of the Madness
Here’s where it gets real. Phaith shared that Survivor School wasn’t just physically brutal; it triggered mental health battles, too, as someone who’s openly talked about her eating disorder recovery, being starved on an island messed with her head.
“I once felt starving was something to rejoice about,” she admitted. “Now, I have to retrain my brain and remind myself this is never acceptable.”
It was that moment of honesty that endeared her fans to her so fiercely. This was not merely content; it represented survival on an entirely different plane.
The Glow-Up After The Grit
Phaith came back home with bug bites, sleep-deprived eyes, and fresh respect. What did she first eat when she got home? Pizza. Lots of it. What she learned most? That young Phaith would be shocked but proud.
“You were 50 percent sand once, and you still ended up grabbing a 250-pound snake,” she said. “Literally, you can do anything.”
She refuses to say she wouldn’t do anything different, even though everyone called her “lazy” for lying out in the rain. “Seeing it back, I was like. oh my goodness, I am that girl.
Influencers have moved beyond prettier-than-most Instagram feeds.
Survivor School was bigger than a photo opportunity; it was a declaration. Phaith showed that creators can do more than bring PR packages to shows. They can ride out storms, make deals, and maintain confessional-cam integrity. While CBS probably predisposed her to chaos, she made it one of the most viral and press-worthy months for creators yet in 2025. And genuinely, she ate it all up. Bugs, rain, and haters.
