Survivor: Cambodia

Why Vytas Baskauskas was not at the Cambodia reunion

Vytas Baskauskas was the first person voted out of Survivor: Cambodia, on day 3. In December 2015 he tweeted that he had gone home early from the post-game sequester to see his one-year-old son and was consequently barred from the 16 December finale, adding that it was his own fault.

Admitted Baskauskas described the early departure and the exclusion himself, in tweets two outlets quoted during finale week. No CBS or production statement on either has ever been located.

Vytas Baskauskas Vytas Baskauskas

What the record shows

  • Admitted Baskauskas said he left the post-game sequester early to be with his one-year-old son, and said he was told he could not attend the finale and reunion, not even as an audience member. He also said it was his own fault for leaving early.
  • Confirmed He was the first castaway voted out of Survivor: Cambodia, on day 3 of 39, from the Ta Keo tribe. The live finale and reunion aired on 16 December 2015.
  • Confirmed Reality Blurred published his tweets on 15 December 2015 and Reality TV World published them on 16 December 2015, both during finale week.
  • Confirmed Reality Blurred, citing page 5 of the Survivor cast contract, reported that producers may require a castaway to stay at a separate site called the Series Location Annex, cut off from the outside world, and that no one may leave before production ends without the producer's explicit permission.
  • Unverified No CBS or production statement confirming, denying or explaining the exclusion has been located. It is known only from what Baskauskas said.
  • Unverified Whether he lost the reunion appearance fee is not established. Reality TV World wrote that the exclusion cost him the fee and Reality Blurred put that fee at $10,000 per cast member, but neither cited a payment record and Baskauskas did not address money.

What he actually said

On 13 December 2015, replying to a tweet from Jeff Probst, Baskauskas wrote that it was a great season through and through and that he was bummed not to be invited to take part in the finale with his castmates. Two days later he explained why: "Went home early to see my 1 year old son. Now I'm banned from the finale. Can't even sit in the audience!"

In another reply he took the blame rather than deflecting it, saying it was his fault for leaving early, that he had just wanted to be with his son, and that he had been hoping they would reconsider. Andy Dehnart quoted those tweets for Reality Blurred on 15 December 2015, and Elizabeth Kwiatkowski quoted them for Reality TV World the next day, the day the finale aired.

What the contract asks of an early boot

Baskauskas went out first, on day 3, which meant more than a month of waiting before the season finished filming. Reality Blurred, citing page 5 of the Survivor cast contract, reported that producers may require a castaway to remain at a separate site the contract calls the Series Location Annex, which can sit in another city, country or continent and is described as being without communication with the outside world, and that no one may leave before the end of production without the producer's explicit permission.

Neither contemporaneous report used the word Ponderosa, the name fans attach to the jury house. Baskauskas finished pre-jury, and the contract language covers whatever separate location producers designate. The point of the clause is spoiler control, not accommodation, which is why a first boot can be looking at five weeks away from home after three days of actual game.

Why "CBS banned him" says more than the record does

Everything known about the exclusion comes from Baskauskas. CBS has never confirmed it, denied it, or explained it, and no producer has been quoted on it. He is the one who used the word banned, and he is the one who said the decision followed from his leaving early. That is why this page rates as admitted: he said it against his own interest, which is the best reason to believe it, and it is still a single voice.

So the careful version is that Baskauskas said he was told he could not attend, not that CBS announced a punishment. Nothing in the reporting supports the harder framings that circulate either. Nobody alleged he leaked anything, nobody alleged he spoiled the season, and no finding of any kind was published. A fan theory tying the decision to his social media activity during the broadcast also went nowhere: he denied it, saying an Instagram like had been an accident by an assistant who handles his messages, and no source connects social media to the decision.

The one comparison people reach for

Reality Blurred noted that Brandon Hantz had been the first cast member kept from a finale and reunion, before the Caramoan broadcast in May 2013. That comparison is worth handling gently, because the Caramoan case rests on a similar kind of evidence. Dehnart reported at the time that Brandon had apparently been told he could not attend, sourced to a run of tweets from his uncle Russell Hantz, with no network statement.

Probst later gave a different account of that one, saying he and Brandon had spoken and that everyone felt his not attending was the best decision. Two absences, two seasons apart, and in both the network said nothing on the record. If there is a pattern here it is that one, rather than a published rule about what gets a player kept off the stage.

What was never settled

Whether Baskauskas lost the appearance fee is unverified. Reality TV World wrote that the exclusion cost him the fee, and Reality Blurred reported that cast members are paid $10,000 for attending the live finale and reunion, but neither pointed to a payment record and Baskauskas himself said nothing about money. He asked whether the decision might be reconsidered, and no source shows an answer.

He has not played Survivor since. His two seasons are Blood vs. Water in 2013, where he finished tenth, and Cambodia in 2015, where he lasted three days.

People in this story

Questions people ask

Why wasn't Vytas at the Survivor: Cambodia reunion?
He said he left the post-game sequester early to be with his one-year-old son and was told he could not attend the 16 December 2015 finale, not even as an audience member. CBS has never commented.
Did CBS confirm that Vytas Baskauskas was banned?
No. No CBS or production statement on the exclusion has been located. It is known only from his own tweets, which Reality Blurred and Reality TV World quoted on 15 and 16 December 2015.
Did he blame the show?
No. He said it was his fault for leaving early, that he had wanted to be with his son, and that he had hoped they would reconsider. He also denied that his social media activity during the season had anything to do with it.
What does the Survivor contract say about leaving early?
Reality Blurred, citing page 5, reported that producers may require a castaway to stay at a separate site called the Series Location Annex until production ends, and that leaving before then needs the producer's explicit permission.
Has anyone else been kept from a Survivor reunion?
Reality Blurred named Brandon Hantz before Caramoan in 2013 as the first. That case is also thinly sourced: it came from Russell Hantz's tweets, and Jeff Probst later described it as a mutual decision.
How far did Vytas Baskauskas get on Survivor: Cambodia?
He was voted out first, on day 3, from the Ta Keo tribe. It was his second season after Blood vs. Water in 2013, where he placed tenth, and he has not played again.

Sources

Checked on 2026-07-26. If something here is wrong or out of date, we want to know: get in touch.