The End of an Era

Emmett Whitaker Releases Final Season of ‘Survivor Palisades’ in September, Featuring Footage Recorded in June 2024

By SARAH SHMERLING | Editor-in-Chief

For Emmett Whitaker, the final season of “Survivor Palisades” marks the end of an almost-decade-long era—but the show took on an even deeper meaning following the Palisades fire.

The locations he used for filming were damaged or destroyed in the Palisades fire, offering viewers video footage of the town from June 2024.

“This season is incredibly sentimental, as it was filmed before the fires and shows an untouched, majestic Pacific Palisades,” Whitaker, who lost his home in the Alphabet Streets, told the Palisadian-Post. “There’s so many shots of the beautiful, beautiful Palisades. As much as it is gone, at least for me, it feels like it’s still here because there’s so much footage of it, and I think that’s really special.”

The show, created, produced and edited by Whitaker, is a “fan-made version” of the CBS reality competition series “Survivor,” where contestants compete at various locations for prizes.

Whitaker said “Survivor Palisades” was sentimental to everyone, even before the fire, describing it as the “culmination” of many of the crew and cast members’ childhoods—several of who have been participating since Whitaker began the project in 2017, with the first episodes releasing in 2019.

“They first played when they were 12 or 13, and now they’re coming back and playing when they’re 19 or 20—some even 23,” Whitaker said. “But I think for everyone now it meant even so much more because everywhere that we filmed is gone and seeing that was really impactful.”

Filming the fifth season took place over one “long” day, Whitaker said, which started with some crew members arriving as early as 5:30 a.m. and ending at 9:30 p.m.

“It was one day, non-stop,” Whitaker said. “It’s pretty hard getting the amount of people that we have to give up more than one day.”

The cast included 12 members, with a 45-person crew on site for filming and a 60-person crew to bring the season to fruition. Whitaker said this was a “really big production compared to what we’ve done in the past.”

The fifth season featured “all-stars,” which Whitaker described as the “best of the best” from the first four seasons. “A good amount” of the cast were from the Palisades, but the casting was open to participants from across Los Angeles County.

“They’ve played before, all of them have made it pretty far in the game and are pretty strategic and entertaining,” Whitaker said. “Some winners are back.”

Whitaker was 11 years old when he decided to make a backyard version of the show he loved, featuring members of the community. In the beginning, to raise funds for production, he earned money babysitting, hosting neighborhood lemonade stands and doing extra chores.

The fourth season of “Survivor Palisades” was released in 2024, with the fifth and final season, “Survivor Palisades: All-Stars,” available for streaming via YouTube since September.

Whitaker hosted a premiere watch party event for the fifth season, attended by 150 people, at the Illusion Magic Lounge Theater in Santa Monica.

“It went so great,” Whitaker said of the premiere event. “It was truly amazing to bring so many people together … most of them had lost their homes, so it was really impactful to let everyone see [the Palisades] again.”

One of the locations that was key to the show for the past eight years was the Cudzil family home in the Huntington, which was lost in the fire.

“I really couldn’t thank anybody more than the Cudzil family who, year after year, have lent me their house to be the set of ‘Survivor Palisades,’” Whitaker said. “Without Jerry, Lorie, Sean, Abigail and Emily Cudzil, I’m unsure if this series would even exist.”

Sean and Whitaker’s friendship dates back to first grade, Lorie explained to the Post. The families lived two blocks apart in the Alphabet Streets before the Cudzils moved to Alma Real in 2015.

When he was starting the first season, Lorie said Whitaker asked if he could use their home to film. The family said yes, with no hesitation.

“The thing that I loved about our house was I loved having it full all the time,” Lorie said, which included hosting friends and family over for holidays like Halloween and Christmas. “I love being the house where people wanted to gather.”

Lorie said over the years, filming the show at the house had been “really fun,” that they had “a great time.”

“What’s been great about the fifth season is that Emmett gave us all such a gift … the footage of what we used to have there is really special,” Lorie said. “Of course, Emmett didn’t know at the time that he was really preserving such a beautiful memory for all of us.”

She described how remarkable it is that the past seasons exist and are available for viewing.

“To be able to not just have the memory in your head, because that’s the part that’s tough,” she said. “A lot of this stuff, you just have to remember in your head, but by doing ‘Survivor’ and videoing it, we can actually see what used to be there and actually see the fun and see how special it was to be together there in the Palisades.”

Lorie added that the viewing in August was “really emotional to just be all together” and “really enjoy the way things used to be.”

In addition to seeing the Palisades before January 7, for those who watch the fifth season, Whitaker said viewers can expect some surprising moves, including “idol plays” and “blindsides.”

“There were a few challenges that were really cool,” Whitaker said. “There’s a plank challenge that went on for five minutes. They were doing a one-arm and one-leg plank for five minutes, pushing their bodies to failure.”

Whitaker graduated Palisades Charter High School with the Class of 2024. He is currently a student at Boston University, double majoring in international relations and film & television production.

For Whitaker, reaching the end of “Survivor Palisades” has been “super surreal.” He said filming days, especially for the fifth season, as “adrenaline rushing” and “indescribable.”

“These 12 players come, they’ve been prepping for this for months, the cameras are out there, it’s a big deal,” Whitaker said. “They want to keep their reputations. They want to get redemption … the energy in the air is just so palpable those first few hours and the whole day. You never know what’s going to happen.”

Looking back on the show, Whitaker said it’s been “such a fun time” and that he hopes it has provided a “good and safe community” for everyone involved—a sentiment that Lori echoed.

“I will always be able to look back on this,” Whitaker said. “It’s such a monumental part of my identity and my adolescence, so being able to have it as a sort of footprint that will always be there is really special and really cool.”

Visit youtube.com/@pacific_productions to watch any season of the series.