An Ole Miss athlete and MS schoolteacher are on this season's 'Survivor'. What to know

"Survivor" Season 46 is back with 18 contestants competing on two teams to see who will win the top prize. Among those competing are two men from Mississippi.

Quintavius "Q" Burdette, 29, of Senatobia is a former wide receiver, defensive back and track star at Ole Miss. Burdette played for the school's football team from 2012 to 2015. He also was a sprinter on the Ole Miss track and field team.

He is one of 17 children and the first in his family to earn a college degree.

Now a real estate agent in the Memphis area, Burdette earned a master's degree during his time at the University of Mississippi.

"You can put me up against anybody, and they are done," Burdette said on a CBS Instagram video. "I'm winning. I want to be in control (on 'Survivor') from the start."

Also competing is science teacher Hunter McKnight, a 28-year-old from French Camp. According to his interview on CBS' Instagram, he gave up a scholarship to medical school to become a teacher. He fell in love with the profession after substituting for his sister.

McKnight teaches at French Camp Academy, a private boarding school, in the town of about 250 people, according to the 2020 Census. Nearly half the town's residents have college degrees.

He said in his interview with CBS that he was worried about getting voted off the show too soon because his students might not let him live it down.

"Can you imagine being a high school teacher, (the students) seeing me in my underwear running across the Fijian island and then getting voted out early?" he asked. "There is no coming back from that. High school kids are mean."

This year the contestants will be divided into three tribes: Yanu, Siga, and Nami. McKnight is in the Nami tribe and Burdette is with the Yanu tribe.

Burdette and McKnight are not the first Mississippians to appear on the show. Liberty native Darrah Johnson was a strong competitor on Season 7, which aired in 2003. Johnson, then 22, made it to Day 37 — becoming the 14th of 18 competitors to be eliminated.

'Survivor' season 46 cast

• Quintavius "Q" Burdette, 29, a real estate agent from Senatobia who now resides in Memphis.

• Jessica 'Jess' Chong, 37, a software engineer from Hong Kong and Ontario, Canada, who resides in San Francisco.

• Charlie Davis, 26, a law student from Manchester-by-the-Sea, Massachusetts, who resides in Boston.

• Tevin Davis, 24, an actor from Goochland, Virginia, who resides in Richmond, Virginia.

• Tiffany Nicole Ervin, 33, an artist from Franklin Township, New Jersey, who resides in Elizabeth, New Jersey.

• Moriah Gaynor, 28, a program coordinator from Boca Raton, Florida, who resides in San Diego.

• Maria Shrime Gonzalez, 48, a parent coach from Dallas.

• Bhanu Gopal, 41, an IT quality analyst from Visakhapatnam, India, who resides in Acton, Massachusetts.

• Jemila 'Jem' Hussain-Adams, 32, an international brand mentor from Berbice, Guyana, who resides in Chicago.

• David 'Jelinsky' Jelinsky, 22, a slot machine salesman from Las Vegas.

• Ben Katzman, 31, a musician from Miami.

• Hunter McKnight, 28, a science teacher from French Camp.

• Randen Montalvo, 41, an aerospace technician from Brooklyn, New York, who resides in Orlando, Florida.

• Tim Spicer, 31, a college coach from Arlington, Virginia, who resides in Atlanta.

• Soda Thompson, 27, a special education teacher from Long Island, New York, who resides in Lake Hopatcong, New Jersey.

• Venus Vafa, 24, a data analyst from Hill, Ontario, who resides in Toronto, Ontario.

• Kenzie Petty, 29, a salon owner from Gibraltar, Michigan, who resides in Charlotte, North Carolina.

• Liz Wilcox, 35, a marketing strategist from Luther, Michigan, who resides in Orlando, Florida.

Where is 'Survivor' Season 46?

The castaways are competing on Mamanuca Island, Fiji, where the show has been filmed since Season 33. The show was recorded over 26 days.

"Fiji offers us everything we want," the show's host and producer Jeff Probst told Entertainment Weekly in 2017. "Incredibly beautiful water that you can see down 30 feet, beaches that are amazing, a government that is working with us, local labor that loves to say ‘Bula!' every day because they're just happy you're here. And our crew has never been as happy. We actually have decent accommodations to do this show out in the jungle. It's a win-win-win."

How to watch

"Survivor" Season 46 airs at 7 p.m. Wednesdays on CBS channels and streams on Paramount+.

The (Memphis) Commercial Appeal and Cincinnati Enquirer contributed to this story.

Do you have a story to share? Contact Lici Beveridge at lbeveridge@gannett.com. Follow her on X @licibev or Facebook at facebook.com/licibeveridge.

This article originally appeared on Hattiesburg American: Survivor Season 46 features 2 from Mississippi