Survivor fans watched Ben Katzman battle mental health issues throughout season 46 — and his struggles didn’t cease once he returned home.
“I had a tough time at the end of August. A lot of the jury didn’t talk to me. I did have my friends from premerge,” Ben, 31, exclusively told Us Weekly on Thursday, May 23, following the Survivor 46 finale. “I did have Liz [Wilcox,] I did have Charlie [Davis,] but it was really hard to go through and feel like nobody gave me a chance to tell my story after suffering so hard.”
Throughout the season, Ben was candid about experiencing panic attacks during his time on the island. Both Charlie, 26, Liz, 35, and winner Kenzie Petty were by his side as he went through the scary moments on the beaches in Fiji. While Ben appreciated having support on the island, he confessed that he also tried to handle his night terrors on his own.
“I went to the beach by myself so I wouldn’t be a burden on people,” he explained while noting that his loved ones back home kept him going in the game. “And I would sit there and sing my songs to myself and sing some Oasis lyrics, ‘Got to be yourself, can’t be no one else.’ And I was just proud of myself.”
However, Ben confessed that his night terrors returned after he arrived home from filming. (Survivor 46 wrapped up filming before Survivor 45 premiered in fall 2023.)
“My night terrors started coming back at the end of August [2023] for a couple months while [season] 45 was airing,” he told Us. “And I was like, ‘Here’s another test. How am I going to manage whatever this is going to look like?’ And in that time, that’s when some real friendships came together.”
The musician shared that through that difficult period, his fellow bandmates would “sleep over” to make sure he was doing alright.
“People would check on me and it was like, they loved me,” he reflected. “And it was like, I really felt it.”
In addition to his loved ones at home, Ben’s fellow castmates also kept up with him to see how he was faring. In addition to forming a friendship with Charlie, he also got “super close” to Jess Chong, Jem Hussain-Adams, David Jelinsky, Venus Vafa and more. While Ben feuded with Q Burdette on the island, he admitted that he and the real estate agent chatted following the game and mended their connection.
“It’s helped heal some of that stuff. I’m always down to try and have a hard convo and move past things,” he told Us. “I’m in a good place now. But it was really rough for a minute.”
In the season 46 finale, Ben shared with Kenzie and Charlie that one of his goals after the game was to get his driver’s license. While Ben hasn’t checked that off his list yet, he is “working very hard” to get it while “touring all the time.”
“I am going to get my license. But to be fair, Liam Gallagher and Noel Gallagher don’t have their licenses,” he teased. “And Gene Simmons didn’t learn to drive until he was in his mid-30s, so I got time.”
Survivor is available to stream on Paramount+.
