Robert Voets, CBS

After overcoming challenge after challenge — supporting his mother through three battles with cancer, sacrificing lucrative job offers to save his family’s pizzeria during the COVID-19 pandemic and navigating the rigorous transfer process to Yale — Justin Pioppi ’19 knew resilience.

So, it came as no surprise when CBS selected Pioppi for Season 48 of Survivor, thrusting him into one of the most grueling reality TV endurance tests on the Mamanuca Islands in Fiji, where he competed against 17 others for the prize of a lifetime: one million dollars.

Pioppi’s Survivor journey started at Suffolk University, where he completed almost every political science course while interning as a legislative aide for Massachusetts Speaker Robert DeLeo. There, he gained an early understanding of social politics and strategy — skills that would later prove invaluable. But seeking more opportunities, Pioppi transferred to Yale in 2017.

“We entered as a very small transfer class,” Pioppi said. “I was one of 26 out of a pool of about 4,800. Everyone was there for a reason, and everyone had a story — kind of like Survivor.”

While continuing to pursue his political science degree at Yale, Pioppi, a member of Grace Hopper College, watched Survivor every Wednesday night with his friends. He had first seen the show as a child, but it was as he grew older, including at Yale, that he began to seriously think about one day competing on the show.

Then his mother, Candace Pioppi, was diagnosed with cancer. While his friends took jobs in government, on Wall Street and at NGOs — and despite having lucrative job offers himself — Pioppi knew he needed to go home. With his mother battling cancer, he returned to Winthrop, Mass., to support her and help his father, Frank Pioppi, run the family’s pizzeria, Luigi’s!, in Beachmont.

The COVID-19 pandemic threatened to upend Luigi’s! as many of Pioppi’s neighbors and friends in the restaurant industry saw their business and jobs disappear. But Luigi’s! stayed afloat, largely due to the relentless effort Pioppi and his father put in to keep it running.

Pioppi spent long nights and weekends making pizza, answering customer calls and stocking up on ingredients — skills he had first learned in high school after his mother’s breast cancer diagnosis pushed him to take on a bigger role in the restaurant.

“We were just one of the fortunate ones who got to stay open, which was great not only for us but also our employees and their families who relied on us for a paycheck, for food, for ways to pay their rent and car payments,” Pioppi said.

Pandemic withstanding, Luigi’s! has always done great things for its local community. On Monday nights, it offers its pizza at a half-off discount, and though the business does not make much profit then, Pioppi and his family love knowing that they’re helping those on strict budgets enjoy a good meal. The business also frequently supports charitable causes.

His work at the pizzeria — which Barstool Sports pizza connoisseur Dave Portonoy has rated a 7.5 out of 10 — and involvement in his community prepared him for his role on Survivor. He never had a gym membership, but lifting 50-pound bags of flour and 35-pound jugs of olive oil was all the physical preparation he needed.

Despite his allegiance to Luigi’s!, Pioppi admitted to still liking New Haven pizza.

“I love New Haven pizza,” Pioppi said. “I won’t disclose that to my dad, because he’ll get pretty upset, but I mean, there’s just so many great options, in and around campus.”

Pioppi continued to watch Survivor with his parents, who had introduced the show to him when he was just five years old. When his mother beat skin cancer — her third successful battle with cancer — and with business thriving, Pioppi saw Survivor 48 as his chance to compete on his all-time favorite show.

“I just saw Survivor as the ultimate chance for me,” Pioppi said. “Not only to test my strengths and my skills from everything that I’ve learned in my life, but to also give my parents a check at the end of the day and say, ‘neither of you have to go to work ever again. I got this.’”

His parents, friends, neighbors and the Yale community watched Pioppi compete with excitement, especially as he followed in the footsteps of fellow Yale alumni such as Stephen Fishbach ’01, Angelina Keeley SOM ’16, Yul Kwon LAW ’00, Kellie Nalbandian NUR ’24, Daniel Strunk LAW ’19, Laurel Johnson ’10 and Anthony Robinson ’96.

Pioppi made it to the third episode of the show before being voted out by his tribe in the longest tribal council in the show’s history. Yet those three episodes were action-packed, allowing Pioppi the opportunity to put his education, pizzeria experience, resilience and knowledge of social politics to the ultimate test.

“Justin was the winner pick for over 25 percent of the Yale Survivor club,” Elizabeth Steeves ’27, who co-runs the club, said. “We were so excited about him. It’s inspiring to see one of our own up there. Justin had great potential, not just because of his Yale background, but because of how he carried himself.”

In episode one, Pioppi was assigned to the Vula tribe, where he became aligned with tribemates Cedrek McFadden and Saiounia Hughley. His alliances did not last long. In episode three, Justin was selected to go on a journey to play a dice game with big consequences: If he won, he would receive an extra tribal vote. If not, he would lose his vote at the next tribal council.

Justin, to his misfortune, lost the dice game.

At episode three’s tribal council — the third time the largely dysfunctional Vula tribe faced host Jeff Probst — Pioppi, unable to vote, needed McFadden, Hughley and Mary Zheng to vote for anyone but him. But Zheng rolled a Shot in the Dark, stripping herself of a vote and rendering herself immune. That left Pioppi relying solely on McFadden and Hughley.

“Justin got really unlucky with the 50 percent chance of losing his vote and then the one in six chance of Mary getting that Shot in the Dark,” Luis Nguyen ’27, who co-runs the Yale Survivor Club with Steeves, said. “So I don’t know what the math adds up to, but I feel like he was prepared to really go over a run.”

After a convoluted explanation of Survivor voting protocol from Probst, McFadden was told to cast the final vote. Hughley, who had demonstrated an aggressive social game early on, convinced McFadden to vote against Pioppi. She cited the fact that Pioppi had not disclosed to McFadden, whom he claimed as an ally, the results of the dice game.

Pioppi may not have won the million-dollar prize, but he believes he gained valuable lessons and made meaningful connections — just as he had at Yale.

“I just think those connections are just so pure,” Pioppi said. “I just feel blessed that I had the opportunity to [compete].”

Pioppi also said he would consider competing again in the future if the opportunity arose again, but for now, he takes pride in the joy he brought to his family and those who supported him along the way.

Survivor first aired in 2000.