Paris, France — CBS reality show Survivor is widely regarded as one of the greatest social experiments on television. But could executives have dreamed that it would lead to two castaways competing together on the Paralympics?

24 years, 46 seasons, and nearly 700 castaways later, that’s a reality.

Noelle Lambert and Ryan Medrano competed on Season 43 of Survivor together in the Fall of 2022. Nearly two years later, they’re both Paralympians.

Lambert, 27, lost her left leg in a moped accident on Martha’s Vineyard in 2016. She played lacrosse at Division I UMass Lowell but missed the 2017 season due to the injury. Halfway through the 2018 season, she was cleared to play with a prosthetic leg. Lambert returned to the field against Hartford on April 7, scoring on her third shot of the game. Lambert received the inaugural America East Inspiration Award as well as a Heroes Among Us Award from the Boston Celtics in January 2019.

Lambert began competing in para athletics at the world championships in Dubai in 2019, paving the route to the Paralympics. Her first Paralympic experience came in Tokyo before she was on Survivor. But running in those games helped to propel Lambert onto the island.

“I actually didn’t apply,” explained Lambert. “They found me when I was in Tokyo, the head casting director sent me a DM on Instagram, my mom is the biggest diehard fan, I’ve never missed a season, never missed an episode, she’s been telling me for years, so when the opportunity presented itself I couldn’t say no, very grateful to be able to do that and show the representation of the disabled community.”

Medrano, 27, was born three months early, resulting in fluid in the cerebellum of his brain. He was also born with cerebral palsy. His path onto Survivor was a little more self-driven than Lambert’s.

“My girlfriend, I swear, every night ‘what do you want to watch?’ ‘Survivor’,” recalled Medrano. “And I was like ‘okay cool’, that sounds good. I love the show, I used to watch it before I met her but she was a total superfan, but being a military kid, raised in Missouri, Alaska, Georgia, I’d gained some experience, and ‘Oh, I can do this,’ you know, I can definitely do that, I’ve done stuff like that for fun.”

Lambert and Medrano actually weren’t on the beach together until the tribes merged two weeks into the game. That’s when the duo’s path from Fiji to Paris became a very clear one.

“When we were doing the show, he told me he had cerebral palsy,” remarked Lambert. “Seeing his physique and everything that he was able to accomplish during that show, he’s an incredible competitor, so I asked if he had ever thought about doing track and field for the Paralympics, and he did it in high school, and his face lit up.”

Medrano was voted out on Day 17 of his season of Survivor, and Lambert followed on Day 19. In total, they were in the game on the same tribe together for less than a week. But as a result of the timing of their exits, the duo spent a week together outside the game on the jury. That forged a bond in Fiji, the U.S., Paris, and everywhere in the world.

“Ryan is incredible,” said Lambert. “Just the positivity that he brings, he always has a smile on his face, if you’re ever having a bad day, Ryan’s the person to be next to.”

“I consider her like a sister,” explained Medrano. “Can’t wait to go to her wedding, I love her (fiancé) Mark, we communicate very frequently, I check up on how she’s doing, she checks on me, I love her, she’s fantastic.”

Lambert placed fourth in the women’s long jump T63, and seventh in the 100M race. Medrano finished sixth in the men’s long jump T38 and won two silver medals in the 100M and 400M races. Both of them are set up to continue para athletics down the line. As for Survivor? If the opportunity is there, they’ll take it.

“Absolutely,” proclaimed Lambert. “Survivor 50, sign me up please!”

“Please give me a call,” exclaimed Medrano. “I’m going to play a completely different game than I did before.”