2025 Circa Survivor Pool: Five Contestants Split Record $18.7 Million Pot
Circa Survivor got to the finish line Sunday, with the culmination of the NFL regular season. Week 18 brought great results for five of the final six contestants, and an agonizing loss for one entry.
Five entries went a perfect 20-0, from an original field of 18,718 entries. Those five got to split the $18.718 million pot.
Read on for the latest on 2025 Circa Survivor and its record payout. And remember, VegasInsider is your source for all things NFL odds.
(Feature image: Corey Perrine/Imagn Images)
2025 Circa Survivor
Survive and Advance
LATEST UPDATE: No matter how much a team is favored by in the NFL, upsets can always happen. The last six entries were certainly mindful of that heading into Week 18.
But just in case, they got some reminders early on in the Sunday games. For example: The Jacksonville Jaguars, riding a seven-game win streak, were 12.5-point home favorites vs. the Tennessee Titans, yet found themselves down 7-0 early, after a Cam Ward touchdown run.
Casey Diener, a part of the Real Bro-3 entry that took the Jags in Week 18, noted that led to a little early sweat.
"The Titans scored a touchdown in the first five minutes, which was a little stressful," Diener said. "But after that, it was easy."
Indeed it was. The Jaguars scored the final 41 points in a 41-7 blowout, giving Diener and his team a $3,743,600 payday, their share of the five-way split.
It's actually the second time Diener, from Austin, Texas, has been part of a winning entry. In 2020-21, the first year of of Circa Survivor, he got a piece of a 36-way chop. This was far different, and for miles more money.
"It doesn't feel like real life," Diener said on the floor of a raucous Circa Las Vegas sportsbook Sunday. "The field is a lot tougher now, especially with the way Thanksgiving week went. The last 10 entries were really sharp Survivor players.
"This is the biggest sweat of my gambling career, by like 5X. It's great to be here in this moment and have this experience."
Las Vegas' Fernanda Carriedo was immersed in her first Circa Survivor experience. Carriedo is the official name listed on the Juicy K entry, but she partnered with a few experts who actually run a website called Survivor Atlas.
Juicy K was one of two entries taking the Minnesota Vikings in the final week. The Vikes beat the Green Bay Packers 16-3.
"It's been so surreal. That's the best word I can use right now," Carriedo said. "To work with Jason Somerville and Gabe Patgorski and their team has been amazing."
Carriedo, a nursing student at UNLV, has to split up the $3.7 million payday. But her share will still put her in a very good position
"I get to pay off all my classes at school. It's been amazing," she said.
Patgorski has been working on Survivor Atlas the past three years. The goal is to help contestants in any Survivor-type contest, something he thinks paid dividends this year.
"We tried to help people so much that I think there was some karma for us," Patgorski said. "We helped other people and still won a lot of money."
The entry of Kick Your Knees Up-2 also had the Vikes, grabbing a share of the $18.718 million pot. The other two winners:
- GaryA-10, which took the New England Patriots, who rolled over the Miami Dolphins 38-10.
- DylanW-10, which took the Atlanta Falcons, who edged the New Orleans Saints 19-17.
The one loser of the final six was the entry of Partz1-9, which took the Cincinnati Bengals. That contestant was dealt a heartbreaker, as Cincy lost 20-18 on a final-seconds field goal.
There's no word on whether that contestant hedged to lock in a big profit. But it seems likely that was the case, as others said they had notable hedge bets.
The biggest among them: a $700,000 Packers moneyline +355 bet, from one of the two entries that took the Vikings.
Check back later for more Circa Survivor updates. And for more NFL insights, hit our NFL Wild Card Odds Report report.
Circa Survivor Grandissimo
LATEST UPDATE: Of the 69 entries that ponied up $100,000 apiece, for a $6.9 million prize pool, only six remained in Circa Survivor Grandissimo for Week 13a.
That contest is now over, thanks to the shocking home upset losses by the Eagles and Ravens. In Week 13a, three Survivor Grandissimo entries had Philly, and the other three had Baltimore.
So those six split the pot, winning $1.15 million apiece.
"An unbelievable ending to the first-ever Circa Grandissimo," Circa owner Derek Stevens said. "We never though we would get 69 people to participate in a $100,000 entry-fee contest. With the highest entry-fee football contest ever, we were simply hoping to get 15 entrants.
"The demand for a high-entry-fee contest, under the Circa Sports umbrella, was truly amazing."
Circa Million
LATEST UPDATE: Like last year, Circa Million remains at a $6 million guaranteed pot. And like last year, Circa Sports is absorbing overlay. The 2025 Circa Million reached 5,685 entries ($5.685 million), so the overlay is $315,000.
Circa Million calls for entrants to make five NFL picks each week against the spread. Coynehop-1 squeaked out the season-long win and $1 million first prize by winning a tiebreaker.
Entering Week 18, Coynehop-1 was alone in first at 58-26-1, but then went 2-3. BisonSportsCards-2 went 3-2 in Week 18 to forge a tie for first at 60-29-1.
However, the tiebreaker is which player had the most winning weeks, which Coynehop-1 won 15-14. Still, BisonSportsCards-2 got a healthy second-place prize of $500,000.
The top eight finishers all cleared $150,000 or more.
Circa Million also pays out $100,000 to the contestant who finishes dead last, and $50,000 to the one who finishes second-to-last, among those who submit all five picks every week. The entry leading the way in being worst was GCIndycate-1 at 25-64-1.
There was a two-way tie for second-to-last , with each of those entries splitting the $50,000.
Previous Circa Survivor Updates
Click here to see our prior Circa Survivor updates
Natural Progression
UPDATE THURSDAY, MAY 22: In 2024, Circa Sports guaranteed $10 million to the winner of its Survivor contest. So the question was: Would there be 10,000 entries, to cover the cost of that guarantee?
The answer was a resounding yes, with 14,266 entries, which actually took the prize pool to $14.266 million. Eight entries went 20-for-20 to split that massive pot.
So Stevens was fine bumping this season's Circa Survivor guarantee to $15 million. Jeff Benson, director of sportsbook operations for Circa Sports, deemed it a natural progression for the contest's sixth season.
"Survivor has seen huge growth for us. We just felt growing the number from $10 million guaranteed to $15 million guaranteed makes sense for us," Benson said.
To remind: While the NFL season has only 18 weeks, Circa Survivor raises the level of difficulty by making Thanksgiving Day and Christmas their own separate weeks. So it takes 20 successful picks to survive the season.
Another Big Leap
UPDATE THURSDAY, MAY 22: The guarantee means Circa needs at least 15,000 entries to cover its cost. Benson has zero concern about hitting that number and in fact expects another big leap in the number of entries.
Each contestant can have up to 10 entries. Many contestants put in at least two or three entries, and some go the full 10. With $15 million on the line, laying out $5,000 or $10,000 might seem worth it, for what amounts to a season's worth of NFL betting – if you can stay alive.
“I think we’ll approach 20,000 in terms of number of entries," Benson said. "Last year, we grew about 5,000 entries. I could see us growing somewhere in a similar vein.”
If that happens, then the purse approaches a whopping $20 million.
Circa Grandissimo
UPDATE THURSDAY, MAY 22: This year, Circa is adding a second Survivor contest: Circa Grandissimo. It's high stakes, at $100,000 per entry, maximum two entries. And the guaranteed prize pool is $1.5 million.
Benson said the timing is right for such a contest.
"Circa Survivor has been super popular, where we’ve seen growth in the five years we’ve done it. Obviously, we didn’t want to do anything to cannibalize Circa Survivor," Benson said. "So we wanted something that was at a different price point, and that maybe felt much more exclusive and high-end.
"Obviously, people have been clamoring for a high-end Survivor contest for a long time."
And all Circa needs is 15 entries to cover the guarantee.
“I think we’ll probably get 15. We’ve already had somebody reach out who’s gonna be here [Friday], signing up for the $100,000," Benson said.
So there's now Circa Survivor, which could have 20,000 entries, and on the complete opposite end, Circa Grandissimo, with perhaps 20-30 entries. Benson is intrigued to see how the high-stakes contest plays out.
“When you’re playing against a smaller group of people than the thousands that will be in Circa Survivor, you’re thinking about the game theory that’s behind that," he said. "So it’ll be interesting to see how people approach playing Circa Grandissimo vs. how they approach Circa Survivor.”
Circa Million
UPDATE THURSDAY, MAY 22: Circa Million was the contest that started it all for Circa Sports, six seasons ago. So of course, it's back for a seventh year. Circa Million is a picks contest, five plays each week against the spread.
Like Circa Survivor, it's $1,000 per entry, maximum 10 entries. In 2024, Stevens made the Circa Million guarantee $6 million, and the number of entries came up just short of covering the cost.
So Circa decided to stick with $6 million again this year, with the season-long winner guaranteed $1 million.
"Last year, we had 5,817 entries, so not quite to that 6,000 mark. But certainly pretty big growth, up about 400 people vs. the previous year," Benson said. "I think we’ll get 6,000 this year, and then maybe we can talk about an increased guarantee in the Million in future years."
Note that all three contests are only available in Nevada. So if you want to get involved, then you've got to make the trip to Las Vegas to get signed up and to arrange for a proxy service.