ANAHEIM, Calif. — When Jenna Lewis-Dougherty stepped onto the beach in Fiji where the 50th season of “Survivor” was about to begin, it felt surreal, she says.

And why wouldn’t it? Jenna, who was 22 when she appeared on the show’s first season, “Survivor: Borneo” in 2000, had no idea how much the game had changed over the years leading up to “Survivor 50: In the Hands of the Fans.”

“There’s a picture of us all sitting on this big boat,” says Jenna, who also returned for “Survivor: All-Stars” in 2004.

“The first thought I had was, ‘How were there so many people?’” she says on a recent video call from her home in Woodland, just west of Sacramento, in the region where she’s built a successful real estate practice.

“I cannot tell you how small production was compared to what it is now. We would have maybe 25 people behind the cameras. Maybe a little more on ‘All-Stars.’ But like it’s a small city in back of those cameras now.”

Things have changed. It’s been 42 seasons — a record for the longest gap between appearances — since Jenna last appeared.

A few hours northeast of Jenna, Benjamin “Coach” Wade, another of the six Californians brought back for the all-star cast of “Survivor 50,” stood outside the bus where the drumline he leads as music director at Lassen High School was about to depart for a performance.

For Coach, who starred on “Survivor: Tocantins” in 2009, “Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains” in 2010, and “Survivor: South Pacific” in 2011, his felt his return started when he spotted “Survivor” host Jeff Probst waiting to greet the 24 returning players on the beach.

“I saw all the cameras, and I saw Jeff’s smiling face, and heard the way that he chews on the word ‘Coach’,” he says, smiling. “He says my name different than anybody else’s. It’s like, ‘Wow, this is so freaking cool when he says “Coach.”‘

“I don’t know whether I’m allowed to say this or not; it doesn’t matter, I’m saying it anyway,” Coach says. “Right before the game, I said to the producers, ‘Call on me first or call on me last that first day when we’re all on the beach. You won’t regret it.’

“And to have that come to fruition? It was like, ‘Yeah, baby, we’re back!’”

Coach and Jenna are among 751 contestants to appear on “Survivor” over its 50 seasons. Other Californians in the cast include Tiffany Irvin of Los Angeles from “Survivor 46,” Joe Hunter of West Sacramento and Kamilla Karthigesu of Foster City from “Survivor 48,” and Angelina Keeley of San Diego from “Survivor: David vs. Goliath.”

Actor and filmmaker Mike White, creator of “The White Lotus,” a different kind of TV series built around backstabbing on beaches, grew up in Pasadena, but as a returnee from “Survivor: David vs. Goliath,” cites his home on the island of Kauai as his official residence.

“Survivor 50” premieres on Wednesday, Feb. 25. In interviews edited for length and clarity, Jenna and Coach talked about deciding to return to “Survivor,” what it was like being among the old-school minority of players on the island, and how it felt to compete in another round.

Q: You’re coming back after many years since your last season. What made you decide to leave your life outside of “Survivor” and return?

JENNA LEWIS-DOUGHERTY: Oh, really? There’s life outside of “Survivor”? [She laughs] Not since I was 22. I had been contacted a couple of times by CBS. My name had been in the mix, but none of them worked out. I actually went and got my shots and everything for “Survivor 40” before I think they had the format for “Winners at War.”

BENJAMIN “COACH” WADE: I’ve told “Survivor” no. They called me for “Blood vs. Water.” They changed the date, and my wife and I changed our wedding. And then they changed the date again. I was so mad, and I was like, “I’m never going to go on ‘Survivor’ again.”

So I’ve had a hard line of saying no, now being older and a lot less selfish. My wife owns a big dance studio here in Susanville, and she’s got 270 dancers in our studio.

I’m the guy that cooks the meals [at home]. I’m the guy that packs the lunches. Sometimes I’m putting them to bed and reading to them. And it’s just me. Taking that [time from] my three children was something I didn’t really think I’d be able to do.

It was not a quick yes. I was actually on the fence.

Q: How or what then made it possible to go this time?

JENNA: I couldn’t have done it before because I had little ones. My son right now is 14. My daughter’s 13. My older girls – I was a single mom on the first one [“Survivor: Borneo”] – they’re turning 30 in a couple of months.

I probably would have done it in some gaps, but this just happened to be perfect timing. Teenagers are a little easier to leave than 3-year-olds, 4-year-olds, so it worked out perfectly.

COACH: I talked to one of the executive producers, Matt Van Wagenen, whom I trust. They’ve made me look like a fool, they’ve made me look like a hero. He’s done all the hero edits, so I’m like, “OK, I trust this guy,” and I called him.

He says, “Are you getting the itch?” I said, “No, I don’t think I’m going to go.” And he said, “You’re going to regret it for the rest of your life. The way we’re going to promote this season, you really owe it to yourself to do it.” That was kind of the tipping point, and it was maybe a month from filming. At the last minute, I decided to do it.

Q: Tell me about the moment you got the call.

JENNA: You know, the funny thing is, I know that Jeff said that I was the first call, but I always thought Jeff didn’t like me. Because I would banter with him, kind of mean, during “All-Stars.”

So we’ve had, I think, two or three on-camera interviews with production, not necessarily Jeff. I remember they said, “Oh, hold on, we have one more producer who wants to ask a question.” I was holding, and then all of a sudden Jeff’s face comes on. He’s like, “I’m not going to bury the lead here. I want you to come back.”

I just remember crying, like, “Oh my God, it’s such an epic thing to be on the very first one and then the 50th.” Like, I got goosebumps just saying it.

Q: That’s a great set of bookends, the first series and the 50th, and no one else can say that.

JENNA: Nobody else can, and wouldn’t it be just great if I won? From the first to 50? [Jenna finished eighth on “Borneo” and third on “All-Stars.”]

Q: People would love that. Especially you.

JENNA: I would.

Q: Coach, you’d played before with Stephenie [LaGrossa Kendrick], Colby [Donaldson], Ozzie [Lusth] and Cirie [Fields]. The rest were new to you. What was it like as the game started?

COACH: Sleeping on the dirt at 53 is a heck of a lot different and more painful than sleeping on the dirt when you’re 38, right? And I was used to traveling around the world and being in the bush [during his first three seasons] and not so much anymore.

It was this kind of yin and yang. It was a balance that I had to find really quickly of being back on the beach, being with these new players. As you mentioned, having six people from seasons 1 to 30. That’s slim pickings. So I knew it was going to be a new era, but I was ready for that.

I’m the bottom of my family. I’m the guy that is making them shine in the drumline. I’m building them up, and it’s less about me. It’s about leading from the bottom. That’s something that’s going to help my gameplay. I don’t need to be “the guy” even though I think that they should put me as coach in challenges, because historically, when I’m coaching, those old mantras and decisions of leading seem to come back.

Q: Jenna, I think Colby Donaldson is the only one you’ve played with before.

JENNA: Yes, and we never even played together. He was on a different tribe on “All-Stars,” and he was voted out before we merged. So I never actually spoke to Colby on “All-Stars.”

Q: Was playing with mostly new people a disadvantage or an advantage?

JENNA: I think it could be really good or really bad. Everybody is always looking to fit into your tribe, right? But that means, especially when you have eight people [on each of three tribes], you could have different factions. You could be that person that they take in for the votes. So that’s definitely a bonus.

And I think you can slip under the radar a lot better if people don’t think that at a merge, you have a group of pre-made friends that are going to vote them out.

But there’s also some drawbacks going out there not knowing anybody. It’s kind of daunting. There are all these micro-niches. You’ve got the “David vs. Goliath” with Mike White and Angelina. And then fresh in everybody’s mind were Kamilla and Joe and Kyle [Fraser]. So seeing everybody out there, I was like, “Oh my goodness, they all have these built-in relationships.”

Q: Coach, you’re one of the best-known “Survivor” players ever, for good or bad reasons. How were you received?

COACH: It was just a night and day difference, you know, from the past. I think the fans, for the most part, have come to appreciate what I bring to the table. Not so much, like you said, in the beginning. It really rang true that sometimes out there, I rub people the wrong way. I don’t try to. Maybe they’re thinking about camera time, or just that I am a big personality.

So to have people [on season 50] speak so highly of me? I mean, I couldn’t believe it when I heard Kamilla saying, “I can’t wait to meet Coach; he’s my favorite player of all time.” I’m just not used to that.

Q: It must have felt good.

COACH: I had some real scars from “Survivor,” and I did not realize it until I went out there this time around. I thought before the game, and I wrote in my journal, “You’ve got to win.” To increase your legacy, you’ve got to win this time around. [Coach finished fifth on “Tocantins,” 12th on “Heroes vs. Villains,” and second on “South Pacific.”]

What I didn’t realize is that from the very first day [of the new season], there was great healing on these scars that I had just turned a blind eye to, of so many people talking [trash] about me. I don’t have that in my everyday life. I had buried those wounds deep under my soul.

And going out there and hearing these younger players say, “I can’t wait to play with Coach,” and, “This guy’s my hero,” it brought about such beautiful healing. There’s a very emotional victory lap for me this time. Colby said something to me, he was just like, “Coach, you might be the hero that you’ve always wanted to be.”

Q: Jenna, you said your strategy for the other players was “to [bleep] you over in every way, shape or form.” Was that your strategy previously, too?

JENNA: It was definitely the strategy in “All-Stars.” When I did it the first time, nobody had a strategy. It was the first [“Survivor” had] ever been done. So I learned, and then on “All-Stars,” I learned that you can’t have friends out there.

You have to have that mindset that you’re going to be willing to [bleep] anyone over. Just I like I did with Rupert [Boneham] in “All-Stars.” We went together the whole way, and I cut him at the final four.

Q: Coach, even with the healing out there, we’re still going to get some classic Coach, Dragon Slayer-style?

COACH: I’m thinking about a quote from Oscar Wilde. He said, “I’m so clever that sometimes I don’t understand a word coming out of my mouth.” And I’m not very smart, so before I go on these shows, I have to memorize dozens of quotes, just because I want to sound smart.

So I’ve got a bunch of quotes, a bunch of nicknames. It’s diving back into like Japanese mythology and Irish folklore, and I’m grabbing these random, esoteric nicknames. That’s a huge part of me, and you’re going to see that maybe even on another level.

I keep talking about Coach 4.0. You don’t forget what got you here. I’m going to be more fluid in my gameplay, but as far as the character, I woke up one day after “Heroes vs. Villains,” and it was a beautiful moment. I realized I don’t give two [bleeps] about what people thought about me.

I was talking with Jeff before the game. He said, “Well, if we ask you —.” I said, “Cut the crap, man. You’ve tried to replicate me. You’ve failed to do so. It’s not gonna be be if you ask me, it’s going to be when you ask me. And he chuckles. He gets a kick out of that.

I’m like, “Why should I care about what these people think about me?” I’m going to probably be a little bit more humble, a lot more joyful, but you’re still going to see the Dragon Slayer.

Q: So Jenna, what do your teens think about you going back on “Survivor”?

JENNA: They don’t give a flying [bleep]. Like at all. [Laughs] I thought this was this huge thing for my family. And I was like, “Oh my God!” There wasn’t a blip. It was like, “Sure, but put cream cheese on this bagel, [bleeper].

I try to show them things and be like, “Mommy was cool. I’m cool again.” They don’t care. They’ve never watched me play. They don’t want to watch me play.

Q: Well, I say they don’t get any of the million bucks if you win.

JENNA: No way. [She laughs] That’s in my pocket.

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