Still Standing Weekly · Through Week 6 · Oct 24, 2026

2026 survivor pools: one of the bloodiest starts in years

If you're already out of your survivor pool, you have plenty of company. Six weeks in, 2026 has been about as unkind to survivor players as any season we've tracked... and if last season is your yardstick, it looks even worse.

How bad is it?

We compared two pools that have almost nothing in common. One is Circa Survivor, the biggest public contest there is, with a record 25,017 entries at $1,000 each. The other is a private pool whose numbers we track, about 425 entries this year. One is high stakes and one is bragging rights.

Our private-pool history goes back to 2019, but the Circa numbers we could verify start in 2021. So the comparison uses the six seasons we have for both, 2021 through 2026, and one measure: the share of the field still alive going into Week 3.

• 2024: private pool 19.2%, Circa 27.2%
• 2026: private pool 22.8%, Circa 34.4%
• 2022: private pool 29.4%, Circa 32.8%
• 2023: private pool 66.5%, Circa 63.9%
• 2021: private pool 72.4%, Circa 73.2%
• 2025: private pool 93.5%, Circa 90.6%

Two pools, the same shape. 2024 was the worst start in both, with 2026 and 2022 right behind it. 2025 was the gentlest in both, so if last year is your baseline, you're comparing this season against the easiest start either pool has had.

The weeks that did the damage so far this year

• Week 1, Chargers. They were the NFL's biggest favorite of the week and lost 26-14 to Arizona, which knocked out 7,585 Circa entries (30.3%). Circa says it was the most money ever lost on a single team in a single week.
• Week 2, Buccaneers. Tampa Bay's weather-delayed loss to the Browns cost 6,061 Circa entries. Our private pool lets entries take one of their two-pick weeks as early as Week 2, and 48% of the field chose to, the most in any season we can measure. Two picks means both have to win. Entries that doubled up went out at 83.8%, against 48.6% for entries that picked once.
• Week 5, Cowboys. Dallas was a 9.5-point home favorite and lost 24-16 to Tampa Bay and an undrafted rookie quarterback, Jalon Daniels. In our private pool, 58 entries went into Thursday night and 22 came out, before a single Sunday game kicked off.
• Week 6, Rams and Colts. The Rams lost straight up to Arizona as 12.5-point favorites, the season's biggest upset by spread. They were also Circa's most-picked team, with 901 entries. Another 703 entries took the Colts, who lost to the Titans, a team that came in 0-5. In all, 1,633 entries went out, 56.1% of everyone who made it to Week 6.

Who's left

Circa is down to 1,277 entries, about one in 20 of the original field, with twelve weeks plus the holiday legs still to play. Our private pool is worse: 5 of 425 entries are still standing going into Week 7, about one in 85. Of the six seasons above, only 2024 had a thinner field at this point. It had 3 left and was over by Week 9.

Around the league

• The Chargers, who started all of this in Week 1, are 0-6.
• The Chiefs are 5-0, one of three unbeaten teams left, and they're still underdogs in Seattle this weekend.
• Circa's $100,000-a-head Grandissimo started with 77 entries. Six are left, and one of the last 15 went out in Week 6 without a pick on record.

If you're out

Most people reading this are, and that's just how 2026 has gone. The regular season doesn't hand out second chances, but the playoffs start everybody back at zero.

Private-pool figures are our own data. Everything else is from the sources below.

Knocked out? Start a playoff pool.

Still Standing runs private survivor pools for the playoffs. You set the rules and send one link. We handle the picks, live scores and reminders, and draft a recap of your pool after every round.

Something unclear, or a rule you’d like us to add? Send us feedback.