'Survivor' Season 49 Castaway Steven Ramm Is Also a Literal NASA Rocket Scientist

Season 49 of Survivor premieres on Sept. 24, 2025, on CBS, and one of the cast members is Steven Ramm, a rocket scientist for NASA.

Well, his official title is “Spacecraft System Architect," and he is also a program manager for NASA, but you get the gist.

Steven opened up about his very cool job outside the island and shared more details about his life, including his girlfriend, Kelsey!

It's not very often that one of the castaways on Survivor is a rocket scientist, but NASA employee Steven is proving he can bring his space knowledge to Fiji.

"I work on some of the coolest studies, trying to send humans to the moon and onto Mars for NASA," he told Parade. "And also designed some really cool spacecraft for deep space exploration, like an astrophysics type role."

Steven is from Colorado, and he told the outlet that he could see the Milky Way from the mountains, which prompted him to ask himself questions about the universe.

"It was just incredible, just seeing all the stars and seeing all the detail. And it really put a lot of things in perspective. I had my first existential crisis," he said. "And I started asking myself questions like, 'How did we get here? Where are we going? What is love? Baby, don’t hurt me.'"

He said the experience led him to his current career with NASA so that he could learn the answers to his questions. Steven had previously been into the arts and humanities.

"Math was my least strong subject, and so I kind of took that in stride. I buckled down, and I had to study extra hard to kind of rewire my brain," he shared. "But I ended up pursuing a degree in Aerospace Engineering, and graduated in five years instead of four. Took me a little longer, but I got there."

Steven told RHAP that he has hearing loss, and he only checked it out after he learned that his girlfriend thought he wasn't paying attention to her.

"I have hearing loss," he said. "So, I — it was something I was born with. I went undiagnosed until I was in my early 20s."

"I kept asking her to repeat herself all the time," he added. "And I just literally couldn't hear her at times."

Steven's girlfriend is Kelsey Brunkow, and she makes several appearances on his Instagram page. Most recently, she was there to celebrate the premiere of Survivor Season 49.

"I wouldn’t trade my time in Fiji with these rascals for anything in the world," Steven wrote of his time on the series. "Absolutely NOT for a hot air balloon ride with Kathy Bates while she reprises the role of Annie Wilkes. Probably not even for a chance to travel back in time and prevent 13-year-old me from dying his bangs blonde right before picture day. But for one million dollars? That’s a tricky one."

Season 49 of Survivor airs Wednesdays at 8 p.m. EST on CBS.