on february 8, 2017, it was revealed that varner was one of 20 contestants who would be competing on "survivor: game changers", the show's 34th season. he was initially placed on the mana tribe. at the first tribal council, he joined the majority in voting out ciera eastin. at mana's second tribal council, he joined the majority in voting out "" winner tony vlachos. varner, along with sandra diaz-twine, malcolm freberg, aubry bracco, and michaela bradshaw were then switched to nuku. they joined original nuku member james "j.t." thomas, jr., winner of "". at the fifth tribal council, varner joined diaz-twine and bradshaw in blindsiding thomas. varner and diaz-twine remained on nuku after the second tribe switch, but were excluded from the alliance of new members ozzy lusth, andrea boehlke, tai trang, sarah lacina and zeke smith. at tribal council, both varner and diaz-twine voted for trang, but the rest voted against diaz-twine, thus sending her out of the game for the first time in her survivor career. she was replaced on nuku by the recently-exiled debbie wanner.