on may 6, 2015, varner was revealed to be one of the 16 men who was eligible to be voted by the viewers to return for the 31st season, "". on may 20, the results revealed that both varner and kappenberg from "the australian outback" were voted to return. it was revealed that varner had been part of a pre-game alliance prior to the start of filming, with three other players: terry deitz and shane powers of "", and kelly wiglesworth of "". although powers did not make it into the season, deitz and wiglesworth did, and the two of them ended up with varner on the same ta keo tribe. early in the game, varner was seen as a crucial player in the season: he and peih-gee law from "" were the swing votes who ultimately decided the elimination of vytas baskauskas on day three, and varner himself organized the elimination of shirin oskooi on day six. however, after a tribal swap and expansion turned the two tribes into three, varner and law ended up on the brand new angkor tribe, along with fellow former ta keo members yung "woo" hwang and abi-maria gomes, and two new members from the former bayon tribe, latasha "tasha" fox and andrew savage. although varner initially planned to simply stay with his former ta keo allies, fox suddenly realized this was his plan after they lost the immunity challenge and called varner "a rat" in front of the other tribes. as a result, varner began to panic and decided to turn on one of his own allies, ultimately voting with the majority to send law home on day nine. after their tribe lost again on day 11, varner was eliminated in a unanimous vote, placing 17th in the overall competition.