“The fun part of Survivor is, even though it’s a very regimented format in terms of how it works within that little box, it’s just a giant universe of possibility.”
Almost 25 years have passed since ‘Survivor’ aired to a global audience. The show followed the strategic gameplay of everyday individuals determined to outwit, outsmart, and outplay their competitors. Iconic host Jeff Probst re-enters the Emmy conversation with a 46th season that highlights not only how the game has maintained freshness amid acceleration but also how Probst has reinvigorated each season with playfulness.
Probst is no stranger to the Emmy conversation, having swept the category for Outstanding Reality Host four consecutive times from 2008 to 2011. The competition reality series has garnered 63 Emmy nominations in its run on CBS, and Probst became showrunner and executive producer in 2010, with the encouragement of executive producer Mark Burnett.
Under Probst, Survivor has emerged into a ‘New Era’ post-COVID, where not only has the total duration of the game reduced from 39 days to 26, but episode lengths have increased to 90 minutes. ‘Survivor’ attracts players from all walks of life, and season 46 was no exception. In fact, Probst was so entertained during tribal councils that he requested a cushion and popcorn to enjoy as the castaways struggled to reach a consensus on who should be voted out.
“I’m playful, and I don’t ever see a time when I won’t be this playful,” explains Probst. “Covid hit me hard too, and I want to have fun in my life, and I’m a part of something that’s really fun.”
‘Survivor’ has maintained its popularity and developed a loyal and insatiable fanbase eager to share thoughts on gameplay. This has led to toxicity spreading online about player decision-making within a game that was filmed months prior. Probst emphasizes the importance of the casting process and how production shares useful mental health information to help current players cope with the online responses and return to everyday life.
“No one’s going to ever understand [the experience] unless they come do it,” adds Probst. “Part of the fun of watching is judging. [Audiences] are going to think that shirt you’re wearing is dumb and that thing you said at Tribal was ridiculous. Just keep being you and try to remember that 20 years from now, you won’t remember the haters, but you will remember this experience.”
Probst spoke with Awards Focus about rejoining the Emmy conversation, how production in Fiji caters to local hires, how ‘Survivor’ is a timestamp for culture across the series, and what he’s most excited about with the upcoming Season 47.
Awards Focus: You’ve been catapulted back into the Emmy conversation with Season 46 after winning four years in a row back-to-back from 2008. Why do you think the voting members recognized your role this season?
Jeff Probst: Honestly, I have no idea. I only know that I’m having more fun than I’ve ever had hosting Survivor for the entire 24-year run. Since Covid, it’s become so much more playful, and it’s a blast every day.
AF: You’re the host, showrunner, and executive producer. How do you think those roles combined have served the show, and how audiences have embraced the show in the new era?
Probst: I think you’re hitting on where it all lives, which is when we had to postpone due to Covid. It gave me time to think about the first time ever where I had time to think without the pressure of having to go produce a new season.
There was so much happening during that period with so much unrest, just overall, that it became clear to me that I wanted ‘Survivor’ to be a fun show for families to watch. That was the primary sentence on the whiteboard. So, everything fell underneath that. Then, that led to dangerous fun from a game standpoint, which led to putting people on the show that want to come play this game, and they’re going to have this chance to test themselves in ways they’ve never been able to before, and let us tell their story in the process.
That mentality really shifted the format. It’s the same game where you have challenges and vote people out, but it feels completely different. My attitude also changed. I immediately started looking for ways to connect with the audience at home by either talking directly to one of my cameras when it felt appropriate or initiating negotiation with the players if there was something fun to talk about. All of those elements have just reinvigorated ‘Survivor’ and made it more fun than it’s ever been.
AF: It’s funny because you say “negotiate” with the players, but then you take a bag of rice, stab it in the middle, and let it all pour out.
Probst: [laughs] Wait a minute. I feel like that’s a negotiation. I have the leverage, but you can stop it anytime you want. That idea was from Keoni Smith. We have something called the “Dream Team”. They’re a group of young people who we hire every year, and they practice our challenges. Their primary job is to run the challenges over and over and find the problems with them. Then, we promote from within, and Keoni has become a key member of our creative team. It was his idea to take a knife and poke a hole, and that single idea really impacted the players because it made them realize I am here to play as well. So, include me, make an offer, throw out an idea. You never know… I’m down to talk.
AF: The game now lasts 26 days. How has the shortened duration added to the momentum of the players to fight for their chance to survive tribal councils?
Probst: It’s a hundred percent by design. There are dangerous advantages, like the risk of losing your vote in very small tribes. When you start with only six people, and you lose that first challenge, it is terrifying. Every player has told us that because they look around, there’s a maximum of five other people, and that’s if nobody has an advantage and does not account for alliances, which might soak up two or three people. So, you must play quickly.
It also goes back to what we were talking about earlier. It’s no slight on older and previous players that their ‘Survivor’ was different, in a different form, and evolving in different ways. Now, we’re looking for a new type of person who wants what you just described. They can’t wait to find a beware advantage, even though they know it says beware. It’s fraught, but that’s what they want, and that’s a chance to play.
AF: Survivor has taken place in Fiji since season 33. In what ways has production worked with the local community and incorporated them into the production process?
Probst: Fiji has been one of the best decisions we’ve made from a production standpoint in the history of our show. It’s harder for us to find locations to shoot with budgets, weather, and political unrest, and these islands are no longer uninhabited places we went to 15 years ago. They now have big resorts on them. So, we found this beautiful spot in Fiji and a government that wanted to work with us, and we really did forge a relationship.
I had a meeting with the Attorney General and said, this could be an incredible partnership where we shoot here; we make ‘Survivor’ synonymous with Fiji, and vice versa. We hire lots of local Fijians and teach them how to make television. If you will pay your rebates so that we can afford to shoot there, this will work, and it’s been fantastic. To your point, we are very proud that we have helped Fiji develop a film community with a group of people who didn’t know what a C-stand was six years ago. Now, we shoot the show with local crews. It’s very fulfilling, and a lot of those people work full-time on our show now.
AF: One of my favorite moments in the past few seasons was in season 42 with Maryanne and Drea at tribal council, identifying their discomfort with the first two jury members being black and refusing to vote for another person of color.
In the latest season, we saw a reverberation of what Maryanne and Drea identified, with the first two jury members being Soda and Tevin, and then almost Tiff.
What goes through your mind during these tribal councils after the merge since that moment with Maryanne and Drea to discuss the intentions behind a vote?
Probst: My job is clear to me, and it’s never deviated from the very first day that I’m not playing the game. I don’t have a horse in the race in that sense. I’m only there to witness it and be a guide for the game. So, anytime a discussion comes up, whether it’s something like you just mentioned or Zeke a few seasons ago, that there are still other topics that are going to come up where we’re putting on a group of people that are so diverse, not just in ethnicity, but from ways of life, ways you were raised, where you are in the birth order, all of these things that keep coming up. I love it because it’s real. If you look at the history of Survivor and pick any season, that’s where our culture was at the moment. It’s a bit of a timestamp.
I try to be gracious with myself and the show when I look back on older seasons and think I wouldn’t have played it that way today. So, coming out of Covid and BLM and the Me-Too movement, there was so much happening, and we got to play ‘Survivor.’ Players say that they can actually talk and be close to other humans, so stuff bubbles up. What I love is that we’re putting on players that can share what they’re feeling and talk about it in a way that if you’re watching at home with your kids, you can extend that conversation to your family and say, what do you all think about that? How would you handle a situation like that? It thrills me because of the authenticity and the rawness that it’s generated from.
AF: There was a lot of conversation this season around Bhanu, who didn’t seem connected to the game in a way that other players, like Charlie. What goes into the casting process and finding your next season of cast members?
Probst: I would put Bhanu back on the show again today. Every single conversation we had with him in casting was interesting because of his upbringing. A lot of people said he didn’t fully understand the game, and maybe it’s semantics, but you could argue he understood the game. He just had a different take on the game and wanted to play it and use it for a different reason. He kept telling us that he wanted to win a million hearts. I want people to see goodness and kindness, and, to his credit, he took a lot of grief on the show, and he owned all of it.
He said, “That’s who I am, and I’m not embarrassed by who I am.” I thought his episode and how we told that story were really the five stages of grief. You watched him reconcile with the fact that the game was over for him, even though we’re not yet at Tribal. He knew it, and we saw his spiritual influence guide him through that process.
In terms of our casting, I think three big things changed coming out of Covid. We want players who want to come play and have fun. The second thing was the game design. The game is dangerous, and the game is very fast, but it’s intoxicating. You can’t wait for the day to come, and you hope there’s something in the tree mail or a boat will show up, or I show up because that means there’s more happening.
Then, the third thing is me. I’m playful, and I don’t ever see a time when I won’t be this playful. COVID hit me hard, too. I want to have fun in my life, and I’m a part of something that’s really fun. So, when you put all that together, you end up with seasons like 46, when I bring a cushion out and some popcorn that was not planned. That idea came to me about 45 minutes before Tribal, and I literally called Zach Jensen, who runs our art department. I asked, “Do you have any kind of a cushion, and can you just bring a small bowl?” Trust your instincts, and let’s just see where it takes us.
AF: Instead of bringing out a burger, you brought out popcorn, which is pretty low-calorie.
Probst: Okay. But I was not there to help them.
AF: [laughs]
Probst: I’m watching this show called Survivor, and I’m the audience. So, if I’m going to be the audience at home on the couch, let me make this stool a little more comfortable and have a little snack to eat.
AF: Maria received a lot of hate online because she voted for Kenzie in the finale instead of her somewhat-ally Charlie. How do you help these contestants when they leave the show deal with this massive barrage of social media responses that were quite toxic?
Probst: I’m so glad you asked this question because I’m very proud that we have a welcome packet that we worked on for a long time. We went to former players and asked, what are all the things you wish we had that would’ve helped you, that you wouldn’t have known in advance, or something we can do now? They gave us all these great ideas, including how to deal with social media. So, we discuss it in the packet and give them examples. Players gave their advice, and it wasn’t always the same, but it created this tapestry of ways to handle the audience’s response.
We also have one page in there with social media hate that I get in one day, where it’s a sampling of one day of the things people said about me. We’re reminding them they’re not alone, but you’re also not going to be immune from it.
One thing I say over and over is that out there, you’re the gladiators in the arena. No one’s going to ever understand it unless they come do it. So, just know that for people who watch, part of the fun of watching is judging. They’re going to think that shirt you’re wearing is dumb and that thing you said at Tribal was ridiculous. Just keep being you and try to remember that 20 years from now, you won’t remember the haters, but you will remember this experience.
AF: Season 47 premieres on September 18th. What’s something that you’re most excited for audiences and fans to see from this upcoming season?
Probst: What’s starting to happen is that the players are now getting comfortable enough with the new format that they’re no longer afraid of it. They’re able to find different ways to utilize it to their advantage. Suddenly, they start looking at whether it’s a beware advantage or the shot in the dark, and they start examining it. They’re looking underneath the parchment and they’re thinking, what else could I do with this?
That’s what we thought and hoped would happen, that we’re going to come out of the gate with this gigantic new game. People will be confused and overwhelmed, and fans will complain that it’s too complicated, but we did feel like players will realize that there’s a whole new world of how to play at this moment, which feels like a disadvantage. It’s making me excited because once you start breaking through, then the next group of players says, okay, I can enhance that even more.