Survivor host Jeff Probst has lots of power on the show.
He isn’t just the host of the long-running reality competition series – he is also an executive producer who gets to make big decisions.
When new twists are introduced and new facets of the game are introduced, Jeff typically has a hand in it.
During episodes of his On Fire podcast, Jeff also speaks about what goes into the decision-making and how he thinks the game is better than ever.
A controversial choice made for the New Era has had fans divided for a while now, but Jeff isn’t ready to turn back, no matter what folks have said.
That change also had several people tell Jeff that he was “gonna kill the franchise” if he went ahead with it.
Jeff Probst defends making the move to 26-day seasons
An extensive new interview happened between Survivor host Jeff Probst and Variety. They spoke about many topics, but the new 26-day seasons led to an intense discussion.
“I remember several people telling me, ‘You’re gonna kill the franchise,’” Jeff recalled during the interview.
He also addressed how cutting the number of days from 39 to 26 meant less time to nab footage for the new 90-minute episodes.
“We’ve gone from 39 days delivering 16 hours, to 26 days delivering 22 hours. I am proud that we were able to pull it off. It’s a Herculean effort by our teams,” Jeff told Variety. “But we like it, and I feel like we do have a new era. And to go to 39 days just doesn’t interest me. This game works.”
‘Dangerous fun’ on Survivor
Jeff has also called a New Era theme “dangerous fun” in that the castaways don’t get rice simply for existing. Everything must be earned.
After discussions with the medical team and past castaways, the production team moved forward to have New Era tribes earn food.
“We just figured out it seemed to be between 15 and 18 or 19 days is when you need to give them something [to eat]. But that is an extraordinarily long time to go without food. And you do run the risk of them not having enough energy. We haven’t run into that yet,” Jeff explained.
Having almost no food in Fiji has been difficult for some recent players, possibly making the experience harder than tribes who could always rely on rice in the past.
More news from the Survivor Universe
The start date for Survivor 47 was just announced. Fans can mark it on their calendars for Fall 2024 on CBS.
Here is the Survivor 47 cast list. The player names and bios were leaked online, featuring interesting professions and backgrounds.
Jeff is also talking a lot about Survivor 50. The monumental season won’t arrive soon, but he has teased that it features only returning players.
Will a former runner-up get invited back despite his controversies?
Previous seasons of Survivor are streaming on Paramount+. That includes a season in which a $2 million prize was on the line, and only former winners played (Survivor 40: Winners at War).
Survivor is on hiatus at CBS.
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