Survivor is heading towards the finale of season 46, however host Jeff Probst is already trying towards the longer term! ET spoke with Probst from the CBS Fall Schedule Celebration on Thursday, the place the longtime present host teased how dramatic the present’s upcoming finale can be and shared his hopes for the milestone fiftieth season.
Season 46 of the aggressive actuality sequence kicked off with two historic two-hour episodes for the premiere on Feb. 28, adopted by 90-minute episodes all through the season. Probst calls the extreme season a “actually unpredictable” one, and teases that its upcoming finale can be “very enjoyable” for avid followers.
“[There’s been] quite a lot of nice gameplay, and it simply continues to ratch it up. I believe followers are going to be very happy,” he tells ET. The season has been a testomony to what Probst says attracts individuals to the sequence.
“That is the query, is not it? Why is Survivor nonetheless thriving and compelling? I believe it is as a result of it is an incredible format, we proceed to innovate and reinvent it a bit of bit, but in addition it is fairly compelling,” he says. “You are having individuals sitting at residence stand up off the sofa and tackle this gigantic journey and play this addictive sport [where] you possibly can go on the market and attempt to sabotage and lie and management and persuade, and all of it’s a part of the sport. I believe it is only a very enjoyable expertise whether or not you are enjoying or watching.”
That simple attraction can also be why Probst is already planning for the present’s fiftieth season. Throughout a Survivor FYC occasion final month at Ovation Hollywood in Los Angeles, the showrunner introduced that the milestone season will characteristic all returning gamers. He even took to Instagram after the announcement to verify the information to his followers.
Reflecting on his resolution to disclose season 50’s large shock, Probst explains to ET that it had been the followers who made the choice, not him. He shared that after he had requested “a considerably harmless query” about what Survivor followers thought ought to occur within the landmark season, the response was too overwhelming to disclaim.
“The response was so overwhelming [that] I stepped a bit of up and stated, ‘OK, let’s simply do it.’ I’ve not heard from CBS in the event that they’re OK with that, however that is what we’re doing,” he confesses.
Now, the most important query is, what returning gamers does Probst need to see?
“It is a good query, who’re the gamers? All of us which have a choice on this simply began with a clean sheet of paper the very subsequent day and we’re all simply writing down names,” he shares of the choice course of. “We have had virtually 700 individuals play, so it will be a really large checklist. I don’t know how we’ll find yourself breaking it down however we’re within the early, early, early phases.”
Probst says there is not a really perfect solid checklist as a result of there are such a lot of components that go into selecting who ought to return. “We have carried out quite a lot of returning gamers seasons, we even did a season of all winners. There are some fan favorites however there’s additionally the argument that some individuals have performed an excessive amount of and different individuals haven’t performed sufficient,” he causes.
“Then you definately take a look at among the Corridor of Famers and you are like, ‘How might you ever have them too many occasions? We wish all of them again!’ So I am not kidding once I say [the process] is nothing aside from everyone’s writing an inventory of all their favourite gamers after which I believe we’ll take a look at it and begin to determine [how to break it down],” he shares.
Fortunately, followers have not been shy in terms of providing recommendations on all of the methods to make sure that season 50 is a success. Probst says he is been paying attention to all of the concepts followers have been pitching and even admits, “There are some actually good ones in there.”
“I’m seeing the passion is there and there is the liberty to do one thing enjoyable and totally different,” he says of followers’ recommendations. “It would not should be winners at warfare, it may be a celebration and that is form of the place I am leaning into. ‘How can we have fun 50 seasons of this actually enjoyable present?'”
With such an incredible legacy and much more to come back with seasons 47, 48, 49 and 50 developing, it is no shock that Probst is not seeking to commerce spots with another hosts.
When questioned if he’d ever commerce locations with Wonderful Race host Phil Keoghan, Probst requested, “You need me to take the most effective job I’ve ever had and provides it to Phil Keoghan?”
Even with the temptation that’s going all around the globe, Probst is not . “Phil is so good at his job… I do not know, I do not like that concept. I like Survivor. I really feel at residence on Survivor. Phil feels very a lot at residence on Wonderful Race and Manu [Bennett]’s gonna be nice on The Summit, so can all of us simply keep in our little worlds?”
Honest sufficient!
Season 46 of Survivor is at the moment airing Wednesdays on CBS.
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