Jeff Probst Reveals ‘Survivor’ 50 Twist ‘That No One Is Talking About’ (VIDEO)

Kelli Boyle February 28, 2025, 3:04 pm

When it comes to Survivor 50’s returning players, it doesn’t matter if you’re from the old or new era. Fans are being given the power to create an all-new game through several months of voting that began on Wednesday, February 26, the same day as the Season 48 premiere.

Jeff Probst announced this major format upheaval at the Survivor 48 premiere event on February 22 in New York City, and he stopped by the TV Insider studio on February 24 to explain “In the Hands of the Fans” in more detail. He answers all of our burning questions about the new format in the video interview above, in addition to opening up about why it “used to really bother” him to see Survivor alums go on other reality TV shows like The Traitors.

From February through the start of Season 50 filming later this year, fans will be able to vote for the game elements they want to see (or get rid of) in the next returning players season. Probst tells us that this was designed as a big “thank you” to the show’s loyal fans and their decades of engagement with the series, but it’s also to level the playing field between old and new-era contestants. Thanks to fans deciding how the game will go, no one is a Survivor expert anymore. This makes lying and manipulation more key than ever before.

“Here’s the twist that no one yet is talking about,” Probst says. “The fans will vote for the kind of game they want. What’s really going to be complicated is the players will know all the possibilities, but none of the results.” The players will know about a “list of options” that were left up to the fans, Probst explains, but they won’t know what options were selected until the show tells them. Probst says that savvy players will lie about the results to manipulate competitors.

'Blindsides Are at an All-Time High' in 'Survivor' 48, Says Jeff Probst

When it comes to Survivor players expanding their reality TV careers, Probst said at the February 22 event that he feels like other shows are benefitting off of Survivor‘s hard work, implying that their casting process is much more in-depth than their competitors.

“There’s no question our casting process takes longer than any other show, it’s all year,” Probst insists. “It’s a lot of money, and it’s a very, very, very deep dive.” Every Survivor cast takes nine months to put together, the host reveals. “And that’s why our players are so interesting. We really get to know you, and when we find people we think are amazing and fun to watch and like to see take on this game, we put you on Survivor.”

Probst doesn’t want to “knock” other shows, but he says that “those other shows are produced very differently, or maybe they don’t have the budget for casting that we do.” He considers it a “luxury” that they get to spend so much time and resources on casting. That’s why it irked him that other shows snatched up his former players. But he gets it now. They found “compelling” people that any smart casting director would want on their shows, he explains.

Probst does warn that going on other shows could hurt an alum’s chances of coming back to Survivor. It’s not a punitive thing, but rather could be the result of what happens on that other program. A contestant that was beloved on Survivor might do something on another show that turns fans off. But at the end of the day, Survivor is a big family that always wants the best for their contestants, and going on something like The Traitors or Deal or No Deal Island would “probably not” prevent them from coming back.

See more of this Survivor deep dive in the full video interview, above.

Survivor, Wednesdays, 8/7c, CBS