‘Survivor’ Recap: Why Jeff Probst ‘Hated Losing’ Player Voted out in Episode 7

[Warning: The following contains MAJOR spoilers for Survivor Season 49 Episode 7, “Blood Will Be Drawn.”]

Jeff Probst thought that the player who was voted out in Survivor 49 Episode 7 had the skills to win it all. The host wrote this in his last note about this player in the casting process for Season 49, but he noted that the contestant would need the “right group” to succeed. Unfortunately, that wasn’t in the cards for Survivor‘s newest castoff. Probst revealed that he “hated losing” the player voted out in “Blood Will Be Drawn” on the On Fire podcast, Survivor‘s official aftershow (listen to the full episode for free below). Plus, he revealed why he told the 49 players that there was a chance they could be cast in Survivor 50, which filmed right after 49.

After three tribe swaps, Kele, Uli, and Hina finally merged in the November 5 episode on CBS. The three teams became one before the first challenge, which was split into two parts. The second part was the first individual immunity challenge of the season, and Sophie Segreti won the necklace. But with multiple idols in play — and two of them becoming mostly public knowledge in this episode — she wasn’t the only one with a shield from elimination.

Rizo Velovic’s idol became a hot topic of conversation between the players before Tribal Council and during. Some were convinced that Rizo would play his idol to protect Savannah Louie, who’s becoming an increasing threat in the game. Given that, they still wanted to target someone from the Uli-strong alliance made up of Savannah, Rizo, Nate Moore, and Sophi Balderi. Jawan Pitts, Sage Ahrens-Nichols, and Steven Ramm vowed at the beginning of the episode that they would be “double agents” and stage a big strike against this alliance, and by bringing original Hina players into the mix, they succeeded.

After a bit of a scramble at the camps trying to figure out who to target, the players — some of whom were sitting in their first-ever Tribal Council in this installment — came in ready to spar. When Sophie doubted the existence of any idols, Rizo pulled his out and said he would be playing it if needed. MC Chukwujekwu kept hers a secret until Savannah followed her into the woods and tried to snatch the ring of keys that would open the box to her idol. Savannah was unsuccessful, but she spread the word of MC’s idol to her allies.

Robert Voets / CBS

Likely knowing that she couldn’t trust Savannah, MC played her idol on herself in Tribal to assure her future and kill the leverage Savannah had on her. Rizo didn’t end up playing his idol, and he didn’t need to play it — at least not on himself. The votes were split between Nate and Steven. Sage wanted to target Savannah, but the majority of the non-Uli alliance players felt Nate was a safer target that would still weaken the season’s strongest alliance. The votes for Steven were placed by Nate, Savannah, Rizo, and Sophi, who were put on their back foot when the majority of the votes went to Nate. You could see in all of their faces just how much they disliked losing control for the first time in the game.

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Jawan, Sage, and Steven’s plan to take out the “big dods” worked, but Probst was sad to see Nate go.

“I hated losing Nate,” Probst said on On Fire (new episodes drop on Wednesdays after Survivor is over). He revealed his impressions of Nate in the casting process and why it made him think the Marvel producer could win it all.

“My first time talking to him, I wrote, ‘Home run. So good at understanding social group dynamics. He’s very, very switched on to people and drive, and motivation. He comes across as very perceptive and very good at connecting with people, so that might put a little target on him, but he’s very friendly and laid back.’ Then on our CBS Zoom, ‘I want to talk to him at Tribal.’ That’s about as good as it gets for me. If I write down, ‘I want to talk to you at Tribal,’ that means I want you on the show.”

“And one of my notes was, ‘Always offers a very clear point of view.’ And then, in person, when we met him, I loved him. I wrote, ‘No doubt, great to talk to.’ And being in Hollywood might give him a bit of a head start in that he’s been in the room, he’s been in situations where he’s had to pull something off and make everybody happy, and not even have people know he pulled anything off, like we talked about earlier this season when he was with MC. So I even wrote the last thing I wrote is Could Win with the right group, which I don’t say about everybody.”

Robert Voets / CBS

On Fire is co-hosted by Survivor Season 31 winner Jeremy Collins and Survivor superfan Jay Wolff this season. Probst told them why he revealed to the 49 players that they were still casting for Survivor 50 in this episode (two players from 49 do end up on 50, premiering in spring 2026, but their identities are still concealed).

“Did you feel like this twist lit a fire in them in a different way?” Wolff asked. Probst replied, “I did,” adding that his decision was layered.

“I felt it. I think it was subtle in terms of what they revealed, but I do think you’ll see the impact of that on the back half of this season,” Probst explained. “And to be clear, I did not say one or two of you are going to be on 50. I said the truth, which was, we are still in a state of flux on who is going to be on 50. So if somebody here really steps up and impresses, you might end up on 50.”

“The reason we did that was twofold,” he continued. “One, I wanted to make sure that these players knew you were not just the season before 50, you are the 49th season of Survivor, and you have a shot to be on 50, just like anybody else who’s ever played Survivor has a shot to be on 50. The other reason was, yeah, it was a bit of a litmus test because to be on 50, you really have to make your mark in some unique way. So what better time to make your mark than right now? Because — Jeremy can attest to this — the hungry player does not get afraid. At a moment like this, the hungry player is ready to devour any and everything it needs to. Today’s Survivor player knows you have to play to win. You cannot win this game by playing not to lose.”

Learn more behind-the-scenes details about the episode in the full installment of On Fire below. And stay tuned for our exit interview with Nate tomorrow.

Survivor, Wednesdays, 8/7c, CBS