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The 45th season of Survivor starts next Wednesday, September 27 and for the first time, every episode will be 90-minutes long. This season was once again filmed in Fiji and just like seasons 41 through 44, this one will last only 26 days instead of 39 (booooo, give us the 39 days back!). In an interview with Parade to promote the upcoming season, host Jeff Probst confirmed that Season 45 will continue to be full of twists, gimmicks, and advantages, something he says production created to force players to “live in a constant state of uncertainty.”
In the same interview, Probst also gives us some insight into what we can expect from Season 45, its twists, the longer length, his favorite moment (*spoiler* it’s Cirie and the balance beam during “Game Changers”), the number of babies made from people who met while working on Survivor, and how much he loves getting paid to watch human behavior for a living. You can read the full article at Parade, but here are some of the highlights:
After 45 seasons, has he seen it all? You would think that after 23 years I would say that I’ve seen it all, but I know I haven’t and it’s for one simple reason: people are unpredictable. When you put people in a crisis situation like Survivor, where you’re forced to survive in a real jungle while simultaneously conspiring against each other, it’s impossible to ever predict what any one person might do because every single person comes into the game from a very specific place. Their upbringing has impacted things, their friendship circle, the success they’ve had in life, how they were parented—all of that makes each person unique.
It’s all the players’ fault that they’re forced to overdo it on twists: I don’t think I’ve figured out how to answer this question [about new twists] yet, but the big twist is that you don’t know what’s coming. In the past, up until we got to Survivor 40, the players had figured out a lot of the game and they could kind of tell you what they thought might happen. It’s going to be one of three or four things here, it’ll be one of these two things here, and we realized that. We realized that the players had taken over, they knew the game so well that we had to completely blow up the game and start over. We tried to make the game so unpredictable that your only choice is to stop trying to figure it out.
What 90-minute episodes mean: The 90 minutes doesn’t affect the game at all, but the audience will see a huge difference in the depth and variety of the storytelling because 90 minutes allows us to show more reality scenes at their beaches. It allows us to show an “Immunity Idol” hunt, for instance, where we can take you much deeper into the hunt for the idol and the drama that comes with the discovery of an idol.
He really loves getting to watch human behavior for a living: I get a front-row seat to the thing I love the most, watching humans behave. I am endlessly fascinated by taking a group of people and putting them in a real crisis situation. Even though there are cameras there, there’s no help. You’re dropped in a jungle, and if you’re lucky, you’ll get a pot, a machete and a flint. If you’re unlucky, you won’t even have that, you will have nothing. How are you going to do night one, let alone night 25?
…And this is no exaggeration, I cannot believe that it’s what I get to do for a living. I can’t believe that the thing I love the most, I get paid to do. And I get to help design the game that’s going to take you on this crazy journey. And you’re going to have some very low lows and some big highs, but there’s one thing guaranteed, you will not be the same person when you’re finished.
Kudos to Jeff for genuinely loving his job. He gets paid a ton of money to work a couple of months a year on a gorgeous island in the Southern Pacific Ocean. That is the dream right there. I think it’s a little weird that 23 years into this gig, he’s still so fascinated by watching people in a real-life crisis situation that he’s helped create, but cool. Cool cool cool. Then again, every year, there’s no shortage of people who love the game so much that they’re willing to put themselves into those situations. Hell, I’m like 85% sure I’d play Survivor if given the chance. There’s also approximately 7.5 million people who still watch the show each season, so I guess maybe on some level, we’re all fascinated with watching people put in those situations.
Oh, and Jeff sounded a little salty when he was talking about why they have so many dang twists nowadays, didn’t he? He gets so much s– about them from the online Survivor fan communities, hahaha. I say let’s just have an old school season where we have no twists or advantages other than maybe – maybe – an immunity idol. Anyways, I’m still not into the 90-minute episodes, but I am looking forward to this season. We need more characters like Yam Yam and Carolyn, please!
I love Survivor and have been watching every season since 2001, when I was only 11.
Jeff is such a fantastic host (it’s so noticeable when you watch any other reality show host how much better he is than most) and you can tell from interviews that he is very involved in production and decision-making.
He has the best life because they now film seasons back-to-back in the same location. So he basically lives in Fiji half the year and LA the other half. My understanding is that they have a whole crew of locals in Fiji that they provide consistent employment to.
Yes, I think his hosting abilities and input is very underrated. He “tortures” them with every twist but somehow keeps it classy (when I did watch SUrvivor anyway).
I tapped out of it years ago when I finally realized how much he and the producers manipulate things – not through the twists and the gameplay, but the way tribal councils and competitions are influenced by his/their preferences and favorites (often obnoxious bro-dudes)
My husband and I always eye-rolled when they had the family letters/phone calls/reunion episodes. We get it, people miss their loved ones, but he was in the military for 23 years, so…
it’s 3-4 weeks of separation and the drama they put into those episodes never worked for us.
And Jeff talking about how he loves watching people in survival situations?? That just bothers me.
I always did massive eyeballs at that, too. I mean seriously, they’re adults, they can’t go a month without communication with mom or dad or a sibling?
Very little food, stripped of the comforts of life, daily exposure to nature’s extremes, packed like sardines into a system with strangers (some with very obnoxious personalities), the stress of knowing you’ll be on camera and possibly embarrassed by being voted out early, etc., will do that to you.
When you see some correspondence from loved ones / home, the tears are probably actually about that: dealing with the jarring shock of it all and not so much you’re actually missing your partner/mum/dad.
Yeah, that’s what makes Jeff a great host in my opinion. He has to strike the right balance between being tough but highlighting the fact people have voluntarily put themselves into the situation. He knows the watching-people-in-pain aspect can easily descend into nasty voyeurism. They try to promote it as a character-building thing to cancel that aspect out.
I’ve been a survivor fan since it’s inception. I am not a fan of the twists and gimmicks. It also bothers me that they reward the worst behavior. I wish they would design one show where working together and doing the right thing was the outcome.
About “worst behavior”….yes and that’s why I prefer watching Naked & Afraid. Although I’m kind of grossed out about the “naked” part, it’s interesting to me to see how well two random strangers can manage to work together, and it’s basically only those that help each other that survive until the end. It’s always especially entertaining and inspiring how couples overcome original dislikes and biases to (often) make deep and caring connections.
I watched Survivor when I worked in an office where everyone did and we all analyzed at lunch the next day. Found it wasn’t as interesting just watching it. I can’t imagine that the extra 30 minutes won’t be padding. Watched a season of The Bachelorette the winter my husband left (again, coworkers watched) and the two hour length annoyed the hell out of me. Quality knitting time, though.
Gave up on Ru Paul’s Drag Race when they started doing twists. It just made it all seem pointless. I like talent compétition shows, undercutting the talent part takes away from my enjoyment.
Apparently, ‘twists’ are the thing. They have ’em in the Food Channel’s baking championships, for example.
I’ve been watching Survivor for years. One of my good friends is a fanatic – literally has a Fantasy League for each season lol — and he’s sent in audition tapes for the past two cycles only to not hear back. One thing we’ve been discussing is how annoying and gimmicky all the “twists and turns” are. You almost need one of those murder boards with red threads to keep track of immunity idols, fake idols, etc. Also, some of these challenges are so ridiculously hard it’s nearly impossible to complete them unless your entire life revolves around Crossfit, which sadly eliminates women first. I think there is a way to keep the show fresh, and challenging without making it ridiculously hard. I miss the old seasons where you really got to know contestants, and yes there were challenges, but it was also about the interpersonal politics. Now you have 3 teams, and unless you stand out like Caroline or Jam Jam, then it’s more difficult to connect to the players as a viewer. That said, I’ll still be watching.
I used to watch this show fairly regularly, almost from the beginning, although I missed that very first one. That got so much attention I decided to watch the second one & got hooked. I’m less I interested in the challenges & the machinations, and more just interested in the places they go! They go to cities I’ve never heard of, countries I would probably not think to visit; it’s endlessly fascinating. Also fascinating is that because of its success & longevity, people have studied it & learned how to game it. That’s human ingenuity right there! And Jeff’s right, people are endlessly fascinating.
Oh, crapola. I realized just now that I mixed up Survivor with the Amazing Race.🤦♀️ Ah, well. Haven’t watched either in a while.
I am on and off Survivor I need to get attached to someone and some seasons they are just so bland and going through the motions. But some of the camera work is so pretty.
Jeff won the lottery with Survivor. He’s come a long way from hosting Rock & Roll Jeopardy.
I’m pretty shocked that Celebitchy is down with Survivor. Everything I’ve ever heard about this show is toxic to the max. How is treating people like this ok?? I mean, Bethenny Frankel is not, how you say, a good person but even her capitalist ass knew that there were a ton of valid points to be made about the treatment of reality personalities/contestants, and I don’t see how this is different? It’s not *exactly* the same as the Housewives or Duggars etc, but it’s also not NOT those same patterns and wringing human beings inside out in an environment so fucking insane that it’s literally the point of the show. I mean, talk about hiding in plain sight, and Probst sounds like a full psycho. I’ll bet he does love watching this shit. I’ll bet. He. Fuckin. Does.
Wonder how long it’ll be before the skeletons are dragged out of that tropical closet.
I haven’t read the gossip about the show being toxic but I think the producers and legal team bend over backwards to emphasis it’s a game, not reality (though the physical endurance and mental toughness necessary are real) and participants voluntarily put themselves into the situation. The rules are there, and you’re reminded: it’s a game of mental and physical endurance and smarts and you’ve signed up for it. You can drop out at any time.
Outside of that, they’re fastidious about the legalities and treating the contestants very well if certain situations cross the boundaries between game and reality. For example, in the Australian season years and years back, one of the contestants fall asleep in front of the campfire and ended up with bad burns on his face and hands. He was airlifted out and said they treated him so well that he would never sue (bet there was a decent payout and a contract though).
It’s a game and so in other words, if you’re a snake and lie and cheat within the rules to get the money, it’s still within the rules of the game; it’s a reality show and an artificial setting with certain rules and not meant to be about morals and ethics in the real world. That’s the social aspect and you won’t survive if you get voted out so you can’t stand out too much or not pull your weight with the work either.
The physical survival aspect is also very real as they get very little food and have to get their own water and build their own shelter, etc.
The contestants go through many, many rounds, including medical and fitness tests, to get on the show in the first place. They know the rules. It’s totally a false environment with artificial rules and not about morals or ethical behaviour in the real world. If you lie and cheat, you get a chance to be “meta” about it during your one-on-one camera time and explain your strategy to the viewers.
I remember when Richard Hatch decided to prance around naked trying to make other people uncomfortable They let go on far too long. And when Sue sued she ended up making more than any Survivor winner (allegedly).
I do think they have shaped their practices to be more fair and diverse and rid the production of toxicity. Nor have I seen any allegations in the last few years. Hell, Jeff even stopped using ‘guys’ on the show.
I get it is easy to condemn shows and people. But when they do make the effort to change. Some recognition should be acknowledged.
Used to watch this show when I was in uni (don’t watch anything now except a couple of movies a year and don’t want to get back into anything as I want to save time for other priorities) and he was outstanding as a host. I watched the whole Australia season and maybe one or two other seasons.
You could tell he was genuinely interested in EVERYTHING, all the details, and all the personalities. On top of that Jeff was a charismatic host and struck the right balance between being a tough rules enforcer and providing the right amount of support.
They know what makes it interesting and compelling to watch is the fact it’s very hard on the body and mind to make it (and so Jeff doesn’t have to do stupid stuff like exaggerated temper tantrums and foul language (Gordon Ramsay) to make it watchable) He keeps it classy and consistent.
Anyway, just chiming in to say Jeff Probst was and probably still is (can’t say as I no longer watch) Survivor the show itself. A TRULY OUTSTANDING host and there’s a reason he’s been hosting it for so long.
*Edit: just scrolled up to read the more seasoned watchers’ comments. Very interesting. Thanks.