“Survivor” host Jeff Probst explains how they handle showmances

"We've never cast anybody because they were single and might mingle."

While fans may be loving Survivor 46, there has been a distinct lack of love on the show. We’re not referring to some of the blowups surrounding Q Burdette’s attempt to quit the game. Nor are we nodding to drama of the Venus Vafa variety. No, we’re talking about actual love! Showmance love!

Survivor 44 provided us with the ultimate cutedorable nerdmance between Frannie Marin and Matt Blankinship (a relationship that continued off the island), while Survivor 45 gave us abundant flirting between Dee Valladares and Austin Li Coon. However, while Survivor 46 has been filled with some truly close duos (Maria and Charlie, Hunter and Tevin, Q and the phrase “BIG MISTAKE!”), none have been of the romantic variety. Well… maybe Q and big mistake.

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The lack of will-they-or-won’t-they this season is not a huge surprise, of course. Would you want to court someone when you have not showered or brushed your teeth in weeks? Plus, as host and showrunner Jeff Probst tells Entertainment Weekly, it is not something the show tries to orchestrate.

“You never anticipate that happening,” Probst tells EW. “We never, at least as long as I've been around as executive producer, we've never cast anybody because they were single and might mingle — ever.”

That said, the host obviously perks up once sparks fly, but he and the crew do not want to be the ones to ignite the flame. It has to come straight from the source. “I love it when it happens, but we don't spend a lot of time on it because we also don't want to influence what they're thinking by asking too many questions about it. We tend to let them bring it up.”

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Of course, romance can often get in the way of why people show up to play Survivor in the first place — winning. Which is what makes a showmance such a tricky thing in game for a million dollars. “When it happens on Survivor, romance is kind of interesting,” Probst notes. “Because they're not out here looking for it, and they know they're risking their game to have it. So it tells you how big that connection is that it can override their sensibility of playing this dangerous game because they might be falling in love with someone.”

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Amber Brkich and Boston Rob Mariano rode their love connection all the way to the final two of Survivor: All-Stars and have been married ever since, with four children to boot. And Dee and Austin both made it to the final three of Survivor 45 while courting each other along the way. So one can truly have it all, but more often than not, power couples are split up and eliminated along the way. That hasn’t been an issue for the final five of Survivor 46.

Here’s hoping love blooms again on Survivor 47.

Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly.