Jeff Probst Reveals 'More Elaborate' Twists and Idols for 'Survivor 45'
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To say reaching 45 seasons is a rarified air in television would be an understatement. Over nearly 25 years, Survivor has proven to be more than the summer sensation that hit our screens in May 2000. And as we near the premiere of Survivor 45 on Sept. 27, the reality stalwart seems more confident than ever. Earlier this year, it aired a season featuring a memorable cast, game-changing (albeit controversial) twists, and one of the most unique winners in the show's history, culminating in its first Emmy nomination for Outstanding Reality Competition program in 17 years.
It's assumed the Survivor production team was at a crossroads going into Survivor 45. With a milestone coming up, do you try to commemorate how you've gotten to this point, change the format or perhaps bringing in returning players? Or, do you continue to build off the momentum from the first four seasons of the "new era" and stick with the structure the show has gone with since returning from a COVID-induced hiatus in 2021? For host and executive producer Jeff Probst, the path was clear.
Related: Everything We Know About Survivor Season 45
"[We] never considered doing something unusual because it was our 45th season," Probst tells Parade in an exclusive interview. "Honestly, if you said 50, OK, that might be something where we think about celebrating in a unique way. But 45, to me, was honestly just the season that followed 44. We love the new format, and we believe there is still a lot of life in it. So, we never considered altering it to celebrate our 45th season. We're still seeing players discover new things about the format that surprise and excite us."
Check out the interview below for more insight from Probst about his approach to season 45, the chance of seeing pre-COVID twists return, and a new take on hidden immunity idols for the season. Survivor 45 premieres with a 90-minute episode on Wednesday, September 27, at 8:00 p.m. on CBS.
45 is a significant milestone to reach. And I remember, back during Survivor: Worlds Apart, you had given an interview where you said your approach to that season was to consider it "just our thirtieth season." Survivor 45 seems to be taking a similar approach, continuing the tradition of eighteen new castaways (with one exception) in three tribes to start. How much consideration did you give to make season 45 different, considering the milestone you're hitting?
Zero. Never considered doing something unusual because it was our 45th season. Because honestly, if you said 50, okay, that might be something where we think about celebrating in a unique way. But 45, to me, was honestly just the season that followed 44. Here's the thing, Mike. This new format, 26 days, no food, Beware advantages, journeys, risk/reward games, Shot in the Dark, is the new format. And we love the new format, and we believe there is still a lot of life in it. So, we never considered altering it to celebrate our 45th season. We're still seeing players discover new things about the format that surprise and excite us. For instance, there's going to be a season where the players never get food, simply because the gameplay is so intense that nobody will risk their security for rice. We think there are still ways to play Shot in the Dark that nobody's done yet. So we're not in any hurry to abandon this format. Because it's very hard to reinvent a show like Survivor, and we feel like we did a pretty good job of that in this new era.
You talk about that reinvention of the format. Survivor 44 brought something new in the birdcage and fake idols created by production rather than players. And while it did lead to some eventful moments of players believing they had real idols, it's understandably going to be at the front of mind of players moving forward. When I talked with the Survivor 45 contestants in the preseason, they had just seen the 44 premerge and now are navigating the game with the paranoia that the idol they find in the jungle may not even be real. From a production perspective, are you trying to put that toothpaste back in the tube? Or will this be something part of the Survivor mindset moving forward?
Well, it's a good way to ask the question. What the fake idol from Survivor 44 does is forever create more uncertainty about the next time a player finds an idol or is shown an idol via an alliance member. So, when it comes to our overall game design in the new era, the word "fun" is the key. We want to keep surprising the players with more uncertainty, which ultimately leads to more opportunities for creative gameplay. That's all we're trying to do. We always discuss our new ideas as a team, and we try to shoot holes in them and find all the potential problems. We know there is a line of trust that the players have to have with the game design, and we don't want to cross it.
But as you've seen with things like "change history," we're also going to continue to take risks and push the game in different ways to see how the players adjust. So I don't think it's a question of "can you put the toothpaste back in the tube" as much as this is now a new possibility. Another example of that is the Knowledge is Power advantage. We knew it was a good idea for an advantage; we didn't know how good. And the reason I think it's the perfect advantage is the mere fact that it could exist changes the game. All I have to do is say to you, "Mike, Knowledge is Power is in the game, and Melinda knows. We have to do something. So you should give your idol to me." Now, whether I really believe that or not, it doesn't matter. The game has been impacted simply because there's a threat that there could be something called the Knowledge is Power. You now have that with idols as well. You could easily cower in the corner and say, "Oh, my gosh, this game is too complicated." Or you could do what a smart player does, which is, "Where is my opportunity in here, and how do I exploit it?"
Related: Meet the Full Cast of Survivor 45
Speaking of idols, can you tease what's being done for them in Survivor 45? I'm sure "Team F.L.I.N.T." in production members Jimmy Quigley, Andrea Joyny, and Keoni Smith were working hard to figure out how to follow up the birdcage.
We had 90 minutes this season. We knew six months in advance. So, we designed the game to be more elaborate. And Team F.L.I.N.T. came in with a whole new idea for the immunity idols. And it was beautifully laid out; it had the kind of symmetry that I really looked for. And then they took it in the field, and they executed it. And what they designed was a more elaborate hidden immunity idol game design that's going to require more time, more creativity, more ingenuity. You might need a partner.
And because we have 90 minutes, we have the time to show you all of those steps. And it's a really great example of a powerful team seizing an opportunity like 90 minutes, and Quigley, Keoni, and Andrea coming in and saying, “What about this for an idea?” It's one of the few times that anyone has brought an idea, and it was fully baked all the way. It didn't need any adjustments at all. And it plays just as well as it was presented.
Survivor 44 saw the return of something that had yet to exist in the "new era" in the tribe swap, albeit a very different one where one person from each tribe rotated to another. I'm curious: is there any interest in bringing back some of these other elements from the first 40 seasons back into the show?
Well, it's a fun question to consider. And I would say that things like a tribe swap are pretty benign in terms of twists. But yes, we see the appeal of bringing back some of our favorite twists from earlier seasons. And I think the question would be when and where do they fit? And do they need an update, or is part of the fun that they're exactly as they were originally?
I think the key to an old advantage really working is going to circle back to the same uncertainty. We're creating an environment in which a player could be told that somebody has Fire Tokens, and they're going to use those tokens to buy an idol, and they wouldn't know if the player was telling them the truth or not. Because it's totally possible and plausible that Fire Tokens will make a return, even though we very publicly killed them after Survivor 40. I like that, because that brings back all the history and says at any given point, "Just beware. Anything could happen."
Next, Jeff Probst Chooses His Favorite Moment from 45 Seasons of Survivor
