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As “Survivor” celebrates 25 years, it’s safe to say the CBS reality series has evolved quite a bit since its 2000 premiere — with many of those changes spearheaded by host and showrunner Jeff Probst.
During a panel at American Cinematheque’s “This Is Not a Fiction” festival, Probst reflected on the last two decades, including the fact that the first winner wasn’t well liked.
“Richard Hatch was a villain. [He] purposely did things like got naked because he knew it would make people uncomfortable, say things that would drive people crazy. We could not believe he won the game. We’re like, ‘Our show is doomed!’ The most unlikely, unlikeable person won,” Probst said. “The show starts airing and people were like, ‘If Richard wins, I am never gonna watch his show again.’ And then Richard wins, and that’s all anybody’s talking about.”
Luckily, everybody continued to watch the show. After Season 40, Probst and the team were ready to change up the game. They’ve began rolling out the New Era beginning with Season 41 — and will continue to dive more into that.
“I do think there’s still a lot of ground in this new game that hasn’t been discovered. Rachel LaMont, who won ‘Survivor’ used her shot in the dark in a really interesting way to sort of just test the waters,” he said. “That was something we never anticipated that somebody would do, so we think there’s still a ton of game.”
With the upcoming 50th season, which will feature all returning players, fans play a huge part in the casting and gameplay, voting on how things will work. Some hope that idols will go away while others are just wanting the return of the live finale and reunion.
“Live finale could happen. It’s super fun,” Probst, noting that the show will be doing whatever the fans vote on — even if he doesn’t agree. “Maybe there’s some of you here today who want a season with no idols, no switches. I’m pretty sure it’s gonna be more boring than you think… So I’m hoping people vote to let the players play, and that they want idols in the game, but we’ll see. It’s fun to watch the tallies. We’ve done a couple. You voted on things already. It’s very fun to see. I nervously click the link sent to me, thinking, ‘Please be something fun.’”
“Survivor” Season 48 is currently airing on CBS on Wednesdays.
