Survivor’s Jeff Probst Details “Blatant” Disrespect by Contestants Removed from Season 49
Survivor‘s Jeff Probst shared insight into the decision to remove two contestants 12 hours ahead of filming season 49 after the castaways had disrespected the rules of the game.
You simply cannot outwit the rules of Survivor.
Just ask Jeff Probst, who recently detailed what really led to the decision to remove two players from season 49 just 12 hours before filming.
“In the days leading up to the beginning of the game, all the players are together,” he explained on the Sept. 24 episode of his On Fire with Jeff Probst podcast. “They’re at a place we call Ponderosa. So you have all of your competitors, but you’re not allowed to talk.”
“That’s why we have so many handlers there to make sure nobody’s talking,” he continued. “You can obviously look at each other, you can try to make eye contact. That might work for you, it might not.”
Jeff noted that while castaways can’t speak to each other, they are allowed to write down “assessments of their players,” like who they may align with when the game begins.
“The only thing is, we have rules,” the 63-year-old explained. “The rules are you cannot talk to each other, for obvious reasons. And in this season, season 49, we had two players who were disrespecting that rule. They just kept talking.”
In fact, it had escalated enough for him to receive a call that, he explained, there was “a level of concern” with the two contestants, who were then given a “stern warning” not to talk to each other.
“I went and met with our executive team and said, ‘Look, we might have a situation,'” Probst shared. “Before we could even finish our discussion, I got a second phone call saying that the level of disrespect had reached an even more blatant level.'”
“That was all it took,” he continued. “Candidly, the decision was made in that moment to immediately remove those two players from the game and replace them with our alternates.”
Enter Jason Treul and Michelle “MC” Chukwujekwu. Probst added that the decision “sent shockwaves through the rest of the players, as it was very clear that something was happening with those players.”
Robert Voets/CBS via Getty ImagesIt turns out that the 16 other contestants appreciated the shakeup.
“What really happened was the players, once they were able to talk, they thanked our producers,” Probst revealed, “because they said, ‘We were all aware that this was happening. And it felt like cheating. Like there was an advantage being had.’ And now they’re in the situation of: Should I do that as well?”
Although the Emmy winner noted that this was the “first time in history” that the show made the move, they aren’t afraid to do again if needed.
“It should be clear to future players, although I doubt this will ever happen again, to just know we will not hesitate to pull you from the game,” he added. “It doesn’t matter how much time or money we’ve invested in you.”
As he simply put it, “We value the integrity of the game more than anything.”