‘I never find it as interesting’: Jeff Probst reveals plans to axe the live Survivor reunion
But what about what the viewers want Jeff?!
Jeff Probst has revealed the the live Survivor 50 reunion finale tonight might be one of the last ones we ever get, and safe to say I’m devastated. Why does it feel like Jeff is the biggest Survivor hater out there sometimes?
During an interview with Variety, Jeff was asked whether they’ll “keep doing a live finale going forward” after Survivor 51 and the answer wasn’t exactly encouraging…
He responded: “That was fun. It was crazy because that’s all we ever did, and we stopped. Then to walk out and say, ‘I’ll see you back in Los Angeles for the reading of the live votes’ was exhilarating. I’m still exhilarated now. I’m excited to do it.
“It’s a lot of work to put on a live finale in between shooting two seasons and hosting the season that’s currently on – it adds a ton of work. I’m super pumped.”
However, Jeff explained that he doesn’t find doing a live finale very interesting from a “storytelling standpoint.” He elaborated: “The thing that players don’t like to hear is that when they’re in the jungle, right after the show ends, that’s the most honest they are. They may not really know that or feel that, but they’re honest, and they’ve not been persecuted by social media.
“Every single player gets annihilated for things they don’t deserve – mostly from people who mean well, but they’ll never play, so they’ll never understand how out of touch comments like that are and how much they hurt. So you get players when they’re pure and they’re unaffected by the impact of social media in Fiji.”
Jeff continued: “When you do a live finale, all you get is defense. The live finale becomes people defending, and for me, from a storytelling standpoint, I never find it as interesting.
“So I get the pomp and circumstances, it’s super fun, but I think we’re going to change the format for the finale – make it more of a three-hour event, rather than a two-and-a-half-hour finale and a 30-minute reunion show.”
As for what the reunion will look like, he explained: “When we sat down initially, the first thing I suggested was, what if we don’t do a reunion show and instead, we take that time and sprinkle it in throughout the final episode?
“I think it’s gonna be more fun and exciting to take pauses along the way. It feels like a reinvention that feels right for where we are now, and it’s more inclusive of everybody. Our finales are so packed that we don’t really have enough time. The idea this time is: Let’s take the entire three hours, do it as one event. And then when it ends, it feels complete.”
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