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After 16 seasons on the air, CBS’ Survivor continues to be one of the most-watched reality shows on TV. Season 17 of this reality mega-hit begins on Thursday, Sept. 25. This time, viewers will see the contestants stranded in Gabon, Africa. Hyped by the show as “Earth’s Last Eden,” Gabon features remote wilderness inhabited by many of earth’s most dangerous animals. “The survivors truly [encountered] wildlife that could kill them,” says host Jeff Probst, who recently returned from filming the upcoming season.
He explains, “The most exciting part of Gabon was also the most dangerous, and that was that the animals were not used to people.”
Survivor previously ventured to Africa to film the show’s third season in Kenya. While Gabon and Kenya may share the same continent, Probst says there is a stark contrast between the animals of the two locations. “Kenya is like a zoo,” he tells me. “Animals are everywhere. They’re used to having safari groups come through and tourists come by. It wasn’t as crazy for them to see a truck full of people.” The animals in Gabon proved less receptive to the arrival of the Survivor cast and crew. “In Gabon, when we landed, the animals were gone,” he recalls. “They scattered to the point that you knew something actually could happen.”
As Probst explains, the crew had to be on constant lookout for encroaching wildlife. “We found leopard prints in our catering tent five nights in a row. It’s scary. If it’s your night off and you’ve had one beer too many and you stumble into catering to try to steal some bread, it could be over.”
For the contestants, their fellow castaways may pose a greater threat than any of the exotic wildlife. Each season, participants form tribes and vote each other out until a sole survivor remains. Probst says this unchanging foundation for the game signifies that the show has “resisted the temptation to make wholesale changes [to] try to become the flavor of the month.”
He says, “Consistency is the key to Survivor’s longevity. We know what our show is and that’s what we deliver every week.”
Another constant element of the show is that contestants must balance truth and deception to forge the bonds necessary to avoiding elimination at tribal council. Although former contestant Amanda Kimmel believes that people in the game “respect brutal honesty whether it's something they want to hear or not,” Probst says deception usually proves the most effective tactic. “It’s a case-by-case basis, but in 99 percent of those cases – if you’re talking about what will help you win the game – hands down deception [is more valuable],” he says. “When people on the show are getting ready to vote somebody out, there will be a debate at camp about whether to blindside the person or to tell the person. It’s always followed by the phrase, ‘Because I’d want to know.’ The truth is, the minute you tell somebody and you clear your conscience by being honest – if they’re any good at all – you just gave them a real kick in the pants to start playing this game.”
Probst says the honesty vs. deception debate boils down to a simple question, “Are you here to win the game or make friends?”
For most players, the desire to win the million-dollar prize trumps any other motivation. Therefore, it’s no surprise to hear Probst’s observation that, “Blindsides are catching on more than ever. People are realizing that the blindside is the greatest way to take somebody out.”
The show’s addition of a hidden immunity idol (which Probst describes as “one of the best inventions we’ve ever come up with”) has also prompted some of the game’s most ingenious strategic moves. In this respect, Probst promises that viewers can expect more of the same from Survivor: Gabon – Earth’s Last Eden. “This season, the idols get played in a way they’ve never been played before,” he reveals. “It astounded me what happened this time. This has never happened. It’s that power of the idol that confuses everybody. Nobody’s quite sure how to handle it. It gets to a point where it’s almost too much power and it does you in. I find that fascinating. This is the one thing that can keep you safe in the game and yet – if you’re not careful – it’s the thing that will get you voted out the fastest.”
While the contestants are busy plotting against one another, Probst and the rest of the creative team spend their time in rehearsal and meetings. He estimates that 70 percent of his work for Survivor happens behind the scenes. “Really, what you’re doing on screen is executing all the ideas you’ve already thought through,” he explains.
When he’s not devoting time to the show, Probst says he takes time to enjoy the location. “We’ve been to some beaches in the world that are so beautiful you wonder why we don’t just pack up and move there,” he says, citing Palau and the Cook Islands as two examples. “You forget how beautiful the earth is. You get stuck in your little city with all its buildings.”
That said, he jokes that the ideal location for Survivor would be his own backyard. “If I could run tribal councils in my backyard and then get in my bed and go to sleep, that would be perfect.”
Perhaps that wouldn’t be such a stretch considering that he keeps the torch snuffer from each season in a tub in his garage. But don’t worry – Probst hasn’t turned his home into a Survivor museum just yet. He says the torch snuffers are the only souvenirs he keeps from the show. He laughs, “It’s not like you walk into my house and hear Survivor music.”
