Celebrity Interview: Jeff Probst Talks Survivor 50, New Board Game, and Will Andrew Be on Season 51?
February 26, 2025 • 23 mins
Jeff Probst joins us to discuss the upcoming 48th season of "Survivor" and whether or not Andrew will ever be a contestant.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Sadie's Benz Interview Lounge.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
You know who's making a lot of money, Yeah it
is you carry good Jeff, very good people down at
Paramount CBS because of this little show called Survivor. And
this Wednesday we are so excited to announce there will
be another season. Beginning Wednesday is season forty eight on CBS.
(00:26):
We welcome the head dude in charge, Jeff Probes. It's
good to be back. It's been about two decades since
it has now. I heard your microphone on the microphone
gone to nothing more studio. Nothing works, nothing works, not
even the people in it now. Yeah. The last time
(00:47):
we had you on, Jeff was I think twenty seventeen,
and we heard the reason why you haven't done any
press since then is because we just really tacked you off.
Yeah it was. It was a grueling interview, as we
all remember, that made national and international. Wow. Unfortunately you
wiped it the internet so no one could ever hear.
It was an incident. Yeah, but I wasn't happy with you.
(01:08):
I'll tell you what happened, Okay, I was kind of joking. Sorry,
Oh my god, I've forgotten what happened because now I panicked.
We keep pushing our Andrew. Yeah, and we keep pushing
his agenda to get him on Survivor. Yeah, and he's
failed forty eight times. I'm still charming though, Andrew. Anyway,
(01:29):
you must be a little excited about forty eight this. Wait,
but can we just clear the air. There really was
not an incident. I was joking, Okay, Oh I wasn't okay, Yes, no,
I'm I'm I'm very excited to have season forty eight. Honestly,
I mean, oh, there's Andrew all right now it's complete.
So Andrew, how many times have you have you tried
(01:53):
for I don't want to make this all about you.
By the way, we have sure talk about the game.
We got to talk about.
Speaker 1 (01:58):
So many exciting things, right, so many say things. Yeah,
so seven years that that's how long it might.
Speaker 2 (02:03):
Yeah. So god's the question. Gandhi and Andrew are best friends,
and so you can say whatever you want to him.
Why do you feel like he has failed to be
on Jeff's show every single time?
Speaker 3 (02:13):
I think he's not honest in his audition tapes.
Speaker 2 (02:16):
Well that could do it, yeah, because.
Speaker 3 (02:17):
He is a monster and he's an unhinged, crazy person.
But the videos that I've seen him make he presents
himself is very reasonable and normal, and I just don't
think that's going to work for him.
Speaker 2 (02:27):
Well, honest, you're if that's true, you're hitting on the problem.
Because when people ask me, how do you get on Survivor?
Or what should I put on my audition tape or whatever,
I say, I know this doesn't sound like much Andrew.
You've heard me say this for sure. You have to
be yourself And then people go, yeah, but what do
you mean? I go, well, that's the problem. Yeah, I
don't know you. If you don't know you, so that's deep.
(02:47):
You should show I mean, really, you should be able
to pick up your phone right now and say hey,
my name's Andrew. I work on this radio show. I
do this thing. I do that. That should be enough.
You don't have to script it or anything. And to
the point of applying a lot, the woman who won
last year, Rachel, applied for six years. It was seven
years before she got on the show and she won. Yeah,
(03:08):
so sometimes it's also timing. You know, you're still evolving
as a as a human and you're getting more stories
and getting more interesting and better at Oh, I just be.
Speaker 3 (03:19):
Like I'm Andrew, I'm a devious bitch and leave it
there and it would work out well.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
To say repeat after her, I'm Andrew, I'm Andrew, and
I'm as bitch and I'm a devious bitchy. Wow, I'll
see your season fifty.
Speaker 1 (03:32):
Yeah, I will say, ever since you told me to apply,
a lot in my life has changed, and you kind
of inspired me to get off the couch of my
own life and start living. There's a lot of things
that I saw in myself that maybe I wasn't super confident,
but I actually have gone out there and done skydiving,
which I never thought I would do.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
I ran a half marathon. I never thought I could
do that.
Speaker 1 (03:54):
I drove twenty five hundred miles across the country with
Gandhi and Diamond. Like, There's so many little things that
I started doing and I just realized, like I can't
wait for permission.
Speaker 2 (04:03):
You just have to go out there and do it.
You have a great life. You should even worry about Survivor.
Speaker 1 (04:06):
Just go live.
Speaker 2 (04:07):
You're right, But Elvis, let's just take one second on
what he was just talking about, because if you've never
watched Survivor, you probably have an idea that it's this thing,
it's this competition game, it's a it's a reality show.
I don't watch reality shows. It's a it's a maguffin
the game. A Survivor lures you because it's addicting, addictive
and addicting, and you want to do all of it.
(04:28):
But and what Andrew's talking about is the transformation that
happens from people who decide to get ab off the
couch and then go live in the jungle and take
on this game. Is they find parts of themselves they
never knew were there or that they hoped were there,
and now they are. So you're already changing because of Survivor.
I get super corny about it because I watch people
transform because they're living in a real jungle taking on
(04:48):
all this stuff, and then they do it and they
come back and like, I'm way more badass than I
ever thought. I see. I want that for all of
us and everyone listening, if not Survivor, somewhere in life
we need these transformations. Yeah, sure, we love you, Andrew,
and you guys don't. Jeff has promised nothing, damn but
keep applying. Come on, man, So look, I mean, so
(05:12):
forty eight seasons we're talking with twenty year how have
you seen the people change? How are they different now
than they were then? It's a great question. I hope
I have a good answer, because Survivor is always a
reflection of us. If you go back and look at
early seasons, there were things that happened on the show
(05:33):
that would never happen today because we don't do those
things anymore. I said things on the show years ago
I would never say today because I don't think that way.
So we're constantly evolving. What is really I don't know
how people have changed, but I know what we've changed
is the type of people we're looking for. So in
the early days of unscripted shows, I think it was
natural for people to say we need you know, we
(05:56):
need a bartender type, some young, good looking guy, and
then we need We don't do that anymore. I most
of the time don't even know what people's occupation is
unless it's central to their character. We're just looking for
humans who are interesting and can tell their story, and
then we put this game design on top of it.
That's what really changed after COVID is the game is
now central to your experience, and the reason that is
(06:19):
is it creates all this uncertainty. So now you're in
a jungle and you've got this crazy, weird game that
you have to play of social politics and physical challenges
and endurance, and on top of all of that is
you're living in this real jungle trying to figure it out.
That's where I think Survivor's gotten really interesting, and our
cast is just incredibly diverse now, I mean the stories are, Honestly,
(06:39):
they're kind of unbelievable. Just this season. How many people
we have from different countries, different walks of life, different upbringings.
And then you're forced to sit across from somebody and say, hey,
my name is Jeff, And before you know it, you've
made friends with somebody you would never even have met
in your normal life. And now the storm is coming
and you're relying on each other. And what he doesn't
know is you've already conspired against him. It's like, stew,
(07:02):
I'm getting goosebumps. You really are very well media trained.
Tell this. What's funny is this is me I know,
I know. I mean, you've been deep. Yeah, show our
whole team knows. Oh propes, he's on one of those.
He's going to get into this whole adventure thing, spirit
(07:24):
of life. You know, we need it because I want
everyone to watch. I want Wednesday to be all about
I don't want you to record it. I wanted I
want Survivor to be an event as it was back
in the Ye'll tell you what, this season has some
of the most amazing storylines. You'll cry in the first
two minutes of episode one. You can't not don't give
that away. That's not that's not a giveaway. It's just
(07:46):
just meaning like you you kind of feel you just
feel it. Our storytelling is pretty good, and we take
you in really fast, and all of a sudden, you're like,
why am I crying over what this guy just said?
I don't even know this guy, but it's it's a
power full. I always say to people, if you've never
watched Survivor, just give me one episode. That's it. Give
me ten minutes. If you're not in in ten minutes,
(08:08):
you'll never be in. I'm gonna bet you're coming back
for episode two. We got lots to talk about. We
have to talk about the game, to talk about how
season fifty is going to be a little different because
you're putting the power into our hands. Right to watch
I want to get into that. Yeah, I want to
talk about your crazy connection with White Lotus. Oh yeah,
you have you been watching? Yeah, well no, I didn't
(08:29):
see last night. So did you wish the first episode? Yeah.
We can't talk about it because I don't want to
spoil it, but there's some crazy stuff going down. I
was lucky enough to be invited by Mike to a
premiere where I watched it in a theater with like
five hundred people or something, and Mike gave a speech
beforehand and basically said, this has been the longest journey
(08:52):
this season of anything I've ever done, the most difficult
thing I've ever done, and I'm so incredibly happy about it.
Like he really he puts his heart and soul into
this show. He's trying to do something, he's trying to
explore who we are, and he's doing it in a
really fun way with noxious people. We're a bunch of
monkey's living in Thailand. That's what we are. If you're
trying to figure what we're talking about. The creator of Whitetus,
(09:16):
Mike White. He was actually on Survivor Yeah, Bacon twenty eighteen.
He got pretty far. He did a lot of people
think he could have won. He made it to the end,
and then there seemed to be a moment where he realized,
I don't need to win. The money won't help me
the way it will help somebody else. I just needed
to know if I could win. Wow. He has cast
(09:37):
some friends from Survivor in every season so far. Yeah,
including at least two cameos in the pilot season three
when we saw the Other Night and there you go,
that's so cool. What a connection you have with White
loatus And I don't think it's any surprise if you're
a Survivor fan. Mike White is one of the best
storytellers we've ever had on the show. You go to
(09:57):
people for interviews in every episode for them to tell
you what's happening, and Mike just has that ability to
tell you a story from anybody's point of view and
get it right. I'm getting that. Yeah, but you haven't
started watching it now.
Speaker 3 (10:11):
I haven't. Don't you ruin it?
Speaker 2 (10:14):
Crazy? And how does one guy write so many different
types of people and all of them feel absolutely true.
He's a kid from Pasadena. I could see you doing that.
I don't know, Mike White is Mike White's one of
the greatest writers of all time. Give yourself some credit,
Jeff Jeff Proch. By the way, just turning us on
Jeff Probs is here. We're talking about season forty eight
(10:36):
of Survivor, premiering Wednesday on CBS.
Speaker 4 (10:39):
I have two questions. Question one, okay, the first question
is forty eight seasons. Was there any season where you
said this is it, I'm out after this season.
Speaker 2 (10:49):
There have been some moments where I think just me
and maybe the team are exhausted from the shoot. Especially
it used to be thirty nine days and we would
do two season back to back. Yeah, plus all the preps,
so it felt like you were out there for two
hundred days. And I think that's what would get me
is I would just say, oh my god, I can't
believe we're going to come back and do this again
(11:09):
in you know, a couple of months. But then you
get home and you start looking at the edits and
you get reminded why you love it. But I haven't
had that feeling in years. I've never been clearly so
excited about Survivor. And I think the COVID break was
really good for us because it gave us a moment
to step back, take a breath and say, how can
(11:29):
we flip this game a little bit? And if you
were on location you would see I'm not the only
one who is this passionate. Everybody cares about what we do.
It's really weird. But we have a team that's been
together fifteen, eighteen, twenty years. A lot of people. Wow,
we've grown up together. Here's a crazy stat todate we
have seventy two babies that have been born from people
(11:53):
who met while working together on our show.
Speaker 3 (11:56):
What's so cool?
Speaker 2 (11:57):
Wow? Not seventy two babies of our crew? You met
from people who met how many from crew? No? No,
I'm saying contestants baby No, no, but meaning it's a
fair question. These are people that have met while working
on this show, fell in love, got married, have baby.
So if you come to location at any given time,
you'll see eight, ten, twelve kids running around. So cool.
Speaker 4 (12:19):
My second part is have you made enough money where
if you wanted to walk away you really could?
Speaker 2 (12:24):
Uh that's an yeah.
Speaker 3 (12:26):
Season one Yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:30):
My wife would say no, but we have very different
approaches to that.
Speaker 3 (12:35):
When you look at all of the people who have won,
is there a common thread or like one character trait
about them that you would say, yeah, those those winners
all have this in common.
Speaker 2 (12:43):
I think at this point now I think there is,
and I think it's there is on some level likability.
It doesn't mean you have to be nice. We've had
people who've played vicious games win. But if there's something
about you that isn't that just isn't likable. People are reluctant,
even if you played a great game, to write your
name down for a million dollars. There's just something about us. Intuitively,
(13:07):
we just wanted to go to somebody that's that's you know,
deserves it. And so often what you'll see is somebody
who's played a very tough game. They will say, look,
I know I blindsided you, but I knew if I didn't,
you were coming from me, and you need to respect that.
And then people say, you're right, I was, and I
do respect that, and then they go on to be friends.
So there is something about in life. If you're fun
(13:29):
to be around and you make people feel good about themselves,
you're probably going to go a little further than somebody
who's just you know, a punk. Maybe you should listen
to him commed as soon as he said liability group.
She is officially dommenus of our show. Hey, so I
saw this game. It's called Survivor The Tribe. The Tribe
has Spoken, designed by Jeff Probe. Yeah, you got your
(13:53):
own game. Yeah, we've been working on that for a while.
I partnered with this company, Exploding Kittens, which is a
good game.
Speaker 4 (14:01):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (14:01):
So Elon Lee is a good buddy of mine. So
we teamed up in his team and myself and made
this game. And I can now say, if you're a
Survivor fan, it pretty closely resembles What's your There's what's
your name? Stephanie is a Survivor fan. She has it.
She's nodding at a creepy, creepy rate. But the reviews
have been really great because aside from living in the jungle,
(14:24):
you're playing Survivor and it's pretty addictive and pretty fun
and you get to test your ability to persuade, cajole,
you know, lie, manipulate, and and the box is cool,
the car, everything is straight from the game. So one
thing we couldn't figure out. Fire just burns some furniture. Hey,
so where okay, where can we get?
Speaker 5 (14:45):
Now?
Speaker 2 (14:45):
You can get that like a target. You can get
Amazon anywhere, you know. I'm sure the Paramount store they've
gone it. Yeah, Paramount Store will have it at some point.
I don't think they have it now. It's kind of weird,
kind of weird. I think they're they're working on it,
but it's out. It's selling. I know, I'm sounding like
(15:06):
I'm bragging on my own game. It is selling like
crazy because A we have good fans and B people
are playing it and saying that it plays really well.
So that's what we worked on. Because Survivor's a game,
so we wanted the card game to mirror the game,
and I think it does what Nate. I was talking
to Jeff and he said, you went through how many
versions of this game?
Speaker 4 (15:27):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (15:27):
Like probably eighty whoa wow, But that is you know,
that really is Nate game design. Even on Survivor, when
we have a new advantage or a twist, it has
to marinate for a while and you sit on it.
You go, Okay, so what else would a player do
with it? And then you two weeks later you go,
oh my god, thank god we didn't put that in
the game. Here's what could have happened, And then you
adjust it. So in making this game. We would just
sit around my house and my a table in my
(15:49):
house and just quickly play versions. Because you're working with
game designers. So there's a shorthand. So it is Survivor.
The tribe has spoken. It's the game, and you know
there's if not you, someone in your life is a
Survivor lover and they'll be watching the season premiere of
season forty eight. So good Wednesday. So I'm assuming that
season forty nine is where you're working that now. So
(16:13):
season fifty, right, this is gonna be a little different. Yeah,
tell everyone what's going on. How are we in charge
of season fifty? Okay, So the theme of Survivor fifty
is in the hands of the fans. That's the name
of the season, and what we're gonna we've done where
you vote players in, we've done that. What we've never
done is let the fans decide the game design. So
every week, starting with the premiere Wednesday night, there'll be
(16:35):
four categories you can vote on, and throughout the season
you'll vote on more so that when it's done, the
fans will have designed the kind of game they want
to see played in fifty. The players won't know We're
not gonna reveal anything. We will know and the players
will find out as it unfolds, but it's everything from
We have a thing called the Final Four fire Making Challenge.
Some people love it because it's incredibly dramatic. Other people
(16:58):
think the game should be pure and you should and
have it. Then vote to not have it. We're going
to just see what happens. When do you open this up?
It starts after the premiere. There's the first four categories,
so you vote on like the aesthetic. You can decide
the color scheme of the season. Then you can decide
if you want him to have rice or no Rice.
You can decide if you want the Final four fire
Making Challenge, and we also have one if we should
(17:19):
bring back our Live, Big Live Reunion finale, you have to.
Speaker 4 (17:23):
Yeah, so we missed that.
Speaker 2 (17:24):
So we'll learn all about this Wednesday. Yeah, it starts
on Wednesday, and then you'll have more categories throughout the season.
Interesting question from someone texting us, Jeff, what up they
call you by the name? When will we have an
all female cast? I think the cattiness and drama would
be fantastically It's not a bad idea. It's not I'd
(17:46):
say it's not a bad idea.
Speaker 4 (17:48):
How about geriatric version, like Survivor jeriatrics bad idea.
Speaker 2 (17:51):
By the time by the time Andrew gets on there,
he'll he'll be.
Speaker 3 (17:54):
Okay, the Golden Bachelor.
Speaker 2 (17:57):
They should have the Golden Survivor. Yeah, you know, the
idea of just doing all women or all men, it
is interesting. You just have to sort of really again
marinate on it, think through it because the dynamic and
the different approaches to life is interesting. For instance, when
you list all of the greatest quote unquote characters of Survivor,
(18:18):
a majority of them are men. Why what is it
about what we allow men to say and do socially
versus women's right.
Speaker 3 (18:28):
Well, specifically that text that said that cattiness and drama
would be out of control, My thought was, I don't
think women and men are that different, but women get
called caddy and men get called strategic when they're doing
the exact same thing. So I would love to see that.
Speaker 2 (18:41):
Yeah, I want to be on the all gay Survivor.
We're just a bunch of caddy bitches. Just a thought
you're gay? What on occasion? Oh my god, Jip, he's blushing.
I did you know for a second. I was like, Ah,
(19:02):
should I have said that? Come on, now, you're on
my favorite show on CBS, which is CBS Sunday Morning.
Oh yeah. And one of the things they asked you
was about you're you when you're hosting, when you're doing
your thing? Do you ever get nervous? Do you ever?
(19:22):
I mean, are you just always this naturally relaxed, because
you seem relaxed to me, even if you're asking people,
you know, if they're gay. Right. Well, yeah, John asked
me if I was you ever get nervous like before
season starts or and I don't. And I know that
sounds weird, but I I feel like when the red
light goes on and it's like the tally light of
(19:44):
a camera, that's when I'm the most zoned in. And
when I'm zoned in, I'm just in the moment. What
often happens on Survivor is something will happen. It could
be something crazy that happens that I'm involved with a
Q and A or something, and then I get the
cut to look at and I'm like, I wonder what
I say after that. I don't remember it like months later,
because you know, when you're doing an interview. I'm sure
(20:04):
this happens to you. You're doing a great interview. When
the interview's over, you don't always remember what you talked about.
It's done, it's trapped. Yeah, but you were in it.
You're not. I'm not taking notes about how it's going.
I'm just trying to be there for the player to
respond and drive the story or answer the question. That's
the thing. It's second nature to you. You don't even think
about it. You're just you're You're are you straight? Hold on? Yes?
(20:29):
I don't know. Maybe that's why he'd blush. Well, look
all of the above. If you just turned us on,
Jeff Probes, of course is here season forty eight just
turned me on. I know you do this all day,
big fella.
Speaker 3 (20:44):
I have one question. No, you've three at this point,
having watched forty eight seasons. Do you think you could win?
Speaker 2 (20:50):
No? No, because I would get annoyed that at some
point I would say, I would say, here's the thing
about Nate, and I'm just going to say it right now,
if he tells that story one more time, you know,
I would definitely because you you got to really be
able to hold your stuff together and say, you know,
to yourself. Count it count to one hundred if I
(21:11):
have to. Let's keep it together. And then in interview,
when it's private, you can speak your truth. I tend
to speak my truth a little, just a little too fast,
and regret it almost every time. Never ever regret that
at all. Filters are for babies. Let's not filter what
we need. You're right, I don't really regret it. That
was a great question, by the way, thanks both asking
(21:31):
great questions. I shouldn't I should have stayed home today,
could have.
Speaker 5 (21:34):
I think, Oh my gosh, I think Universal or Disney
should do like like you know how they have the
Indiana Jones experience in like one of those parks.
Speaker 4 (21:46):
How cool would the Survivor one be?
Speaker 2 (21:47):
You know what's funny about you about that is we
started doing these beach drops and they're kind of what
you're talking about on a smaller level where we set
up some big challenges. You can weave palm fronts, and
we just did one Saturday in Manhattan over at the
Chelsea Factory. They're really fun, So we're heading toward the cool.
(22:09):
Well with that's it the game. I want everyone listening
to by at least three of these. Thanks for mentioning
your game. The Tribe is spoken available at Target. Yeah,
I'm sure online all over the place as well. We've
got season forty eight of Survivor premiering Wednesday night on CBS,
and that same night you'll find out how you can
be controlling yep in Survivor fifty. Yeah, so we have
(22:33):
a whole thing with fifty. Fiji Airways is going to
brand a jet for us and we're going to some
families are going to win trips to Fiji to come
to base camp and see Survivors. It's going to be
a really fun year. Wow. You would think that after
forty ex seasons you're running out of new ideas because
I know we've been on how many seasons we had.
We haven't had a new idea since Jimmy Carter was president.
Speaker 4 (22:54):
We just keep stealing them from other people.
Speaker 2 (22:55):
Well, you know that's a pretty good approach. Yeah, you're right,
still theirs and make it yours, Jeff. It's always an
honor to have its fun to be back here. Yeah,
thank you, even though you'll never have our Andrew on
until Geriatric Survivor is out, and you never know, Jeff,
props everyone e
Sadie's Benz Interview Lounge.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
You know who's making a lot of money, Yeah it
is you carry good Jeff, very good people down at
Paramount CBS because of this little show called Survivor. And
this Wednesday we are so excited to announce there will
be another season. Beginning Wednesday is season forty eight on CBS.
(00:26):
We welcome the head dude in charge, Jeff Probes. It's
good to be back. It's been about two decades since
it has now. I heard your microphone on the microphone
gone to nothing more studio. Nothing works, nothing works, not
even the people in it now. Yeah. The last time
(00:47):
we had you on, Jeff was I think twenty seventeen,
and we heard the reason why you haven't done any
press since then is because we just really tacked you off.
Yeah it was. It was a grueling interview, as we
all remember, that made national and international. Wow. Unfortunately you
wiped it the internet so no one could ever hear.
It was an incident. Yeah, but I wasn't happy with you.
(01:08):
I'll tell you what happened, Okay, I was kind of joking. Sorry,
Oh my god, I've forgotten what happened because now I panicked.
We keep pushing our Andrew. Yeah, and we keep pushing
his agenda to get him on Survivor. Yeah, and he's
failed forty eight times. I'm still charming though, Andrew. Anyway,
(01:29):
you must be a little excited about forty eight this. Wait,
but can we just clear the air. There really was
not an incident. I was joking, Okay, Oh I wasn't okay, Yes, no,
I'm I'm I'm very excited to have season forty eight. Honestly,
I mean, oh, there's Andrew all right now it's complete.
So Andrew, how many times have you have you tried
(01:53):
for I don't want to make this all about you.
By the way, we have sure talk about the game.
We got to talk about.
Speaker 1 (01:58):
So many exciting things, right, so many say things. Yeah,
so seven years that that's how long it might.
Speaker 2 (02:03):
Yeah. So god's the question. Gandhi and Andrew are best friends,
and so you can say whatever you want to him.
Why do you feel like he has failed to be
on Jeff's show every single time?
Speaker 3 (02:13):
I think he's not honest in his audition tapes.
Speaker 2 (02:16):
Well that could do it, yeah, because.
Speaker 3 (02:17):
He is a monster and he's an unhinged, crazy person.
But the videos that I've seen him make he presents
himself is very reasonable and normal, and I just don't
think that's going to work for him.
Speaker 2 (02:27):
Well, honest, you're if that's true, you're hitting on the problem.
Because when people ask me, how do you get on Survivor?
Or what should I put on my audition tape or whatever,
I say, I know this doesn't sound like much Andrew.
You've heard me say this for sure. You have to
be yourself And then people go, yeah, but what do
you mean? I go, well, that's the problem. Yeah, I
don't know you. If you don't know you, so that's deep.
(02:47):
You should show I mean, really, you should be able
to pick up your phone right now and say hey,
my name's Andrew. I work on this radio show. I
do this thing. I do that. That should be enough.
You don't have to script it or anything. And to
the point of applying a lot, the woman who won
last year, Rachel, applied for six years. It was seven
years before she got on the show and she won. Yeah,
(03:08):
so sometimes it's also timing. You know, you're still evolving
as a as a human and you're getting more stories
and getting more interesting and better at Oh, I just be.
Speaker 3 (03:19):
Like I'm Andrew, I'm a devious bitch and leave it
there and it would work out well.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
To say repeat after her, I'm Andrew, I'm Andrew, and
I'm as bitch and I'm a devious bitchy. Wow, I'll
see your season fifty.
Speaker 1 (03:32):
Yeah, I will say, ever since you told me to apply,
a lot in my life has changed, and you kind
of inspired me to get off the couch of my
own life and start living. There's a lot of things
that I saw in myself that maybe I wasn't super confident,
but I actually have gone out there and done skydiving,
which I never thought I would do.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
I ran a half marathon. I never thought I could
do that.
Speaker 1 (03:54):
I drove twenty five hundred miles across the country with
Gandhi and Diamond. Like, There's so many little things that
I started doing and I just realized, like I can't
wait for permission.
Speaker 2 (04:03):
You just have to go out there and do it.
You have a great life. You should even worry about Survivor.
Speaker 1 (04:06):
Just go live.
Speaker 2 (04:07):
You're right, But Elvis, let's just take one second on
what he was just talking about, because if you've never
watched Survivor, you probably have an idea that it's this thing,
it's this competition game, it's a it's a reality show.
I don't watch reality shows. It's a it's a maguffin
the game. A Survivor lures you because it's addicting, addictive
and addicting, and you want to do all of it.
(04:28):
But and what Andrew's talking about is the transformation that
happens from people who decide to get ab off the
couch and then go live in the jungle and take
on this game. Is they find parts of themselves they
never knew were there or that they hoped were there,
and now they are. So you're already changing because of Survivor.
I get super corny about it because I watch people
transform because they're living in a real jungle taking on
(04:48):
all this stuff, and then they do it and they
come back and like, I'm way more badass than I
ever thought. I see. I want that for all of
us and everyone listening, if not Survivor, somewhere in life
we need these transformations. Yeah, sure, we love you, Andrew,
and you guys don't. Jeff has promised nothing, damn but
keep applying. Come on, man, So look, I mean, so
(05:12):
forty eight seasons we're talking with twenty year how have
you seen the people change? How are they different now
than they were then? It's a great question. I hope
I have a good answer, because Survivor is always a
reflection of us. If you go back and look at
early seasons, there were things that happened on the show
(05:33):
that would never happen today because we don't do those
things anymore. I said things on the show years ago
I would never say today because I don't think that way.
So we're constantly evolving. What is really I don't know
how people have changed, but I know what we've changed
is the type of people we're looking for. So in
the early days of unscripted shows, I think it was
natural for people to say we need you know, we
(05:56):
need a bartender type, some young, good looking guy, and
then we need We don't do that anymore. I most
of the time don't even know what people's occupation is
unless it's central to their character. We're just looking for
humans who are interesting and can tell their story, and
then we put this game design on top of it.
That's what really changed after COVID is the game is
now central to your experience, and the reason that is
(06:19):
is it creates all this uncertainty. So now you're in
a jungle and you've got this crazy, weird game that
you have to play of social politics and physical challenges
and endurance, and on top of all of that is
you're living in this real jungle trying to figure it out.
That's where I think Survivor's gotten really interesting, and our
cast is just incredibly diverse now, I mean the stories are, Honestly,
(06:39):
they're kind of unbelievable. Just this season. How many people
we have from different countries, different walks of life, different upbringings.
And then you're forced to sit across from somebody and say, hey,
my name is Jeff, And before you know it, you've
made friends with somebody you would never even have met
in your normal life. And now the storm is coming
and you're relying on each other. And what he doesn't
know is you've already conspired against him. It's like, stew,
(07:02):
I'm getting goosebumps. You really are very well media trained.
Tell this. What's funny is this is me I know,
I know. I mean, you've been deep. Yeah, show our
whole team knows. Oh propes, he's on one of those.
He's going to get into this whole adventure thing, spirit
(07:24):
of life. You know, we need it because I want
everyone to watch. I want Wednesday to be all about
I don't want you to record it. I wanted I
want Survivor to be an event as it was back
in the Ye'll tell you what, this season has some
of the most amazing storylines. You'll cry in the first
two minutes of episode one. You can't not don't give
that away. That's not that's not a giveaway. It's just
(07:46):
just meaning like you you kind of feel you just
feel it. Our storytelling is pretty good, and we take
you in really fast, and all of a sudden, you're like,
why am I crying over what this guy just said?
I don't even know this guy, but it's it's a
power full. I always say to people, if you've never
watched Survivor, just give me one episode. That's it. Give
me ten minutes. If you're not in in ten minutes,
(08:08):
you'll never be in. I'm gonna bet you're coming back
for episode two. We got lots to talk about. We
have to talk about the game, to talk about how
season fifty is going to be a little different because
you're putting the power into our hands. Right to watch
I want to get into that. Yeah, I want to
talk about your crazy connection with White Lotus. Oh yeah,
you have you been watching? Yeah, well no, I didn't
(08:29):
see last night. So did you wish the first episode? Yeah.
We can't talk about it because I don't want to
spoil it, but there's some crazy stuff going down. I
was lucky enough to be invited by Mike to a
premiere where I watched it in a theater with like
five hundred people or something, and Mike gave a speech
beforehand and basically said, this has been the longest journey
(08:52):
this season of anything I've ever done, the most difficult
thing I've ever done, and I'm so incredibly happy about it.
Like he really he puts his heart and soul into
this show. He's trying to do something, he's trying to
explore who we are, and he's doing it in a
really fun way with noxious people. We're a bunch of
monkey's living in Thailand. That's what we are. If you're
trying to figure what we're talking about. The creator of Whitetus,
(09:16):
Mike White. He was actually on Survivor Yeah, Bacon twenty eighteen.
He got pretty far. He did a lot of people
think he could have won. He made it to the end,
and then there seemed to be a moment where he realized,
I don't need to win. The money won't help me
the way it will help somebody else. I just needed
to know if I could win. Wow. He has cast
(09:37):
some friends from Survivor in every season so far. Yeah,
including at least two cameos in the pilot season three
when we saw the Other Night and there you go,
that's so cool. What a connection you have with White
loatus And I don't think it's any surprise if you're
a Survivor fan. Mike White is one of the best
storytellers we've ever had on the show. You go to
(09:57):
people for interviews in every episode for them to tell
you what's happening, and Mike just has that ability to
tell you a story from anybody's point of view and
get it right. I'm getting that. Yeah, but you haven't
started watching it now.
Speaker 3 (10:11):
I haven't. Don't you ruin it?
Speaker 2 (10:14):
Crazy? And how does one guy write so many different
types of people and all of them feel absolutely true.
He's a kid from Pasadena. I could see you doing that.
I don't know, Mike White is Mike White's one of
the greatest writers of all time. Give yourself some credit,
Jeff Jeff Proch. By the way, just turning us on
Jeff Probs is here. We're talking about season forty eight
(10:36):
of Survivor, premiering Wednesday on CBS.
Speaker 4 (10:39):
I have two questions. Question one, okay, the first question
is forty eight seasons. Was there any season where you
said this is it, I'm out after this season.
Speaker 2 (10:49):
There have been some moments where I think just me
and maybe the team are exhausted from the shoot. Especially
it used to be thirty nine days and we would
do two season back to back. Yeah, plus all the preps,
so it felt like you were out there for two
hundred days. And I think that's what would get me
is I would just say, oh my god, I can't
believe we're going to come back and do this again
(11:09):
in you know, a couple of months. But then you
get home and you start looking at the edits and
you get reminded why you love it. But I haven't
had that feeling in years. I've never been clearly so
excited about Survivor. And I think the COVID break was
really good for us because it gave us a moment
to step back, take a breath and say, how can
(11:29):
we flip this game a little bit? And if you
were on location you would see I'm not the only
one who is this passionate. Everybody cares about what we do.
It's really weird. But we have a team that's been
together fifteen, eighteen, twenty years. A lot of people. Wow,
we've grown up together. Here's a crazy stat todate we
have seventy two babies that have been born from people
(11:53):
who met while working together on our show.
Speaker 3 (11:56):
What's so cool?
Speaker 2 (11:57):
Wow? Not seventy two babies of our crew? You met
from people who met how many from crew? No? No,
I'm saying contestants baby No, no, but meaning it's a
fair question. These are people that have met while working
on this show, fell in love, got married, have baby.
So if you come to location at any given time,
you'll see eight, ten, twelve kids running around. So cool.
Speaker 4 (12:19):
My second part is have you made enough money where
if you wanted to walk away you really could?
Speaker 2 (12:24):
Uh that's an yeah.
Speaker 3 (12:26):
Season one Yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:30):
My wife would say no, but we have very different
approaches to that.
Speaker 3 (12:35):
When you look at all of the people who have won,
is there a common thread or like one character trait
about them that you would say, yeah, those those winners
all have this in common.
Speaker 2 (12:43):
I think at this point now I think there is,
and I think it's there is on some level likability.
It doesn't mean you have to be nice. We've had
people who've played vicious games win. But if there's something
about you that isn't that just isn't likable. People are reluctant,
even if you played a great game, to write your
name down for a million dollars. There's just something about us. Intuitively,
(13:07):
we just wanted to go to somebody that's that's you know,
deserves it. And so often what you'll see is somebody
who's played a very tough game. They will say, look,
I know I blindsided you, but I knew if I didn't,
you were coming from me, and you need to respect that.
And then people say, you're right, I was, and I
do respect that, and then they go on to be friends.
So there is something about in life. If you're fun
(13:29):
to be around and you make people feel good about themselves,
you're probably going to go a little further than somebody
who's just you know, a punk. Maybe you should listen
to him commed as soon as he said liability group.
She is officially dommenus of our show. Hey, so I
saw this game. It's called Survivor The Tribe. The Tribe
has Spoken, designed by Jeff Probe. Yeah, you got your
(13:53):
own game. Yeah, we've been working on that for a while.
I partnered with this company, Exploding Kittens, which is a
good game.
Speaker 4 (14:01):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (14:01):
So Elon Lee is a good buddy of mine. So
we teamed up in his team and myself and made
this game. And I can now say, if you're a
Survivor fan, it pretty closely resembles What's your There's what's
your name? Stephanie is a Survivor fan. She has it.
She's nodding at a creepy, creepy rate. But the reviews
have been really great because aside from living in the jungle,
(14:24):
you're playing Survivor and it's pretty addictive and pretty fun
and you get to test your ability to persuade, cajole,
you know, lie, manipulate, and and the box is cool,
the car, everything is straight from the game. So one
thing we couldn't figure out. Fire just burns some furniture. Hey,
so where okay, where can we get?
Speaker 5 (14:45):
Now?
Speaker 2 (14:45):
You can get that like a target. You can get
Amazon anywhere, you know. I'm sure the Paramount store they've
gone it. Yeah, Paramount Store will have it at some point.
I don't think they have it now. It's kind of weird,
kind of weird. I think they're they're working on it,
but it's out. It's selling. I know, I'm sounding like
(15:06):
I'm bragging on my own game. It is selling like
crazy because A we have good fans and B people
are playing it and saying that it plays really well.
So that's what we worked on. Because Survivor's a game,
so we wanted the card game to mirror the game,
and I think it does what Nate. I was talking
to Jeff and he said, you went through how many
versions of this game?
Speaker 4 (15:27):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (15:27):
Like probably eighty whoa wow, But that is you know,
that really is Nate game design. Even on Survivor, when
we have a new advantage or a twist, it has
to marinate for a while and you sit on it.
You go, Okay, so what else would a player do
with it? And then you two weeks later you go,
oh my god, thank god we didn't put that in
the game. Here's what could have happened, And then you
adjust it. So in making this game. We would just
sit around my house and my a table in my
(15:49):
house and just quickly play versions. Because you're working with
game designers. So there's a shorthand. So it is Survivor.
The tribe has spoken. It's the game, and you know
there's if not you, someone in your life is a
Survivor lover and they'll be watching the season premiere of
season forty eight. So good Wednesday. So I'm assuming that
season forty nine is where you're working that now. So
(16:13):
season fifty, right, this is gonna be a little different. Yeah,
tell everyone what's going on. How are we in charge
of season fifty? Okay, So the theme of Survivor fifty
is in the hands of the fans. That's the name
of the season, and what we're gonna we've done where
you vote players in, we've done that. What we've never
done is let the fans decide the game design. So
every week, starting with the premiere Wednesday night, there'll be
(16:35):
four categories you can vote on, and throughout the season
you'll vote on more so that when it's done, the
fans will have designed the kind of game they want
to see played in fifty. The players won't know We're
not gonna reveal anything. We will know and the players
will find out as it unfolds, but it's everything from
We have a thing called the Final Four fire Making Challenge.
Some people love it because it's incredibly dramatic. Other people
(16:58):
think the game should be pure and you should and
have it. Then vote to not have it. We're going
to just see what happens. When do you open this up?
It starts after the premiere. There's the first four categories,
so you vote on like the aesthetic. You can decide
the color scheme of the season. Then you can decide
if you want him to have rice or no Rice.
You can decide if you want the Final four fire
Making Challenge, and we also have one if we should
(17:19):
bring back our Live, Big Live Reunion finale, you have to.
Speaker 4 (17:23):
Yeah, so we missed that.
Speaker 2 (17:24):
So we'll learn all about this Wednesday. Yeah, it starts
on Wednesday, and then you'll have more categories throughout the season.
Interesting question from someone texting us, Jeff, what up they
call you by the name? When will we have an
all female cast? I think the cattiness and drama would
be fantastically It's not a bad idea. It's not I'd
(17:46):
say it's not a bad idea.
Speaker 4 (17:48):
How about geriatric version, like Survivor jeriatrics bad idea.
Speaker 2 (17:51):
By the time by the time Andrew gets on there,
he'll he'll be.
Speaker 3 (17:54):
Okay, the Golden Bachelor.
Speaker 2 (17:57):
They should have the Golden Survivor. Yeah, you know, the
idea of just doing all women or all men, it
is interesting. You just have to sort of really again
marinate on it, think through it because the dynamic and
the different approaches to life is interesting. For instance, when
you list all of the greatest quote unquote characters of Survivor,
(18:18):
a majority of them are men. Why what is it
about what we allow men to say and do socially
versus women's right.
Speaker 3 (18:28):
Well, specifically that text that said that cattiness and drama
would be out of control, My thought was, I don't
think women and men are that different, but women get
called caddy and men get called strategic when they're doing
the exact same thing. So I would love to see that.
Speaker 2 (18:41):
Yeah, I want to be on the all gay Survivor.
We're just a bunch of caddy bitches. Just a thought
you're gay? What on occasion? Oh my god, Jip, he's blushing.
I did you know for a second. I was like, Ah,
(19:02):
should I have said that? Come on, now, you're on
my favorite show on CBS, which is CBS Sunday Morning.
Oh yeah. And one of the things they asked you
was about you're you when you're hosting, when you're doing
your thing? Do you ever get nervous? Do you ever?
(19:22):
I mean, are you just always this naturally relaxed, because
you seem relaxed to me, even if you're asking people,
you know, if they're gay. Right. Well, yeah, John asked
me if I was you ever get nervous like before
season starts or and I don't. And I know that
sounds weird, but I I feel like when the red
light goes on and it's like the tally light of
(19:44):
a camera, that's when I'm the most zoned in. And
when I'm zoned in, I'm just in the moment. What
often happens on Survivor is something will happen. It could
be something crazy that happens that I'm involved with a
Q and A or something, and then I get the
cut to look at and I'm like, I wonder what
I say after that. I don't remember it like months later,
because you know, when you're doing an interview. I'm sure
(20:04):
this happens to you. You're doing a great interview. When
the interview's over, you don't always remember what you talked about.
It's done, it's trapped. Yeah, but you were in it.
You're not. I'm not taking notes about how it's going.
I'm just trying to be there for the player to
respond and drive the story or answer the question. That's
the thing. It's second nature to you. You don't even think
about it. You're just you're You're are you straight? Hold on? Yes?
(20:29):
I don't know. Maybe that's why he'd blush. Well, look
all of the above. If you just turned us on,
Jeff Probes, of course is here season forty eight just
turned me on. I know you do this all day,
big fella.
Speaker 3 (20:44):
I have one question. No, you've three at this point,
having watched forty eight seasons. Do you think you could win?
Speaker 2 (20:50):
No? No, because I would get annoyed that at some
point I would say, I would say, here's the thing
about Nate, and I'm just going to say it right now,
if he tells that story one more time, you know,
I would definitely because you you got to really be
able to hold your stuff together and say, you know,
to yourself. Count it count to one hundred if I
(21:11):
have to. Let's keep it together. And then in interview,
when it's private, you can speak your truth. I tend
to speak my truth a little, just a little too fast,
and regret it almost every time. Never ever regret that
at all. Filters are for babies. Let's not filter what
we need. You're right, I don't really regret it. That
was a great question, by the way, thanks both asking
(21:31):
great questions. I shouldn't I should have stayed home today,
could have.
Speaker 5 (21:34):
I think, Oh my gosh, I think Universal or Disney
should do like like you know how they have the
Indiana Jones experience in like one of those parks.
Speaker 4 (21:46):
How cool would the Survivor one be?
Speaker 2 (21:47):
You know what's funny about you about that is we
started doing these beach drops and they're kind of what
you're talking about on a smaller level where we set
up some big challenges. You can weave palm fronts, and
we just did one Saturday in Manhattan over at the
Chelsea Factory. They're really fun, So we're heading toward the cool.
(22:09):
Well with that's it the game. I want everyone listening
to by at least three of these. Thanks for mentioning
your game. The Tribe is spoken available at Target. Yeah,
I'm sure online all over the place as well. We've
got season forty eight of Survivor premiering Wednesday night on CBS,
and that same night you'll find out how you can
be controlling yep in Survivor fifty. Yeah, so we have
(22:33):
a whole thing with fifty. Fiji Airways is going to
brand a jet for us and we're going to some
families are going to win trips to Fiji to come
to base camp and see Survivors. It's going to be
a really fun year. Wow. You would think that after
forty ex seasons you're running out of new ideas because
I know we've been on how many seasons we had.
We haven't had a new idea since Jimmy Carter was president.
Speaker 4 (22:54):
We just keep stealing them from other people.
Speaker 2 (22:55):
Well, you know that's a pretty good approach. Yeah, you're right,
still theirs and make it yours, Jeff. It's always an
honor to have its fun to be back here. Yeah,
thank you, even though you'll never have our Andrew on
until Geriatric Survivor is out, and you never know, Jeff,
props everyone e
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