Jeff Probst reveals there will be no returning Survivor players through season 48

All newbies, all the time.

By Dalton Ross

Published on February 16, 2024

Season 41 marked a new era of Survivor. We know it marked a new era because host and showrunner Jeff Probst kept telling us it was a new era. And he proved it with lots of changes. Seasons now went by numbers (Survivor 41) instead of themes (Survivor: Winners at War). There were tons of new bells and whistles. People kept taking journeys while also going to places “where good things happen.”

But there has been one other pretty dramatic shift in the new era that does not get talked about nearly as much: the lack of returning players. If you don’t include Bruce Perreault — who was more of a do-over as opposed to a returning player because he got injured just minutes into his first season — Survivor has featured no returning players in the new era. Again, if you don’t include Bruce, the six-season stretch of all-newbies currently underway marks the longest streak of not bringing back all-stars since the show first started bringing players back with Survivor: All-Stars in season 8.

It’s a streak the host himself did not even realize was happening. “That is really interesting,” Probst tells EW when informed of the stretch. “I did not know that statistic.”

The reason Probst did not know about it is because when it comes to bringing back all-stars, Probst and his team “haven't even thought about it,” and that is due to the fresh faces that have been coming up in the casting process. “I'm so happy with our casting team,” Probst says. “I can't tell you how fun it is when I'm in a casting session and this new person pops onto my screen and I get to talk to them about their life. The team is finding such interesting people, and those people are now being on the show and that influences people to apply.”

According to Probst, it is that cycle that makes returning players unnecessary, and not just for Survivor 46 (which premieres Feb. 28 on CBS) but for the next two seasons as well, which will begin filming this spring. “It's just a constant flow of fascinating people. Why would we want returning players? Not yet. Time is on our side. Let's just keep going here. And that's how I feel about seasons 47 and 48. We're already meeting the people who are going to be playing months from now and we are jazzed about it. So until you said that, I don't think I'd given it any thought. There was no thought about returning players in 46 or 47 or 48.”

Of course, there is always the temptation — for both producers and viewers — to want electric contestants like fan-favorite Carolyn Wiger back on their TV screens since they bring an almost-guaranteed entertainment value, but Probst notes the equation is not that simple.

“I think you've hit upon why we haven't done it yet,” responds the host. “When you say, ‘Let's bring Carolyn back’ — totally agreed. I’d love to see Carolyn play again.. There's a bunch of people I'd love to see play again. We don't know who our returning players would be, but what you made me realize is creatively we look at things like this: If there is a full alphabet for an idea, and it goes from A to Z and that A to Z is for one idea, it's easy to go from A to M to W to Z and get four great hits out of it. We would prefer to go from A to B to C to D to E to F, because we believe there's gold in the wrinkle and in that little crevice. There's a little nuance, it's slightly different, let's explore that.”

For Probst, the bottom line is “we're not there yet for returning players. We feel like the new era is still unfolding, and you're going to see it in season 46.” And, it seems, 47 and 48 as well.

Source: https://ew.com/survivor-host-jeff-probst-no-returning-players-through-season-48-8580609

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Brian