Survivor host Jeff Probst has revealed that he was "genuinely surprised" by the fan votes that poured in for Season 50, dubbed "In the Hands of the Fans."

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Survivor viewers were able to begin voting on 11 categories that could change up the game in Spring 2025, and those results may drastically influence twists and strategy when Season 50 premieres Wednesday, February 25 at 8PM ET/PT on CBS.

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Fans, for instance, were able to vote on whether there should be a fire-making challenge prior to the Final 3 Tribal Council or a regular old-fashioned vote.

After Jeff, Survivor's showrunner, turned the power over to the fans, he admitted to Entertainment Weekly he was pretty shocked by the voting results.

"I was surprised. I was genuinely surprised. But I had given in to doing whatever the vote was, right?" Jeff told EW while filming Survivor 50 on location in Fiji.

Jeff said he was going to be fine with whatever the fans decided.

"That was honestly the biggest hurdle from the beginning," the show's longtime host explained.

"Somebody would say, 'So you're sure you're okay if these votes come in, in this sort of fashion?' CBS kept saying, 'This is a legal thing. You can't just change your mind!'"

Jeff continued, "But we just kept looking at the game and thinking: What if what the fans wanted was to give them rice, give them supplies, have no idols? They could all be about relationships and no advantages and twists. Great! You look at this group, they could do it."

Survivor's milestone season will feature 24 returning castaways from different eras of the game.

While Jeff apparently put trust in the veteran players to navigate what could be a complicated -- and wildly different -- game, Jeff admitted it was difficult to map out the season when he couldn't make the rules.

According to Jeff, practicing patience was key.

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"I'm used to being in charge of the game and knowing what's coming and knowing that there are turning points in the episodes and things that are going to change the story," Jeff explained.

"And in this case, you don't know that. So every time we did a new vote, I would just wait for the results to come in."

Jeff said Survivor producers simply had to run with what the fans wanted, whether they liked it or not.

"And then we have to figure out how to produce around that. Whether it's a full scale, go and do what you want, or whether it's a severe limitation because of a decision they made," Jeff shared.

"That is what was the key to that idea working is it doesn't matter what the fans decide, what matters is you don't know what they've decided."

Jeff was apparently hoping some of the returnees would harness the fan vote and use it an opportunity to lie and outwit in order to get ahead.

"I'll be really curious if anybody will try to use the fact that nobody knows for sure and be like 'I'm going to tell you that I know,'" Jeff said of the potential strategy.

"That's what I would do is say, 'Look, I got a note and there's nothing in the game,' or 'I got to note and everything's in the f-cking game.' Or 'I got a note and there's new things in the game.' Whatever it is, you don't know if I know or not."

Jeff said producers ultimately hoped fans will be more invested in this season than ever before given they helped to shape it and create it.

"Even the color scheme they picked is fantastic!" Jeff gushed.

Survivor executive producer Matt Van Wagenen, meanwhile, called the "In the Hands of the Fans" theme "slightly freeing."

"We don't have to make that decision. It's like, 'Okay, here are some options. You guys pick, and then that's what we're going to do,'" Matt told EW in a separate interview.

"There's always a lot of thought and consternation and what would be the best scenario for this season coming off of what happened last season. In this case, it's 'What did they pick?' So we followed their lead."

Matt also agreed with Jeff that "there were some surprises" about the fan voting results.

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"And some [of the choices] went as I thought would be expected. But one of the things that's going to be fun about the season is with so many question marks as a player, you can use that to your advantage," Matt teased.

"You can make things up. You can lie. There are going to be things revealed as the season progresses, but for a long time, you can kind of bullsh-t your way a little bit."


About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski

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