Survivor host Jeff Probst has defended the celebrity twists and cameos in Season 50.

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In the trailer for Survivor's upcoming 50th season that aired at the conclusion of Survivor 49 in December, CBS showed that the new "In the Hands of the Fans" season will feature Billie Eilish, Jimmy Fallon, Zac Brown and Jimmy "MrBeast" Donaldson.

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"Once we committed to turning the game design over to the fans, the next question became: 'How far can we go with this idea!?'" Jeff told Variety in a recent interview.

While many viewers worry celebrity participation will feel like an intrusion or distraction, Jeff assured fans that won't be the case.

"We knew some of Survivor's biggest fans happen to be celebrities, so we thought sprinkling a few of them in with their own unique twists felt like a fun way to make the game even more unpredictable!" Jeff explained.

The longtime host and showrunner added, "It definitely caught the players off guard in some really exciting ways, and added another layer to this celebratory season."

Survivor's milestone 50th season is set to premiere on Wednesday, February 25 on CBS, and Jeff insisted that the cast of returning players will be the focus.

"I think it's a legitimate concern when you start adding layers like celebrities, that they can overshadow the game and take it off course," Jeff noted.

"Our job was to make sure that we stayed true to what we're doing on Survivor, which is exploring this continuous social experiment. And now we're adding another layer."

Jeff acknowledged that adding "idolatry" into the game was just another test for the Survivor castaways.

"[With that], you add different perceptions and reputations. Suddenly, people can get off track a little bit, or they lean in, and they want something to do with Jimmy Fallon," Jeff said.

"A lot of the players said, 'I've always dreamed of being in a MrBeast video.' So the twist is designed to see if you can stay on course with the thought process you should -- or how is it going to shift your thought process, and will it do you in?"

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Jeff also clarified that he never went searching for celebrities to appear on Survivor 50.

Instead, Jeff said these celebrities, who have also become his friends over the years, approached him to be a part of the iconic series.

"Jimmy texts me ideas all the time about Survivor, and we put some of them in the show, and we've always talked about this idea," Jeff revealed.

Jeff chose to keep the details of that "idea" under wraps, but he's apparently excited about it playing out on TV.

"I think people will see, when they see these play out, I think they'll understand these are legit Survivor fans who wanted to be a part of 50," Jeff said.

And Jeff suggested that working with these celebrities and influencers was also a learning experience for him.

"Who knows what influence I will take from that?" Jeff pointed out. "I'm sure in some ways, I will take things from my time with Jimmy and go, 'I could use some elements of that in Survivor."

He added, "The key point for me was, our show is not changing."

Jeff said Jimmy's appearance and aspects of Beast Games were just things to "explore" on Survivor.

"If you look at the two shows, Beast Games asks one question: What will people do for money? Survivor asks a different question: Who are you when you're stripped of everything?" Jeff shared.

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While MrBeast's role on Survivor remains unclear, the trailer teased him showing up with a briefcase.

"When you take people who are being stripped of everything and then you bring in maybe the most well-known person for unpredictable moments, it took the uncertainty to another level," Jeff concluded.

Also in the Survivor 50 trailer, fans caught a glimpse of Season 49 players Savannah Louie, a 31-year-old former reporter from Walnut Creek, CA, and Rizo Velovic, a 25-year-old in tech sales from Yonkers, NY, playing the game for the second time in Fiji.

Savannah was crowned champion of Survivor's 49th season after tying a Survivor record with a handful of other powerful women for four Individual Immunity wins in a single season.

Rizo, for his part, finished the season in fourth place after he lost the fire-making challenge to Savannah.

Although the Survivor 50 cast was announced in late May, CBS waited to announce the identities of the two returning players from Season 49 in order to avoid spoiling the show's Fall 2025 season.

"I'm over the moon excited about Survivor 50," Survivor host and executive producer Jeff Probst told Entertainment Weekly in December.

"As you can tell from the promo -- Survivor 50's got it all -- scale, history, unpredictability, jaw dropping moments, iconic players, emotional depth, crazy surprises, fan-driven chaos, and a sense that anything can and will happen and at any given moment."

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Jeff predicted that Survivor's 50th season will go down in the books as one of the best ever.

"It's not a question of if Survivor 50 will be great," Jeff noted. "The only question is where it will land in the ranking of greatest seasons of all time."




About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski

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