Survivor host Jeff Probst has teased how the beginning of Season 49 was much "tougher" for the castaways than in seasons past.
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And according to Jeff, the Survivor 49 players had to face one of -- if not THE -- hottest seasons in show history.
"The beginning is tougher than the normal environment because of the heat," Jeff told Parade in a recent interview.
"And it doesn't sound like a lot, I know. But man, I felt it. The players felt it."
When Survivor 49 premieres with a two-hour episode on Wednesday, September 24 at 8PM ET/PT, if a tribe is unable to earn its supplies, they'll be without shelter in the unrelenting heat.
"It was hard for them to concentrate," Jeff revealed.
"And so in the beginning, even I wondered, 'How is this going to impact the game?' Because Survivor is hard. It is hard, hard, hard. There's no show like it. Nothing comes close to the wear and tear."
The CBS reality series' longtime host continued: "And that messes with your mind, and that messes with your morale. And you have to really dig to find the gas in the tank."
Jeff confirmed that none of the castaways succumbed to the heat and were medically evacuated for that reason, but at the same time, he said viewers will "hear it" constantly.
"Even through me, through my observations of one of the hottest days I can remember. I was sweating through my shirts," Jeff recalled.
"I was having my own issues at the time, trying to formulate thoughts. It was kind of funny. It was a little bit like Fiji was saying to me, 'Now you know what the players are feeling like, Mr. Tough Talk!'"
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Jeff suggested that some of that exhaustion from the heat ultimately turned into silliness and laughter.
"What it seemed to lead to was a really funny season," Jeff teased.
"There's a sense of humor. And I wondered, 'Is this coming due to the fact that they're just exhausted? They're just giving in and having fun with it?'"
Jeff pointed out, however, how the daily temperatures eventually decreased and settled into a comfortable pattern.
"It's a fun season. It's not even a slow build, but a difficult start," Jeff reiterated.
"When the weather finally turns and it's not blistering hot, all of a sudden, the players realize they're in a game in which anything is possible."
The Survivor 49 cast, which was announced in late August, hails from all over the country and ranges in age from 25 through 52.
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Survivor and The Amazing Race will therefore air back-to-back on Wednesday nights, per usual, starting in October.
The brand new Survivor castaways will be looking to outwit, outplay and outlast each other for the $1 million prize.
Two castaways from the new season will also return to play Season 50 when it airs in Spring 2026.
Jeff had announced the 24 "iconic" castaways who will be competing on Survivor 50 during the May 28 episode of CBS Mornings.
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The 24 veteran castaways are a representation of Survivor's long-standing history, as they've been plucked from Season 1 -- which premiered in May 2000 -- all the way through Season 49, which wrapped filming earlier this year.
About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski
