Jeff Probst Media Teleconference

Survivor Host Jeff Probst Takes Calls from Members of the Media

Transcript by SurvivorFever.net

Date: 1.29.08

Question:  I was wondering if you could start off by telling us something about the fans who are a part of this season.  How did you pick them and what are some of the different personalities?

Jeff:  How we picked them was, for the most part we wanted to find the biggest fans that we had.  Kathy applied, I think, seven times.  In fact, we almost put her on Vanuatu.  She didn't make the cut and so we kind of had her floating around.  She's crazy...crazy to the point of being so wacky that it's peculiar and entertaining.  She is at her core a huge Survivor fan.  She knows everything that ever happened on every episode.  She knows everybody that ever played and she wants to play.  That was sort of what we were looking for in everybody.  We have this kid, Erik, from a really small town, Pinckney, Michigan.  He's 22, he's been watching the show since it went on the air.  When we met him in casting he said, "I've been waiting for this day.  I've been praying that the show would be on long enough so that I could get a chance.  Erik is this kid that, he's so endearing.  He shows up on the island wearing...he's a runner.  He's a long distance track runner, a cross-country runner.  He shows up in a track outfit, green.  Everything is green, his shoes, his pants.  He's got this long almost lion-like mane of hair.  He's bouncing with energy.  He can't believe it when he finds out that he's playing against people like Ozzy and James, his idols.  There's another kid, Jason, he's the same way.  He's a young guy and kind of aspires to be Ozzy. He talks the talk.  Jason Siska is 22 also.  He was from the Virgin Islands.  He really fancies himself Ozzy Jr. and that's all he could talk about, "I can't wait to meet Ozzy."  Almost like he has a man-crush.  He says, "I  can't wait to get out there and show him what I can do."  I was sitting there thinking, 'It's one thing to talk the talk that you think you can take on Ozzy but it's another thing entirely to do what Ozzy does in this game.'  And Ozzy comes out on day one and is just as good as he ever was.  That was the idea.  We wanted people that would be enamored when they discovered that they were playing against some of the favorite people to ever play Survivor.  We hoped what would happen is that that idolatry would turn into animosity and then it did.  The first few moments of the show we bring out the fans onto a beach and it's pouring down rain.  It's raining so hard and the camera lenses are getting water on them.  Everybody is just obliterated, drenched in water.  Then we bring out the favorites.  It's like they're at a rock concert, watching their favorite rock star. They're just applauding, here comes James, here comes Yau-Man, and oh my gosh, Ozzy.  Then when they realize that the favorites weren't really there to make any new friends, the game quickly became us against them.  That's how they hunkered down.  The fans wanted to be sure that a fan won the game.  The favorites wanted to be certain that no matter what a favorite won the game. 

Question:  Who did you think had the edge?  The favorites, who have all been there before or the fans who are an unknown quantity and who have watched the favorites? 

JP:  I think it's a little of both.  When you look at the favorites, you've got ten people who average maybe 30 days out there.  That's 300 days, that's nearly a year's worth of experience.  When it comes to building shelter, making fire and knowing how to play this game from a strategy point of view.  That's a huge advantage.  On the flip side, you can't hide if you're a favorite.  Everybody knows Yau-Man is not just a nice older guy who's trying to help you find coconuts.  They know this guy is a strategic player and has to be watched.  There's nowhere to hide if they know you're a physical threat in every single challenge.  So that puts a big target...I think if you're a favorite, you have a big target on your back.  Everybody's afraid of James.  They know he could've won it last time if he hadn't made such a blunder with the idol.  So, there's nowhere to hide.  If you're a fan, nobody knows you. Nobody knows Erik is athletic.  Nobody knows Jason grew up on an island.  I think the advantage that the fans have is that they can become whoever they want to be.  They aren't a known quantity.  The other things the fans have going for them is that they don't know how hard it's going to get.  When we did the last All Stars season, about day 9, 10, 11, some of the All Stars started remembering how miserable this experience can be and they were only a 3rd of the way in.  It kind of took a dent out of their enthusiasm whereas the fans have no idea.  They're going on pure adrenalin. 

Question:  To what extent where any of the fans able to change their game up? 

JP:  That's the big question.  If you're a favorite and you want to win this game, you'd better have Plan B.  If all you're going to do is be Ozzy and come out there and try to win challenges,  you have no chance.  You look at somebody like Parvati.  Why is she out there?  She's out there for the 2nd chance.  That's the same reason we had Amber on in the All Stars.  We looked at Parvati and we said, "She played one beat last time, the flirt."  It didn't work.  It got her a long way but it didn't work.  What if Parvati can combine being a flirt with some newfound strategy.  That's what Parvati has to do, come out and have another layer.  Same with Jonathan.  The guy was completely exposed as being absolutely untrustable.  You know, you can't trust Jonathan at all.  He showed you that.  He betrayed everybody in the Cook Islands. He flipped from one side to the other.  That was everybody's task coming in, how do I reinvent myself in a way that can fool people who have already played.  

Question:  Can you talk about what it feels like to get the renewal for another two cycles of Survivor and any thoughts on what those two cycles might entail?

JP:  Personally, for me, all you'd really have to do is step inside my shoes for a single moment and you'd understand why I'm still on Survivor.  I travel the world.  I get to host and produce one of the most fascinating shows on television.  I get paid more money than any college drop-out should ever dream of making.  When I'm not working, I have a lot of free time to think about what a great life I have.  For me, it was an easy decision.  As far as the show goes, I think the reason that Survivor is still on the air and why it's endured is, great story-telling.  I've always felt that Survivor is Joseph Campbell at it's best.  It's unscripted, real life drama.  Everybody in this game is on their own journey.  They leave their ordinary life behind and they embark on this adventure that will forever change their life.  Anybody who comes onto this game, whether they last three days or 39, their lives are forever changed.  They almost always experience a spiritual death whether it's being voted out, which is a death in this game, or whether it's finding yourself so low you don't know how you're ever going to make it and you think about quitting.  Then you dig deep and you revert and you're a new person.  Some people would say, oh Probst, that's really corny.  I don't think it is.  I sit out there and watch these people cry and cry and cry and say, "I think I gotta go home."  Then somebody comes up and says, "Just hang in there another day."  Before you know it, they're kicking ass on day 35 and they got a shot at a million bucks." That is a death and rebirth and your life is forever changed. 

Question:  In selecting the people for this season, what was your role and who did you want that you couldn't get?

JP:  We did something interesting with casting of the favorites.  We refer to it as "the big con".  We alluded to the fact that there would be 20 people on the season.  So when we started talking to the favorites they figured there must be 20 favorites going, it's an All Stars season.  So, we had 20 people on the hook thinking they were going.  Knowing all along we were only taking 10 and that the other 10 were going to be fans.  That for us was important because we knew all these guys were talking on the phone to each other and trying to build alliances before the show even started.  So we wanted to complicate it a little bit.  I think it worked.  Some of the people that we wanted on the show and just didn't have a spot for...Shane from Exile Island.  Yul, we wanted back.  A couple of the people that we wanted that didn't want to do it were Tom Westman from Palau.  I ran into Tom in New York.  We were talking.  I said, "If we ever did another All Star, would you do it?"  He said, "There's no chance. Look at how it played for me.  I came out as a hero. Everything went my way.  I'm the fireman who was the nice guy and won.  All I would do is tarnish that image.  I'm not going through it again."  The other person we really wanted back was Courtney from last season.  She didn't want to do it either.  So we had a couple people turn us down.  But for the most part as you can imagine it was a feeding frenzy of favorites calling our casting director, pleading their case as to why they would make a good choice. 

Question:  You talked about this season and how you picked the people.  Have you started to even think about the next two that CBS has picked up and you might be able to twist things up a little bit more?

JP:  We just had a creative meeting last week with two executive producers, a casting director, myself and Mark.  We're already looking at a couple of big locations that would be fantastic if we can work it out.  We started the process of how do we change the game up a little bit.  It's always a balancing act.  We have something like Fans Vs. Favorites and we feel like, okay, that's our creative.  Now we just spin off of that.  If we have a really great location like going to China, that can be your creative.  If you go back to the Cook Islands, if we were to go back into a situation we've already been in then we have to find really big creative.  So, we have a few different options that we can use for new creative but we're always thinking about it.  More emails go back and forth during the off-season about creative than anything else.

Question:  Where's the line between creative and cheesy? 

JP:   Uh, boy, that's great.  In the eye of the viewer, I guess.  One of the things that I always admire about Mark is that he's not afraid to take a very big chance.  Even looking at Pirate Master.  Pirate Master is easy to look at now and say it didn't work.  What to me is more impressive is that Mark was willing to take a chance that it might work.  Historically, I think if you look at all of the things that we've tried, in 16 seasons, the majority have worked.  It's only the exception, like the outcasts or Fiji, the entire season, it happens.  There's really no way to know until you do it. You can't go re-shoot the ending. 

Question:  You kind of speak with a reverence for the favorites.  I was wondering if you feel passionately about the alumni or are rooting for them.  I know you have a history with them.

JP:  Yeah, that's fair.  I certainly don't root for them.  For me, a good season would be lose one from each tribe every single week.  That keeps the game interesting.  We have some fans that people are going to like and root for.  But yeah, I know these guys so there's a report that we have.  There are people like Jonathan Penner, one of my favorite all time Survivors because he gets it, quote, unquote.  He knows what the show is.  He knows that it is a game for a million dollars.  He's also aware that it is being televised.  He's a great storyteller.  I appreciate that.  Jonathan complains more than anybody has ever complained in this game.  At every challenge he's whining and bitching that something's not fair. It cracks me up.  It gives you an opportunity to go back and forth.  Same with a guy like Jonny Fairplay.  Not my favorite person in the world but in terms of the show, he's gonna do something.  In the very beginning I made a point of going over to the fans and saying, "I know you guys might think I'm more friendly with them or you see a history but I'm completely objective in this game and I really don't care who wins.  I'll be the same with you as I am with them."  I think they were feeling that.  I think the first couple of days they thought, 'Oh, Probst likes those guys better than us.'  And so, I tried to remedy that. 

Question:  After 16 seasons would it be fair to say that you know all of the strategies to winning the game?

JP:  No.  We have a record number of blindsides this season.  It is amazing how many blindsides happen in a row.  You would think after this many seasons that pulling off a blindside would be tough. But it just showed me, you really have to have your wit about you in this game.  If you are not aware then you're in the fog.  If you're in the fog, you're in trouble.  My jaw dropped at so many votes.  At so many Tribal Councils, the Tribal Council would end and I would say to them, "Got me again. And you got them again."  You had people scratching their heads going, "How did this happen to me?"  So, I definitely don't think I know all of the strategies. I think the best players play the game moment to moment. 

Question:  I wanted to ask you about the possibility of some of the newcomers being underestimated.  To use the example of Erik, he looks like he's one of the smallest guys.  He's certainly one of the youngest guys.  He looks kind of sweet.  He's an athlete who set a high school running record.  Would you think he was underestimated as far as his ability.  Was that an advantage or disadvantage to him?

JP:  I think the initial take on Erik was, he's a little silly.  He runs everywhere.  Even when we have them in lockdown before the show starts we take them to this place that we always refer to as The Ponderosa.  It's a bunch of tents where they have to live until the game starts and they can't talk.  When we were meeting with the Survivors right before the game started, kinda just to see how things were going, everybody commented about the kid in the green shorts who runs everywhere.  I think that was the take going in.  To Erik's credit, he is much sharper than I think people give him credit for, initially.  He's much more of an athlete than I think anybody knew.  You look at him and and he's thin and obviously in shape but he's strong.  He has a determination to do what it takes and that can get you a long way in Survivor. Just that willingness to dig deep and go for it, not think about it, can go a long way. 

Question:  Sometimes the conditions can just run down somebody who runs at the start. I don't know what time of year it was in Micronesia.  Was it hot and brutal or was it actually kind of pleasant? 

JP:  During the time we were in Palau, the rainy season had just ended.  The Philippines were having some bad weather and as a result we got a lot of storms.  It made it a very difficult season.  So difficult that, this season more than any other, there's always a physical toll on our crew.  Those guys are always getting beat up.  We're always sending guys to the hospital, we're sending guys home, we have new people come out.  This time the cast suffered.  I don't want to give too much away.  You will see that the Survivors took a physical beating like we've never had before.  Nothing compares to how tough it was for them this time.  You will see that play out on the show. 

Question:  I want to ask you about one of the fans, Mary Sartain. 

JP:  I was on the fence about Mary.  Coming into the game I think her battle is going to be getting in with the right group.  So much of Survivor is who you align yourself with initially.  If you pick wisely you can ride that alliance quite far.  If you're on the wrong side of the numbers you could be gone before you even get a chance.  That's what I thought about Mary coming in.  I didn't have a big strong take on, she's going to be a leader or a follower.  That's the thing I would be watching for with Mary.  Which way does she lean right when the game starts? That happens to me a lot.  I would say there's always half a dozen people that I just have no idea.  There was no question that Erik was going to come out and just bounce off the wall.  He couldn't help himself.  Mary is quieter and that can be a really great way to approach the game is to just blend into the forest and hope nobody notices. 

Question:  I was talking to Yul the other day and asked if he would ever do it again.  He said maybe if they ever do an all winners one.  Has that been kicked around?

JP:  Yeah, it has.  You know, we have to wait for Hatch to get out of prison.  Aside for that, no, we have.  We've talked about that at a certain point it might be fun to bring back all the winners and see if we can crown the ultimate Survivor winner.  I think it's a great idea and maybe it's a way you end your run.  Maybe that's the last season you do, is something like that.  It definitely has merit. 

Question:  I know roughly the parameters of when you film these things. Some of these people from the last one, Amanda and James, in Amanda's case, she must have went on this one before she knew how the last one turned out.

JP:  She did.  Amanda had no idea what the result was going to be when she headed out for this one again.  When everybody left to go do Fans Vs. Favorites, James hadn't been voted off yet and neither had Amanda.  So, you have two people out there and everybody looking at them thinking, 'Well, you must have done well because you're on the favorites season.  How well did you do.'  I think if they had known either one of those guys had won, that might impact the game.  What do James and Amanda tell the others? How much of their hand do they play?  They don't want to have this target on their back.  In the case of Amanda, she didn't know.  She had no idea, maybe I did just win it. 

Question:  What roughly was the turn around time?

JP:  It was about six weeks, I think.  It was very odd for me to show up and see James and Amanda again.  Like, wow we just left.  Oddly, James was bigger than he was in China. The guy put on 10 pounds of muscle.  I don't know how he did it.  Both of them had great attitudes.  We did not have any of the attitude when we did the first All Stars.  That first All Stars season there was so much entitlement.  Some of these people who had been pseudo rock stars because of being on the first Survivor...people like Sue and Richard, those guys.  It was tough.  There was a lot of attitude.  This group, they were great.  They were fun, they enjoyed the chance to come back.  We took a lot of time in picking 10 people that we thought would compliment each other.  We didn't just pick the 10 most physical.  We wanted game players.  We wanted second chancers.  We wanted favorites that the audience would love.  We wanted a really good combination.  They were a great group. 

Question:  Getting back to how the game has changed.  It's a little bit kinder, gentler than it was in those first few.  There are more rewards on yachts and villages where they're well taken care of.  Less of eating the really yucky stuff.  Is that conscious or is that really just an evolution?

JP:  I think it's both.  I think initially we were reluctant to give them anything very nice.  Mark always wanted it to remain extremely difficult and to really test your mental capability to withstand conflict.  Over the years we've learned that there's a balance between making this difficult and making this demoralizing.  We realized that if we put them on a yacht and we wash their clothes and we give them a massage and a big meal and dessert, that it only lasts for those three hours.  It doesn't give them any nutrition more than the next morning.  What it does is it renews their spirit that they can make it.  We need that.  We need the contestants to want to continue to play the game.  We're constantly sort of gauging that temperature.  We may have a reward and at the last minute add that we're going to give them showers.  We can see that that will put them over the edge.  That will get them back in our good graces.  We might let them steal a little food and bring it back to the rest of the tribe.  Five years ago, no way.  We saw you take a nut we would get it out of your pocket.  Now the producers out on the beach are told, "Use your judgment. If you think it will help your story, let them take back some chocolate cake and make everybody happy." 

Question:  They all split up initially as fans and favorites, right?

JP:  Right from the beginning.  When they first meet on the beach and discover who they're playing against there's this initial moment of worship from the fans for the favorites.  Then by the first challenge there was such animosity toward each other.  We have some physical challenges in the 2nd episode, one of our most physical ever.  It's basically a game of tackle the dummy.  You have Joel.  He made a comment about, "Well up until this season James had been the biggest and most physical Survivor ever.  I can't wait to go after him."  You have Joel wanting to take on James.  You have Erik and Jason wanting to take on Ozzy.  Some of the women were wanting to outmaneuver the other women.  It became a battle more quickly.

Question:  I was wondering if you're aware that Yul is considering running for congress?

JP:  We had Yul on our list to come back.  We couldn't find a spot for him.  As much as we liked Yul and Shane we just didn't know who we would take out to put them in.  I had no idea he's running for congress.  He's a sharp guy.  He's so analytical and he's constantly looking at options.  He was known for running scenarios. 

Question:  One of the rumors circulating was that you would do a celebrity version of Survivor. What stars do you think would benefit most from coming on your show?

JP:  I never heard that rumor. We talked about doing a celebrity version, waaaaaay back, like in season three.  Now that it's become the norm to do celebrity reality shows, I don't think Survivor would ever do it.  Why don't we just get young Hollywood.  It would be a little bit of rehab.

Question:  I talked to Coby from Palau.  He said that he was on a list of potential candidates along with Janu and Terry.  Is there any truth to that? 

JP:  Well, at a certain point, yes.  He was being considered, at a certain point.  I can't say how far into the mix he made it.  We liked him on the show.  He was great and so was Janu.  The truth is, you have 10 spots.  You have a couple of certains. You're gonna have Ozzy.  You're gonna have Yau-Man.  You're gonna have James.  And you're gonna have Fairplay.  Then you go to people like Cirie.  Then you want somebody like Parvati.  You want the quote, unquote, hot girl who's gonna flirt and maybe surprise everybody.  Then you need the game changers in Eliza and Ami, people that will betray at the drop of a hat.  If Ami can get her way she will get that girls alliance again that she had in Vanuatu and try to run the game.  That's what I meant earlier about trying to handpick the right ten.  It wasn't that these were the 10 most favorite, it was 10 favorites.  I know there were some people that weren't selected and I know their feelings are hurt.  It doesn't mean they weren't worthy of being on the season.  It just means that we picked 10 people for reasons that have nothing to do about you. 

Question:  Someone like Jonny Fairplay, for example, do you see him having learned anything from Pearl Islands or is he just still Fairplay?

JP:  I cannot tell you if Fairplay is coming or going, honest or a liar, straight or bent.  I have no idea.  The guy is a huge fascinating question to me.  I watch all the reality shows he's done and him getting tossed on his face and now marrying somebody and having a baby.  I really don't know what to think.  I think it's quite a life he's leading.  My initial reaction when we decided to do this season was, let's don't bring Fairplay back.  He's not our pedigree anymore.  We don't need him.  We made him.  He went out and did something with it but he's kind of used it up.  Then wiser heads prevailed, and I quickly realized, how can you do this season without Fairplay.  He's your most notorious figure ever.  I can tell you that we got exactly what we expected and deserved with putting Fairplay on the show. 

Question:  It's my understanding that you guys have brought Exile Island back.

JP:  Yeah, we brought Exile Island back.  The idea this time was you bring each week one person from each tribe that will have to go to Exile Island.  So you will always have one fan and one favorite.  The idea behind that was twofold.  One is that you're going to have one person from each tribe spend time together so that if and when they merge these could be alliance breakers.  We might have new relationships form that could play out after the merge.  That was the strategy part of it.  From a game point of view, we have one idol hidden somewhere out on Exile Island.  You have two people, one clue, one idol.  How is this gonna work? How are you gonna sneak away and look for the idol without the other person?  What will you do if you both find it? Who will own it? No matter what they're probably going to know you found it.  How do you keep them quiet?  I can tell you that the idols play a major part in this season.  Capital letters.  They do have more impact than I think they've ever had.  They have more impact this season than ever before.  Luckily for James, James currently holds the title of biggest blunder in Survivor history.  Luckily for him, he only holds it for one season.  Because we have someone this season that makes an even bigger blunder.  A major blunder.  I know when it happened that James was thinking, thank God.

Question:  What brought you back to Palau?

JP:  Palau is, hands down, the most beautiful place we've been.  We have great underwater photography.  You're going to see all kinds of underwater sea life.  You'll see great shots at challenges.

Question:  Are there any drawbacks with returning to the same place?

JP:  No, not in this case.  If you're going back to the same place, you've got to have creative.  Our creative this year was fans versus favorites.  We don't want to waste a brand new epic location because they're hard to find.  We didn't expect it to be as rainy. 

Question:  The Survivors can bring one luxury item, right?  It always seems like the women have very well shaved legs.

JP:  They are given absolutely nothing.  They are given a pot and a machete and maybe a flint.  Some of the people get a laser procedure that will go in a little deeper than a shave can go.  Those women have more hair than you see.  We had a moment this season where a woman...we had a camera placed at a strategic angle for an endurance challenge...she was gonna have to raise her hand above her head...she said, "Oh, man, that camera is going to be shooting right at my armpit."  It's a full hairy armpit.  They don't have tweezers, they don't shave.  They have tampons and they have condoms.  We don't want to have any Survivor babies. If it were to ever happen.  We strip search them before the show.  We have their suitcase and we say, "You can have this, this and that."  

Question:  Do you film in HD?

JP:  No.  We're still debating about HD and the cost.  Everybody wants us to do it.  I think it's a matter of CBS saying we're going to do it and here's the extra money.  I do have one other thing I want to say.  We have love affairs this season.  Plural.  They play from episode two, they start.  We have some of the most intimate footage we've ever had of a love affair developing and consummating in a Survivor way.  We have the most intimate footage of Survivors being intimate that we've ever had.  It was brilliant how we got it.  How we captured it because it's hard to do because they try to hide.  We out-thought them and got some great footage.  There's two love affairs that play a big part in this season all the way to the end. 

Question:  You've touched on Jonny Fairplay a little bit. 

JP:  Fairplay and I have had an interesting relationship...this WWE relationship.  Where he's this crazy drunk villain and I'm his straight man.  At a certain point I just got tired of it.  I don't want you in my life man.  Please don't come to anymore of the parties.  Then I have a change of heart.  I started seeing Fairplay as a guy who is struggling.  That he is a real person and he created this persona.  It's kind of become his legacy. Underneath that is this guy trying to live a life.  He's got his demons like we all do.  Now he's going to be a father.  I kind of had a big change of heart.  Now I just see him as a guy who is on this reality show Survivor and he created a persona and he damn well better deliver, we're going to give you one of ten spots. You better show up.  Other than that, I don't think a lot about it, one way or the other. 

Question:  Did your change of heart happen before or after he got dropped on his face?

JP:  It happened before that.  That was really uncomfortable to watch.  My first reaction as a person who's in the reality world, I had a little bit of skepticism.  Was that a real moment, was that a planned, staged moment that went awry?  I saw the damage to his teeth when he was on the show.  It wasn't fake.  It was real.  It was just disturbing.  We have a pretty high class show.  We have some of the best storytelling on television.  That's what we work hard at is trying to craft 39 days, 20 people, several 1000 hours of footage into a compelling dramatic season.