The Survivor gods have spoken…and an international government agent as well. Fans of the long-standing reality show will rejoice to know that Season 41 of Survivor is finally taking a step forward in production.
After much delay from the onslaught of the pandemic, news broke that Survivor would begin filming in a few days in Fiji. The Fiji Ministry of Trade and Commerce Minister Faiyaz Koya told FBC:
Survivor will be filming in Fiji with the crew expecting to arrive in the next few days. They have to stagger the way they actually come because most of the crew are sitting in different parts of the world but all done under the guidance of the Ministry of Health. We follow the necessary protocol to protect our own citizens.
In an effort to preserve public safety, Fiji closed its borders to non-citizens last year. This ultimately forced CBS to sidestep its normal March 2020 filming timeframe. Survivor host Jeff Probst sent out a statement to the crew at the time that the hope was to pick up filming in May 2020. Alas, it was not meant to be, pushing the delays even further.
But now, with a solid report of crew touching down in Fiji, Survivor will surely grace our screens sometime this year. As of this writing, neither CBS nor Jeff Probst have commented on production or when the premiere date will be for Season 41. It is likely, though, that if filming stays on schedule, we could see a premiere date in June or July. A summer premiere would more than likely alter Survivor’s long running schedule of a fall and winter premiere, but one can still hope.
Survivor fans were left dangling with hope recently when Jeff Probst was spotted in a Super Bowl LV commercial last weekend. Hints at a “cliffhanger” by the Survivor executive producer and host had many speculating about potential concrete news from the network or Probst. But it turned out to be just another promotion for the Paramount+ streaming service, a rebrand of CBS All Access.
News of Survivor filming in Fiji will probably have fans also speculating on what the theme could possibly be for this year. Season 40 came under the theme “Winners at War,” which saw only previous winners returning to compete. Fan favorites Boston Rob, Jeremy Collins and Parvarti Shallow returned for the season, but the crown ultimately went to Tony Vlachos – the only other player besides Sandra Diaz-Twine to win Survivor twice.
Perhaps the new Survivor theme will be “Individuals in Isolation” or “Everyone for Themselves,” with competition on an individual game from the start (in a nod to coronavirus and our self-imposed isolation form this past year). I'll leave the branding to CBS and any further speculation to the fans, though.
Whatever the theme, it is sure to be a doozy. Survivor is notorious for trying to one up itself over the decades, and following Winners at War and a global pandemic, one can only imagine what the producers will they do next?
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