Survivor Season 45 is rolling right along for CBS viewers (or those watching with a Paramount+ subscription), and 62-year-old host Jeff Probst is still rolling with it. While there have been a couple of disappointing tribal councils and other polarizing moments this season, interest in the show remains high, so it's not a stretch to believe that we'll be watching Season 50 in a few years. Probst recently made it clear he's on board to stay on board for such a milestone season and more, provided at least one condition is met.
Jeff Probst fielded fan inquiries at the end of a recent episode of On Fire: The Official Survivor Podcast, where one listener questioned if Season 50 might serve as the host's final season heading up the series. Probst confirmed his interest in the reality competition is as strong as it has ever been, but of course, the show has to actually make it to the milestone for him to even have a decision to make about it. In his words:
I still love Survivor very much. I think that's pretty clear. Survivor 50 is definitely our next big target in terms of a milestone, but you’ve got to remember: We've got to get there. So you have to do 45 and 46, then you have to do 47 and 48, then you have to do 49, then you get to 50. So it is one at a time.
Provided Survivor maintains its pace of 2 seasons a year, then Season 50 should arrive in the next two and a half years or so. For viewers, that's still a lot of everyday living, which may or may not include streaming past seasons.
For Jeff Probst and the crew, however, that means plotting, planning, traveling, and filming four more times even before planning the big season would finally arrive. Which is to say, Season 50 is not so far off relatively speaking, but Probst is well aware of the huge amount of work it'll take to get there. Those bonkers Top Gun montages don't come together overnight!
Reality television is a commitment, but it's one that Jeff Probst is continually ready for on one condition. Expect to see the host of Survivor for the foreseeable future, assuming the people he's helped make the show with are along for the ride as well. As he put it:
But I have no intention of wanting to stop so long as the show continues to be fun and the people applying continue to be interesting. And the biggest thing for me is keeping our team together. That's sort of the whole enchilada, because I get way more credit than I deserve. This show is made by a giant group, and we're all in it together, and I would not want to do the show with another team. It would be difficult, if not impossible, to start over with new people. So I'm in it as long as everybody else on the team is in it.
For Jeff Probst, staying on Survivor isn't contingent on the show's ratings, popularity or mentions by Billie Eilish. It's about keeping the people who make the series possible all together, who make all the decisions fans at home are unaware of. This could be anything from deciding how much contestants are paid to where the immunity idols are hidden.
One can't imagine CBS is considering any massive behind-the-scenes changes to Survivor, especially when fans are using Google Maps to find Season 46 spoilers. That means we can probably bank on Jeff Probst being there for Season 50 and whatever new and exciting twists come along the way. Did someone say every episode is going to be two hours long after moving them to ninety minutes during the pandemic? I could've sworn I heard that.
Survivor airs on CBS on Wednesdays at 8:00 p.m. ET. There are only a few weeks left in Season 45, but Season 46 is on the way. During that gap month where there's no Survivor to speak of, watching old episodes over on Paramount+ is always an option.
