Jeff Probst Explains Why Survivor 49 Cut Two Players At The Last Minute And What He Wants Future Castaways To Learn From It

Survivor always brings two alternates out to Fiji just in case. Every now and again, one of them winds up making the actual cast, usually because a player got sick or experienced some kind of unexpected issue prior to filming. For the first time in the history of the show, Survivor 49 actually used both of its alternates, and host Jeff Probst is hoping it will serve as a “seismic warning” to future players.

If you’re wondering why someone getting sick would serve as a warning to future players, the answer is because the two players who were cut in favor of the alternatives weren’t sick. They were cut because they committed unspecified rules violations after getting to Fiji but before the game actually started. Exactly what those violations were is unclear. Probst didn’t say during his interview with Parade talking about what happened, but you can read a portion of his quote and then we can speculate…

Obviously Probst is being quiet about the specific rules the castaways broke, but given two people were expelled and I haven’t heard anyone talk about arrests or police being involved, the most likely answer is probably related to communication. There are rules in place ahead of the game that prevent players from forming alliances or getting to know each other.

In fact, former players have talked in interviews about how they exchanged head nods or half smiles at people on the plane ride over, hoping they would end up also in the game and could use that as a bonding moment. These little exchanges can prove invaluable later on, which is why Survivor goes to great lengths to create rules that minimize them as much as possible.

Survivor 50 was already filmed and is a season filled with returning players, which has different rules and a long history of shady pregame communication. So, this warning won’t have any effect, but for Survivor 51 and beyond, however, there’s no doubt the cast will take note of this. Players will follow the rules in place down to the last detail if they know there’s a very real shot they get kicked off.

We may never know the full story, but whatever happened is the gain of Jason and MC, the fortunate alternates who wound up being told just twelve hours before the game was set to begin that they were tagging in. Probst and the other producers are especially interested in how this wrinkle may have altered gameplay. They won’t talk about specifics until after the season has aired, but there’s a chance they could intentionally do something like this in the future as a surprise twist.

Survivor 49 will hit CBS and the TV schedule on September 24th. You'd have to think it's a good season since two of its players were also cast in the milestone Survivor 50, which is, without question, one of the most hyped seasons ever.