I’ve been binging a lot of older seasons of Survivor lately, and during one of these binges (Season 25 Philippines), I asked my wife what would happen if a player overheard another’s confessional. Well, it turns out host Jeff Probst actually discussed this very question a few months ago on a podcast.
The longtime Survivor talking head appeared on The Friendship Onion back in October. That’s Billy Boyd and Dom Monaghan’s podcast, for those of you who aren’t big Lord Of The Rings people. Anyway, they all sat down and had a fascinating chat about all things Survivor, and during the conversation, Jeff Probst was asked what prevents contestants from interrupting or eavesdropping on confessionals. Here’s what he said…
We protect them… If we were taking you for an interview, we take you somewhere private, and we have a second producer who is watching to make sure no one would try, if they were so inclined, to get within earshot of the interview. That doesn’t happen. It just doesn’t. People don’t do that. We wouldn’t tolerate it. We’re really clear that we don’t ask for much. The only things we ask are be honest and you have to respect our crew.
The you have to be honest part is really key here too. Survivor is a game, more than anything else, of information. You’re constantly getting pieces of information from other players, and you have to decide what is credible and what is either misinformed or a straight up lie. Since contestants are required to be truthful in their confessionals, that information is guaranteed to be authentic, which is why overhearing one would be such a massive gamechanger.
The requirement to be honest in confessionals is there, of course, so the show can tell an honest and accurate story for viewers. Since the players are constantly spinning the truth and lying to each other all the time, confessionals are the only source of absolute truth, other than votes at Tribal Council. It’s what allows us to have a lens into why players do certain things and what they’re hoping comes out of it, though plenty of people will always have thoughts on the edit and what is ultimately shown and not shown.
After forty-three seasons, Survivor remains, to me, the most compelling reality show on television. Every single season is different (both because of the players and a new twist or two introduced to varying success), and it has been so much fun to watch the game evolve, both because of subtle tweaks producers have made and also because of new people injecting new ideas that then get widely adopted by subsequent players. It’s a constant evolution, which is why, it can still lead to shocking results (as we saw this past season).
Survivor Season 44 is set to premiere on March 1st, 2023 on CBS in the United States. Fans can also check out older seasons, all of which are streaming with a Paramount+ subscription and some of which are streaming on Hulu with a subscription. I’d tell you what to expect of of the latest edition but I truly have no idea, at least apart from it’ll feature honest confessionals that aren’t overheard by other players.
