Jeff Probst Says They Still Haven’t Figured Out What To Do With Survivor 50

When Survivor premiered in the year 2000, nobody would have predicted that Jeff Probst’s beloved reality show would still be produced 25 years later. Despite that, the show has been around for so long that new fans have to figure out which seasons to watch first. The reason for that is that Survivor features stunning moments like medical evacuations, fantastic seasons, truly great players, and several widely respected winners.

Given the show’s incredible past, there is a lot of excitement for Survivor 50 based on what is known about it. That said, Jeff Probst has revealed that, despite that excitement, their plans for Survivor 50 haven’t been cemented.

Jeff Probst Says That Even He Doesn’t Know What Is Going On With Survivor 50

Throughout TV history, the vast majority of shows that have aired were canceled after one or two seasons. As a result, it has always been considered a big deal for 100 episodes of a show to air and that was long considered a huge benchmark.

With that in mind, it is simply staggering to look at what Survivor has accomplished. Not only has there been a lot more than 100 episodes of Survivor, the show is approaching its 50th season as of February 2025.

Given how big of a deal it is that Survivor 50 is going to be a thing, it seems like the season should have been planned long ahead of time. However, according to Jeff Probst, even he doesn’t know what the plans for Survivor 50 are as of February 2025.

In April 2024, Jeff was interviewed by Entertainment Weekly about the plans for Survivor 50.

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Big Brother	Julie Chen Moonves	#10
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Temptation Island	Mark L. Walberg	#7
Nailed It!	Nicole Byer	#6
The Amazing Race & Tough as Nails	Phil Keoghan	#5
American Idol	Ryan Seacrest	#4
RuPaul’s Drag Race	RuPaul	#3
The Traitors	Alan Cumming	#2
Survivor	Jeff Probst	#1

Even though Survivor 50 will need to be filmed in 2025, Jeff told the outlet that he hadn’t figured out how to handle the landmark season at that time.

We have not come up with our idea for 50 yet.

However, the outlet’s article states that it was believed that Survivor 50 was going to be a colossal deal.

Jeff Probst, Alan Cumming and Julie Chen Moonves

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From the outside looking in, it may seem hard to believe that plans for Survivor 50 haven’t been cemented for a long time. After all, the season has the immense potential to be a huge reality show event, so it seems like it should be a major priority.

In April 2024, Variety published an article that revealed the main thing that is known about Survivor 50. That article revealed that Jeff told fans at a FYC event that Survivor 50 will be an all-returning players season. “In the spirit of, sometimes letting the game be in the hands of the fans, I feel like — and there a couple of people from CBS right now going ‘Oh, my God, what is happening?’ — I feel like we should just commit and make this the moment where we decide that Survivor 50 will be returning players.”

However, while talking to Entertainment Weekly, Jeff made an excellent point. It is very hard to focus on Survivor 50 when other seasons have to be produced first.

“Obviously, we think about it. But I think it’s easier to think about it when you’re writing about Survivor rather than when you’re producing it.”

Survivor's Jeff Probst looking adventurous — Via: Robert Voets/CBS

Jeff went on to tell the outlet that he had too much to worry about to put his time and energy fully into Survivor 50.

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Jeff clarified that he was too busy stressing out about Survivor 47, Survivor 48, and Survivor 49.

“We still have 47, 48, and 49, and you might think I’m deflecting, but I don’t. To me, those are stress-inducing problems. What are we going to do in 47? What are we going to do in 48? What are we going to do in 49?”

Of course, those remarks were from April 2024, so it may seem like Jeff would have Survivor 50 figured out by now.

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In reality, Jeff expressed an extremely similar sentiment when he spoke to Entertainment Weekly again in February 2025. At that time, Jeff told the outlet that the only thing he knew for sure about Survivor 50 was that he wanted it to be a joyous event for fans.

That’s the only thing I know for sure, is I want to celebrate.

Survivor's Jeff Probst looking happy — Via: Robert Voets/CBS

As Jeff continued to talk to Entertainment Weekly in February 2025, he went on to speak about how lucky he was to have the problem of having to figure Survivor 50 out.

“We’re really lucky, and we’re lucky because of our fans, to have this kind of a loyal fan base for this long. So let’s celebrate it! And we’re going to give it our best shot as we always do. We want to make everybody happy. So that’s what’s going through my head and the whole team while we’re editing 48, and we’re casting 49, and we’re thinking about 50. That’s how it’s going.”

Fans Already Have Theories About Survivor 50

Even though Jeff Probst’s only Survivor 50 announcement was that the season will feature returning players, some fans believe they think they know what to expect. While fans will have to wait to see if the theories pan out, they seem like they are likely to become true.

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In November 2024, a fan on the r/survivor subreddit asked the show’s fans to name which players they expected to return for Survivor 50. While it seems unlikely that all the predicted players will return, they appear to be really great guesses.

The predicted players with the most upvotes, starting with the most popular one, are the following. Carolyn Wiger, Cody Assenmacher, Dr. Cristian Hubicki, Quintavius “Q” Burdette, and Devon Pinto.

In February 2025, another fan on the r/survivor subreddit made another prediction about what they thought would be annoying about Survivor 50.

“The one thing that’s gonna really annoy me about Survivor 50 is that if it’s 26 days still and they bring back pre-41 players you already know Jeff is make them talk about ‘how much harder 26 days is’ than the usual 39 when we all know it’s not true”

While the casting theories may or may not be true, this prediction seems like a lock.