Survivor host Jeff Probst scrambled to quell a backlash among viewers after he accidentally spoiled a challenge result during the season 50 finale.
“I love doing live television,” Probst, 64, joked as he tried to explain himself during the live finale on Wednesday, May 20.
Moments earlier, viewers watched Aubry Bracco win the final immunity challenge and then save Joe Hunter, thereby sending Rizo Velovic and Jonathan Young into the fire-making challenge by default. (The iconic fire-making challenge was used to determine who would join Bracco, 40, and Hunter, 46, in the climactic Tribal Council.)
In one of the finale’s live segments, Probst called over Velovic, 26, to chat about how intimidating the fire-making challenge can be.
Probst was throwing to a commercial break when he off-handedly referred to Velovic as “the final member of our jury.” The host seemed confused and the audience fell silent, as Probst had mistakenly spoiled the result of the fire-making challenge before it aired.
“What just happened?” Probst asked.
“They haven’t seen the fire,” one contestant shouted, with Velovic clarifying, “Fire hasn’t happened yet.”
The audience started to groan as Probst admitted, “I’m not even sure what happened but up next, we’re going to have one final surprise for the players.”
Survivor fans were aghast that Probst had accidentally spoiled one of the most anticipated challenges in the show’s history.
“50 seasons into Survivor, Jeff Probst just spoiled the result of the biggest climax of the finale… live on the air, during the finale,” one viewer wrote via X on Wednesday. “I can’t believe we just witnessed that. What do you mean it’s live with NO DELAY.”
Another fan was equally as disappointed, writing, “Jeff spoiling his own show… oh grandpa it’s time for bed.”
“Jeff intentionally spoiling the outcome at the live reunion so that he’ll never have to do another one ever again,” a third viewer joked.
Once Survivor came back from a commercial break, Probst tried to explain to viewers exactly what went wrong.
“In case you’re confused, this is what happened,” he began. “We were going to show you fire-making and then have the loser of fire-making, Rizo, come out and talk about if he had practiced fire-making maybe he would’ve won. Instead, we did a Survivor twist, it’s the last twist of the season. We call it, ‘A peek into the future.’ So now, we’re going to watch Rizo lose in a fire to Jonathan.”
The error reignited speculation among fans via social media over whether it might be time for Probst to retire as Survivor host after 50 seasons.
Speaking exclusively to Us Weekly ahead of the launch of season 50, Probst said that he hoped to remain involved with Survivor for a long time to come.
“We stay inside the tiny little box that is the format of Survivor, but once you step inside that tiny little box, you realize the space is enormous,” Probst explained. “You can try all kinds of things. So, for instance, if you hired a different type of person to host, and then you brought in a different type of person to produce, and you took their different points of view, it seems likely that the show would go in a completely different direction.”
He added, “I really do think it goes on, and I hope that even if I’m not hosting, maybe there’s a way I can, you know, still be involved because I love this show.”
While the fire-making challenge was spoiled, Survivor viewers were able to watch the final Tribal Council play out as intended. Bracco won the $2 million grand prize and a brand-new Toyota Land Cruiser after defeating Young and Hunter in an 8-3-0 jury vote.
Survivor airs on CBS.
