Whenever a season of Survivor premieres, Jeff Probst’s beloved reality show attracts new fans who have to figure out which seasons to watch first. Each episode is also watched by longtime fans who remember when the first player was medically evacuated. Both groups of fans have a lot in common, including having opinions about which seasons are the best, how to rank the show’s winners, and about which players are the best.

Survivor fans also generally want to know about the worst part of playing the game and the show’s gross rules. With that in mind, it is fascinating that Jeff Probst told the former winner Rachel LaMont about how much Survivor players start to smell.

Jeff Probst Told Rachel LaMont How He Copes With Smelly Survivor Players

When fans watch Survivor, there are a lot of aspects of the show that most of them don’t consider. One of the biggest things that a lot of Survivor fans don’t put a lot of thought into is what the show is like from Jeff Probst’s perspective.

That makes a lot of sense since Survivor isn’t told from Jeff’s perspective, since it focuses on the players’ experience. As a result, Jeff is depicted on the show as the authority figure who appears from time to time.

As a result of how Survivor portrays Jeff, there are many aspects of his experience hosting the show that most fans never consider. For example, learning that Jeff told Rachel LaMont about how stinky Survivor players become is fascinating for most fans.

Over the last several seasons of Survivor, fans have been able to listen to “On Fire with Jeff Probst: The Official Survivor Podcast.” Over the podcast’s history, Jeff has brought on several former Survivor players to temporarily serve as his co-host. After each episode of Survivor 48 airs, fans can listen to a new podcast episode featuring Survivor 47’s winner, Rachel LaMont.

After Survivor 48’s fourth episode aired, an episode of the podcast titled “A Simple Twist” was released and can be heard on Apple Podcasts. During that episode, Jeff described what Survivor players grow to smell like to Rachel.

“You know what it is, Rachel? It’s the smell. We describe it as a combination of campfire, which is kinda nice, and then an old gym locker that hasn’t been opened in months. And that’s not quite as nice. So it becomes a kind of pungent, but very recognizable Eau of Survivor.”

While that may seem like a strange comment for Jeff to make, it didn’t come out of nowhere.

During each episode of “On Fire with Jeff Probst: The Official Survivor Podcast,” Jeff and his co-hosts answer questions from Survivor fans.

In many cases, those fan questions result in Jeff and his former player co-hosts revealing interesting facts about Survivor.

During the podcast episode that featured Jeff’s statement about Survivor players smelling bad, that was in reaction to a fan question.

The first fan question from the episode was from a viewer who asked Jeff about the players smelling when the Survivor host gets close to them.

“Hi Jeff. Love the podcast and the show. My burning question is, when players ask for a hug and you’re taking the necklace off of them, do you hold your breath so you don’t have to smell them?”

Since most people avoid bad scents, the fan’s question was perfectly reasonable, even if the thought doesn’t occur to most fans.

Interestingly enough, however, Jeff responded that he never even thinks about trying to avoid stinky Survivor players.

“It’s a funny thought, and it makes total sense, but it actually never enters my mind. We talked about improv earlier. I’m in an improv the entire twenty-six days I’m on Survivor. I just go wherever it is, so I stay focused, and they smell. Its part of the world.”

After hearing Jeff speak about dealing with stinky Survivor players, Rachel had two funny reactions. First off, Rachel apologized to Jeff for smelling bad around him during Survivor 47. Secondly, Rachel joked that the team behind Survivor should sell a candle that has the scent of the stinky players.

Why Survivor Players Must Stink In Another Way That Fans Don’t Consider

Since Survivor players aren’t given soap, it should be obvious that they get dirty and smelly over time. After all, some Survivor players even noticeably start to look dirty as their season progresses, with Sue Smey being a memorable recent example of that. However, there is another way that Survivor players must start to stink as the seasons continues.

In May 2024, Self published an article about how Survivor players deal with medical situations during the game. That article quoted Benjamin “Coach” Wade talking about how players try to keep their teeth clean during the game.

“You take a palm frond, the stem of it or the leaf, and you just get a little thin sliver, and you poke it between your teeth. It’s kind of like floss… A lot of us used our fingernails.”

That quote from Coach shows how dedicated he was to trying to maintain his dental health during the game. However, using a stick or your fingernails to scrape your teeth isn’t going to keep them as clean as a toothbrush and toothpaste. On top of that, it is worth noting that the players use their fingernails to clean their teeth after going days without being able to wash their hands.

With all that considered, it seems extremely obvious that Survivor players must also develop bad breath over time.

Survivor

Release Date

May 31, 2000

Network

CBS

Showrunner

Jeff Probst

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