Since Survivor premiered, Jeff Probst’s popular reality show has developed a huge fan following. Many of those viewers who know who was medically evacuated first, which players refused to return to the show, and who the best players are, have positive attitudes. Many of Survivor’s new fans who are figuring out which seasons to watch first are also great additions to the community.

However, some Survivor fans can be very harsh when they argue about things like which seasons are the best and who the greatest winners are. When she was interviewed by TheThings, Libby Vincek Petrucci reacted to players who’ve faced a harsh backlash from those judgmental Survivor viewers.

Survivor’s Libby Vincek Petrucci Spoke Out About Players Facing Harsh Fan Backlashes

In April 2025, TheThings journalist Matthew Thomas interviewed Libby Vincek Petrucci about her Survivor experience. During that conversation, Libby was asked about how she feels when she sees Survivor players facing a harsh backlash from fans. In response, Libby commented on the people who say truly appalling things to and about Survivor players on social media.

To be clear, Libby wasn’t commenting on people who just express their opinions, including negative ones, about Survivor on social media. Instead, Libby made that remark about people who react to Survivor players in hateful ways on social media.

During the same TheThings interview, Libby tried to put the comments that Survivor players make in a greater context. While speaking about Survivor 48’s David Kinne facing a backlash, Libby tried to remind viewers to not hold players to a standard they themselves wouldn’t meet.

“When people that, say really mean things on social media and stuff, you’re like, ‘Hey. Do you never say mean things to your friends about other people? Or do you ever, like, call yourself out, or do you ever talk to them?’ Because that’s what he’s doing. He’s not trying he’s not taking a breath and being like, ‘Okay. How do I answer this like a pageant?’ No.”

From there, Libby said something very meaningful about how fans should treat Survivor players.

While talking to TheThings about backlashes, Libby encouraged Survivor fans to give players grace instead of anger.

Survivor’s Libby Vincek Petrucci Reminded Fans That Players Aren’t Trained To Speak Carefully

When Libby Vincek Petrucci was asked by TheThings about fans who were angry about David Kinne, she spoke about how he conducted himself in the game.

“I think that with David, the confidence in himself is really strong, which has to be really strong when you’re out playing, and you have to be strong and confident in your decisions. And, you know, he was just new to all of this.”

From there, Libby perfectly pointed out the pressure that Survivor players are under.

Even though people don’t think about it, most celebrities go through media training before they go on talk shows. However, while talking to TheThings, Libby reminded Survivor fans to remember that the show’s players aren’t given any training about how to speak on camera.

“When you’re talking to producers about what you’re going through, unless you have media training, you’re literally just talking to them about your situation, you’re being as honest as possible.”

To Libby’s point, considering Survivor players aren’t trained about what not to say, it makes sense that many of them have said things that angered fans.