Nobody’s perfect. Jeff Probst rarely makes an error as the longtime host of Survivor, but had a slip up when calling out the winner of an immunity challenge during season 48. In Touch breaks down what Jeff did that sent confusion through the game

Did Jeff Probst Announce the Wrong Winner in ‘Survivor’ Immunity Challenge?

Yes. During the episode that aired on May 7, 2025, Jeff was narrating the action between contestants needing to spell out a word via a bridge of blocks.

It appeared Joe Hunter finally got “Unforgettable” right after getting it horribly wrong on a previous try. Seconds later, Kamilla Karthigesu completed her block bridge in a neck and neck race.

“Joe steps off, thinks he has it! Kamilla steps off! But Joe got their first! Joe wins!” Jeff announced only to quickly discover that the color of blocks the firefighter had holding either side of the word up faced the wrong way. The puzzle needed to look identical on the front and back side, and that small slip up gave the win to Kamilla instead.

“No, I’m wrong! Your puzzle’s wrong! Kamilla’s puzzle’s right! Kamilla wins individual immunity!” Jeff immediately said, correcting his error of pronouncing Joe the winner.

“Sorry, Joe, for the false alarm. It’s that last piece, that eye you put in is flipped on the wrong way. It should be on the black side so everything matches. You’ve got it on the white side,” Jeff said as he pointed to the error while Joe looked brokenhearted.

Jeff Probst Explained How He Called Out the Wrong Name

“It is a little bit of controlled chaos. Because you have different players at different stages of the challenge, and each stage of the challenge has its own set of rules that you’re trying to make sure every player adheres to,” the Kansas native said during his “On Fire” podcast following the episode.

At the time, Jeff had seven players in action building the puzzles, including Joe, Kamilla, Mary Zheng, Mitch Guerra, Shauhin Davari, Eva Erickson and Kyle Fraser.

“And then when you get to something like a word puzzle, you have to be monitoring all the players that are doing that stage of the challenge while keeping an eye on the other players at another stage. You have to make sure they’re right on both sides of the puzzle,” Jeff continued.

He added, “You have to be able to tell the story in real time of who is actually close and could win. But you also have to tell the same story for somebody who thinks they’re close, but isn’t, because the audience can see there’s a letter that’s wrong.”

Did Jeff Probst Announcing the Wrong Name Affect the Game?

No, Kamilla was rightly declared the winner and given immunity. She was rewarded with a sushi feast and chose fellow castaways Mitch and Eva to join her.

However, Joe finally not coming out on top after several previous immunity victories made him an open target going into tribal council. The Vacaville, California, resident and Eva have been running the game through their “strong 4” alliance, and Mary made a move to take out Joe.

The substance abuse counselor tried to get Kamilla, Kyle, Shauin and Mitch to vote against Joe, sending the frontrunner home in one of the last times that the numbers worked in their favor. However, despite the group seemingly getting on board with the plan, they all bafflingly switched their votes to Mary at tribal council, keeping Joe safe in the game and looking more unbeatable as time goes on.