Even now that Survivor has been on the air for many years, Jeff Probst’s beloved reality show is still creating new fans who figure out which seasons to watch first. On top of that, Survivor also has many dedicated fans who know who the first player to be medically evacuated was. Those long-time fans tend to also know who the best players are, which seasons are the best, how to rank every winner, and that Jeff has been planting seeds about Survivor 50.

Since Survivor 50 is going to be a huge deal, those longtime fans want to know everything they can about the upcoming season. However, it turns out that there isn’t that much for fans to know about Survivor 50 yet. After all, Jeff stated that there is only one thing he knows for sure about Survivor 50.

Jeff Probst Revealed The One Thing That Is For Certain About Survivor 50

Unless something dramatic changes, fans will get to watch Survivor 50 in 2026. While that is a while away, there is already no doubt that Survivor’s millions of fans are extremely excited about the upcoming landmark season.

Similarly, it is obvious that Jeff Probst has a lot of reasons to be excited about Survivor 50 as the show’s host and executive producer. On the other hand, Jeff also has to be worried about getting Survivor 50 right, since there are such high expectations for the upcoming season.

As it turns out, a lot of details about how Survivor 50 are still up in the air as of this writing. After all, Jeff recently explained that there is only one thing that he knows “for sure” about the plans for Survivor 50.

In February 2025, Jeff spoke extensively to Entertainment Weekly about the plans for Survivor 50.

During that interview, Jeff told the outlet that he is determined that Survivor 50 will be a celebration of the beloved reality show. However, Jeff also explained that was the only thing he was certain about.

Even after stating that he wanted Survivor 50 to be a celebration, Jeff didn’t seem certain about how to accomplish that.

After telling Entertainment Weekly that Survivor 50 needs to be a celebration, Jeff went on to speak about pulling that off.

While talking to the outlet, Jeff stated that the show is going to do its best to make Survivor 50 the joyous event that fans deserve. Jeff then explained that the pressure to make Survivor 50 great will weigh on him.

“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.”

If Survivor 50 is going to air on schedule, the details will need to be ironed out very soon.

As a result of that fact, Entertainment Weekly’s article about Jeff’s comments ended with assurances from him that they are working hard to finalize their plans.

During his conversation with the outlet, Jeff explained why the details about Survivor 50 were still in question.

The problem for Jeff and the team behind the show is that there are so many opinions about how Survivor 50 should be handled. In fact, Jeff told Entertainment Weekly that he was constantly being approached by fans with theories about what Survivor 50 should be like.

“What’s been really interesting about Survivor 50 is how many people have approached me to say, ‘Hey, I know 50 is coming up and I have an idea.’ It happened to me twice yesterday. Two times in the same day!”

Unfortunately for Jeff, he revealed that the fans with suggestions all have different ideas about how Survivor 50 should be handled.

“Everybody has a different idea. Every single idea is different, from ‘You should do generations in terms of age,’ or ‘You should break it down by season,’ or ‘You should break it down by who is good in challenges,’ or ‘You should do only runner-ups,’ or ‘You should do all first outs,’ or ‘You should do one person from every season.’ And then I say, ‘Well, 48 players would be an awful lot to try to figure out.’”

What Has Been Revealed About Survivor 50

When Jeff told Entertainment Weekly that he was only certain that he wanted Survivor 50 to be a celebration, that wasn’t completely accurate. After all, Jeff revealed one other detail about Survivor 50 months earlier.

As an April 2024 Variety article revealed, Jeff addressed Survivor fans during an FYC event in Los Angeles at that time. Much to the excitement of those fans, Jeff announced at that moment that Survivor 50 would feature all returning players.

“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.”

Another thing that is known about Survivor 50 is that it won’t feature “Boston” Rob Mariano as a player.

“Boston” Rob made an appearance on the “Chicks in the Office” podcast in January 2025. During a clip of the resulting conversation that can be seen on Instagram, “Boston” Rob confirmed that Jeff talked to him to gauge his interest in playing during Survivor 50. However, “Boston” Rob stated during the podcast episode that he told Jeff he wasn’t interested in playing Survivor again.

Another thing that Jeff has revealed about Survivor 50 is that fans will have a major impact on Survivor 50. In February 2025, a Cinema Blend article summarized what happened when Jeff hosted an advanced screening of Survivor 48‘s premiere episode. During that event, Jeff revealed that fans will get to vote on many elements of Survivor 50‘s rules and production plan. Jeff also revealed the first four decisions that would be put up for a fan vote. Those topics are whether there will be a post-show or reunion, whether the tribes will get rice, whether there will be a final 4 fire-making challenge, and the tribe’s color schemes.

Survivor

Release Date

May 31, 2000

Network

CBS

Showrunner

Jeff Probst

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