Interview: Jeff Probst of Survivor
Ten Survivors battle 10 fans in Micronesia in season 16
Survivor 2008: Fans vs favourites, condoms and tampons and Survivor babies
With the flood of reality TV shows starring C-List celebrities it was only a matter of time before the producers of Survivor began to consider a star-studded version of their competition.
During a mid-morning chat from his home in L.A., Survivor host Jeff Probst said if there was going to be a celebrity version then it would most likely be contestants from Tinseltown.
“Call it Survivor: Young Hollywood! Why don’t we get them together on the island and have them duke it out and see how it goes. It would be a little bit of rehab because they wouldn’t have access to anything out there.” After a pause Probst laughed at his own joke. Clearly there won’t be a celebrity Survivor.
Still this year promises to have a fair share of star power with the show’s biggest fans squaring off against the show’s favourite players, who are, arguably, TV stars in their own right.
More intriguing than that set-up though are Probst’s comments about what transpires this season. “We have love affairs this season… and we have some of the most intimate footage we’ve ever had of a love affair developing and ‘consummating’. It was brilliant how we captured because they tried to hide and we outfoxed them.”
Probst was quick to add that the show doesn’t become R-rated and the players are supplied with tampons and condoms because “We don’t want to have any Survivor babies.”
Back for another season are Cirie Fields, Jonathan Penner, Eliza Orlins, Amanda Kimmel, Jonny Fairplay, James Clement, Parvati Shallow, Ozzy Lusth, Ami Cusack and Yau-Man Chan on the Favourites team.
On the Fans team are unknowns from all over the U.S., all of whom were shocked when they met the opposition.
In episode one, Probst explained, “We bring the fans onto the beach and it’s raining so hard and then we bring out the favourites. It’s like they are at a rock concert. They are just applauding.” By the first challenge, which was a physical challenge, though things had changed. “We hoped that idolatry would turn to animosity and it did.”
Now the battles are guaranteed to continue as CBS also announced today that it had ordered two more seasons of Survivor through 2008-2009. And Probst will continue to host.
Asked what keeps the show fresh he said: “I travel the world I get to host and produce one of the most fascinating shows. I get paid more money than any college dropout should even dream of making.”
Set in Palau, Survivor: Micronesia kicks off the show’s 16th season on Feb. 7 on CBS in the U.S. and Global in Canada.
