Jeff Probst Reveals an Unseen Cross-Tribal Twist from the 'Survivor 45' Premiere
The 'Survivor 45' contestants compete in their first Immunity Challenge.
Survivor fans were overjoyed to hear that the show would be running 90-minute episodes for the entirety of its 45th season. But despite 50% more airtime, winnowing three days of gameplay down means lots of content has to hit the cutting room floor. And, according to host and executive producer Jeff Probst, that includes one major twist in the episode that ultimately proved inconsequential.
Probst revealed this new piece of information while appearing on "On Fire," the official podcast of the veteran reality series. Now in its second season, the show features podcast producer Jay Wolffe and season 38 standout Rick Devens talking through the most recent episode from a fan and player perspective, respectively. Probst appeared on the second half of the podcast to give his thoughts on the many things that happened in the premiere, from the comments levied against returning player Bruce Perreault to the sudden quit of Hannah Rose, the earliest quit in the show's history.
To close the podcast, Probst dropped a tidbit of something that did not make the final cut during the premiere episode. And it's a big one.
"After the Immunity Challenge, we had a twist," Probst says. "The winning tribe was allowed to send one player to the losing tribe's beach. And that person would get to hang out while Lulu is scrambling, trying to decide who to vote out. So that player's there gathering lots of information."
Related: Everything to Know About Survivor 45
Across 45 seasons of Survivor, we have seen plenty of examples of cross-tribal mingling. The first, fourth, and sixth seasons all had representatives from each tribe get sent to a summit to make choices for the swap or merge. Survivor: China in 2008 had one person from the opposite tribe "kidnapped" between the Reward and Immunity Challenges. Four seasons later, in Survivor: Samoa, the leader of each tribe would choose a person to send and observe the goings-on of the other tribe before Tribal Council. This time, though, there's an extra layer.
"That player also had power in that they got to secretly cast a vote against one of the Lulu players, and it would count at Tribal, and nobody knew," he reveals. "But there was no vote because Hannah quit. So it never came into play. So when it came time to cut scenes, we decided this had to go because it didn't have the kind of impact we intended."
This is quite a game-changer. In this case, a member of the first-place finishing tribe in the Immunity Challenge (Belo) sent an ambassador to go with the losing tribe (Lulu) back to camp. But, for the first time, that ambassador also had power, and privately cast a vote for a Lulu member. Assumingly, when Lulu would cast their votes, that vote would be included in the urn. So, while not physically present, they would strategically be heard.
As Probst mentioned, all of this action (including the Belo visitor, and who they voted for), was nullified when Hannah chose to leave the game without a formal vote. However, he does indicate that the twist could proceed through the rest of the premerge, which will be the most focus on tribe cross-pollination in the new era. It remains to be seen what happens to this errant Belo vote, whether it carries through or gets thrown into the fire. But, regardless, this unseen element of the Survivor 45 premiere shows that plenty of new is still to come with the new season.
Next, check out our exclusive interview with Jeff Probst following the Survivor 45 premiere.
