Spoiler alert!
Jeff Probst appeared to spoil one of “Survivor 50’s” biggest moments before it even aired Wednesday night. The longtime TV host accidentally revealed the winner of the infamous fire-making competition and the last jury member to the live audience before the segment aired during the broadcast.
After Aubry Bracco won the final immunity challenge, she chose contestants Rizo Velovic and Jonathan Young to compete in the final challenge. CBS aired the decision before cutting to the live show, where Probst was prompted to bring out the loser of the competition before viewers had seen the footage.
After announcing Rizo as the final member of the jury, Probst was met with loud gasps from the audience. Fan-favorite Cirie Fields then informed the host that nobody had actually seen the fire-making competition play out on screen.
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The broadcast cut to commercial and when the show returned, the live audience cheered, “We love you, Jeff!”
“I love doing live television,” he noted.
“In case you’re confused, we were supposed to show you fire-making, and then have the loser of fire-making, Rizo, come out and talk about how charming he is, and if how he had practiced fire-making, maybe he would have won,” Probst explained.
“Instead, we did a ‘Survivor’ twist. It’s the last twist of the season,” he joked. “Now, we’re gonna watch Rizo lose.”
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Ahead of the finale, Probst hit back at criticism from superfans that the show’s once-ruthless narrative has softened over the years.
“We experiment with all kinds of new ideas, and we tried to usher in the most unpredictability we’ve ever had,” Probst told Variety.
“Whether or not you like the season is subjective, but it’s not that something didn’t work. We’ve made bad choices in the past. I just don’t think we did in 50.”
Of the myriad new additions to the evolving series, “Survivor” enlisted the help of a celebrity panel — including Jimmy Fallon, Billie Eilish, Mr. Beast and Zac Brown — to collaborate on new twists for the show.
Brown’s guest spot became a hot topic on social media after viewers watched the country singer spearfishing to feed immunity challenge winners and then playing them music while they ate. Additionally, Brown appeared in a number of individual confessionals and received more airtime than a few contestants.
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In hindsight, Probst wouldn’t change much about Brown’s visit, but admitted that the country star could have impacted the game instead of serving as a reward.
Probst, 64, began hosting “Survivor” at its inception in 2000. What began as a social experiment exploded into a cultural phenomenon as the reality competition show gained an audience.
Over the years, he evolved from host to executive producer and showrunner, helping steer the franchise through more than two decades of blindsides, alliances and hidden immunity idols.
He is widely considered one of the defining personalities in unscripted television.
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Fox News Digital’s Tracy Wright contributed to this report.
