If you saw the theme for Survivor 51 and thought to yourself, “What does The Open Era even mean?” You’re not alone. It’s the question everyone has been asking Jeff Probst since it was announced.
The Open Era means that every twist, every advantage, every piece of format that has been in Survivor Seasons 1-50 is on the table in Survivor 51. Of course, that’s always been the case; the game’s creators can and have pulled past game structure into new seasons. But Probst explains what he really means with this new format in our Survivor 51 interview.
You’ve heard him say that Season 51 is defined by “permanent uncertainty.” What that really means is Survivor‘s “New Era,” Seasons 41-49, had a lot of similar features that eventually became a predictable structure for cast members who avidly watch the show twice a year, every year. Now, that predictability is being intentionally taken away. With its mix of 40s-seasons format and new elements, Survivor 50 was the bridge between the “New” and “Open” eras. What you’re going to see when Survivor 51 premieres on September 23 is a brand new game, but one that is more similar to the old-school seasons than any season in recent memory.
“I say the exact same words that we said in Episode 1 of Season 1” in Survivor 51‘s opening scene, Probst tells TV Insider, adding, “We wanted to say in our storytelling we’re literally going back to the beginning.” There are still new elements mixed in with things they pulled from the past 50 seasons, but in the interview below, Probst explains the new format in depth and what to expect from the Survivor 51 cast, which didn’t do pre-season interviews. According to the host, every player is a “star” they were “desperate” to have on Season 51 to launch this new version of Survivor, a season designed to throw off even the biggest of Survivor superfans.
Define The Open Era. It’s the question everybody’s asking.
Jeff Probst: The Open Era is really simple. Imagine a giant treasure chest and inside that chest is every single thing we have ever done in 25 years and 50 seasons of Survivor. The question is, each season, what are we going to pull out and put into the season? What makes this unique is that Survivor‘s really had an evolution over the years and as you would play a season, you could kind of anticipate, “Well, they’ve been doing a lot of this, and they’ve been doing some of that.” That’s gone.
The superfan may be at a disadvantage now, because the assumptions that really helped you in previous seasons are your enemy now, because it could literally be anything. And then what’s really fun is [Season] 52 [is] completely different. It has nothing to do with 51 or 53. Once you see it in action and you see the players reacting to it, it starts to make sense.
As an example, just in the premiere, there are seven things from six different seasons, plus three new things in the premiere. So, out of the gate, the players go back to camp realizing, “Oh, OK. I get it. It literally could be anything.”
Robert Voets/CBS
We didn’t get pre-season interviews with this cast. What can you tell us about the cast? What should we be excited about?
The best thing I can say about the Survivor 51 cast is that during casting, we knew the bar had to be high because we’re coming out of 50. So, we had a very simple cheat code: We put a 51 next to anybody’s name that we thought they must be on 51 regardless of anything else, because they’re a star. And we ended up with 21 stars. We put all 21 on 51.
We have 11 women, 10 men, and then we decided we don’t really care anymore about gender division. If we have more great women than men, that’s great. And if we have an uneven number, that’s also fine. And that’s why we have 21 players this season but then only two tribes, but there are four rafts on the marooning boat, so it was very confusing because anything is possible.
The marooning in the trailer for Survivor 51 looks like an old-school marooning. Tell us what you can about the marooning.
The marooning has some really fun Easter eggs. Number one: I say the exact same words that we said in Episode 1 of Season 1, and intercut in the marooning of 51 are some shots from Season 1 and another season. There are only a few frames, but the superfan is going to watch and go, “Wait a minute, is that a shot that they just intercut with this group from Season 1?” Because we wanted to say in our storytelling we’re literally going back to the beginning, and anything is in play. It’s really fun. The open feels like you’re watching a brand new show that has been on for 25 years. That’s what it felt like to me doing it as well.
Robert Voets/CBS
You did a challenge in Season 50. Did you catch the bug? Do you want to do more?
My challenge days, I think, are behind me for a while. That was a very humbling experience in 50. And the truth is, the reason I was in a challenge, the reason I did a terrible rap really was to say to the players and the fans, “I’m willing to also be vulnerable and be embarrassed and be humbled,” as I was with both rapping and the challenge. But I think for now, I’ll stick to being the witness and the producer and I’ll let the players play the game.
But which one do you want to play again or just try your hand at?
Honestly, the kind of challenge I would love to run is a tribe challenge rather than a small, individual challenge. We have some challenges in the ocean that are really tough and you don’t really know it unless you jump in and test one like I will every so often. So, I would love to be a part of a group, know that people are relying on me, not wanting to drop the ball, but also realizing there are some things I just can’t do. And what do you do in a situation like that?
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Season 49 had the extreme heat that really beleaguered everybody for the first half of the game. Every season has its own unique, unexpected challenge. What’s the one for 51?
[Season] 51 actually has a little bit of everything. They do get some tough weather, and there’s a couple of nights where — and we see it in the season — they come out of it really wrecked. But I would encapsulate 51 with, honestly, it felt like the players knew they were birthing a new game. And I think that’s what fans will think. By the time’s the season’s over, they’ll go, “OK, we now get the Open Era. It’s a new type of Survivor game.” The privilege and the responsibility that the Survivor 51 players had was you’re the ones launching it, so don’t mess it up.
Circling back to the marooning, my personal favorite marooning is Season 7, Pearl Islands, where they go to the village right after. Do you have one favorite marooning?
I actually like the Pearl Islands marooning a lot. And I really like it for one moment, when Rupert Boneham stole the shoes, what I thought about was Jonny Fairplay is going to lie about his dead grandma and become a villain. Rupert steals shoes where there’s actually a consequence, and he’s a hero. It’s a great reminder that it’s your character and how you present yourself. I mean, Fairplay plays that part, so he wants to be the villain. But Rupert wants to be the hero, and we adored him for it.
Robert Voets/CBS
Sandra Diaz-Twine is really fun in that marooning, too. Her personality’s really on display throughout that whole village scene.
Yeah, Sandra really, if you go back and look at her entrance to Survivor, we didn’t know it at the time but it really was foreshadowing who she was going to become. Nobody would’ve known she was going to become the legend that she is, but you could see the hallmarks of her personality on display. And that is still what makes Survivor so fun. There are people right now, I could list several players from this season that you are going to know very well, very quickly, have opinions about, like or not like, because they’re bringing it. They’re showing you who they are, and then they’re taking on this big game, adventure, life experience.
What’s the mix of personalities we have in 51?
What we did with 51 is we didn’t really care about anything other than, “Are you so compelling that you must be on 51?” That might not sound like we’re saying much, but we were desperate. And when somebody we would meet knocked our socks off, we would just look at each other and go, “We got another one.” That’s what we’re looking for. That’s why we have 21 players. We didn’t come in and say, “We’re going to have two tribes of 10 with 20 players.” We said, “Let’s just start meeting people, and let’s see where it takes us.” And then it helped dictate the creative.
Robert Voets/CBS
Everything that’s been on the table before is on the table in 51. Is there anything that’s brand new?
Yes, the Open Era includes lots of new things. There are three tiny new things in the premiere alone. But yes, new things are a part of it, which is why you just simply can’t predict. And it makes it fun for us. [Season] 51 is in a lot of ways because of the group that played in 50. We said to them before the season started, “We’re going to give you a game to play, and if you launch it, we’re going to take this into 51.” That idea was uncertainty.
The two words that drive 51 are permanent uncertainty. And it’s permanent, and it’s always uncertain, and what it should say to the player is: stop assuming. Just sit, be ready, and when it comes at you, you’re able to move and react. The good players did that out of the gate.
You’re asked a lot of questions about this show. Is there something that no one ever asks that you wish they would? Or maybe there’s something about 51 that no one’s asked about yet?
The only thing that often comes up for me is that the game is designed. We have our whole schedule for the 26 days. That’s what we shoot. And I’m always proud of that because I don’t think all shows do that. We don’t react in real-time and start shifting how we want the creative to go.
If we’re doing a [tribe] switch in Episode 3, we’re doing a switch, whether we wish we were switching or not is irrelevant; it’s not our game [plan]. We’re switching. And if we have this big challenge running in Episode 4 and that tribe that’s lost the last three is going to lose again, guess they’re going to lose again. See you at tribal. We really try hard to make sure the game is never influenced in any way, and that’s something we’re proud of.
Robert Voets/CBS
Is there a show you watched recently that you really loved?
We love Gilded Age. Gilded Age is one of our go-tos. The show is so big and takes so long to make that you’ve got to wait forever for another season. But aw, man. The richness of those relationships. And it feels very much like most social groups that I know. People are always positioning. People are always trying to climb some sort of social ladder, whether it’s back then or whether it’s right now.
Survivor 51, Premiere, Wednesday, September 23, 8/7c, CBS