‘Survivor’ host Jeff Probst says season 50 will be all returning players

Jeff Probst recently told Entertainment Weekly that they did not yet have a plan in place for the landmark fiftieth season of Survivor. Well, those plans are now rapidly forming.

During a Survivor Q&A event with EW Editor in Chief Patrick Gomez on Saturday night at the Ovation Hollywood complex in Los Angeles, Probst announced that Survivor 50 (which will be begin filming around Memorial Day 2025 to air in the spring of 2026) will indeed feature all returning players.

“I just got an idea,” said the host and showrunner near the conclusion of the event. “Survivor 50 is coming down the corner. The truth is, we really do focus on 47 and 48, that’s what we’re heading out to shoot next, and then we have to shoot 49. But we know 50 is coming, so I am curious, is there a feeling, should 50 be another season with new players and don’t make it a big deal?”

After the audience yelled out no, Probst asked “Or should it be returning players?”

After getting a positive response to that option, Probst announced, “In the spirit of, sometimes letting the game be in the hands of the fans, I feel like — and there are 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 retuning players. I don’t know what is going to happen after this, but I’m pretty sure we’re committed.”

If you don’t include Bruce Perreault — who was more of a do-over as opposed to a returning player because he got injured just minutes into his first season — Survivor (which is currently airing Survivor 46 on CBS) is already in the longest stretch of all newbie seasons since the show first started bringing players back with Survivor: All-Stars in season 8. There have been no returning all-stars in the entire new era that began with Survivor 41. And the host already told EW that there would be no returning players in season 47 or 48 either. It now seems that Survivor 49 will also be all new players.

While Probst has officially confirmed the speculation that Survivor 50 (like 40 and 20 before it) will be all returnees, he did not mention what the particular theme might be, although viewers have certainly talked about many options, including another fan-voted Second Chance, an Old Era vs. New Era battle, or a season full of runner-ups (after season 40 was all winners).

It will be a while before the theme for season 50 is revealed, but fans can now continue to dream cast what could end up being the franchise’s biggest season ever.

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