“The other change for Survivor 41was on the creative side,” says Probst.
In other words, he is a master storyteller."
After all, it’s not the first time the writer/actor hadweighed in before on a creative idea.
Jeff Probst and Mike White on ‘Survivor’.CBS via Getty Images
Turns out,for the second timeinSurvivorhistory, White’s decidedly mixed reaction changed everything.
“I called Mike for his insight into a story-related element.
He listened politely as I laid out the idea.
When I finished the pitch, I asked him what he thought.
He paused for a moment and said, ‘Well… it sounds…in-ter-est-ing.But is it fun?'”
For Probst, those four words “changed everything” aboutSurvivor 41.
“I couldn’t erase the white boards fast enough,” he says.
I called [executive producer] Matt Van Wagenen and said, ‘Forget everything we’ve been working on!
From now on, fun is the only thing that matters!'"
So what kind of fun can we expect?
“What we soon realized was the best kind ofSurvivorfun is thedangerouskind,” says Probst.
“So we really leaned into danger when crafting this season.
We approachedSurvivor 41as though the game was like the monster in a horror movie.
Either you devour the monster, or the monster will devour you.
And by giving the game the personality of a monster, it really sparked a lot of ideas.
Suddenly anything was possible.
There was no twist too big, too scary, too controversial.
It didn’t matter.
The game is the monster, and let me be clear, the monster is hungry.”
Now, two years later, he promises that’s exactly what viewers can expect.
“I don’t think it’s apples to apples.
The players have a lot of new elements to contend with inSurvivor 41.
We had so much fun!
It was as if we were creating a brand-new game.”
The two-hour season premiere ofSurvivor 41airs Sept. 22 at 8 p.m. ET/PT on CBS.
To keep track of our daily pre-gameSurvivor 41coverage, check outEW’sSurvivorhuband followDalton Ross on Twitter.
