‘Survivor’ Host Jeff Probst Comments on the Future of New-Era Rice Negotiations

After “Survivor” cut its run time from 39 days to just 26 days in Season 41, the reality competition series has tried to replicate the deprivation and starvation players face by providing contestants with less rice. The new era seasons have subsequently seen host Jeff Probst offer post-merge castaways the ability to earn additional rice, but only if a certain number of contestants agree to sacrifice their shot at immunity. 

The History of Rice Negotiations on ‘Survivor’

Seasons 41 through 44 saw castaways agree to the deal in the long run, though not before negotiations went back and forth between Probst and the constants. In Season 45, however, Probst brought new urgency to the deal, stabbing the bag of rice with a knife. This left the remaining contestants with less and less rice the longer they took to determine who was willing to sit out. 

Probst’s offer was refused for the first time in Season 46, as the contestants decided that a chance at safety in the game was worth more than the sustenance it took to make it to the end. The castaways on “Survivor 47” weren’t keen to give up their shot at immunity either, instead convincing Probst to offer the rice in exchange for every player’s Shot in the Dark.

As the final 8 castaways entered their immunity challenge on the most recent episode of “Survivor 48,” Probst once again put forth the offer for additional rice. With just 7 days remaining in the competition, the remaining contestants made history when they immediately said “no” without any discussion or bargaining. 

CBS

Probst Comments on the Future of ‘Survivor’ Rice Negotiations

Probst spoke of the moment on his podcast “On Fire: The Official ‘Survivor’ Podcast,” saying, “Not only [was I] not surprised, I can say this is a situation where we anticipated this kind of moment would come.”

“If you go back to the beginning of the new era, ‘Survivor 41’ and ‘Survivor 42,’ when we made no rice part of the game, we assumed initially it would hit players pretty hard because they weren’t prepared for it. So it was an emotional shock to them, because for the past many seasons, there was always some sort of food staple. So we thought in 41 and 42 it’ll be a legitimate debate, because this is their first shot at rice. They’re going to want it.”

He continued: “But then once you start having more seasons players now in 43 and 44, they know, ‘Okay, prepare yourself. There won’t be any rice.’ Well, that changes the mindset of the player, because they’re anticipating the hunger. And the minute you have one group say, ‘We don’t need it,’ you influence the entire game.”

By the time the “Survivor 48” castaways jetted off to Fiji for the competition, they would’ve already seen the entirety of Season 46 – including its refusal during the rice negotiations. 

When asked if the rice negotiations would continue in future seasons, Probst encouraged viewers to think from the perspective of a producer. 

“Here’s the secret to understanding how ‘Survivor’ is designed,” the executive producer said. “Just put yourselves in our shoes. So instead of seeing the game as you would if you were a player, or as you do when you’re watching, just become the producer and go through the thought process. It’s Season 49, you’ve got the creative team together. You’re discussing the rice negotiation. You see people say, ‘I think we can go without food.’ And then we say, ‘So what should we do? What does the game need? What result do we want to happen?’”

Probst added, “There’s no master plan for producing ‘Survivor.’ There’s no book that you open to Chapter 49 it goes, ‘Congratulations. Okay, here’s what you do today.’ We just try things. And if they work, we do them again. And if they don’t, we try something else.”