Political unrest means Survivor can’t film in one area of the world, but you would be surprised where in the Western Hemisphere just didn’t work out.
Even though it makes too much fiscal sense for Survivor to leave Fiji in the foreseeable future, it doesn’t make it easier to accept the sameness of its locations, especially the tribe beaches. As indicated by Dalton Ross on Instagram, one castaway even found tree mail left over from a previous season, showing how stagnant and familiar Fiji has become after just four straight seasons.
Perhaps to taunt us right to our faces (or perhaps because it’s genuinely interesting), Erin Cebula asked Survivor host Jeff Probst some extra questions about the show’s production over the years on behalf of ET Canada, leading off with locations the team scouted and tried, but just couldn’t pull off.
His first answer has become something of known “what could have been” lore, stating that in 2001, Survivor was once planned to take place in the country of Jordan. Of course, considering the political climate and the security threats presented after 9/11, it is likely the show will never make its way there, even if it is considered one of the safest Middle East countries. The other location was the Dominican Republic, but Probst said it “wasn’t big enough” for production (likely talking about locations and islands they could take over).
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I’ve talked about Survivor locations the show needs to visit going forward, including the Okinawa Islands, New Zealand, India’s Andaman Islands and even in Canada before. It’s painful to know that with Fiji’s resorts booked through 2020, CBS is unlikely to vacate the premises for future seasons.
Next: Let’s Rank the Survivor Seasons by Their Locations
Other fun questions asked in the interview include whether Jeff Probst would like to see Elizabeth Hasselbeck or Richard Hatch return and if we will ever see the show in a cold climate, so make sure to check out the full interview!