Jeff Probst still wants to know which Survivor players you’d like to see again

Rare tweeter and perennial Survivor host/executive producer Jeff Probst wants your input for the kind of returning players most modern fans want to see.

It seems like the start and end of every Survivor season as it airs on television brings Jeff Probst out of his hiding hole, as the man seems far too busy running the production side of things year round to be on social media. Whenever he does show up, it brings a level of chaotic energy best familiar to someone learning how to walk for the first time, but in social media form.

The past 12 months, however, it seems like he’s on a mission; one of reconnaissance. Early on in the season, Jeff asked the Survivor faithful if they wanted to see longer episodes during Edge of Extinction onward. His concern was that it may be too much for audiences, especially with families where kids might be staying up later than 9 p.m. local time.

A year earlier, Jeff Probst had been more direct in asking what Survivor fans want, and with casting for seasons 39 and 40 up in the air at the time he tweeted, the replies are interesting. In response to a fan asking when Rupert Boneham will come back, Probst posed a question to the fandom at large, asking who people want to see between the current most popular players and the “OSGs” (old-school gamers, I’m guessing).

Normally, a year-old tweet wouldn’t be that newsworthy, especially when this kind of platitude is shared every so often. However, ever since the tweet got picked up on Reddit, it has generated a ton of suspiciously timed new responses from former players, as well as new fan suggestions.

Counting direct responses and suggestion replies (someone lists a player’s Twitter account, that player responds), we can see Jessica Lewis, Josh Canfield, Coby Archa (who posted his phone number publicly), Rodney Lavoie Jr., Todd Herzog on Facebook, Jonny Fairplay, Julie Berry (on behalf of Shane Powers), Gretchen Cordy, T-Bird, Hannah Shapiro and more (mostly from a year ago).

Now, nothing is clear about the future of Survivor seasons and who will be on the show, especially since filming hasn’t started for either season 39 and 40, but it’s clear that the player community is coming alive in anticipation that one of these seasons will involve returnees. If players like Twila are making Twitter accounts a decade and a half after Vanuatu aired all of a sudden, something is up.

We’ll have to wait and see what the future holds, but even if nothing comes of it, getting more former Survivor players active on social media is a sight for sore eyes.