Survivor Island of the Idols: Jeff Probst rationalizes season 39’s theme

In an interview with ET Canada, Jeff Probst opened up about Survivor: Island of the Idols and why they chose this theme and unique twist.

There have been 12 Survivor seasons so far to feature returning players. We know that production loves bringing people back, both for gameplay reasons and for viewership. Those two elements were likely in mind when they were able to snag Boston Rob and Sandra Diaz-Twine back again, but this time in strictly a mentor role. How did production decide on this unique twist and theme?

In an interview with ET Canada which you can watch below, Jeff Probst explained how they came up with this concept. Boston Rob and Sandra are two iconic Survivor legends, and Jeff has made it clear that he loves these two reality personalities. He was always trying to find a way to get them back on the show, but Boston Rob said his playing days were over, while Sandra isn’t going to come back on a regular type of season.

With that in mind, Jeff was trying to think of a creative way to bring them back to the game, and he found it with Island of the Idols. He concluded that the only way to get Boston Rob to return was to make him a Survivor god essentially. That is clearly evident in Boston Rob and Sandra’s enormous statues flanking the titular island.

Based on this interview, it looks like Boston Rob was their main target since he hasn’t been on the show in almost ten years. Sandra was more of an add-on to compliment Rob. This concept is a good fit with this being season 39 since you have two legends who’ve made it to Day 39 a total of four times.

That said, this video gives us a little taste of how much Jeff wants these two mentors to be a key part of this season. With a full cast of 20 new castaways, it’s not going to be easy to squeeze their stories in while having Boston Rob and Sandra hogging airtime. Let’s hope that Wednesday’s 90-minute premiere will succeed in developing the entire new cast.