Normally, Survivor would have filmed both seasons set to air for the upcoming television schedule, but COVID-19 has put a halt on that and production might not be able to film until this spring.
The COVID-19 pandemic has changed life as we know it. The novel virus prevented Survivor from filming seasons 41 and 42 with the 41st season slated to air in the fall and the 42nd season airing in the spring. This has become the schedule we’ve all grown accustom to since early in the show’s run with a season in the fall and another in the spring.
Now, according to TVLine, it looks like Survivor won’t be able to film their 41st season until April at the earliest.
"Production is now said to be returning to its regular schedule, with a possible plan to film seasons 41 and 42 back-to-back between April and July of 2021. This would likely delay new episodes of the CBS reality staple until this time next year, which would result in the longest wait between seasons in franchise history. But even an April start date is, of course, contingent on the state of the pandemic and the Fijian government."
As noted in the blurb above, if production can’t film until April, this would result in fans not having new episodes of their favorite show for an entire year, which is the longest gap ever. We had to wait over five months between the show’s first and second season back in 2000 (and leaking into 2001) and then roughly six months between season two and three.
After the third season, the show became consistent with having a season air in the fall and then in the spring, so this will be quite the long wait for Survivor fans who are used to waiting no longer than four months for a new season.
Jeff Probst mentioned during the Winners at War finale that he and the crew were optimistic about having a season air in the fall, but that quickly changed when CBS removed Survivor from its fall lineup. The Amazing Race will air in its time slot instead (the season was filmed over a year ago and CBS has been waiting to find a time to insert it into its lineup).
Survivor has filmed in Fiji since season 33 and their government has closed their borders to non-citizens, which makes it impossible for the entire cast and crew for the next two seasons to enter the country to film.
While all of this is still unknown, as of now, it’s looking like the earliest Survivor 41 can film is this April, which would likely air next fall.
It’s going to be a loooong offseason, Survivor fans.