One of the key elements of Survivor since day 1, season 1, has been how to survive on an island with limited to no supplies, food, or shelter. Although the series has changed since the beginning, and there is less editing focus on players struggling through brutal elements and starvation, the concept still remains the same. Fiji may be more forgiving, and the shortened seasons make the task less grueling, but the players still need to survive.
As such, production has been offering fewer supplies to start the game, but also has a stage in the merge where Jeff offers a bag of rice in exchange for players sitting out of an immunity challenge. Many see this as the show ensuring that there is enough food for the players, but recently, players have not been willing to take the trade, no matter how hungry they are.
This begs the question: what happens if the players completely run out of food while on the island?
In Season 48 of Survivor, as with most modern seasons, players were offered an opportunity to sacrifice their spot in an immunity challenge in exchange for a bag of rice. As with the previous season, though, the tribe immediately shut it down. This is all well and good, except soon after, the tribe ran out of food. Too bad, so sad, fans might say, but how does production look at it?
As it turns out, pretty much exactly the same way. On Episode 11 of the On Fire official Survivor podcast, Jeff was asked this very question: What happens if the players run out of food? Is there any scenario where you would offer them another chance to trade for food? Immediately, Jeff said no, almost before the question was asked.
He then broke his answer down a bit deeper.
"I get where you're going," Jeff said. "The short answer is, it doesn't change anything. You turn down rice. You run out of coconuts. I get a call from the beach, 'Hey Probst, out of coconuts'."
It doesn't matter the scenario. However, there is a caveat that came later as well, that opens the door a bit more.
"The longer answer is, we are always monitoring them with our medical team. Rachel can attest to this. They get checked all the time to see how they are doing, even if they don't want to get checked, they have to go into the medical tent for a moment. Just so our doctors can make sure that there's not something they're hiding that they don't want to be public about. So, it's always private and it's always important because we are collecting data about how they're doing."
Jeff also shared what happens if medical notices the players are in trouble with starvation.
"If at some point, medical said, 'listen, they're actually in dire straits. I am very worried about them, we are going to have to do something', then we would absolutely look for options that made the most sense to get something like rice or beans into the game in a way that was satisfying and that was fair."
He concluded, "In the new era, the first consideration would simply be me showing up at their camp with a bag of rice and saying, 'here's what I want in exchange for your survival.' But those are extreme situations that rarely happen." Many Survivor fans may actually remember this exact scenario happening a couple of times in older seasons, with Jeff arriving with food in exchange for many other supplies.
Essentially, the lesson in this is that production does not want to help, but will if the players are in danger of serious medical emergencies. Well, at least players can rest assured that Probst does not want them dead, although from the way he answered, maybe he kind of does. Still, for those looking to get on Survivor in the future, do not expect food handouts. Make it last, or figure it out.
In the wise words of Angelina Keeley, "Jeff, is there any way I can have your rice bag? Jeff? Jeff? Nothing." You will have to negotiate better than that, Survivor castaways!