In a recent episode of the On Fire with Jeff Probst podcast, Survivor host Jeff Probst opened up about his admiration for Kyle Ostwald, who was recently eliminated from Survivor 47.
An off-script tribal council send off
Probst broke protocol for Kyle, where after his usual 'the tribe has spoken', Probst gave Kyle the hug he asked for, and said 'Thank you for coming out.' Podcast co-host Jay Wolff was curious to find out why.
"He says, ‘Thanks so much for the opportunity,’ and you said back to him, ‘Thanks for coming out.’ it's one of the first times I've heard you speak after saying, ‘The tribe has spoken,’ to someone who's leaving. What motivated that here?”
Probst explained that his response was driven purely by instinct. “Gut. I just felt it was the right thing in that moment, and I still feel that way hearing it back."
Probst admits admiration for Kyle
Probst followed up by saying how much he respects Kyle.
"I loved Kyle. Yeah, my notes on him were, ‘No-brainer.’ And then, really, just to share a little more—his story of his upbringing is insane. I mean, 26 homes, seven schools, four years in foster care before graduating high school. And what was amazing about Kyle is he saw that as an advantage. That’s amazing. That’s what really blew me away.
He’s really sharp, he’s very likable, he’s smart, and he’s hardworking. In fact, I wrote down in my notes, ‘Is he really this good? I hope so, because I love him.’ So it was great to have Kyle on. And winning four challenges? You’re in rare, rare air. They were smart to get rid of him. Oh yeah—he was amazing to watch.”
His ability to win four immunity challenges placed him among the show’s elite players, and Probst acknowledged the strategic savvy of Kyle’s tribemates in voting him out.
A warning to future contestants
In recent seasons, we have seen Probst give out more hugs to the departing castaways. However, he emphasized the importance of authenticity and warned against trying to manipulate moments for the sake of attention.
The other co-host of the podcast and Survivor 46 runner-up Charlie Davis brought up Daniel "Danny" Massa, who did a Robert DeNiro impression as he took his torch to Probst.
Probst admitted the moment felt rehearsed and less organic. However, he acknowledged that perceptions are subjective and reiterated his commitment to trusting his gut in assessing authenticity.
“Danny’s moment was a really interesting bookend to Kyle’s. I liked Danny too—he was funny, and he was trying to have a funny moment. But it was clear he had rehearsed in his mind, ‘When I go out, I’m going to do this.’ And so my face was probably registering a little bit of, ‘Eh.’
But that’s also what makes Survivor interesting. Maybe Danny would say, ‘I didn’t rehearse it, Jeff—I actually didn’t plan that. It just came up. That’s my personality.’ And then I’d have to say, ‘Okay, well then it was authentic.’ I’ll go with my gut again.”