Survivor 50: In the Hands of the Fans has the biggest cast in the show's history, but there's still one player who Jeff Probst wanted on the cast who didn't get the chance to play this season.
In a new interview with USA Today ahead of the Survivor 50 premiere on Wednesday, Feb. 25, that player is Amanda Kimmel, one of the best Survivor players in the show's history who hasn't won the game yet.
Here's what Probst said about why he wanted Amanda and why he was so disappointed when she couldn't participate, via USA Today:
"That was a big disappointment, probably my biggest personal disappointment. When she initially said yes, I was ecstatic. And then we gave her the shoot date, and she said, 'I can't make it happen.' And she was disappointed. But what I loved about Amanda is that she just called us and said, 'Look, I’ll tell you right now, it's not going to happen.' And so that opened up the spot for somebody."
Amanda Kimmel holds the Survivor record for most days played without being voted out
Amanda was one of the early players many fans thought was a lock for Survivor 50. She's one of the most impressive players in Survivor history. She finished runner-up on Survivor: China to Todd Herzog and Survivor: Micronesia to Parvati Shallow. There's a strong argument for Amanda to win both of those seasons, honestly.
Most people forget that Amanda was voted out on Day 30 of Heroes vs. Villains. Had a few votes and big moves gone the other direction, Amanda was in a key position to win that game. She holds the record in Survivor for the most days played consecutively without getting voted out with 108 days played in a row.
As far as I know, Amanda is the only player who initially agreed to be part of the Survivor 50 cast who had to back out later. It's possible there are other players who were invited that turned the show down later, but most of these conversations happened behind the scenes and didn't spill out on social media. We did see several players who thought they were going to be a part of Survivor 50 reveal that they were likely one of the final cuts for the season, including Jerri Manthey, Spencer Bledsoe, Carolyn Wiger, and others.
In the same interview, Probst revealed that after Survivor 50, we will see other returning players join new seasons of Survivor. We won't see entirely new players like we've seen in the nine seasons of Survivor's new era after Winners at War.
That opens up the possibility for Amanda to return if she so chooses. While we don't know how Survivor 50 is going to go, it could signal a shift to bring back other returning players for new seasons sooner than later. Even if we have a few years before a new returning player season, we're only five years away from another big anniversary with Survivor 60.
I'm mostly kidding, but it's never too early to start thinking about what's next.
We'll share more news about Jeff Probst and Survivor 50! The new season begins on Wednesday, Feb. 25, and it's going to be a wild ride!