It's been several years since Survivor celebrated a new winner and season with a live finale and reunion. After crowning the winner of Survivor 47, Jeff Probst and the production team transitioned immediately into the Aftershow from Final Tribal Council, just like they've done throughout the new era.
Well, on the new episode of the On Fire with Jeff Probst podcast, Probst was asked about how he felt about the aftershow on location vs. the live studio finale and reunion like the old days of Survivor.
After explaining that he understands why fans miss the live finale, Jeff shared what he missed about the finale and reunion with a live audience.
“The energy is incredible," Probst told Jay Wolff and Charlie Davis. "I mean, if you've never been to a live finale, it's like you're at a sporting event because we're broadcasting the episode to an audience, and then, we do the live reveal. So for two hours, you hear a thousand people screaming, cheering, and crying as they watch this play out. And, then we come out with the votes, and we reveal the winner. That is all awesome."
It is awesome! I used to love that transition from Jeff tallying the votes, giving his little speech, and then walking out to huge cheers. Even though I never attended a live finale, you could still feel the tension through the TV, you know? Each of the two or three finalists have been thinking about this for months or a full year, and they look ill almost. It's incredibly captivating yet torturous for those players.
Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic and the launch of the new era of Survivor, most Survivor finales were live. The last live finale was Survivor: Island of the Idols, season 39. There would have been a live finale in Survivor: Winners at War (season 40), but instead, they had a virtual vote reading and mini-reunion. After that, Probst and the producers made sure that the players' real reaction was captured at Final Tribal.
Why the live finales are not coming back to Survivor
Even with the energy and spectacle of the live finale, Probst isn't totally convinced that they need to return, or even convinced at all, actually.
“The one big thing about the live finales I don't like is the conversation with the players during the reunion part of the show is almost always a challenge because players now only want to defend," Probst continued.
"They've watched all the episodes, so they want to defend what they did in the game, or they want to defend what people are criticizing about them online, or they want to defend how we didn't show all their great moments. And, I just rarely found it to be an interesting conclusion to what is usually a great season of Survivor."
Again, great points from Probst. The game changes as soon as the players return to their real lives, and their entire being is basically on display for the world to pick apart and celebrate. There's been a lot of fair and unfair criticism about certain players and their actions in the game, and it's definitely not always comfortable or necessary to sort out on live TV months after the game. That's not always the case, but there have been reunions that were quite buzzkills based on a player's attitude toward Jeff and the other players.
And, about making sure the players are okay with how things play out, Charlie, who finished runner-up in Survivor 46 to Kenzie Petty, had some thoughts about the Aftershow vs. live reunion. Basically, Charlie felt like he would have lost his mind had he been waiting for a year or so after filming until the season aired and he found out if he won or not.
“If I had not gotten people's genuine, authentic reasons for why they voted the way they did, why the jurors voted the way they did, I don't think I would have been able to keep myself sane because it would have otherwise been a year after the game ended," Charlie said. "And so much can change, and I just wouldn't have been able to believe a single word anyone was saying, and I'm so grateful that I got that frozen in time at the Aftershow.”
Well, I can't argue with Jeff and Charlie, obviously. No, I'm very much pro-players' mental health. And, it's really cool all the players celebrating their winner and the season in the moment. It's great!
My only complaint is that we don't get to see the whole cast together again after those first few days on the beach. The players who didn't make the jury are not part of the Aftershow, and that feels like a misstep at times. I understand the logistics do not make it possible, but it is unfortunate that we don't get, like, Rome Cooney's commentary on Survivor 47.
So, based on Probst's answer, I don't think that we'll see a live finale of Survivor anytime soon, and that's probably okay.
It also means that Survivor 48, which you can watch the trailer for right now, will not have a live finale, so you can expect to see Probst read the votes