Jeff Probst had some harsh words for Survivor crew members who are using inside information from making the show to cash in later on prediction markets like Kalshi and Polymarket.
"They'd be fired," Probst told Variety in a new interview after the Survivor 50 finale.
That seems to be the appropriate immediate consequence for someone with inside knowledge trying to cash in on that knowledge, although one could argue the penalty should be a lot bigger than that.
Probst also called out the platforms for "incentivizing people to lie, cheat and steal to get ahead.”
For those out of the loop, Aubry Bracco had been the heavy favorite on Polymarket and Kalshi all season long, which has led Survivor fans to believe that someone was sharing secrets about the Survivor 50 winner long before Aubry actually won Survivor 50 on Wednesday, May 20.
Now, we don't know if any Survivor cast or crew were behind those predictions on Kalshi and Polymarket, but there's a lot of smoke here for there not to be a fire, and no, it's not from Rizo Velovic and Jonathan Young going head-to-head in the firemaking challenge.
Probst, though, didn't see it as a problem for Survivor to solve, though. Instead, he put the onus on the platforms to figure out how to regulate themselves.
"[Prediction market platforms] are the ones with the problem, not us. We went and made our show in a vacuum, and we keep it very tightly contained, but if you are foolish and naive enough to not think that somebody might leak it, that’s your problem.”
Kalshi responded to Variety with a comment that mentioned the following: "If the market volume on ‘Survivor’ is any indication, this isn’t something that’s stopping people from caring about ‘Survivor.' That being said, we’re looking at adding product features to prevent spoilers.”
This is not the first time the winner of Survivor has been leaked, potentially, or even spoiled. There are examples every single season of all the rumors and speculation about a winner. And, look, I do think that having the winner out there during the season isn't the greatest, but it's also not why I watched Survivor. I care who wins, of course, but it's all about the journey.
And, that's why I tend to agree with Probst. CBS and Survivor will do everything they can to keep the winner under wraps, but we've all seen the number of people who work on the show. If the temptation is out there for someone to cash in and get a big pay day, how will Jeff stop them?
"You’re telling me there’s a way I can make money by sharing information I have, and I might not ever get caught?" Probst asked. "Of course, people are going to do that."
This is more of a societal and philosophy question, and I have a pretty clear idea of what I think the answer is, but it's not up to me to decide.
It will be interesting to see what happens for Survivor 51 when there are less well-known players. We all knew who these 24 returning players were heading into the season. Did that add another layer of interest in the season? I'm assuming so.
We have a few months to see if Kalshi, Polymarket, and others are able to get the reality TV spoilers under control before the next season premieres this fall. Stay tuned!
Add us as a preferred source on Google