Although Survivor 49 has not even aired yet, since the moment the Survivor 48 finale ended, nearly all the discourse in the Survivor community has revolved around the monumental 50th season. That chatter reached fever pitch when the official CBS social media pages revealed the official Survivor 50 cast.
Fans have had a ton to say about the cast, and, more often than not, it is something negative. It is not so much the players that are on the cast, as many were memorable enough or played solid games, and all made it pretty far in at least one of their seasons. Whether multiple time players or former winners should be on the season is certainly debatable, but few cast members stand out as truly bad.
Instead, the pushback is on players who were not on the cast. Time and time again, fan favorite players flocked to social media to announce being cut from casting, and viewers reacted in heartbreak again and again. The casting choices seemed a bit strange and unbalanced. However, Jeff Probst revealed his top 25 seasons in an exclusive interview with Parade magazine's Mike Bloom, and suddenly the choices make a lot more sense.
Jeff Probst's favorite seasons align with Survivor 50 casting
With the backlash from Season 50 casting plentiful in the Survivor community, it can sometimes be difficult to remember that the players are equally unable to control the casting decisions being made, and often the anger, while directed at production like Probst, comes off as slamming the players who are on the cast. That is entirely unfair, because the players all deserve a chance to play again.
That said, with Jeff Probst revealing his top 25 Survivor seasons to Parade magazine recently, some of the casting choices make a lot of sense because they align with the seasons he enjoyed the most, and there are glaring omissions from seasons he enjoyed the least.
One example of this was the fact that there were no players who originally played in Seasons 19-30 on the Season 50 cast at all. Of those seasons, Jeff only lists Cagayan, Blood vs. Water, and Samoa as seasons in his Top 25 with any new players (Blood vs. Water was all returnees). Samoa, he admits, is only listed because of Russell Hantz, who may never be invited back. Tony Vlachos was his logic for Cagayan, and given his win on Winners at War, he also likely will not return anytime soon.
Meanwhile, there is a preponderance of players who come from the new era (Seasons 41-49). In Jeff's Top 25 list (excluding 49 as it has not aired yet), only two of the eight new era seasons were not on his favorites, which were Seasons 41 and 43, and they both have no returnees for Survivor 50. Meanwhile, all his favorites except 42 have at least one player returning, and often two or three.
Of the remainder of his 25-favorite-seasons list, some will have omissions, given there are only 24 players on Survivor 50, and many come from the same season. Still, David vs. Goliath has three returning players, Tocantins has one, Cook Islands has one, Exile Island has one, Palau has one, and Borneo has one. This leaves only 5 or so of his favorite newbie seasons unrepresented. Most of his favorite returning player seasons also have cast members from them on Survivor 50.
In other words, Jeff knows what he likes, and he wants those seasons represented on his iconic fiftieth season. The problem is, the season is "In the Hands of the Fans", and clearly, the fans do not agree with his taste.
As previously mentioned, none of this is to take away from the players that are on Survivor 50. The season looks like it should be a great one, with a strong overall cast that mixes huge personalities and huge gameplay, iconic players with second chances looking to cement their place in history. Regardless, if this was truly a celebration of the show, fans should have had the chance to have input on the cast, and should have had a more representative balance. By now, Jeff should know that his tastes don't usually align with the fanbase.