As one of the best Survivor winners ever, Jeremy Collins is undeniably one of the show's most iconic players. As a result, there is still a lot of interest in Jeremy competing on the show again, even though he has said that will only happen under one circumstance. On top of that, Survivor's biggest fans love learning about his perspective on the game.
As Survivor 49 has been airing, fans have been learning a lot more about how Jeremy sees the game. One example of that is the fact that fans learned about the crazy ways that Jeremy prepared for Survivor, even before he'd even been cast on the show at all. If that wasn't interesting enough, Jeremy and Jeff also recently explained why "puzzle peeking" during Survivor challenges isn't against the rules.
Jeff Probst and Jeremy Collins agree that "puzzle peeking" is okay
Whenever a new episode of Survivor has premiered since 2023, an episode of the "On Fire with Jeff Probst: The Official Survivor Podcast" has been released that same night. Each episode of the podcast features an in-depth conversation about the Survivor episode, featuring the show's host, a fan, and a former player. For Survivor 49, episodes of the podcast are being co-hosted by Jeff Probst, Jay Wolff, and Jeremy Collins.
During Survivor 49's premiere episode, a player named Rizo Velovic struggled severely to finish a puzzle during a solo challenge. Ultimately, Rizo still won the challenge after looking at the player he was competing against's finished puzzle and copying his work. In response to how that scenario played out, Jay Wolff asked Jeremy and Jeff their perspective on "puzzle peeking" during challenges. Without missing a beat, Jeremy explained why he thinks looking at another player's puzzle is fine.
"I think it's okay. I don't mind it at all. I think it's up to the person that's doing the puzzle to hide it or put a blanket over it or destroy it when you're done with it. It's up to them to hide it, but I don't mind it. That's all part of the game.
After Jeremy's astute take on why he thinks it is fine to copy someone else's puzzle, Jeff immediately stated that the rules allow for players to do that. Jeff also explained that part of the reason why that is allowed is because of how difficult enforcing a rule like that would be. Finally, Jeff pointed out that since Survivor is a social game, copying another player's puzzle could have serious implications.
"We obviously don't mind it because we let it happen, but I'm with Jeremy. The first big reason is if you have a rule, you have to be able to enforce it. And enforcing something like that is tricky. Somebody glances to their left. Do you call them for looking at the puzzle? So we try to have as few rules as possible, but I think Jeremy hit it. It is a social game. And in the end, the votes from a jury will decide who wins. So anytime you make a big move like that, it can come with a consequence. So it's your world. Do what you want."
To Jeff's point, it would be mind-blowing if Rizo makes it to the end of Survivor 49 and loses because of copying someone else's puzzle. While that may seem incredibly unlikely to happen, and it probably is, I wouldn't disregard the idea so quickly. The player Rizo copied from could resent what happened, even if those feelings exist on a subconscious level. If that player has social capital in the game, his feelings that were created during the puzzle incident could create a butterfly effect that alters the outcome of the game. As the saying goes, "Little drops of water make the mighty ocean."
Watch new episodes of Survivor 49 on Wednesday on CBS and Paramount+!