For the first time in Survivor history, two alternates actually made the cast of a season. Jeff Probst announced the news prior to the season to let fans know what to expect and to let future players know specifically what not to do.
Well, in the Survivor 49 premiere, we learned even more about what happened and how the alternates found out they were heading into the game, but so far, we only heard from one of the players.
Who were the Survivor 49 alternates?
Jason Treul and Michelle "MC" Chukwujekwu were the two alternates picked to play Survivor 49 after the other two cast members, who had fully made the cast, were kicked out for breaking the rules. More on that shortly!
During the Survivor 49 premiere, Jason Treul, one of the new Hina players, opened up about being one alternates for Survivor 49.
"I don't know if I'm allowed to peel the curtain back a little bit," Jason said. "But, I'm the male alternate for this season. I didn't know I was going to be on the show until 30 minutes before I went to bed last night. So, the thing about being an alternate is you have to be ready for anything. I packed three shirts: a red one, a blue one, and a yellow one."
So far in the season premiere, MC has not revealed that she was one of the alternates yet on the season, but we do know from Jeff's preseason reveal that MC was one of the other alternates pulled into the game at the last second.
Here's what Jeff said about how long Jason and MC had to prepare for the season, via EW:
"Jason and MC find themselves in this marooning challenge that 12 hours ago they were dreaming might happen one day and suddenly it's right in front of them. This is a completely unique situation, and it is a cool layer to this experiment. Maybe there's something in there about how we do the pre-game with players. When the season's over, we will definitely evaluate if we thought it had an impact. And, if so, what kind of impact.”
It will be really interesting to see how this dynamic of having two players, who weren't expecting to play, thrust in the game at the last second. I don't think it's going to change the game. This game is wild, and it's new, and that's true for every person, whether they have known for weeks they are playing or if they were on the sidelines.
Jeff Probst didn't reveal which players were kicked off Survivor 49
We still don't know who the players are that were kicked out of Survivor 49, but Probst did share some information about why they were kicked out one day before production.
Basically, the two players in question broke the most important rule of the Survivor pregame: don't interact with one another. You can't start playing Survivor or communicating with the other players until the Marooning challenge. Unfortunately, those two players were flagrantly disobeying that important rule, according to Probst.
Here's what Probst told EW about those players:
“What I can say about the reason we made the move is this. Survivor has rules and standards, and if a player crosses that line, we act. It’s one of the reasons we bring alternates, is to have our own insurance.”
He also opened up about TV Insider about just what those players did to get kicked out of the game.
“I cannot think of a time we have ever pulled somebody for violating our pre-game rule policy of not talking to other players. I’m sure over the years we’ve had people push the envelope a bit and then our casting team will step in and say, ‘Hey, we know it’s difficult, but just remember you can’t talk until the game starts. And that’s when you’re in front of Jeff.’ This was very different. This was blatant disrespect for the casting team.”
He continued:
"And all we ask is a couple of things. And one of them is, please don’t talk to each other before the game starts for obvious reasons. And they were warned. This was not out of the blue. They knew what they were doing and they were wanting it. And that’s just a bad idea. I’m glad that word is spreading because I don’t think it will ever happen again. I think both players probably regret it, but it left a mark and that was the intention.”
So, if you are ever going to play Survivor, make sure you follow the rules! Yes, the game moves fast, but it can't possibly be that advantageous to break the rules before the game even starts.
We'll likely never learn who these players were who were picked for Survivor 49 and ultimately sent home on the game's most awkward flight home, but I know Jason and MC are thankful they got to take their spots in the game.