Survivor fans have given CBS heat for including two members of Survivor 49 in the cast of Survivor 50, but it seems fans should actually be thankful, as their inclusion led to more spots being created for past legends to return!
When the Survivor 50 cast was revealed, many fans understandably took issue with the decision to include two players from the unaired 49th season. This frustration wasn’t directed at the players, after all we’ve not even met them yet, but more with the fact that their inclusion meant two all-stars from early seasons did not make the cut. However, it seems that the inclusion of those two players actually gave more former players a chance to return to the game.
According to host Jeff Probst, heading into season 49, the producers agreed that if someone made a big impression they’d want them to be part of season 50. With that in mind, they entered the season with an open mind and the plan of potentially adding one player to the mix. Then two players caught their attention and impressed them.
When these two players caught their attention, the team went to the drawing board to figure out how many players the season 50 cast would include. They quickly ruled out a season of just 18 players and began debating whether to go with a cast of 20 or 21 before ultimately landing on 24, a decision they reached in part because those two players impressed them in season 49.
“What it ended up doing was benefiting everybody, because it expanded how many players we put on 50. We started out at 18 and immediately said, ‘Well, that will never work. And then we just started doing variations on the math based on whether we were going to have two tribes, three tribes or four tribes. And you can do the math and figure out which numbers work, 20 or 21, whatever,” Probst revealed in an interview with Parade.
“We landed on 24 in part because we saw these two players on 49 and said, ‘We got to have them.’ But what does that mean for our math? Does that mean we can invite more people onto 50? So it was really a win-win. But it was not guaranteed. We were never going to put somebody on just to have 49 represented,” he concluded.
That’s right, it seems the addition of Survivor 49’s two players led CBS to going with a historic number of players for its historic season. So the addition of these players didn’t take away spots from other legends of the game, but rather ended up giving more players the opportunity to return as a result of the producers opting not to go with an 18 or 20 member cast.
Yes, there are icons of the game who did not make the cut, but that was always going to happen. With 49 seasons worth of cast members to select from, there are going to be players on fans’ wish lists who aren’t going to make the cut. This was inevitable, but thanks to these two mystery players catching the eye of producers, we ended up getting to see a few additional players from past seasons secure a place in the cast as well.
The Survivor producers have seen a lot over the years, so the fact that these two players impressed them enough to convince them they were a must for the milestone season says a lot. We have to imagine they’re going to be standouts in the season ahead, and we’re eager to officially learn their identities when season 49 comes to an end!
Survivor 49 premieres Wednesday, Sept. 24 at 8/7c on CBS.