Spend an hour listening to Jeff Probst talk and you will learn two things. One, the upcoming Fans vs. Favourites season of Survivor: Micronesia sounds like it's going to be pretty awesome. Two, Jeff Probst has two huge mancrushes on returning contestants Ozzy and James.
It begins innocently enough as Probst explains how they chose which past contestants to use for the "Favourites" team.
"You have ten spots, and you have a couple of certains. You're going to have Ozzy," he says. "You're going to have James."
Fair enough; both players were forces to be reckoned with during their seasons – Ozzy on Survivor: Cook Islands and James on Survivor: China.
But Probst keeps mentioning the two guys – even when the subject has little to do with them. He brings them up even when asked about the "Fans" team.
"We have this kid, Erik. He can't believe it when he finds out that he's playing against people like Ozzy and James, his idols," Probst says. "And James is even bigger than he was in China. The guy put on ten pounds of muscle. I don't know how he did it."
Probst goes on like this.
"There's another kid, Jason, who's the same way; young guy who kind of aspires to be Ozzy," he says. "And, you know, it's one thing to talk the talk that you can take on Ozzy; it is another thing entirely to do what Ozzy does in this game. And Ozzy comes out on day one and is just as good as he ever was."
If we didn't know any better, we'd say Jeff Probst was in loooove.
OK, fine; some of that might just be his excitement that two of the all-time favourite contestants are back for this much-anticipated season, which will set ten Survivor fanatics against ten popular past contestants. Other than Probst's two crushes, the "Favourites" team also includes former players such as Yau-Man (Survivor: Fiji), Eliza (Survivor: Vanuatu) and Cirie (Survivor: Panama). For the "Fans" team, producers scoured the U.S. to find the most rabid Survivor–watchers.
"We wanted people that would be enamored when they discovered they were playing against some of the favourite people to ever play Survivor. We hoped what would happen is that that idolatry would turn into animosity," explains Probst. "And it did. The fans wanted to be sure that a fan won the game and the favorites wanted to be certain that, no matter what, a favorite won the game."
Watching a group of strangers compete against people they admire is a sure-fire recipe for entertainment. When Probst finally stops talking about his Ozzy and James – and it takes a while for him to stop – he starts revealing interesting details about the show.
"We have a record number of blindsides this season," he says. "You would think, after these many seasons that pulling a blindside would be tough. But it just showed me, you really have to have your wits about you in this game."
Exile Island returns this season, but with a slight twist: two players – one from each team – will be sent to Exile Island each episode.
"You're now going to be having one person from each tribe getting a chance to spend time together. When they merge, these could be alliance breakers," Probst explains. "And we have one [immunity] idol hidden somewhere on Exile Island. How are you going to sneak away to look for the idol without the other person? What do you do if you both find it?"
When it comes to in-game romance, past seasons have mostly just hinted at it. But Probst insists that this season includes plenty of actual nookie.
"We have love affairs this season – plural," he says, adding that the first one starts as early as the second episode. "We have some of the most intimate footage we've ever had of a love affair developing and consummating in a Survivor way."
And, in case you were worried about it: yes, Jonny "I Lied About My Dead Grandma and Now I Won't Go Away" Fairplay is back.
"My initial reaction when we decided to do the season was, 'Let's don't bring Fairplay back. He's not our pedigree anymore; we don't need him,'" says Probst. "Then wiser heads prevailed and I quickly realized: how can you do a season without Fairplay? I mean, he's your most notorious figure ever."
He admits that he had trouble with Fairplay in the past, as anyone would who had to spend more than two minutes with the guy. But Probst says that, despite their differences, he eventually learned to see Fairplay as an actual person instead of an annoyance.
"At a certain point, I just got tired of it. I realized that I'm so done with this guy. [I said] 'Fairplay, I don't want you in my life, man. I don't really care if you're ever on Survivor, please don't come to any more of the parties. I'm done with you,'" Probst remembers. "And then, I had a change of heart. And I started seeing Fairplay as a guy who's struggling, and, you now, that he is a real person, and he created this persona, and it's kind of become his legacy. But underneath that, here's this guy trying to live a life and he, you know, he's got his demons, like we all do. And now, he's going to be a father. I kind of had a big change of heart."
Fairplay or not, Probst thinks what will get viewers hooked this season is how quickly the dynamics of each team change.
"The first few moments of the show, we bring out the fans onto a beach and it's pouring down rain. It's raining so hard and the camera lenses are getting water on them, everybody's just obliterated with water, covered, drenched in water. And then, we bring out the favorites," he says. "When they realize that the favourites weren't really there to make any new friends, the game quickly became 'us against them.'"
With CBS recently renewing Survivor for an additional two seasons, it will get harder and harder to keep the show interesting and surprising. Pitting the fans against the favourites is exciting now, but television audiences are notoriously fickle.
For his part, Probst hasn't ruled out a season comprised solely of past Survivor winners.
"Maybe that's the last season we'll do. Of course," he laughs, "We'll have to wait for Richard Hatch to get out of prison."
Survivor: Micronesia Fans vs. Favourites premieres Thursday, Feb. 7 8 p.m. ET/PT, 7 p.m. MT on Global and CBS.
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