'Survivor' Host Jeff Probst Almost Quit Reality Series Forever After Which Season?
In a shocking bit of news for longtime Survivor fans, it was just revealed that host Jeff Probst quit the long-running reality series after season 17, but what changed his mind?
A new article with The New York Times profiling Survivor's consistent success featured a pretty big bombshell. Probst, the show's host since it began in 2000, actually called it quits temporarily back in 2009.
The host admitted to the publication that Survivor: Gabon (season 17, broadcast in 2008) was his low point. A year later, he went to CBS president Les Moonves to quit. Moonves told Probst to take some time off.
"My Achilles' heel for a lot of my life was that nobody saw me as a storyteller, that they saw me as a white guy with dark hair who was just a game show host," Probst said. "And that in terms of my own self-image was the thing that could gut me. It was like a kidney punch."
Months later, Probst found himself re-energized to continue with the show as the makeup of the production team was altered.
Now, Survivor has begun its 31st season. Ratings continue to be steady and strong; an estimated 11.4 million watched the season 31 premiere last Wednesday when factoring in same-day and three-day figures from Nielsen.
Survivor doesn't seem to be going anywhere anytime soon. Executive producer Mark Burnett told The New York Times of a meeting he had with Moonves back in the show's early days,.
"I said, 'This is amazing. Season 3, can you believe it?'" Burnett said. "Les turned and looked at me and said, 'Season 3? We'll be having this conversation in Season 23.' It sounded so crazy at the time."
Survivor: Cambodia - Second Chance airs Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on CBS.
